INDIGO SPARKE – ” Echo ” Album Of The Week

Posted: February 19, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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When Adrianne Lenker says an artist’s “writing and voice are ethereal and angelic and guide me through internal canyons and plains,” you stop and take notice. Lenker (alongside Big Thief producer Andrew Sarlo) co-produced the debut album from Sydney, Australia-born singer/songwriter Indigo Sparke, who lives up to her collaborator’s praise on echo. Songs like “Colourblind” and “Carnival” draw the bulk of their power from Sparke’s bewitching vocals, with only sparse instrumentation to pull focus from her mystic storytelling—a deliberate decision she and Lenker made. “This record is an ode to death and decay. And the restlessness I feel to belong to something greater,” Spark explains. “Adrianne and I talked so much about keeping the record stripped back and simple, that is, we are all just constantly getting stripped back and humbled by life.” Listening to echo feels like standing in the shadow of an entity so large, you can’t see its entire outline, flooding you with fear, but also an unknowable awe. 

Indigo Sparke brings her deeply personal lived experiences to her music, highlighting the spaces between the polarity of softness and grit. Pulling from her experiences of addiction, of healing, of queerness, of heartbreak, of joy, of connection, of the softness and of the grit alchemizing it all into tenderness through her music, she conjures up a myriad of feelings that is undeniably potent. Echo was co-produced by Sparke, Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker and Andrew Sarlo, and features playing from Nick Hakim and Big Thief’s James Krivchenia.

The voice of Indigo Sparke feels fearless, but at moments it comes at a whisper. I was first taken by this Australian singer on a random journey, listening to around 1300 songs for last year’s SXSW music fest. Her song “the day i drove the car around the block” has a mundane title that made me smile, but lyrics that both cut hard and comfort. “Take off all my clothes, kiss me where the bruises are,” and later the refrain, “Love is the drug, and you are in my blood now.” Indigo told the NPR crowd about the song’s origins of trying to learn how to drive on the other side of the road while in Los Angeles, with a huge vehicle and a stick shift.

She just gave up and wrote this tale of defeat and solace. On her third song, a tune that was so new at the time of this performance it had no title (now it’s called “Burn”), she’s joined on guitar by her partner, Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief. It all made for a most intimate and sincere expression of honest emotion and a beautiful day with friends in the office.

SET LIST: “Colourblind” “the day i drove the car around the block” “Burn” MUSICIANS Indigo Sparke: vocals, guitar; Adrianne Lenker: guitar

Indigo Sparke From the album Echo, out February 19th 2021, via Sacred Bones Records

TANCRED – ” Nightstand (Acoustic) “

Posted: February 19, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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When Maine-based singer/songwriter Jess Abbott originally started writing her third album under the Tancred moniker, she was grappling with feelings of aloneness that floated to the surface in the wake of newfound confidence. With a deeper sense of self came a deeper pondering upon human connectedness and isolation. It was during this nebulous time that allowed Abbott to reclaim and make space for the things that were lost somewhere along the way… personal connections, friendships, books, hobbies.

“I wrote Nightstand during a period in my life where I was beginning to better understand my own emotional nature,” says Abbott. “I had to figure out how to lyrically respect the emotionality I was feeling, while still letting my louder, much less emotional guitar work express itself.” It was through the process of finding this balance that Abbott made songwriting a ritual; half of the week was dedicated to her craft.

Much like the myriad contemplations Jess was facing in her emotional life, her songs also shared a theme of contrast. “That was actually part of why I named the album Nightstand — a nightstand is a place where we collect this and that, and yet to us, our nightstand is very personal and the items on it make sense together.” In an effort to understand how the songs she wrote for Nightstand could best fit together sonically, Abbott systematically rerecorded each song’s demo acoustically. Through this intimate process of documentation, she would ultimately connect with the songs, and herself. “I fell completely in love with the songs in a new way.”

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“Nightstand (Acoustic)” is a collection of these initial ideas starting to take form — an intimate look at the songwriter’s process, and a beautiful foreshadowing of what would eventually become Nightstand. Originally released on cassette as an exclusive memento for fans who pre-ordered the album, these recordings were lovingly remixed and remastered with the help of songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs and engineer Jett Galindo.

Detailing a personal memory, Abbott shares “My favourite little piece of the whole release is the sound of a snow plough going down my street, three stories below the bedroom where I wrote this album, during the biggest New England snowstorm of 2017.” As Abbott reveals, “That is the essence of “Nightstand” — a time and place where I would dip inside from a busy cycle of touring and socializing, isolate myself, listen to the world outside my window, and stare a bit too long at my nightstand, wondering what it would say if it could speak.” 

