The War on Drugs have steadily emerged as one of this century’s great rock and roll synthesists, removing the gaps between the underground and the mainstream, between the obtuse and the anthemic, making records that wrestle a fractured past into a unified and engrossing present. Led by Adam Granduciel, The New Yorker called them “the best American ‘rock’ band of this decade.”
Recorded on tour between February 2022 through December 2023 in America, UK, Europe and Australia, “Live Drugs Again” follows 2020’s “Live Drugs” and represents The War On Drugs at their ragged, righteous best. Bandleader Adam Granduciel comments, “Live Drugs Again” chronicles the evolution of these songs from the studio to stages all over the world; documenting our continued growth as a live band. This series ensures that these versions, and some of our favourite moments on stage, will live on.”
“Moon Mirror”, Nada Surf’s new record, has everything fans love and expect from them. Bittersweet anthems that begin quiet but explode into soaring harmonies? . Songs that are play-on-repeat heart punches?. Songs that are poetic and thought-provoking while also being absolute belt-at-the-top-of-your-voice-with-the-windows -down masterpieces? It’s all here.
For the past 30 years, Nada Surf has had the same core line-up: Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca, and Ira Elliot. “Moon Mirror”, is their first for New West Records, was produced by the band and Ian Laughton at Rockfield Studios in Wales. For the recording, Matthew, Daniel, and Ira were joined by their friend and longtime keyboard player Louie Lino.
“Moon Mirror” is a thrilling and moving leap forward for Nada Surf. The songs on the album are true to the human experience—as meaningful and mysterious and sometimes absurd as it is. There’s love, yes, but also grief, deep loneliness, doubt, wonder, and hope. These are not the songs of a band in their 20s. There is hard-won wisdom here, and hard-won belief in possibility—the kind that comes from falling down and getting back up.
Matthew Caws – Vocals, Guitar Daniel Lorca – Bass Ira Elliot – Drums Louie Lino – Keyboards
“Feed My Release,” a new single and visualizer from “Below a Massive Dark Land”,her forthcoming second album. Naima says of the song, “‘Feed My Release’ is mostly about regret. It’s a simple song I thought wasn’t worth recording for a long time until I started singing it with violinist Oliver Hamilton, and his harmonies brought it to life. Then, Holly Whitaker joined along with her amazing voice, as well as Cassidy Hansen, Clem Appleby, and Meitar Wegman, adding their parts, and the song in its current form was born! It’s a very collaborative arrangement & recording; everyone’s contribution to it is really their own.”
“Below a Massive Dark Land “ will be available Friday, September 27th, 2024, worldwide through Sub Pop and Memorials of Distinction. “Below…” is the follow-up to “Giant Palm“, one of 2022’s most critically acclaimed debuts.
Naima’s previously announced international tour dates for the summer and autumn of 2024 to support “Below a Massive Dark Land” Friday, December 13th in Paris at La Boule Noire. Along the way, Naima will perform solo (September 8th-15th), as a duo with Oliver Hamilton (November 6th), and with a four-piece band (November 7th-December 13th).
“Feed My Release” by Naima Bock From the upcoming album ‘Below a Massive Dark Land,’ out September 27th on Sub Pop Records
One of Mali’s most cherished and acclaimed bands, Songhoy Blues have today announced the release of their fourth album, “Héritage“. Released on Friday 17th January 2025,the 11-track album sees them reaching into the past to bring forward something more traditional, contemplative, soulful and unquestionably the band’s most transcendent release to date. It features some of Mali’s most renowned musicians & vocalists, including Afel Bocoum, Rokia Koné, Neba Solo, Madou Diabaté and more.
Talking about ‘Issa’, the first track to be taken from the album, Songhoy Blues shares:
“ISSA” means the river in the Songhoy language, to which we pay a vibrant tribute. This is why we are appealing for the river to be kept clean, for it to be known that it plays an important role in the lives of the people in the areas of fishing, agriculture and livestock farming. It is also used by living beings who also have the right to life, so let us avoid throwing toxic waste into the river because it covers a world for which we are the spokespeople. Water is the source of life for all species, so let’s keep our rivers clean. We are so thankful for the 2 rivers that flow through our country.
Thanks to you, Issa, for making many things in life possible.
“Héritage“, sees one of Mali’s most lauded groups move into a more acoustic & creative re-imagining of the “desert blues” style that has brought them global acclaim; it represents a marked contrast to the heavier sound of their prior album, and deeper exploration of their musical roots.
Charismatic, articulate and creative, the band burst onto the scene in 2013 with a powerful style and stage manner once described as “Timbuktu Punk”. Their music deals with issues of life and love in Mali, typically through the filter of five-note scales, rock rhythms, gritty vocals, and glittering guitar. While these elements remain present in their new album “Héritage“, they share the stage with more prominent & intimate grooves, sounds, instrumentation & vocal stylings from different ethnic traditions from around the country.
