North East veterans Little Comets are pleading for change with their powerful, politically charged new single ‘Total Abject Paranoia’.
For as long as I can remember, Little Comets have always held a place within my musical conscious, regional biased aside, the band’s career has taken them from indie darlings defining the early 2010’s with some ground-breaking hits to going out on their own whilst maintaining that consistency of quality music.
Fans have become accustomed to taking their Comets in bitesize nuggets over recent years, but ‘Total Abject Paranoia’ marks the next single from their currently online shop exclusive EP ‘Baywatch’ which includes favourites from the over last few years from ‘The Sneeze’ to personal favourite ‘American Tuna’.
This band have seemingly developed a knack for predicting the detriment of the world in their lyrics, predicting the current pandemic in ‘The Sneeze’ in 2019. Little Comets are keen to ensure their own powers don’t come into play with ‘Total Abject Paranoia’, warning of the potential implications that can come if we fail to begin to challenge the politics of fear which grip our everyday lives. Giving similar vibes to that of a previous single ‘Three Minute Faltz’, the band brilliantly use sound and lyrics to paint this grim picture of “populism and victimisation” being used as ammunition to “divide and rule” but offer optimism as the large majority of their catalogue does with sonic enjoyment and the hope to make the world a “better place” one note at a time.
For all their songs of pure pleasure, both for me and many others, Little Comets have never been ones to shy away from heavy topics in their songs and ‘Total Abject Paranoia’ is a great example of what this band has and can still offer to us and one hopes it leads to seeing much bigger things in 2021.
Just to say that our new song “Total Abject Paranoia” is out now, today in all the correct places. Please give it a listen.
We really poured everything into this one so we hope you like it! If not, hopefully there’ll be another one along soon to add to your elation/discomfort. In all honesty though, thanks again – especially at the minute. We really do need your support, so even by keeping listening to our music and new releases it helps us get from A to B. Hope to see you soon, Rob, Mickey and Matt
We’ve filmed a special, stripped back version of Total Abject Paranoia,
The Tiny Desk Concert is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It’s the same spirit ,stripped-down sets, an intimate setting, just a different space. For PUP’s Tiny Desk (home) concert, the Toronto group refused to dial down the volume, filling Babcock’s neatly-furnished living room – complete with an Ontario pennant and just maybe making a few enemies down the street in the process.
My neighbours hate us, and I don’t blame them, Babcock said. Volume complaints aside, that admission feels like a perfect summary of the band’s penchant for spinning stories of chaos into catchy-as-hell, shout-along songs. With bandmates Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula and Steve Sladkowski masked to adhere to COVID safety protocol, PUP wastes no time here, immediately setting the tone with “Rot” from the group’s aptly-titled 2020 EP, “This Place Sucks A**. From there, the set spans the band’s discography, spotlighting two cuts (“Kids” and “Scorpion Hill”) from 2019’s Morbid Stuff and “Reservoir,” a track off the group’s debut.
And to NPR officemates who think you’ve escaped an earsplitting in-office set with this (home) concert, let the handmade “Ceci n’est pas une Tiny Desk” (“This is not a Tiny Desk”) sign serve as a warning: When the Tiny Desk returns to NPR HQ and the U.S.-Canada border reopens, prepare to have your workday interrupted.
The Band: Stefan Babcock: vocals, guitar Nestor Chumak: bass, vocals Zack Mykula – drums, vocals Steven Sladkowski: guitar, vocals
Set List: “Rot” “Kids” “Reservoir” “Scorpion Hill”
The early 1970s were a very formative time for the Grateful Dead, both collectively and individually.
The band started the decade with the release of their fan-favourite studio albums in 1970’s “Workingman’s Dead” and “American Beauty”, yet band members also made time to pursue solo endeavors. Members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart both released solo albums in 1972, as did Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, who celebrated the arrival of his own solo debut, Garcia, on January 20th, 1972.
As pure of an individual effort as anyone has ever put into their own solo album—save the help of drummer/bandmate Bill Kreutzmann—Garcia gave the guitarist ample opportunity to take a step back from the madness of Dead’s live shows to go into the studio, have some fun on pedal steel guitar, and focus on “the song” as a finite entity. While the track listing for Garica does include a number of Dead live staples that had already been in the rotation since ’71 including “Sugaree”, “Bird Song”, “Deal”, and “Loser”, there was still enough weirdness included on Garcia to intensify the appetite of any Deadhead looking for a little space odyssey—see “Late For Supper” and “An Odd Little Place”.
