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In 1994 Come responded to the difficult-second-album stereotype with the hypnotic, intense and emotional masterpiece “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. Featuring the original line-up of Thalia Zedek, Chris Brokaw, Sean O’ Brien and Arthur Johnson, the Boston band broadened their sound by slowing down the tempos and creating a dense urban stream of consciousness that mixes noise, city blues and… catharsis. The album hits you immediately as one of the greatest dissident records ever made.
Come’s 1992 debut album 11:11 was devastating to anyone who heard it. The sound this Boston four-piece created seemed beamed in from out of the blue and into the black. Singer and guitarist Thalia Zedek (ex of Live Skull), guitarist Chris Brokaw (then also in NYC slowcore pioneers Codeine) and the rhythm section of Sean O’Brien (ex-Kilkenny Cat) and Arthur Johnson (former Bar-B-Q Killer) created a transmission of traumatic beauty markedly unlike anything else at the time, a sound you craved more of, a sound you instantly got addicted to. So waiting for the next album was torturous. And when it came in the form of 1994’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell“, beyond it miraculously managing to surpass its predecessor, the album hits you immediately as one of the greatest dissident records ever made.
Lovingly remastered, this expanded edition includes “Wrong Sides“, (Loin of the Surf/SVK/Who Jumped in My Grave/Angelhead),an additional albums worth of b-sides and unreleased tracks, (Chris and Thalia’s original demo of “German Song” and our cover of X’s Adult Books).including the band’s very first single ‘Car’ and their last recorded song, ‘Cimarron’, featuring this core line-up. These gems showcase the rawness and incredible growth of a band completely in command of their song writing and at the same time paying homage to some of their punk roots with beautiful renditions of Swell Maps ‘Loin Of The Surf’ and X’s ‘Adult Books’. Also Includes new artwork with unearthed photos and fresh liner notes by the band.
Dissident from traditional rock this is a band playing music that thematically and structurally seems to pull from old Europa, from Eastern folk and modernist classical music as much as US and UK rock. Dissident from traditional ideas about singing and songwriting Thalia’s (ex of Live Skull) presence on songs like ‘Yr Reign’ and the astonishing closer ‘Arrive’ isn’t the pushy self-aggrandizement of a lead singer but the internal voice of the eternal migrant, someone who knows about survival, hiding, how living between multiple worlds can become its own refuge of distance, its own sanctuary of unbelonging
Dig the hell out of the way the drums are mixed. Instrumental and noise rock is often at its best when holding down a subdued groove building to a methodical and profound release. That’s why this track kills. That’s why it could easily be classed as post-rock, too. Tell me you don’t also hear echoes of Bark Psychosis and Godspeed! You Black Emperor.
“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” emerged from a period of cohesion, a break from the tight and hectic touring schedule Come had been plunged into after the acclaim accorded 11:11, and you can hear that increased focus in every moment the layers of guitars and feedback are even more precise, the structuring of songs takes on a new openness and ambition, and the whole narrative arc of the record from ‘Finish Line’ to ‘Arrive’ is more exquisitely realised and sequenced.
“The songs on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell . . . had a kind of magic we didn’t necessarily control ourselves.” Chris Brokaw – interview with Neil Kulkarni, 2013.
Released on limited edition Rough Trade Exclusive 2LP red vinyl, double black LP and 2CD.
Anaïs Mitchell has announced today her first solo record in over a decade. The self-titled full-length will be available on 28th January 2022 via BMG.
As it did for many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly offered Mitchell a blank slate to reconnect with her own music. The result is a new self-titled album made with close collaborators from Bon Iver, The National and her own band Bonny Light Horseman, Mitchell’s first collection of all-new material under her own name since 2012’s “Young Man in America”.
Anaïs Mitchell has announced a new self-titled album. Her first solo record in a decade is out January 28th via BMG Records. Anaïs Mitchell was produced by Josh Kaufman and features contributions from Michael Lewis, JT Bates, Thomas Bartlett, and Aaron Dessner, plus string and flute arrangements from Nico Muhly.
“I was nine months pregnant when the pandemic reached New York, so we made an 11th hour decision to leave and have the baby in Vermont,” Mitchell recalls. “We left the city and had the baby a week later, and then like everyone, we were in the midst of this unprecedented stillness. It felt like I could see behind me: oh, there’s New York City. There’s “Hadestown“. There’s my life with just one kid. A certain kind of stress and expectations. In Vermont, we moved onto my family farm and lived in my grandparents’ old house, with a new baby. I’d look at pictures on my phone from a few months earlier and wonder, whose life was that? This record, and the songs that are on it, came out of that time. I got into a flow again that I hadn’t felt in a really long time.”
