Julian Casablancas’ other band, The Voidz, are back! “The track started with a very simple question… what would it feel like if God whispered into your ear ‘you are my most magnificent creature.’ What would that feeling sound like? What would its bassline be? With that, Beardo blew The Voidz conch shell, and we assembled from the various corners of the earth to which we had been summoned for previous quests. From the deserts of the Sahara, to the truck stops of the midwest – we reunited in California to answer this question. the response? …from the fiery bones of eternity, the dragon’s voice, awakened after millennia in waiting, spewed forth a sonic fist of impertinence in the shape of a New Pirate anthem, where nothing is what it seems, nor is it otherwise”
The track started with a very simple question… what would it feel like if God whispered into your ear “you are my most magnificent creature”. we reunited in California to answer this question.
José González’s previous band Junip enlisted Sharon Van Etten for a new version of their song “Line of Fire” for the soundtrack to new Disney+ documentary “Wild Life“. “I was a fan of José González before I had the opportunity to tour with Junip in 2010,” Sharon says. “I was lucky enough to get to sing with him on stage all those years ago. I was able to witness José and his band go so quickly from sweet and sentimental to direct and piercing through their performances, not to mention how José’s guitar playing and songwriting deliver this specific gut punch that is unique to he and his band’s production.
It was challenging to learn the complicated melody that José wrote and I worked hard to honour his phrasing. It was a welcome reconnection after not having been able to perform with him in some time. A welcomed reunion set to the backdrop of such a beautiful story.”
We toured with Sharon in 2010 and performed a duet towards the end of the run of shows and so it felt natural to reunite when asked to be part of a soundtrack for the National Geographic documentary Wild Life from Oscar-winning filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. It chronicles the close relationship of conservationist Kris Tompkins, the first CEO of outdoor brand Patagonia, and her husband Douglas Tompkins.
New version of the Junip classic “Line Of Fire” featuring a stunning collaboration with acclaimed singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten. Released alongside the Disney+ premiere of the National Geographic documentary ‘Wild Life’ which features the new rendition.
Terrific debut album from former Joanna Gruesome members Owen Williams and George Nichols with vocal assistance on much of the album from former bandmate Alanna McArdle. Williams and Nicholls have not lost their touch one bit writing thrilling two-minute guitar earworms that mash together a few different sympatico genres: punk, post punk, power-pop and British folk. There’s a lot of snarl and angst here — mental health and its burdens / complications are recurring lyrical themes — but never without an emphasis on hooks and melody.
London group The Tubs return to Trouble In Mind with their hotly anticipated full-length album entitled “Dead Meat”. The band were formed in 2018 from the ashes of beloved UK post-punk band Joanna Gruesome by former members Owen ‘O’ Williams and George ‘GN’ Nicholls. By incorporating elements of post-punk, traditional British folk, and guitar jangle seasoned by nonchalant Cleaners From Venus-influenced pop hooks and contemporary antipodean indie bands (Twerps/Goon Sax, et al).
“Dead Meat” is resplendent in hi-fidelity strum & thrum, incorporating fleeting elements of post-punk and indie jangle, but the group’s penchant for trad British folk and Canterbury folk-rock takes a noticeable, caffeinated step forward. Echoes of Fairport Convention’s decidedly English chime cross swords with singer Owen Williams’ lyrics directing Bryan Ferry’s “thinking man’s libertine” persona into a more dolorous outlook. Many songs (like “Round The Bend” and “Duped”) soar with an urgent strum under Williams’ acerbic lyrics, recalling a younger fiery Richard Thompson.
They languish in an aching, bitter resignation (of both the situations described and the protagonist’s place in it), particularly near the album’s second half. Others like the previously released “I Don’t Know How It Works”, “Two Person Love” and “Illusion” (re-presented here as “Illusion Pt. II” and all rerecorded from their original 7-inch versions) up the urgency, implying that the journey for the person described in each tune is not over and may be even more desperate than before. The band has never been tighter and more dynamic, often imperceptibly ratcheting up the tension, an extra guitar strum overdubbed, a barely audible organ / synth cranking under a chorus or bridge, or unexpected backups from current Ex-Vöid (and ex-Joanna Gruesome) vocalist Lan McArdle. The Tubs are poised to take over your stereo – there’s no point in resisting.
