You might have been a huge new wave music fan, pogoing your way through your senior prom in 1983, not that this reviewer would know anything about that. OK, fine, this reviewer did pogo his way through his senior prom and still might have managed to miss out on the short but illustrious early 1980s career of the Revillos. But now, thanks to “Stratoplay”, a massive new wave dance party in a box, you can experience the Revillos in all their glory.
“Stratoplay”, a six-CD anthology compiled by Cherry Red Records, is one of the most complete histories of a band you’re likely to find. That history is a bit confusing, but Tim Barr helpfully explains it in his extensive liner notes. It goes like this. TheRevillos began life as an entirely different band, with a similar name: The Rezillos. Probably the first punk band to come out of Scotland, the Rezillos released their debut album, “Can’t Stand the Rezillos”, in 1978, and scored a hit single in the UK that year with “Top of the Pops”. Despite this success, the Rezillos soon broke up, releasing “Mission Accomplished…But the Beat Goes On“, a live album of their final show, in 1979.
Revillos’ fifth new single is “She’s Fallen In Love With A Monster Man” and “Mind Bending Cutie Doll” on Superville Records.
Betty Page in Sounds observes that, “Eugene gets right into Monster Mashing Translyvanian vocals and evil laughs, the girls responding with a cutesy chorus… since they abandoned themselves entirely to cartoon character pastiche and novelty, it actually works.”
The end of the Rezillos led to the birth of the Revillos, featuring Rezillos members Fay Fife and Eugene Reynolds. Without diluting much of the punk edge or the wacky pop culture/sci-fi sense of humor, Revillos added a dayglo new wave sensibility to the mix.
Something wicked this way comes. At the close of October 2022, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds returned with ‘Pretty Boy’. Marking a departure from the Ennio Morricone leanings of his early material, this single is much darker than anything else in his repertoire, with a distinctly gothic and post-punk edge, no doubt helped by guest guitarist Johnny Marr.
Earlier in the year, Gallagher claimed that the new record has a largely “orchestral” sound, but on the first single, this was not the case. Then, in a November interview with an Italian radio station (via Contactmusic), Gallagher spoke about his beloved football team, Manchester City FC, and revealed that the album is coming out in May, but it’s yet to be confirmed. He said: “The team is doing good, we’re having a good season. Hopefully, we will be in Istanbul [for the Champions League final] around when my new album is out next May, so that would be good”.
Noel Gallagher was the main songwriter, lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of Oasis, one of the biggest and most loved bands ever to emerge from the UK. His band played a tremendous role in shaping and inspiring contemporary guitar music from the 1990’s onwards. Noel’s continued success with the High Flying Birds cements his position as one of the most prolific and successful British songwriters of the last 50 years.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds first emerged in 2011 with their eponymous album released in October of that year. The album went double platinum in the UK and has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. The release of the debut album was supported by a touring schedule covering 150 live shows in 32 countries. This was followed by ‘Chasing Yesterday’, released in March 2015 – the first album to be produced as well as written by Noel, with 122 further shows in 28 countries. A third album, ‘Who Built The Moon?’, was recorded in sessions spanning 2 years with renowned producer and composer David Holmes in Belfast and London released in November 2017. There followed a series of multi-genre EPs released over the course of 2019 and 2020, all receiving high critical acclaim.
June 2021 saw the release of ‘Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021)’ – a Best Of celebrating a decade of Noel Gallagher’sHigh Flying Birds. This was the bands 4th consecutive Number 1 album and the 12th Number 1 album across Noel’s career. 2021 also saw Noel named as Record Store Day’s official ambassador.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds played Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage in June 2022, delivering a career-spanning set to one of the weekend’s biggest crowds. The show was the culmination of a summer of acclaimed sold-out outdoor venues across the UK. Fast forward to 2023 and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds are looking ahead to their much anticipated fourth studio album, ‘Council Skies’, due for release 2nd June. From the evocative album title to the cover art, to the lyrics themselves, ‘Council Skies’ sees Noel Gallagher bringing a more personal perspective, reclaiming his past and paying homage to his Mancunian roots. His most varied and accomplished solo record to date, Noel’s new album is a record framed by confidence, risk-taking, surefooted creative freedom, and great emotional depth.
