The Fat Angel Sings

In Magic: A Journal of Song, Paul Weller talks about his life and music through a personally curated selection of 120 songs spanning his entire musical career. A fascinating portrait of one of Britain’s most prolific songwriters, Magic proves Weller to be the ultimate shapeshifter: from The Jam’s punk sensibilities to the genre-defying Style Council, through to a remarkable 30-year solo career.

This his third Genesis edition, Magic is narrated by Weller and illustrated with more than 450 photographs and pieces of ephemera throughout. A revealing 25,000-word commentary garnered over a series of conversations with journalist and author Dylan Jones covers the songs, the stories and inspirations behind them, and all of the 28 albums of Weller’s ever-evolving musical journey.

Offering unprecedented insight into his creative process, Magic: A Journal of Song is Paul Weller’s most candid and intimate account of his musical life to date. 

Magic: A Journal of Song is limited to only 2,000 copies worldwide. The first 350 copies in the edition are presented as Deluxe boxed sets. Each Deluxe copy of Magic is numbered and signed by the author, Paul Weller. The 360-page Deluxe book is fully bound in imitation vellum, onto which an original, hand-drawn illustration is fine-screen printed. Over 25 references to Paul Weller’s lyrics are to be found within this specially commissioned artwork. The Deluxe book is finished with red and gold foil blocking and gold page edging. 

Next within the Deluxe boxed set, an envelope contains a number of signed and stamped art prints that are created exclusively for these copies. Reproduced as archival Giclées on heavyweight paper, the prints are suitable for framing (size: 8″x10″ / 200mm x254mm) and comprise:

• A photographic portrait of Paul Weller, individually numbered and signed by the photographer, Peter Anderson

• A signed art print of the Magic cover illustration drawn by British designer bookbinder, Luke Hornus

• Two prints of Paul Weller’s handwritten lyrics to one of his favourite songs, ‘Aspects’, from his 2018 solo album True Meanings. At the end of the song, the second print is hand-numbered and personally autographed by Paul Weller.

‘The thing I have discovered is that music in its truest sense is beyond any trend or movement or category.’ – Paul Weller

Originally released in 2003, “Doll Revolution” remains a favourite in The Bangles’ catalogue, featuring all the qualities fans have come to expect from this band the superb song writing, vocals, and instrumental skill. For its debut on vinyl, Real Gone Music will press The Bangles’ celebrated “Doll Revolution” (featuring the rocking Elvis Costello-penned title track) on streaked pink vinyl in a limited edition of 1,500, each hand-numbered. The album will be packaged in a newly designed gatefold sleeve with an insert. This edition is fully approved by the band.  Tear off your own head…it’s a “Doll Revolution!“

The Bangles are one of the greatest all-girl bands in rock history, renowned harmonies, and chops…yet “Doll Revolution”, one of their best records, has never seen a widespread vinyl release to general music retail. That’s because it fell into that late ’90s/early 2000s gap when vinyl was considered dead (ha)! Now, with full support of the band, Real Gone Music brings “Doll Revolution” to its rightful format with a white vinyl pressing. A 2-LP set brought to you in sumptuous gatefold packaging with insert. And they have also pressed up “Sweetheart of the Sun”, the last (2011) record released by the band, now a trio of Susanna Hoffs and Debbi & Vicki Peterson. You’ll hear a real Laurel Canyon vibe on this record from these three songwriters, as well as some nods to The Bangles’ power pop past, all blessed with the vocal harmony arrangements that the group’s fans treasure. 

Produced by Matthew Sweet, “Sweetheart of the Sun” was out on vinyl for a heartbeat, with original copies costing a fortune; our Real Gone reissue—released with the full cooperation of the band—features the original album art complete with inner sleeve.

Some of the best thrills of the Internet music revolution is the ability to find extremely rare music with great ease. But even with such vast archives to draw from, quite a lot of great songs have gone undiscovered for nearly half a century — particularly in genres that lacked hifalutin arty pretense. Previously, only the most extremely dedicated and passionate record collectors had the stamina and prowess to hunt down long forgotten wonders in dusty record bins — often hoarding them in private collections, or selling at ridiculous collector’s prices. Legendary compilations like Nuggets, Pebbles, ad nauseum, have exhausted the mines of early garage rock and proto-punk, keeping alive a large cross-section of underground ephemera. However, few have delved into and expertly archived the wealth of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks collected on Brown Acid. 

Lance Barresi, co-owner of L.A.-based Permanent Records and the Permanent Records Roadhouse has shown incredible persistence in tracking down a stellar collection of rare singles from the 60s and 70s for the growing compilation series. Partnered with Daniel Hall of RidingEasy Records, the two have assembled a selection of songs that’s hard to believe have remained unheard for so long. 

