The Fat Angel Sings

The video for Viagra Boys’ new single is zombie-themed. At the end of the world, Sebastian Murphy knows his place: “I’m just a bag of meat,” the Viagra Boys frontman declares, flashing a brief smile before a raspy cough shakes it away. On “viagr aboys” (out April 25 via Shrimptech Enterprises), Murphy shifts his focus inward, trading the political satire of 2022’s “Cave World” for a self-deprecating exploration of his own absurdity. Lead single “Man Made of Meat” captures the band’s chaotic essence, with Murphy taunting your mom’s Only Fans, dreaming of free sweaters from LL Bean, and letting out a full-fledged burp, all before summing up his ethos: “I hate almost everything that I see, and I just wanna disappear.” Embracing the nonsense of existence, Murphy finds solace in navigating life’s messy, stupid continuum with humour, self-awareness, and a touch of nihilism.

“The Bog Body”, is the third single from the forthcoming album ‘viagr aboys’, due april 25th on Shrimptech Enterprises.

Five years removed from their last release, Seattle’s Great Grandpa return with “Patience, Moonbeam” – an ambitious and deeply moving new album that almost didn’t happen. A decade of making music together was put on pause while each of the band’s were called in different directions. But as with any good relationship built on mutual love, trust, and a mountain of shared history, the quintet reunited, scrapped most ideas of songs they had put together, and started fresh to work on what would become their best album to date, due out in March on Run For Cover Records.

Great Grandpa’s anticipated new album “Patience, Moonbeam” arrives this Friday, and they’ve shared a final advance single, “Never Rest.” “I think we all resonate with extremes and the contrast present in our daily lives and try to express that through our song’s journeys,” Pat Goodwin says. “A truffle from Amsterdam. An odyssey across Southern Denmark on bicycle. How do you become a parent? How do you make something for your child? I’ve always loved trying to incorporate uncommon modes into our music, and felt the drone/Lydian elements brought a tension and spiritual quality to this song of transformation.

The wonderful Jeremiah Moon contributed the beautiful syrupy cello parts that sold the teetering sea sickness and psychedelia of the journey. George Martin utilized these drooping glissando string moves to such fantastic effect in much of the Beatles’ more spiritual/psychedelic moments and this proved to be our North Star as we worked on the arrangement.”

Whereas 2019’s “Four of Arrows” mostly came together in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the studio with the help of an outside producer, “Patience, Moonbeam” emerged slowly through a generous demoing process. With fewer constraints and more control, the band had the opportunity to experiment and take their time, leading to a collection that feels and sounds more fully, confidently, themselves.

Built on an “open door policy” for writing and recording, “Patience, Moonbeam” is the result of how seamlessly all five members contributed to the creation of the album. The result is a record that swings like a pendulum from heavy to tender, playful to weighty, painting a sonic illustration of the pains and pleasures of being alive across eleven songs. What could suffer from a kitchen-sink approach instead comes together brilliantly, a testament to the band’s musical and spiritual connection.

Great Grandpa from “Patience, Moonbeam“, out 28th March on Run For Cover Records.

The Bug Club have announced a new album, “Very Human Features”, which will be out June 13th via Sub Pop Records. It’s their fourth album — their second for Sub Pop — and they made it with producer Tom Rees, who also worked on 2024’s On the “Intricate Inner Workings of the System“.

The album does not include their recent single “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales,” but they’ve just shared the first single from the album, “Jealous Boy.” It’s a little more pastoral than you might be used to from The Bug Club, though don’t worry, there is a little shouting in the chorus.

From the album ‘Very Human Features’ out on Sub Pop Records on June 13th, 2025.

So where do you start with “Surfer Rosa” Everybody already knows by now, surely, that it’s one heck of a killer album. Debut 8 track mini-album “Come On Pilgrim” is included once again as part of the set, as it has for many previous re-issues, the band’s wild energy sounding sharper than ever on these remasters. Francis bellows and screams his way through some of the finest, most invigorating songs ever committed to tape.