As much as I enjoy La Luz’s albums — their 2021 self-titled fourth album is wonderful — the spectral folk bandleader ShanaCleveland makes on her solo albums is even better. Her debut, “Night of the Worm Moon”, was one of 2019’s more underrated albums and she’s now followed it up with the equally bewitching “Manzanita”. Named for the evergreen shrub that grows in California and is known for its medicinal properties, the record was made while embracing motherhood and beating breast cancer. “This is a supernatural love album set in the California wilderness,” Cleveland says. The 14 songs on the album are alive with mellotron strings, otherworldly pedal steel, desert wildlife and insects, big skies and bigger hearts. Cleveland’s breathy voice is the perfect delivery device for it all.
Check out this KEXP presents Shana Cleveland and the Sandcastles performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded June 26th, 2015.
Power-pop Musician and the great dB’s member Chris Stamey will release a new solo album “The Great Escape” , Dur for release July 7th via Car Records / Redeye. The album puts country rock spin on hs classic sound, and was born out of a tour with Alejandro Escovedo where he was taken by pedal steel player Eric Heywood. “I marvelled every night at how Eric magically shaped the songs; his instincts were just spot-on,” Chris says. “After the tour, I ended up writing a number of tunes with steel in mind, and was fortunate enough to have him add some of his alchemy to these.” The album also features another pedal steel player, Allyn Love, who “really nailed the energy of the title track, then switched gears for the sensitive dobro textures on “Dear Friend”.
The album also features the talents of his dB’s bandmates Peter Holsapple & Will Rigby, Don Dixon, Mipso’s Libby Rodenbough, Chatham County Line’s John Teer and Dave Wilson, Don Dixon, and Stamey’s old friend and Sneakers bandmate Mitch Easter, who plays drums on a few tracks, including first single “She Might Look My Way.” That is an Alex Chilton song (cowritten with Tommy Hoehn) that Chris tells us is “one I used to play with him at CBGB back in 1977...Alex and I recorded it for Elektra Records but they never released that version.” The version on .“The Great Escape“ is a collaboration with Terry Manning, who was an engineer at Ardent Studios, where Big Star recorded.
We’re premiering the video for “She Might Look My Way,” which Chris tells us about as well: “The video itself is an homage to the lip-sync video TV appearances Alex and the other Box Tops did in the 60s. Here, it’s Alejandro Escovedo who is playing the host of an imaginary late-70s NYC late-night cable-TV show called Rock On. Mitch Easter, who plays drums on the actual recording, is the drummer in the video here. Robert Sledge (bass, Ben Folds Five) and Matt McMichaels (2nd guitar, Mayflies USA) are also in the band here.”
From the new album The Great Escape (out July 7th, 2023, on Car Records/Schoolkids). A tip of the hat to 60s/70s shows such as Upbeat, Shindig, Hullabaloo, and Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party. The song is by Alex Chilton and Tommy Hoehn (Sludge Music BMI). Video shot by Julia Stamey, w/ lighting by Mark Hanley, at Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC.
Detroit indie-rockers Bonny Doon have a new album on the way. Let There Be Music will drop on June 16th on Anti- Records, and the first single, “Naturally,” is already available. The first release since the band’s pair of albums in 2017 and 2018 comes after guitar/vocalists Bill Lennox and Bobby Colombo joined Waxahatchee to play on her album Saint Cloud and join her on tour.
Then the band was sidelined because of health—drummer Jake Kmiecik suffered complications from his Crohn’s disease and Colombo dealt with a brain injury and Lyme disease. It’s great to have the trio back making music again, and lead single “Naturally” shows that they’ve only improved as they’ve taken time for healing. The chill vibe is elevated by tasty understated guitar and keys. “There’s a lot to talk about,” Lennox sings, “and we’ll let it happen naturally.”
Throughout the ten tracks in their new album “Let There Be Music”, you can hear the spaciousness Bonny Doon allowed themselves since their 2018 sleeper cult-classic “Longwave”.
Their latest musical journey is one that has big payoffs for devoted followers and undeniable rewards for anyone just stumbling across the band for the frst time. After extensively touring “Longwave” by supporting Band of Horses, Snail Mail and Waxahatchee,
Soon after, Colombo and Kmiecik, whose steady percussion and devotion to the songs creates a container for the indelible guitar lines, both entered a time of serious healing, These obstacles and commitments drew out the making of “Let There Be Music” for several additional years, and in the process, redefined the record as an achievement in perseverance for the band.
On their long-awaited third album, we get a glimpse into the pure joy of Bonny Doon. The album serves as less of one conceptual story, and each song as their own individual offerings of putting words to the ordinary experience of being alive. The band is at their most dynamic and the song writing deftly explores new terrain. “Let There Be Music” is brimming with small truths – both profound and mundane, comforting and difficult – and we are invited to revel in them all.
