Seattle website and record label Turntable Kitchen sponsors a vinyl subscription service called Sounds Delicious in which notable artists cover an entire classic album. Today we’ve got a preview of the first release in the series: In a pleasant and unlikely convergence of artist and material, New Zealand dream-pop greats Yumi Zouma are taking on “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?”, the 1995 sophomore LP that turned Oasis from UK superstars to a worldwide household name. Ahead of the full release, they’ve shared their woozy rendition of “She’s Electric,” which applies the full Loveless treatment to the Gallaghers’ jaunty rock tune. It’s a stunning re-imagination of a splendid song, Yumi Zouma’s version of “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” will be limited to 1,000 copies. Get it by subscribing to Sounds Delicious . Upcoming entries in the series include Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado covering Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run”, Ben Gibbard covering Teenage Fanclub’s “Bandwagonesque”, and the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart covering Tom Petty’s “Full Moon Fever”.
Not for the first time do we see Kingdom of the Holy Sun as a Featured Artist. This is the second time featured on here. The Seattle Psych band feature on this week with tracks from their upcoming album At The Gates Of Dawn. The bands latest offering is pure Club A Go Go beat influenced by bands like The Doors, The Seeds, 13th Floor Elevators and Electric Prunes. This album is up their with recent neo psych bands also coming out of America like The Spyrals, Night Beats and Black Angels. The band have gone in a different direction since their earlier releases. At The Gates Of Dawn is a nice upbeat garage album, the band use the full array of sounds and effects available to them, nice fuzzy tones, wha-wha and jangling guitars, lovely harmonies in the Byrd’s style with swirling electric piano riff’s accompanied by some solid beat drumming. At the Gates of Dawn is another quality psych album coming out of the ever blossoming scene.
King Dude returns with his latest meditation in eleven parts titled “Sex”. Following in the tradition of unexpected divination through the good lord Lucifer, the King challenges the listener to explore the theme of sexuality through nothing other than rock n’ roll of course. An album about dudes, girls that no one knows, backseats, becoming a movie star in L.A., Lucifer, and wanting to die in sex positions, His Majesty, monarch of the morose plots a fifth set of infernal coordinates, spins an archaic compass and navigates the way to a post-punk prairie, resplendent in dark blossoms of neofolk and blues. Lust, passion and desire are summoned for company and make the acquaintance of habitual consorts macabre and melancholy
King Dude is “our favorite whiskey-soaked Luciferian sex god” his latest album hammers that point home even further—especially the “sex” part. The King (né TJ Cowgill) has issued his most dynamic, varied effort yet with Sex, a long, slow ride through his customary dark folk, post-punk, swaggering rock ‘n’ roll. He’s all over the place here, redefining the King Dude sound whenever he feels like it, and circling back to more familiar, lovelorn territory on the wine-stained closing dirge “Shine Your Light,” his shuddering baritone holding court throughout. The snarling devil country of “I Wanna Die at 69” slithers up against the clean majesty of “Holy Christos” and surrealist garagey racket of “Swedish Boys,” changing gears with every song and oozing sensual energy even when Cowgill gets truly weird (see “The Girls,” a full-blown psychedelic nightmare). Whether you’re trying to fuck or feel like making love, Sex is the perfect soundtrack.
Seattle pop-punk band Tacocat is also responsible for the new Powerpuff Girls Theme, if you need any more reason to get on board. Their follow-up to NVM, Tacocat’s Lost Time is just the sort of ‘90s-nostalgic pop punk the doctor ordered. Combining sci-fi and vaporwave vibes with the social-political concerns of the information age, Lost Time is filled with great singles. Whether it’s “Dana Katherine Scully,” honouring the X-Files heroine, or “I Hate the Weekend” written in dedication to the tech bros taking over the band’s home-city, Tacocat’s LostTime scratches that topical pop punk scene.
Produced by new wave-shoegazer Erik Blood, Lost Time is also the most meticulously recorded of Tacocat’s three releases to date. Expansiv creative, catchy guitar hooks, pithy, well-crafted lyrics, and in their elaboration on anti-patriarchal themes from NVM and their debut, Shame Spiral.
