Posts Tagged ‘New York’

FLORIST – ” What I Wanted to Hold “

Posted: December 12, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Among sparsely arranged, deeply personal albums that revolve around the death of a loved one, for example Mount Eerie’s A Crow Looked at Me got a lot of attention this year . “If Blue Could Be Happiness”, the 2017 LP by Florist, a New York-based “friendship project” (not band) fronted by Emily Sprague, who lost her mother recently and suddenly. It’s not just a mournful collection of gentle indie-pop songs, it is a tiny, welcoming sound world where anyone can enter and feel loved and supported and understood. It is sonic salve for a heart roughened up by life’s challenges. It is beautiful and calming and necessary.

Florist are a self-styled, “soft-synthesizer-folk band”, hailing from Upstate New York. This week they’ve shared their new single, What I Wanted To Hold, as well as detailing the release of their new record. If Blue Could Be Happiness, the band’s second full length album is out September 29th via Double Double Whammy Records.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – ” Electric Ladyland [Redux] “

Posted: December 9, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Without doubt, 2017 has been a year that, though yielding some phenomenal music, also put some serious effort into killing off too many of our rock ‘n roll heroes.
The wonderful thing about records is that, no matter how many musicians we lose, when they go, or how their work changed over time, we’ll always have those vital, tangible slabs of wax cut deep with the songs that have defined and soundtracked our lives.
As we head into the final few weeks of December, do us (and yourself) a favor and revisit some of your favorite records, whether from this year or three decades past.
Those records brought you here, they keep us here, and we’re pretty sure they’ll still be here when we’re long gone.

Limited Edition Electric Ladyland [Redux] 4 Panel 2 Disc DigiPak.

DISC 1
1. AND THE GODS MADE LOVE – ELEPHANT TREE
2. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN (TO ELECTRIC LADYLAND) – OPEN HAND
3. CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC – SUPERCHIEF
4. VOODOO CHILE – ALL THEM WITCHES
5. LITTLE MISS STRANGE – ORIGAMI HORSES
6. LONG HOT SUMMER NIGHT – THE HEAVY EYES
7. COME ON (LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL) – EARTHLESS
8. GYPSY EYES – WO FAT
9. BURNING OF THE MIDNIGHT LAMP – MOS GENERATOR

DISC 2
1. RAINY DAY, DREAM AWAY – GOZU
2. 1983…(A MERMAN I SHOULD TURN TO BE) – SUMMONER
3. MOON, TURN THE TIDES… GENTLY GENTLY AWAY – CLAYMATION
4. STILL RAINING, STILL DREAMING – MOTHERSHIP
5. HOUSE BURNING DOWN – KING BUFFALO
6. ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER – TUNGA MOLN
7. VOODOO CHILD (SLIGHT RETURN) – ELDER 

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BOSS HOG – ” Brood X ” Best Albums Of 2017

Posted: December 8, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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N.Y.C. blues-punk combo Boss Hog was helmed by the husband-and-wife team of singer Cristina Martinez and singer/guitarist Jon Spencer. If you like your blues rough, devilish, dirty and burning as hell you’ll be as ecstatic
about the spectacular return of Boss Hog. After 16 years this glowing gang featuring legendary blues junkie Jon Spencer and his charismatic wife and ex-Pussy Galore tiger Cristina Martinez the band have released new album BROOD X earlier this year. The longplayer bellows viciously as if the 5-piece band is involved in a merciless, sonic fight with evil demons, with unsightly cacodemons and anything nasty in daily life on this troubled planet.

Boss Hog was formed in 1989 by Cristina Martinez and Jon Spencer. The band has released three disturbed and sexually provocative studio albums and as many EPs, along with numerous incendiary and slashing singles, on the world’s most important record labels, including Amphetamine Reptile, In The Red, and DGC/Geffen. Boss Hog is internationally-known as New York City’s most provocative and original rock’n’roll band.

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Band Members
Cristina Martinez, Jon Spencer, Hollis Queens, Jens Jurgensen, Mickey Finn,

OLDEN YOLK – ” Olden Yolk “

Posted: December 8, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Olden Yolk is a New York-based group whose penchant for dystopian folk, abstract poeticism, and motorik rhythms have enveloped them in a sound uniquely of-the-moment yet simultaneously time-tested. The project is currently led by songwriters, vocalists, and multi- instrumentalists Shane Butler and Caity Shaffer, whose interlaced vocals are found guiding each composition on their enlivening self-titled debut. The project was initially conceived in 2012 by Butler as an outlet for one-off songs and visual art while touring and releasing albums with the band Quilt (Mexican Summer). Following the release of a split-record with Weyes Blood in 2014, Olden Yolk became a collaborative entity.

