Released in 1996, this album definitively answers a question that has occasionally plagued the Cowboy Junkies: yes, they sound good, but do they rock? Though still laden with the melancholia that has marked previous efforts, this release is sonically dense, guitar-drenched, and good at high-volume levels. MargoTimmins’ voice has never been more expressive, and the lyrics shimmer with intensity. Although the band has occasionally touched on quiet moments reminiscent of fellow Canadian Neil Young, little they have done before this album approached the emotive wail of his louder efforts. The Cowboy Junkies have proven their versatility while retaining their unique sound.
For the first time Ever, “Lay It Down” is now available on vinyl. This is a very special album for us. It was the first with our new label Geffen Records and it set us on a trajectory away from the nascent Americana scene and towards something that was, once again, uniquely our own. It also contained our biggest radio hit, “A Common Disaster” (which was a trajectory of a different sort). We’ve teamed up with Real Gone Music and they have done a beautiful job with the re-release. It looks great and more importantly it sounds great.
The lyrics consider serious topics such as aging and death – so while it goes up tempo at times it falls back to the typical mid tempo mild downer over bass guitar sound that is after all the Junkies bread and butter. I have or have heard all of their releases, and it’s right at the top with “Whites Off Earth Now”, and in my mind better than the “Trinity Sessions”. Timmins voice has never been captured better than on this LP. She’s in control of the material, and spins it out with confidence and vigor.
‘Nostalgia’s Glass’ is the eleventh studio album from cult Manchester-born, Berlin-based post-punk group The Underground Youth, due out August 18th on Fuzz Club Records. “Nostalgia’s Glass” looks back at the music of The Underground Youth, forming new songs in a style reminiscent of the band’s past”, band leader Craig Dyer writes: “The aim became to create a collection of songs that paid homage to our back catalogue and attempted to dissect not only the positive but the negative elements of nostalgia, primarily the romanticisation of the past – be it the politics of a country, the controversial legacies of film and musical icons or the sentimental idealisation of long dead toxic relationships.”
The Underground Youth began in 2008 as the creative project of Craig Dyer. The band – Craig now joined by Olya Dyer (Drums), Leonard Kaage (Guitar/Producer) and Samira Zahidi (Bass) – have now released 11 albums and 4 EPs over the years, developing their unique sound which has ranged from cinematic lo-fi psychedelia to a raw and noisy, albeit romantically melancholic, form of post-punk. Shrouded in a dark aesthetic and the imagery of various art film movements, The Underground Youth have established a devoted global following, continuously built upon by their extensive touring schedule through Europe, Asia and North America.
North-East London singer, songwriter and producer Fran Lobo has announced the release of her long-awaited debut album ‘Burning It Feels Like.’ Released on August 18th via Heavenly Recordings.
Visceral, beguiling and dense with yearning, sometimes she glimmers like flames and sometimes she lets us fester in the ashes with her. An unflinching debut, Fran Lobo will have you feeling that burning too.
It is this sentiment and internal struggle which “Burning It Feels Like” ruminates on; interrogating, reflecting and making fun of herself for it. “I’m accentuating this slightly comical idea that, ‘oh, this person will save me!’”, she says. It’s a vividly drawn concept that plays out through her brilliantly mellifluous, elastic, looping voice over strange and stunning experimental pop that pulls from post-punk to lo-fi to shiny pop; touchstones include Kate Bush, Mariah Carey, Björk, Prince, Mica Levi, Tirzah, the warm spirituality of Alice Coltrane – and, of course, those starry-eyed Disney musicals.
