The lucky thirteenth record by Hey Colossus is the work of six musicians in tune with the dualities of life as a loud rock band, fit to channel both the dances of aspiration and the curses of reality into a record that transcends all limitations in a blinding volley of incandescence.
When the band first began work their innate chemistry apparently took care of itself, and whatever sparks were spontaneously flying gave rise to enough material to make “Dances/Curses” a double record, running the gamut from the rhythmically-driven and infectious ‘Donkey Jaw’ and ‘Medal’ to the mightily motorik-powered and cinematic 15 minute travelogue that is ‘A Trembling Rose’,
Longterm Hey Colossus fan Mark Lanegan makes an appearance amidst the languid and sun-soaked denouement of ‘The Mirror’, the existential gravitas of his tones entirely at home in these revelatory surroundings. Fittingly Dances/Curses is released on bassist Joe Thompson’s own Wrong Speed Records, his latest such venture in a lifetime of steadfast belief in the DIY maxim, “It’s 100% time for all bands to take control of their shit” he notes. All the tools are there to do it yourself. Back your own horse. It’s practical. It’s positive”
This serendipitous album marks something even these six musicians never necessarily intended – a work in the tradition of the double album that somehow changes itself every time it returns to the shelf. Somewhere on the great continuum between Unwound’s Leaves Turn Inside You and Stevie Wonder’s Journey Through “The Secret Life Of Plants”, Hey Colossus have created their finest alchemical achievement to date.
It’s now over fifty years since Trees’ formation, a band who helped define ‘Acid Folk’, creating a sub-category in the lexicon of record dealers and music critics alike. “When we are talking about psych folk or acid folk, we are really talking about music like this by Trees” Stuart Maconie, BBC6 Music
Trees first album, ‘The Garden of Jane Delawney’ (1970) snuggles nicely into contemporary nu-folkies’ idea of the genre, and shares some of the pastoral-whimsy that characterised The Incredible String Band or Donovan, offset by some stunning interpretations of traditional material and Bias’ own songs. The record includes readings of ‘Lady Margaret’, ‘Glasgerion’, the old standard ‘She Moved Thro’ The Fair’, and the extended fade of the group’s own ‘Road’, presage the explosive instrumental duelling that would come to characterise the follow up album, ‘On The Shore’.
Following the recently released and highly praised Trees 50th Anniversary box set on Earth Recordings, Trees reissue their debut album ‘The Garden of Jane Delawney’as a standalone release.
It’s now over fifty years since Trees’ formation, a band who helped define ‘Acid Folk’, creating a sub-category in the lexicon of record dealers and music critics alike.
“A beautiful hybrid, Trees found a unique space between intimate folk and freewheeling psychedelia. Musically ambitious yet brilliantly balanced, they have left an enduring legacy for those lucky enough to be in on the secret” Edd Gibson, Friendly Fires
Released just months after their debut second album, ‘On The Shore’ sees a shift from the first record into something darker and more ambivalent with an arcane Englishness. The product of an era characterised by clunky polemic, arcadian sentimentality or English fuzzy-felt surrealism, the album, like all classic records, is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Opening with ‘Soldiers Three’, learned from Dave Swarbrick, the album includes another traditional tune and one of the definitive moments in English folk rock ‘Polly On The Shore’ alongside ’Sally Free and Easy’ and ‘Streets of Derry’.
Following the recently released and highly praised Trees 50th Anniversary box set on Earth Recordings,Trees reissue their second album as a standalone release.
“When we are talking about psych folk or acid folk, we are really talking about music like this by Trees” Stuart Maconie, BBC6 Music
In the week your new album comes out, it’s no bad thing if the lead single from it is in contention for the No. 1 spot. That’s why January 20th, 1966 was a very good date for the Spencer Davis Group. On the UK charts for that week, “Keep On Running” became Britain’s favourite single, helping “The Second Album”, as it was called, to debut at No.14. To make things even sweeter, they also climbed into the Top 10 with its predecessor, the equally imaginatively titled Their First LP, which had made a belated chart debut two weeks earlier, thanks to the group’s new-found popularity.
The Spencer Davis Group. had had three chart singles in 1965 and 1966, but not one of them had made the Top 40. “Keep On Running,” written by Jamaican artist Jackie Edwards, changed all that, and hit No.1 half a century ago exactly, during a four-week run in the Top 2. With that track on it, The Second Album sold steadily and, in the last chart of February, as The Beatles’ Revolver did battle for the top spot with the soundtrack of The Sound Of Music, Spencer and co peaked at No.3.
