GENE CLARK – ” Collected ” Limited Edition 3LP set

Posted: October 22, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0
Gene Clark: Collected: Limited Edition 3LP

Gene Clark American singer-songwriter and responsible for The Byrds’ greatest hits, including “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”, “She Don’t Care About Time”, “Eight Miles High” and “Set You Free This Time”. After making music in several group formations furthermore with The Gosdin Brothers, Doug Dillard, Carla Olson and recording several albums with members of The Byrds over the years, Clark embarked on a solo career that encompassed heavily orchestrated treasures like “No Other” and folk-focused “White Light”. Through it all and in every setting, Clark’s clear and true vocals, his poetic turns of phrase, and his skill at weaving melancholy melodies never wavered. His body of work is impressive and, long after his passing in 1991, has remained influential to each new generation of pop artists who followed in his wake.

To honour his legacy and the impressive repertoire he left behind, Music On Vinyl proudly presents the new Collected compilation album in collaboration with Universal Music. Collected is a compilation featuring Gene Clark’s greatest songs and is a career-spanning 2LP including tracks by The Byrds and with The Gosdin Brothers, Carla Olson and his other collaborations

Clark would go on to record three more albums: Two Sides to Every Story (1977), Firebyrd (1984)—reissued posthumously in 1995 as This Byrd Has Flown, featuring additional tracks—and So Rebellious a Lover (1987), with Carla Olson.

2021 marks 30 years since the passing of folk-rock pioneer and co-founder of the Byrds (formed in 1964), Gene Clark. Clark was a key figure in the brief, but influential early period of the Byrds, who played a significant role in the expansive and electrified “pop” turn of folk music in the mid-1960s. He also had an intriguing solo career in its own right, before his life was tragically cut short.

Harold Eugene Clark was born in the small, working-class town of Tipton, Missouri, November 17th, 1944, the third of 13 children. In 1949, the Clark family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, living much of the time in abject poverty.

However, in 1954, Clark’s parents saved enough money to purchase a television, through which the young Clark would be introduced to Elvis Presley. Besotted by Presley, Clark developed a deep interest in the music. His father subsequently introduced him to Hank Williams and taught him to play the mandolin, harmonica and guitar. He began writing songs as early as nine years old—his first song being, “Big Chief Hole in Pants.”

Clark would go on to play in many aspiring folk groups in the early 1960s, including most prominently Michael Crowley’s the Surf Riders and later the New Christy Minstrels led by Randy Sparks. Clark played and worked as a backing-vocalist for two albums with the New Christy Minstrels, before leaving the band in early 1964, disillusioned with the musical approach.

Like many musicians of the time, a major turning point came in 1964 when Clark came across the Beatles’ songs “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on a jukebox while in Canada. Clark found his calling, saying, “I knew, I knew, that this was the future, this was where music was going and … I wanted to be a part of it.”

Clark moved to Los Angeles where he met fellow folk musician and Beatles-convert Jim (later Roger) McGuinn at the Troubadour Club. In early 1964, McGuinn and Clark worked together as a Peter and Gordon-type duo, but began to assemble a band—once David Crosby was recruited—known as the Jet Set. Soon after, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke would join the trio on bass guitar and drums, respectively.

Initially playing under the name the Beefeaters, the young musicians released two singles, “Please Let Me Love You” and “Don’t Be Long” in October 1964. One month later, the band’s manager, Jim Dickson, got the band an audition with Columbia Records, where they signed as the Byrds and would soon be billed as “America’s Beatles.”

The Byrds became, in fact, a key element in the early flourishing of the “folk-rock” sound. They essentially bridged the electrifying pop studio sound of the Beatles with, literally at times, the lyrics and “edge” of Bob Dylan and other folk musicians. McGuinn’s “jangly” 12-string guitar melodies, coupled with Clark and Crosby’s expansive harmonizing, had very little precedent in popular music to that point. The band’s impact would help shape the direction of “folk rock” for at least the next decade.

