“Duster” is the third studio album by American rock band Duster. The album was released December 13, 2019 by Muddguts Records in the United States; the first Duster album to not be released under the Up Records label. This is also the first studio album released by the band in 19 years since the release of “Contemporary Movement” in 2000.
Like a lot of their cohorts on the slower side of the late-90s alternative spectrum, Duster didn’t seem like much in the moment. Founded in 1996, the band released two albums and a handful of singles and EPs before quietly dissolving at the turn of the millennium. With clean tones and slow-moving chord changes, the trio often echoed aspects of “slowcore” contemporaries like Low, Codine, and Red House Painters, welling up into noisy Spacemen 3 terrain at their most pronounced. Tim Sendra praised the band for its ability to deliver quality music after such an extended hiatus: “At a time when almost every band ever has reunited to make disappointing, derivative music, Duster have come back to make their most sonically challenging and emotionally invested record yet”.
The band released their first standalone single in almost 20 years “Interstellar Tunnel” (the track was not included on the album “Duster”),
Upon its release, “Duster” received positive reviews from music critics. Tim Sendra praised the band for its ability to deliver quality music after such an extended hiatus: “At a time when almost every band ever has reunited to make disappointing, derivative music, Duster have come back to make their most sonically challenging and emotionally invested record yet”.
The result of this radical, experimental creative process is one of the densest, most unpredictable statements from a band whose work always rockets in from unexpected angles accompanied by a wealth of subtext and theorems. But you don’t even need even a passing understanding of those Ancient Greek musical modes to appreciate this adventurous new music.
Having assembled full working instrumentals from these jams, Mackenzie and his bandmates began overdubbing flute, organ, percussion and extra guitar over the top. The lyrics, meanwhile, were a group effort. “We had an editable Google Sheet that we were all working on,” says Mackenzie. “Most of the guys in the band wrote a lot of the lyrics, and it was my job to arrange it all and piece it together.”
The result of this radical, experimental creative process is one of the densest, most unpredictable statements from a band whose work always rockets in from unexpected angles accompanied by a wealth of subtext and theorems. But you don’t even need even a passing understanding of those Ancient Greek musical modes to appreciate this adventurous new music. Highlights include ‘Lava’, a suite of pure fire music that swings between spiritual jazz and new age visions, powered by psychedelic saxophones, shimmering cymbals and McCoy Tyner-esque pianos, and the wormhole-riding prog-folk excursions of ‘Magma’, which leads unsuspecting listeners into unfamiliar realms via the siren call of Mackenzie’s flute, while ‘Ice V’ delivers apocalyptic funk with a cool hand at the controls, ‘Hell’s Itch’ hypnotises with its coiling guitar lines, hard honking harmonica and polymorphic basslines, and the ever-shifting ‘Iron Lung’ follows the choppy grooves of its happy/sad songcraft through unexpected twists and turns, a vision of pop refracted through a house of mirrors. Sinister closer Gliese 710, meanwhile, pushes ever onwards into the darkness, its lumbering-but-lithe heaviosity enough to get corpses to nod their heads.
I really like the improv nature of the record, which gives it a kind of jam-band feel (in the best way possible) as well as the production; it genuinely sounds like it was recorded in the 60s/70s, which makes it feel very authentic & faithful to that time period
If I had to pinpoint the exact sound of the record I’d say it’s a blend of Jazz-Rock & Alt Rock with strong Psychedelic 60s overtones, which is more or less exactly what I was hoping for.
It’s an excellent follow-up to “Omnium Gatherum” that I’m enjoying just as much if not even more, perhaps even surpassing that album in my ranking of their discography. Overall it’s a decidedly fun, trippy listening experience, at times verging on Space Rock & Prog
The mighty King Gizzard have unveiled a new nine minute single, “Iron Lung” from their new record, “Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs Mushrooms And Lava”. Check out the video for “Iron Lung” below.
SPOD, the animator for the “Iron Lung” video, states: “When I heard this track, I had just started delving into fully animated AI videos and thought what a good opportunity to use something I barely understand mixed with my love of effects from the dawn of digital video. So I poured myself into a cyber spiral for a couple of months and this is the result. I love how the song seems like endless ascending and descending cycles culminating in these dramatic explosions and lifts, so it felt like a perfect fit to dive into a 9 minute descent to hell and back. Unfortunately, I still dream that I’m spiralling into the eternal abyss, and I’m not sure I exist anymore.”
“Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs Mushrooms And Lava” is the first of three new records King Gizzard And TheLizard Wizard have in the pipeline.“Laminated Denim” drops October 12th, while the third and final record, “Changes“, is due out October 28th.
David Byrne’s Broadway show “American Utopia” returned last month at the St. James Theatre in New York, and, last night, Byrne and the cast returned to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. After Byrne discussed the show, showed off some of his pandemic drawings, and taught Stephen Colbert some dance moves, the cast performed Talking Heads’ “I Zimbra.”
Byrne and the “American Utopia” cast previously performed on the show in 2018 with an assist from Colbert. On this episode, Byrne said the previous Colbert appearance caught the attention of Broadway producers, which prompted the then-touring production’s long-term move to New York.
For the second time on The Late Show, David Byrne and the amazing cast of ‘American Utopia’ light up the Ed Sullivan Theater performance of a song from their smash hit Broadway show.
David Byrne’s first solo Top 10 album, “American Utopia” further explored the optimistic themes of the singer-songwriter’s “Reasons to Be Cheerful” multimedia project. The collection was supported by a world tour whose cutting-edge technology and inventive choreography lent itself well to the theatre, and the show was adapted as a stage musical in late 2019.
“I realized a Broadway setting would likely be a different audience than the concert crowds I was used to,” noted Byrne of the show – which also includes solo and Talking Heads songs. “I thought to myself that this new context might be good – it might actually help to bring out the narrative arc a little bit more.” The Tony-nominated “American Utopia” On Broadway spawned an Original Cast Recording that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theatre Album.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard unveil their new single/video, “Hate Dancin’,” taken from their forthcoming album “Changes“, due out October 28th on KGLW. Following last week’s “Laminated Denim” an album written specifically with their recent sold-out Marathon Shows at Red Rocks in mind – and “Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava“,
“Changes” marks King Gizzard’s third and final album of October. Originally imagined as the group’s fifth album of 2017, “Changes” has ended up the sixth album King Gizzard will release in 2022 (rounded out by April’s double album, “Omnium Gatherum“, January’s “Butterfly 3001″remix record, and March’s “Made in Timeland”,the latter of which was just surprised-released on DSPs for the first time). “Hate Dancin’” is a tight number, clocking in just above the 3-minute mark. “I started writing a song about how I hate dancing, but then I realized that I love dancing,”says Gizzard frontman Stu Mackenzie. The accompanying video puts the band’s exquisite moves front and centre.
King Gizzard and Lizard Wizards recent Marathon Shows at Red Rocks Amphitheater on October 10th, 11th, and November 2nd are currently being presented by Nugs.net as a delayed stream, with one final broadcast occurring on Sunday, November 6th at 8pm EST. For more information, visit nugs.net/kglwlive.
Currently in the middle of a largely sold-out U.S. tour, the band return to the U.K. and Europe for a run of shows in March 2023 which include two nights at the Brixton Academy in London.
On the honey shores of Cape Cod in a beach shack, Courtney Marie Andrews found self-love and her voice. Every morning, she’d walk 6-8 miles around the back trails of an island and meditate on her life, perusing old memories and patterns like browsing a used bookshop. After more than a decade on the road, the Phoenix-born songwriter, poet, and painter finally had the space to process all the highs and lows of a life of constants. She was finally ready to make a record of triumph, while not completely forgetting the years that made her. That record is the Sam Evian produced “Loose Future”.
The sometimes difficult transition to autumn is made gentle by the embrace of Courtney Marie Andrews’ new album, “Loose Future”. It’s the kind you want to put on to add a little extra warmth at any time of day—the walk to work through newly brisk air, making dinner with friends, those moments just before you drift off to sleep. It’s easy to convince yourself there might be an extra something tucked into Andrews’ voice just for you, making it an album you can share secrets with. The production of her Americana sound makes it soft on your ears, easily strummed guitars and light shakers fuzzing out the edges of her songs, a change from some of the sharper, more volatile songs of her past. You move toward Andrews’ voice like a moth toward a light; she manages to just sound kind, imbuing the hops and skips of her voice with the right amount of nostalgia and sadness, even rolling in little bits of humour. “You and I in the corner of a room / At an awkward party / Where no one was talkin’ / As you were mocking the disaster,” she sings, almost laughing at herself before singing, “I still hold space for you / Even with all you put me through.” It’s an easy album to listen and give yourself over to, fully.