Brand new single ‘Council Skies’ taken from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ 4th studio album of the same name, out June 2nd! The accompanying official video was filmed in Noel’s native Manchester and includes a performance shot at the historic New Century Hall.
Brand new single – ‘Pretty Boy’ – the first to be revealed from Noel’s forthcoming new studio album. The band are heading out on an extensive tour covering the UK, US and Europe from June 2023. The dates will be a great opportunity to hear the new music live for the first time, alongside Oasis and High Flying Birds classics
The first singles taken from the album – ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Easy Now’ – were met with a hail of critical and commercial success by fans and media alike. ‘Pretty Boy’ has also been remixed by The Cure’s Robert Smith, taking the track to a new spaced-out dimension..
Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno) will release “Lucky For You”, her kaleidoscopic new full-length album worldwide from Sub Pop. The 10-track album combines punk grit, crunchy shoegaze bliss, and an explosive Britpop bop, all mixed in with the classic anthems Bully is known for.
“Hard to Love,” the official new video from Bully, was directed by and stars Bognanno, who had this to say about the song: “Growing up never fitting into society’s constructed gender stereotypes and expectations, I often felt as though different equals bad or wrong. I was confused about my place in the world, not fully identifying with any one particular gender or sexuality. I was ashamed, and I blamed myself. Though I’m still in the process of understanding and accepting my identity, I’m glad to be surrounded by people who love and accept me for who I am regardless of the clothes I wear and the labels others use to define me.”
“Hard to Love” follows the previously released tracks “Lose You (Feat. Soccer Mommy),” and the pulsating banger “Days Move Slow.” Of the latter track, The New York Times says, “‘Days Move Slow’…is a song about being caught in the muck of grief — she wrote it after the death of her beloved dog, Mezzi — but it also has a propulsive, bouncy energy that promises eventual forward motion.
‘There’s flowers on your grave that grow,’ Bognanno sings in her signature holler, battling her buzzing guitar.”
“Lucky For You” is Bully’s most close-to-the-bone album yet. It’s an album that’s searing and unmistakably marked by its creator’s experiences, while still retaining the massive sound that Alicia Bognanno has become known for over the last decade. Her fourth album draws from personal pain and the universal struggle that is existing, learning, and moving on—and it’s all soundtracked by Bognanno’s rock-solid melodic sensibilities and a widescreen sound that’s impossible to pin down when it comes to the textures explored. These ten songs are simply the most irresistible Bognanno’s put to tape yet, making “Lucky For You” her greatest triumph to date in a career already packed with them.
Bully has extended her North American tour dates for 2023 in support of “Lucky For You” with new headlining shows. These new shows will follow Bully’s previously announced headlining UK/EU tour (May 20th-28th) and her 13-date main support for the Pixies and Franz Ferdinand (June 8th-25th).
‘Lucky For You’ out on Sub Pop Records on June 2nd , 2023.
Back in 2021, Wednesday’s “Audiotree Live” performance of their record, “Twin Plagues”, gave us goosebumps. We were so hyped to see Asheville’s premier country-gaze band release a lightning bolt of a fifth album, “Rat Saw God” earlier this month. Wednesday’s new record reveals life’s curdled beauty, taking listeners on a journey through a landscape that subtly grows as familiar as the one where you grew up. Lead singer and songwriter, Karly Hartzman, traffics in the casual poetry of people who share enough in common to skip the pleasantries. The record bursts with pile-driving rock crescendos, twinkling ambience, and grinding alt-country that sputters like a stalled motor. Revisit their “Audiotree Live Session” and go give their new album “Rat Saw God” a listen.
Wednesday is a noisy indie rock band whose chameleonic sound bounces between pounding shoegaze and melodic rock. The quintet incorporates lap steel and twinkly guitar work to round out their forward thinking songwriting.
