The Fat Angel Sings

Michael Collins’ first new album with the project since 2019, arrives in October, Aka Drugdealer have announced a new album, which is the follow-up to 2019’s “Raw Honey“. The Michael Collins–led, Los Angeles–based project will release “Hiding in Plain Sight” on October 28th via Mexican Summer Records. Check out the video for lead single “Someone to Love,” directed by Collins and James Manson.

The third and most seasoned Drugdealer album, “Hiding In Plain Sight”, almost didn’t happen at all. Frustrated and insecure with his own singing voice prior to the pandemic, Drugdealer founder and primary songwriter Michael Collins was nearly ready to throw in the towel. With hits like “Suddenly” and “The Real World” (from the band’s 2016 debut, “The End Of Comedy”) and “Honey” (from their first album for Mexican Summer, 2019’s “Raw Honey”), 

“Someone to Love’ came out of an impromptu extended jam that my band and I developed show by show on the last full U.S. tour,” Collins said in a statement. “Then when we got home and I started working on this new stuff I realized it was one of the best moments of us naturally playing. I turned it into a fully fleshed out song about wanting to be truly loved unconditionally, and pretty instantly became my favourite thing I had written and pretty much still sits there.” The song features contributions from John Carroll Kirby and Video Age.

Drugdealer have also announced a headlining tour in North America

Nigerian wonder guitar band Mdou Moctar shares an unreleased 13-minute guitar jam in new 6-track collection, “Niger EP Vol. 1” The offering, which also contains tracks recorded at “weddings, picnics and impromptu house concerts”,

The Electric guitar virtuoso Mdou Moctar has announced “Niger EP Vol. 1”, a six-track offering that contains an unreleased 13-minute guitar jam titled “Imouhar“. Joining the extended epic are live renditions of four tracks lifted from a handful of Moctar’s studio and live albums, including “Afrique Victime” (2012), “Afelan” (2012) and “Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai” (2015).

These tracks – “Sibidoul”, “Afelan”, “Layla” and “Afrique Victime” – are joined by the guitar jam, as well as a drum machine version of “Chismiten”, the opening track of “Afrique Victime”. Mdou Moctar’s latest EP has been released in its entirety today (August 24th), but it’s “Imouhar” that steals the spotlight. Unsurprisingly, it’s a thrilling addition to Moctar’s repertoire, with the Nigerian guitarist flexing his soloing stamina by opening the track with more than six solid minutes of lead playing.

The flurries of fiery licks give way to some roots-y riffing – coloured with sporadic melodies – around the halfway mark, but Moctar soon picks things back up again to close “Imouhar” out with one final fretboard workout.

“Niger EP Vol. 1” was conceived back in 2021 when Moctar and his producer/bass player Mikey Coltun began working on the Mdou Moctar mixtape series. Compiled from old audio recordings, interview clips and voice memos, the project turned into the EP, which aims to “examine the roots of the Mdou Moctar band”.

As such, the live recordings contained in the EP are performances of the Mdou Moctar band at weddings, picnics, rehearsals and impromptu house concerts. As Coltun explains, “Early Mdou Moctar recordings were contained on cassettes, though the humble tape was soon replaced by the quick and easy facility of cellphone technology. Long bus rides are common in West Africa. 

“On one of these rides, you might be seated next to a stranger and ask, ‘What are you listening to?’” he continued. “Then a song exchange would begin over Bluetooth. This is a very real way artists found their music distributed far from home. 

“In that vein, the Niger EP series features solely recordings taped in Mdou Moctar’s home country of Niger. “Volume 1” begins the series with a mix of recordings from 2017-2020, documenting the band at weddings, picnics, rehearsals, and even impromptu house concerts.”

The “Niger EP Vol. 1” track list can be found below.

1. Imouhar (Drum Machine Version)
2. Chismiten (Drum Machine Version)
3. Sibidoul (Live)
4. Afelan (Live)
5. Layla (Live)
6. Afrique Victime (Live)

Matador Records Released on: 24th August

Los Angeles-based DIY rock band The Paranoyds share new single and accompanying video, “BWP” out everywhere now. Alongside the single, the band announces a UK tour with tickets on sale now here, in addition to their North American dates, ahead of their highly anticipated sophomore LP, “Talk Talk Talk” due out September 9th via Third Man Records.

