The Fat Angel Sings

At what point in an artist’s career do rumour and conjecture solidify into myth – and at what point do those myths then become accepted as fact? In the case of our cover star, Nick Drake, it seems as if they began to swirl not long after his death, in 1974, and have continued to grow ever since. What Nick Hasted has done in his cover story is transcend the tragic myth to discover a very different young man. Far from the shy introvert wracked by crippling self-doubt, he has found another Nick Drake: a confident, receptive young man, as happy to perform in folk clubs as busk in the streets, as he passes through France and North Africa on what one of his companions calls “a great adventure”. Our piece begins, meanwhile, in London, in the front room of an old school friend of Drake, who opens to us his notebooks from their travels, full of lists of records and books they shared. It feels like a significant piece of work as we head towards what would have been Drake’s 75th birthday in June.

To accompany this, Tom has also compiled a stunning CD of music in the spirit of Nick Drake, featuring beautiful tracks from Joan Shelley, Juana Molina, Adrianne Lenker and many more. It is, we humbly think, another indispensable Uncut CD for your collection.

Elsewhere in the issue, you’ll find lively interviews with Stephen Stills, Julian Cope, David Johansen, Evan Dando and more as well as Gareth Sager’s tribute to Mark Stewart and – as a positive affirmation of the healing power of music after great tragedy – an interview with Low’s Alan Sparhawk about his new band, Damien. It’s a feast, in other words. And I genuinely can’t think of another magazine where you’ll read major pieces on Nick Drake and Flowered Up in the same issue.

Joni Mitchell stunned the Newport Folk Festival audience last summer when she gave a surprise performance – her first in 20 years – delivering a heartfelt set filled with some of her greatest songs. Mitchell’s triumphant return to the stage on 24th July, 2022, will be featured on a new live album,

“Angels of Newport, let’s make history together,” [Brandi Carlile] said with growing emotion. “Hold nothing back in this moment and please welcome back to the Newport stage for the first time since 1969 . . . Joni Mitchell!” 

Mitchell emerged from the side of the stage, swaying smoothly, in fine summer-style with beret and sunglasses. Her good-natured mood instantly set the tone. This performance would be an intimate gathering of friends, not unlike the Joni Jams she’d been hosting in her own living room over the last few years of recovery. Smiling broadly, Mitchell took her on-stage seat alongside Carlile and began the extraordinary performance that was on nobody’s bingo card. Within minutes, the news had rocketed around the globe. Mitchell was back, sparkling with enthusiasm, delivering a tender and passionate set of 13 songs, ending with a joyful sing-along of “The Circle Game.”  

One of the world’s most remarkable and beloved artists, Joni Mitchell has influenced musicians across a vast cross-section of genres with her ethereal songs that reflect social and environmental ideals. The prolific singer-songwriter-painter-poet has not only written and produced her music, but also designed most of her album covers and packaging. A journey into Joni Mitchell’s artistry is one of a highly original, harmonically innovative, and emotionally charged, familiar yet fresh adventure.

“Mitchell emerged from the side of the stage, swaying smoothly, in fine summer-style with beret and sunglasses. Her good-natured mood instantly set the tone. This performance would be an intimate gathering of friends, not unlike the Joni Jams she’d been hosting in her own living room over the last few years of recovery. Smiling broadly, Mitchell made her surprise appearance, taking her on-stage seat alongside Carlile. Within minutes, the news had rocketed around the globe. Mitchell was back, sparkling with enthusiasm, delivering a tender and passionate set of 13 songs, – Cameron Crowe

Joni Mitchell stunned the Newport Folk Festival audience last summer when she gave a surprise performance – her first in 20 years

As “On Account Of Exile Vol.1” first looms into view like some amalgam of the central theme to the film Taxi Driver and Dennis Wilson’s “Pacific Ocean Blue” you immediately feel that this record is going to be a little bit special. And by the time that Trevor Sensor suggests  “it made me question who I am” on opening track ‘Twilight of Idols’ – his grizzled, weather-beaten voice already breaking with emotion – you know this much to be true.

