Posts Tagged ‘Bella Union Records’

BNQT – ” Restart “

Posted: March 26, 2017 in MUSIC
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Pronounced “banquet,” this supertroupe of indie-rock singer-writer-players was a feast of spaced-country textures and shameless melodic throwback – to the late-Sixties Beach Boys and the bucolic early-Seventies Pink Floyd appearance, a compact unveiling of this debut album that was BNQT’s first live gig anywhere. The vocal and composing front line on Volume 1 comes from day jobs in the Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell, Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle and Midlake’s Eric Pulido – and abroad: Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos and Travis’ Fran Healy, both from Glasgow, Scotland. But the cumulative effect, wrangled onto record by Pulido over three years, is a surprisingly natural, indivisible rapture of fuzz-riff buoyance (“Restart”), rural-saloon daydreaming (“Unlikely Force”) and British-pop classicism. The keyboard walk into “Mind of a Man” and the song’s midpoint vocal sunrise evoke the gleaming reach of the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle. And “L.A. on My Mind” was a chugging joy of arena-friendly R.E.M. ringed in Crosby, Stills and Nash harmonies.

BNQT is the new indie super-group conceived and led by Eric Pulido of Midlake and featuring Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Fran Healy of Travis, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy with backing from other Midlake members McKenzie Smith (drums), Joey McClellan (guitar) and Jesse Chandler (keys).

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“Restart” is taken from the upcoming album “Volume 1.” by BNQT due for release 28th April 2017 via Bella Union & Dualtone

FATHER JOHN MISTY – ” Pure Comedy ” Deluxe Set on Vinyl

Posted: March 18, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Deluxe vinyl edition comes with four interchangeable colour schemes.

We’ve all gotten a bit worn out with Father John Misty lately, whether it’s take on Nickelback’s misunderstood classic “How You Remind Me” or his justification of the second controversial Taylor Swift lyric in the past few years. The man himself is completely aware of how his words come across in the press, yet he persists because he’s put it upon himself to save the “dying artform of interpretive thinking.”

This is why the man’s latest bit of promo for his forthcoming third studio LP, Pure Comedy, is such a welcome change of pace: It doesn’t involve Father John Misty speaking! Instead, you get to listen to some perfectly pleasant lounge music while he silently unboxes the album’s vinyl packing. It’s actually a really impressive display, and hopefully will go a good bit better than his previous venture into the world of deluxe packaging , Like I Love You, Honeybear, Pure Comedy goes to town on the vinyl packaging, although hopefully this time without the warping issue caused by the former’s ambitious pop-up artwork.

Father John Misty unboxes the deluxe vinyl edition of his forthcoming album Pure Comedy. Father John Misty’s album Pure Comedy will be released April 7th, 2017 on Deluxe 2xLP / 2xLP / CD / DL / CS in Europe through Bella Union and the rest of the world from Sub Pop.

HOLLY MACVE – ” Golden Eagle “

Posted: March 13, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Rough Trade Exclusive with a Bonus 4 track CD featuring covers of Blue Crystal Fire by Robbie Basho, Call Me On Your Way Back Home by Ryan Adams, All I Have To Do Is Dream by Boudleaux Bryant
and We Don’t Know Where We’re Going. Holly Macve releases her much-anticipated debut album, Golden Eagle, on Bella Union. With its spellbinding country and western ballads and devastating emotional delivery, the album is one of the most remarkably assured debuts of this or any other year, especially given she’s though only 21 years old. Born in Galway in western Ireland, Macve and her sister were whisked away “in the night” by her mother from their errant father, to live with her grandparents in Yorkshire. Once in their own house, Holly quickly responded to music: “My Grandad was a classical composer, and my mum sang, and she said I was singing before I was talking,” she recalls. Her mother’s record collection – lots of old blues and Bob Dylan – shaped Holly’s impressionable mind, before she herself discovered the likes of Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash and Gillian Welch. Hiding away in Yorkshire, “isolated, surrounded by countryside”, her imagination took flight.

All Of Its Glory evokes her great-grandad, serving in WWI, writing impassioned letters (which the family still own, bound in a book) to his wife at home. Other songs describe ‘blood red fields’ and ‘burning skies’, and ‘a man standing by the river bank / His eyes were blue and his hair was jet black….’ The bulk of Golden Eagle was recorded in Newcastle at the home studio of producer Paul Gregory (of Bella Union label-mates Lanterns On The Lake), with extra recording in Brighton and London with her first touring band and Macve performing on acoustic guitar and piano. Yet Golden Eagle remains beautifully spare and delicate, putting Holly’s goosebump-raising voice centre stage, beautifully controlled yet riven with feeling.

LP – Standard Version on White Vinyl with Download and Bonus CD

LP+ – Rough Trade Exclusive – 500 Copies on Red Vinyl with Download and Bonus CD. (Sold Out)

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FATHER JOHN MISTY – ” Leaving L.A. ” Plus The Soundtrack of My Life

Posted: March 10, 2017 in MUSIC
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Father John Misty is going on doing press for his upcoming album “Pure Comedy”. The album’s due out April 7th. After an in-depth interview with Beat 1’s Zane Lowe, Josh Tillman stopped by Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 show to perform a new 13-minute track, “Leaving LA”. After his performance, Tillman joked, “that’s the whitest, most acoustic thing you’ve ever seen.”

