The Fat Angel Sings

Do you remember the “21st night of September?” These famous lyrics have probably rung through your ears before, that is, if you’ve ever been to a wedding, prom, Disco school reunion, or any other celebratory social gathering. The Earth, Wind & Fire classic was released as a single in 1978, then featured on the band’s album The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, reaching number one on the US R&B chart, number eight on the Billboard Hot 11, and number three on the UK singles chart.

There’s no denying the song is catchy. But what does it mean? Where did it come from? What is the significance of this seemingly arbitrary fall date?. The story of the song begins in 1978. Allee Willis was a struggling songwriter in LA — until the night she got a call from Maurice White, the leader of Earth, Wind & Fire. White offered her the chance of a lifetime: to co-write the band’s next album. Willis arrived at the studio the next day hoping it wasn’t some kind of cosmic joke.

“As I open the door, they had just written the intro to ‘September.’ And I just thought, ‘Dear God, let this be what they want me to write!’ Cause it was obviously the happiest-sounding song in the world,” Willis says.

Using a progression composed by Earth, Wind & Fire guitarist Al McKay, White and Willis wrote the song over the course of a month, conjuring images of clear skies and dancing under the stars. Willis says she likes songs that tell stories, and that at a certain point, she feared the lyrics to “September” were starting to sound simplistic. One nonsense phrase bugged her in particular.

“The, kind of, go-to phrase that Maurice used in every song he wrote was ‘ba-dee-ya,’ ” she says. “So right from the beginning he was singing, ‘Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember / Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September.’ And I said, ‘We are going to change ‘ba-dee-ya’ to real words, right?’ “

Wrong. Willis says that at the final vocal session she got desperate and begged White to rewrite the part.

“And finally, when it was so obvious that he was not going to do it, I just said, ‘What the f- – – does ‘ba-dee-ya’ mean?’ And he essentially said, ‘Who the f- – – cares?’” she says. “I learned my greatest lesson ever in songwriting from him, which was never let the lyric get in the way of the groove.”

South Yorkshire band The Reytons have been together for less than a year and are able to boast to having their own IPA, releasing two EPs (‘Kids off the estate’ & ‘It was all so monotonous’) selling out The Plug in Sheffield and gaining over 200,000 views on their music videos.

The band comprises of; Jonny Yerrell – Vocals, Joe O’Brien – Lead Guitar, Lee Holland – Bass Guitar and Jamie Simpson – Drums. Their continuous rise has to be down to their use of witty lyrics, stage presence and ability to harness the powers of social media; with Bruce Jones (Commonly known for playing Les Battersby in Coronation Street) appearing in one of their music videos.

Live lead singer Jonny Yerrell speaking the words to one of their latest tracks ‘Kids off the estate’. He oozed stage presence much akin to Alex Turner, Comedic gestures, and Indie anthem style song-after-song, A band on the rise, and with the Arctic Monkey’s taking a relatively backwards seat these last couple of years, there is a big space for another top South Yorkshire styled indie band.

We are proud to announce our Debut album ‘Kids Off The Estate’ will be released 24/09/21 and is available to pre-order from our website NOW!

Singer Songwriter John Murry is one of those best-kept secrets. His dark introspective music pulls you in like a spiders web of baroque intrigue and memory. There are lush tendrils of melody delivered in this sonorous voice full of introspection and emotion over chiming guitar melodies. It’s beautiful stuff and comes complete with this new single and a video directed and beautifully shot by Paul Gallagher – the older of the Oasis brothers. This is alternate and beautiful music from a well-read singer whose life has been a rocky road through addiction and pain which he has battled and won over.

Three albums in his first two The Graceless Age and A Short History of Decay, were full of this shimmering melancholy and velvet-voiced angst whilst his third The Stars Are God’s Bullet Holes wrestles with the bleak but also celebrate a redemption as the singer-songwriter, who is related to the Nobel-prize winning American novelist William Faulkner continues in the family business of poetic discourse and stream of consciousness creativity.

John and the band recorded this version of Under A Darker Moon from the album ‘A Short History of Decay’ with Luke Oldfield at the wonderful Tilehouse Studios.
John Murry: Guitar, vocals
Tali Trow: Bass
Pat Kenneally: Organ
David Hart: Drums

Tilehouse Studios Session, April 7th 2017.

Björk has announced new dates for her livestreamed orchestral shows, following multiple delays due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Orkestral series will see the musician perform with different collaborators over each of the four dates, including members of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Flute Septet Viibra and Hamrahlíð Choir.

Now, as Iceland begins to reopen fully for live shows after the coronavirus pandemic, new dates for all shows have been announced. The new dates and lineups for each gig are as follows

OCTOBER 11th
With strings from Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, conductor Victor Orri Árnason and harpist Katie Buckley (Formerly August 29)

OCTOBER 24th
With Hamrahlið Choir, conductor Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, and organist Bergur Þórisson (Formerly September 5)

OCTOBER 31 st
With brass from the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, flute septet Viibra, harpist Katie Buckley and pianist Jónas Sen (Formerly 12th September)

NOVEMBER 15th
With 15 piece chamber ensemble strings from Iceland Symphony Orchestra and conductor Victor Orri Árnason (Formerly September 19)

The shows are being performed in aid of Kvennaathvarfid, a charity that supports women and immigrants of different origin within Iceland. Livestream tickets can be found here.