An organ chord, a drumroll and an almost Procul Harum-ish intro leads into “On Account of Exile, Vol. 1” as the voice of Trevor Sensor, sounding like a man who has smoked too many cigarettes and is feeling the effects of it, begins to sing. Yet the music, filled with sounds of brass, grasps your shirt while Sensor begins to work his magic, sounding maybe like Roger Chapman’s of Family decades ago. Yet this voice is angrier, as Sensor looks at a world that no longer makes sense and seems to be verging on the brink of extinction.

Still, Sensor isn’t going to go quietly, he’s determined to have his say. He admits that he lives in the present moment, “I believe in just doing things – in action – and doing things well. Anything outside of that is just speculation or dreaming. We’re only living as well as we’re able to remain in the present moment…and that’s what I’m trying to get at each day.” Which is probably the only way to look at things as the world teeters on the edge of destruction, a point made abundantly clear on “Twilight of Idols” as he hammers the piano while singing, “Then I call my friends/ I say this is the end/ It made me question who I am.” Yet there is still a bit of the imp left in him as he segues from majestic swells to a gut crushing scream entering “Madison Square Garden” where he envisions, “a manic pontification on how we lose ourselves in the delirious night while death hovers over our heads—the whole show waiting to end on a single push of a button.”

Recounting the malaise that crept over him, “Days Drag On” illustrates the pain he lived in for five years. The music fills a void, creating something almost jaunty as the piano and drums fight the lyrical doom of not knowing who you are. Yet the song ends down in the dumps, leading into the soft focus of “Sawdust Chokes the Wind,” a sombre recounting of a mill town that lived and died along with its citizenry while the politicians prevailed despite the hard times.

Dominated by organ and piano, “I’s Hads Me Revelations” is a Dylanish blast getting to the heart of who we are and how we survive. “On a stump of gold I’ve wept my tears/ cause nothing’s worked after all these years.” Yet Sensor has survived, mostly by understanding that we must find our own sense of motivation to live despite a world that seems to often leave us with a sense of desperation. We have our own answers.

Trevor Sensor has been to the edge, he’s peered over and decided that despite all the evidence to the contrary there are still reasons to live. “On Account of Exile, Vol. 1” doesn’t offer us a lot of answers because that’s not Sensor’s job. He can’t find reasons for anyone else to live, it’s enough that he finds them for himself.

“Chiron, Galactus” is the second single from the album “On Account of Exile Vol.1” to be released June 18th 2021 on High Black Desert Records

High Black Desert Records Released on: April 2021.

“Live in St. Kilda” was a rare appearance at which Powers was backed by a group other than his longtime combo the Pink Monkey Birds. The November. 9th, 2019 show at the titular Australian city’s MEMO Music Hall was mounted to launch “Nine Parts Water, One Part Sand: Kim Salmon and the Formula for Grunge”, the autobiography of the singer-songwriter-guitarist of the famed Antipodean band the Scientists.

The hard-rocking group that ended up backing Powers on the show flashed some storied credentials of their own. Guitarist Harry Howard is the brother of the late Rowland S. Howard of the Bad Seeds, and played with Rowland in Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls. Harry’s partner Edwina Preston is a keyboardist, a member of ATOM and the tribute unit Pop Crimes (playing the songs of Rowland Howard), and a well-known novelist and nonfiction writer. The group’s other couple, bassist Dave Graney and drummer Clare Moore, are well known Down Under for their earlier groups the Moodists and the Coral Snakes.

The show captured on this recording is incredible! This one-time-only performance includes Pink Monkey Birds favourites as well as covers of the Cramps, Gun Club, Shangri-Las and Suicide!

This is a twelve song live album from a one-time-only show in which Kid Congo Powers was backed by the Near Death Experience.

Kid Congo says, “how did i hook up with the Near Death Experience you may ask? one fine day Kim Salmon, my long time Scientists surrealist beast of a friend, wrote from Australia to ask me to play at his book launch for his biography nine parts water, one part sand: Kim Salmon and the formula for grunge on November 9th, 2019. the launch was to take place at the memo music hall in st. kilda, a seaside suburb of melbourne. a royal command performance for the king of Kim? how could I say no to such an honour? what to do about a band? it did not take more than a minute for each of us to suggest Harry Howard and the Near Death Experience. as the logical choice.Ii was a massive fan of the band already and we shared crossed paths as expats claiming out our musical in 1980s London. Harry with Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls, Dave and Clare with the Moodists, Kim with the Scientists and me with Gun Club and Fur Bible.