Courtney Marie Andrews’ new song, “These Are The Good Old Days,” off her forthcoming album ‘LooseFuture’, out on Fat Possum on October 7th.
Picking up right where “A Billion Little Lights” left off, “ILYSM” finds John Ross once again staring into the cosmos and the infinite abyss, looking towards the moon as a companion and the night sky as a link to all of humanity. Early on in the writing process for “ILYSM”, Ross was diagnosed with cancer, and there are moments on almost every song where you can hear him grappling with this diagnosis and trying to make sense of it all. In spite of its tough subject matter, or perhaps because of it, “ILYSM” is a record brimming with hope and a newfound appreciation for life itself. Songs like “Hold My Hand,” a duet with Julien Baker, and the hauntingly beautiful “St. Beater Camry,” which features vocals from Samantha Crain, take a more laid-back sonic approach which, in turn, makes them all the more effective as Ross shares some of his most vulnerable lyrics to date.
These tracks in particular serve as further proof that no matter how complex the band’s arrangements have grown, the humanistic qualities of their songs have always endured. However, it isn’t until “The Grass Widow in the Glass Window” that Ross delivers one of the record’s most devastating lines: “Now is not for the faint of heart / They’ll put you on a shelf / If you can’t just shut the fuck up and be alone with yourself.”
“The Grass Widow In The Glass Window” from Wild Pink, available now on Royal Mountain Records. “ILYSM” out October 14th, 2022.
Natalie Mering’s (Weyes Blood) newest LP, “And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow”, picks up right where “Titanic Rising” left us in 2019. Even the album covers bear similar imagery. On the latter’s, Mering is underwater in a bedroom, suspended in an oceanic ether above a wine-red carpet. Light pours in through the bellowing, jellyfish-translucent curtains. It’s as if she’s stranded and the shipwreck has not yet sunken down to the seabed. On the cover of “Hearts Aglow”,Mering appears to still be below the surface, her hair drifting through the water like a slow-motion wave, her chest, quite literally, bursting with a sun-red gleam. There’s a stillness afoot, a rubble above ready to be pieced back together. And Mering is standing atop the debris
Weyes Blood’s (aka Natalie Mering) voice has always been an illumination, wavering delicately among her surrounding folk-pop instrumentals. Her newest track, “Grapevine,” upholds this legacy of hers. With an orchestral backing, complete with bells and swooping synth, this track builds up to a magnificent crescendo, with Mering’s voice guiding the way. The lyrics describe a love epic, taking place on the road, with lines like “California’s my body / And your fire runs over me” giving you a sense of place, while leaving you with goosebumps. Mering herself searches throughout this entire track, singing, “When I see the light / Shining across the freeway late at night / Start to drift over the line / And it hits me for the first time / Now we’re just two cars passing by / On the Grapevine.”
Her yearning sears into you, carving through the layers of the song decisively, making everything point toward her loved one. Mering explains the tragic note embedded in the song, saying, “Technology is harvesting our attention away from each other. We all have a ‘Grapevine’ entwined around our past with unresolved wounds and pain. Being in love doesn’t necessarily mean being together.”
Weyes Blood the album ‘And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow’, out November 18th, 2022 on Sub Pop Records
Like their heroes, Teenage Fanclub, Alvvays have always gone all in for the anthemic. But whereas the former sets a course for the stars with sweeping guitar chords and epic choruses that blast upwards on a more-or-less straight trajectory, Alvvays finds drama by drilling down into the core of their songs and breaking them apart at the cellular level—and never more so than on noisy, moody new record “Blue Rev”. Brimming with melodic twists, hairpin rhythmic turns, screeching key changes, and instrumental chaos that only feels uncontrolled because it is so precisely arranged, there’s so much happening within and around the fringes of “Blue Rev” that every moment teeters on the edge of destruction in the style of the amateur who doesn’t realize that it’s the kitchen sink that sinks the ship.
