The sophomore album from Los Angeles band Valley Queen is a dynamically layered sonic universe of intense range. Carol’s inimitable vocals are as fearlessly fluid as ever—ethereal to thunderous in a note—and fully consuming.
From Natalie Carol: “This version of “Pavement” was an experiment with Lewis Pesacov, who produced our debut record ‘Supergiant.’ We were inspired by the production of Joni Mitchell’s 1976 Hejira. You can hear more of the jazz fusion influence in this version. We worked with Dustin Bookatz on this track, who recorded all of his bass remotely from Australia. His playing gives a Jaco Pastorius flavour to this song I really love.”
“Pavement” (alternate version) on August 4th, 2023 on First City Artists
The presentation of our music on vinyl is something we think about throughout the record making process. As we assemble the track listing, the way it will feels to listen to side A and then side B is something we spend a lot of time considering. While we appreciate the ease and convenience of streaming, the album in its final form to us is a physical record that you have to flip. We hope this comes across when you listen in that way.
Nation of Language release their new album, “Strange Disciple” on Play It Again Sam. Following performances at Primavera Sound, Pitchfork Festival, Outside Lands and dozens more of their biggest headline shows to date, the Brooklyn band’s third LP is one that is meant to invoke wandering, wondrous walks through city streets both foreign and familiar. In the three short years since their acclaimed debut, 2020’s “Introduction, Presence”, Nation of Language have sustained an increasing ascent from small, hyperlocal scenes to international stages and late-night television, while their musical evolution has embodied three distinct modes of moving through the world: lead singer and songwriter Ian Devaney imagines the band’s first album, “Introduction, Presence”, as taking place in a car, whereas second album “A Way Forward” occurred on and as a locomotive, influenced by the chugging sound of krautrock.
Now, as their first record to be fully created and released outside the confines of a pandemic-instilled lockdown, “Strange Disciple” is centred around groove-driven songs and bouncing basslines that feel ambulatory and wayfaring, informed by the excitement of exploring new places the band never thought they would see on tour.
“Too Much, Enough”, the fourth single from “Strange Disciple”, is out now. This track is about unhealthy obsession with the 24 hour news cycle, but instead of making a video that was a huge bummer we decided to gather some friends and have fun.
“Strange Disciple” is available for in many places, so check in with your local favourites.
The band’s follow-up to “A Foul Form” is out in August, their new album, “Intercepted Message”. It’s out on August 18th via In the Red. The band has shared the title track’s new music video. John Dwyer walks the walk: The man will never stop going in. The prolific underground rock legend stayed busy with a zillion improvisational side projects during the pandemic, and it didn’t stop him from releasing a new album with main band OSEES last year.
Title track “Intercepted Message” is indeed on the poppier side of the Dwyer oeuvre, especially compared to the Coachwhips-ish aggression of something like the last album’s “Funeral Solution.” I’m pretty sure amidst the cartoonish keyboard sounds and nervy rhythms Dwyer utters, “Your king’s a cunt/ It keeps you dull.”
New album “Intercepted Message” out 8/18/23 on In The Red Records
The Replacements have announced a sprawling box set of their 1985 album “Tim”, featuring a completely remixed version of the LP. Titled“Tim: Let It Bleed Edition”, the four-CD and one-LP set also includes a remastered version of the original album and a collection of previously unheard tracks, as well as a concert from 1986. The Legendary American alternative rockers are preparing a new reissue of their fourth studio album, “Tim”. “Tim: Let It Bleed Edition” will be an expanded version of the 1985 album featuring a new remix of the album, a freshly remastered version of the original mix, outtakes from the band’s 1985 session with Big Star vocalist Alex Chilton, and a live concert from 1986 that the band played at the Metro in Chicago.
Originally released in September 1985, “Tim” marked the Replacements’ major-label debut. The alternative rock pioneers received critical acclaim for the album, which, in the decades since, has come to be regarded as a pivotal release of the era. Despite this, the Replacements were never satisfied with the album.
“Even with “Tim’s” evolving status as an all-time classic, the Replacements remained unsatisfied with the sound of the record, largely centered on the mix done by the album’s producer, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tommy Erdelyi, aka Tommy Ramone, better known as the original Ramones drummer.
Featuring memorable tracks like ‘Bastards of Young’ and ‘Left of the Dial’, “Tim” continued The Replacements’ departure from the hardcore punk that was started on the previous year’s “Let It Be”.
It would be the final album to feature guitarist Bob Stinson, who would leave the band in 1986.” noted a press release accompanying the new set’s announcement. “Now, after four decades, the LP has finally been given a long overdue sonic overhaul as part of “Tim: Let It Bleed Edition.”
Disc three of the new reissue, entitled “Sons of No One: Rare & Unreleased“, features a collection of outtakes and rarities from a January 1985 recording session produced by the Big Star vocalist/guitarist Alex Chilton. Replacements singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg was a noted fan of Chilton and would write a song in his honour that would appear on the band’s follow-up to “Tim”: 1987’s “Pleased to Meet Me”.
Producer Ed Stasium, a longtime friend of Erdelyi, handled the new mix. He believes the “Let It Bleed Edition” is a “fuller, deeply detailed and ultimately more satisfying version of the record, which finally captures the band’s raw power.”