Sam Fogarino of Interpol once opined that the Pixies have been the most influential band in music since they first emerged back in 1988 with their debut album, “Surfer Rosa”. Recalling the first time he heard their music, he said: “I felt vile, then I felt violated, then I thought it was the most brilliant fucking thing since sliced bread, and that hasn’t changed because it’s ageless music, and that’s a very rare thing to stumble upon.”

Fogarino’s account is textbook slow-burning appraisal. The Pixies have always been somewhat of an oddity. They somehow exhibit a dichotomous mix of perturbing sounds and iconography akin to the world of death metal breaking bread with the harmonic sensibilities of the Bee Gees. David Bowie aptly surmised this mishmash as sounding like a “psychotic Beatles”. It’s a jarring mix that proves joyously untempered on their debut. You just have to overcome the vile introduction before you can relish the pig thrashing in a plashy mire reverie of its sultry lair.

It’s only a short snippet of a conversation Black Francis held with producer Steve Albini – “we were just goofin’ around,” explains the charismatic frontman, but from such little acorns do almighty oak trees grow. Somehow, this little soundbite would typify the electrifying intensity of those first few years, and perhaps unwittingly hint at the much publicised, supposed rift between Francis and bassist Kim Deal though this was played down by drummer Dave Lovering somewhat.

So Lovering’s remarkable, urgent drum pounding at the beginning of opener ‘Bone Machine‘ is a real signal of intent, while Deal’s bass provides that slightly uneasy, ominous feel that would pervade much of Pixies work in this early stage of their career. The importance of all members cannot be understated though, with Joey Santiago’s guitar work sounding deceptively simple (I’ve tried to play these songs myself, and it really isn’t!) and Francis’ sometimes absurd, often provocative lyrics really provide the icing on the cake.

Somehow, ‘Broken Face‘ seems a lot clearer here than on previous releases, surely one of the most compelling, exciting pieces of music of the eighties, and I haven’t even mentioned Deal’s Throwing Muses like single ‘Gigantic‘ or the gargantuan ‘Where Is My Mind?‘ , The latter is arguably the band’s best known song after featuring prominently at the end of David Fincher’s 1999 adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, but though it’s undeniably a work of utter genius, the truth is that there are probably at least half a dozen tracks better than that one on “Surfer Rosa“. The explosive near-instrumental ‘Tony’s Theme‘ perhaps, or the frantic, wonderfully demented ‘Something Against You‘. Take your pick really. If “Come On Pilgrim” was merely a great album with some incredible standout moments (personal picks would be the rampant ‘I’ve Been Tired‘ and ‘Levitate Me‘ double whammy that closes the album), then “Surfer Rosa” was the one that showed the world that these guys weren’t just contenders, they were bona fide heavyweights, as they would prove to an even greater degree with the (rightly) much lauded follow up “Doolittle”.

Perhaps the jewel in the crown here though, is the inclusion of a third disc, “Live From The Fallout Shelter”, a radio performance from 1987, in which the band absolutely nail why they’ve long been regarded as one of the best live acts around for three decades now. The quartet tear through a scintillating array of tunes past, present and even future (‘Subbacultcha‘ was doing the rounds even then, albeit in a far more restrained version, eventually being released four years later, in its better known heavier guise, on the band’s then swansong “Trompe Le Monde“), with indisputably thrilling versions of ‘Isla De Encanta‘ and ‘Nimrod’s Son‘, as well as to die for takes on ‘Caribou‘ (feral is an understatement) and the always splendid ‘Vamos‘. Also fascinating is the DJ’s interview with all four members immediately after this track.

An essential documentation of why Pixies are quite feasibly the greatest band of our generation.

L.A. Witch is an American garage-rock trio formed in Los Angeles, California in 2011. Founded by L.A. natives Sade Sanchez (vocals, guitar) and Irita Pai (bass), the band’s sound has been described as a “mix of forlorn psych folk, lethargic lo-fi blues and boozy garage rock drones steeped in moody, drugged-out surf reverb.” The group’s influences include Black Sabbath, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and seminal L.A. punk rock bands X and the Gun Club.