“During the first pandemic summer I was staying on the family farm where I grew up, in a little house that belonged to my grandparents when they were alive,” Mitchell stated, explaining that she moved to Vermont from Brooklyn. “I could see the stars for the first time in a long time. I wasn’t traveling anywhere, or even doing much of anything, for the first time in a long time. ‘Bright Star’ is about looking back on years of restless pursuit and making peace with the source of that longing: the Muse, the Great Unknown, the One That Got Away—those things that motivate us that we never can touch.”
Mitchell recently appeared on Dessner and Justin Vernon’s new Big Red Machine album “How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?” During the 2019 and 2020 awards season, Mitchell won two Tony Awards and a Grammy Award for her musical “Hadestown“.
“I experienced so much joy working on Hadestown, but it just kept ramping up and up and requiring more and more attention,” Mitchell admits. “I had to become so single-minded and really put blinders on to my other creative life.”
Watch the video for the album’s lead single “Bright Star” below.
Mitchell will debut the new material during various headline tours in the U.S. and Europe in 2022 (see European dates below), at which she’ll be accompanied by players from the album. On stage, she can’t wait to further hone the sights, sounds and scenes that bring the songs to such vivid life. “I’ve spent a lot of time trying to write in the voice of other characters, especially with Hadestown. It’s fun for me, but these songs are not that,” she says. “Weirdly, they’re all me. The narrator is me. That’s why it felt right to self-title the album. It felt like after so many years of working on telling other stories, now here are some of mine.”
31st August – Philharmonic Music Hall, Liverpool, 1st September – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 3rd November – Lido, Berlin 4th November – Mojo, Hamburg , 8th November – Les Etoiles, Paris, 9th November – Botanique, Brussels, 11th November – YES, Manchester , 12th November – St Luke’s, Glasgow, 13th November – Newcastle University Student Union, 14th November – Fleece, Bristol, 15th November – KOKO. London
The album includes contributions from Aaron Dessner, after Mitchell recently appeared on Big Red Machine’s new album
Elvis Costello & The Imposters have announced a new album. “The Boy Named If” is out January 14th via EMI Records. Today, Costello has shared lead single “Magnificent Hurt.” Check it out below. The new album titled ‘The Boy Named If’ is coming January. The new single, “Magnificent Hurt”, is just one of the urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, guitar solos that sting, and a quick step to the rhythm.
The album was produced by Costello and Sebastian Krys, and, according to Costello, it’s a collection “that take us from the last days of a bewildered boyhood to that mortifying moment when you are told to stop acting like a child—which for most men (and perhaps a few gals too) can be any time in the next 50 years.”
Costello debuted “Magnificent Hurt” earlier this month on Memphis radio station WEVL. “The Boy Named If” follows his most recent LP, “Hey Clockface”. Costello has also released an EP with French versions of six tracks from that LP, plus a Spanish-language rework of This Year’s Model. Costello is currently on tour with his band, the Imposters.
The official audio for “Magnificent Hurt” from Elvis Costello & The Imposters’ upcoming album ‘The Boy Named If’, The new single, “Magnificent Hurt” is just one of the urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, guitar solos that sting and a quick step to the rhythm.
Electronica, alt-rock and dance music festival held across various Brighton venues.