Clark played a leading part on the band’s two 1965 albums, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn! with his superlative compositions and emotionally alluring voice. Clark wrote or co-wrote many of the Byrds’ best-known originals from their first three albums, including “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,” “Set You Free This Time” and “Eight Miles High.” At a time when the Vietnam War was raging, with antiwar and civil rights protests erupting across the US, Clark focused on intimate matters. His lyrics placed emphasis on personal reflection, reconciliation and relationships. He was also capable of writing moving songs about heartache, such as the band’s “Here Without You,” set to its signature “cascading” sound.

Notwithstanding the tremendous success of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” which peaked at Number 1 on the singles charts in 1965 in the US, United Kingdom and Ireland, and Number 2 in Canada, Clark would abruptly leave the band in February 1966, prior to the release of “Eight Miles High,” featured on “Fifth Dimension” (1966), ostensibly over his fear of flying. Clark, who had witnessed a fatal airplane crash as a youth, experienced a panic attack on a plane bound for New York, resulting in his refusal to take the flight. In effect, Clark’s exit from the plane represented his departure from the Byrds, with McGuinn telling him, “If you can’t fly, you can’t be a Byrd [bird].”

Interviewed in 1991 just days after Clark’s death, Hillman said, “We lost Gene the other day. It doesn’t matter how or why. He’s just gone. I think we lost Gene in 1967. … At one time he was the power in the Byrds, not McGuinn, not Crosby—it was Gene who would bust through the stage curtain banging on a tambourine coming on like a young Prince Valiant.”

The limited edition of Gene Clark – Collected includes an exclusive third bonus LP, which won’t be included with the regular 2LP edition. The bonus LP features “So You Say You Lost Your Baby (Acoustic Demo)” with The Gosdin Brothers, “Lyin’ Down The Middle” as Dillard & Clark, “Del Gato (Live)” and “Changes” with Carla Olson, “I Pity The Poor Immigrant”, “Stand By Me” and alternative versions of “One In A Hundred” and “She’s The Kind Of Girl” amongst others.

This 3LP edition of Gene Clark – “Collected” is available as a limited edition of 3000 individually numbered copies and includes a 4-page insert with liner notes and photos.

 

BOB DYLAN/GRATEFUL DEAD – ” Honky Tonk Lagoon ” Eugene ’87 Bootleg

Posted: October 22, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0
See the source image

While you can put ten Deadheads in a room and end up with 12 opinions, there’s one thing most fans agree on: the 1987 tour the Grateful Dead did with Bob Dylan was not their best. The period presented somewhat of a low point—performance-wise—for each act. The Dead, however, were devoted Dylan followers dating back to their 60s roots, so who were they to deny their hero when he asked to join up with them for a stadium tour?

Sure, Bob Dylan may not have been in his best fighting shape, and it’s not like the Grateful Dead needed him to sell tickets, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a band that had already at that point played Woodstock, at the Great Pyramid of Giza, and would later that summer score their first Billboard Number 1 with the album “Touch of Grey”.

Yet, while many agree that the tour—later cataloged on the official live album, “Dylan & The Dead”, released in 1989—was not the strongest, those willing to do a little digging can find diamonds in the rough. With Jerry Garcia still relatively on the mend off his diabetic coma in 1986, the frontman was re-entering performances with fresh vigour as the band steadily moved toward what would prove to be a late-career peak through the end of the 1980s.

Though the 1987 joint tour may not be the most enjoyable to listen to, these concerts served as a catalyst for something great both from the Dead as well as Dylan, who would emerge in 1989 with possibly his best and most well-received album of the decade, “Oh Mercy”. That is why it was exciting to see a new Dylan and the Dead bootleg quietly uploaded to Bob’s YouTube channel this week, entitled “Honky Tonk Lagoon“.

A shared characteristic of both Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead is the massive amount of bootlegs in each others catalogue. From Dylan’s “The Basement Tapes” to the Grateful Dead’s “Dick’s Picks” series, there exist massive amounts of unofficial-official content. Though audience recordings of Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead’s July 17th, 1987 concert at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR have existed for years, the audio uploaded to Dylan’s YouTube page on October 15th represents a sizable improvement in quality as it was taken from a KLCC broadcast of the concert.

Since it was released through the Dylan channel, Honky Tonk Lagoon features only performances of Bob’s originals with the Grateful Dead as his backing band. The Dead are tight on the uptempo blues of “Maggie’s Farm” that starts the collection while the singer is best described as someone doing a bad impression of Bob Dylan.