Sanchez formed the all female group when her then-boyfriend forbade her from playing with male musicians. Asked to come up with a name, the band chose its current name after discovering its first choice, Witch, was already taken.

Performed live at ENDLESS DAZE FESTIVAL SILWERSTROOM RESORT, SOUTH AFRICA 1st-3rd NOVEMBER 2019

Produced by Gregg Foreman (Cat Power, Delta 72). L.A. Witch’s eponymous debut album tapped into the allure of warm nights on the West Coast while hinting at the loneliness and lawlessness of living on the periphery of a country founded on a dark past. The three-piece composed of Sade Sanchez, Irita Pai, and Ellie English culled sounds from the outlaws of warmer climes, whether it was 13th Floor Elevators’ lysergic rock n’ roll or the cool hand fatalism by The Doors on songs like The End.

It’s an album transmitting subdued revelry while also smirking at the inevitable consequences of the night. There is no better season for these kinds of songs than the autumn, when the promises of summer have abated and the nights of reckoning grow longer. L.A. Witch seized the moment by revisiting some of their early tracks and reshaping them into “Octubre“, a five-song EP that delves deeper into their darker side.

Sade Sanchez Vocals/Guitar Irita Pai Bass/Organ Ellie English Drums/ Percussion + Gregg Foreman Additional Guitar/Piano/Organ Tracklist:

Songs: 1. Haunting 00:00 2. Sleep 03:22 3. BB’s Momma 07:15 4. Heart of Darkness 10:14 5. Outro 12:43

L.A. Witch performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded October 10th, 2017.

Songs: Drive Your Car Kill My Baby Tonight Baby In Blue Jeans Get Lost

L.A Witch are veterans of the Southern California rock scene, with a sound equally tailored to scorching desert drives and downtown warehouse shows. Today, the band shares the new single “The Lines,” which arrives ahead of the album “DOGGOD“, out April 4, 2025 via Suicide Squeeze Records. “The Lines” opens with a chugging bassline and pummelling drums, which are peppered with fluorescent, wiry guitar riffs. “You shoot the stars / They’re not aligned / The way you hoped / You trace the lines,” Sade Sanchez talk-sings in the chorus. Fusing darkwave, punk, and psychedelia, it emphasizes L.A. Witch’s exciting feverishness.

On the track, member Sade Sanchez shares: “A part of the energy in our new album is a result to being able to record in a different city that we all love, which is so different from home. Recorded at Motorbass studios in Paris, 777 is considered to be an “angel” number. It’s a song about the willingness to die for love in the process of serving it or suffering for it. It’s about loyalty to the very end. Filled with chorus and guitar dive, it was one of our favourite songs to record and we can’t wait to play it live.”

‘DOGGOD’ out April 4, 2025 on Suicide Squeeze Records

Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10th, 1910 – January 10th, 1976), better known under his stage name Howlin’ Wolf, An American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chicago blues, and over a four-decade career, recorded his blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and psychedelic rock. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Born into poverty in Mississippi, Burnett became a protégé of Delta blues musician Charley Patton in the 1930s. In the Deep South, he began a solo career by performing with other notable blues musicians of the day. By the end of the decade, he had established himself in the Mississippi Delta. Following a number of legal issues, a stint in prison, and Army service, he was recruited by A&R man Ike Turner to record for producer Sam Phillips in Memphis.

Producer Sam Phillips recalled, “When I heard Howlin’ Wolf, I said, ‘This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.

His reputation grew throughout the blues revival of the 1960s, and he continued to perform until November 1975, when he performed for the last time alongside fellow blues musician B.B. King. With a booming voice and an imposing physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists. described as “a primal, ferocious blues belter with a roster of classics rivalling anyone, and a sandpaper growl of a voice that has been widely imitated”.

He died on January 10th, 1976, after years of deteriorating health.