Check out the super rad performance by Wednesday live at Audiotree.
Setlist 1. 00:00 Twin Plagues 2. 04:30 Billboard 3. 07:45 How Can You Live If You Can’t Love How Can You If You Do 4. 11:56 Cody’s Only 5. 15:18 One More Last One 6. 19:08 Toothache 7. 22:00 Handsome Man 8. 26:19 The Burned Down Dairy Queen 9. 29:49 Fate Is…
Beabadoobee has shared a new version of “Glue Song,” featuring Clairo. Beabadoobee first shared “Glue Song” last Valentine’s Day with a video shot in in the Philippines. She’s currently opening for Taylor Swift on the Texas-Florida-Georgia leg of the Eras Tour, and she’s set to perform at Lollapalooza in Chicago this summer. Her last LP, “Beatopia”, was released July last year.
In March, Clairo jumped on a new version of Phoenix’s Alpha Zulu song “After Midnight.” Earlier this month, Clairo shared a charity single titled “For Now” to benefit For the Gworls and Everytown for Gun Safety. She also joined the synthpop group Synthia on their single “So Low” and posted a cover of the Vashti Bunyan ballad “Winter Is Blue.”
“Glue Song” with Clairo out now !! so happy to finally have our voices together on a song, hope u all lov hearing it as much as we did making it
Acclaimed Los Angeles-based rockers Dawes have released their long-awaitedeighth studio album, “Misadventures of Doomscroller”, available everywhere now via Rounder Records. Rock stars don’t often name-drop such authors as Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace and William Gaddis when they talk about their rock-and-roll influences, but Dawes lead singer and guitarist Taylor Goldsmith specifically credits those three scribes for helping shape his music-writing perspective while the band put together its latest album, “Misadventures of Doomscroller”
Dawes celebrated “Misadventures of Doomscroller” with a historic and record-breaking performance of “Someone Else’s Café/Doomscroller Tries to Relax” on CBS Saturday Morning—at 10 minutes and five seconds, the longest live performance of a single song in US TV history.
Produced by longtime collaborator Jonathan Wilson (Billy Strings, Father John Misty, Angel Olsen), “Misadventures of Doomscroller” represents an adventurous new turn for Dawes, evincing a more ambitious, exploratory approach towards recording than ever before.
The album includes recently released singles like “Ghost In The Machine,” “Everything Is Permanent,” “Comes In Waves,” and the epic opening track, “Someone Else’s Café / Doomscroller Tries to Relax.”
Official performance videos—directed by Caitlin Gerard at Hollywood, CA’s historic EastWest Studio—are streaming now via YouTube. The live performance of the entire album filmed at EastWest which was available exclusively for the first weekend when the album was initially announced is back online and streaming now.
With “Misadventures of Doomscroller”, Goldsmith allowed himself to be a little “uncomfortable” and let loose on guitar more so than he usually does. Bandmates Griffin Goldsmith (drums), Wylie Gelber (bass) and Lee Pardini (keyboards) followed suit. The result is an easy-listening, funky, smooth-rock record that includes moments of extended jamming and showcases the quartet’s musicianship more so than previous Dawes albums.
Dawes will further celebrate “Misadventures of Doomscroller” with a non-stop live schedule including headlining shows, festival performances, a summer run with The Head and The Heart, and a very special co-headlining tour with GRAMMY Award-nominated Canadian artist Bahamas.
“An Evening with Dawes and Bahamas” will see both acts performing together for two unique live sets, with Dawes backing Bahamas and Bahamas then joining Dawes for an unprecedented collaborative performance. The tour begins September 7 at Knoxville, TN’s Bijou Theatre and then travels the US through the month. “It’s a thrill for us because it keeps us familiar with the whole body of work, and I think that’s actually a pretty rare gift that musicians have,” Goldsmith says. “It’s not like novelists and filmmakers get to go play with the stuff that they made through the years, but musicians do get to do that.”
Other highlights include a very special solo performance by Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, as well as a once-in-a-lifetime “Tom Petty Dreamset” at Indianapolis, IN’s All In Music & Arts Festival, led by Dawes and featuring a surprise line-up of special guests.