As is to be expected from shows on the 1987 joint tour, not every song is a winner. The Dead make the most of newer compositions like “Dead Man Dead Man”, which Jerry imbues with a bit of “West L.A. Fadeaway” energy, and Brent Mydland is given the space to shine on “Watching The River Flow”. The gems come as the Grateful Dead get to take on the Dylan songs they’ve co-opted into their own songbooks long ago, like “Ballad of a Thin Man”, “All Along The Watchtower”, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, or the Jerry Garcia Band staple “Tangled Up In Blue”.

Though there aren’t any extensive jams, the result is a humbling documentation of a band prostrating itself before its almighty. The excesses of the Grateful Dead were poised to destroy the group by the mid-1980s, resulting in Jerry’s diabetic coma that forced him to have to relearn the guitar. Though they were the ones filling the stadiums, these shows relegated the Grateful Dead to simply being Bob Dylan’s backing band. An experience like that no doubt painted the bright lights of the stage in a different hue, and it’s likely no coincidence that the Dead went on to experience their most profound period of commercial and critical success while also playing their strongest shows of the entire decade soon thereafter.

Just as Dylan & The Dead is meant to be appreciated as a cultural antiquity rather than a document of peak performance, so too is Honky Tonk Lagoon meant to be enjoyed for the effect it had on the Grateful Dead.

HIPPO CAMPUS – ” LP3 “

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags:
0
LP3 by Hippo Campus

In the years between 2018’s Bambi and LP3, Minneapolis’ Hippo Campus – made up of vocalist guitarists Jake Luppen and Nathan Stocker, drummer Whistler Allen, bassist Zach Sutton, and trumpeter DeCarlo Jackson – has grown up and into itself. Although the five-piece has been friends since middle school and put out a number of studio releases since its inception, it’s the new record, “LP3″, that’s the most honest portrait of who Hippo Campus is.

After a short hiatus, Saint Paul’s Hippo Campus return with a third studio album that marks a subtle but important shift in direction. The puppyish indie-pop energy of their first two records ‘Landmark’ and ‘Bambi’ (released just eighteen months apart) is more subdued and controlled on ‘LP3’, taking a backseat to a more mature exploration of individual and collective identity.

“LP3″ is, their strongest and most complete work yet – a freshly-inked portrait excavating young adulthood and identity and, more importantly, how that personal identity fits into a larger camaraderie. It looks at how growing up can just feel like something that’s always moving past you when you’re trying to grab a hold of it; it’s a push-and-pull of letting go or holding tighter – and figuring out what matters the most. Through cinematic, sonic clarity, “LP3″ is a sweeping account of courage and tenacity; tender-hearted stumbling that leads you on the right path after all.

“LP3” released February 4th:

SHAME – ” Drunk Tank Pink ” Deluxe Edition

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

After the release of their acclaimed second studio album “Drunk Tank Pink“, Shame has announced “Drunk Tank Pink (Deluxe Edition)” out November 19th. The Deluxe Edition is a double LP of the band’s second studio record accompanied by early demos. Those residing in the UK/EU can pre-order the album now on crystal clear vinyl at the Secretly Store.

“Drunk Tank Pink” confirms Shame’s status as one of the most exciting bands at the forefront of British music.” – NME

There are moments on “Drunk Tank Pink” where you almost have to reach for the sleeve to check this is the same band who made 2018’s Songs Of Praise. Such is the jump Shame have made from the riotous post-punk of their debut to the sprawling adventurism and twitching anxieties laid out here. The South Londoner’s blood and guts spirit, that wink and grin of devious charm, is still present, it’s just that it’s grown into something bigger, something deeper, more ambitious and unflinchingly honest.

To understand this creative leap you need to first understand the journey shame undertook to get here. From their beginnings as wide-eyed teenagers taken under the decrepit wing of The Fat White Family to becoming the most celebrated new band in Britain and their subsequent crash back down to earth.

It’s no exaggeration to say the members of Shame have spent their entire adult life on the road. A wild-eyed tour of duty marked by glorious music and damaged psyches, when it eventually careered to a stop the band were parachuted back into home territory. Shell shocked, dislocated and grasping for some semblance of self.

