“The rest is practice, it’s not the real thing”sing Why Bonnie on “Practice”, the centrepiece of their magnificent, “At Water” EP. Like so much the Austin based quintet do, it is a line loaded with emotion, anguish and a just a glimmer of hope. “At Water” was one of two EPs the band released this year, alongside the equally vaunted “Nightgown“, yet it was “At Water” that caught our attention, drew us into Why Bonnie’s world and refused to let us leave.
Throughout “At Water”, Why Bonnie seem to wring the emotion out of every note, something in the metronomic drums, in the pulse of keys, in the prominent driving bass, it seems to sit in your chest, demanding you listen with your heart as much as your ears. At the front of it all is the presence of vocalist Blair Howerton, at times a soaring howl, at others a perfect, subtle lilt; throughout the vocals seem a little lost, unsure where to turn, unsure what is real, as if battling through a maze of emotions and guitar lines. Despite the brilliance on show elsewhere it’s “Practice” we keep going back to, the steady pounding of drums, the dense layers of guitars, the pained cry of the vocal, so lost, so confused, yet still quietly dedicated to an idea of a reality: “I choose to say here with you”.
The viewer is lured in by the serene scene of a glorious sunset…perhaps piqued by the mysterious renegades looking toward the orange and purple horizon. Then Boom – cue the surf/garage punk-rock-a-go-go. It’s got the dance and tumble psyched-out film stock vibe of your favourite ’60s exploitation film, the edge of civilization, only Russ Myer’s gotta sit this one out. Sorry, pal. No mercy from the unleashed beasts of the Bombay Beach brigade.
It’s a cool lo-fi badass video Sheverb released this month for “Rattle Can Thrash,” one of ten desert-fuelled surf-psych instrumental treasures from “Once Upon a Time in Bombay Beach”, a conceptual piece literally inspired by tuning in and dropping out.
Cut to pre-pandemic February 2020: The band leaves behind the bustle of Austin, heads out to the “semi-abandoned” Southern Californian resort town the LP is named for, and completely immerse themselves in the songwriting process, including building a makeshift recording studio in a barn and crashing out in bunk beds in communal living spaces. Totally a family affair.
“We wanted to write an album that had elements of Southern California 1950’s/1960’s surf culture, psychedelics, real rock ‘n’ roll, Texas honky-tonk Western vibes, and of course, our kind of signature desert rock sound,” says Sheverb co-founder and guitarist Betty Benedeadly. “The Bombay Beach really embodied all of those elements, and we thought, what better place to go live for a month together?”
The experiment proved to be an eye-opening, magical time for the womxn-led collective, capped off with a finale performance at local dive Ski Inn, followed by their “Rattle Can Thrash” video shoot extravaganza in – where else? – a graffiti-covered abandoned house. True, most folks might skip a visit to Bombay Beach, but the remote, dystopian setting was perfect for Sheverb’s latest adventure. The entire journey was, in their own words, a dream come true.
The Band:
Betty Benedeadly Guitar, railroad spikes Xina Ocasio Drums, wooden frog Lainey Smith Bass James Ruthless Mescall Trumpet, flute, percussion Braden Guess Guitar, synth, fish bones
This tune is off of Sheverb’s album “Once Upon a Time in Bombay Beach”. This psychedelic, desert-fueled neo-surf album was the result of a month-long music-making adventure in a semi-abandoned seaside resort town in the Southern California desert.
A live acoustic version of ‘Marjorie’ from our debut album ‘deltas’, originally recorded for NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2017. We’re re-releasing this on April 4th, 2021 — what would have been Marjorie’s 96th birthday. “’Marjorie’ is a haunting, immersive folk track that manages to keep the endearing folk-pop melodies in the instrumentals and the vocals. There’s a lot of space here, as if it were recorded in a very tall building such as a church; that sort of grandeur gives the track a blend of the intimate haunting melodies of Blind Pilot and the sweeping expanses of the The Barr Brothers..”
The song was inspired by the disappearance of USAF Flight 2469 in 1950 (bit.ly/2juz78q). Our singer’s grandfather was one of 44 passengers on board. The plane was never found.
We’re super excited to announce our exclusive Fuzz Club Edition of the second entry to the ‘Live at Levitation’ series with festival founders, The Black Angels. Our version comes on transparent black ice vinyl with heavy tangerine splatter. From deep in the heart of Texas, armed with the home-grown mantra “Turn On, Tune In, Drone Out,” The Black Angels ring real and rugged like a crimson full moon-lit night. Formed in May of 2004, the band’s sanctified holy racket was breech-born out of life-long friendships drawn up in blood and sealed with a kiss.