On “Garden Party”, Rose City Band’s country psychedelic rock evokes the wide-open spaces of the American west and free spirits who call it home. Lead by acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Ripley Johnson, Rose City Band are some of the best players in contemporary rock: pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker, keyboardist Paul Hasenberg, bassist Dewey Mahood (aka Plankton Wat), drummer Dustin Dybvig, and features Sanae Yamada of Moon Duo on Synthesizer.
“Garden Party” is both a celebration of summer and all it brings: friends gathering at backyard BBQs, cold beers on a hot porch, 12-foot sunflowers, and an exaltation of the value and respite of a moment of calm; the pleasures of time in the garden to appreciate the beauty of a contorted carrot, or a morning on a stoop watching a hummingbird.
Freedom, contentment, and joy were the sources for the songs; they certainly bring the listener right there. From the soaring guitar solos to the driving rhythms, the elegant pedal steel lines to the organ grooves, “Garden Party” has a live band’s energy captured in exquisite detail. “Garden Party” is an invitation, a welcoming hand extended, and a joyous ride. Like all great music, the album taps into the listeners’ emotional center and takes them to their happy place – their sunny spot. Recorded at Center for Sound, Light, and Color Therapy in Portland and mixed by John McEntire, the band’s sounds surround and embrace you.
“Garden Party’s” last two tracks feature special guest Sanae Yamada (Moon Duo) who added some synth magic to the final two tracks. Ripley says it best “I always like when an album starts in one place and ends in another” What a beautiful journey it is!
Easily among the most star-studded original albums ever recorded, “Defiance Part 1” sees Ian Hunter joined by the late, great Jeff Beck, Johnny Depp, Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Billy F Gibbons (ZZ Top), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses), Todd Rundgren, Slash (Guns N’ Roses), JeffTweedy (Wilco), Robert Trujillo (Metallica), Waddy Wachtel (Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards), Brad Whitford (Aerosmith), Dane Clark (John Mellencamp), Billy Bob Thornton & J.D. Andrew (The Boxmasters) and Dean DeLeo, Robert De Leo & Eric Kretz (Stone Temple Pilots). DEFIANCE PART 1 is heralded by today’s premiere of the nostalgic first single, “Bed Of Roses,” featuring guitarist Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Fleetwood Mac) and drums by Ringo Starr, available today at all DSPs and streaming services. An official music video for “Bed Of Roses” premieres today on YouTube.
“It was a fluke,” Ian Hunter says. “This was not planned. Really, I’m serious. I really couldn’t believe some of them. I mean, it’s amazing what’s happened. It’s been such a buzz.”
Now in its seventh decade, Ian Hunter’s illustrious career has long been marked by collaboration, from the golden age of Mott theHoople to his fabled partnership with Mick Ronson and 21st century renaissance with his crack backing combo, the Rant Band. Now, with “Defiance Part 1”, the legendary singer-songwriter, author, and rock ‘n’ roll star takes creative solidarity to an unprecedented new level with spectacular accompaniment from a truly awe-inspiring roster of special guests, famous fans, and lifelong friends.
The album first came together in early 2020 with the dawn of the pandemic era. An inveterate hard worker, Hunter took the lockdown as a creative opportunity, writing a series of new songs which he tracked in his Connecticut basement alongside his longtime collaborator, guitarist/producer/multi-instrumentalist Andy York. Working with little more than a computer, guitar, V5 piano, and “a very small keyboard,” Hunter and York created a collection of bare bones demos but with quarantine rules still in effect, were unable to flesh them out further by hitting the studio with the Rant Band. Manager Mike Kobayashi and renowned rock ‘n’ roll photographer Ross Halfin suggested reaching out to some of Hunter’s fellow legends who might perhaps use some of their own lockdown to contribute a track or two. To Hunter’s delight, the project quickly escalated, with a galaxy of stars clamoring to be involved. With time on their hands due the pandemic, his fellow musicians took the demos and stems that Hunter and York put together in his basement and added unforeseen power and creativity through their own trademark talents.