Needless to say it was fantastical to get together and make a playlist for Kim featuring covers by Suicide and Shangri La, with mine and Near Death Experience‘s songs as well. the night was magic—I still am floating on a surrealistic pillow remembering the night. enjoy the racket, enjoy the love, enjoy this record of friendship and celebration.”

Kid Congo & the Near Death Experience · “Live in St. Kilda” In The Red Records

After the original line-up of the Pretenders had been destroyed by drugs and death, Chrissie Hynde continued to trudge on, finding herself further and further from what made her band so good in the first place. By the late ’80s and early ’90s, that mix of punk energy and pop melodies had given way to middle-of-the-road synth-rock.

A few years after an unsuccessful attempt at creating a Pretenders record with only session players (1990’s “Packed!“), Hynde began to build a band again. She recruited former Katydids guitarist Adam Seymour, often compared to the late, great James Honeyman-Scott in his ability to both jangle and crunch. She brought on a couple of bass players named Andy Rourke– ex-Smiths  who would soon leave, and ex-Primitives musician Hobson, who would stay. By the end of the sessions for a new album, founding drummer Martin Chambers would find himself back in the Pretenders family, too.

That album would become “Last of the Independents”, which was hailed as a return to form when released at the apex of alternative rock’s popularity, on May 10th, 1994. Suddenly, in her mid-40s, Hynde was sharing the rock charts with many of the artists she helped inspire. Most of the record crackles with the lean power of “Learning to Crawl”, occasionally stopping for a lushly produced number recalling “Get Close“.

How could she be, with a lead single like “Night in My Veins”? Everything about it was vintage Pretenders (a guitar-driven, mid-tempo rocker in which Hynde uses her sex appeal to discuss the appeal of sex) yet remained a slick, sharp, modern record primed for the airwaves. With this sly classic, Hynde sounded like she had rediscovered her sense of purpose.

In terms of commercial success, “Night in My Veins” had nothing on “I’ll Stand by You,” a power ballad smothered in studio excess: Strings! Echo effects! Gospel choir! But even with the production, Chrissie Hynde’s emotional performance sits at the centre of the song, and no one can match her vulnerability.

But “Last of the Independents” wasn’t interesting simply because of a couple of hits. What made it a welcome addition to the Pretenders’ back catalogue was its confident versatility – from the charging psychedelic rockabilly of “Rebel Rock Me” and howling funk of featuring one-time Pretenders guitarist Robbie McIntosh, who plays alongside Hynde and Seymour on “I’m a Mother” to the soulful “977” and heartfelt “Revolution.”

It helps that Hynde was writing about what was most important in her private life at the time, whether it was environmental efforts (“Revolution”) or motherhood (“I’m a Mother” and “Every Mother’s Son”).

“Last of the Independents” would be the band’s last hit album, reestablishing Chrissie Hynde as one of the great singers in rock while returning the Pretenders to road prominence. It also helped create the band’s most stable lineup. Hynde, Seymour, Hobson and Chambers would stay together for more than a decade.

Time for our latest single from our soon to be released new album  ‘Careful of Your Keepers’!

This next song is called ‘More Change’ and comes with a video made by special effects guru and all round film making wizard Ben Jones. 

Ben has one of the best minds and senses of humour and two of the best eyes in the business. Everything he does is pure gold and so I was very excited indeed, and still am, that he was up for making this music video to ‘More Change ‘

“Careful Of Your Keepers” is daring and soft, cutting and warm–a wild feat of complexity and combined dispositions. There’s a shared language of the band’s family experience that is as audible as ever in these recordings, which boast beautiful instrumental performances that still leave the nuanced space required for Stables’ vocals to live at the forefront. “The album was nearly called Goodbye Bite. And in a way it still is,” says Stables. “I went for “Careful of Your Keepers” in the end. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album, a song that for me holds the general feeling of the album as a whole. The fragility of things. Of situations. Of relationships. Of humans. What we do to look after each other and ourselves. The passing of time and what that does to us, and how we live our lives going forward.”