Released December 4th, 2020

ADELINE HOTEL – ” Good Timing “

Posted: February 19, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Where does a piece of music originate? Before decisions about form and refinement of material, before building up or carving down, before composition itself—what lies in this white room, and how does one find it? Dan Knishkowy of Adeline Hotel did not set out to answer these questions when he began recording “Good Timing”, a mostly instrumental album whose crystalline latticework of acoustic guitar marks a departure of sorts from his previous releases as a songwriter. But as he worked, he found a certain freedom in a process uninhibited by pretense. “I liked the idea of embracing that,” he says, “instead of turning this into something more conventionally polished.”

The fifth album from Dan Knishkowy’s psych-folk project Adeline Hotel is aptly named: Arriving at the end of an rougher-than-average week for our collective psyche, Good Timing feels designed to envelop and ease any troubled mind. Knishkowy interweaves crystalline acoustic guitar improvisations, creating a kaleidoscope of bright, glassy finger-picking that expands and recedes unceasingly, as if shaping itself of its own volition. Reverb functions like a distinct instrument on the album, elongating Knishkowy’s guitar work and complicating the interplay between its layers. At just 23 minutes, Good Timing’s glow is fleeting, but when it passes, it will take your troubles—or at least their sharp edges—with it. 

Knishkowy created Good Timing by layering improvised guitar parts, each one reacting intuitively to those that came before and guiding those that came after. Like a fractal blooming or a snowflake accumulating ice, the music dictated its own shape as it grew, a dynamic that is perceptible in the shifting surfaces of each piece. Rhythms unspool slowly, without tether to any strict pulse. Lines begin in apparent disarray, then converge for an epiphanic moment, then separate again. Though Knishkowy is well versed in the greats of solo guitar—among several possible connotations of the album’s title is a sly homage to a Jim O’Rourke acoustic masterwork—the effect of these multitracked pieces may have more in common with ambient music than anything from the American Primitive school. Low strings toll like distant bells; high ones sparkle like windchimes just outside the window. The physical properties of Dan’s instrument are as present in the music as his own hands.

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He arrived at this instinctual approach while working alone at home in the quarantine summer of 2020, when more precisely arranged compositions began to feel stifling. As a reprieve, he began recording the sort of ostensibly aimless music that had often uncovered the seeds of songs in the past. By centering these embryonic sounds as an expression in themselves, rather than a route to some other end, he crafted 10 pieces that glow with intimacy and presence, vessels for capturing memory in real time. “I feel like all records are approximations of your creative process, in a way” he says, “but with Good Timing, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to the source.” – Andy Cush

Released February 19th, 2021

OF MONTREAL – ” I Feel Safe With You, Trash “

Posted: February 19, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Fingerless Gloves” sounds restless and chaotic, with Kevin Barnes cycling through three different aesthetics – warped hyperpop bounce, macho riff rock, classic fey Of Montreal synthpop – within just the first 30 seconds. It holds together through sheer force of will and a gleeful “fuck it” playfulness, and it makes you feel like you’ve been zapped into the brain of someone who thinks and feels much faster than you do. In terms of the Of Montreal catalogue it’s pretty similar to the bonkers energy of Skeletal Lamping, but there’s a different charge to it – less frazzled, more at peace with an identity full of apparent contradictions. There are songs in which ping-ponging through genres and tones is an expression of an unstable state of mind but “Fingerless Gloves” sounds more settled in a sense of identity, and like a statement of pride in being fractured and strange. I mean, check out how triumphant Barnes sounds at the climax, screaming “I Feel So Safe With You Trash!!!!” over super-charged video game thrash metal. That’s some maniac joy right there.

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Recorded at Sunlandic Studios March to November 2020

Releases March 5th, 2021

all songs written/performed/mixed by Kevin Barnes

STEADY SUN – ” Truth Is a Needle “

Posted: February 19, 2021 in MUSIC
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Making their debut on Wick Records, New York’s own Steady Sun deliver two sublime sides of ethereal psych. We’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill fuzz fodder here, folks – Steady Sun delivers some of the most refreshingly satisfying psychedelia in decades! “Truth is the Needle” floats out of the speakers like lysergic vapor, engulfing the listener in layers of delicate guitar, spaced-out vocals, and pulsating bass that swirl around the heavy, grounded groove – generating an intoxicating juxtaposition. On the flip is “To Lash Around”, whose insistent beat and hook-heavy melody will send you through a sonic wormhole that marries the experimentation of Barrett era Floyd with the hypnotic bounce of 1990s Manchester.

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“Truth Is A Needle” feels slow, and not just in a musical sense. It sounds like experiencing time in slow motion and being only half-aware of it, but extremely attuned to the details that would ordinarily fly by. It’s a very stoned piece of music, psychedelic in the most literal way. The vocal melody is the most immediately appealing aspect of the song but the coolest part is the way the drums seem to drop you off to new levels through the piece. It feels like a drop, but not quite a descent – if anything, the gravitational pull seems to get weaker as you move through it.

