AMYL and the SNIFFERS – ”  KEXP At Home “

Posted: October 31, 2021 in MUSIC
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Melbourne punk rockers Amyl and the Sniffers were the latest band to appear on “KEXP At Home” and they provided a searing set for listeners. The U.S. radio show has been conducting its live series virtually since the pandemic, with Amyl filming their set this month.

After a brief chat between host Troy Nelson and three of the band’s members – lead singer Amy Taylor, drummer Bryce Wilson, and guitarist Dec Martens, – their set started with a thrashing performance of old song ‘Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled)’. The band then rattled through several highlights from their excellent new album, Comfort to Me: ‘Hertz’, the excellent lead single ‘Guided by Angels’, ‘Security’, ‘Knifey’, and ‘Capital’.

After two more tracks, the three members returned to chat with Nelson about the success of their recent album. There was a lovely moment of dry Aussie humour from guitarist Martens when Nelson informed listeners that Taylor had to nip away for a few minutes to deal with a blind repairs person. “That’s amazing, he’s blind and he’s repairing your house,” he said, presumably to the bemusement of the American host.

“Comfort to Me”, Amyl’s second album, came on September 10th to strong reviews. “If there’s a theme here, it’s a flat-out refusal to stay what they are,” said the review. “Taylor’s lyrics are tighter, the compositions are smarter, and the ideas are bigger: “Comfort To Me” is the sound of a young band realising it has more, much more, to give.”

“On their second album, the Australian quartet expands into a Colossus-sized version of itself. Everything feels bigger, heavier, and more meaningful,” 

Songs: Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled) Hertz Guided By Angels Security Knifey Capital I Don’t Need A Cunt (Like You To Love Me) Maggot Filmed at Soundpark Studios in Melbourne, Australia

Amyl and The Sniffers sharing a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and talking to Troy Nelson.

Recorded October 14th, 2021.

OLA’s KOOL KITCHEN – Radio Show Ep 454

Posted: October 31, 2021 in MUSIC
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Ola's Kool Kitchen 454

PLAYING TRACKS BY

The Shivas, Bnny, Lushings, Mildred Maude, Hoorsees and more.

#indie#indie rock#alternative rock#post-punk#dream pop

This podcast is unpaid & survives on donations. You can donate via paypal https://www.stephenmbland.com/olas-kool-kitchen or buy merch https://bit.ly/3ePRH6n I’m a DJ on KCLA 99.3FM In LA, 107.5 Andhow.FM in New Zealand, Maximum Threshold Radio, Rock Radio UK, Sword Radio UK, Jammerstream One, Kor Radio, Bombshell Radio, Pop Radio UK, Radio Wigwam, Rock XS Radio. Radio Candy Radio and Radio Lantau you can hear more shows here https://hearthis.at/olaskoolkitchen/
Show 454
1. The Shivas-If I Could Choose
2. Bnny-August
3. Lushings-Rough Me Up
4. Mildred Maude-Glen Play Moses
5. Hoorsees-Videogames
6. Lou Cyphers-Vacation
7. Smoon-Because of U (Feat Kimmy Harz)
8. Wallace Welsh-Never Gonna Kiss Her
9. Talker-Sad Chick-single-self release
10. Baths-The Stones-Pop Music False B Sides II-Basement’s Basement
11. The Crystals- Frankenstein Twist-Twist Uptown- Philles PHLP 4000
12. The Kac -Ties – Mr. Werewolf-single- Shelley
13. Low-All Night-Hey What-Sub Pop

VARIOUS ARTISTS – ” Once Upon A Time In The West Midlands – The Bostin’ Sounds Of Brumrock 1966-1974 ” 3CD Box Set

Posted: October 31, 2021 in MUSIC
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• A 3-CD, four-hour celebration of the post-Brumbeat late ‘60s/early ‘70s rock scene in the West Midlands.

• Tracing the evolution and development of that scene as local musicians embarked on an epic journey that embraced mod pop, psychedelia, blues, progressive rock, glam-rock and heavy metal, inspired by the emergence of chief catalysts The Move.

• Revolving around the area’s big hitters, with key selections from The Move, The Moody Blues, The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, The Idle Race, Slade, The Electric Light Orchestra, Roy Wood and Wizzard, Judas Priest and others.