Of Goan and Maharashtrian descent, Fran spent a lot of her childhood absorbing the sounds around her: her mum’s pop, Bollywood and R&B obsessions, her dad’s love of rock and country, her brother’s metal and nu-metal, alongside her own adoration for Spice Girls and TV shows like Girls Aloud-spawning Popstars: The Rivals. The result is that Fran’s own work is collagist and kaleidoscopic in nature, often taking unexpected twists into unfamiliar places, with songs sometimes imploding in on themselves. “Within every track, it became a theme of turning everything on its head; having an outro you wouldn’t expect, flipping the words a bit
The record was written and produced by Lobo, Released August 18th, 2023
On August 12th, 2011 Sonic Youth played their final US show on an outdoor stage overlooking the East River at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn. Fitting that their storied career would bookend with a panoramic view of New York City where it all began 30 years before, having left in their wake one of one of the most powerfully influential careers in rock music.
Following incredible sets from Kurt Vile and Wild Flag, the band took the stage. As the sun went down over the city, Sonic Youth ripped through a 17 song set that spanned from deep cuts off their first studio album and highlighting many other albums all the way through to their last, like a band with everything to prove. Or as Brooklyn Vegan’s Andrew Sacher said at the time: “While most bands who are thirty years into their career are either fading away or living off of the nostalgia of their older material, Sonic Youth continue to sound and perform as fresh as ever.”
Steve Shelley explains the uniquely career spanning set list of “Live in Brooklyn 2011” and how it came to be, as well as the importance of outdoor NYC summer shows in Sonic Youth’s legacy:
“This show was a culmination of a run of really special outdoor summertime shows in New York City for us, starting in ’92 with Summerstage in Central Park when we played with Sun Ra. For the WilliamsburgWaterfront show I wrote out the set list to present to the band and it was a lot of material we hadn’t played in a while, a lot of deep cuts, so I wasn’t sure if everybody would feel like doing it. After worrying about which songs the band might say yes or no to, I threw those concerns out the window and I just made a list of songs that I thought would be a great set. We practiced the week of the show at our space in Hoboken and put the set together. First we’d try and make sure we had a guitar in the song’s tuning, then we’d try to remember the arrangement and try and put it together, sometimes re-learning bar by bar. In the end I think the whole song list made it through. Even as early as ’86 and ’87 we stopped playing ‘Death Valley 69’ and ‘Brave Men Run’ with any regularity. We’d just get excited about new material coming into the set and songs would get ‘retired’ and wouldn’t get played again for years. So on this particular night in Brooklyn a lot of those retired songs and deep cuts got dusted off and played for this show. It turned out to be a pretty special event with a really special song list.”
The band would go on to fulfill a contracted festival run in South America a few months later but, by then, the group’s center was severed beyond repair and the festival appearances didn’t hold the same kind of weight.
“The stage was facing the East River from the Williamsburg, Brooklyn waterfront, and I recall the sun going down in the west during our set. It was a pretty magical, if kinda weird day. Fitting, somehow, that our ‘last show’ should be in New York City, our home and where it all began…” Lee Ranaldo
The Williamsburg Waterfront show would fondly become referred to as ‘The Last Show’ by fans and band alike, equally for its triumphant high energy performance, its unique and expansive set list and locale.
Newly remixed and remastered, “Live in Brooklyn 2011” is presented for the first time on 2xLP, 2xCD and 2xTape on Silver Current Records and digitally on Goofin,’ August 18th, 2023.
‘Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)’ is the latest entry in the Grammy-winning series exploring the vast untapped archives of rare Joni Mitchell recordings — a project guided intimately by Joni’s own vision and personal touch. ‘Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)’ will be available both in a 5CD / digital version and a 4LP cut-down version, both with an accompanying book featuring photos and a conversation about this period between Joni and longtime friend Cameron Crowe.
Come 1972, Joni’s singular song-writing talent and poetic gifts were undeniable. Fresh off the back-to-back Platinum-certified releases of 1970’s “Ladies Of The Canyon” and 1971’s “Blue” — totemic albums whose artfulness and ubiquity would influence generations of songwriters Joni had grown wary of mounting media scrutiny. Everything from her style choices to romantic partners became the subject of far more gossip column inches than were ever dedicated to the lifestyle minutiae of her male counterparts.