Before the official fall tour kicks off, The Paranoyds will support Jack White for three dates this September including Asheville, NC, New Orleans, LA and Shreveport, LA. before concluding in their home city of Los Angeles in November. Then, the band heads to the UK for a string of dates through the end of November beginning in London and concluding in December in Ramsgate. After some audio feedback and a steady guitar loop begins, “BWP” opens the album with an attempt to escape the monotony of daily life. Over warbled vocals, expressing disappointment with how the once-alluring future turned out, guitarist and vocalist Lexi Funston sings, “Up on my bed / I’m looking to mend / I contend I’ve got a case / A fight in my head / I’ve got a ten I’m willing to spend / A day is long when not much is coming in / Cross off 60 more, this future was a bore” Funston explains the fuzzy jam is inspired by feeling stuck in an endless routine for so long, daydreams no longer feel special or significant–they’ve just become the norm. “Every now and then there are those days and sometimes even weeks where it just feels like you’re in a rut–for me they’re usually induced by some sort of gnarly LA heatwave or fire (if i’m really unlucky, it’s both!). All you can really do to escape the heat is daydream, but daydreaming day-to-day…it’s just not the same.” Speaking to what the title’s three letters stand for, Funston adds, “I wrote the demo for the song at a time where it felt like all of a sudden Spotify was overcompensating for years of only boosting male rock bands, in this super disingenuous way (2019). There was this playlist called “Badass Women’s Playlist,” which I thought was such a cringe title for a playlist (looking at the playlist now, they dropped the “Women’s”). “But, on the other hand,” Funston admits, “I wanted our music to be on this playlist…I figured if I wrote a song with that intention in mind and named it after the playlist, we might finally get some subliminal love from Spotify…I guess that makes it a self-referential song about selling out.” Directed by Max Flick, the track’s accompanying video allows each band member and their instrument shine as each shot corresponds seamlessly with each note played. Against a black backdrop, hues of red, yellow and blue along with a single spotlight bring the floating heads of each band member in and out of view. Similar to previously shared visuals, the band brings their retro spirit with them into the future, creating something brand new altogether. Flick, who has previously collaborated with the band, was thrilled to be able to direct the latest video. “Since the first time I saw The Paranoyds play at the original Non Plus Ultra I was an instant fan and knew I wanted to make a video together. We have worked on many projects over the years, but this is my first time directing for them.” After listening to the track, Flick had a clear vision for the visual. “Listening to “BWP” immediately provided me with these vivid images that we were able to make come to life and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.”

The Paranoyds’ latest single and video, “BWP” out everywhere now, brightens life’s dullest moments as the band plots an escape from their daily routine. “Talk Talk Talk”, the expansive sophomore album from the four-piece is due out September 9th via Third Man Records and is available for pre-order now. Connect with The Paranoyds on Instagram, YouTube and Face book to keep up with the rising rockers.

from “Talk Talk Talk“, releases September 9th, 2022

The National are back with a new single “Weird Goodbyes,” featuring vocals by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra (arranged by the band’s Bryce Dessner). It’s just the second new song they’ve shared since the release of their 2019 album “I Am Easy to Find”, following “Somebody Desperate,” their contribution to the Cyrano (2021) soundtrack.

“It’s about letting go of the past and moving on, then later being overwhelmed by second thoughts,” vocalist Matt Berninger explains of “Weird Goodbyes” in a statement.

“‘Weird Goodbyes’ was one of the first new songs we made,” Aaron Dessner recalls. “I was misusing drum machines, as usual, and stumbled onto this beat that got stuck in my head—it felt like something only [drummer] Bryan [Devendorf] could naturally play. We built the song around the beat. Matt’s melody and words felt so elegant and moving from the beginning—mourning a loss of innocence and motivation, holding onto memories and feelings that inevitably slip away and the grief we all suffer in weird goodbyes.”

Aaron Dessner adds, “I somehow could hear our friend Justin’s voice and heart in this song from the beginning. We sent it to him and it moved him—he then sang with Matt so powerfully.”

The National have been playing new material live this summer, including “Weird Goodbyes.” In an Instagram post announcing the track’s then-impending release last week, the band revealed they had “reconvened at Long Pond [last spring] to begin writing and recording new music that we’ve been working on ever since.” They noted that “Weird Goodbyes” “felt like the right track to share first,” adding, “We’re so grateful to our friend Justin Vernon for joining us on this song.”

The band will continue touring through the summer and into the fall, with appearances at All Points East in London (Aug. 26) and the inaugural Sound on Sound festival in Bridgeport, Connecticut (Sept. 25). “Additional worldwide touring is planned for 2023,” per a press release.

Indigo De Souza made waves with her sophomore release “Any Shape You Take” for her intensely emotional, dexterous vocals and brooding instrumentation. On this episode of “Live on KEXP“, she opens up to Larry Mizell Jr. about how moving to Asheville when she was a teen had a major influence on her musical growth and understanding of what was possible and also explains the making of some of the powerfully cathartic moments on “Any Shape You Take” before jumping into four songs off the record. 

Indigo De Souza performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded March 28th, 2022.

Songs: Kill Me, Late Night Crawler, Bad Dream, Real Pain,

Indigo De Souza – Vocals / Guitar Dexter Webb – Guitar Zack Kardon – Bass Avery Sullivan – Drums

This is a welcome return, the very excellent Drahla are back with their first new music since 2019. “Under The Glass” sees the Leeds trio embracing the edgy, agitated, dissonant sound that won them many plaudits and fans, which underpinned the dark swirling minimalism on their superb debut album “Useless Coordinates.”