Garcia, more or less, is a synthesis of Jerry’s tastes and sensibilities as an ambassador to American roots music. The album as a whole is still a wonderfully muddy mix of folk, country, blues, jazz, and acid rock, and certainly speaks for the Garcia fans who like to colour in between the lines.
Austin, Texas has a new rock sweetheart and they performed for the president last night. Last night on the post-inauguration event Celebrating America, nestled between rock legends like Bruce Springsteen and pop stars Katy Perry and Demi Lovato, came Austin psychedelic soul band Black Pumas with a performance of their song “Colors” from their 2019 self-titled album. The duo virtually performed straight from the heart of Texas at ACL Live in Austin. For many viewers, this was possbily the first time they’d heard of Black Pumas, unlike their household name line-up counterparts.
The Grammy-nominated band has been beloved in their hometown since its inception just over three years ago, but for those who now find themselves searching for more information on the Lone Star state musicians, here’s the rundown. Black Pumas are made up of vocalist Eric Burton, 31, and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada who met and formed the band in 2018. Quesada, a forty-something, worked with the likes of Prince and Daniel Johnston, as well as Austin Latin funk band Grupo Fantasma before itching to start his own project in 2017.
The magic started when a mutual friend connected Quesada to Burton, who at the time was busking in downtown Austin. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2019, and “Colors” hit number one on Billboard’s adult alternative chart in February 2020. Black Pumas’s sound encompasses the gritty blues and rock Austin is known for, joined with soul and psych tones that bring new life and underscore Burton’s silky smooth vocals. It’s the sweet balance of modern and retro at the same time, akin to Grammy-nominated Coming Home by fellow Texan Leon Bridges or Grammy-winning Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes. In 2019 they were swiftly nominated for Best New Artist, losing out to Billie Eilish, but come on, so did nearly everyone else.
The deluxe edition of their self-titled album is nominated for two Grammys, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for “Colors.” They are also nominated for Best American Roots Performance for “Colors.”Quesada and Burton recently broke down the hit track from Quesada’s studio Electric Deluxe Recorders, giving insight to their writing process behind the track that arose as Burton woke up from a midday nap and admired the sky from his uncle’s roof.
Black Pumas popularity originated from their energizing and captivating live performances. They warmed up for Celebrating America on January 19th at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, offering a technicolor take on “Colors.”
This was their second time on Colbert this year, after covering Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” back in June. Another riveting cover version in their repertoire is The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” an experimental version they discussed in their “Sweet Conversations” Youtube series. Last month the group recorded a Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, with a setlist that shows off more from their debut work, including “Red Rover,” “Fire,” “OCT 33,” and “Colors.” Get to listening and viewing now!,
The song title’s reference to stable ground is upended as reality is seen slipping away and replaced by manipulations or mediations. Against the backdrop of today’s political, economic, and environmental climate, the material world is distorted beyond recognition and the “screen” has become our most reliable means of community and communication, acting as an interface between us and lived reality. Closing with the line “all is all of it now,” the song gives expression to the contemporary experience of totalizing media and the enduring desire for finding connection to others in a world that privileges other values.” – CARM, CARM is the debut self-titled album of multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger CJ Camerieri. Whether it’s playing the iconic piccolo trumpet solo on Paul Simon’s “The Boxer;” anthemic horn parts on songs like The National’s “Fake Empire,” Sufjan Stevens’ “Chicago,” or Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago;” or performing with his contemporary classical ensemble yMusic; or recording lush beds of french horns for artists from John Legend to The Tallest Man on Earth, you have undoubtedly heard the virtuosity of Camerieri.
He is the musician that musicians want to play with, and that is further evidenced by the cast on his debut. Since completing his classical trumpet training at The Juilliard School and quickly joining the touring band for Sufjan Stevens, Camerieri has played trumpet, french horn, and keyboards for some of the most important artists of our time. He founded the classical ensemble yMusic, joined Bon Iver—winning two Grammy awards for the band’s sophomore album and became an integral member of Paul Simon’s touring band in 2014, assuming a pivotal role in the legend’s last two records. According to Camerieri, “CARM started with the question: ‘What kind of record would my trumpet-playing heroes from the past make today?’ I believe Miles Davis would want to work with the best producers, beat makers, song-writers, and singers to create truly culturally relevant music, and that’s what I sought to do with this project.” The record was produced in Minneapolis by Ryan Olson (Gayngs, Polica, Lizzo) and features collaborations with Sufjan Stevens, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Yo La Tengo, Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond), Mouseon Mars, Jake Luppen (Hippo Campus), and many others.