In response, she had pulled back, announcing an early retirement from the stage in 1970 and moving to the quiet expanses of British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. It was a fruitful change of scenery. Inspired by her proximity to nature and refreshed by the peaceful seclusion, she began constructing the songs that would become “For The Roses”. This respite thrust Mitchell into a remarkably fertile creative period, yielding a run of albums — 1972’s “For The Roses”, 1974’s “Court And Spark”, and 1975’s “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns” — that would simultaneously expand and refine the scope of her music. Her adventurous, intricate arrangements and growing formidability as a bandleader injected these songs with a clarity of purpose, a potent muscularity, and a sense of possibility — it is among the most exciting eras of a near peerless career.
This era comes into even greater focus on ‘Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)’ . It’s the latest entry in the award-winning series exploring the vast untapped archives of rare Joni recordings — a project guided intimately by Joni’s own vision and personal touch. The collection begins with an early cut of “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire,” one of two songs (along with “For The Roses”) test-driven during a visit to a Graham NashDavid Crosby recording session at Wally Heider’s in Hollywood.
From there, you’ll be treated to early demos and alternate versions from sessions from “For The Roses”, “Court & Spark”, and “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns”; historic live show recordings, including the entirety of Mitchell’s triumphant 1972 return to Carnegie Hall and a definitive gig with her “Court And Spark” backing band Tom Scott & the L.A. Express; and tracks from sessions cut alongside James Taylor, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.
Joni Mitchell – “Help Me” (Demo) from “Court And Spark Demos” on the “Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)” coming October 6th on 5CD, Digital, and 4LP box set.
King Crimson pioneer’s to the Progressive style. And like many bands, there are definitive and specific periods of their existence that highlight their expansive history. Their first album “In The Court Of The Crimson King” was offered in 1969, and quickly gained a deep and devout following. By 1973, Fripp had gone through multiple line-up changes in the span of five albums. With “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic“, four new members were in on the creative experiment that is King Crimson. 2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic“.
“This band is more King Crimson than it’s ever been. All the original ideals and aspirations are there – love respect and compatible ideas. It’s a magic band!” – Robert Fripp, July, 1972
When, in July 1972, Melody Maker revealed that Bill Bruford & John Wetton were joining King Crimson – from Yes & Family respectively, it was front page news. Also joining were Jamie Muir – a key figure in London’s jazz scene & David Cross – from the band Waves. Fripp’s claims about the band’s ‘magic’ were to be put to the test that autumn when, following a three night stint at the Zoom Club, Frankfurt & TV appearance on Bremen’s Beat Club, the band undertook an extensive UK tour, which ran from the end of October through to mid-December. With the exception of the encore “21st Century Schizoid Man”, the material was all new, with a heavier emphasis on improvisation than had ever been utilised by any major UK rock group on a headlining tour. The developing material for “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” was premiered to a succession of audiences who, for the most part, had bought tickets expecting to hear something else entirely (encore notwithstanding) but who responded to the challenging set with enthusiasm.
Recorded from mid-January to the beginning of February & released in late March of 1973, “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” became one of the most acclaimed of King Crimson’s albums as well as establishing its reputation as a key album from one of rock music’s most significant years. After a handful of further UK concerts, Jamie Muir left the band with the remaining quartet working with ever greater success until Summer 1974 when Fripp placed the band on indefinite hiatus.
Almost half a century after its release, Steven Wilson undertook the job of mixing the album for Dolby Atmos and, in the process, prepared new stereo & 5.1 mixes. The new stereo & 5.1 mixes – no doubt informed by the more adventurous mix techniques allowed by the Atmos process – are quite different in approach, more expansive than the earlier mixes as released in 2012, while still retaining and enhancing the core power of the original material.
