From the brimming light of the lead guitar on opener “Saturnine & Iron Jaw” to the mellow grunge unfolding in the finale “Rats in Ruin,” Nothing as the Ideal is a signature All Them Witches release, which of course means it sounds like nothing they’ve ever done before.
The Nashville trio thrive on contrast. Now six records deep into a tenure that began in 2012, they are unremittingly forward-looking, and while signature elements can be found throughout Nothing as the Ideal – from guitarist Ben McLeod’s prog-tinged explorations to the slacker-soul vocals of bassist Charles Michael Parks, Jr., to the restless energy and rhythmic nuance in Robby Staebler’s drum patterns – it is also their most experimental work to-date.
But contrast is the key: Tape loops coincide with unplugged minimalism. They recorded it in a strange place with a familiar producer. It’s their heaviest album marked by their broadest atmospheres, intimate and pummeling. It is unquestionably theirs even as it will no doubt engender ownership in anyone who hears it.
Nothing as the Ideal might forever be known as “the album All Them Witches made at Abbey Road.” Fair enough. You don’t record in a legendary studio surrounded by mics The Beatles used, sitting on the bench where John Lennon tracked the acoustic guitar for “A Day in the Life” without acknowledging that history. There’s no getting away from it.
Where Nothing as the Ideal triumphs, however, is in making that space and that history the band’s own. Working with Mikey Allred, who previously produced 2015’s New West label debut, Dying Surfer Meets His Maker, and has done other mixing and mastering along the way, All Them Witches not only did justice to the moment they were capturing – the sheer adventure of being there, doing that thing – but answered the call of their inspiration as they always do.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way. The idea was to take time, do it themselves. But after spending the early part of 2019 constructing a studio in a church outside Nashville where Staebler was living and writing, writing, writing, the band came up against the deadline of a 35-date European arena tour with Ghost and had the single “1×1” to show for it. They put that song out, did a video, and after the tour, redirected their purposes. With the momentum of playing every night behind them, Nothing as the Ideal at last began to take shape.
Abbey Road might not have been the plan, but with the harder deadline of recording dates locked in, All Them Witches were able to focus more clearly. It wasn’t about applying pressure, but about doing what best served the songs. With Allred as the trusted party at the helm, they succeeded in crafting a defining moment for who they are as a band, with each player’s personality coming together to create a fluidity that is unique unto them.
Whatever they’ve done in the past, whatever they’ll do next, ”Nothing as the Ideal” epitomizes the literal and figurative journey All Them Witches have made, and it is to be treasured all the more for that.
Nashville’s rockers All The Witches, the stoner rock legends Nebula, King Buffalo unique psychedelic rock and the progressive intensity of Kalediobolt to Sonic Blast 2022. *** more to be announced soon***
SonicBlast Fest 2022 11th-13th August Praia da Duna dos Caldeirões Âncora, Portugal
Full festival tickets are now on sale at BOL (Fnac, Worten, Ctt’s…) or at
Green Man Festival is on We’re absolutely ecstatic to finally say that we can go ahead this August. And what a thrill to be able to introduce your GM21 line-up, with headliners Mogwai , Caribou, Little Dragon and Fontaines D.C. soaring over the Black Mountains each evening. Get excited, wrap your ears around the playlist and picture yourself sinking a Growler in your favourite spot on site, We have bundles more to share from all the other areas, so look out for them in the run up to the festival.
This decision was not taken lightly, and was made following Wednesday’s announcement by the Welsh First Minister, and after much consultation with the Welsh Government.
A gigantic thank you to everyone for your patience over the past year – all the support from our audience, crew, artists and the Welsh Government’s Cultural recovery fund has got us here. Seeing your faces in the fields is going to be nothing short of incredible! Big love, GM
Everyone’s safety is our number one priority. To gain entry to GM this year, anyone over the age of 16 will have to demonstrate that they’ve received two vaccinations at least 14 days before arrival or show that they’ve received a negative NHS lateral flow test within 48 hours prior to their arrival. We totally understand that some people may not feel ready to return this year, so if you have tickets and don’t want to attend, please contact Ticketline to arrange a refund or rollover to 2022, you must do this before 5pm 23rd July. If there are any returns we’ll have a resale at 10am on 27th July.
Get excited for thrilling independent music festival Down at The Abbey which hits Reading on September 11th bringing with it a glittering array of awesome acts and essential names including premier post punks Snapped Ankles as headliner, psychedelic alt rockers Flamingods, electronica superstar Lonelady, mind blowing band The Utopia Strong – plus many more!
