The Fat Angel Sings

Having reissued her studio albums over the last few years, PJ Harvey is further digging into her archives to release the 59-track compilation “B-sides, Demos and Rarities” on November 4th via UMe/Island. It’s available as either a 3-CD or 6-LP set, each including liner notes and rare and unseen photos.

The compilations spans PJ Harvey’s career, with most of the tracks unavailable physically or digitally for decades. Fourteen of the tracks are either previously unreleased or in previously unreleased versions.

Of the collection, PJ Harvey says, “To have this collection of songs released to the world means a great deal to me. For every album song I have written there have been accompanying brother/sister songs that for many reasons don’t quite have their place in the world at that time, but do find their way eventually, and are no less important for being later. In fact some of these lesser known works are closer to my heart.

“Now having all these works collected and released together in their own right feels at last to give them the place in the world they deserve. I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do.”

You can listen to three songs now: a previously unreleased demo version of “Dry” an unreleased demo of “Missed” and “Somebody’s Down, Somebody’s Name” which is officially available digitally for the first time.  Most of the 59 tracks in this 6LP boxset are currently unavailable physically or digitally; 14 tracks are previously unreleased/previously unreleased versions. Mastering and vinyl cutting by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering, under the guidance of long time PJ Harvey producer John Parish.

Polly is working on a new album, and recently covered Leonard Cohen’s “Who By Fire” for the “Bad Sisters” soundtrack. Loved working with composer Tim Phillips on the new tv series Bad Sisters. When Sharon Horgan approached me to be involved I said yes immediately as I have followed her work and loved it for years. It is a thrill to now be working with her.

It was a very enjoyable day spent recording the version of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Who By Fire’ with Tim. I had spoken to Sharon in advance of the recording session, so I understood why she felt the song’s lyric was so perfect for the series, but also understood what nuances of Leonard’s performance she most loved, and therefore what to try and recapture but in my own way.

B-Sides, Demos & Rarities released Island Records recording;

Released on: 2022-09-08

Fuelled by youthful bravado and an explosive retro-futuristic sound, this young punk-rock power trio blasts the lid off your expectations with their debut, “Versions of Modern Performance”.

Since the dawn of garage rock, basements and carports across America have played host to untold thousands of high school friends looking to fulfill that insatiable need to form a band. And, of course, it’s never easy, but even when everything clicks, it’s probably safe to say that not many of them wind up getting signed to the genre-defining indie rock label Matador Records on their first try.

‘Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)’ is a scuffed-up, guitar-driven piece of garage-pop that sea saws between discordance and fragments of melody. The track’s lyrics brim with alliteration and slanted rhymes, and as the instrumentation rises, the song rides out with a chorus of “oohs.” 

It’s a fine example of the Chicago three-piece Horsegirl‘s kinetic connection and playful sense of humour their reinterpretation of noise pop follows a lineage but doesn’t ape it, it’s charmingly ramshackle, personal, and endearing.

“For us, it started purely as three teenagers who were doing it for fun,” gushes Penelope Lowenstein—at 18, the youngest member of the teenaged three-piece Horsegirl, who in the short span of three years have gone from jamming together in their parents’ basements to, this October, opening for the legendary alt-rock outfit Pavement on their much-touted reunion tour. “I don’t know how it usually happens for bands, but it was just this weird moment where suddenly we were on peoples’ radar. Eventually we recorded a bunch of demos, put them on Soundcloud, and sent them to all the labels who had become interested, and that’s how we were connected with Matador.”

There’s more to the story, but for now here’s the nitty-gritty: “Versions of Modern Performance”, Horsegirl’s debut album, is 34 minutes of voluminous sonic joy, tracked in its entirety at Steve Albini’s stalwart Electrical Audio and produced by studio vet John Agnello, whose prestigious credits include work with Dinosaur Jr.,Sonic Youth, the Dream Syndicate, and Kurt Vile, to name just a few. Lowenstein switches off on guitar, bass, and vocals with Nora Cheng. They met and cemented their friendship while taking part in the School of Rock program in their native Chicago. (Sidenote: They first played together in a cover band that featured, you guessed it, Sonic Youth songs on the setlist). Gigi Reece, Horsegirl’s drummer, joined in early 2019, bringing an instant powerhouse backbeat to the band’s sound, which surges with a psychedelic fervor that conjures tastes of the Velvet Underground and Nico, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab, and Yo La Tengo—again, to name just a few.