And yet this is masterful stuff for the simplest of reasons, which is that it hardly matters how far Alvvays want to explode their songs because the fact is that they havesongs, good ones, and at the end of the day when you’re a guitar pop band, even one with stadium-sized ambitions and a taste for pastiche, the song is all that counts.
There are newly aggressive moments here—the gleeful and snarling guitar solo at the heart of opener “Pharmacist,” or the explosive cacophony near the middle of “Many Mirrors.” And there are some purely beautiful spans, too—the church- organ fantasia of “Fourth Figure,” or the blue-skies bridge of “Belinda Says.” But the power and magic of Blue Rev stems from Alvvays’ ability to bridge ostensible binaries, to fuse elements that seem antithetical in single songs—cynicism and empathy, anger and play, clatter and melody, the soft and the steely. The luminous poser kiss-off of “Velveteen,” the lovelorn confusion of “Tile by Tile,” the panicked but somehow reassuring rush of “After the Earthquake”.
The songs of “Blue Rev” thrive on immediacy and intricacy, so good on first listen that the subsequent spins where you hear all the details are an inevitability.
Even though the man himself has been gone for nearly 30 years, the excellent and essential new releases just keep on coming, thanks to his seemingly inexhaustible vault/archives and the impressive efforts of his estate. The latest offering “Zappa ’75: Zagreb/Ljubljana”, documenting a pair of historic Yugoslavian shows officially arrives this weekend. But there are already rumours about the next set coming down the pipe: A multi-disc box featuring the 1972 albums “Waka/Jawaka” and“The Grand Wazoo“, supposedly being released on December 16th. The press release below surfaced online the other day. I haven’t seen any official confirmation from the powers that be yet, but it looks legit to me. Besides, who would bother to create a fake press release about a Frank Zappa box set?
“Waka/Wazoo” is a comprehensive 4-CD + Blu-ray audio box set celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mothers Of Invention’s “Waka/Jawaka” and “Grand Wazoo” experience from 1972.
During the aftermath of being pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London, England, Zappa found himself recuperating for months in his home in Laurel Canyon. Although he was confined to a wheelchair, his work ethic could not be tamed. During this time, he managed, among other things, to assemble an ensemble that quenched his thirst and desire to work with a large “Electric Orchestra.”
Ultimately, a 20-piece group was contracted, along with recording sessions and an eight-city tour. Shortly thereafter, a scaled down 10-piece configuration, now known as the Petit Wazoo, toured for almost two months. After all was said and done, Zappa finished the experiment with two albums in the can, “Waka/Jawaka” and “The Grand Wazoo”, plus two tours and an archive of show masters in his vault. It was a monumental feat for a guy with a cast on his leg and a conductor’s baton in his hand.
The “Waka/Wazoo” box set features a complete historical rundown of the entire project, with alternate takes of almost every composition recorded during the album sessions, plus vault mix session outtakes and oddities. Also included is the full final show of the 10-piece tour, recorded at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on December 15th, 1972.
The Blu-ray audio disc features both albums with brand-new, first-time-ever Atmos and 5.1 mixes from the original multi-tracks and the 96kHz 24-bit high-resolution stereo remasters. Finally, during the album recording sessions at Paramount Studios, Zappa worked with George Duke on some of Duke’s solo material. These demos were produced by Zappa, who also played guitar. Although George would go on to re-record the compositions for his own albums, the versions with Zappa have never been officially issued until now.”
“Waka/Wazoo” features a complete historical rundown of the entire project in a five-disc multi-format box. The comprehensive set boasts unreleased alternate takes of almost every composition recorded during the album sessions, Vault mix session outtakes and oddities, and also includes the full final show of the 10-piece tour, recorded at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on December 15th, 1972.
Additionally, the collection includes a set of demos for George Duke’s solo material that Zappa produced and played guitar on during the album recording sessions at Paramount Studios. Although Duke would go on to re-record the compositions for his own albums, the versions with Zappa have never been officially issued until now.