First taking place in 2019 following a ten-year restoration project, Down at The Abbey is brought to you by the award-winning creators of Are You Listening? and has previously played host to such favourites as BC Camplight, Kathryn Joseph and The Wave Pictures.
A key location in English musical history, the festival is held at the Grade 1 listed grounds of the now ruined Reading Abbey, first constructed by Burgundy monks in 1121 before later being banished and the Abbott executed by King Henry VII. The site revealed the monumental discovery of the oldest piece of English music; “Sumer Is Icumen” dated back to 1240.
Offering two stages of music, enjoy drink courtesy of Siren Craft Brew bringing their award-winning selection of beers and ciders, plus pick from a wide array of stalls providing coffee, cocktails, and tasty street food. Plus kids will love the many exciting activities provided just for them!.
Perfect indie rock pairing Blood Red Shoes are back! Two years on since the release of their lauded fifth album “Get Tragic“, singer/guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and drummer Steven Ansell return with remarkable six track EP titled Ø, an intoxicating mix of intense anthems and brooding bangers, taking its name from; “the symbol on audio equipment to invert the signal. The flip switch. When you push the Ø button, positive becomes negative and negative becomes positive. Which feels very us. And it also makes it quite difficult for people to know how to say the name. Which is also very, very….us.”
Included are singles “A Little Love” which is the duo at their dynamic best, swapping vocal duties and hammering out a real crowd-pleasing stomper, and “Misery Loves Company” that is a two fingers up to anyone that ever-chatted shit online about them, as the band explains; “You talk in big old words but you got nothing to say”. A friendly little STFU to the armchair warriors. Those with the overactive thumbs. The ones who tell anyone and everyone that they’re doing it wrong, but never get up and do anything to help. Boring.”
The new year sees Blood Red Shoes hit the road once again, kicking off January 2022 with a tour – and we cannot wait to see them back on stage blazing with passion once again!
“Misery Loves Company”, the new single by Blood Red Shoes taken from their EP Ø, out NOW!
On July 15th, 1978, the 1978 European tour concluded with a show at the Blackbushe Aerodrome in Camberley, England. Attendance was 200,000 people, making it the largest concert to date of Bob Dylan’s career.
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have shared a new single called ‘Crescent Man vs Demolition Dan’ The song arrives as the rising Welsh band continue work on their debut studio album, which will follow last year’s “The Non Stop” EP. Based on a fictional superhero (Crescent Man) and villain (Demolition Dan) duo, the new track was inspired by “the real-life politics of Cardiff”, the group’s home city.
“There’s a street in Cardiff called Guildford Crescent that was recently demolished to make way for some high-rise monstrosity that left a long line of independent businesses dead and buried,” explained frontman Tom Rees. “Cardiff is kind of morphing into such a culturally devoid hellscape littered with boarded-up venues and sun-blocking student residencies, that the only solution the mind can conjure is relying on the intervention of some all powerful superhero capable of turning back time or maybe allocating public funds responsibly.”
Rees continued: “Most annoyingly while we all acknowledge that a superhero could never exist, the villain still does – they knocked down an established music venue and a family owned restaurant, leaving the facade to tremble in the shadow of what antiquated structure will presumably tower over it, much like how a fox would leave an excess of dead chickens lying in the pen, just to remind you who’s boss.”
He went on to say that the situation in the city is becoming “bleaker and bleaker”, adding: “With every failed protest I’m increasingly of the opinion that anyone who believes in effective protest (on this matter at least) might as well believe in superheroes, and even then I still think the fat cats would get one on us.”
Rees added: “All this said though I certainly don’t know what the answer is, if protest doesn’t work then what will? We’re not all going to run for office in a hurry, or maybe we should? Should I practise that thumb-on-top-of-your-fist-I’m-an-honest-and-non-confrontational-person hand gesture thing? I don’t even know how to rack up expenses.”
Upon releasing ‘Crescent Man…’, Buzzard said: “I know it’s just a stupid rock song, but we’ve done all we can to try and save the institutions that made our city worthwhile and nothing has changed, so it’s either superheroes or Cardiff Council and I know which one is more realistic.”
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard will perform two live shows at The Social in London on October 20/22. The latter night is now sold out, The band will also perform at All Points East festival next month before heading out on tour with The Blinders in September.