The album was a mixture of originals and R&B/blues covers. Steve Winwood contributed “Stevie’s Blues” as well as a co-write with Davis, “Hey Darling,” and “This Hammer,” which credited the whole group, also including Muff Winwood and Pete York. The remakes included Don Covay’s “Please Do Something,” Ivory Joe Hunter’s “Since I Met You Baby,” Curtis Mayfield’s “You MustBelieve Me,” Bobby Parker’s “Watch Your Step” and Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell’s endlessly-covered “Georgia On My Mind.”
Spencer, Steve, Muff and Pete had much to thank Jackie Edwards for. After “Keep On Running,” they released a second cover of one of his songs, this time “Somebody Help Me,” which wasn’t on The Second Album. The result was the same, giving the group their second UK No.1 in less than three months.
Told Slant is the songwriting project of Felix Walworth , Brooklyn based lyricist, producer, and founding member of The Epoch arts collective. Walworth started the project in 2011 as a means of marking a stylistic shift in their song writing, specifically a shift toward understated, ambling arrangements and simple, illustrative lyrics.
Told Slant’s debut LP, Still Water, was self-released in 2012, then re-released and pressed to vinyl by Broken World Media in 2014. The band released their follow full-length record, “Going By”, with Double Double Whammy Records in the summer of 2016.
Though Told Slant functions more like a “solo project” in its recorded state, its live incarnation is arranged and performed by Walworth and Epoch co-collaborators Emily Sprague of Florist , Oliver Kalb of Bellows (He/Him), and Gabrielle Smith of Eskimeaux (She/Her). Sprague, Kalb, and Smith bring their particular sets of influences and intuitions to the band’s live sets in a way that draws out more energetic and dynamic arrangements from the songs.
Told Slant’s members live in Brooklyn, NY,
Told Slant has released the new single “Run Around the School” from their first new album in 4 years, “Point the Flashlight and Walk“. Of the song Walworth says: “Run Around The School’ is about the allure of loving another regardless of reciprocity or the promise of being loved. It explores the beauty and delusion of pining, and of love’s power to satiate us even with its table scraps.”
1967 was a highly successful year for The Rolling Stones. It started with the release of “Between The Buttons” and ended with the stylistic about-turn of “Their Satanic Majesties Request”. Released on Decca Records, Between The Buttons came out first in the UK, on 20th January 1967, with a revised US edition following on 11th February.
Between The Buttons’ title came about by chance, following an off-the-cuff remark made by producer Andrew Loog Oldham to drummer Charlie Watts, who was doing some sketches for the artwork. Watts asked what they were going to call the album and Oldham used a euphemism for “undecided”. “Andrew told me to do the drawings for the LP and he told me the title was ‘between the buttons’,” Watts told Melody Maker “I thought he meant the title was Between The Buttons, so it stayed with it.”
Some of the album was recorded in August 1966 with Dave Hassinger at RCA Studios in Hollywood – the last session to be recorded in what had been the band’s “hit factory” – before being completed in London at the newly-opened Olympic Sound Studios in November that year. Some of the tracks were started in America and finished in England’s capitol. The Stones were fresher by the time they were recording back home, having taken a break from touring. “Between The Buttons” was the first time we took a breath and distanced ourselves a little from the madness of touring and all,” recalled guitarist Keith Richards. “So in a way, to us it felt like a bit of a new beginning… plus, everyone was stoned out of their brains.”
“Between the Buttons” was The Rolling Stones’ first album since April 1966’s Aftermath and it became their fifth UK studio album. It remains one of the Stones’ less well-known records, however, which is a pity as it contains some strong songs.
Besides the five band members – Mick Jagger, who took lead vocals on all tracks and also played the tambourine and harmonica, was joined by Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Watts – there were several guest musicians. Ian Stewart plays piano and organ, and Nicky Hopkins plays piano, as does Jack Nitzsche. The track ‘Connection’ was performed live at the London Palladium the week after the album came out and was featured in the Martin Scorsese documentary Shine A Light, in 2008.
By late 1966, recording technology was allowing for greater experimentation, and though every track on Between The Buttons is credited to Jagger and Richards, there are certainly very different styles of music and song writing to be heard on the album. ‘Yesterday’s Papers’ has the distinction of being the first song to be written solely by Jagger and features Nitzsche on harpsichord. On ‘Something Happened to Me Yesterday’, the multi-talented Jones plays saxophone, trombone and clarinet.
Two tracks were exclusive to the UK album version. The first was the gentle waltz ‘Back Street Girl’, written by Richards and Jagger. In an interview with Jagger in Rolling Stone magazine, in 1968, the singer said it was his favourite song on the album. Jones showed some of his jazz leanings on this track: the musician, who was such an admirer of the jazz saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley that he named his son after him, demonstrated that he had imbued some of the influences of Milt Jackson in his vibraphone playing. The accordion playing was by Nick De Caro.
The second UK-only song on the album was ‘Please Go Home’, which was based on a Bo Diddley-style beat. It was later released in America on the compilation album Flowers.
