The Fat Angel Sings

I am happy to say that the new Restorations album kicks an immense amount of ass. This is about as good of an opening track as we are going to get this year. Restorations were a big part of that burgeoning Philly scene in the 2010s and henceforth. Algernon Cadwallader’s Joe Reinhart (later of Hop Along) worked on their early stuff as well, so you know they would be worth their weight in gold. And as the years rolled by, call them ‘dad rock’ or whatever, they always lived up to the building. True Americana rock ‘n roll, with nostalgic cuts and a post-rock hue that fans of The Gaslight Anthem, Well, with their fifth EP — aptly titled “Restorations” (which cements their first self-titled as LP1) — finally released, it’s safe to say Restorations haven’t lost any of their magic.

Now, let me preface this by saying, LP2 is a juggernaut. A titan of a record few bands could ever live up to. The fourth full-length, oddly titled LP5000 though was less angsty and felt like a sonic shift — nothing too far gone but a simple reminder that bands do evolve and ache for something new. This album feels like the best middle ground someone could ask for who is familiar with their archive.

Off the cuff, the band’s strength is on display with “Field Recordings” post-rock gem that nods to songs like “Nonbeliever” — quiet when need be, but melodic chaos as it swells. This gives way for songs like “Cured” — dynamic shout alongs and that effervescent, smokey bar energy that is, for want of a better word, Its vintage Restorations. I have always enjoyed that songs like these are rough, not too anthem-y, and just catchy enough in their call-and-response nature. Of course, I think their shorter, punchier tracks are straight-up jams, too. Not everything needs to be loud, explosive bangers, right?

“The Cost” is one of their most remarkably-written jams. At this point, I’m not gushing. Sure, there are gorgeous soundscapes but a few tracks do lose some momentum along the way. But all in all, Restorations (working with Retro City Studios, Spring Garden Studios, The Greenhouse and Mission Control Mastering) are every bit as good as when they polished their tunes back home at Miner Street Recordings. The music is still lush, nuanced and hopefully optimistic. Even the nihilistic parts that hint there is no light at the end of the tunnel but that we still have to do our best to enjoy the harsh rigours of life in this reality resonate with a meaning and sentiment.

I was not familiar with Lizzy McAlpine’s game, I must say, before recently. Sure, there was that better-than-the-original cover of “A Little Bit of Everything” last year. But good lord, where to even start with this tune? Just hiding punch after well-timed punch in the strings and hushed vocals. And then… it just breaks open with warmth. More, please.

Lizzy McAlpine returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform the title track off her forthcoming album, “Older”. Watch it below.

The performance, which featured the singer-songwriter backed only by a pianist and guitarist, marked the live debut of “Older.”  The full album is set to arrive on April 5th via RCA Records. In recent weeks, McAlpine also dropped the moody and restrained single “I Guess” as another look into the project.

Writing and recording “Older” was one of the most creatively fulfilling and moving experiences of my entire life. i brought half of this song to Mason Stoops & Taylor Mackall and within 20 minutes we had the full thing. we recorded three takes, just the three of us in a room, no headphones or click or anything. you can listen to the third take now. pure, pure creativity and love.

Out June 21st via Rhino, six days before the album’s original release on June 27th, 1974, The Grateful Dead will release “From The Mars Hotel” (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) which features remastered audio by Grammy Award-winning engineer David Glasser, with Plangent Processes tape restoration and speed correction. Eight months after the release of “Wake Of The Flood”, the Grateful Dead followed up that masterpiece with the second album on their Grateful Dead Records label, “From The Mars Hotel”. To this day, most of the songs on From The Mars Hotel are played frequently by the band members as they continue to bring the music to the people, and during the Grateful Dead’s touring career, more than half of the songs were important parts of their live repertoire.  Although “Loose Lucy” had a 15 year hiatus 1975-1989. Phil’s two songs on the album are often played live these days when Phil performs with his rotating cast of Friends, and these songs, “Pride Of Cucamonga” and “Unbroken Chain” are elicit ecstatic responses. These would be the final two Phil-sung songs on a Grateful Dead studio album.

