The Fat Angel Sings

King Crimson “Dicipline” their 1981 album release. King Crimson reinvented after a series of classics from the late 60s and early 70s, with the 1981 release “Discipline”, which was ahead of its time and still sounds remarkably adventurous and urgent Robert Fripp revived his band at the beginning of the 80s and moved in with drummer Bill Bruford, bassist Tony Levin and guitarist and vocalist Adrian Belew have some top players. Roughly speaking, the oeuvre of the legendary band consists of the seven albums that were made between 1969 and 1974, the three albums that date from the 80s and the three albums that were made from the 90s onwards.

King Crimson had delivered a series of classics in the first six years of its existence, because in “The Court Of The Crimson King” (1969), “In The Wake Of Poseidon” (1970), “Lizard” (1970), “Islands” (1971), “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” (1973), “Starless And Bible Black” (1974) and “Red” (1974) can be called that. These are albums that were labelled among the best symphonic rock or prog rock at the time,

On September 22nd in 1981: UK progressive rock band King Crimson released their 8th studio album, ‘Discipline’, on E.G. Records (UK)/Warner Bros. (US) – their first following a 7-year hiatus; only founder Robert Fripp & later addition Bill Bruford had remained from previous incarnations, joined by Adrian Belew (guitar, lead vocals) & Tony Levin (bass guitar, Chapman Stick, backing vocals); the band displaying a more updated ’80s new wave-oriented sound led by the College Radio & progressive FM hit, “Elephant Talk”, the album served as a gateway for ’80s youth into the King Crimson catalogue.

The still fascinating-sounding “Discipline” is largely determined by the unique guitar work of Adrian Belew who had played with David Bowie and Talking Heads in the years before.

I held King Crimson’s early work in high regard, but I have a little more to do with the three albums the band made during the ’80s, if only because these albums have stood the test of time even better. “Discipline” from 1981, “Beat” from 1982 and “Three Of A Perfect Pair” (1984) are seen as a trilogy and are made in the same composition. It is an album that was light years ahead of its time in 1981 and that still sounds fresh and urgent more than forty years after its release. “Discipline” has a unique sound in every way and it is a sound that is largely determined by the special guitar playing of Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew.

King Crimson’s songs on “Discipline” are often of the inimitable and somewhat nervous kind, but the songs on the album are also full of beautiful moments. This album blew my mind with the individual performanecs of Bill Bruford – the human drum machine for starters – plus the glorious vocals of Adrian Belew – not to mention Robert Fripp’s guitar – the subject matter, Adrian Belew’s vocals occasionally remind “Discipline” of the early work of Talking Heads, but the album also has a unique sound, which would also define King Crimson’s next two albums. The songs on “Discipline” often make a somewhat rushed impression, which is reinforced by the special guitar work on the album, but with Matte Kudasai “Discipline” also contains a particularly atmospheric ballad.

British musician Cleo Sol made one of the very best albums of the year in 2021 entitled “Mother” now with a new release Cleo shows with “Heaven” released this week that she has n awful a lot of talent.

“Mother” came out strong more than two years ago with the more than an hour-long album, which absolutely deserved the title masterpiece. “Heaven”, released just this week is is music of a special beauty, because just like “Mother”, “Heaven” showcases another high-quality album vocally, musically and productionally. “Heaven” is a bit more soberly coloured but it is again a sultry and brooding album that raises the wind chill by many degrees.

In the summer of 2021, “Mother”, was the second album of musician Cleo Sol, was released.

After the twelve tracks and more than an hour of music from “Mother“, it was a bit of a setback that this time we have to do it with nine tracks and only half an hour of music, but of course the quality is more important than the quantity and with that quality it is good again this time. For the production of Heaven, Cleo Sol again called on Inflo, which results in a beautiful sounding album.

Cleo Sol himself was responsible for the instrumentation and vocals and both are of a high level. Compared to the previous two albums, Outside of acoustic guitar and piano you mainly hear some extra bass and drums and here and there some extra layers of vocals. The sound on the album may be relatively sobre, but it’s also a warm sound that wraps around you, especially when the rhythms are a bit more uptempo. It is a mainly acoustic sound, which sounds a bit jazzy, although Cleo Sol has certainly not renounced the influences from soul and R&B.

Whether “Heaven” is as good as the great “Mother” I don’t dare to say yet, but I think Cleo Sol’s new album is getting better and more interesting.