Moanin’ at Midnight

His first record “Moanin’ at Midnight” (1951) led to a record deal with Chess Records in Chicago. Between 1951 and 1969, six of his songs reached the R&B charts. Howlin’ Wolf’s first singles were issued by two different record companies in 1951: “Moanin’ at Midnight”/”How Many More Years“ released on Chess Records, “Riding in the Moonlight”/”Morning at Midnight,” and “Passing By Blues”/”Crying at Daybreak” released on Modern’s subsidiary RPM Records.

“Moanin’ in the Moonlight” was Howlin’ Wolf’s first collection of sides for the Chess label, packed with great tunes and untouchable performances by the man himself. The last word in electric Chicago blues, Wolf was possessed of fine guitar and harp skills, a voice that could separate skin from bone, and a sheer magnetism and charisma that knew (and has known) no equal. This disc is outstanding throughout, and features some of his best sides, including “How Many More Years,” “Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Evil,” and “I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline).” Highly recommended for the uninitiated and a must for collectors.

Wolf had persuaded the guitarist Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago; Sumlin’s understated solos and surprisingly subtle phrasing perfectly complemented Burnett’s huge voice. The line-up of the band changed often over the years. Wolf employed many different guitarists, both on recordings and in live performance, With the exception of a couple of brief absences in the late 1950s, Sumlin remained a member of the band for the rest of Wolf’s career and is the guitarist most often associated with the Howlin’ Wolf sound.

His studio albums include “Howlin’ Wolf a..k.a The Rocking Chair Album“, a collection of singles from 1957 to 1961, Howlin’ Wolf had five songs on the national R&B charts: “Moanin’ at Midnight”, “How Many More Years”, “Who Will Be Next”, “Smokestack Lightning”, and “I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)”. 

Howlin’ Wolf’s second compilation album, “Howlin’ Wolf” often called “the rocking chair album” because of its cover illustration—was released in 1962.  Those tracks afforded classic status are many, including “Spoonful,” “The Red Rooster,” “Wang Dang Doodle,” “Back Door Man,” “Shake for Me,” and “Who’s Been Talking?” Also featuring the fine work of Chess house producer and bassist Willie Dixon and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, “Rockin’ Chair” qualifies as one of pinnacles of early electric blues, and is an essential album for any quality blues collection.

In the early 1960s, Howlin’ Wolf recorded several songs that became his most famous, despite receiving no radio play: “Wang Dang Doodle”, “Back Door Man”, “Spoonful”, “The Red Rooster”, “I Ain’t Superstitious”, “Goin’ Down Slow”, and “Killing Floor”, many of which were written by Willie Dixon. Several songs became part of the repertoires of the new young British and American rock groups, who further popularized them.

The Rolling Stones recording of “Little Red Rooster” rbecame a number one single in the UK. In 1965, at the height of the British Invasion, the Stones came to America for an appearance on ABC-TV’s rock music show, Shindig! They insisted, as part of their appearing on the program, that Howlin’ Wolf would be their special guest. With the Stones sitting at his feet, Wolf performed an empassioned version of “How Many More Years” with a few million people watching his network TV debut.

Howlin’ Wolf recorded albums with other established musicians starting with The Super Super Blues Band (1968), which featured Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters. This is easily a “super super blues bust.” Power trios, of course, were hip in the late ’60s — even at down-home Chess Studios, where ad hoc “supergroups” were assembled for 1967’s “Super Blues” and its sequel, “Super Super Blues Band“.

The band on “Super Super Blues Band” included two-thirds of the original “Super Blues” headliners — Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley — with Howlin’ Wolf replacing Little Walter to round out the trio. Unlike Walter, who was willing to cede the spotlight to Diddley and Waters on “Super Blues”, Wolf adamantly refuses to back down from his rivals, resulting in a flood of contentious studio banter that turns out to be more entertaining than the otherwise unmemorable music from this stylistic train wreck.

Although Wolf and Waters duke it out in earnest on the blues standards, the presence of Diddley (and his rave-up repertoire) makes the prospect of an ensemble impossible; in the end, there are just too many clashing ingredients (the squealing “girlie” choruses vs. Wolf’s growl, Diddley’s space guitar antics vs. Waters’ uncompromising slide guitar) to make the mix digestible.