The artists and sets showcased on Live at Levitation have been chosen from over a decade of recordings at the world-renowned event, and documents key artists in the scene performing for a crowd of their peers and fans who gather at Levitation annually from all over the world. The LP captures a slice of the early days of the festival, with tracks from The Black Angels’ first two LPs – with 6 tracks recorded in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The Black Angels – Live at Levitation has been given deluxe treatment on mind melting vinyl.
The five members of Sun June spent their early years spread out across the United States, from the boonies of the Hudson Valley to the sprawling outskirts of LA. Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the North East, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury found themselves in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas. Meeting each other while working on Terrence Malick’s ‘Song to Song’, the pair were immediately taken by the city’s bustling small clubs and honky-tonk scene, and the fact that there was always an instrument within reach, always someone to play alongside.
Coming alive in this newly discovered landscape, Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass and recorded their debut album live to tape, releasing it via the city’s esteemed Keeled Scales label in 2018. The band coined the term ‘regret pop’ to describe the music they made on the ‘Years’ LP. Though somewhat tongue in cheek, it made perfect sense ~ the gentle sway of their country leaning pop songs seeped in melancholy, as if each subtle turn of phrase was always grasping for something just out of reach.
Sun June returns with “Somewhere”, a brand new album, out February 2021. It’s a record that feels distinctly more present than its predecessor. In the time since, Colwell and Salisbury have become a couple, and it’s had a profound effect on their work; if Years was about how loss evolves, Somewhere is about how love evolves. “We explore a lot of the same themes across it,” Colwell says, “but I think there’s a lot more love here.”
Somewhere is Sun June at their most decadent, a richly diverse album which sees them exploring bright new corners with full hearts and wide eyes. Embracing a more pop-oriented sound the album consists of eleven beautiful new songs and is deliberately more collaborative and fully arranged: Laura played guitar for the first time; band members swapped instruments, and producer Danny Reisch helped flesh out layers of synth and percussion that provides a sweeping undercurrent to the whole thing.
Throughout Somewhere you can hear Sun June blossom into a living-and-breathing five-piece, the album formed from an exploratory track building process which results in a more formidable version of the band we once knew. ’Real Thing’ is most indicative of this, a fully collaborative effort which encompasses all of the nuances that come to define the album. “Are you the real thing?” Laura Colwell questions in the song’s repeated refrain. “Honey I’m the real thing,” she answers back. They’ve called this one their ‘prom’ record; a sincere, alive-in-the-moment snapshot of the heady rush of love. “The prom idea started as a mood for us to arrange and shape the music to, which we hadn’t done before,” the band explains. “ Prom isn’t all rosy and perfect. The songs show you the crying in the bathroom,, the fear of dancing, the joy of a kiss – all the highs and all the lows.”
It’s in both those highs and lows where Somewhere comes alive. Laura Colwell’s voice is mesmerising throughout, and while the record is a document of falling in love, there’s still room for her to wilt and linger, the vibrancy of the production creating beautiful contrasts for her voice to pull us through. Opening track ‘Bad With Time’ sets this tone from the outset, both dark and mysterious, sad and sultry as it fascinatingly unrolls. “I didn’t mean what I said,” Colwell sings. “But I wanted you to think I did.”
Somewhere showcases a gentle but eminently pronounced maturation of Sun June’s sound, a second record full of quiet revelation, eleven songs that bristle with love and longing. It finds a band at the height of their collective potency, a marked stride forward from the band that created that debut record, but also one that once again is able to transport the listener into a fascinating new landscape, one that lies somewhere between the town and the city, between the head and the heart; neither here nor there, but certainly somewhere.
Released February 5th, 2021
Laura Colwell: vocals, keys, guitar Michael Bain: lead guitar Stephen Salisbury: guitar Justin Harris: bass Sarah Schultz: drums
The five members of Sun June spent their early years spread out across the United States, from the boonies of the Hudson Valley to the sprawling outskirts of LA. Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the North East, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury found themselves in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas. Meeting each other while working on Terrence Malick’s ‘Song to Song’, the pair were immediately taken by the city’s bustling small clubs and honky-tonk scene, and the fact that there was always an instrument within reach, always someone to play alongside.
Coming alive in this newly discovered landscape, Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass and recorded their debut album live to tape, releasing it via the city’s esteemed Keeled Scales label in 2018. The band coined the term ‘regret pop’ to describe the music they made on the ‘Years’ LP. Though somewhat tongue in cheek, it made perfect sense ~ the gentle sway of their country leaning pop songs seeped in melancholy, as if each subtle turn of phrase was always grasping for something just out of reach.
Sun June returns with Somewhere, a brand new album, out February 2021. It’s a record that feels distinctly more present than its predecessor. In the time since, Colwell and Salisbury have become a couple, and it’s had a profound effect on their work; if Years was about how loss evolves, Somewhere is about how love evolves. “We explore a lot of the same themes across it,” Colwell says, “but I think there’s a lot more love here.”