The new issue of MOJO, out now, is a significant one: our 30th anniversary special. It was humbling, as we called up old friends and planned the issue, to be reminded of how much our magazine means to so many of you. Jack White remembered saying to Meg White, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get on the cover of MOJO?” Kamasi Washington and John Grant told us about the validation brought by winning MOJO’s Album Of The Year. Readers all over the world sent pictures of their entire collections of MOJOs, from issue 1.

Such love encouraged us to indulge ourselves a little this month. Hence MOJO 360 contains a star-studded trawl through our musical highlights of the past 30 years, including new interviews with Robert Plant, Blur, Jack White, Beck, Wilco, Bill Callahan, Paul Weller, Arctic Monkeys, Kamasi Washington, Noel Gallagher, Wet Leg, Nile Rodgers, Fleet Foxes and many more.

We’ve also had a speculative punt at the artists who’ll sustain us for the next 30 years, ranked our best CDs, caught up with our first Editor, Paul Du Noyer, and revisited some design cues from MOJO 1. This month’s CD, meanwhile, compiles 15 highlights from some of our favourite Buried Treasure albums – and the good news is that this and all our future CDs will be available worldwide again, wherever you buy MOJO.

In a changing world, and a radically transforming musical landscape, we hope we’ve provided some consolation and stability these past three decades. Incredible music continues to be made, and we’ll be here to celebrate it as long as you are. Thanks again for everything.

Hyperpop provocateurs Frost Children have announced a new album called “Hearth Room” which was written in tandem with their True Panther debut Speed Run released earlier this year, and which serves as its companion release.

Lead single “Lethal” kicks off with layers of electronically manipulated vocals before a number of instruments enter the fray, tuning up like a digital orchestra sent from the future. The track is an almost straightforward alt-rock banger, a curveball from the band who’ve quickly become embraced for their maximalist electronic kitchen-sink compositions.

The project was self-recorded this past spring in a cabin in the Poconos, and mixed by Al Carlson (Oneohtrix Point Never, Jessica Pratt, Laurel Halo) in Brooklyn.

‘Hearth Room’ the new album by Frost Children is out November 17th, 2023

The former Transgressive/ Heavenly Records act return with their fourth studio album in September on Alcopop! Records this year – and it’s definitely their best yet, all raw-throat punk, stoner/doom psych, riffing swagger, and perhaps just the tiniest hint of delicious folk twinkling… Just get it in your ears. It’s glorious. The Wytches continue unabated on Alcopop! with their latest batch of punk and stoner doom psych. Album number four from the Brighton stoners carries on where the other three albums left off all raucous riffs and swagger but this time with just a hint of mellow folk meandering. 

The Wytches need very little introduction, but it is with no little excitement that we welcome back Brighton’s purveyors of melody for album number four – all raucous and unruly, yet glistening with jagged edged poetic wistfulness and undeniable emotional clout.

The Brown Acid series is full of rare and obscure hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks primarily from the late-60s and early-70s and is the missing link between Nuggets and Killed By Death (or Pebbles and Bloodstains). For the most part, the bands included on Brown Acid, released one 45 back in the day and broke up, never to be heard from again. The archeology of the project has only just begun when the record is discovered. After that, the long and sometimes very arduous process of tracking the surviving band members is where the real work begins. These days, anyone can put together a good playlist. Getting the rights to do it legitimately from the artists themselves is the part of this job that I’m most proud of. Getting to hear the story of the band firsthand and be the first person to offer these people compensation for their mind-blowing contributions to RocknRoll history is priceless.

Here’s more of the nitty gritty on this particular volume:

Lucky number 17? You better believe it. We here at Brown Acid have been scouring the highways and byways of America for even more hidden stashes of psych/garage/proto- punk madness from the so-called Aquarian Age. There’s no flower power here, though—just acid casualties, rock stompers and major freakouts. As always, the songs have been officially licensed, and all the artists get paid.

Kicking off this trip, Grapple’s “Ethereal Genesis” is a heavy psych gem from 1969 written by J. Bruce Svoboda, a.k.a. Jay Bruce, formerly of The Hangmen and The Five Canadians (who were actually the same San Antonio band). The latter’s 1966 garage favorite “Writing on the Wall” has been endlessly covered, but Grapple were never heard from again.