Meanwhile, as the three frontmen struggle to outduel each other on every song, they drown out an underused, all-star backing band made up of Otis Spann on piano, Hubert Sumlin on guitar, Buddy Guy on bass, and Clifton James on drums. At least it sounds like they had fun doing it.

The Howlin’ Wolf Album, like rival bluesman Muddy Waters’s album “Electric Mud“, was designed to appeal to the new hippie audience. The album had an attention-getting cover: large black letters on a white background proclaiming “This is Howlin’ Wolf’s new album. He doesn’t like it. He didn’t like his electric guitar at first either.”

This album, though, originally released in 1969 on the Chess Records subsidiary Cadet Records, is hardly typical Wolf, and the bluesman himself hated it, which may in some way have contributed to the album’s odd cult standing. The idea was as simple as it was probably misguided, an attempt to modernize Wolf’s sound into psychedelic Jimi Hendrix land, and the results were, well, odd at best, and laughable and lamentable at worst, and through no fault of Wolf’s, who obviously tried his best to make sense of all of it. Howlin’ Wolf completists will want this for its novelty value, but it’s far from an accurate portrait of this powerful bluesman’s talent and appeal.

The album cover may have contributed to its poor sales. Chess co-founder Leonard Chess admitted that the cover was a bad idea, saying, “I guess negativity isn’t a good way to sell records. Who wants to hear that a musician doesn’t like his own music?”

The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions (1971)

Musicians Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts backed Wolf for The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions, which proved more successful with his British audiences than American

For the casual blues fan with a scant knowledge of the Wolf, this 1971 pairing, with Eric Clapton, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones, Ringo Starr, and other British superstars, appears on the surface to be one hell of a super session. But those lofty notions are quickly dispelled once you slip this disc into the player and hit play. While it’s nowhere near as awful as some blues purists make it out to be, the disparity of energy levels between the Wolf and his U.K. acolytes is not only palpable but downright depressing.

Wolf was a very sick man at this juncture and Norman Dayron’s non-production idea of just doing remakes of earlier Chess classics is wrongheaded in the extreme. The rehearsal snippet of Wolf trying to teach the band how to play Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” shows just how far off the mark the whole concept of this rock superstar mélange truly is. Even Eric Clapton, who usually welcomes any chance to play with one of his idols, has criticized this album repeatedly in interviews, which speaks volumes in and of itself.

 Message to the Young (1971),

I like this album enough to play it a couple times a year. Wolf has still got the voice and I kinda like the guitar being nice and rocky and jagged. The bass is full thunder. But his voice is great and strange and Howlin and eerie.

It’s a Howlin Wolf album – shut up with the “it aint’ as good as his first one nonsense”.

The Back Door Wolf (1973).

His last album was entirely composed of new material. It was recorded with musicians who regularly backed him on stage, including Hubert Sumlin, Detroit Junior, Andrew “Blueblood” McMahon, Chico Chism, Lafayette “Shorty” Gilbert and the bandleader, Eddie Shaw. The album is shorter than any other he recorded, a little more than 35 minutes, because of his declining health.

Howlin Wolf’s last public performance was in November 1975 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago. He shared the bill with B.B. King, Albert King, Luther Allison, and O. V. Wright. Wolf reportedly gave an “unforgettable” performance, even crawling across the stage during the song, “Crawling King Snake”. The crowd gave him a five-minute standing ovation. When he got off the stage after the concert was over, a team of paramedics had to revive him.

Dire Straits will release a 3-CD/ 5-Lp set expanded edition of their massively successful 1985 album “Brothers in Arms” on May 16th. One of the world’s best-selling albums ever, Dire Straits’ “Brothers In Arms“, celebrates its 40th anniversary with this exquisite 5LP deluxe edition release.

The 5LP deluxe box features the full studio album and a previously unreleased full-length live concert from the band’s Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio tour stop in 1985. The Live In 85 Tour ran a total of 248 gigs in 117 cities and was seen by over two and a half million people.

