The Asheville musician is back with the lead single from his next album, ‘Manning Fireworks,’ out in September his next album, “Manning Fireworks” will be out September 6th via Anti-Records, with a new song, “She’s Leaving You.” The track finds Lenderman flexing his characteristically clever and candid songwriting skills, delivering a sardonic assessment of a cheating husband’s grim midlife crisis that still maintains some poignancy: “Go rent a Ferrari/And sing the blues,” he sings at one point. “Believe that Clapton was the second coming.” Lenderman plays pretty much every instrument on the track, while his Wednesday bandmate, Karly Hartzman, sings backup, and producer Alex Farrar plays piano.
Lenderman and his band, the Wind, perform the track at a talent show, but their lackluster performance does little to win over the crowd, who are (understandably) more enthralled by the juggler, magician, cheerleaders, speed eater, interpretive dancer, and the guy who jumps over mop buckets and slippery-when-wet signs.
“Manning Fireworks” marks Lenderman’s fourth studio album and first for Anti-. It follows his 2022 breakthrough “Boat Songs“, as well as his 2023 live album “And the Wind (Live and Loose!)“.
“Manning Fireworks”, out on September 6th, 2024
“Mogg’s Motel” is the debut solo album from Phil Mogg, the legendary vocalist and founding member of rock icons UFO. Following the band’s final show in 2022 and breakup announcement, Phil thankfully didn’t take retirement to heart and fans will be delighted to know that this excellent new album rocks in the same vein as his previous band. As a dedicated fan of UFO and a long-time admirer of the extraordinary talents of vocalist Phil Mogg, I couldn’t be more thrilled about his latest musical endeavor, “Moggs Motel.” After years of creating videos and reviews celebrating UFO’s music, it’s exciting to witness Phil Mogg’s return with a new band and a fresh album.
For those who have been concerned about Phil Mogg’s absence from the rock scene following the end of UFO and his subsequent health issues, worry no more. Phil Mogg, one of the most influential rock vocalists worldwide, has made a stunning comeback with his latest release, “Moggs Motel.” This album marks a new chapter in his illustrious career, showcasing his enduring artistic charisma, uniquely expressive voice, and boundless creativity.
“Moggs Motel” was crafted with the collaboration of Tony Newton (bass & keyboards) from Voodoo Six, a band that had previously toured with UFO, and Neil Carter (guitar, keyboards, vocals), a long-standing associate having been with Phil in UFO for many years. The album was recorded at Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris’s studio in Essex, UK. To complete the line-up, Joe Lazarus (drums) and Tommy Gentry (guitar) joined in the studio sessions.
releases September 6th, 2024
Twenty choice cuts culled from the awe-inspiring Fruit Bats 2022–2023 live shows.
Eric D. Johnson says: In early 2022, when we embarked on a national tour in support of the “Sometimes a Cloud…” compilation, our long time sound guy / best bud / spiritual advisor Nathan Vanderpool thought it might be a cool idea to run some proverbial “tape” at any venue that could provide such a thing. In the scattered opportunities when we could, we did…and that directive then ran over into the “A River Running to Your Heart” tour last year, too.
These songs are from a random assortment of shows in a wide spectrum of cities. A different vibe with each song and each night—very much how tour kinda feels… It’s a nice little memento of a couple of crazy and often magical years of live shows.
Fruit Bats is:
Josh Adams – drums and percussion
David Dawda – bass and backing vocal
Eric D. Johnson – lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Frank LoCrasto – pianos and synths
Josh Mease – lead guitar and backing vocal
All songs written by Eric D. Johnson (
“Starry-eyed, in Stereo” is out May 10th on Merge Records
On June 28th, the initial day of Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival the band will release their newly announced EP, “Hot Sun Cool Shroud”. An echo of their previous collection, “Cousin”, the new set was forged out of sessions that produced the 2023 full-length album. Consisting of six never-before-heard tracks, the set leans into a certain “summertime after-day” feel, according to the band leader.
“It’s fun to have something new to release at Solid Sound,” Jeff Tweedy said via press release. “This year we’re putting out an EP with a summertime-after-dark kind of feeling. It starts off pretty hot, like heat during the day, has some instrumentals on it that are a little agitated and uncomfortable and ends with a cooling breeze.”