Somewhere is Sun June at their most decadent, a richly diverse album which sees them exploring bright new corners with full hearts and wide eyes. Embracing a more pop-oriented sound the album consists of eleven beautiful new songs and is deliberately more collaborative and fully arranged: Laura played guitar for the first time; band members swapped instruments, and producer Danny Reisch helped flesh out layers of synth and percussion that provides a sweeping undercurrent to the whole thing.
Throughout Somewhere you can hear Sun June blossom into a living-and-breathing five-piece, the album formed from an exploratory track building process which results in a more formidable version of the band we once knew. ’Real Thing’ is most indicative of this, a fully collaborative effort which encompasses all of the nuances that come to define the album. “Are you the real thing?” Laura Colwell questions in the song’s repeated refrain. “Honey I’m the real thing,” she answers back.
They’ve called this one their ‘prom’ record; a sincere, alive-in-the-moment snapshot of the heady rush of love. “The prom idea started as a mood for us to arrange and shape the music to, which we hadn’t done before,” the band explains. “ Prom isn’t all rosy and perfect. The songs show you the crying in the bathroom,, the fear of dancing, the joy of a kiss – all the highs and all the lows.”
It’s in both those highs and lows where Somewhere comes alive. Laura Colwell’s voice is mesmerising throughout, and while the record is a document of falling in love, there’s still room for her to wilt and linger, the vibrancy of the production creating beautiful contrasts for her voice to pull us through. Opening track ‘Bad With Time’ sets this tone from the outset, both dark and mysterious, sad and sultry as it fascinatingly unrolls. “I didn’t mean what I said,” Colwell sings. “But I wanted you to think I did.”
“Everywhere” by Sun June from the album ‘Somewhere’ out now via Keeled Scales and Run For Cover Records
One of today’s best songwriters & voices. Laura of Sun June plays a couple solo acoustic tunes off the brand new album “Somewhere” !
Somewhere showcases a gentle but eminently pronounced maturation of Sun June’s sound, a second record full of quiet revelation, eleven songs that bristle with love and longing. It finds a band at the height of their collective potency, a marked stride forward from the band that created that debut record, but also one that once again is able to transport the listener into a fascinating new landscape, one that lies somewhere between the town and the city, between the head and the heart; neither here nor there, but certainly somewhere.
Released February 5th, 2021
Laura Colwell: vocals, keys, guitar Michael Bain: lead guitar Stephen Salisbury: guitar Justin Harris: bass
Sarah Schultz: drums
Natalie Ribbons and Jason Chronis had been kicking around in various musical projects in Austin, Texas, but knew they could fashion something pretty special when they met in outta Austin, Texas, Tele Novella is currently the duo of vintage shop owners. Merlyn Belle is a homespun creative bricolage that pulls from influences as diverse as cowboy troubadours and folk baroque to tell stories that are at once cinematic and deeply personal. Painstakingly assembled using a blend of hi-fi and lo-fi recording gear, Tele Novella have crafted a cohesive pop record that feels equal parts mysterious, evocative, and sincere.
Tele Novella is a project out of Lockhart, Texas living in a small town lost in time–where their classic and sincere pop song writingis slowly processed through a loner medieval-tonk machine and then captured on cassette 8-track. Their forthcoming record, “Merlynn Belle”, was the music they wanted to be making all along but didn’t know until it happened accidentally. It comes out February 2021.A heartfelt band from Small Town, Texas, with a penchant for pop melodies and medieval harmonies, Tele Novella write songs the old-fashioned way and perform them in a minimal style filled with delicate arrangements. Influences include Connie Converse, Lee Hazlewood, Pentangle, Marty Robbins, The Magnetic Fields, and PRAM.
Tele Novella’s humble country-psych-folk sincerity is magic. They have, quite simply, a belief in the power of song. Timeless, quirky and utterly charming. The two have fashioned up a pretty unique sound – one that touches with a post-modern knowingness and still an absolute sincerity on real deep old country, its sadness and yearning; also knowingly loving the slight absurdity of the form and glorying in it too, much like Jon Spencer Blues Explosion did with the beast of rawk ‘n’ roll.
The two recently relocated to Lockhart, with a pop:12,698 where they eschewed the endless, iterative possibilities of modern recording. Nope, eight-track tape and one song written and recorded at a time. Whole takes, no splicing. “Working with one song at a time allowed us to view each as its own world,” says Jason.
For her part Natalie had a whole set of stories to tell, stepped in influences as diverse as Marty Robbins – and Pentangle. “This is the first time I just let the songs be about real life … real people,” she says.
The Reverberation Appreciation Society is proud to launch a brand new live series, Live at Leviation. Recorded over the history of the world renowned event, professionally mixed and mastered, this series captures key moments in modern rock and roll history, and live music in Austin, Texas. The artists and sets showcased here are the apex of modern psychedelia, performing for a crowd of their peers and fans who gather at Levitation annually from all over the world.