Philly duo Crooks & Nannies have “Real Life”, their proper label debut on the way. Lead single “Temper” is a brilliant display of technique, as Max Rafter’s perfect twang pairs with a searing guitar, some twinkling digital bloops and a hook that’ll sink into you deep. “I don’t even know what I’m angry for / Some bullshit about not feeling powerful,” they sing. No album has kicked off quite like this, and, like every Crooks & Nannies song I hear, it’s the best song ever made! Seeing “Real Life“ unfold across the summer is set to be a delight.
Starring: Max Rafter, Sam Huntington, Ryan Ficano, Addy Watkins
releases August 25th, 2023
All songs written and performed by Crooks and Nannies (Sam Huntington and Max Rafter) Also featuring: Ryan Ficano – Additional synth on tracks 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10. Additional vocals on tracks 1 and 3. Bass on tracks 5, 8 and 10. Fiddle on track 8. Additional spooky noises on track 8. Pauli Mia – Additional vocals on track 5. Jacob Blizard – Additional guitar on track 4. Lap steel on track 6. Mark Watter – Additional screaming on track 2. All screaming on track 9.
Cory Hanson’s forthcoming LP “Western Cum” is one of our most-anticipated projects of the summer, and the final teaser single “Ghost Ship” only solidifies that it’s going to be one of the best rock ‘n’ roll records of the summer—maybe even the year altogether. Continuing to build on Hanson’s vivid, gonzo journalist approach to beatnik storytelling, “Ghost Ship” is a mystifying quasi-ballad oozing epic, mid-century shredding. The guitars Hanson and his band employ here are sexy, heavy and waft through the air like a controlled burn. “In a travelog written by seven dwarves / I’m gonna tell you all I’d forgotten at the bottom of the world,” Hanson harmonizes in the chorus.
The western themes of Cory’s previous “Pale Horse Rider”, made flesh in the form of an electric band, lashed with gleaming guitar strings to tracks whose gnarled, proggy path only climes to the top of the listener’s Compulsion Index. From steel to synth, from old-school ballad to nu hardcore and ambient, Hanson and band run the table of modern rocks.
Whereas his first two solo efforts felt like estranged Wand cousins, there is a big old bold step into country psych pastures on this new solo set.
If you do nothing else today, you have to check out the nightmare-inducing “Housefly” claymation music video from Sean McAnulty!
There is a real Jim O’Rourke-esque sparkle to the guitar riffs (a label mate on Drag City of course), and dynamically the songs are as engaging when they are whispered and cooed as when they are rocked and wailed.
The way he leans on the country tones is just fantastic, a sort of loose frame to jump off into some gorgeously melodic balladeering and trippy walls of guitar cruisers. A great set of songs that all sit together impeccably and highlight what a fantastic vocalist he is. Subtle but arresting, this one will get you hooked, it certainly has us!
“Western Cum” is the third solo LP from Hanson, the inimitable vocalist and leader of the excellent LA psychedelic rock band Wand. Whereas his first two solo efforts felt like estranged Wand cousins, there is a big old bold step into country psych pastures on this new solo set.
The Venus Fly Trap are a British alternative rock band founded in Northampton in the late 1980’s. Their eclectic style of alternative music blended post-punk with goth to form a dark psychedelic hybrid.
The band was formed by Alex Novak (vocals, formerly of Religious Overdose, Attrition, and The Tempest) and John Novak (guitar, vocals, formerly Where’s Lisse?), plus Tony Booker on bass guitar prior to their debut twelve-inch single ‘Morphine’ in March 1988.
The band decided to release a very interesting compilation, ‘Time Lapse’. It’s a selection of tracks collected from the albums “Dark Amour” “Zenith” and “Nemesis”, placed together as a possible alternative album in this alternate reality. “Time Lapse” used to refer to a method of filming, by taking a series of single pictures over a period of time and then putting them together to show the action happening quickly. Plot – Urban decay, on the concourse, escapism via drugs, machines choking the arteries. A Moscow apartment, economic refugees, the human menagerie. Zen and the art of vehicles, crucified by the highway, on the road to…Fallen statues in public parks, the prince of narcosis, to the sea of tranquility. T minus and counting, dedicated to all astronomers … keep watching the skies.
Second part (the first part 1989-1994 came out in 2021) is a selection of tracks collected from the albums “Dark Amour”, “Zenith” and “Nemesis”, placed together as a possible alternative album in this alternate reality.