Olden Yolk’s debut ruminates on questions surrounding love, self-doubt, and locating autonomy amidst burgeoning unrest. Wrought with hazy melancholy and halcyon joy, Butler and Shaffer’s lilting vocals play off one another through a devotional dialogue, taking form in haunting choral melodies and candid rock n’ roll. These songs are ecstatic odes to the life of the city; to the subway platforms, kiosks, and monuments which enliven and encompass our collectivity, elevating into an urban-psychedelia.

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On the album, Butler and Shaffer are joined by drummer Dan Drohan (Tei Shi, Uni Ika Ai) and guitarist Jesse DeFrancesco who round out the studio sessions and live-band. Drohan’s deep passion for jazz, hip-hop, and experimental percussion come to fore while Defrancesco’s minimal yet powerful guitar ambiences are heard swelling in the peripheries of each song. The album was recorded at Gary’s Electric in NYC by (Woods)Jarvis Taveniere  with co-production, electronics, and mixing by Jon Nellen (Ginla, Terrible Records). Other guests, such as multi-instrumentalist John Andrews (Woods, Quilt, The Yawns) and violinist Jake Falby (Mutual Benefit, Julie Byrne), add to the mercurial nature of the record, creating a landscape tinged with beatific songwriting and transgressive underpinnings.

Olden Yolk is:
Shane Butler:
vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fx, keys, bass, production
Caity Shaffer:
vocals, piano, keys, bass, percussion
Dan Drohan:
drums, percussion
Jesse Defrancesco:
electric guitar, keys

CHARLY BLISS – ” Scare U “

Posted: December 7, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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As a record, Guppy is superlative. As a debut, the first full-length from New York pop-rockers Charly Bliss, it sounds positively transcendent, marrying those tried-and-true, yet still difficult-to-wrangle adolescent emotions to fuzzed-out guitar riffs and sing-along melodies in a way that feels immediate and vital. Starting with a cooing “Come on baby, get me high / There’s always something new to buy,” singer Eva Hendricks calls out the ready made, disposable nature of this kind of music, yet she and her band imbue it with enough passion and artful songcraft to make it exhilarating all over again. There were more artistically ambitious records released in 2017, but almost none that are this much fun.

Guppy is available now on Barsuk Records

GREI – ” Sky’s The Limit “

Posted: December 7, 2017 in MUSIC
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Check out the gorgeous debut single “Sky’s The Limit” from New York singer/songwriter and producer GREI which she collaborated on with producer Henry Cole Lunetta, singer-songwriter from NY ~ currently attending Berklee College of Music .

This one is anthemic and intimate, while crafting a boundless sound of hope. Starting off as a standard acoustic singer songwriter track, it takes off into a different realm with the help of electro pop sensibilities. Dreamy, catchy, and undoubtedly cool are all descriptions you can add to the young artist’s sound. Her ability to mix the melancholy with the hopeful is a rare gift. Knowingly or not, she expands what folk pop / electro pop can sound like. There is an almost matchless quality to the musical arena she has carved out for herself.

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LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – ” American Dream ” Best Albums Of 2017

Posted: December 5, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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When David Bowie gives you the seal of approval, you can turn a permanent conclusion into a five-year hiatus and a stellar return album. James Murphy and co. ended all the rumors once and for all with American Dream and did so with a bang. The album feels incredibly present, addressing the pervasive existential loneliness and concern while bringing the family back together.

American Dream retains all of LCD Soundsystem’s ability to fill the dance floor and bring tears to your eyes. There were plenty of fears that they’d lose the goodwill earned by a public exit, but with an honest, powerful record like this, LCD only further cemented their spot .

Post-hiatus records tend to be mediocre attempts to rejuvenate the enthusiasm of the past. Fans probably applied this to James Murphy’s band, wondering how American Dream, the first LCD Soundsystem record in seven years, could live up to 2007’s Sound of Silver or 2010’s This Is Happening. Thankfully, American Dream is a beautiful work of art about aging, regret and an arduous search for meaning, an expansive record that explores a variety of sounds and themes, but it never feels confused or lost. As Murphy’s vocals dreamily weave their way into the intro of opening track “Oh Baby,” you immediately know that this is a different LCD Soundsystem. The frantic energy of hits such as “Get Innocuous!” and “Movement” is gone, but not necessarily missing. Sonically, American Dream is more spacious than its predecessors. This dreamscape suits a record that’s aware of beauty in life, but invariably realizes that what it once thought was beautiful is merely an empty void.

Essential Tracks: “oh baby”, “call the police”, and “i used to”

Yes, it sounds like a U2 song. Yes, they quit and came back in less time than many artists take just to write and record a new record , James Murphy complained about never playing on SNL..  James Murphy asked his fans to give him a number one record. But who really cares when the song is this good? LCD are the rare band that deals in singles and albums. Their long players play well all the way through and their singles are mountain peaks across the horizon of music.