Shame’s previous bases – the notorious den of iniquity that was The Queens Head pub, the musical petri dish of Brixton’s Windmill – were either gentrified into obsolescence or no longer viable as an HQ. Sometimes home just isn’t home anymore. Or at least it’s not the way you remember it.

To cope, guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith barricaded himself in his bedroom. Barely leaving the house and instead obsessively deconstructing his very approach to playing and making music, he picked apart the threads of the music he was devouring (Talking Heads, Nigerian High Life, the dry funk of ESG, Talk Talk…) and created work infused with panic and crackling intensity.

“For this album I was so bored of playing guitar,” he recalls, “the thought of even playing it was mind-numbing. So I started to write and experiment in all these alternative tunings and not write or play in a conventional ‘rock’ way.”

Frontman Charlie Steen, meanwhile, took a different tac and attempted to party his way out of psychosis. “When you’re exposed to all of that for the first time you think you’re fucking indestructible,” he notes. “After a few years you reach a point where you realise everyone need a bath and a good night’s sleep sometimes.”

An intense bout of waking fever-dreams convinced Steen that self medicating his demons wasn’t a very healthy plan of action and it was probably time to stop and take a look inward. Shame had always been about exposure – be that the rogues’ gallery of characters they drew inspiration from or the cornucopia of joy to be had from simply being in a band – this time, however, they were exposed to themselves.“You become very aware of yourself and when all of the music stops, you’re left with the silence,” reflects Steen. “And that silence is a lot of what this record is about.”

Pass along the plant-strewn corridor leading into Steen and Coyle-Smith’s shared living space in South East London and hidden away to your left is a dank, brown curtain. Pull it back and open the door… welcome to the womb.

More of a cupboard than a room (it used to house the washing machine until they lugged it outside and put a bed in) and painted floor to ceiling in the specific shade of pink used to calm down drunk tank inmates, the womb is where Steen cocooned himself away to reflect and write. Scraping and shaking lyrics out of himself that – through the prism of his own surrealistic dreams – addressed the psychological toll life in the band had taken on him. The disintegration of his relationship, the loss of a sense of self and the growing identity crisis both the band and an entire generation were feeling.

“The common theme when I was catching up with my mates was this identity crisis everyone was having,” reflects Steen. “No one knows what the fuck is going on.”

“It didn’t matter that we’d just come back off tour thinking, ‘How do we deal with reality?!?’” agrees Coyle-Smith. “I had mates that were working in a pub and they were also like, ‘How do I deal with reality?!?’ Everyone was going through it.”

The genius of Drunk Tank Pink is how these lyrical themes dovetail with the music. Opener “Alphabet” dissects the premise of performance over a siren call of nervous, jerking guitars, its chorus thrown out like a beer bottle across a mosh pit. “Nigel Hitter”, meanwhile, turns the mundanity of routine into something spectacular via a disjointed jigsaw of syncopated rhythms and broken wristed punk funk.

Bassist Josh Finerty had begun to record the band’s divergent ideas at home in South London which were then fleshed out in a writing trip in the Scottish highlands with electronic artist Makeness, before sessions in La Frette studios in France with Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford. The result is an enormous expansion of Shame’s sonic arsenal.

Songs spin off and lurch into unexpected directions throughout here, be it “March Day”’s escalating aural panic attack or the shapeshifting darkness of “Snow Day”. There’s a Berlin era Bowie beauty to the lovelorn “Human For A Minute” while closer “Station Wagon” weaves from a downbeat mooch into a souring, soul-lifting climax in which Steen elevates himself beyond the clouds and into the heavens. Or at least that’s what it sounds like.

“No that’s about Elton John,” laughs Steen. “I read somewhere about him being so cracked out that he told his PA to move a cloud that was blocking the sun. I just thought that was the greatest, Shakespearean expression of ego. Humour is a massive part of this band. We’re not some French existential act where everything is actually sad. There’s light in it as well.”