Produced for release by Grateful Dead Legacy Manager and Audio Archivist, David Lemieux, the deluxe edition also includes demos of “China Doll” and “Wave That Flag” – the song that became “U.S. Blues” – as well as a previously unreleased live performance of the Grateful Dead at University of Nevada-Reno on 5/12/1974.

As the band filled an outdoor football stadium with epic highs like a huge “China Cat Sunflower”, “I Know You Rider,” “Mars Hotel” cuts including “U.S. Blues” and classics such as “Brown-Eyed Women,” “Tennessee Jed,” “Mississippi Half-Step,” “Truckin’” and “Sugar Magnolia,” a massive wind storm was no match for the Wall of Sound.

Designed to improve the listening and performance experience at what were becoming larger gigs and longer, more dynamic and varied sets, the Wall of Sound required 21 stage hands, and underlined the resounding effect the Grateful Dead were having on American audiences and culture at the time, even as the entire operation remained homespun and humble. 

In addition to the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, “From The Mars Hotel Remaster) will be released on June 21st as a single 180-gram black vinyl LP, limited edition Neon Pink vinyl, limited edition “Ugly Rumors” custom vinyl exclusive to Dead.net, and a specially-designed picture disc created in partnership with zoetrope pioneer Drew Tetz. When viewed with a camera or strobe, the zoetrope LP will appear to animate, and can be pre-ordered along with the rest of “From The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Remaster”) the Dead’s nearly complete, previously unreleased show from May 12th, 1974, at the University of Nevada in Reno, playing an outdoor football stadium during a huge wind storm.

Johnny Winter’s supervision of Muddy Waters’ comeback in 1977 was far more productive than the superstar recordings of “The London Muddy Waters Sessions” of 1972 (and even more so Howlin’ Wolf’s collaborations with British musicians the year prior). Recorded with the late Texas bluesman alongside members of the blues icon’s own band–plus harpist James Cotton with whom the albino Winter had worked before on the album “Hard Again” that was in fact the first of three such releases (in addition to a collection of live recordings) and the initial project on Blue Sky Records following Waters’ departure from his long-time home label Chess Records. Rather than demonstrate health issues that would afflict him later this same year, the concert clip from 1981 exhibits all the joy and pathos in the best work of the man born McKinley Morganfield.

Here you’ll find Chicago blues titan Muddy Waters on his home turf near the end of his life. This 1981 performance (Waters died in ’83) features the final version of Muddy’s band, including pianist Lovie Lee and harmonica man George “Mojo” Buford, but there’s also a guest appearance from blues-rock guitar hero Johnny Winters, who had produced a trio of late-’70s albums that gave Waters a comeback of sorts. The set list includes plenty of Muddy’s classics, like the carnal stomp “Mannish Boy” and the frenzied “Got My Mojo Working.”

“The One & Only” Scott H. Biram showcases the singer’s signature unapologetic style. Tracks like “No Man’s Land” describe the hazards of growing up poor in a small Texas town, breathing the fumes from oil wells and brush fires. “Inside a Bar” captures the feel of an empty saloon on a slow Monday night. “I was going for the sound of loneliness and alcoholism colliding.”

“I view my albums as collages, combining elements from punk, metal, blues, country, and bluegrass. They reflect the diverse aspects of life – it’s not a concept but an expression,” explained Biram.

With “The One & Only” Scott H. Biram the singer once again proves to be an unstoppable force and demonstrates his unique ability to live up to the traditions of rough-hewn, individualistic Texas-borne music.

With the new album “Wiggle Your Fingers”, GospelbeacH is back with their 70s Laurel Canyon sounds drifting down to Hollywood in the early 80s – this time the Lonesome LA Cowboy vibes reflect the neon lights of New Wave, Power-Pop, and Post-Punk. The Los Angeles group was formed in 2014 by Brent Rademaker, Tom Sanford and ex Cardinals Neal Casal all from the Beachwood Sparks camp. Over the years has featured many harmonious friends, luminaries and guest stars over the years. The sound harks back to several eras of California sounds, folk-rock, sunshine pop country-rock and of course, the Paisley Underground.