It is a completely unique sound that additionally serves as a survey of the many collaborations that have come to define the artist’s career thus far. The album begins with an orchestral brass choir of french horns, which quickly gives way to a piano sample of Francis and the Lights, as Stevens and Luppen combine voices over a lush bed of horns to sing “Song of Trouble” The album bookends with the same piano sample used as a springboard to a beautiful and iconic lyric by Vernon in the album closer “Land” Between these two generation-defining artists we have the upward sweeping melodies in “Soft Night” fanfares reminiscent of Ennio Morricone in “Nowhere” and the uncompromisingly original sound of Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo in “Already Gone”.
Two dark and mysterious journeys in “After Hours” and “Invisible Walls” give way to the virtuoso sound of Nova’s voice, who the artist stood side-by-side with in his first Sufjan Stevens tour over a decade ago. “Slantwise” and “Scarcely Out” take us back down a more experimental path before the strings from yMusic members Rob Moose and Gabriel Cabezas bring us back to the piano sample that started the record. Given the oversaturated contemporary music market that often recycles well-trodden sounds, CARM offers a respite for those seeking an original voice.
Produced by Ryan Olson and CARM. Featuring guest vocals by Sufjan Stevens, Shara Nova, Justin Vernon, Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, Lupin, Cliff Rhymes, and Benson Ramsey.
Also featuring Mouse on Mars, Francis Starlite, Jake Hanson, Mike Boschen, Chris Bierden, Mark McGee, Amati, Joe Westerlund, Dustin Zahn, Alex Nutter, Trever Hagen, Nick Camerieri, Hideaki Aomori, Mick Rossi, Bryan Nichols, Rob Moose, Gabe Cabezas.
The first single from the debut album, out 22nd January 2021 with 37d03d Records
Palberta have have been regulars in Brooklyn’s DIY scene for most of the last decade, cranking out jagged indie rock over four albums and a bunch of singles, a constant presence at tiny clubs like Alphaville and Silent Barn, but occasionally at bigger shows too, like getting to open for heroes Bikini Kill at Brooklyn Steel. The band have never been lacking in catchy melodies, as anyone who’s seen them live can attest, but previous records often masked that under murky, low-fi production.
Art-punk trio Palberta recorded their fifth album “Palberta5000” in Peekskill, New York. The follow-up to 2018’s Roach Goin’ Down is, at least partly, pop-inspired, with Lily Konigsberg saying , “I kind of only listen to pop music.” Ani Ivry-Block added, “The way we play and our production will always be weirder than mainstream pop allows.
Two years removed from their triumphant 2018 LP ‘Roach Going Down,’ which Pitchfork described as “a leap to another level” from the beloved NYC trio, Palberta are returning to deliver their clear-eyed fifth album, ‘Palberta5000,’ a collection of adventurous, hyper-melodic songs that will excite their devoted following while welcoming new fans along for the ride. While long heralded as one of the most original and idiosyncratic bands in the East Coast DIY scene, earning regular comparisons to ESG, Captain Beefheart (Pitchfork) and CAN (FADER), on Palberta5000, Ani Ivry-Block, Lily Konigsberg, and Nina Ryser max out traditional pop forms—creating hits that catch in listeners’ brains while blowing the genre out into lush, kinetic extensions that morph into absurdist outros and haptic breakdowns—to create their own hardcore style of popular music. In doing so, they have made their most accessible album by a far measure—one that is bursting at the seams with vocal hooks and exuberant playing. ‘Palberta5000’ was recorded with Matt Lambozza (PALM, Shimmer), whose Peekskill, New York, studio is located in the original home and family lamp-store of Paul Reuben (Pee Wee Herman). Fueled by carrots, celery, radishes, and peanut-butter-and-jelly bagels, they diligently tracked ‘Palberta5000’s well-rehearsed songs in four days, never putting down more than three takes. Lambozza’s recording and mix capture the band’s rollicking instrumentation and vocal precision.
The first single, “Before I Got Here,” features a charging and emotionally chaotic intro verse—building to the frantic ear-worm lyrics “if you want to talk about it / then we can talk about it / I’m just so sick about it / don’t blame me”—that stops on a dime for a three-part vocal harmony breakdown, then seamlessly rushes off again. The song conveys the raw emotions that can accompany letting someone into your life before pumping the brakes and settling into a hypnotic krout-surf outro, garnished with horns from Matt Norman that reinforce and swell the melody. “High speed, fast track, slow prose.” ‘Palberta5000’ punctuates its jagged edges with ebullient cries of “Hey!” and rounds its corners with angelic harmonies, while marching-band snares propel the album forward with a metronomic intensity that belies the sixteen tracks’ diverse time signatures and fevered pacing. Hardcore fans will recognize the band’s live staple “Corner Store,” whose heart-melting harmonies layer over irresistible croons of “I meet you anywhere you are”—a promise kept by an album that meets listeners where they are. “Big Bad Want,” another notable piece from the band’s pre-COVID sets, is Palberta’s version of fast punk, with a zig-zag bassline and a call-and-response nursery-rhyme chorus that returns for the song’s outro, stretching defiantly past the three-minute mark with the repeated mantra “Yeah (yeah) I can’t pretend what I want.”
