The Fat Angel Sings

The 3 Clubmen, the “three-headed Frankenstein’s monster dancing at a neurodivergent singles club” featuring XTC‘s Andy Partridge, have released their self-titled debut EP. You can hear elements of XTC’s early angsty years and their later orch pop era in their four tracks that are as much a creation of fellow Clubmen Jen Olive and Stu Rowe as they are Partridge’s.

“I’d go and hang out at Stu’s bunker, because it’s better than ‘playing with yourself’, arf arf, no, I think of him as a brother and love being down at his place,” says Partridge of how the project came about. “He’d say things like, ‘Andy, listen to what I found, that I think we’ve forgotten, it’s really good’ or things like ‘I sent this idea to Jen and she zapped this great vocal suggestion back.’”

The culmination of a decade of antics from these longtime collaborators, the EP is an avant-pop delight offering a seductive blend of experimental pop, jazz and sci-fi soundtrack strangeness.

While each artist has worked with the others in some form since 2008, The 3 Clubmen marks the first time that Stu, Andy and Jen have combined forces as a trio, an inevitable partnership once described as “a three-headed Frankenstein’s monster dancing at a neurodivergent singles club”.

Andy Partridge– vocals / guitars / keys / programming / production Jen Olive– vocals / guitar Stu Rowe– bass / guitars / keys / programming / production Additional instrumentation- Frank Abrams – Flute / sax Curtis Tweed – Slide guitar Andreas Rebhuhn – Drums ‘Bangy’ – Percussion,.

Chicago band Ratboys are set to release their fourth studio album, produced by Chris Walla “The Window”, on August 25th. The band have already shared early single’s “Black Earth, WI” and “It’s Alive!,” and now Ratboys are back with the album’s poignant title track, plus a video directed by John TerEick. “I wrote this song a few days after the death of my grandma in June 2020,” says Ratboys’ Julia Steiner. “She didn’t have COVID, but because of the pandemic my grandpa wasn’t able to visit her in person at the nursing home to say goodbye. He ended up standing outside her room and saying goodbye through an open window. A lot of the lyrics are direct quotes of things he said to her in those final moments.”

“The Window” is coming out on August 25th on Topshelf Records we recorded this album with our hero Chris Walla out in Seattle last year, and it was an absolutely life-changing experience for the four of us. honestly it was everything we ever dreamed that making a record could be!!!

“The Window” will be out 25th August via Topshelf Records.

Last month, Blur announced their first new album in eight years, “The Ballad Of Darren”, and introduced it with lead single “The Narcissist.” Not long after, they played some warm-up shows where they did live rarities and debuted a couple of new songs. One of those songs was “St. Charles Square,” which they’re releasing as the album’s official second single.

In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, Damon Albarn talked a bit about the song: “I was just really relieved it went this way in the studio. I mean, in my demo it sort of alluded to it because of the chords that hold in the chorus — it’s got that chug to it — but Graham [Coxon] really went with it … It’s got an amazing atmosphere. Everybody’s playing really well on that thing.”

“Do you know what the whole thing has really felt like?” Albarn continued. “We’re sort of somewhere in 1992, something like that, ’92, ’93. We’re just sort of back. I don’t know. And when we go on stage, that’s we’re where we start off … I’ve always kind of felt like it’s not just about singing about yourself. You’ve got to kind of bring where you’re singing it and writing it with you.”

“St Charles Square” – the second single taken from the new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’

Nearly ten years in the making, “The Task Has Overwhelmed Us” is the long-awaited fourth volume in The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project series. Coming September 29th via Glitterhouse Records.

Conceived in 2006 by the late Gun Club titan’s guitarist Cypress Grove, the Project has always aimed to highlight Pierce as one of America’s most fascinatingly influential singer-songwriters of the last century while propelling his outpourings into modern times by placing it in the hands of former collaborators, friends and fans.

Following 2009’s “We Are Only Riders”, 2012’s “The Journey Is Long” and 2014’s “Axels and Sockets”, “The Task Has Overwhelmed Us” presents stellar interpretations of tracks from Pierce’s Gun Club and solo canons along with fresh works constructed from rehearsal skeletons, previously unheard lyrics, songs only performed live. Taking song ideas without lyrics and words looking for musical settings gave rise to what Cypress Grove calls “Frankenstein songs”.