“We were brought together by this shared love for the same kind of music,” says Cheng, describing how the resurgent Chicago scene, tough-to-crack but nurturing when it counted, eventually helped propel Horsegirl into the spotlight. They recorded their first single, the cavernous and hauntingly folk-tinged “Ballroom Dance Scene,” with their friends Jack Lickerman and Niko Kapetan (whose own band, Friko, has carved out a distinctive dream-pop niche).

Eventually the Chicago Tribune came calling, running a high-profile feature on Horsegirl that sparked a critical buzz. “This was after more and more bands had started popping up that seemed to share similar influences with us, or the same ethos, I guess you could call it,” Cheng observes. “I don’t know exactly how it happened, but it all turned into a very supportive, young community.”

In a sense then, “Versions of Modern Performance” is as much a reflection of the scene that elevated Horsegirl as it is the band’s full-throated statement of purpose.

From the sharp angles and resonant chords of the uptempo opener “Anti-glory” to the layers of sludge and whistling guitars in the mournful “Billy” (loosely inspired, with its E–B–E–B–E–B tuning, by the music of Nick Drake), the album conveys a warm, enveloping analog atmosphere where heavy-leaded psych rock, recombinant proto-punk, wistful indie-pop melodies, and volcanic blooms of guitar feedback all collide in a crucible of spontaneity. Infuse all that with a healthy dose of controlled chaos and the multi-coloured picture of what Horsegirl is all about begins to take shape.

The Brooklyn music scene over the last 15 years has changed dramatically and often, moving further East to the point where it might now be in Queens, and some of the biggest names of the ’00s now call Silverlake home. Yet Nicole Schneit, is still here, still writing simple, honest, direct guitar pop as Air Waves. If that makes it sound boring, it is not. Nicole has a way of getting to the heart of things with the fewest words and chords possible that sinks in quick, and they’ve gained a reputation as a musician’s musician. Having signed with Fire Records, home of The Chills, The Bevis Frond and Throwing Muses, Air Waves have released their first album for the label and Nicole gets some help from Cass McCombs, Luke Temple, Frankie Cosmos and others. Cass McCombs who duets with Nicole on “Alien,” you might not even realize there are any guests on the record at all. Nicole’s songs continue to feature the sparest of arrangements gently strummed guitar, light keyboards and backing vocals, minimalistic drumming — that keep the focus on her way with melody and low-key but emotive delivery.

Heady with hooks and unforgettable melodies, gliding on deeply danceable grooves, always with Air Waves’ innate compassion, concision and uncanny pop sense shining throughout. A masterpiece that’s beautifully simple, instantly accessible and entirely addictive. Also on the album, Skyler Skjelset (Fleet Foxes, Beach House), Brian Betancourt (Hospitality, Sam Evian), Rina Mushonga, Lispector, David Christian, Ethan Sass, and Ben Florencio.
‘The Dance’ has waited three years to see the light of day and it comes to us now, blinking, smiling in the widening light of 2022 feeling more needed and necessary but also more joyous than ever before. It’s both a snapshot of these songs as they were recorded but crucially, in the intervening time those songs have had additional arrangements crafted by Nicole, created remotely and virtually, with a few like-minded collaborators. The result is simultaneously Air Waves freshest, most spontaneous yet finessed album yet.

You won’t find a better soundtrack for the solidarity, strength, romance and movement we all need right now than ‘The Dance’ – Air Waves’ is their best album yet. 

Released September 9th, 2022

Calgary band Preoccupations understand that as bleak as post-punk styles can be, they are also inherently sexy. While they don’t exactly look the part — aside from drummer Mike Wallace, these are normal looking, normal dressing dudes who would never be confused with Interpol — they imbue their songs with a dark romance that’s hard not to get swept up in. Their fourth studio album finds them restoring their roots with the singular, guitar driven, dissonant yet anthemic washes of intricate noise that has brought them international acclaim since their basement beginnings.

They loosen their collars even further on “Arrangements”, arguably best album. While the tension between the four members remains one of their best qualities, they’ve relaxed just a little, giving the songs room to breathe and slowing tempos enough to take things from rigid to sultry.