As a descriptor of the sonic capture, Tweedy added, “There are tracks on “Hot Sun Cool Shroud” that are more aggressive and angular than anything we’ve put out in a while, and a song about love melting you like ice cream into a puddle of sugary soup. All the pieces of summer, including the broody cicadas.” “Hot Sun Cool Shroud” with a unique white vinyl pressing available only at Solid Sound Festival on June 28th.
Kathleen Ryan designed the EP cover artwork, which incorporates her “Fruit Bat” collection–decaying produce, cherries, peaches, and the like. For those attending Solid Sound, fans will be able to design individualized EP covers using stamps and stickers that reproduce Ryan’s various fruit sculptures. Those interested can submit their cover design to dBpm Records to have their work featured as actualized art, which will be available for sale in physical formats later this year.
In conjunction with the forthcoming EP, Wilco will host their annual Solid Sound Festival, with sets from Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Dry Cleaning, Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets, Wednesday, Horsegirl, Ratboys, Water From Your Eyes, and many more. The event also features bonus activities from podcasts and interviews to the Musicians on Musician series, which showcases selections from a private collection of music photography curated by members of Wilco.
“Hot Sun Cool Shroud” EP Tracklist
1. Hot Sun
2. Livid
3. Ice Cream
4. Annihilation
5. Inside The Bell Bones
6. Say You Love Me
Wilco’s “Hot Sun Cool Shroud” EP.
No Depression says, “No one, and I mean no one, is doing what Sierra Ferrell is doing, be it in her song writing, arrangements, or delivery,” with her spellbinding voice and time-bending sensibilities, Ferrell makes music that’s as fantastically vagabond as the artist herself. On “Trail Of Flowers”, her highly-anticipated follow up to, “Long Time Coming”, Ferrell shares a dozen songs beautifully unbound by genre or era, instantly transporting her audience to an infinitely more enchanted world.
Produced by Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Dwight Yoakam, Gillian Welch) and Eddie Spear (Zach Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton) Other musicians featured on the album include Aksel Coe, Geoff Saunders, Billy Contreras, Joshua Rilko, Oliver Craven, and Mike Rojas, plus Nikki Lane and Lucas Nelson on background vocals for two tracks.
The heavens open up and God’s hairy forearm shoots forth from the clouds, slapping the word Songwriter across your body’s fragile avatar. And now the question: is it a calling or is it a curse? Will you draw the sword from the lake, victorious and gleaming? Or will your skin crawl with boils, your crops alight in conflagration? Is the habit of song writing something rewarding and nutritive, like gardening? Or is it more of a dirty tic, like bumming a cigarette every time you drink two beers? Is writing songs a job? A holy duty? Or is it just an occasionally rewarding hobby? And if I do heed my destiny, just how the fuck am I supposed to pay for healthcare?
Such are the celestial backyard wrestling matches that make up Sinai Vessel’s fourth LP. “I SING“, what a phrase – chief songwriter Caleb Cordes wields a DIY lifer’s gallows humour as he tries to carve out a niche in stone with a grapefruit spoon, speaking truth to streaming royalties and trust fund powers. Crucially, though, Sinai Vessel never says “fuck you” to the listener – instead Cordes shakes his head, laughing, and says instead “fuck me.”
How preposterous it is to be yoked to song, how silly to squeeze considered noise into plastic, how absolutely goofy is it that any of us listen, that any of us are moved. And in some unlikely screwball miracle, within the vanishing middle class vocation of singing for your supper, Sinai Vessel achieves the improbable: grace, resonance, a truly great collection of tunes.
Sinai Vessel from the new album ‘I SING’ out July 26th, 2024 via Keeled Scales.
On “Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind”, the kaleidoscopic full-length debut from Kate Bollinger, entire worlds lie in the small details. “When I’m recording a song,” the Charlottesville-born, now Los Angeles-based songwriter observes, “my indication of whether it’s worth pursuing is if I’m seeing a movie in my head to go along with it.” Blending classic pop songcraft with scrappy punk instincts, Bollinger casts a collage-like vision that’s instantly memorable and uniquely mystifying. Ranging from homespun folk songs to warmly rendered psychedelic rock—like early Rolling Stones as fronted by Hope Sandoval—the resulting album can feel like flipping through your coolest friend’s record collection.