“It’s about as fundamental of a change as I think I could reasonable pull off at this stage in my career. But I definitely worked harder writing this one. There’s one song in particular that I’ve been writing for three years. If it’s not my masterpiece, then I’m fucked.”

Father John Misty talks us through the songs that made him – featuring lots of Christian rock, R Kelly and some highly inappropriate Beach Boys.

FATHER JOHN MISTY – ” Pure Comedy “

Posted: March 3, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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During the six minutes of “Pure Comedy,” Tillman’s focus jumps from the miracle of birth to politics (“Where did they find these goons they’ve elected to rule them?”), and religion (“Their religions are the best). Throughout the song, he almost entirely adopts a distant, third-person plural perspective as if a god (or a “Young Pope”). For some reason, it all kind of works. Tillman might sound preachy, but he also sounds inspired. In “Pure Comedy,” he shows a newfound patience to spell it all out for you.

The song’s simple, Street Legal-era Dylan melody helps “Pure Comedy” transcend from hifalutin Facebook status to slow-building statement of purpose. Tillman undercuts his lyrics with subtle chord shifts, landing on resolutions and notes that punctuate his thoughts. By the time he goes full-on white-boy-soul at the end—which, given that he once featured a laughing track on his record, could very well be satire—he actually sounds completely earnest. For all his meme-filled music videos and forays into comedy, Father John Misty sounds like he’s not fucking around anymore.

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Pure Comedy: The Film—a 25-minute documentary about the making of the album. The film, directed by Tillman and Grant James, features Tillman playing new songs in the studio, painting shirtless, and driving around a burning L.A.. Composer Gavin Bryars contributed strings, horns, and choral arrangements to Pure Comedy. Nico Muhly and Thomas Bartlett also worked on the album.

Father John Misty’s album “Pure Comedy” will be released April 7th, 2017 on Deluxe 2xLP / 2xLP / CD / DL / CS in Europe through Bella Union Records.

Pure Comedy

MARISSA NADLER – ” Strangers “

Posted: February 22, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Strangers” finds Marissa Nadler’s sonic palette expanding (synths and drumbeats are at times added to Nadler’s voice and guitar). But despite the added instrumentation and more intricate arrangements, a purity forever remains in the treasured songbook of Nadler’s forever timeless oeuvre. Beautiful subtleties exist within the sonic tapestries while striking imagery such as disintegrating cliffs, towering skyscrapers, darkening woods and deep rivers are offset with characters often feeling at odds with the world they find themselves in (or more accurately find themselves suspended into, all of a sudden). There’s a tangible sense of contrasting dichotomies lying at the heart of “Strangers” (between the familiar and the unfamiliar; safety and danger; darkness and light; life and death) which makes the journey Nadler takes us on all the more real. Tangible. Life-affirming. And like a silent witness we can quietly navigate that darkness with her. For we are not strangers after all.

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BNQT – ” Restart “

Posted: February 2, 2017 in MUSIC
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BNQT is made up of members of Midlake, Band of Horses, Travis, Grandaddy and Franz Ferdinand.

In December 2015, we profiled Banquet, a Denton-based band made up of four members of Midlake along with members from Band of Horses, Travis, Grandaddy and Franz Ferdinand. This week their first single, “Restart,” dropped and their full debut album is set to be released on April 28th.

The release, titled Volume 1, marks the first time we’ve heard from the members of Midlake in a while; their last LP came out in 2013. Midlake vocalist and guitarist Eric Pulido was inspired to start BNQT — the spelling has been changed to distinguish them from another band with a similar name

BNQT is the new indie super-group conceived and led by Eric Pulido of Midlake and featuring Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Fran Healy of Travis, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy with backing from other Midlake members McKenzie Smith (drums), Joey McClellan (guitar) and Jesse Chandler (keys).

Pulido was about to become a first-time father, and it seemed like the right time to embark on a new chapter in music as well. He envisioned a group that would channel The Band, for which multiple singers came together to create a new sound. Since Midlake had recorded and performed with artists such as Beth Orton and Jason Lytle before, he thought it would be a natural progression. His Midlake bandmates Joey McClellan, Jesse Chandler and McKenzie Smith agreed and joined up. But don’t mistake BNQT for Midlake 2.

The addition of other famous singers has built anticipation for Volume 1. Pulido wrote and sang on two songs, and the rest of the 10-song album features two songs each from Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand, Fran Healy of Travis, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy and Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses. The tracks were recorded at Denton’s Redwood Studio, which is owned by McClellan and Smith.

When Pulido reached out Lytle, Healy, Bridwell and Kapranos about the possibility of collaborating, he was careful not to express too many expectations for the project or how it would be made.