Earlier this month, meanwhile, Bjork was confirmed as one of the headliners for the Bluedot Festival in 2022.

She had been due to play 2020’s edition before its coronavirus-enforced cancellation.

She’ll be joined by The Hallé Orchestra for her performance at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Jodrell Bank Observatory. The show will also feature a unique visual display as video and animation is projected onto the iconic, 76-metre wide Lovell Telescope.

In spite of the various crises that have occurred since 2017’s “Native Invader”, Tori Amos has emerged with ocean to ocean, her most personal work in years – an album bursting with warmth and connection, with deep roots in her earliest song writing.

Written during the 3rd lockdown in Cornwall this year, “Ocean to Ocean” is a universal story of going to rock bottom and renewing yourself all over again. for a record written within limited surroundings, two things are remarkable – its rich stylistic variation, from tango to wide-screen romance, and the big-heartedness of songs, which run almost like a series of love letters to family both present and absent. it is, in one sense, her most Cornish record yet: the artwork says it all, with Amos shot on the cliffs, and in the caves on the county’s south west shores.

‘Ocean to Ocean’ will be coming out on October 29th. I wrote this record during the UK’s 3rd Lockdown in Cornwall this year. It was just me, Husband and Tash in the Studio, with Matt, Jon and Philly thousands of miles away, playing their instruments and sending over the sonic airwaves…

Last year, Tori Amos released the four-song EP “Christmastide”, as well as the book Resistance, a memoir about her craft and career development as a singer-songwriter. It was her second memoir, following 2005’s Piece by Piece, which she co-wrote with Ann Powers.

Chicago’s always angular, forever on point Ganser are back with a new live set, This band does not follow trends because they are too busy creating rad music that gets all under your skin and makes you want to dance!

Due to circumstances out of our control we are sad to say we will not be playing Levitation Fest this year in Austin, we’re playing next year instead for 2022. However, in the meantime we have a surprise, we’ve put up a 7-track live film made last year for the first time on YouTube.

In October 2020, Ganser recorded a live performance at Altered States Studios.

Tracklist: 1. Bad Form 2. Told You So 3. Emergency Equipment and Exits 4. PSY OPS 5. Projector 6. Shadowcasting 7. Lucky

Brian Wilson has recorded an album of Beach Boys hits on solo piano, set for release as “At My Piano“. The 15-track offering of instrumental piano translations of the California surf group is set for release on November 19th via Decca Records. Along with the announcement, Wilson has shared a reworked “God Only Knows”.

Featured on At My Piano are Brian Wilson-penned Beach Boys classics including “In My Room,” “California Girls,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “You Still Believe In Me,” “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times,” “Surf’s Up,” “Friends, “Till I Die,” “Good Vibrations,” plus a “Smile” medley, and more. Even without the timeless lyrics, Wilson’s heart and soul—aka the heart and soul of the Beach Boys—pour through the instrumental telling of “God Only Knows”.

“We had an upright piano in our living room and from the time I was 12 years old I played it each and every day. I never had a lesson, I was completely self-taught,” Brian said in a statement. “I can’t express how much the piano has played such an important part in my life. It has bought me comfort, joy, and security. It has fuelled my creativity as well as my competitive nature. I play it when I’m happy or feeling sad. I love playing for people and I love playing alone when no one is listening. Honestly, the piano and the music I create on it has probably saved my life.”

Listen to the solo piano reimagining of “God Only Knows”, set to appear on the new Brian Wilson album “At My Piano”. 

Aoife O’Donovan is a singer-songwriter living in Brooklyn. Produced by fellow GRAMMY-winner Joe Henry (Bonnie Raitt, Rhiannon Giddens) and featuring guest appearances from Allison Russell and Madison Cunningham, “Age Of Apathy” finds O’Donovan’s gift for poetic imagery and unconventionally alluring melody in full bloom as she confronts the sense-dulling barrage of the digital age. Amid symphonic arrangements that reveal a stunning mastery of her craft, Aoife puts forth a statement of defiance and radical love — one that reaffirms her as one of our most vital songwriters today.

O’Donovan recorded Age Of Apathy through a unique arrangement with Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL, logging daily hours on-site at their studio with GRAMMY-nominated engineer Darren Schneider (Deep Purple, Koryn Hawthorne, Trivium) – who also mixed the album – all the while collaborating entirely remotely with Henry. While her previous albums were composed and recorded in an adrenalized rush between tours, the creation of Age Of Apathy was more deliberate and methodical — a rare silver lining amid the stillness of COVID living.

O’Donovan found the routine freeing. Remote collaborations — particularly with bassist David Piltch and drummer Jay Bellerose — introduced unexpected rhythms and textures into the architecture of the songs, allowing O’Donovan to bend her sound into more expansive shapes. And with the expert guidance of Joe Henry, she was able to develop the dreamy, richly orchestrated — but never overwrought — soundworld that gives “Age Of Apathy” its distinct and enveloping aesthetic. 

Releases January 21st, 2022

2022, Yep Roc Records
“Age of Apathy” her third full-length studio album produced by Joe Henry, will release January 21st, 2022.