Three-piece rock band The Orange Peels doesn’t just roll with the punches一 they take some shots at adversity themselves. Comprised of Allen Clapp (vocals, keyboards, guitars), Jill Pries (bass), and Gabriel Coan (drums, synthesizers), the trio was hit with waves of hardship over the last year. On top of the collective struggle with COVID-19, Clapp lost both of his parents and Pries lost her sister in a devastating car crash. As if that wasn’t enough, the band was evacuated from their Santa Cruz Mountains studio for a few months due to one of the worst wildfires in California’s recorded history. Any one of these events would justify a pause in creativity.
But how The Orange Peels responded was overwhelmingly remarkable. They produced a double album titled “Celibrate The Moments Of Your Life”.
By the end of the year, there was really nothing we could take for granted anymore: life, stuff, an address,” Clapp begins. With this reality, the band had enough and decided to do something about their situation. “Creating this album was a way to just say: ‘Ok, Life. You’re throwing all is at me? Fine. I’m gonna make a double album.’ It’s a way of fighting back,” Clapp says.
Celebrate the Moments of Your Lifeis a collection of 17 songs that push and pull on the boundaries of a pop song. The band toys with electronic music while strumming up soundscapes based on progressive rock, orchestral pop, and melodic rock.
“Making stuff with Allen and Jill has always been really easy,” Coan states. “I think all three of us are equally comfortable leading and following, so we each just slide into whatever role seems right for the moment. We also don’t walk in with any rules or expectations. Even if you’re coming in with a formed idea, you still just let the others bring what they hear to it instinctively. Whatever their first reaction is going to be, is going to be the best stuff. And then your idea just got way better. It’s the perfect kind of creative partnership for me. It’s the most rewarding—and they make my shit sound good.”
“We just bash away at it until it’s right. And we’ll use whatever sound, instrument or production technique that will get us there,” Clapp chimes in.
The result of The Orange Peel’s specific approach to music, and more broadly in life, resulted in songs that sound just as unique as the band members themselves. Ahead of the release of Celebrate the Moments of Your Life, the band dropped several singles, including the most recent “Whenever” The track sonically high steps through chords and resembles the work of famed rock band R.E.M.
Other tracks like “2×2” and “Birds Are Louder” also stand out to the band.
“I really love the opening track, ‘2×2,’” Clapp says. “It’s basically a power trio play. It’s heavy in this really weird way. Almost like a brutalist pop song. Jill loves it so much that it kind of had to be song No. 1 on this monster album. Gabriel has one of the most brutal, Cro‒Magnon drum fills I’ve ever heard. Jill is holding it all together with this super insistent bassline. I get to play some freakishly punk‒prog lead guitar. It’s the sound of 3 people making music together with no expectations, no agenda. I freaking love that.”
Coan adds, “When I was listening to the masters and then the test pressings, I kept picking a new favourite every time. But I agree that there is something special about ‘2×2.’ When Jill said it had to be the opener, it was like, ‘Well of course it does.’ I also love that the opening lines of the album correspond with the cover art totally by happenstance. Yeah…it’s special.”
Pries then pivots to explain, “My favourite moment was the rest of the band being willing to support the bass player with an interesting idea. When I got inspiration while half asleep, everyone jumped in and backed me up. That idea became the foundation for ‘Birds are Louder.’”
All together, these songs build and support each other to share a series of beautiful and painful experiences. The Orange Peels essentially peeled back their individual perspectives to communicate a broader sense of what it means to be all shades of human.
“I think sides A and B are maybe a little bit more immediate in their reaction to the circumstances of the past year. Sides C and D are a little more introspective and poetic,” Clapp says. “We’ve never put out a double album before, so sequencing it was challenging. Getting the feel right was crucial because we wanted it to hang together as a whole. It also had to tell a story of transformation. It had to say: ‘Here’s the way things used to be, and here’s the way things are now, and here’s all the other stuff that we’re still not sure about.’”
Overall, Celebrate the Moments of Your Life is intense and The Orange Peels succeed in their outpouring of honest emotion. Clapp explains that the band joked about including a cigarette and match with the vinyl version of the album as a nod to their intensity.
“But I actually think it would be difficult to have made a record over the past year and have it not be intense. Unless you were just doing the escapist thing. I mean, I’m over that,” Clapp continues. “I think at this point, we should be fining artists for ignoring what’s going on in the world around them. Kind of like a carbon tax for escapism. Especially some of the world’s most popular ones. If I had the ear of millions of listeners, I probably wouldn’t choose to put out album after album about my love life. Just think what we’d be missing out on if John Lennon or Marvin Gaye did that? We should expect more from art. We’re just trying to deliver.”