Released February 19th, 2021

HAND HABITS – ” Dirt “

Posted: February 19, 2021 in MUSIC
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“Dirt” is the latest EP from Hand Habits, the songwriting project of Meg Duffy. Comprised of two songs, “4th of july,” a simmering swell of chaos and beauty and “I Believe In You,” a favourite of Duffy’s from the Neil Young canon, the EP finds the songwriter exploring themes of growth and finding ways to let go of the parts of their past that no longer serve them.

Dirt showcases an artist returning to the fertile creative ground of their home. However, this time around home-recording didn’t necessarily mean working in isolation. Duffy had relocated to a shared living situation in Los Angeles with musicians Sasami Ashworh and Kyle Thomas (King Tuff), which also housed Thomas’ studio. The resulting songs showcase this creatively collaborative environment, with Ashworth co-producing the lead single and Thomas co-producing “I Believe In You,”. Such is the strength of this relationship, in fact, that this new single just may serve as a bridge toward a greater body of work the three will ultimately create together.

The resulting EP illuminates the songwriter’s attempts to evolve beyond the confines of their past. As they put it, “‘4th of july’ feels like trying again, rolling around in the wreckage of the past and finding new ways out of the maze of memory.” The sonic texture of the song complements this lyrical journey, with a simple and sparse introduction marked by a slow burn crescendo hinting at the rupture to come, followed by an ecstatic wail of transcendent emotion. Fittingly, it concludes with a reprise of the beginning but this time altered by new sounds, suggesting a new perspective.

Similarly, Duffy breathes new life into the Young staple, adding a foreboding weight and impact to the long-familiar words. For Duffy, the process of recording and the song’s themes of growth through trust dovetailed perfectly.

HOLY SONS – ” Raw and Disfigured ” Reissue

Posted: February 18, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Holy Sons from Brooklyn, New York, The music of Emil Amos is at once intimate and expansive. Under the name Holy Sons, as well as with bands Om, Grails, and Lilacs and Champagne, Amos harnesses boundless sonic textures to embellish delicately crafted songs. His music balances cues from classic and indie rock traditions with a tenderness and sense of foreboding through unparalleled artistry. Holy Sons’ first double album “Raw and Disfigured” showcases Amos’ mastery of songcraft through a seemingly impossible combination of subtle yet potent gestures, bold arrangements and resolute vulnerability. Raw and Disfigured stands as Amos’ most ambitious and comprehensive album yet, a panoramic gallery of songs as beautiful as they are crushing. 

Raw and Disfigured draws thematically from the archetypal tale of Quasimodo and classic ghost story imagery to illustrate the “hero’s journey” in the time of a coming apocalypse. Album opener “The Loser That Always Wins” acts as the album’s thematic thesis and traces the tale of an underdog triumphing against all odds. From the opening swells, Amos creates a sense of mystery and tension. Melodic sections pierce through the thick fogs of unease with gliding choral harmonies and guitar lines. The looming threat of apocalypse hangs in the air of “Cast Bound King” and “Permanent Things” which gives way to sun dappled catharsis.

Songs like “Lady of the Hour” and “Transformation” serve as vistas amidst the gloom with sweeping pastoral layers and melodies that grasp towards hope rather than resignation. Amos pays homage to one of the greatest champions of the underdog in outsider pop music with an anthemic cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Held the Hand.” Closing piece “Bloody Strings” quietly draws the curtains on the album, borrowing melodic phrases from “Permanent Things” and reconfiguring them into a funeral march towards acceptance of our inevitable decay.

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The recording of Raw and Disfigured took place largely at Sonic Youth’s studio Echo Canyon West. Amos, who plays the bulk of the instruments and sings the majority of the vocals throughout the album, is joined on a few pieces by drummer Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), as well as album and WFMU in-house engineer Ernie Indradat. The swirling atmospheres of “Lost in the Fire” and “Slow To Run” (featuring Shelley) invoke the spaced-out textures of Spacemen 3 to colour Amos’ moving pop structures. “Coiste Bodhar” buttresses the album’s cinematic undercurrent across nine minutes of instrumental grandeur as affecting as the touchingly raw electric piano and voice duet of the album’s final minutes.

Holy Sons’ songs contain entire epochs, elegantly stretching the bounds of pop songs. Amos’ lyrics are as immediate as they are haunting, spilling out across the expense of entire lifetimes. A keen observer, Amos describes the world from the darker side. Rich vocals draw you into an exotic atmosphere of mystical musical sounds, while classic lilting guitar lines entice you further. Raw and Disfigured proves the enduring power of the rock ballad without dwelling on the nostalgic tropes. The ballads of Holy Sons are ballads for these dark times.