When the beat/R&B explosion died out around 1965, so did the influence of cities like Liverpool and Manchester. However, the live scene in Birmingham and surrounding towns went from strength to strength. By the end of the decade, the West Midlands had become the smelting house of the nascent hard rock/metal revolution.

Including a bunch of classic cult 45s (The Craig, Locomotive, Medicine Head, The Ghost) and essential cuts from enduring local legends like Steve Gibbons and his band The Ugly’s, Denny Laine, The Montanas and Jimmy Powell.

Also featuring several previously unreleased tracks, including music from post-World Of Oz outfit Kansas Hook, Big Bertha, Cathedral and the first-ever recording (made in 1967) to feature future Magnum vocalist Bob Catley.

Housed in a stylish clamshell box that includes a heavily illustrated and annotated 48- page booklet, ‘Once Upon A Time In The West Midlands’ is a fascinating microcosm of the post-beat/pre-punk development of British rock music that will be of huge appeal far beyond its narrow geographical focus.

Released November 26th, 2021.

FINE PLACE (FRANKIE ROSE) – “It’s Your House “

Posted: October 29, 2021 in MUSIC
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Fine Place, the duo of Frankie Rose (Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls) and Matthew Hord (Running, Pop. 1280, Brandy), will release their debut album on November 11th via Night School and here’s the second sneak peak from it. “It’s Your House” has Rose’s ethereal harmonies floating atop a gently arpeggiating synth line, with more voices added as the song loops. Lovely.

Based in Brooklyn, NYC together they’ve crafted a crystalline full length of nocturnal, electronic pop music that charts a way out the post-global, cyberpunk dystopian environment it was crafted in. Their debut album “This New Heaven” drenches minimalist song structures in post-industrial washes of six-string delay and gothic post-punk synths. Presiding over it is the most evocative, emotive vocal performance Frankie Rose has committed to tape to date.

Following Hord’s relocation from Chicago, the pair wanted to explore new avenues apart from their respective bands or solo projects. “The sound we were going for was an attempt to capture the dystopian feel of New York during a period of desertion by the wealthy. It was produced in a time-frame saturated in both uncertainty and serenity, and the soundscapes we created felt fitting and almost organic as a response to our surroundings. The title also reflects this in an arguably literal, maybe even satirical way.” Sonically, “Fine Place “references the pioneering mid-to-late 80s pioneers of icy melodrama The Cure and Cocteau Twins, while reflecting both the individuals’; music trajectories thus far. Modular synthesis triggers rhythm boxes and fluttery arps chirp around clanging 808-patterning as Rose’s reverb-laden vocal layering envelops the remaining headroom. The result is massive; a towering, shadowy music that embraces darkness while offering Rose’s bright vocal as chinks of light in the cracks; the production filling the head space of the beholder with preternatural imagery and emotional resonances that are real but not quite defined.

The title song propels forth out of the fog, scintillating with delayed guitar before the reverb-immersed vocal injects the human drama. The chorus constantly teases a big release but holds back creating a taut, dynamic tension. Cover Blind’s slow march makes full use of Rose’s layered vocal sinking and emerging from Hord’s bank of synths. Stand out It’s Your House is pure honey pouring from the speaker on a bank of of arps and near-hymnal vocal layering, a syrupy light offering in the mist. It’s an emotive highlight that only increases as the album progresses; Impressions Of Me is the Lynchian ballad that glides onward into the sunset. The album finishes on a choice re-interpretation of the 1989 track The Party Is Over by Belgian group Adult Fantasies, one of the great over-looked ballads of the era given an almost ecclesiastical makeover by Matthew Hord and Frankie Rose in 2021.

Says Hord: “This record was an incredibly challenging endeavor to make, as I had just come home from a European tour with another music project and wanted to invest into and focus on this collaboration with Frankie. I essentially reimagined how to approach writing basic sequences with the synthesizers I had been rehearsing and performing with for months prior to make something more accessible and pop- like for Frankie to build upon. Frankie is an unsung hero when it comes to mixing, and she was constantly mixing down and processing elements of the tracks to create different atmospheres as we forged forward with every song.”