Although Palberta have toyed with repetition and longer song structures on past recordings, ‘Palberta5000’ masterfully digs into a groove and transforms repeated phrases with a cult-like frenzy to hypnotic effect. On their slow waltz, “The Way That You Do,” and the enchanting “Red Antz,” Palberta bring the tempo down for lavish slow jams only hinted at on past efforts like ‘Bye Bye Berta’s “Why Didn’t I.” Such tracks add a variation to ‘Palberta5000’s well thought-out song cycle and contribute to a full album experience that will leave listeners breathless. In the fitful sleeper “Cow,”Palberta sing, “I will be there with my hand on your chest / I feel your rumbling internal mess.” In a time of exhausting disappointment, ‘Palberta5000’ is an album that sees our internal and external messes, openly displays its fragile places, and acts as an energetic complement to the movement for positive change.
Ani DiFranco may not be an obvious choice for an americana top ten list but to me, she embodies many of the qualities of americana music. ‘Puddle Dive’ was her fourth album which she released on her own record label (Righteous Babe Records) which she created when she was 19 years old. DiFranco has used her status as a musician to highlight social issues, human rights and does so while alternating between musical styles including folk and rock. ‘Puddle Dive’ is full of observations about American society mixing politically-themed missives with personal songs about identity and culture. Her experiences as a female musician and relationships are scattered throughout the album. The lyrics to ‘Willing to Fight’ sum up the album (and probably much of DiFranco’s musical themes throughout her prolific musical life.
“you’ve got your whole life to do something and that’s not very long so why don’t you give me a call when you’re willing to fight for what you think is real for what you think is right.”
Ani DiFranco takes on the tumult and anxieties of the current moment with her characteristic lyrical moxie and some of the lushest arrangements and finest vocals of her entire career.
The Dead Daisies, ‘Holy Ground’ made another personnel change for their fifth album, ‘Holy Ground.’ features former Deep Purple singer/bassist Glenn Hughes joins founding guitarist DavidLowy and relatively new additions Doug Aldrich (lead guitar) and Deen Castronovo (drums). They previewed new work over the course of 2020, including “Unspoken,” “Bustle and Flow” and the title track. ‘Holy Ground’ these tracks have appeared on Rock Charts and hundreds of playlists & digital radio stations around the globe. The album is set for release on January 22nd.
This album exudes an undeniable force that will please even the most hardened rock devotees.
Holy Ground is eleven tracks of pure unadulterated rock and is already receiving rave reviews. Moody, at times dark, powerful and rhythmic, the album raises the bar. Laden with chart-topping hits.
Glenn has this to say: “From the opening track “Holy Ground”, we were building a strong foundation. Each song has its own theme, full of drama, emotion and groove, all the way through to “Far Away” the autobiographical last song. We gave it our all, focused and passionate. Take this ride with us, maybe you’ll find yourself in the lyrics.”
The band can’t wait to play these songs live! When they hit the road, returning to the Daisies amazing line-up is the monstrous, hard-hitting, powerhouse drummer, Tommy Clufetos (Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne). So strap in, this is going to be one hell of a ride!
With Holy Ground, The Dead Daisies have ensured that they will no longer follow anyone. They stand, proudly, on Holy Ground.
Typhoon’s fifth studio album “Sympathetic Magic” is out now on all digital streaming platforms and available to pre-order below as Maroon-in-Yellow LP (ltd. to 500), Classic Black LP, CD, as well as in limited-edition bundles. Typhoon is a band from Portland, OR.
Members: Kyle Morton, Toby Tanabe, Dave Hall, Pieter Hilton, Alex Fitch, Tyler Ferrin, Devin Gallagher, Shannon Steele
My Dear Friend,
I hope you’re holding up. What a mess!, Small news in the big scheme, but we finished a record and I wanted to share it with you. I wrote all these songs while puttering around the house these past several months, because, what else was I going to do? The songs are about people – the space between them and the ordinary, miraculous things that happen there, as we come into contact, imitate each other, leave our marks, lose touch. Being self and other somehow amounting to the same thing.