The Songhoy are an ethnicity living along the bend of the Niger river in northern Mali (their language is Songhai, hence the two spellings that are often used interchangeably) and Songhoy music is one of the backbones of the “desert blues” sound. With “Héritage“, Songhoy Blues pay tribute to some of the great musicians of the past, whose work continues to inspire them, giving “a big thank you to the ancestors who bequeathed works of art so that future generations could orient themselves’.
The experience of being in Bamako, an intensely musical city, with a melting pot of music, has led Songhoy Blues to rethink their own understanding of the concept of tradition. It does not come from one single source. “The mixing up of cultures didn’t begin today” comments lead guitarist Garba Touré. Migration and forced displacement also bring new perspectives to the notion of heritage in their music.
“Héritage” was recorded in the Remote Records Studio and Studio Moffou in Bamako, with co-producer Paul Chandler, and draws on the remarkable wealth of musical talent in the city. The album presents new compositions and reworkings of old classics. It is infused with the ethereal sounds of various traditional instruments, all in the hands of great Malian masters: kora (harp), soku (one-string fiddle), kamalengoni (8 string youth harp), flute, Senufo xylophone, and calabash percussion, plus guest vocalists.
Floating in and out are traces of takamba, the wondrous dance of the Tuareg; plus wassoulou music, Mande griot music, Senufo dance and more. Unexpectedly, a steel guitar wanders in, sounding eerily like the voice of the desert. All these tone colours are brilliantly woven into a rich tapestry which is both familiar and unexpected. All their songs have some element of social critique. “We are artists, we observe our society and we comment on it, giving advice and critiquing where necessary. This is our role.” says the guitarist Touré.
Nadia Reid returns with a new track, “Changed Unchained“, her first new music for four years and first for new label Chrysalis Records. Along with the track, Reid has announced details of a March 2025 headline tour of the UK and EU.
Joan Shelley returns with the “Mood Ring” EP is released by No Quarter on October 4th Shelley says the title track was inspired by: “the idea that heat and time are interlinked. That they tug and warp each other in space. I had read about block universe theory and it bothered me—if it were true, how do we really change anything? The song wove its own little message in response: this sense that all of us, our web of connections and the friction of our relationships, are the fuel that propels us through time… and that inevitably we are consumed by it. But what a spectacular thing to get a chance to ignite this vast, incomprehensible space with our lives. To have gotten an invitation to be here at all.”
releases October 4th, 2024
James Elkington – percussion, keys, bass, vocal harmony Nathan Salsburg – acoustic guitar, electric guitar Julia Purcell – harmonium Lou Krippenstapel – violin Jim Marlowe – Moog Joan Shelley – acoustic and nylon string guitars, baritone ukulele, kalimba, piano, vocal harmony
Among many highlights, Laura Barton profiles the remarkable redemption story of Christopher Owens, the former frontman with indie-rock classicists Girls, and whose new album “I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair” is one of my favourite records of the year so far. Elsewhere, I’m very happy to have found time to write a feature on psychedelic drone outsiders Spacemen 3, who according to one admirer, were nothing less than “the greatest English band of the late ’80s”. There’s more, of course – Van Morrison, Michael Kiwanuka, Peter Perrett as well as Steve Cropper, Suede, the Lijadu Sisters, Chuck Prophet and a rare meeting of minds between Gruff Rhys and Bill Ryder-Jones.
“No Name” happens to be the most straightforward rock & roll album Jack White has delivered in some time, a set of 13 tough guitar-based tunes with an abundance of swagger and a kick that melds the punky minimalism of the White Stripes with his well-documented obsession with Led Zeppelin. An enthusiastic return to the familiar, though it doesn’t play like a regression so much as an artist embracing their strengths and having a good time doing so.
‘No Name’ is the sixth studio album from Jack White, founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded at White’s Third Man Studio throughout 2023 and 2024, and released by Third Man Records. Following the surprise limited release on blue vinyl at the start of August, standard CD and vinyl formats are officially released this week.
Jack White has shared a music video for his latest single, “That’s How I’m Feeling,” which is featured on his recent released album “No Name” (despite it being called “No Name,” it has a name, which is “No Name“—heady stuff!). The deceptively simple new track is built around a melodic bass line and guitar parts that dance around its steady undercurrent. “When I’m in my home, I need the strength to be alone,” White sings before the track goes boom and turns into a thrashy blues-rock banger.
White and his band have a number of new pop-ups occurring across the UK to supplement their tour dates in the area.
Moaning Lisa is composed of Charlie Versegi (singer/guitarist), Hayley Manwaring (singer/bassist) Ellen Chan (lead guitarist) and Hayden Fritzlaff (drummer). Renowned for creating an atmosphere entirely of their own, the band deftly combines a garage rock, grunge fantasy with ‘one massive, cosy,