“This New Heaven” is an ecstasy of sorts, a half-dream in the border between sleep and daylight. 

Releases November 19th, 2021

DUMMY –  ” Mandatory Enjoyment “

Posted: October 29, 2021 in MUSIC
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Dummy "Mandatory Enjoyment" black vinyl

Stereolab comparisons may be mandatory but the debut album from this drony Los Angeles. band featuring former members of Wildhoney moves beyond the bachelor pad,  After releasing two cassette EP’s in 2020 (on Popwig and Born Yesterday respectively), Dummy’s debut full-length album “Mandatory Enjoyment” arrives via Chicago’s Trouble in Mind Records. Employing pummelling guitars and celestial ambience within the same breath, the band folds a myriad of reference points into their drone-pop style. Influence from ’60s melodicism and ’90s UK noise pop can be found woven in with inspiration from spiritual jazz, Japanese new age, and Italian minimalism.

Dummy dodges the brooding, dark, dramatic tropes of contemporary “artistic” music often found in punk, experimental, and electronic, instead insisting on joyous and euphoric sonic palettes. They refuse to be artistically stagnant, continuously shifting their approach to writing across 12 tracks. Shaped by performances around Los Angeles in 2019, songs like “Daffodils” and “Fissured Ceramics” feature relentless driving energy and ample psychedelic noise. Elsewhere, Dummy counterbalances the aggression with meditative synthscapes focused on sound design and studio experimentation, like on the motorik “X-Static Blanket”. Finally, centerpiece “H.V.A.C.” and the album’s final track, “Atonal Poem”, seek to synthesize these two poles, offering multi-part journeys through uncharted sonic territory.

Baltimore band Wildhoney have been dormant for a while now — they are missed — but guitarists Joe Trainor and Nathan O’Dell are still playing together in Los Angeles band Dummy alongside Alex Ewell (who played on Wildhoney’s Naive Castle EP) and Emma Maatman (Kent State). Like Wildhoney, Dummy have shoegazey elements to their sound, but they more directly pull from drony psych and komisch, be it Cluster, Neu! or The United States of America.

Single chords are jammed upon for extended periods while vintage combo organs and synths hum and gurgle. Dense, ethereal harmonies mingle with fuzzed out guitars and jazzy/motorik drumming. Melodies are sweet but cut with white noise. If all this makes Dummy sound like a certain group known for Space Age Bachelor Pad Music, well they would probably be the first to admit the influence, from the sonics (see “Daffodils,” “Fissured Ceramics”) to the song titles that seem to have come from a Duophonic Refrigerator Magnet Poetry set. (Does that exist? It should.) But they are very good at it and, following last year’s two EPs, Mandatory Enjoyment finds the band staking out their own corner of the universe, with tracks like the beautiful “Atonal Poem” and the tripped-out “X-Static Blanket” pointing to intoxicating new directions in which to head.

Tune in now, but stay tuned, too

released October 22, 2021

Dummy: Alex, Emma, Joe & Nathan.

GEESE – ” Projector  ” Best Albums Of 2021

Posted: October 29, 2021 in MUSIC
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It’s been a minute since there’s been a New York band has hyped as Geese, who were the subject of a label bidding war before they graduated high school. It’s part of a compelling story that includes how they recorded and produced their debut album, “Projector,” on their own at their home studio in the hours after school and before a hard 10 PM curfew instituted by their parents. Once signed to Partisan (and PIAS in the UK), the album was handed over to the very talented Dan Carey (Squid, Kae Tempest, Hot Chip) for mixing and mastering. It’s a slick sounding record that doesn’t sound like it was made in a basement. On “Projector”, Geese distill the last 50 years of New York rock, from Television and Talking Heads to The Strokes and Interpol.

While they haven’t quite figured out their own sound just yet, the album was clearly made by five very talented musicians who know how to construct a song. There’s a lot of The Strokes here from the guitar interplay to the attitude in singer/songwriter Cameron Winter’s vocals, and the ’00s in general seem like a strong influence. Geese would’ve fit comfortably on a bill between Foals and Tom Vek in 2006. While “Projector” might not live up to the hype that comes with it, impressive, swaggering songs like “Low Era” hold a lot of promise for a band whose members have yet to hit their 20s.