GospelbeacH was formed in 2014, their sound harkens back to several eras of California music, from folk-rock and sunshine pop, to country-rock and the Paisley Underground. The band has featured many California music luminaries, but at the center of the spinning wheel is singer-guitarist Brent Rademaker, a veteran of the southern California rock scene and a founding member of iconic country-rock band Beachwood Sparks.

The album will be released through Curation Records on April 26th. Lead single “Hang Thyme” is out now, accompanied by a music video.

GospelbeacH debuted with an album that paid homage to the spirit and sound of early-’70s Grateful Dead (2015’s “Pacific Surf Line“), followed up by 2017’s Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers-inspired “Another Summer of Love” (Voted Shindig Mag #1 Album of The Year). In 2019, the band added lush, Laurel Canyon-inspired sounds to the mix on their third LP “Let It Burn” and 2021’s “Jam Jam” EP found the band just as adept at bubblegum and glam-rock, notably on the single “Albatross Baby”.

In 2024 Gospelbeach is back with “Wiggle Your Fingers” (”the title came to me in the middle of the night while listening to the Meat Puppets play live on the Howard Stern Radio Show”, professes Rademaker).

On her fourth album, west coast artist Jessica Pratt expands the scope of her artistry, placing her sharpest songs to date within an ever-broadening pool of influences including spectral ’60s pop, Hollywood psychedelia and bossa nova. Whereas Pratt’s 2019 record, “Quiet Signs”, floated elegantly in the ether, “Here in the Pitch” is entrenched in more earthen characteristics, as the title suggests, and her craft is emboldened with a newfound gravitas.

The record, Pratt says, takes in “big panoramic sounds that make you think of the ocean and California”

Featuring nine tracks, the record makes use of timpani, glockenspiel, baritone saxophone and flute, and is said to feature “big panoramic sounds that make you think of the ocean and California” in Pratt’s own words. To mark the album’s announcement, she’s shared a video for lead track ‘Life Is’, Describing the song as “a statement of intention”, Pratt explained the lyrics thusly in a statement: “Life came and went and you didn’t land where you thought you would. It’s the third act and you’re trying to climb back on the horse before it gets dark.”

The third album from Jessica Pratt on classic black vinyl. The album was written in Los Angeles and recorded at Gary’s Electric in Brooklyn, NY over 2017/2018.

From the album ‘Here in the Pitch,’ out May 3, 2024 on Mexican Summer/City Slang Records

Ducks Ltd.’s acclaimed new album “Harm’s Way” is out today via Carpark Records. The Toronto duo’s sophomore LP has been earning glowing press, including features at Stereogum, FLOOD Magazine, Brooklyn Vegan, Exclaim!, while its singles “Heavy Bag,” “Train Full of Gasoline,” “Hollowed Out,” and “The Main Thing” have caught the attention of Paste, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Uproxx, among others.

Ducks Ltd. make inviting and frenetic guitar pop for when life feels overwhelming. While the band’s songs are ostensibly breezy, a palpable anxiety boils underneath that communicates something deeper about everyday existence.

On “Harm’s Way”, the duo of McGreevy and guitarist Evan Lewis hones in on interpersonal and societal collapses, urban decay, and the near-impossibility of keeping a level head when everything around you seems to be falling apart. Even with its often dark subject matter, the album is Ducks Ltd.’s most vividly rendered and collaborative collection yet. It’s an undeniable evolution for the band, not just in how these songs soar, but in their entire writing and recording processes. Composed on tour while supporting acts like Nation of Language, Illuminati Hotties, and Archers of Loaf, “Harm’s Way” displays the band’s finely tuned songcraft and well-earned, road-tested confidence. 

The band, fortified by this strong sense of sonic identity and a self-assurance in their new material—and in contrast to their acclaimed 2021 debut LP “Modern Fiction” and their 2019 EP “Get Bleak”, both self-recorded and self-produced in a Toronto basement—wanted to bring “Harm’s Way” to life in a new city, with an outside producer, and with some of their favourite musicians. Working with producer Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Deeper, Lala Lala), they enlisted a marquee cast of Windy City collaborators to round out the tracks on “Harm’s Way“, including: Finom’s Macie Stewart (violin, string arrangements); Ratboys’ Marcus Nuccio (drums on most tracks); Dehd’s Jason Balla (who helped arrange the backing vocals, to which he also contributed); and backing vocals from Julia Steiner (Ratboys), Nathan O’Dell (Dummy), Margaret McCarthy (Moontype), Rui De Magalhaes (Lawn), and Lindsey-Paige McCloy (Patio). The band’s touring drummer, Jonathan Pappo, and bassist Julia Wittman also appear on the LP.