Housed in a slip-case featuring art inspired by Mark’s National Style ‘O’ Resonator Guitar, seen on the cover of the studio album, the deluxe version includes a 16-page booklet featuring new liner notes, written by Paul Sexton, following new interviews with band members Mark Knopfler, John Illsley and Guy Fletcher, and come with exclusive art prints.

Featuring singles ‘Money For Nothing’ and ‘Walk Of Life’, “Brothers In Arms” spent 14 non-consecutive weeks at Number 1 in the UK Albums Chart and is the 8th best-selling album in UK chart history.

Two of the three CDs are dedicated to a previously unreleased live recording from the August 16th, San Antonio stop of the band’s 1985 world tour.

Fuelled by the No. 1 hit single “Money for Nothing,” which featured a ground breaking animated music video and a vocal cameo by Sting, “Brothers in Arms2 marked a major commercial breakthrough for the band. The album has to date sold over 30 million copies, and also spawned the Top 20 hit “So Far Away” and the Top 10 single “Walk of Life.”

The 3-CD set also includes a 28-page booklet featuring new liner notes written by Paul Sexton, following new interviews with band members Mark Knopfler, John Illsley and Guy Fletcher.

The concert recording of ‘Walk Of Life’, from the band’s Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio tour stop in 1985. ‘Walk Of Life’ is taken from Dire Straits’ 5th studio album one of the world’s best-selling albums of all time. To celebrate its 40th anniversary, 5LP and 3CD Deluxe Editions will include the original studio album and the previously unreleased San Antonio Live in 85 concert.

This album was MASSIVE. It was number one all over the world, including in America for 9 weeks and it spent 14 (non-consecutive) weeks at the top of the UK charts. In fact, it was in the British charts for so long it was nominated for ‘Best British Album’ at the Brit Awards two years running, picking up the gong for the second time of asking in 1987. It won a Grammy for best engineered album in 1986 and then 20 years later it won another Grammy, for Chuck Ainlay’s anniversary 5.1 mix.

That same 5.1 mix is included in the newly announced SDE blu-ray and so is a Dolby Atmos Mix created by Dire Straits keyboard player Guy Fletcher. Guy has also created a special instrumental version of the album in Dolby Atmos exclusively for this product!. Of course, the standard stereo version of the album (as released on CD) is included but so to is the original vinyl stereo version, which you may recall featured edited versions of four songs. This version of the album has only ever existed on vinyl, so this is another first.

I’m thrilled to be working in partnership with UMR/Mercury and Dire Straits to bring you what is surely destined to be the ultimate version of an album 

The warm choogle of Heat Manager’s fittingly mellow debut album, “Relaxed American“, is the best harbinger for the oncoming spring that’ll reach your ears this season. The NYC-based band is a new outfit that includes Jake Rabinbach (guitar) and Jake Vest (bass) from High Time, one of the best and most eclectic Grateful Dead tribute bands to have ever taken the stage out east. Their years of breathing new life into the earthiest Dead jams certainly can be felt in the album’s stoned Americana vibes, yet their sonic tapestry is rich with a myriad of other more obscure, heady reference points.

Fans of cosmic American records, especially the first two One Eleven Heavy albums, and the unpretentious rock of David Nance need to sink their teeth into “Relaxed American“, as it’ll likely become a new favourite listen .

From jangly folk-rock sunshine to laid back psych-country twang and woolly, kosmische-affected jams with occasional surf guitar tones and garage grit, there is a wide plethora of sounds present in this album that truly speak to the group’s grand virtuosity.

Despite the vast spectrum of styles that have been melted down and mixed together here, the album flows beautifully, and goes down real smooth. All of the songs are packed with driving rhythms, tasty hooks and witty lyrics that satirize the realities of the music industry, These are tunes that you’ll be humming all day and want to hear over and over again.

released March 7th, 2025

Heat Manager is: Jake Rabinbach – Guitar, Jake Vest – Bass VI. Greg Faison – Drums