Geese is a band that begins and ends in Brooklyn, as a project between friends to build a home studio out of a basement. Their songs are born from the same ambition: make music by any means necessary. They began recording together with sneakers as mic stands and blankets draped over the amps, all within the afternoon following a school day, up until they ran the risk of noise complaints. Recently, they signed a record deal, so they are thinking about moving on from sneaker-laden mics and blanketed amps, but their musical ethos has not changed a bit. Curiously alien, yet strangely familiar, the band’s debut album, “Projector“, is a product of five teenagers whose love of music touches every part of their lives: their restless anxiety about their futures, and their pent-up frustration with their present-a perspective all too familiar in today’s uncertain world.

“Projector” will be released digitally on October 29 and physically on December 3rd, 2021 on Partisan Records and Play It Again Sam

Released October 29th, 2021

BILLY BRAGG – ” The Million Things That Never Happened “

Posted: October 29, 2021 in MUSIC
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One of the great human beings of Planet Earth, Billy Bragg has been mixing pop and politics with compassion and wit for 40 years and, unlike some of his contemporaries, has continued to evolve, look forward and consider the bigger picture. “As a mid century modern geezer, I’m aware that my notions of personal relationships were formed almost fifty years ago, likewise my politics,” Billy says. “To cling to that and imagine that you’ve nothing to learn from younger generations, you’re in danger of becoming a dinosaur. Kids have got new priorities and new ideas. Thatcher’s dead. The world has moved on. I’m trying to respond to the things I’m hearing now, rather than reminding folk of ‘the good old days’.”

One thing that Bragg does better than almost anyone is mix the personal with the political, bringing a relatable point of view to his most strident material, as well as his tender love songs (few are as observant to the slings and arrows of relationships). Written and recorded during the 2020 of the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, Brexit and the U.S. presidential election, The Million Things That Never Happened has the personal and the politically intertwined like never before. There are songs about personal accountability (“Shoulda Seen it Coming,” “The Buck Doesn’t Stop Here No More’), aging and death (“Pass it On,” the title track), and changing with the changing times (“Mid Century Modern,” “Ten Mysterious Photos That Can’t Be Explained.”).

The production on the album by The Magic Numbers’ Romeo Stodart and Dave Izumi is warm and soulful, like Billy’s voice, with mellotron giving songs a surreal thread that fits the times in which it was created, the weirdest two years most of us have ever experienced. The album’s most effective moment, though, is also its most simple and direct. “I Will Be Your Shield” is a song about the power of love and friendship in the times of deepest strife, that is little more than Billy and a piano. “When things start to unravel / And days fill you with dread / When comments dent your confidence / Confide in me instead.” While the world changes by the minute, Billy’s empathy remains steadfast.

Releases October 29th, 2021

Billy Bragg under exclusive licence to Cooking Vinyl Limited

TIM HEIDECKER – ” Dark Days “

Posted: October 29, 2021 in MUSIC
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Tim Heidecker is back with a new single, “Dark Days,” an anthemic heartland rock number about pandemic times that was co-produced Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats, Bonny Light Horseman) and Drew Erickson, who worked on Tim’s 2020 album, “Fear of Death”.

“I wrote this in the darkest days of the pandemic when things really felt unhinged, and it’s filled with little Easter eggs of the moment… baking bread and all that stuff,” says Tim. “At the last minute I changed the last line to be a question rather than a statement because I didn’t want it to be a total bummer. I hope it doesn’t ruin anyone’s day! Also I don’t think there’s a way to sing ‘this world’s on fire’ and Not sound like Bruce Springsteen.”

You can listen to “Dark Days” below. Tim has also announced his first-ever NYC show with his band — “Tim Heidecker And His Very Good Band” to be specific –

“Fear of Death” is a Serious Album about Serious Topics – a doomed future, abandoning life in the city, and the inevitability of death. It’s Heidecker’s biggest sounding and most fleshed out album yet featuring an all star band comprised of Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering (vocals and piano), Drew Erickson (Jonathan Wilson, Dawes), The Lemon Twigs’ Brian and Michael D’Addario, Jonathan Rado, and string arrangements by Spacebomb’s Trey Pollard (Foxygen, Bedouine, The Waterboys, Natalie Prass).