Shame, Drunk Tank Pink (Deluxe Edition) out November 19th via Dead Oceans

JOY OLADOKUN – ” In Defense Of My Own Happiness “

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: ,
0
May be an image of 1 person, playing a musical instrument, guitar and text

Another artist in the midst of a breakthrough 2021, Arizona-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Joy Oladokun will share the famed Ryman Auditorium stage with Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit the night before her Sunday afternoon Shaky Knees set, with her first-ever headlining tour to follow in the spring. Inspired to pick up a guitar at age 10 after seeing a Black woman (the great Tracy Chapman) play for the first time, Oladokun made her major-label debut over the summer with “In Defense Of My Own Happiness”, a sweeping, yet intimate collection of soulful folk-pop songs that features collaborations with Maren Morris (“Bigger Man”), Jensen McRae (“wish you the best”), and Penny & Sparrow (“heaven from here”). Oladokun—aka “the trap Tracy Chapman,” as her Twitter bio reads—makes powerfully emotional music, but is quickly becoming known for her funny and engaging stage presence.

Joy Oladokun has released her inaugural Spotify Singles recordings, including a re-work of her original song “Sunday” as well as a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s classic “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” featuring the inimitable Jason Isbell.

Oladokun also recently released a special deluxe edition, “in defense of my own happiness (complete)“, which includes all 14 tracks from her major label debut, and ten additional songs from her self-released 2020 record, “in defense of my own happiness (the beginnings)”.

Joy’s new rendition of “Sunday” is a soulful and raw rendition of the emotional original, a deeply personal meditation on religion, sexuality, and acceptance. Her cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” moves at a lilting pace before Isbell (Joy’s tourmate for a run of shows last month) comes through with an Earth-shaking guitar solo.

Says Joy: “I’ve been a rabid consumer of Spotify Singles since their inception. Being asked to do one was a dream come true and I wanted to bring in the best crew. I asked Jason Isbell to play guitar on the Bonnie Raitt cover and he absolutely smashed the energy and emotion of what I was trying to do. So excited to have these out in the world.”

Joy Oladokun (born 1992 ) is an American singer-songwriter. Oladokun’s music spans the genres of folk, R&B, rock, and pop and is influenced by her identity as a queer woman of colour. She has released three studio albums; Carry (2016), In Defense of My Own Happiness (The Beginnings) (2020), and In Defense of My Own Happiness (2021).

With a guitar in hand, baseball cap over her eyes, and hooded sweatshirt loose, a woman sings with all of the poetry, pain, passion, and power her soul can muster. she is a new kind of american troubadour. she is Joy Oladokun. the Delaware-born, Arizona-raised, and Nashville-based Nigerian-American singer, songwriter, and producer projects unfiltered spirit over stark piano and delicate guitar. after attracting acclaim from vogue, npr, and american songwriter, her words arrive at a time right when we need them the most.

“Words are such a powerful tool,” she states. “I remember all of the best and worst things anyone has ever said to me. I love and respect the ability of words to touch on the physical realm. I’m very intentional with my words. I’m grateful and try to be as encouraging as I can, because I’ve been in situations where that has not been the case and it’s hurt me or others. people are traumatized by words or uplifted and encouraged to change their lives and careers by them.”

Her dad’s record collection included hundreds of titles, and he introduced Joy to everyone from Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, and King Sunny Adé to Conway Twitty and Johnny Cash. as mom and dad stressed academics, she wasn’t allowed to watch tv on weekdays. But on saturday, they would “either rent a movie from blockbuster or watch the thousands of hours of concert and music video footage dad had recorded since coming to the states.” one afternoon, she witnessed Tracy Chapman pay homage to Nelson Mandela during his 70th birthday tribute at Wembley arena.

“When you listen to me, I want you to feel like you’ve taken an emotional shower,” she leaves off. “that’s what I’m trying to accomplish for myself. To me, music is a vehicle of catharsis. I write a lot of sad songs, but I always push for a sliver of a silver lining or glimmer of hope it could be better. that’s why I’m writing in the first place. I want you to be changed when you hear me, and not because I’m special, but because I make music with the intention to change myself.”