Those subtle changes allow for more range in bassist and frontman Matt Flegel’s vocals, and he’s never sounded more natural in the lead role. His gravelly pipes can go from warm and inviting to harrowing and menacing in an instant. It all comes together on tracks like “Riccochet,” one of Preoccupations’ best-ever songs that shines with thrilling guitarwork, Wallace’s monster drumming, and Flegel seething out lines like “Everything tastes like the bitter end.” While that is the high point for the album, “Arrangements” features the band’s best batch of songs to date, with big hooks and burrowing melodies to go along with the always impressive musicianship. They may not have lightened up — Flegel says the album’s about “the world blowing up and no one giving a shit” — but the band are taking it all in style.

The Calgary post-punk band relax just a little for their most effortless, appealing record yet.

released September 9th, 2022

The debut album from London duo Jockstrap Georgia Ellery, also of Black Country, New Road, and Taylor Skye takes all of one minute to announce itself as something remarkable.

The debut album from UK duo Jockstrap is the sound of total freedom. The album opens with a gentle strum of a guitar and singer Georgia Ellery’s breathy vocals. If you’ve never heard them before, you might be expecting a folk album along the lines of Laura Marling but 40 seconds into the song, as Ellery’s voice rises and gains strength, a switch flips and things go into glitchy electronic territory with deep sub synths, “wub wub” dubstep bass, and fizzled circuits.

Opener “Neon” draws you in with sparse acoustic guitar and Ellery’s lithe vocal, only to wallop you with rib cage-rattling bass, a film score-esque theremin sample and a ghostly chorus. It’s the first “holy shit” moment of many on the record, “a collection of Jockstrap tracks that have been three years in the making,” per the duo.

Then the song flips again with distorted drums, a towering fuzzed-out riff and the whole thing sounding like someone dropped the tape into a deep fryer. All while the melody continues, over and done with in less than four minutes. Each turn unexpected and perfect.

Dramatic strings, synths and chanting usher “Concrete Over Water” into EDM banger mode; harp plucks flicker between organic and artificial to introduce “Angst”; closer “50/50” feels like a club anthem for the end of the world. Euphoric and disorienting at once, their deconstructed dance-pop music brings cubist art to mind, assembling familiar shapes into structures that are altogether alien.

Commenting on the impending album release, Jockstrap’s Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye said: “I Love You Jennifer B” is a collection of Jockstrap tracks that have been 3 years in the making. Everything on it is pretty singular sounding so we hope there is a track on there for everyone and something that speaks to you and says ‘I’m a banger.’” Skye added of ‘Glasgow’ (their new single): “‘Glasgow’ is our coming of age, moving forward, long-distance, travelling, beautiful bosk, wonderful thicket song.” And Ellery said of the song’s subject: “Glasgow is a great city, perhaps my favourite in the UK! Only downside is that it’s so damn cold all the time.”

When Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye make music as Jockstrap, the process and result has one definition: pure modern pop alchemy. With their debut album “I Love You Jennifer B”, Jockstrap will cement themselves as one of the most vital young groups to emerge from London’s melting pot of musical cultures in years.

As Jockstrap leave the launchpad, you can either crane your neck at their dizzying ascent, or hold on for dear life and enjoy the ride, wherever it may take you.

We are very pleased to announce the debut album, “Choosing” from our newest signee,

Released this summer via her new home at Bella Union, Sophie Jamieson’s ‘Choosing’ is a strikingly personal document of a journey from a painful rock bottom of self-destruction to a safer place imbued with the faint light of hope. Focusing on the bare bones of each song and taking inspiration from the direct and melodic work of songwriters such as Elena Tonra, Sharon Van Etten, and Scott Hutchison, it’s an album that sings openly of longing and searching, of trying, failing, and trying again – and always and throughout, the strength of love in so many varying forms.

Following on from the pair of EPs she released in 2020, “Choosing” finds its own shape by a subtle reforming of Jamieson’s sound. Where those EPs flirted with playful experimentation, here the overriding sound is both organic and simpler – live drums, bass, cello, and piano are used across the album – allowing space for Sophie’s mesmerising voice to take the spotlight, the songs delivered with the most direct and intimate impact.

Get a taste of what’s to come with the mesmerising first single “Sink”

Sophie describes the songs on those two EPs as “black holes” and while “Choosing” covers similar ground it never takes its eye away from what lies beyond, never fully releases its grip even when everything is telling her to let go. “The title of this album is so important,” Sophie explains. “Without it, this might sound like another record about self-destruction and pain, but at heart, it’s about hope, and finding strength. It’s about finding the light at the end of the tunnel, and crawling towards it.”