If you wondered if their brief but well-discussed exit robbed them of their excellence – “Call the Police” was the ideal defeat of that worry. The propulsive song never relents from the click track at the top through Mahoney’s constantly locked groove, never straying from perpetual forward motion. The pieces continue to stack until you are in an F-Zero straight race for the goal. The understated lower case titles perfectly represent this song that is so much more compelling than it acts like it is.

CRYING – ” Beyond the Fleeting Gales “

Posted: November 22, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Crying began as a chiptune/power pop band who embraced their love for stadium rock to write infectiously melodic tunes on a massive scale. The new incarnation retains Elaiza Santos‘ personal, conversational vocal delivery put over progressive guitar riffs, spaced out synths and gargantuan, energizing production. Put your fear of change aside and enter into the new era of Crying.

a bouncing energy; every single song just… ascends to pieces of lyrics or instrumentals that stick with you

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SHARON VAN ETTEN – ” (it was) because i was in love “

Posted: November 20, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It’s a common trajectory for musicians to start out sounding tentative and insecure, only to later bloom into battle-tested, fully formed talents. That’s surely been Sharon Van Etten’s story, as she’s transitioned from a quavering solo artist into a muscular rock ‘n’ roll front woman — the kind you’d see stalking festival stages.

But Van Etten’s 2009 debut, because i was in love, doesn’t actually sound tentative or insecure. Instead, it functions as a sort of concept album about tentativeness and insecurity — about examining tiny interpersonal details until they become all-encompassing. From the album’s very first words — “I wish I knew what to do with you / But the truth is, I ain’t got a clue”  she’s at a loss for answers, yet mindful of the million tiny signals and mixed messages that keep her up at night.

In “Much More Than That,” Van Etten’s opening plea (“Please don’t take me lightly”) introduces a song in which she strains to be heard in a relationship, and gets left with no choice but to magnify the impact of touches and glances: “My toe hit your toe lightly / Your toe met my heel right back / And I don’t think I need much more than that.” But, viewed next to the more assertive albums that succeeded it, because i was in love snaps into focus as an album about learning how much more she does need — and how much she deserves.

In light of the success that also followed, it makes sense that because i was in love would get the remixed-and-remastered deluxe-reissue treatment, complete with two lovely bonus tracks (“I’m Giving Up On You,” “You Didn’t Really Do That”) and the parenthetical title revision (it was) to re-frame the album in hindsight. It captures a sound Sharon Van Etten has since left behind, but it remains radiant, universal and utterly timeless.

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The HOLD STEADY – ” Almost Killed Me / Separation Sunday ” Reissues

Posted: November 20, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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'Almost Killed Me'

Even on their first album, these Brooklyn-via-Minneapolis dudes had it all: drugs, sex, Catholic guilt, trashy bar-band guitars. Craig Finn splutters his crazed one-liners about killer parties gone bad, from “Mary got a bloody nose from sniffing margarita mix” to “I did a couple favors for these guys who looked like Tusken Raiders.” “Certain Songs” pays tribute to a bar where the jukebox has the perfect ratio of Meat Loaf to Billy Joel. Commercial? Not exactly. Yet the Hold Steady sounded so real and raw, so loaded with wit and compassion and energy, this made them a word-of-mouth sensation.

To celebrate the release of deluxe remastered editions of ALMOST KILLED ME and SEPARATION SUNDAY, all of the members of The Hold Steady share their memories from recording the band’s first two albums, with added insight from others involved in making the first two records in this podcast series.
Part One features a conversation between Craig Finn & Tad Kubler, founders and lead songwriters.
Come back this Friday for part two with Galen Polivka – and remember, both albums are available Now on LP/CD/Digital! Order at http://www.theholdsteady.net#

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The long-awaited release of the deluxe editions of our first two LPs are available on Frenchkiss Records! The Deluxe Edition LPs mark the first time both albums have been available on vinyl in more than a decade.

ALMOST KILLED ME: DELUXE EDITION comes joined with five rare tracks, including the very first Hold Steady 7” single, “Milkcrate Mosh,” and songs previously only available on the album’s original Australian CD release. It’s on blue vinyl.

SEPARATION SUNDAY: DELUXE EDITION features six additional tracks, including the never before available “212-Margarita” and “The Most Important Thing” along with previously unreleased demos of “Cattle and the Creeping Things,” “Charlemagne in Sweatpants,” and “Crucifixion Cruise.” It’s on white vinyl.

All extras are available on the Deluxe Edition CD releases and via vinyl download cards.

If you haven’t yet, go to http://www.theholdsteady.net to order physical copies!

“Almost Killed Me” and “Separation Sunday” Deluxe Editions now available on LP/Digital from Frenchkiss Records!

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