MILDRED MAUDE – ” Sleepover “

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0
Open uri20210826 22884 fahuoh?1629976893

Mildred Maude are a three-piece from Cornwall who are named after one of the member’s grandmas. Their music straddles the line between beauty and chaos, sedate sounds and noise, Slowdive and Sonic Youth. Their second LP ‘Accelerator’ is also built on influences such as Stereolab, Can and My Bloody Valentine. 

Three seemingly disparate characters Matt Ashdown (guitar), Lee Wade (bass) and Louie Newlands (drums) – Mildred Maude are named after one of their grandmas and play an improvised noise that always seems to be teetering on the edge of chaos, but something incredibly beautiful at the same time, like a cross between Sonic Youth and Slowdive. It is utterly thrilling.

“Sleepover” is their second album and bears the influence of Stereolab, Can, Butthole Surfers, Yo La Tengo and Sun Ra, among others, with three of its four tracks being over 10 minutes in length. ‘Trevena’ is the loping opener; ‘Elliott’s Floor’ initially turned into My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Only Shallow’ by mistake and on the vinyl version it never ends, thanks to a locked groove; ‘Glen Plays Moses’ crosses a Red Sea of sound and is just epic in every way.

The odd one out is ‘Chemo Brain’ – just under three minutes of Fugazi-esque frenzy, named after a side-effect of bassist Lee’s cancer treatment. The album artwork is also inspired by this – it’s a molecular model of cyclophosphamide, one of the drugs he was given. Mildred Maude’s DIY approach has been the only way for them to get anywhere in Cornwall, where they say they feel more in tune with Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert and the Rephlex Records crowd from the 1990s than any current scene.

They do, however, unintentionally have something in common with the medieval Miracle Plays that would take place in the Duchy. “They were notoriously noisy to attract people to them,” explains guitarist Matt, “but were also events that brought communities together, and we like our live shows to have a sense of togetherness.” Matt says he is also inspired by historic places of worship. “There are some great places in Cornwall such as St Just Church and the open air Gwennap Pit in Redruth. It’s these beautiful spaces that I try to imagine we’re in when we’re playing live – so it’s fitting that we’re releasing this new album on Sonic Cathedral.”

HAND HABITS – ” Funhouse “

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0
May be an image of text that says 'HAND HABITS OCTOBER 22ND ON SADDLE し CREEK'

Formerly a hired hand for The War On Drugs, Weyes Blood and Kevin Morby’s backing band over the years, guitarist Meg Duffy has carved out an impressive solo career on the side under the moniker Hand Habits. ‘Fun House’, released via Saddle Creek, is their third such album, produced by Meg’s housemate Sasami Ashworth and displaying a much bolder and more diverse set of influences than its two predecessors.

There is a moment halfway through Hand Habits’ Fun House at which musician Meg Duffy asks the question, “How many times must I rewind the tape? “It’s a fitting question planted squarely in the middle of a sonically adventurous record concerned largely with making sense and taking stock. How much time must we spend examining our own past in order to fully understand it? How can we safely acknowledge pain in order to release it and fully actualize who we are supposed to be? Buffeted by strings, synths, and a gently-shook tambourine, the aptly-titled track, “The Answer,” highlights the emotional engine at the heart of the record. “I know the answer, “Duffy sings, “Here’s what I hope to find – it’s always mine.”

My personal favourite track on Fun House, “No Difference”. With this song, I was trying to capture the cyclical essence of projection and how it can really block authentic connection. (….I think? Songs seem to change and develop lives of their own with time…my wish is that you project your own life experience onto the song and make it your own)This video is close to my heart, as the guy on the motorcycle happens to be my father, Dan Duffy. Everything just worked out that day. It was 4th of July, and Dad suggested going to his ‘spiritual place’ that has a panoramic view of the Mohawk valley. Filming the bike scenes was the first time I got on the back of the bike with him, and when I first saw this footage that V and Adam captured I was speechless. It feels close to countless dreams I’ve had; aimlessly walking around but with a distinct yet intangible purpose, my dad is there,

Meg Duffy released “Fun House“,her third album as Hand Habits, today. Working with their roommates SASAMI (who produced) and Kyle “King Tuff” Thomas (who engineered), it’s a big step forward for Duffy, a wonderful, harmony-laden pop album that still has the yearning spirit of Hand Habits‘ first two records.