The first LP in this series features Japanese psych heavyweights Kikagaku Moyo. This particular record is as strong as it is meaningful in the band’s story. It showcases one of the bands very first US show in 2014 on the A-side and their triumphant return in 2019 on the B- side with them firing on all cylinders amid a sold out US tour.
Kikagaku Moyo have come a long way –both literally and metaphorically– since their humble beginnings busking on the streets of Tokyo back in 2012. A tight-knit group of five friends who bonded over the desire to play freely, and explore music associated with space and psychedelica, their initial ambitions were modest semi-regular slots in the cramped clubs of the city’s insular music scene. Yet the band’s progressive, folk-influenced take on psychedelica marked them out from their peers and re-started Japan’s psych rock scene, and soon brought them international acclaim. Fast forward a few years, and you find the band crushing headline sets at festivals, embarking on sprawling international tours, and a dedicated fanbase for their music and record label Guruguru Brain – all while steadfastly maintaining their creative freedom and DIY allure.
Kikagaku Moyo are the real deal: masterful musicians, a powerful creative force, and one of key bands in the psychedelic rock movement and we are thrilled to have them kick off the “Live at Levitation” series with this incredible record.
Molly Burch’s previous records had a distinctly twangy vibe to them that had her compared to Patsy Cline and other ’60s country singers. But starting with last year’s cover of Ariana Grande’s“Needy,” she’s been heading in poppier directions. New single “Emotion,” which she co-wrote and recorded with Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum, takes her into disco territory with popping bass and sultry vocals. “For me, the theme of the song is about feeling a spectrum of emotions, embracing that sensitivity, and using it as fuel to create something positive,” says Molly. “‘Emotion’ is a celebration of being alive.”
Austin singer and songwriter Molly Burch returns this new year with a fresh sound on “Emotion’’, a disco-tinged, dynamic shot of adrenaline produced by Captured Tracks label-mate Wild Nothing (Jack Tatum).
In January 2020, Burch headed to Tatum’s hometown of Richmond, Virginia, looking to write new material with a distinct pop sound and production in mind. Sharing some of her latest demos and a playlist of her favourite pop bangers with Tatum, they set out to make a heart-pumping dance track of their own. On “Emotion”, Burch’s voice is as strong and masterful as ever, pairing a lighter, polished vocal performance – a surprising, but captivating departure from her signature smoky delivery – with Tatum’s compelling bass lines, beats, and shimmering synths. Burch says, “for me, the theme of the song is about feeling a spectrum of emotions, embracing that sensitivity, and using it as fuel to create something positive. “Emotion” is a celebration of being alive.”
Released January 1st, 2021
Molly Burch “Emotion” feat. Wild Nothing · available on Captured Tracks Released on: 2021-01-01
Best described as a roots or Americana artist, Austin, Texas’ Bonnie Whitmore is a veteran musician who has trod the boards throughout North America as an in-demand session and stage bassist for more than two decades. But she has also developed a unique musical compositional style all her own – one that combines many elements of the music she loves, regardless of genre, and a lyrical directness and powerful honestly that makes for a truly compelling listening experience.
Whitmore released her latest album, “Last Will & Testament” in October, through her own label, and Whitmore herself co-produced the 10-song release alongside Scott Davis, working out of the Ramble Creek Recording Studio. Although the word eclectic can sometimes be over-used or mis-used, it is rather appropriate for Last Will & Testament, as Whitmore is unafraid to mix and meld styles and genres to suit the emotional and lyrical tapestry she weaves with each individual song.
“To me as an artist, it’s about the creation of whatever it’s going to be, and not to make it form into something that’s supposed to be more marketable, which I know goes against everything you’re supposed to be doing in music if music is your livelihood,” she said, from her home in Austin, where she is doing her best to stay busy writing new material and promoting the album during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“I think I have a very eclectic taste, so I am not surprised that my music is eclectic within itself. I do like to take things that are sort of polar opposites of each other and mix them together. As a bass player, my influences are [legendary session player] Carol Kaye and Kim Deal of the Pixies – very different bass players, but both are integral parts of where I come at it musically. Americana is just sort of the all-encompassing, ‘everybody’s welcome,’ kind of genre, because they accept everybody into it.”
With the release of Bonnie Whitmore’s latest record, the celebrated Texas-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist borrows just enough stylistic “ingredients” from just enough musical “neighbours,” she succeeds in baking one of the tastiest confections of 2020 — a soaring seduction that owns roadhouse authenticity and drips cathouse allure. Among the record’s many highlights, “Time to Shoot” shines brightly.
Written by Bonnie Whitmore From the album “Last Will & Testament” (2020) CD Baby (on behalf of Aviatrix Records)
The Fat Angel Sings 