The stellar roll-call of contributors features the Project’s original recurring core including Nick Cave, Debbie Harry, Mark Lanegan, Lydia Lunch, Youth, Jim Jones, Warren Ellis, Mark Stewart, Hugo Race, Cypress himself plus Mick Harvey and J.P. Shilo as The Amber Lights, even Jeffrey himself from original tapes. These are joined by new bloods including Dave Gahan, Suzie Stapleton, Duke Garwood, Pam Hogg, The Coathangers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Peter Hayes and Leah Shapiro, Humanist, The Walkabouts’ Chris Eckman, Jozef van Wissem, Jim Jarmusch, Chantal Acda and Welsh space-rockers Sendelica with US vocalists Wonder and Dynamax Roberts. Like Pierce’s beloved jazz, the cast often spill into each other’s tracks.

The mood throughout the eighteen tracks is of rare gems crafted with love, respect and the energy of committed fans, even obsessives channeling whatever facet or fragment of Pierce’s unruly muse fires their creative juices. It’s pretty much carved in legend how Jeffrey Lee Pierce roared out of post-punk LA brandishing an incendiary genius that flamed in the spotlight for just fifteen years before his untimely death in 1996. Despite the impact of the Gun Club and resonance of Pierce’s back catalogue, his legacy seemed in danger of shrinking to eternal cult status earlier this century, fading against modern blandness yet ever-radiating for a gaggle of core diehards he’d touched with his supernatural muse (quite possibly in a blizzard of chaos).

Then along came London-based guitarist Cypress Grove, who’d played with Jeffrey in his final years gigging and on 1992’s “Ramblin’ Jeffrey Lee & Cypress Grove” With Willie Love. Sorting out his loft one day in 2006, Cypress found an anonymous cassette containing bedroom rehearsals for “Ramblin’… – “very vague but good enough to work from,” he says. “So I had the idea of asking people who worked with Jeffrey, were friends with him or who simply admired his work to help me complete the songs.”
“The Cypress Tape” would soon be joined by other unrealized song sources from diverse tapes supplied by key characters in Jeffrey’s life coming on board, including Gene Temesy, who started the Gun Club fan club in 1984 and brought home Pierce’s ‘98 autobiography Go Tell The Mountain, writer-DJ-musician Phast Phreddie Patterson and Jeffrey’s sister Jacqui, who supplied unfinished songs and previously unseen writings she’d discovered after her brother’s death. “The source material for some of the songs was so vague that it could be interpreted in many ways,” says Cypress. “There was no definitive or ‘original’ version. It was like trying to restore a painting where much of the material was missing.” (Lunch’s turning some lyrics from Phreddie’s collection into the scabrous nightmare roll of ‘Time Drains Away’, bolstered by Jarmusch on guitar and van Wissem’s medieval lute).

From Gahan’s opening haunted piano ballad take on ‘Mother of Earth’ through, for example, Lanegan singing ‘Go Tell The Mountain’ backed by Ellis and Cave (who back Jeffrey himself on ‘Yellow Eyes’), Cave duetting beautifully with Debbie Harry again on ‘On the Other Side’ to Sendelica and Secret Knowledge’s Wonder hotwiring ‘Bad America’ into caterwauling mayhem mixed by veteran electro-Def Jam producer Jay Burnett, NY rapper Dynamax acknowledging Jeffrey’s hiphop obsession over the juddering beats. 

“The journey is long and we are only riders. Long ago we had committed to our little endeavour and now the task has overwhelmed us, so that we have simply become axels and sockets in a growing menacing machine.” – Jeffrey Lee Pierce

Nearly ten years in the making, “The Task Has Overwhelmed Us” is the long-awaited fourth volume in The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project series coming September 29th via Glitterhouse Records on LP, lim. LP, CD and digital. Pre-order here: https://linktr.ee/jlpsessionsproject

The first single taken by Nick Cave & Debbie Harry entitled “On The Other Side” will be released June 30! More news soon.

Neil Young released a whole lot of music in the ‘70s, and he could’ve released more. In 1977, Young and Crazy Horse came out with their LP “American Stars ’N Bars”. Young also had another LP ready to go, and it never came out. The fabled solo album “Chrome Dreams” has built up a reputation, over the years, as one of history’s great lost albums. Neil Young has had a few of those, and he’s lately been giving those records their long-delayed releases as part of his Neil Young Archives series. Now, finally, “Chrome Dreams” will get a release of its own.

“Chrome Dreams” built its reputation thanks to a bootlegged acetate record that’s been handed down, in different forms, over the decades. Young eventually released most of the songs that would’ve been on “Chrome Dreams” including the classics “Pocahontas,” “Powderfinger,” and “Sedan Delivery,” all of which would eventually appear on “Rust Never Sleeps”. But some of those songs have never come out in any form.