“Choosing” is out a week today.

It’s felt increasingly strange to be faced with an album that I recorded almost 2 years ago and wrote 2-4 years ago. It’s not a comfortable feeling, seeing some of these songs being heard, even if they connect. The sensation of nakedness, exposure, and the necessity to disconnect from the subject matter and anyone’s response or opinion of it has become very real.

This is such an odd thing to be doing, really. Making music that may not honestly represent you later. It takes a lot of trust in your past self, in her honesty, in her need for release, in the pain she said she was in. There is a strong instinct to deny, to make light of, to laugh at, to shrug off.

This is an odd practise in believing somebody I once was, accepting her as part of my fabric, and allowing her voice to come through. Even if it doesn’t feel like mine anymore… I guess some of it still is.

released 2nd December 2022 via Bella Union Records:

When it comes to Alex G, you never know quite what you’re going to get. Whether it’s the soft-spoken Brooklyn basement show-esque acoustics or the experimental hypnosis of his single, “Blessing” he likes to keep listeners guessing. The Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter will be releasing his latest album, “God Save the Animals”, on September 23rd. As seen on singles ranging from the guitar-centric “Runner” to the distorted deluge of “Cross the Sea” he collages together an album that will keep you on your toes. Toying with religious motifs and constructing his own ideas on the divine, Alex G affirms his place as the patron saint of indie rock.

Alex G was the musical guest on last night’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He played a faithful rendition of his single “Runner.” It marked Alex G’s first major late-night TV set, as his only previous appearance was on Last Call With Carson Daly way back in 2017. Watch the “Runner” performance below.

The new song appears on “God Save the Animals”, which is out September 23rd via Domino Recordings. The follow-up to 2019’s album “House of Sugar” also includes the previously released single “Blessing.” The album was co-produced by Jacob Portrait and features guitarist Sam Acchione, keyboardist Molly Germer, bassist John Heywood, and drummer Tom Kelly.

the forthcoming album ‘God Save The Animals’ out 23rd September 2022 on Domino Recordings

Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. in partnership with Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, is releasing “The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969” this November 18th on 2LP vinyl, CD and all digital platforms.

Recorded in the spring of 1969 before a raucous, sold-out audience, the captivating performance of the original line-up (singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell, bassist Noel Redding) has never before been released in its entirety. This album comes out in time for the 80th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s birth (November 27th).

This pristine recording—available in its entirety for the very first time—newly mixed by Hendrix’s longtime engineer Eddie Kramer, captures the original Jimi Hendrix Experience in their unrivalled, peak form and is sourced directly from the original eight-track master tapes.

The accompanying illustrated booklet (24-pages in the CD release and 12-pages in the 2LP release) features liner notes from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons plus LA Times music critic Randy Lewis who both witnessed the show first-hand.

The deluxe 2LP vinyl release is packaged in a lavish gatefold jacket and is pressed on 150 gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings’ (QRP) legendary Salina, Kansas facility.

Also coming out during the month of Hendrix’s 80th birthday is the book JIMI. Published by Chronicle Books imprint Chroma for a November 15th release, this comprehensive visual celebration is an official collaboration with Janie Hendrix and John McDermott. JIMI significantly expands on the authors’ previously published titles, including An Illustrated Experience, and features a new introduction by Janie, extensive biographical texts, and a trove of lesser known and never-before-published photographs, personal memorabilia, lyrics, and more. Additionally, JIMI includes quotations by legendary musicians such as Paul McCartney, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, Lenny Kravitz, Eric Clapton, Drake, Dave Grohl and others who have spoken about Hendrix’s lasting influence.

Asheville, NC’s Wednesday have signed to Dead Oceans and shared a video for their angsty new single “Bull Believer.” This song is an excuse for me to scream on stage, an outlet for the anger and sadness that has been collected by the current and past versions of myself,” says Karly Hartzman. “An offering to myself of a brief moment of release from being tolerant of the cruelty of life: feels like cutting my hair to let go of the history it holds.”

The band’s fall tour with Truth Club kicks off on September 21st in Greensboro, NC and wraps with a hometown show in Asheville on October 6th. Highlights include stops in Brooklyn, Chicago, DC and Philadelphia. 

We also have a new video for the song out too by Josh Finck w/ help from Colin Miller. 

Bull Believer (our big new song) is out now (on the label Dead Oceans) it is loud (and long and fun).