“Trouble In Mind (Brian Jones)” A fun outtake from the “Between the Buttons” sessions (November 8th – 26th 1966: London, Olympic Sound Studios.). Great piano work from Ian Stewart and a multi-instrument player Brian Jones playing the kazoo’s.
The US version of “Between The Buttons” was the band’s seventh studio release stateside, and it stamped its own individuality with the choice of a new opening song. The album started with ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’, a song co-written by Jagger and Richards, and which became a favourite of David Bowie’s. It had been released as a double-A-side single in the UK in January 1967, paired with ‘Ruby Tuesday’, which was also added to the US track list.
The UK and US versions of “Between The Buttons” shared the songs ‘Yesterday’s Papers’, ‘Connection’, ‘She Smiled Sweetly’, ‘Cool, Calm And Collected’, ‘My Obsession’, ‘All Sold Out’, ‘Who’s Been Sleeping Here’, ‘Complicated’, ‘Miss Amanda Jones’ and ‘Something Happened To Me Yesterday’.
Billboard reviewed the US album favourably in February 1967. “Every LP by the Stones has been a hot chart item, and this latest collection will be no exception,” they wrote. “Their hard-driving beat is evident throughout, and their singles hits ‘Ruby Tuesday’ and ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’ are included adding immediate sales appeal. ‘Miss Amanda Jones’ and ‘Cool, Calm And Collected’ are outstanding in this winning package.” Between The Buttons reached No.2 in the album charts in the US, one place higher than in the UK.
The album artwork features cartoons and drawings by Charlie Watts, and the cover features a photograph taken by Gered Mankowitz in mid-November 1966, following an all-night recording session at Olympic Sound Studios. The band went to Primrose Hill park, in north London, just after dawn, arriving in a Rolls Royce. Mankowitz said the photograph, which he made deliberately bleary by spreading Vaseline on his lens, captured “the ethereal, druggy feel of the time”, adding, “There was this well-known London character called Maxie – a sort of prototype hippie – just standing on his own playing the flute. Mick walked up to him and offered him a joint and his only response was, ‘Ah, breakfast!’”
For Fans Of of Wolf Alice/The Pixies and with influences ranging from PJ Harvey to Sonic Youth, this awesome Belfast-based band New Pagans blend massive riffs and rare dynamics to challenge past and present issues surrounding relationships, equality, history, and gender; all wrapped up in their alternative, post-punk, indie rock style. Northern Ireland is about as punk as a locale can be. Decades of conflict and political turbulence has resulted in a cultural climate highly receptive to angst. New Pagans, a Belfast-based band fronted by Lyndsey McDougall, channels their country’s history into their propulsive debut album, The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots And All. It has a brooding, gothic palette, and is teeming with reference to saints and sinners, blood and tears, and various strains of nebulous wickedness.
UK indie/post-hardcore band New Pagans are releasing their new LP The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All on March 19th via Big Scary Monsters, and the first single is the soaring, fired-up “Christian Boys” which the band says is about a Christian leader that singer Lyndsey McDougall had been having an affair with before he married his virgin bride. “This is shocking but what is more disturbing is that it hadn’t been the first-time similar stories had emerged. When these men were confronted, they all stated that the women were to blame, it had been their fault, they were the sinners and had led the Christian men astray,” the band said.
With some fierce attitude, gritty pop-sensibilities alongside striking vocals, (not to mention a ‘Best Live Act’ at the NI Music Prize!), this band are definitely ones to watch and luckily you don’t have to wait very long to hear some new music!
Taken from the LP The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All Out digitally on Friday 19th March 2021 but you can hear the fantastic new single “Christian Boys“
If you like your post-punk extra post-punk-y, then Moaning is maybe the band for you. The synths have just the right amount of glide, the guitars stab in all right parts (I will not use the term “angular,” thank you very much), and the vocals have the requisite sense of dispassionate detachment. This criminally underrated Los Angeles trio led by frontman Sean Solomon has been producing good music for years and “Uneasy Laughter” has mostly flown under the radar in 2020, but ignore this album at your own peril. Few bands have mastered the beguiling rock mixture of analogue and synthetic quite like Moaning.
What happens when an abrasive rock trio trades guitars for synths, cranks up the beats and leans into the everyday anxieties of simply being a functioning human in the 21st century? The answer is Uneasy Laughter, the sensational second Sub Pop Records release from Los Angeles-based Moaning.
Vocalist/guitarist Sean Solomon, bassist/keyboardist Pascal Stevenson and drummer Andrew MacKelvie have been friends and co-conspirators amid the fertile L.A. DIY scene for more than a decade. They are also immersed in other mediums and creative pursuits — Solomon is a noted illustrator, art director and animator, while Stevenson and MacKelvie have played or worked behind the boards with acts such as Cherry Glazerr, Sasami and Surf Curse. On Uneasy Laughter, they’ve tackled challenges both personal and universal the only way they know how: by talking about how they’re feeling and channelling those emotions directly into their music.