The new This Is The Kit album ‘Careful of You Keepers’ will release on June 9th,

The singer-songwriter, E Street Band and Crazy Horse member Nils Lofgren has announced a new solo album, “Mountains”, which will be out out July 21st.

Nils Lofgren has a rich history that threads through the band Grin, plus a reputable solo career, sideman for Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen. With that, there are plenty of Nils Lofgren music that is available to the fan, especially those that followed him from Grin and Neil Young, and on into his wonderful solo works. He still gives Bruce Springsteen most of his efforts these days in the E.Street Band so it’s nice to discover a solo album planned for arrival.

On July 21st, via his Cattle Track Road Records label, Nils Lofgren will unleash his next album, “Mountains“. On the album, he enlists the help of several musicians that include Neil Young, David Crosby, Ringo Starr, and others. The new album will feature 9 original tracks and a cover of Springsteen’s “Back In Your Arms”.

“Mountains” is full of guests, including his Crazy Horse collaborator Neil Young, the late David Crosby, Cindy Mizelle, Ron Carter, and The Howard Gospel Choir. The record is co-produced by Nils along with his wife Amy. The first single from “Mountains” is Ringo Starr-featuring track “Ain’t The Truth Enough,” a classic country-rock jam. 

Nils plays lap steel, organ, vibraphone, and sings, Ringo drums, Kevin McCormick plays bass, and, as mentioned, Cindy Mizelle adds vocal harmonies to the song.

“Mountains” will be released on CD, DD, and two vinyl LP editions that include Blue vinyl, and standard black vinyl.

Neko Case embodies a sense of timelessness in her music. Music that is also original, inventive and highly personal. The first thing you hear is that voice: a majestic contralto, stylized and instantly recognizable, but also filled with humanity (from anger to vulnerability to triumph….it’s all there!). Next, you notice her unique compositions, often drawing from mid-20th century pop and country and then twisted into mini operas that keep you on the edge of your seat. Finally, there are her much celebrated lyrics. She has her own language of metaphors and observations that can be illuminating, hilarious and discomforting, sometimes all at once. It’s all in service to her singular, passionate worldview. This collection offers a small glimpse into Neko’s artistry and I hope others get as much out of this music as I have.

Visit https://wildcreatures.nekocase.com for an expanded presentation of ‘Wild Creatures’ with new artwork, essays and track-by-track commentary celebrating Neko’s two decades of solo work.

Danny Lee Blackwell, the L.A.-based artist who carries with him a deep love for psychedelic music in all its various forms, is back this year with “Rajan”, a new album he recorded under the name Night Beats that’s set to be co-released on July 14th by Suicide Squeeze and Fuzz Club Records. Exciting news on its own, but the multi-talented musician continues to amp up our anticipation this morning with a fresh single from this record “Thank You,” complete with a brilliantly trippy video.

The clip, directed by Austin filmmaker Vanessa Pla, feels like equal parts Alejandro Jodorowsky, Black Orpheus and The Mighty Boosh as Blackwell finds himself in the company of — and is slowly swallowed up by a group of masked figures that, at one point, leave him completely naked on the floor while the camera spins overhead.

Read into these eye-popping visuals what you will, but here’s what Blackwell had to say about this new video:

Collaborating with Vanessa Pla, the director of the “Thank You” music video, has been an exceptional experience. Vanessa has a profound understanding of the creative process, and has helped me to transform my concept into a meaningful work of art. In the video, the 12 masked figures symbolize the limitations of our innermost desires and struggles, as the story follows an alchemical journey of transformation. Vanessa’s vision for the video was to highlight the power of transformation as an alchemical process, which reinforces the significance of the simple gesture of saying “Thank You.” This concept challenged me as an artist to explore deeper meanings and to convey them through simple ideas. Through our collaboration, we were able to create a compelling visual story that captures the essence of transformation and gratitude.