In order to summon this majestic blend of styles, Bollinger spent years cultivating material, challenging herself to work with new collaborators while moving across the country from her native Virginia to California. Evolving the hermetic approach of her early EPs and solo performances, she arrived at a fuller sound based on intuitive responses and in-the-moment energy. “I came to this realization that most of my favourite music is the result of friends, or players who have known each other a long time, coming together and playing live in the room,” she observes. Armed with endless hooks and wildly shifting textures, Bollinger can seem as much like a songwriter as an art-house auteur, crafting the soundtrack and scenery for a non-existent movie. (Fittingly, Bollinger studied film in college, and she also directed the striking music video for Jessica Pratt’s recent single “World on a String.”)
Several highlights from the record were co-written with Spacebomb Records mastermind Matthew E. White, such as the jangle-pop gem “Any Day Now” and the theatrical “I See It Now.” After months of writing in Richmond and Los Angeles, Bollinger travelled to upstate New York to record with producer Sam Evian (Big Thief, Blonde Redhead, Cass McCombs), with whom she developed a similar kinship. Alongside her longtime friend and drummer Jacob Grissom, she formed a group of tight-knit collaborators able to match her wide-ranging inspiration, spanning from ’60s icons like Françoise Hardy and the Velvet Underground to ’90s touchpoints like No Doubt and Pavement. “In some way, this album feels like my musical debut. I feel that I’ve finally been able to express all sides of myself in one record.”
For Bollinger, the connective tissue between this disparate material is often unspoken but always deeply felt. “Songwriting is kind of like dreaming,” she explains. “They both tend to reveal to me what I don’t yet consciously know. I thought of the album title before most of the songs were written, but it became a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way that tends to happen in a lot of my music.” As a lyricist, Bollinger expresses herself through subtle imagery and surrealist stream-of-conscious narratives, allowing listeners to arrive at their own interpretation.
In the lilting, empathetic “To Your Own Devices,” she follows a sunswept melody to deliver a series of hushed, second-person observations: “Now you’re in a pinch/The mirror makes you flinch,” she sings. “And all this time, were you not making sense?”
In the baroque swirl of opener “What’s This About (La La La La),” Bollinger and her band conjure a sense of cartoonish whimsy that places her in league with the mystical pop greats of the Elephant 6 Collective, a scene whose idiosyncratic spin on the classic rock era helped inform the patchwork sprawl of her record. The haunting “Sweet Devil” smoulders like a jazz standard as interpreted by Feist at her smokiest and most intimate; the dramatic outro of “I See It Now” has a romping energy that feels suited for a climactic showdown at a saloon; the breezily psychedelic “Postcard From A Cloud” plays like a dreamworld collaboration between Teenage Fanclub and Broadcast,
Written during a period of transience and change, “Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind” was made to resemble a mixtape—something carefully crafted and delivered from just one person to another. In sharing this music with listeners, Bollinger took inspiration from her own formative encounters with art: quietly worshiping the early musical projects of her older brothers, attending local shows in Charlottesville and feeling empowered to write songs of her own, inheriting burned CDs from older classmates and finding a portal to another world.
“Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind” captures a rare sense of purpose and ambition for a debut record, managing to feel cozily familiar while still packed full of surprises. And in her gently playful and emotionally resonant performances, Bollinger sounds as enraptured by the mystery as anyone.
“To Your Own Devices” by Kate Bollinger from her album ‘Songs From A Thousand Frames Of Mind’, out September 27th on Ghostly International.
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has unveiled a previously unreleased rendition of The English Beat’s 1982 hit “Save It for Later,” it is featured in the second episode of FX’s The Bear, season 3. This version, teased in the show’s trailer, marks Vedder’s contribution to the series, which has previously used Pearl Jam tracks like “Animal” and a live rendition of “Come Back” in earlier seasons.
Details about this new recording of “Save It for Later,” including the saxophone soloist, has not been fully disclosed yet. Eddie Vedder shared an image on Instagram of what appears to be a 7-inch vinyl single of “Save It for Later,” credited to his Seattle Surf Co. label.
Pearl Jam has incorporated elements of the song into their performances of “Better Man” since 1996, and the new rendition concludes with Vedder briefly singing “can’t find a better man.”
The Fat Angel Sings 