Recording had to be adapted to the plague-times. I tracked the demos first and sent them out to the band. Then the improvised procession of friends dropping by my basement, one at a time, masks on. Other folks recorded their parts in their own homes with cell phone voice memos or GarageBand in the laundry room. Parts from the original demos remain intact. Like everything right now, it was all a little disjointed, but I think it came together in the end.
The record is called Sympathetic Magic and it’s a great joy to share it with you. To be honest, it’s a joy to share anything at all in these isolating times.
Yung have taken the long road to this second full-length. By the time they released their debut, A Youthful Dream, it felt less like a launchpad for the Aarhus four-piece and more like a culmination; of years of touring, of a multi-EP trajectory that began with Alter in 2015, and of a transition from a project chiefly centred around the song writing of frontman Mikkel Holm Silkjær to something more fully-formed. The upshot is, right when they should have been celebrating the opening of an exciting new chapter, they actually felt burned out. “It wasn’t that we didn’t like A Youthful Dream,” explains Silkjær. “We just weren’t quite proud of it.”
Accordingly, they took some time to gather themselves. “We were pretty worn down from a lot of touring,” says bassist Tobias Guldborg Tarp, “and there was a lot of banging our heads against the wall when it came to trying to write new songs. We had to step back and think about what we wanted to do as a band, and whether it even made sense to continue.” It was far from plain sailing once they eventually did regroup, towards the end of 2016, for more writing sessions; with Silkjær previously the primary songwriter, coming up with tracks that accommodated the polarised tastes of the individual members was a challenge. Guitarist Emil Zethsen takes his melodic cues from Prince and eighties pop; at the other end of the spectrum, drummer Frederik Nybo Veile is an avowed metalhead. “It was a struggle,” recalls Zethsen. “The four of us rarely agree on anything.”
Eventually, the breakthrough came. ‘Lust and Learning’ is a fizzing synergy of each of the four’s musical predispositions; chiming guitars from Zethsen, a strutting bassline from Guldborg Tarp and soaring backing vocals on the chorus accompany Silkjær as he spins a wistful tale of small-town inertia. It provided the spark for the sessions that birthed the nine tracks comprising Ongoing Dispute, the first Yung record in nearly five years and a compelling argument for the importance of taking your time. Following on from last September’s ‘Progress’ 7”, the album cleverly melds Silkjær’s penchant for krautrock with Zethsen’s handsome riffery and finds room for all four members to bring their influences to the table; the sweeping punk thrash of ‘Unresolver’, for example, gives way to woozy, reflective closer ‘Friends on Ice’ at the back end of the album, whilst elsewhere, the freewheeling rock and roll of ‘Above Water’ recalls Japandroids, and there’s a moody, post-punk edge to the furious ‘Such a Man’. Underlining everything is the atmospheric spectre of Killing Joke, one of the few bands that all four members of Yung cite as an inspiration.
Silkjær acknowledges that, had it not been for the difficulties the band faced in the wake of A Youthful Dream, Ongoing Dispute might never have been possible. “When I listen to it, I can hear a lot of that tension,” he admits. “It was a time when we were struggling financially, coming back off every tour actually owing people money rather than having made any. I can really hear the frustration that comes with an unstable economy in the songs. It was just a big, dark cloud that was hanging over our heads for a long time. We felt as if things were not going our way, and those feelings really manifest themselves on the record.
There’s more to the stormy atmosphere that runs through Ongoing Dispute than that, though, as Silkjær can attest. “I did get my own head out of my ass, for a change!” he laughs. “In the past, I’ve always written about me, and my life, and things that affected me, but this time, I started talking more about things that affect everybody. I was thinking about the things that aren’t working in the world; there are songs about those kinds of problematic structures. There’s a song on the album called ‘Dismantled’; we had to dismantle our self-image as a band to move forwards, and I had to dismantle my self-image as a songwriter, too.”
Recorded over two sessions at Dreamland Studio and the tiny, now-defunct Studio One (so-called, Silkjær jokes, because you can only fit one person in at a time) and produced by the band’s regular sound tech Neil Robert Young, “Ongoing Dispute” is an ode to perseverance, collaboration and triumph over adversity. It represents the dawning of a new era for the band, the one that A Youthful Dream should have, and the title, says Guldborg Tarp, perfectly encapsulates the dynamic that has driven Yung forwards, out from under that black cloud. “Ultimately, that’s what the writing of this record was – an ongoing dispute. We come in to write and we’re referencing completely different bands, but every time we wrap up a song, we’re excited about it. It reflects the lyrical side of the record, too; it’s like the last few years of coping with the world have been an ongoing dispute for us!”
Yung is Mikkel Holm Silkjær, Tobias Guldborg Tarp, Frederik Nybo Veile and Emil Korning Zethsen