Dent May is back with a new collaboration, a track entitled “Coasting On Fumes” that features Jordana and is out to announce his new album “What’s For Breakfast?” (due out March 29th via Carpark Records).

Accompanied by a charming video in which Jordana co-stars, the track sees Dent May hit a new peak of power pop perfection. Opening with a verse sung by Jordana, the track rides a laid back jangle towards an irresistible chorus that beautifully encapsulates May’s untarnished brilliance as a pop songwriter.

Every morning when Dent May wakes up, the first thing he says is, “What’s for breakfast?” For the Los Angeles-based songwriter and pop auteur, this question is part inside joke with his girlfriend, part sitcom-style catchphrase, and part mantra about getting up every day and persevering in the face of good or bad is happening around you in your life. It’s also the title of his sixth album, which is out on March 29th, 2024 via Carpark Records. “What’s For Breakfast?” is May’s most immediate, nostalgic, and rollicking LP yet, one that’s concerned with breaking daily routines and rediscovering the joys of songwriting. 

Over the past 17 years, May has been a consistently adventurous and prolific bedroom pop pioneer and connoisseur of impeccably crafted melodies. Though his songs are always well-written and comfortable, with “What’s For Breakfast?”, May has freed himself up to more playfully experiment with new and vintage musical inspirations. “I’ve occupied a lot of different lanes over the years,” says May. “I’ve always been drawn to making kaleidoscopic pop inspired by old soul, disco, country, whatever. This time around, I was tapping into music from my childhood, like The Strokes, Weezer and Elephant 6 Collective bands.” By revisiting the music of his youth—energetic and infectious guitar rock—he found a vibrant palate to explore for this new LP. 

“What’s For Breakfast?” marks another first for Dent in being his most collaborative LP yet. Alongside guest appearances from Jimmy Whispers and co-writes with Paul Cherry, are two standout singles with Jordana and Pearl & The Oysters respectively. Jordana assists on the wistful “Coasting on Fumes,” which captures the feeling of being stuck in a rut while the yearning “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun” guests Pearl and the Oysters. “My first album came out almost 15 years ago, so bringing in others to help out is crucial to keep things interesting,” says May. “I’m constantly falling back in love with music through the eyes of others. This album is about remembering why I like music.”

the single from Dent May’s album ‘What’s For Breakfast?’ out March 29th, 2024 on Carpark Records.

The Edgar Broughton Band burst on to the UK music scene in 1969 and were trail blazers for the underground counterculture, performing rock music with a social conscience. Hailing from Warwick and featuring EDGAR BROUGHTON (guitars, vocals), STEVE BROUGHTON (drums, vocals) and ARTHUR GRANT (bass, vocals), their hard-hitting approach over a series of hit albums for EMI’s Harvest label and appearances at the legendary Hyde Park Free Concerts earned them many loyal fans and several hit singles (including their anthem ‘Out Demons Out!’) and the reputation of being a true “people’s band”. In 1970 the band was expanded to include guitarist VICTOR UNITT.

The band’s relationship with the BBC began in January when they recorded their first session for John Peel’s Top Gear show. Peel was an early champion of the band, and this session appeared some months before their debut album ‘WASA WASA!’ Over the next four years The Edgar Broughton Band recorded a number of sessions for Top Gear and Sounds Of The 70s along with two memorable BBC In Concert appearances.

This new official 4CD set gathers together these recordings, all newly remastered from the BBC masters and features 32 previously unreleased tracks.

Coming in May, Edgar Broughton Band’s Gone Blue – The BBC Sessions. A 4CD boxset featuring all the surviving sessions recorded for the BBC between 1969-1973. The set features 32 previously unreleased tracks, all newly remastered from BBC Masters.