To wrap up our conversation, the band expresses hope for live shows soon and Coan left listeners with a neat bow of an album explanation. “Well, let’s it put this way: What began as a silly goof transformed into a totally sincere, devastatingly earnest sentiment through the course of making this record. So yeah. Metaphor. Somewhere. There. (And don’t sue us, you know who.)”
Listen to the exclusive premiere of “Celebrate the Moments of Your Life” below, until the album is officially released Friday, July 16th.
The Orange Peels Celebrate the Moments of Your Life
All songs by Allen Clapp • Gabriel Coan • Jill Pries
One of the bands who’ve been a part of Thrill Jockey Record’s history since the earliest days of the label, our head honcho Bettina Richards waxes lyrical about Chicago band Eleventh Dream Day and their importance to Thrill Jockey:
Since first hitting the road in a battered Econoline van in the 1980s, Eleventh Dream Day continues to build on their history by moving forward musically, while never forgetting what inspired them. Core band members Rick Rizzo, Janet Beveridge Bean, Mark Greenberg, and Douglas McCombs are joined by James Elkington (Brokeback, Tweedy), marking the first time the band has recorded with a second guitarist since 1994. Elkington’s addition has unleashed the band’s strengths. The ferocious and visceral interplay between Rizzo and Elkington charge the band with a joyous exuberance
“Before I started Thrill Jockey, I worked at Atlantic Records and then London Records… so what you say – yeah I sort of agree! However it matters a lot, as the first band I worked with / signed to Atlantic was Chicago’s Eleventh Dream Day! This started a Chicago connection and spawned Thrill Jockey working with other bands Freakwater and Tortoise and Brokeback. Most importantly it was and is how I met what are now some of my closest more enduring friendships.
I was blown away by their music and their live show – and even David Yow throwing chairs backstage (that is another story) could not keep me away. I love these records still and am super proud to continue to work with them. They are about to release a record on Comedy Minus One and we wanted to celebrate that new release by looking back at some of the great records we have done together! (and have no fear… they will be back home on the next one). We recently caught up with Janet Bean, Rick Rizzo, and Doug McCombs, and asked them to talk about these records! “
The band’s new album, Since Grazed, can be streamed now but LPs will be shipping August 6th. In celebration of the new record, we’re running a week-long deal on our website – enter the promo code ‘Eleven’ when buying anything Eleventh Dream Day from the web store.
“One of the most sublime and engaging works in their nearly 40-year history.” – Chicago Reader
“It’s gorgeous. It’s laid back, it’s twangy, it’s sometimes orchestral and often beautiful and definitely heartfelt. It’s Eleventh Dream Day.” – Brooklyn Vegan
“Since Grazed” is fantastic. ‘Just Got Home (In Time To Say Goodbye)’ rides the country-storytelling line, ‘Yves Klein Blues’ is a frantically propulsive that name-checks the king of minimalist art, and ‘A Case to Carry On’ is the R.E.M. song that Peter Buck wished he wrote. Just when you think the album is about to slide to a permanent slow down, you get uptempo tracks with pop inflections like ‘Cracks in My Smile’ or spacey freak out likes ‘Take Care’. But it all comes back to that country shuffle, and album closer ‘Every Time This Day it Rains’ is a beautifully bittersweet send off.” – Far Out Magazine.
Pip Blom remain among our favorite things to represent the Netherlands since Edgar Davids suited up for Ajax. And with the band’s next album due in the autumn “Welcome Break” set for release October 8th, the indie-pop quartet have dropped an ace new track that’s filled with some retro-Britpop vibes… but think Mansun or Supergrass over the more obvious picks.
The lively tune is called “It Should Have Been Fun,” and well, we can certainly apply our own context to that kind of title. But they, understandably, have their own visions behind it. And we’re all probably in sync.
“When writing the tracks for the record I wanted there to be a song that didn’t have the structure of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus 2x,” the band states. “It’s a common structure of course and I figured it could be cool to switch it up a bit. When the track starts it feels like it’s going to be a very sensitive, calm song. The verses capture the feeling of sadness, disappointment in yourself and someone else. But when the chorus starts the energy switches. It’s more angry, being fed up, wanting to change something, like there’s a tipping point. I really like how the track has these different parts that flow into each other. I can’t wait to play this track live and really give it our all when the final chorus hits.”
Pip Blom recently unveiled a string of UK dates for this fall and a headlining tour set for early 2022, but we’ll have to wait a while longer for the band to bring its bounce over to the states. I the meantime, this new tune, and the forthcoming album, should hold us over.
“It Should Have Been Fun” on Heavenly Recordings Released on: 2021-07-15