With a guitar riff that blatantly rips off Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath,” Image’s mostly instrumental lysergic obscurity “Witchcraft ’71” (originally unveiled that very year) also boasts a horror-movie organ intro, a voodoo drum break and some championship chanting.

Private press heads might recall late Image drummer John Beke from his ’80s reemergence with country rockers Crossfyre. Stone Hedge were a seven-piece rock band out of Michigan that featured three brothers—Joe, Jimmy and Paul Cipcic. “Smokey Bear” is their 1972 tribute to the official mascot of the U.S. Forest Services—not to mention the A side of their sole single—and it recalls the kind of organ-drenched swamp jam that soundtracked many a Burt Reynolds flick back in the day. If you think being a Southern rock band from Milwaukee doesn’t make much sense, that’s probably why Crossfire changed their sound along with their name—to Bad Boy—after signing with United Artists. Bad Boy’s severely underappreciated second album, “Back To Back”, is a 1978 hard rock jewel, but you can hear their boogie-woogie roots on this rare 1975 single.

With a band name like Primevil and song title like “Too Dead To Live,” you probably expect some gnarly proto-metal riffage. Instead, you a get a harmonica-drenched, soul-infused rock rave-up from 1972. Primevil would release their sole LP two years later: Entitled “Smokin’ Bats at Campton’s”, it’s a reference to their trusty singer, harp player (and bat smoker?), Dave Campton. Brown Acid regulars already know Pegasus from their appearance with “The Sorcerer” on our Seventh Trip.

“Ready to Rave” is the flipside to that 1972 single, in which they explain how they like their whiskey cold and their women hot. It’s another killer glimpse of what might have been if these one-and-done Baltimore hard rockers had been able to keep it together.

One of two obscure singles released by Texas musician Bobby Mabe in 1969 (the other appears under the name The Outcasts), “I’m Lonely” delivers a heavy dose of vocal soul to the otherwise psych-garage presentation. Fans of fellow Houstonians the Moving Sidewalks—whom Bobby and his Outcasts may well have gigged with—will especially dig this one.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, may not be known as a cultural mecca, but they did give us Truth & Janey. This deadly hard rock trio delivered their holy grail full-length, “No Rest for the Wicked”, back in 1976. “Around and Around” is a Chuck Berry cover that originally appeared on a 1973 single the band released under the earlier name Truth.

Originally released in 1973, “High School Letter” is the debut single from San Diego rock squad Glory. This infectious bonehead cruncher features future Beat Farmer Jerry Raney and the original rhythm section of Iron Butterfly in bassist Greg Willis and drummer Jack Pinney. Glory is what they got up to after their former bandmates left for L.A.’s garden of Eden.

“Jack the Ripper” is a mercilessly bootlegged Cleveland classic from 1978 with a serrated punk edge and vocals that recall Mick Blood of Aussie savages the Lime Spiders. Or maybe it’s the other way around—the Lime Spiders formed the year after Strychnine carved off this lethal paean to the infamous Whitechapel slasher of olde.

Neil Young returned to his old stomping grounds, The Roxy in West Hollywood, Calif., to celebrate the long-admired venue’s 50th anniversary. Notably, Young and the Santa Monica Flyers served as the opening band during the club’s start, and the original sets were turned into “Roxy: Tonight’s The Night”. Beckoning to their shared history, Young and company returned to the location last night, delivering a complete run-through of two famed studio LPs, “Tonight’s The Night” and “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere”. Most of the musicians who backed Young in 1973 returned for the 50th anniversary show, including drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot and multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren, who was originally supposed to be on tour with Bruce Springsteen before the Boss was forced to postpone dates.

Many of the songs Young performed at the Roxy hadn’t been played live in decades, or, in one case, ever at all. Naturally, “Mellow My Mind” unfolded before “Roll Another Number (For the Road)” and “Albuquerque.” The group of rockers landed on “New Mama” and then “Tired Eyes,” ultimately returning to “Tonight’s The Night” to close out the first part of the show.

After working through all the songs on the 1975 release album, Young and the band went back in time, picking 1969’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” as their follow-up. 