“I essentially go through hell and high water just to find these records,” Barresi says. “Once I find a record worthy of tracking, I begin the (sometimes) extremely arduous process of contacting the band members and encouraging them to take part. Daniel and I agree that licensing all the tracks we’re using for “Brown Acid” is best for everyone involved,” rather than simply bootlegging the tracks. When all of the bands and labels haven’t existed for 30-40 years or more, tracking down the creators gives all of these tunes a real second chance at success. 

“There’s a long list of songs that we’d love to include,” Barresi says. “But we just can’t track the bands down. I like the idea that “Brown Acid” is getting so much attention, so people might reach out to us.”

“So rare that diehard fuzz junkies say you’d have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding a physical 45 rpm single by one of the bands featured on their latest installment.” — Dangerous Minds

“Will do for hard rock, proto-metal and heavy psych what Nuggets did for garage rock, and bring it to a wider audience of collectors and music fans.” — The Guardian

“Mining the surprising rich reserves of heavy rock and proto-metal from the ’60s and ’70s, these collections have been crucial to understanding the history of a subgenre of rock that had far deeper roots than most fans realize.” — Paste Magazine

The forthcoming latest edition of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid: The Fourteenth Trip will be released April 20th, 2022.

The Brown Acid series is curated by L.A. label RidingEasy Records and retailer/label Permanent Records

Here’s another one of those releases where you have to doublecheck if it’s not some sort of reissue from a classic ’80s punk record. That’s how authentic Valley Gals sound. But “Snake Oil Salesman” most definitely is a new record. It’s the band’s follow-up to their 2019 debut “Real Rock”.

Valley Gals make no bullshit garage-punk that is dynamic and melodic and driven by the powerful voice of singer Miranda Wiley. A song like “Sugar, Yes Please” should come with a warning, it’s just so so addictive. “Snake Oil Salesman” is currently out on pretty red glitter baby tape through the band. Graveface Records will release it on vinyl later this year. RIYL: Amyl And The Sniffers, The Lunachicks.

The Valley Gals have been known to disappear at the drop of a ten gallon hat only to reappear when you most need them. Sometimes a two piece, sometimes a three, sometimes a dazzling four, whatever suit they’re wearing they’re sure to rock you raw. From north to south across the eastern coastline, the ethereal rockers are here to hit you with the essentials – no fluff, just pure grit.

They’re in love with the form, they’re in love with the stage, they’re in love with the road, they’re in love with each other. And surely you will fall in love with them.

Releases March 25th, 2022

Amidst the COVID mind fields and race riots and slaughter of the last two years, twin brothers Danny and Daniel Chavis and Hayato Nakao as the Veldt issue a play by play on life and the self analyzation of the self as well as their souls on their sleeves for the sonic onslaught of The “Electric Revolution EP”. Rhythm and Drone as one might put in as “Day Nigere” so to speak…. being the premature love child of the up coming full length appropriately titled “Entropy Is The Mainline To God” brought to you by those fine proprietors of psych and all that is on the boundary of essence, Little Cloud Records. The fine purveyors of bands like New Candys and Magic Shoppe. Also included is a soulgaze version of “Getaway” by MOBB DEEP.

Friends Martin Newman and original bassist Alex Cox join in on guitar and bass. While James Scott (Populist Recording) and Dan Milligan (The Joy Thieves) joined in to save the day with some final production, drumming and mastering. Last but not least, topping everything off is a special track “I Told The Stars About You” produced by Carlos Bess (C12) of Wu-tang Clan (Wu-tang Forever).

released February 25th, 2022

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced their 20th studio album, Omnium Gatherum. The Australian psych-rockers previewed the album, set to arrive “soon” from the band’s KGLW label, with the sprawling 18-minute lead single, “The Dripping Tap”.

Twelve years and 20 albums into their career, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are still breaking new ground. Omnium Gatherum will mark the band’s first-ever double LP. According to frontman Stu Mackenzie, the title is “literally Latin for ‘a collection of miscellaneous people or things.’” That’s exactly what fans should expect from Omnium, available for pre-order on March 22nd.

Following 2020’s K.G. and 2021’s L.W. and Butterfly 3000, Omnium Gatherum was the first time King Gizzard recorded together as a band since the onset of the COVID pandemic (the band released a vinyl-only album, Made In Timeland, on March 5th at a three-hour show in Melbourne and subsequently on its website). Omnium Gatherum began as a collection of previously unreleased songs that never made it onto prior releases, but soon snowballed as the band began writing new compositions. Born out of a hodgepodge of songs written throughout the years, Omnium breaks from KGLW’s previously established habit of releasing albums pursuant to a single theme. Stylistically, the 16 tracks jump from “gonzoid prog jams, dizzying pop nuggets, rubber-legged hip-hop odysseys and passages of pure thrash-metal abandon.”