While Steven was working on this aspect of the material Alex R. Mundy and David Singleton at DGM were mixing every single take of the original studio sessions. These unreleased early takes are presented not as traditionally blended pieces, but with maximum separation, mimicking the experience of sitting in the studio with the individual elements being performed around you. The “Elemental mixes” apply this same approach to the main album takes. An excitingly fresh view on the familiar, with the focus often falling in unusual places, some originally hidden, some unused. Four of the album’s core tracks feature: extended mixes of “Larks’ 1″ and “Talking Drum” along with “Easy Money” & “Larks’ 2”.
On October 13th, King Crimson celebrates the anniversary with a new set of remixes that will embody the upcoming classic reissue. The new reissue will provide new 2023 Stereo remixes by Steven Wilson, as well as David Singleton. All told, there will be 2CD/2BD sets as well as a 2LP package. Included on the BD will be 5.1 Surround mixes that include Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD
This 50th Anniversary set of “Larks’ Tongues In Aspic” packages will include a booklet with new notes, essay, and photos. The 2LP package offers Larks’ Tongues In Aspic pressed on 200g-weight industry black vinyl. LP1 will contain the Steven Wilson 2023 Remix while LP2 contains the 2023 David Singleton Elementals remix.
Formed in 2019, Lifeguard are Asher Case (bass, vocals), Isaac Lowenstein (drums, percussion), and Kai Slater (guitar, vocals). At its core, Lifeguard is a punk band. Their music is loud and energetic. It’s also, at its core, visceral and hypnotic. For the Chicago-based trio that can include repetition and blasts of speaker cone-shredding feedback. Their songs adeptly balance melody and chaos, rhythm and drone. Hooks and noise are held to the same standard. Both have to stick.
They’re a young band, but they’ve already found a place at the forefront of an important emerging music community in their hometown. They are quite prolific. In just three years, Lifeguard has put out a full-length, two EPs, and two 7” singles.
With two EPs out, one a reissue and one featuring original material—via their new label home of Matador Records, the Chicago rockers share some of their favourite bite-sized jams. So far in 2023, Matador Records is really proving the scope of their mission by releasing albums by one of the biggest contemporary rock outfits in the world and a pair of oddball New Yorkers who are probably more surprised than you are at the contract they signed with the massively influential indie label. Similar to that latter group, local-hero Chicago youngsters Lifeguard inked a deal with Matador at the beginning of the year, joining their friends in one of last year’s biggest breakout acts Horsegirl on their roster.
Taken from “Dressed in Trenches,” the new EP from Lifeguard out now on Matador Records.
As their first order of business, Asher Case, Isaac Lowenstein, and Kai Slater are re-issuing last summer’s “Crowd Can Talk”EP (originally released by local faves Born Yesterday Records) along with a new collection of material in the form of the five-song “Dressed in Trenches” EP, both releases conveying the band’s penchant for the type of messy, driving noise rock Matador built its reputation on in the ’90s.
“Crowd Can Talk” and “Dressed in Trenches”are closely related. They were recorded in separate sessions, but at the same studio (Electrical Audio) and with the same engineer (Mike Lust) and within the space of 12 months. Each finds the band refining its voice – honing songs that are succinct, hooky, and propulsive. There’s a newly disciplined attention to detail. Lifeguard write together through collaboration and improvisation, but they’ve learned to streamline their sound, to make each hook, beat, and gesture purposeful.
On each record, there are echoes of underground guitar bands from decades past. This is not record-collector music, though. It’s the product of a present-day community. Lifeguard are, first and foremost, a performing band and the songs are written to stand up in that moment.
John Lydon releases his post-punk project’s 11th album, “End of World”. If anyone has the credible world-weariness with which to criticize a doomed planet in the present day, it’s John Lydon. On “End ofWorld”, this his 11th album with Public Image Ltd, Lydon’s euphoric, dance-driven, sketchy, surround-sound environment—co-created with Scott Firth, Lu Edmonds, and ex-Slits/Pop Group drummer Bruce Smith cattily captures the frontman tackling silly social media millennialism “Being Stupid Again”, false, witless friends “L F C F”, and the literal and figurative divisiveness that makes the 21st century turn “Walls”.