This morning, Young announced that “Chrome Dreams” will be coming out next month, with cover art from Ronnie Wood. Young recorded all 12 tracks between 1974 and 1976, and he’s just shared the original version of “Sedan Delivery,” which has lyrics that weren’t on the version that came out on “Rust Never Sleeps“. (That version was already on YouTube, in bootlegged form, but this is the authorized one.) Below, listen to that version of “Sedan Delivery,” .

Immerse yourself in the powerful resonance of Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s ‘Sedan Delivery’, an original track from the long-awaited album, ‘Chrome Dreams’. Initially slated for release in 1977, ‘Chrome Dreams’ has undergone a transformative journey, embodying the ever-evolving spirit of Neil Young’s extraordinary career. Now, it emerges as Young envisioned it, featuring 12 classic songs, including four originals. ‘Sedan Delivery’ stands out with its unique lyrics not found in later versions, offering a fresh take on this classic. The album, released via Reprise Records, encapsulates studio recordings from 1974-1976, with two previously unreleased versions and four tracks making their vinyl debut. Experience the debut release of the legendary 1977 ‘Lost’ album and let the timeless sound of Neil Young and Crazy Horse transport you.

Here’s what the press release says about the “Chrome Dreams” versions:

“Powderfinger” is the early/first solo version, the original. “Pocahontas” is the same version that first appeared on “Rust Never Sleeps”, but without the overdubs. “Sedan Delivery” and “Hold Back the Tears” are originals with lyrics that were not included in later released versions. Both are very different versions than previously released.

“Stringman,” is another original performance, included on the “Odeon/Budokan” disc in Archives Vol. II; prior to that, the song had only appeared on Young’s “Unplugged” album in a later version, not the original.

“Chrome Dreams” is available through Reprise Records 11th August.

Nottingham post-punks Do Nothing blend jerky, spidery rhythms with surreal, half-spoken vocals that recall the Fall ‘s Mark E. Smith. Do Nothing was formed in 2017 by four long-time school friends: frontman Chris Bailey, guitarist Kasper Sandstrøm, drummer Andy Harrison, and bassist Charlie Howarth. All had played in various acts around the city; the band got their start at the popular Maze Club. Bailey, whose father was a singer in an a cappella folk group, grew up listening to the sounds of Simon and Garfunkel , and his own biggest influence was Tom Waits. Initially attempting to copy big names like LCD Soundsystem (as heard on their first 7″ single, “Gangs,” released in 2019), they eventually became more confident about doing their own thing, and Bailey gave his stream-of-consciousness lyrics and outsider stage persona free rein. Associated with, but wary of, the then-popular post-punk revival, they made clear it was their intention to follow their own path. Their debut EP, Zero Dollar Bill, was released in 2020; another, Glueland, arrived the following year, and now comes the stunning album.

“Snake Sideways”, the debut album – June 30th

Following a smaller edition on June 28th, 1969 within the city of Bath, U.K., featuring groups Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin, among others, the organizers held The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England on June 27th-29th, 1970, where Pink Floyd, Santana, and others appeared, along with the returning Led Zeppelin.

The 1970 counterculture era music festival started at midday on Saturday, June 27th and finished at about 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning. A DJ played records for early arrivers from the Friday evening and continued to do so between many of the sets until the end. The festival featured a line-up of the top British and west coast American bands of the day, that also included Hot Tuna, Country Joe McDonald, Colosseum, the Byrds (acoustic set), Dr. John (acoustic set), Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, Canned Heat, It’s a Beautiful Day, Steppenwolf, Johnny Winter, John Mayall with Peter Green, Fairport Convention, Keef Hartley, and others.

 Pink Floyd premiered their new suite, “Atom Heart Mother”, which at that time was announced as “The Amazing Pudding”. The performance featured a complete brass band and 12 strong choir, and took place at 3 am, due to major delays. As well as the “Atom Heart Mother” suite, the band also played tracks from More, A Saucerful of Secrets as well as “Careful with That Axe, Eugene”. 

The festival was captured on both film and on video, in varying quality, but a lack of post-festival organisation led to the footage being lost for many years. Much of it has now been recovered, but the black-and-white footage is of poor quality and is in many different hands. It is considered unlikely that it will ever see the light of day as a legitimate release since no-one can agree on who owns the copyright. 

Michael Eavis was attendant at the festival and was inspired to hold later that year the first event of what would become the Glastonbury festival of contemporary performing arts.

Though the line-up approached the level of the more famous Isle of Wight Festival held in August of the same year, it attracted less press coverage at the time and has generally received less attention in the years since.

A 3-CD boxed set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the festival has been issued.