“I kind of gave them a blank slate of, ‘We can be as little or as much for you. We can write with you, we can just be your backing band, we’ll help produce things. You can come to Denton. You can do it remotely,’” Pulido says. “I wanted to leave it open to make it as easy and accommodating as possible.” In the end they used a combination of in-person meetings and email to trade rough demos.

“It was a myriad of responses and opinions about what we were doing,” Pulido says. “The guys who came to [Rosewood Studio], Jason and Fran, it was really nice to at least get a great start on the songs with their involvement and production help.”

Everything BNQT recorded made it onto Volume 1, but Pulido is already excited at the thought of making a second record.

“We’ll see,” he says. “We definitely look at it as an organic thing where if these guys wanted to do more, if other people want to join in and do stuff, it could be a bigger album or a whole new set of singers. We’re figuring it out as we go. … It was really out of a labor of love and joy of creating music with people we respect and love.”

In the meantime, BNQT are focusing on promoting their first album. This will likely include live shows at some point, but Pulido says it will take time to coordinate everyone’s schedules.

“They have their own respective bands, respective families and all that. Whatever we do, it will be special and we want all the guys involved.”

BNQT’s Volume 1 will be released April 28th on Dualtone in America and Bella Union in Europe.

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FATHER JOHN MISTY – ” Ballad of the Dying Man “

Posted: February 1, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Father John Misty has obviously been hanging around with Ty Segall such is his prolific output of late. Following up his recent release ‘Two Wildly Different Perspectives’ FJM has added another track for contention of ‘song of the week’ with ‘Ballad of the Dying Man’.

The new track follows not only this week’s release but also lead cut from the new LP ‘Pure Comedy’ as well as a hefty essay and 25 min short film. All of which has been undoubtedly terrific. This track circles on the fear of ‘deathbed regret’ and is guided by keys and guitar until the emotional chorus is won by the luxurious choir at the end. Tillman wrote the majority of Pure Comedy throughout 2015 and recorded all the basic tracking and vocals live to tape (in no more than two takes each) at United Studios (fka the legendary Ocean Way Studios, favored by Frank Sinatra and The Beach Boys) in Los Angeles March 2016.

Pure Comedy was co-produced once again by Josh Tillman and long-time producer Jonathan Wilson; mixed by Tillman, Wilson and Trevor Spencer, and mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios.  The album features string, horn and choral arrangements from classical iconoclast Gavin Bryars (Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet, Sinking Of The Titanic), with additional contributions from Nico Muhly and Thomas Bartlett.

The Deluxe vinyl features two 12″ LPs on aluminum and copper colored vinyl, a die-cut customizable jacket with four interactive background sleeves, a fold out poster, exclusive holographic HA card, all encased in a clear slipcase.

PURE COMEDY IS RELEASED 7TH OF APRIL VIA BELLA UNION.

FATHER JOHN MISTY – ” Two Wildly Different Perspectives “

Posted: January 31, 2017 in MUSIC
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Since Father John Misty announced his upcoming album, his third record, “Pure Comedy” with the title track and brilliant video recently released, we have been waiting with baited breath for the next slice of ‘truth’ from the enigmatic lothario. He rarely disappoints and ‘Two Wildly Different Perspectives’ is further testament to that.

The track comes with visuals from Matthew Daniel Siskin which sees some children enact seemingly adult roles. It is a poignant clip when the adage of firearms comes in to play, expect to see some harrowing scenes – something which feels pertinent at this time.

“More kids are going to die now thanks to the unbelievably selfish immigration policy of places like Saudi Arabia and the USA.” Father John Misty said on Facebook of the video. This all follows his 25 minute short film and the release of the album’s title track, leading us to believe that Father John Misty isn’t done yet.

Pure Comedy is out on April 7th via Bella Union Records.

GREAT YTENE – ” Fixed Victim “

Posted: January 27, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Great Ytene are a band built upon deconstruction and reassembly. In order to create something that felt truly complete, they had to tear down everything that had come before. From their formative years as ‘Colours’, to their reemergence as Great Ytene (taking their name from an old term for the New Forest, which is where they all grew up), they replaced sounds, members and even their name before they felt truly comfortable in their collective skin.

So, it’s quite fitting that In 2015 Great Ytene lost a full album’s worth of material to a technological worm hole. It was just another clean slate. It was the best thing that could have happened. The band spent six months writing new songs, perfecting their shape, pulling them apart and piecing them back together until “Locus” was in exactly the right place.

Locus, Great Ytene’s first full length LP since their self- titled debut (via Bella Union) in 2014, sees the band moving forward to explore darker themes. The name ‘Locus’ refers to the attempt to pin-point exact moments in time when an event took place. This idea is explored lyrically throughout the album, even as the music loops and pushes back.

If you are looking for like-minded contemporary peers then look no further than the grey and black post-punk of the likes of Disappears and Preoccupations. At times waves of noise are underpinned by tight, rigid rhythms, at others they’re allowed to spill over the edges to create disquiet landscapes.

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