You could write all this off to Lydon’s legendary contrarian snark if it wasn’t for the fact that his so-called conservative streak may have become more common-sensical than Trumpian, and that his many operatic, abstract voices on “End of World” convey surprisingly moving emotions beyond cutting social or personal criticism. The tenderness of album closer “Hawaii” and its farewell to his wife of 44 years (Nora Forster, lost to struggles with Alzheimer’s back in April) would tear your heart out if it wasn’t for its sweet, strange island allure. As PiL’s death disco rambles behind him in the mix, Lydon turns “End of World” into a hypothetical, philosophical treatise on all that we may miss when our Earth disappears.
It’s 13 songs, they all deal with very varied subjects to the best of our ability. This is how we view the world. If you choose to analyze it or tear it apart with any degree of intellectual idiocy, you’re doing it wrong, merely entertaining yourself.
In conversation from his home in Malibu, on the day of his friend and Sex Pistol graphic artist Jamie Reid’s death, Lydon takes no prisoners—and is all the more entertaining for it. After having interviewed him at least a dozen times since PiL’s start (to say nothing of him having snagged my pack of Marlboros at Studio 54 back in the day—but that’s another story), Lydon isn’t about to let this interview be at all precious. “You’re very pompous, aren’t you,” he says, laughing. “You’re all right,” Lydon says. “But I really believe you’ve overthunk the whole thing.”
On 2018’s “Springtime and Blind” and 2021’s “Between the Richness”, Pat Flynn, singer of Massachusetts post-hardcore band Fiddlehead, brandished his grief as a badge of honour. With a voice both melodic and strident, his role in the band has been to make sense of his feelings, of which there are many; those of immense loss set into motion by his father passing in 2010; the unbridled joy at the birth of his kids; the influence and responsibility of working with young minds as a high school history teacher. Fiddlehead’s ardent third album “Death Is Nothing to Us” finds the singer at a crossroads with grief and wrestling with facets of denial and perseverance, his voice reaching for resolve within a tracklist of relentless and poignant punk rock.
The husband and father of two makes clear that he didn’t intend to make a thematic trilogy. “It was totally organic, coincidental—no long-term plan there,” he says, speaking in a clear and concise tone that I could best describe as “teacher-voice.” This clarification followed a series of quotidian domestic events: he left the sprinkler on all night in the yard, his mother called to ask for help moving out of her office, his toddler barged into the room to say hello. The core of his impetus as a writer is summed up in this duality: the wholesome stability of his family life and the ambience of death that’s coated his understanding of existence from a young age.
On the verge of Fiddlehead’s newest release, “Death Is Nothing to Us”. out August 18th, 2023 via RunFor Cover Records
San Francisco band Juicebumps have long made it their mission to liven up the brutalist tones of post-punk, with their 2020 debut “Hello Pinky!”being equally defined by B-52’s-esque new wave, gross-out lyricism, and just a bit of the spirit of modern Bay Area garage rock patron saint John Dwyer. Now, the group is returning with a proper follow-up titled “Jumbo”set to arrive October 13th via local indie label Rocks in Your Head (founded by Sonny & the Sunsets’ titular Sonny) and Belgian psych label Time RoomRecords.
Ahead of that release, they’re sharing lead single “Wiggler,” which sees both their driving post-punk sound and their playful energy enhanced since their last outing. Tight drumming and staccato guitar soundtrack a concerning narrative that’s disgustingly illustrated in the track’s official video, which lands somewhere between Cronenberg’s Shivers, any number of schlocky ’80s ripoffs, and perhaps something a little more drugsploitative. “Everyone’s got a wiggler inside of them, they just have to believe,” the band succinctly states. “They have to want to believe.”
The horror-B-movie visual arrives with news of the San Francisco post-punks’ new album “Jumbo”, landing October 13th via Rocks in Your Head Records and Time Room Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 