Guitar: Bob Stinson Drums: Chris Mars Background Vocals: Chris Mars, Guitar, Piano, Vocals: Paul Westerberg Bass Guitar: Tommy Stinson
“Roach” is Miya Folick’s clearest and most direct work yet, eschewing some of the lyrical and musical obfuscations she layered onto her 2018 debut album, “Premonitions”. With ear-worm melodies, heart-wrenching poetry, eclectic production and anchored by Folick’s once-in-a-lifetime voice, “Roach” straddles a line between pop and something more experimental. She enlisted a team of collaborators who she trusted to bring out the grittier side of her artistry, including Gabe Wax (War on Drugs, Fleet Foxes), Mike Malchicoff (King Princess, Bo Burnham), Max Hershenow (MS MR) and a team of some of LA’s best players. The result is an album that sounds as honest and intimate as the subject matter at hand, a candid snapshot of where she is now and what it took to get there.
As discussed last month when “Mommy” dropped, at this point well over half of the songs on the new Miya Folick album “Roach” have been released as singles. The infestation continues but these tracks have been consistently solid. The latest track, “So Clear,” is an effervescent pop tune built around a percolating synth line, with Folick exulting in a moment of epiphany: “Ten thousand days of waking up/ I pull myself out of the dust/ I’m sun and sea, so suddenly/ So clear to me, so clear to me.
It’s an album about trying to get to the core of what life really is. I think over the course of writing this record, I actually did the work and got closer to the person that I really want to be, even if that path isn’t linear and I still have moments where I disappoint myself, where I’m angry with myself.
Harpist and composer Mary Lattimore has announced her new album “Goodbye, Hotel Arkada” with a video for its lead single “And Then He Wrapped His Wings Around Me.” The album is due out October 6th via Ghostly. The album draws its title from a hotel on the island of Hvar in Croatia. “There’s a big old hotel there called the Hotel Arkada, and you could tell it had been hosting holiday-goers for decades in a great way,” Lattimore said in a statement. “I walked around the lobby and the empty ballrooms and it looked like a well-worn, well-loved place. My friend Stacey who lives there told me to ‘Say goodbye to Hotel Arkada, it might not be here when you get back’ and I heard soon after that it was actually going to be renovated in a very crisp, modern way.”
Harpist and composer Mary Lattimore has announced her new album “Goodbye, Hotel Arkada” with a video for its lead single “And Then He Wrapped His Wings Around Me.” The album is due out October 6th via Ghostly. She also announced a run of U.S. tour dates.
Mary Lattimore has just announced her return with “Goodbye, Hotel Arkada” on Ghostly International. Oh my word, it is just stunning. It features guest appearances from (amongst others); Lol Tolhurst, Meg Baird and Rachel Goswell who all sound incredible. Quite mournful, but equally full of light.
The dreamy songs of the Midwest (United States) indie rock outfit draw on moody shoegaze, hooky grunge, and intimate lo-fi fare. On “Yard”, Wisconsin-bred, Chicago-based four-piece Slow Pulp nestles comfortably into pockets of nuance, impressions, contradictions–sonics and lyrics finessed together to bottle the specific tension of a feeling you’ve never quite been able to find the right words for.
In that regard, listening to Slow Pulp can feel like being in a room with someone who’s known you so long that they can read your every micro-expression and pinpoint exactly how you’re feeling before you can. Perhaps this spawns from the band’s own shared history and chemistry; in various ways, the four of them grew up–are still growing up–together.
The band made their full-length debut with “Moveys” in 2020. After the downcast 2021 7″ “DeletedScenes”, they put the focus on hooky grunge pop for singles like 2021’s “In Too Deep” and 2023’s “Cramps”. After their label debut single the band toured throughout Europe and the UK earlier this year as main support for Death Cab For Cutie. The new album “Yard” is their second full-length album and first for ANTI-Records.
Wisely armed with bliss to fight our age of calamity, Los Angeles psych-kraut explorers Hooveriii return with their pastoral and expansive 4th album “Pointe.”
Inspired by everything from the ‘60s psychedelic act Pisces to Phil Lynott’s solo releases and pioneering electronic acts like Tangerine Dream, the band have set out to craft a collection of songs that are more about creating a specific type of feeling than fitting into a specific genre.
More than anything else “Pointe” feels like a full circle moment for Hooveriii, which has evolved from a bedroom solo project into an expansive band that features an army of talented musicians and contributors.
The band has shared the LP’s first single and a video for “The Tall Grass.” “Every record is kind of a response to the last record and I like listening to people’s discographies like that,” Hoover explains. “When we finished “A Round Of Applause” we were in rock mode playing with a lot of rock and psych bands and I was really thinking about what do you do with a fourth record?” The answer turns out to be something more esoteric and less predictable than a guitar-driven album while retaining the core of the band’s sound, which has made the Los Angeles-based act such an exciting act to watch evolve. From the spacey groove of the opener “Prom” to the expansive, synth-friendly ballad “This Rock” and the epic future-folk experimentation of the album’s closer “Dreaming” (which features vocals by Anna Wallace), “Pointe” is an album that references the past while stretching toward an unknown future.
LA psych-kraut explorers Hooveriii have just announced their pastoral and expansive 4th album “Pointe” via the esteemed Reverberation Appreciation Society. One quick look and one quick listen and you’ll see right away why we we’re so hyped to commission an exclusive Dinked Edition.
LIMITED DINKED EDITION Black and Blue Smash Vinyl / Bonus Track 7″ Flexi Disc / 12” x 24” Double Sided Colour Insert / Hand-Numbered / Obi Strip / Limited pressing of 300
The Fat Angel Sings 