The line-up of musicians included Young, Micah Nelson, Nils Lofgren, Billy Talbot, and Ralph Molina. Prior to Wednesday night’s show, Young teased what was to come, adding a brief clip of the band delivering just a snippet of “Down By The River.” The night began with the title track off “Tonight’s The Night“. It continued to present material in the same order it came on the initial record, leading into “Speakin’ Out” and “World on a String,” followed by “Borrowed Tune” and “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown.” 

Just as the material appeared in the original song list, “Cinnamon Girl” kicked off the set,” followed by the title track and a special moment with the arrival of “Round & Round (Won’t Be Long),” which represented a debut for this unit of players.

A jammed-out eight-minute rendition of “Down By The River” came before “The Losing End” and “Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets).” For the night’s final song, the band ran through fan favourite, “Cowgirl in the Sand.” 

Neil Young & Crazy Horse The Roxy – Los Angeles 

September 20th, 2023

Set: [Tonight’s The Night] Tonight’s The Night, Speakin’ Out, World on a String, Borrowed Tune, Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown, Mellow My Mind, Roll Another Number (For the Road), Albuquerque, New Mama, Lookout Joe, Tired Eyes, Tonight’s the Night

[Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere] Cinnamon Girl, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Round & Round (I Won’t Be Long)+, Down By The River, The Losing End, Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets), Cowgirl in the Sand 

In an exciting comeback, the Jack Antonoff-led ensemble Bleachers have unveiled their latest musical offering, “Modern Girl.” The release is now available through the band’s new label, Dirty Hit and comes with an accompanying music video.
Hours before its release, the song was cryptically teased by Antonoff over three messages on Twitter; he wrote, “ok ready?” followed by “missed you horribly … been waiting so long to say this …..” and finally, “BLEACHERS ARE FUCKING BACK.”

The official announcement for “Modern Girl” offers a glimpse into what lies ahead on the forthcoming Bleachers album, which is currently shrouded in mystery, awaiting its official unveiling.

Notably, the accompanying music video for this track has been masterfully directed by Alex Lockett.

The upcoming release follows Bleachers’ LP, “Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night”, which was released July 2021. Since then, in recognition of his exceptional musical prowess, Antonoff secured the prestigious Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, not once but twice.

Additionally, since the debut of Bleachers’ last full-length project, Antonoff has embarked on an impressive journey of collaboration with some of the music industry’s brightest stars. He has graced projects by the likes of Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, the 1975, Florence and the Machine, and Maren Morris. Additionally, he also played a pivotal role in crafting the soundtrack for the animated sensation Minions: The Rise of Gru.

BLEACHERS Jack Antonoff Mikey Freedom Hart Evan Smith Michael “Riddles” Riddleberger Sean “Hutch” Hutchinson Azemobo “Zem” Audu

Crumb and Melody’s Echo Chamber have teamed up for a new single entitled “Le Temple Volant.” The psych-pop bop features the former group’s signature blend of dusty drum loops and jazz-inspired spontaneity, while Melody Prochet offers up a delightful near-falsetto that gives the song the feeling of floating through the clouds. Later on, Crumb vocalist Lila Ramani provides melodic support.

The song was co-written by Melody and the band, and is accompanied by a DIY home video-inspired visual directed by Phil McGill which, funnily enough, documents the first face-to-face meeting between Crumb and Melody (they recorded their performances for the track separately).

Both acts reflected on the collaboration, with Melody having said, “I remember the first time I heard Crumb’s music, it was the song ‘Locket’ that blew my mind.” The band added, “[Melody’s] music feels deeply nostalgic and so intertwined with that tender period of first starting the band.”

Despite the individual song writing powers exhibited time and again by its three members, nobody could’ve predicted the year boygenius has had since releasing their debut record “the record” back in March. In addition to the increasingly stadium-filling—and increasingly antic-filled—tours Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus have embarked on, one member has now been featured on two separate LPs by The National in 2023, one was briefly enlisted by Turnstile, and the other has directly addressed former President Obama as a war criminal when he listed “Not Strong Enough” on his summer playlist.

The trio are hitting the road for one last set of headlining shows alongside pals like MUNA, Sloppy Jane, and Palehound. Before then, though, they’ve shared an animated music video for their song “Cool About It” is a beautifully melancholic and piercing song that puts words to feelings often unexplained,

the video’s director Lauren Tsai shared. “It is an absolute dream to collaborate with the genius that is boygenius. I made animated videos on YouTube when I was 11 and I cannot imagine something I’d lose my mind over more if I could go back in time and tell myself.”