The inspirations behind “Fun House” and and they gave us a list that includes some clear sonic inspiration like Fleetwood Mac, as well as collaborators Perfume Genius (who appears on the album) and Christian Lee Hutson, films, poets, books and more. Meg’s commentary is as thoughtful as their songs and it’s a great read.

released October 22nd on Saddle Creek Records

May be an image of 1 person

BODEGA – ” Broken Equipment “

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0
No photo description available.

Following the taut, snappy mini-album that was 2019’s ‘Shiny New Model’, New York’s Bodega serve up a second full-length LP of snarky, caustic observations. Inspired by Heidegger’s theory of “thrownness” and lockdown book clubs, ‘Broken Equipment’ is another intelligent collection of angular, arty post-punk.

Here’s the first single from Bodega’s upcoming album “Broken Equipment”. “Doers” sports a fatter sound than we’ve heard from Bodega before but, lyrically, still finds them critiquing our technology-dependent world, in this case the state of hyperproductivity many of us seem to be in.

The follow-up to the band’s acclaimed debut album, Endless Scroll (2018), and 2019’s Shiny New Model EP, Broken Equipment was inspired by a book club. In the early months of 2020, the Brooklyn art-punk incendiaries gathered together with close friends to study the works of a wide range of philosophers. Passionate debates lasting long into the night became a regular occurrence, motivating the band to become as
ideologically unified as the weighty tomes they were reading. Broken Equipment is BODEGA’s attempt to interrogate the external factors that make them who they are, propelling existential quandaries with tongue-in-cheek humour, highly personal lyrics, and irresistible grooves. 

Big one for the Dinked series here, as the Brooklyn post-punk group’s long-awaited second gets crammed with an alternate glow-in-the-dark sleeve, a flexi with a non-LP track, and an exclusive vinyl colour variant.

Bodega’s album “Broken Equipment” is out March 11th on WYR?

REAL ESTATE – ” Days ” Television Cover

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags: , , ,
0
May be an image of 5 people

Real Estate’s Days turned 10 this week and to celebrate, the band have shared a cover of a song that was an inspiration for the album in more ways than one: Television’s “Days.”

The shrewd, completist bootlegger will always remember 6/30/2011 as the day that we debuted the album “Days” live in its entirety at 285 Kent in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Back then Domino Park, across the street, was still a dilapidated sugar warehouse, and our unreleased sophomore album didn’t yet have a name. Real heads (or as we like to call them, ‘agents’) might also recall that this show was a release party for the new 33 1/3 book recounting the history of Television’s “Marquee Moon“.

Somewhere in the introduction to that volume author Bryan Waterman declared that even though the song ‘Days’ was on Television’s often overlooked second record, it provided a blueprint for all of the melodic guitar-based indie rock that would soon follow in its wake. We were of course huge fans of that tune, this was in fact our second record, and we saw ourselves humbly as the torchbearers of that tradition. So the story goes like this – we were on tour, sitting in our fire engine red Dodge Ram 2500 somewhere along the I-95 when someone in the band read that sentence aloud, and said, ‘why don’t we call the album Days?’ As I recall, nobody loved it, but more importantly, nobody hated it and it stuck. It’s true, this now decade-old album is named after this fantastic, underappreciated Television tune, which was a joy for us to cover and record for you after all these years.

Real Estate – “Days” (Television Cover) out now on Domino Record Co

TOKYO POLICE CLUB – ” Top 5 “

Posted: October 21, 2021 in MUSIC
Tags:
0
May be an image of 1 person

Tokyo Police Club have finally done a proper studio recording of “Top 5,” which became a fan favourite after the band played it on Daytrotter back in the day. “‘Top 5’ is the closest thing we have to a ‘much sought after fan favourite unreleased track,'” guitarist/keyboardist Graham Wright said. “Ever since we did it on Daytrotter way back when, people have been asking for an official release, but even though it’s been floating around since before ‘Elephant Shell’ we never recorded it properly!” Graham also adds that “it can feel surprisingly hard to convincingly recapture an old vibe” but this recording does indeed feel straight out of TPC’s early days.

Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop.

This was originally recorded for daytrotter in 2010. Awesome to hear this version.

Older Entries
Newer Entries