Emil Amos’ (Grails, OM) fantastic double LP from last year, “Raw and Disfigured”, is back on orange wax.
The first press of this sold out super quickly, 

Releases October 30th, 2020

THE PRETTY RECKLESS – ” Death By Rock And Roll “

Posted: February 18, 2021 in MUSIC
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Led by Taylor Momsen, The Pretty Reckless never fail to resurrect the attitude and rock rebellion of yesteryear, and “Death By Rock And Roll” is a wonderful homage to the glory years of the past whilst being so very vital right now!

Tapping into a huge range of hard rock genres, including metal, blues rock and even grunge – their fourth album continues to push forward and sees Momsen powerful vocals at her best, with incredible lyrical prowess too. Check out the hard hitting title track, sinister single “Broomsticks”, colossal anthem “25” plus “And So It Went” which sees them team up with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello to bring the big riffs everyone needs in their life.

See The Pretty Reckless make an appearance at DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL this summer, 

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH – ” New Fragility “

Posted: February 18, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Trace the arc of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s evolution and it shows an accomplished musician and composer sounding ever more confident, constantly refining and broadening his sound and indulging an ever wider set of influences. Few have been as consistently brilliant, eclectic, and intimate; fewer still have done so while being defiantly, 100% independent, refusing to sign deals that compromise artistic vision. ‘New Fragility’ is a continuation of this, yet it also stands apart as one his strongest collection of songs yet. Personal yet universal, ‘New Fragility’ confronts numerous modern ills.

‘Where They Perform Miracles’, a song concerning spirituality and alternative methods of healing, harks back to Ounsworth’s time as an anthropology student doing fieldwork in Mexico, while Dee, ‘Forgiven’ is an intimate look at what harm anxiety, and the over-prescription of certain medication, has on the vitality of youth. The song contains one of Ounsworth’s strongest vocals yet – a quivering beacon that shifts from a wail to a low grumble in the blink of an eye, a remarkable expressive instrument that sits perfectly amid the understanded orchestration. For 15 years, it’s been one of music’s most distinctive voices, and it’s never sounded as rich or poised.

America is still reeling from Trump’s presidency and his attempted last grab at power, rallying the Far Right for a riot at the White House, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah try to understand the events and bring about a sense of healing on sixth album New Fragility.

“No one seems to be speaking to what I feel like is inescapable. The political environment around the world, but especially the United States – I don’t understand why people don’t try to at least touch on it.” – Alec Ounsworth, Powerful and anthemic, New Fragility is ten tracks which conjures some of the Springsteen magic, and finds strength in sensitivity rather than becoming an outright protest record. By connecting emotionally, rather than making political statements, it becomes all the more compelling.

“New Fragility” Out February 12th, 2021 VIA CYHSY / Secretly Distrubution.

FIELD MUSIC – ” Flat White Moon “

Posted: February 18, 2021 in MUSIC
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Like so many of plans made in the past year, “Flat White Moon” started out as one thing and evolved into another. After the complexities of touring 2018’s Open Here, which required a bigger live band to cover the expansive arrangements, and then 2020’s Making A New World, which was performed as one continuous piece with a synchronised visual accompaniment, Field Music’s newest album began with the desire to play and to have fun.

On “Flat White Moon” Field Music takes on the challenge of representing negative emotions in a way that doesn’t dilute or obscure them but which can still uplift. The result is a generous record of bounteous musical ideas, in many ways Field Music’s most immediately gratifying release to date.

“We want to make people feel good about things that we feel terrible about.” says David Brewis, who has co-led the band Field Music with his brother Peter since 2004. It’s a statement which seems particularly fitting to their latest album, Flat White Moon released on 23 April via Memphis Industries.

Sporadic sessions for the album began in late 2019 at the pair’s studio in Sunderland, slotted between rehearsals and touring. The initial recordings pushed a looser performance aspect to the fore, inspired by some of their very first musical loves; Free, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles; old tapes and LPs pilfered from their parents’ shelves. But a balance between performance and construction has always been an essential part of Field Music. By March 2020, recording had already begun for most of the album’s tracks and, with touring for Making A New World winding down, Peter and David were ready to plough on and finish the record.

The playfulness that’s evident in much of Flat White Moon’s music became a way to offset the darkness and the sadness of many of the lyrics. Much of the album is plainly about loss and grief, and also about the guilt and isolation which comes with that.

We are delighted to share with you news of Field Music’s new album Flat White Moon, released on 23rd April 2021, featuring new single No Pressure and already out there Orion From the Street. 

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