The 2021 festival will feature This Is The Kit, Bill Ryder-Jones, Baxter Dury, Billy Nomates, Rozi Plain, Working Men’s Club, Pillow Queens, Sink Ya Teeth, Yard Act, Willy Mason, Anna Meredith, Beak>, Big Joanie, Ross From Friends, Cheap Teeth, Courting, Deadletter, Ak Patterson, Clara Mann, Holiday Ghosts, Holly Macve, Jacko Hooper, Molly Payton, Rosehip Teahouse, Someone, White Flowers, Feet, Hotel Lux, Bassie Gracie, Bessi, Daniel God Damn Byrom, Folly Group, Genn, Low Hummer, Memes, Peeping Drexels, Tinyumbrellas, Venue Grrrls, Famous, Gustaf, John, Keg, Laundromat, Legss, Mush, Moa Moa, Odd Morris, Porij, Scrounge, Social Haul, Sprints, The Goa Express, The Jackdaw, Tv Priest, Wife Swap Usa, Wunderhorse, Wych Elm, Manami (DJ), Giulia Tess (DJ), Cmat, Pva, Scalping, Wu-Lu, Albertine Sarges, Deathcrash, Deep Tan, Delmer Darion, Ditz, Fears, Hattie Cooke, Home Counties, Kai Kwasi, Lunch Money Life, Lime Garden, Lynks, Mandrake Handshake, Nuha Ruby Ra, Regressive Left, Smoothboi Ezra, The Umlauts, Tiberius B, Manami (DJ) and Giulia Tess (DJ). and more…
CONOR OBERST / DAWES – ” Easy/Lucky/Free – Million Dollar Bill ” Split 7″ Vinyl
Posted: October 27, 2021 in MUSIC
“As far as I’m concerned, between Bright Eyes and his solo records, Conor Oberst is one of the greatest songwriters that has played the game. I remember hearing Fevers and Mirrors when I was 16 and feeling my sense of song permanently rewired. So it was a big deal for me when we decided to go on tour with Conor as the opening act as well as his band. To celebrate our worlds coming together we decided to cover one of each other’s tunes and release it as a limited 7 inch vinyl. We tried our best to make Easy/Lucky/Free sound like a Dawes song and Conor did the same thing to Million Dollar Bill.
In the decade since Dawes emerged from Southern California, the band, consisting of guitarist/singer Taylor Goldsmith, drummer Griffin Goldsmith, bassist Wylie Gelber, and keyboardist Lee Pardini, has evolved and electrified and grown into a forward-thinking band for the 21st century.
Happy to bring these recordings back to life. ” – Taylor Goldsmith
released September 17th, 2021
While the UK Parliament is currently, right at this moment, drafting an online safety bill with the premise that Facebook is “unquestionably making hate worse,” the only slightly better platform Twitter is responsible for merging the talents of an Austin-based band with their shoegaze idol. When the double couple quartet Blushing tweeted out to Miki Berenyi of Lush/Piroshka in 2018, after covering “Out of Control” for a Lush covers compilation, they didn’t expect Berenyi to slide into their DMs and agree to work with them. Now, three years later, the collaboration made in dream pop heaven has arrived.
Berenyi’s celestial croons mingle effortlessly with Michelle Soto and Christina Carmona’s wispy lilts that beckon us to “stick around and find out” on “Blame,” the lead single off Blushing’s forthcoming follow-up to their 2019 self-titled debut. With a rush of woozy reverberating guitar and cascading drum crashes that would make Emma Anderson and the late Chris Acland respectively proud, Noe Carmona and Jacob Soto fill out the Lush-like single with aplomb.
Titled “Possessions“, the pandemic-produced album is due out in February 2022 via Brooklyn-based label Kanine Records and features production from Ringo Deathstarr frontman and fellow Austinite Elliott Frazier. But if you thought we were done dropping names of shoegaze idols involved in the making of the record, then you thought wrong, because none other than Mark Gardener of the seminal shoegaze outfit Ride put the finishing touches on the record with his mastering magic.
From the upcoming album “Possessions” out February 18th 2022 on Kanine Records
releases February 18, 2022
Blushing under exclusive licensing to Kanine Records
A couple weeks after the release of their debut self-titled album, Led Zeppelin appeared as the opening act for Iron Butterfly, then one of the world’s biggest bands, at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East. But it was Zeppelin who blew away the audience. “In other words, through the Zeppelin album is very, very good, the group in person is even better and the excitement they generate hasn’t been felt in the Fillmore since the last appearance of Big Brother & the Holding Company,” read one review of the performance. “A subtle hint of the group’s quickly growing status can be found in the fact that while their album had only been out a week and a half, fully half the audience was familiar with it. Need we say more?”
TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN’ I CAN’T QUIT YOU thank you very much, indeed. good evening, uh, from, Led Zeppelin. That was, uh, that was a thing, uh, from Otis Rush called “I Can’t Quit You Babe”. we’re gonna carry on with, uh, a thing off the new Led Zeppelin album. This is called “Dazed And Confused” thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. well, right now we’d like to feature, uh, John Bonham on drums. this is John Bonham, “Pat’s Delight” how ’bout that? John Bonham. John Bonham. ladies and gentlemen, we, we’d like to say goodnight and thanks very much for having us. I’d like to introduce Led Zeppelin To You. on bass and Hammond organ, when it’s available, John Paul Jones. on drums, John Bonham. lead guitar, Jimmy Page. and myself, Robert Plant
HOW MANY MORE TIMES thank you very much goodnight, goodnight from Led Zeppelin, Thank you YOU SHOOK ME Thank you very much for everything you do, We’ll see you again one day. good night from Led Zeppelin.