The band had the following to say about the new single:

“Under the Glass’ represents a moment of creative reconnection, almost a sense of euphoria in the darkest moments – an awaited, yet slight, respite from reality. The song is a collage, reworking early ideas from 2020 with newer work – bridging the gap of time, in the literal sense as well as musically. The lyrics are deliberately vague, using metaphor to interpret personal experience and emotion of loss and grief.”

In what will mark nine hundred and ninety two days since their last live show, the band will return to the live stage in September for a short run of dates, performing early favourites and debuting further new material to an audience for the first time.

Released August 22nd, 2022 Captured Tracks

Drahla are:

Luciel Brown – vocals/guitar, Rob Riggs – bass, Mikey Ainsley – drums 

Helen Ballentine’s spellbinding first full-length album “Quiet the Room” is the sound of a window opening, a barrier dissolving. Across these fourteen tracks, the outside world seeps in and the inside world crawls out. The result is a stunning and quietly moving work that reflects the journeys we take through the physical and spiritual realms of ourselves in order to show up for the world.

While writing the album in the summer of 2021, Ballentine drew inspiration from her childhood home in Mount Vernon, NY. What she set out to capture on “Quiet the Room” was not the innocence of childhood, as it is so often portrayed, but the intense complexity of it. Past and present merge Escher-like in this dreamlike space laced with elements of fantasy, magic, and mystery. Musically, this translates into a sound that feels somehow weighty and ephemeral all at once, like a time lapse of copper corroding.

To capture the effortless blend of electronic, ambient, folk, and rock, Ballentine and her partner and collaborator Noah Weinman brought in producer Andrew Sarlo to record at Chicken Shack studio in Upstate New York, close to where Ballentine grew up. “We wanted every song to have that little twinkle, but also a sense of crumbling,” she says. These songs thrum with moments of anxiety that boil over into moments of peace, as on lead single “Whatever Fits Together,” which chugs to a ragged start before the gears catch and ease. On “It’s Like a Secret,” Ballentine struggles to connect and let people in, recognizing that no one can ever fully know our inner worlds and that to understand each other is to cross a barrier and leave a part of ourselves behind. And yet, on closing track “You are my House,” she finds a way to reach out. “You are the walls and floors of my room,” she sings in perfect, hopeful harmony.

As the album cover invites, these are dollhouse songs to which we bend a giant eye, peering into the laminate, luminous world that Ballentine has created. Like a kid constructing a shelter in a patch of sharp brambles, she reminds us that beauty and terror can exist in the same place.

Skullcrusher has released two singles, “They Quiet the Room” and title track “Quiet The Room,” off the debut album out October 14th. On both tracks, Helen’s haunting vocals ask moving questions about words left unsaid.

“They Quiet the Room” by Skullcrusher from the upcoming album ‘Quiet the Room’, out October 14th on Secretly Canadian.

As one of the most influential artists of all time, Bob Dylan has sold more than 125 million records. He is now just as revered for his fine art, which offers a unique insight into the Nobel Prize laureate’s world. Collections include Retrospectrum, The Beaten Path, The Drawn Blank Series, Mondo Scripto, The Asia Series and The Brazil Series.

Dylan dates the origins of his work as a visual artist to the early 1960s. A few drawings reached the public gaze with album covers like Music from Big Pink (1968) and Self Portrait (1970). In 1974, Dylan spent two seminal months studying art with Ashcan School tutor Norman Raeben, who philosophised the importance of ‘perceptual honesty’ – painting life as it as seen, not imagined. Dylan says of this time: “He put my mind and my hand and my eye together, in a way that allowed me to do consciously what I unconsciously felt.”

The artist’s journeys between cities and towns are personified by his Expressionist lines, which capture the instant moment of a place, person and time. Repeated motifs encourage the viewer to explore the depths of colour and the evolution of his work. His art has been likened to that of Pablo Picasso, with critics applauding the relatability of his collections. He paints mostly from life, stating: “I’m pretty much interested in people, histories, myth, and portraits; people of all stripes.”

In November 2021, the Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum exhibition opened at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami, where it ran until April 2022. Following a successful tour in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, the display spanned six decades and was the largest exhibition of Dylan’s work to ever be displayed in the United States. Featuring over 180 paintings, drawings and ironworks from throughout his artistic career, it also included Dylan’s brand-new Deep Focus series, which transforms scenes from films into cinematic paintings. 

Dylan’s contributions to worldwide culture have been recognised and honoured with many awards. These include an Academy Award for his song ‘Things Have Changed’, which featured in the 2000 film Wonder Boys, along with 12 Grammy Awards and a Special Citation Pulitzer Prize for his ‘profound impact on popular music and American culture’. Further accolades include a Kennedy Center Honor presented by former president Bill Clinton, the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by former president Barack Obama, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. 

During the last six decades he has released more than 50 albums and written in excess of 500 songs, some of the most famous being ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’ and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, which were visually reimagined for the first time in his Mondo Scripto collection. His songs have been covered more than 6,000 times by artists as diverse as Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, Guns N’ Roses, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Pearl Jam, Neil Young, Adele and U2.