“Ego” from Moaning’s album Uneasy Laughter (Release Date: March 20th, 2020) Sub Pop Records.
Columbus-based alternative rock band snarls presents its effervescent debut album, “Burst”, as a long-form video featuring visual storytelling from its members. May I Burst? invites you into the emotional rollercoaster that is...Burst.Snarls is what the Vivian Girls would be if they swapped their uber-cool Brooklyn insouciance for wide-eyed Midwestern verve. Snarls share their predecessors penchant for propulsive, kiss-off tempos, but infuse those licks with a wholesome earnestness. The Columbus, Ohio quartet’s songs hit hard, but there is a no-frills, steadfast nature to each track, with frontwoman Chlo White snapping out pieces of wounded prose. In an interview with Stereogum, White attributed the band’s name to the visceral reaction of a loyal dog — as in “don’t fuck with my friends or I’ll snarl at you.” Each song on the album contains that ethos. Snarls will proudly tell you how they feel.
Snarls spent 2019 quietly blooming. Two songs landed this Columbus, four-piece on Bloggers Top 100 Songs and Best New Bands honour rolls. With that running start in mind, 2020 is when they’ll surely blossom into a band to watch. Debut LP Burst finds the next charming coming-of-age story in shimmering character drama (2019 standout “Walk in the Woods”), woozy indie-pop (“Hair”), and blue-eyed existentialism (“Concrete”). Snarls’ song writing is as unfiltered and spectral as growing into one’s own should be, but it promises just as an enchanting listen for those outside looking in. It’s no wonder MTV tried to brand Snarls’ enchanting indie rock as promising “the best of emo and shoegaze” or that the band themselves sees themselves as the fore bearers of “glitter emo alt rock.” Snarls is fresh, frenzied, and worth fawning over.
Snarls is Chlo White (vocals, guitar), Riley Hall (bass, vocals), Mick Martinez (guitar), and Max Martinez (drums). The four met through childhood friendships and school, and in December 2017 formed the group. After releasing a self-titled EP in June 2018, snarls spent the next two years playing crowded basements and bars, as well as touring the Midwest and eastern United States. In March of 2020, the band partnered with Take This To Heart Records to release Burst, a collection of coming-of-age stories wrapped in shimmering guitars and whimsical harmonies.
“Burst” is out now on CD/Digital via Take This To Heart Records
Over the last eight years, the Goodbye Party has remained a hidden gem to devoted fans. The music of Michael Cantor, the Philadelphia-based musician behind the project, has been a well-kept secret that holds the sacredness of loss close to the heart through classic pop ballads, atmospheric soundscapes, cassette tape noise, swirling guitars, and an affinity for staying present in the dark corners of our minds. On October 9th, 2020, the Goodbye Party released their sophomore album, “Beautiful Motors”, on Double Double Whammy Records, with which Cantor is ready to be fully unearthed.
Beautiful Motors is a culmination of Cantor’s previous releases, showcasing a full bloom of profound and haunted narrative song writing. He’s always had a knack for vividly portraying the auditory flight of spectre’s and feelings of loss and surrender, except this time he’s leaned into the grief of growing older while also looking back on the rock sounds of his youth. The songs inhabit you as the appearance of a ghost does; they remain long after the encounter, running through your brain like an omnipotent refrain.
The Goodbye Party has shared “No Reason” a gentle power-pop number his upcoming album “Beautiful Motors”. it “nails a balance between warm, summery melodies and autumnal melancholy — the perfect kind of song to drop on the first official day of fall.”
Of the song, Cantor says “this song deals with a couple of themes. One is how people you no longer keep in your life can show up in some of your favourite memories. It’s also about the experience of passing through the same place across different tours and seeing decay creep along, seeing cascading effects from hurricanes, and recognizing that slow change in yourself. My friend Emi Knight from Strawberry Runners sings on this song. She, along with a handful of local songwriters, held monthly salons where we would demo and critique each other’s songs. Having that space helped me focus, write, and rewrite songs for this record.”
Recorded in Philadelphia with Kyle Gilbride (Swearin’) at Wherever Audio, Beautiful Motors was engineered between December 2018 and November 2019. The year-long timeline resulted in plenty of opportunities for refining, rewriting and arranging at home and during studio sessions. Cantor is joined by friends and musicians new and old to the Goodbye Party lineup, including Gilbride, Cook-Parrott, Maryn Jones (Yowler), Joey Doubek (Pinkwash, Speedy Ortiz), Emi Knight (Strawberry Runners), and pedal steel guitarist Zena Kay.
Beautiful Motorsis available everywhere October 9th. The Goodbye Party