“Porter’s Popular Preachers (replacement act for The Move) opened the night, then Led Zeppelin took the stage prior to the headliners Iron Butterfly. The Move was originally billed as the opening act, but dropped out. Iron Butterfly cancelled their second show and Edwin Hawkins Singers replaced them. Psychedelic imagenary was provided by the Joshua Light Show.”
“This was possibly great and very intense show. Having almost complete recordings for their second date at Fillmore we can expect that the band performed their usual set and crashed the audience what caused of an applause for the Zeppelin instead of Iron Butterfly, whose were billed as headliners. Robert’s voice in all of its high pitched, amazing 1969 glory and the band playing as well as ever. “Dazed And Confused” was played instead of “How many More Times” this time and the show is very tight and powerful throughout. Jimmy is on fire!”
Setlist: 01 – Train Kept A Rollin’ [0:00] 02 – I Can’t Quit You [3:27] 03 – Dazed And Confused [9:28] 04 – Pat’s Delight [19:22] 05 – How Many More Times (incl The Hunter) [27:30] 06 – You Shook Me [39:00]
There was about 5-6 encores of covers that are not included here. The audience did not want to let them go and the applause and foot stomping was deafening. Plant apologized that they had no more songs to play after the last encore.
Eric Clapton has announced a new live album, recorded during lockdown, “The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions“. The collection of 17 songs include mostly acoustic renditions of such classics as “Layla” and “Bell Bottom Blues,” performed with his long time bandmates Nathan East (bass and vocals), Steve Gadd (drums) and Chris Stainton (keyboards).
The recording was overseen by Clapton’s longtime Grammy-winning producer Russ Titelman and was recorded live at Cowdray House in West Sussex, England. The performance features Clapton standards and an assortment of other numbers encompassing blues, country and rarified originals.
In February 2021 Eric Clapton’s live shows at The Royal Albert Hall were cancelled due to the global pandemic. Determined to play, he brought his band together in the English countryside. In the absence of a live audience, he decided to record the performances.
The title arrives on November 12th, 2021, via Mercury Studios on multiple formats. Watch the official trailer and their performance of several favourites, including “Black Magic Woman” and “After Midnight,” below.
The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions also offers versions of songs that had a profound effect on his career and those of his contemporaries including the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac tracks “Black Magic Woman” and “Man of the World.”
He reconvened with his band to the English countryside and staged a concert in the presence of only the participants themselves while letting the cameras roll. The mostly acoustic set was envisioned to be like an Eric Clapton Unplugged II, but not quite, as three songs are played with electric guitars.
Performing acoustic renditions of Clapton standards and an assortment of other numbers encompassing blues, country and rarified originals. Recorded live at Cowdray House in West Sussex, England, the performance finds Clapton and company revisiting such timeless classics as “After Midnight,” “Layla,” “Bell Bottom Blues,” “Tears in Heaven,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out” and “Key to the Highway.” In addition to revisiting some of Eric’s best-loved selections from his own extensive repertoire, Clapton and crew also offer their own versions of songs that had a profound effect on his career and those of his contemporaries including the Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac tracks “Black Magic Woman” and “Man of the World.”
The project was initiated as the result of the forced cancellation of Eric’s concerts scheduled for May 2021 Looking for a viable alternative and hoping to keep his options open, he reconvened with his band to the English countryside and staged a concert in the presence of only the participants themselves while letting the cameras roll. (Eric’s wife, Melia, the sole outside observer inspired the Sessions title.) The mostly acoustic set was envisioned to be like an “Eric Clapton Unplugged II,” but not quite, as three songs are played with electric guitars. The result became far more than simply a sequence of greatest hits. Rather, it’s one of the most intimate and authentic performances of his entire career, an offering flush with real insight into the make-up of his indelible catalogue. Eric Clapton “The Lady in the Balcony: Lockdown Sessions”
Eric Clapton returns with a remarkable new release, “The Lady In The Balcony: Lockdown Sessions” on November 12th. Available via Mercury Studios