“Dark Days” from Tim Heidecker out now on Spacebomb Records

DINOSAUR Jr – ” Emptiness at The Sinclair “

Posted: October 29, 2021 in MUSIC
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Dinosaur Jr have just released a new live album, Emptiness at The Sinclair. It was recorded at Boston’s The Sinclair for a livestream show back in May that, as the title suggests, had them playing to largely empty room. “Playing for a livestream is like pushing a rock up a hill trying to recreate the vibe of a real show,” says Lou Barlow. “The isolation of the last year had made me nervous about performing again, especially in the context of Dinosaur Jr. where I typically rely on the energy of our crowd. Playing to an invisible audience and a real-time sparsely populated room of people doing their jobs (running lights, sound and staring at screens) was something different and, again, weird.”

Lou continues, “Despite all my lockdown doubts once we started playing things clicked. My mind didn’t hijack me and it quickly began to feel like a real show. Having a few decent gigs on the Sinclair stage before, it began to feel familiar and, for lack of a better word, friendly. It will be much more of a relief to get back on tour but, this Sinclair show was a good band-aid, so to speak.“

“Emptiness at The Sinclair” has J, Lou and Murph ripping through songs from throughout their catalogue, including classics like “Freak Scene,” “Feel the Pain,” and their cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” to songs from this year’s great Sweep it Into Space.

You can pick up “Sweep it Into Space” on translucent purple vinyl, and “Hand it Over” on deluxe 2-LP purple vinyl, along with other Dinosaur Jr vinyl,

SCRUFFPUPPIE – ” Paint ” 

Posted: October 29, 2021 in MUSIC
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Born in Paris, Texas, JJ – who uses the pronouns she/her and they/them –  spent much of her adolescent life in a state of uproot, moving from town to town as her parents’ jobs required. After spending the first 12-odd years of her life in Texas, JJ and her family moved to Georgia; a year after that, Utah. At 15, JJ and her family finally moved to Wisconsin, where they would end up spending the rest of JJ’s adolescence.

 Along with a talent for skateboarding, she began to foster a love of film, taking joy in writing scripts and making short films with their friends; music became a significant part of her life. Slowly, JJ started to post videos of herself playing songs on YouTube, eventually finding that she could make enough money to support herself from that alone; her videos would frequently garner over 100K views, with some of them reaching over 3M or 4M. At 16, she quit her job at the local pizza shop and started focusing on music. She released “Zombie Boy”, her debut project, on Bandcamp, in 2018.

 Around the same time that they were becoming known for her rough-hewn, spellbinding YouTube videos, JJ began experimenting with drugs. Amidst it all, Scruffpuppie began to take off and she started traveling around the Midwest to play shows. At 18, she dropped out of high school; completely unmoored, but still always creating. It was her summer 2019 track “Never Coming Home” that caught the attention of Phoebe Bridgers and the wider team at Saddest Factory Records.“Never Coming Home” (1M views and counting) was the last video JJ posted online before entering rehab.

JJ Shurbet, who records as Scruffpuppie, has released their newest song “paint” on Saddest Factory Records. At just-turned 20, JJ has already released a string of performances and music videos for the last few years, garnering an army of ardent fans and millions of views. The latest track is an introspective piano ballad reflecting on her history of drug abuse. The visual for the song – directed by Mowgly Lee – follows a similar tone, spotlighting JJ for an emotional performance. Produced by frequent Phoebe Bridgers song writing collaborator, Marshall Vore, the track is JJ’s second release on Saddest Factory Records, following last month’s “assignment Song”.

Says JJ,“‘paint’ is an emotional ballad, talking a lot about the relationship I had with drugs, and how they controlled the other relationships I had in my life,” “In the song I say ‘how am I the bigger one, when I never took out my gun, and played along to all your games, but never really felt the same’ which draws a lot from how my relationship with drugs was so one sided, how I never meant to play along to the game they put in front of me, but how it was almost impossible not to.”

“paint” the new song by Scruffpuppie, out now on Saddest Factory Records.

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