“Everybody’s sitting around,” says Hunter. “It’s Covid. Nobody’s going anywhere. We started sending them out. Slash started doing something. Robert Trujillo from Metallica. Ringo Starr, Mike Campbell. Joe Elliott is on a few tracks. Johnny Depp said ‘Jeff Beck’s with me and we’d like to do a couple of songs.’ I know Todd Rundgren, I toured with Todd way back, he’s done an amazing job. Billy Gibbons. Billy Bob Thornton and JD Andrew from The Boxmasters. It’s never ending. I mean, every day we’d get a phone call, this guy wants to do it, that guy wants to do it. It was like, I can’t believe this.”
Despite its genesis during the pandemic, “Defiance Part 1” is remarkably upbeat, ablaze with the life-affirming energy and unbridled passion that has marked Hunter’s music since the start. Indeed, “Pavlov’s Dog” is Hunter at his ferocious best, a snarling rocker featuring the surviving members of Stone Temple Pilots – brothers Dean DeLeo (guitar) and Robert DeLeo (bass) and Eric Kretz (drums). Songs like “I Hate Hate” and the album’s rebellious title track – the latter showcasing the one and only Slash on guitar with Metallica’s Robert Trujillo carrying the groove using the late Jaco Pastorius’ signature fretless bass, the same instrument played by the legendary jazz musician on Hunter’s groundbreaking second solo album, 1975’s “All American Alien Boy” – offer indisputable evidence that Hunter’s voice remains as uncompromising and provocative as ever before.
Having spent the better part of two years on the project, Hunter isn’t done yet. As its title promises, “Defiance Part 1” will be followed by the arrival of “Defiance Part 2”. The second chapter will feature an equally stunning range of special guests while projecting an entirely different thematic approach and song writing aesthetic.
With the wind at his back, Ian Hunter has somehow managed to pull off something impossible. “Defiance Part 1” is a full-speed-ahead rock ‘n’ roll record rarely heard in this day and age, recorded with a crew of irrefutable rock ‘n’ roll all-stars and released on the definitive rock ‘n’ roll label.
“There are a lot of reasons for calling this album “Defiance “ says Ian Hunter. “It’s like, people my age shouldn’t be making records, blah, blah, blah. But we’ve still got a bit left.”
FIRST SINGLE, “BED OF ROSES,” FEATURING MIKE CAMPBELL AND RINGO STARR
Rock ‘n’ roll legend Ian Hunter has announced the release of his landmark new album, “Defiance Part 1“, arriving via the Sun Records label on Friday, April 21st, 2023.
The duo’s first album for over two decades. “How reunion albums should be done. ‘Fuse’, their first album since 1999, is imbued with the sounds of today for a shimmering, immensely satisfying return” 4/5 – NME “Fuse picks up right where Temperamental stopped, as if they’re hitting play on a cassette they’ve kept on pause for 24 years. But they keep it fresh, using the latest digital effects to warp, filter, mutate Thorn’s voice into a deeper, more dolorous instrument”
‘Run A Red Light’ from Everything But The Girl’s forthcoming album, ‘Fuse’.
Leeds based Post-Punk Treeboy & Arc Explaining the track, Ben said “The lyrics for “False Objects” were written when I was really into watching late night TV shows about the supernatural. For some reason my girlfriend and I became weirdly obsessed with Jack Osbourne. We saw a programme called ‘Portals to Hell’ and the name sounded so ridiculous we watched it and it was him presenting it, that opened a can of worms. He also does a show with Sharon and Ozzy called ‘The Osbournes Want to Believe’ where he plays them spooky video clips of ghosts and UFOs and Bigfoot in an attempt to convince them it’s real and plausible. A lot of it is bollocks obviously but some of it is pretty compelling and left me thinking “OK well if that isn’t a ghost, then what on earth is it?”. At some point you can tell that Ozzy is really starting to buy into it all, and I realised that I was also starting to believe”