“This recording session felt significant,” Mackenzie said. “Significant because it was the first time all six Gizzards had gotten together after an extraordinarily long time in lockdown. Significant because it produced the longest studio recording we’ve ever released. Significant because (I think) it’s going to change the way we write and record music – at least for a while… A turning point. A touchstone. I think we’re entering into our ‘jammy period’. It feels good.”

The album’s lead single, “The Dripping Tap”, is a microcosm of this stylistic expanse. The track shuffles from vintage soul homages to underground psychedelic decadence until it drones on into oblivion.

The Regrettes are a young band from Los Angeles, and the city is still a place of discovery for all of them. “I am so in love with this city,” says singer-guitarist Lydia Night. “I still find so many new areas where I’m constantly like, ‘Oh my god, where am I right now? How have I never been here, tried this restaurant, or been to this park?’ That hasn’t gotten old for me yet.”

At the moment, the band’s four members are gathered at one of the city’s largest treasures: Griffith Park, a vast landscape of nature and unique attractions right in the middle of LA. Unlike New York’s tastefully landscaped Central Park, the 4,210-acre Griffith Park is still largely untamed, even with its world-famous Observatory and Greek Theater, its golf course, pony rides, and carousel. Night is here with lead guitarist Genessa Gariano, bassist Brooke Dickson, and drummer Drew Thomsen, sitting at the ruins of the old Griffith Park Zoo (which was replaced across the park in 1966 by the Los Angeles Zoo).

New album ‘FURTHER JOY’ is to be released on April 8th.

Kevin Devine has shared the second single off his first proper album in six years, “Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong”, and it’s a very cool song that finds him going in synth poppier direction than usual, but still in that unmistakably Kevin Devine kind of way.

 Kevin Devine, has been keeping busy by dusting off deep cuts from his early days as a recording artist and re-releasing them under the album title “Matter of Time II”, a worthy endeavor and perfectly good excuse for not releasing any new album-length material since 2016’s “Instigator“. That all changed back in January when Devine announced the album “Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong“, which will arrive on March 25th. Having previously shared the single “Albatross,” today we’re hearing a second new track from the album in the form of a live “Neighborhoods” performance in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery—the track, aptly, is titled “If I’m Gonna Die Here.”

“Green-Wood Cemetery has sprawled magnificent and ruminative and historical and expansive and indifferent within two miles of various addresses I’ve held for 32 of my 42 years alive,” Devine shares of the site’s significance for him. “I’ve spent more time wandering around there (mostly with two of my oldest friends, and with my daughter) in the pandemic than I had in all that time prior, by a wide margin, and it’s been miraculous and restorative.

He continues, “it was the first—sorta the only—place I thought of, and “If I’m Gonna Die Here” was the obvious and intuitive song choice. I didn’t want to be disrespectful to the grounds, to the occupants, to the visitors, so I wanted to do something short, to minimize the potentiality of disruption. And the content of the song, written in December 2020, made performing it unavoidable. 

“How Can I Help You?” is the second single off of Kevin Devine’s upcoming tenth record, ‘Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong,’ out 25th March on Triple Crown Records.

Get transported back to the simpler times of a pre-industrial America. ‘Fables in a Foreign Land,’ the new solo album from John Doe is out May 20th on Fat Possum Records. Pre-order available now and listen to his new single “Never Coming Back”.

John Doe: Punk rock pioneer with X, songwriter, poet, actor, solo artist, published author…folk musician – with “Fables in a Foreign Land”, Doe’s tales are now vividly set in a dusty desolate pre-Industrial Era.

“All of these songs take place in the 1890s. There’s a lot of sleeping on the ground, a lot of being hungry, a lot of isolation,” explains Doe of the concept album. “All of that fits into the kind of isolation and lack of modern stimuli that I think people started rediscovering during the pandemic lockdown: realizing that as parts of your life start getting taken away, what’s important and what you live for becomes paramount.”

Joining Doe on the album are Kevin Smith (Willie Nelson) on bass and Conrad Choucroun drums. And though most of the 13 songs were written over the last three years, the sound was born during weekly, acoustic backyard jams on Smith’s patio.

Of the first single, “Never Coming Back,” Doe explains, “This song starts the record for a reason, it embodies the spirit and events of what’s to come. It begins a journey that will be without comfort, where you are running from something dark, that is approaching fast. You can’t go back because there’s nothing to go back to. The entire record is set during the end of the 1890’s.

The highly anticipated new solo release from John Doe, “Fables in a Foreign Land“, will hit retail and digital outlets on May 20th, 2022 – his first via Fat Possum Records. “These songs take place alone, wandering, searching and hungry accompanied by horses not machines. Ultimately, I hope to send the listener to an unknown place with unpredictable characters and let them all live in that foreign land.” Guests writers include Shirley Manson (Garbage), Exene Cervenka (X),  Terry Allen and Louie Pérez (Los Lobos).

releases May 20th, 2022