Courtney Marie Andrews is possibiy the best songwriter you’ve never heard of. If you have heard of her, you’ve likely heard her name mentioned in the same breath as another, more iconic songwriter: Joni Mitchell. Andrews’ breakout album Honest Life, which, despite the assumption that it’s her debut (after all, what a shame that an artist of this level of talent has flown under the radar since 2008), is her sixth solo album. The Joni Mitchell comparisons are apt, both for Andrews’ nimble, expressive vocals and her way with a turn of phrase. What makes Andrews so special, however, is that her influences never verge on the derivative. Single “Irene,” with its percussive piano and pointed, progressive lyrics
(“The heart is funny, Irene/ You can’t control who it wants to love/ So let it love, Irene/ Man or woman or anyone it wants”), is unlike any other song released this year; Andrews herself is unlike any other artist.
Since “Honest Life” was released. This record has changed my life in so many ways. A lot of these songs were written while I was living in Belgium and processing a very painful breakup. I’d eat half a croissant a day, drink wine in the cafe across from my apartment, and write every crazy line or thought that popped into my head. I felt young and old, wise and dumb, all at once. Songs were pouring out of me, and when I was dry I’d wander aimlessly down the cobble stone streets until another song came crawling out. It was a dark time, but writing those songs saved me.
Before living in Belgium, I sent my demos to many producers whom all felt that I either needed lots of production or a co-writer to make a good record. One producer pissed me off so much when he brought in a co-writer without telling me. I was so insulted that I wrote “Rookie Dreaming” “Honest Life” and “Put The Fire Out” in one night just to prove to him I didn’t need help writing songs. It was after that, I knew I needed to have my friends on the record. I needed to make something real, the exact way I wanted it. So I went back to Seattle, got my friends together and produced a record that I was proud of, on my own terms. Intuition is magic, and I’ll continue to try and follow my instincts whenever it comes to matters of art and the heart.
I truly don’t know where I’d be without songs, music, and the brilliant people who help and hold me and my work up every day. I’m eternally grateful to be writing, and living a life I’ve always felt I was made for. Thank you.
Somewhere among the sonic synchronicity that binds together the forty-two minutes of Midday Veil’s “ThisWilderness,” the band’s animated and eloquent new album,
It’s a realization about self, size and scope, and like the album itself, it’s massive. Midday Veil has long found themselves comfortable creating colossal concerns, as recorded on the band’s earliest, self-released explorations such as “Queen of the Void” and “End of Time.” The band’s preceding full-length album from 2013’s “The Current,” named one of the year’s best avant-rock releases by The Wire magazine could be viewed with some perspective as the band emerging from their kosmische chrysalis, unfurling previously unheard banners of both color and control. “This Wilderness” is the sound of the band under the self-imposed hypnosis of that emergence, extending the voyage with even more color and control than ever before.
Despite – or because of – the extended journey, the beating musical heart of both “This Wilderness” and MiddayVeil remains the out-sized synth wizardry of founding member David Golightly, who seems to have ingested every possible mind-altering sound from Stockhausen to Cybotron to the “Love to Love You” of Donna Summer. They’re all on display on “This Wilderness,” made especially ornate by the driving percussion of Garrett Moore, the deep, submerging bass of Jayson Kochan, and the often-explosive, reptilian guitar lines of multi-instrumentalist Timm Mason.
Yet it’s the mystery of “This Wilderness” that makes the album among the most creatively compelling of this or any year, and vocalist and songwriter Emily Pothast gives voice to that mystery both literally and figuratively. On the opening invocation of “Babel,” Pothast addresses her place within “This Wilderness” and by extension, the place of the listener as well: “This wilderness amazes me / it covers me in shame.” On “Babel” and throughout “ThisWilderness,” the band sounds in the midst of the wide-eyed discovery of their sound, and slightly ashamed that they hadn’t noticed the full potential of their surroundings earlier. It’s unclear what will happen next, nor does it seem to particularly matter. Midday Veil will be staying in “This Wilderness” in an increasingly interconnected, dynamic, even dangerous cosmos – for quite awhile, and it’s our good fortune to join them now.
Seattle’s Midday Veil are getting noticed all over the place, which is quite an accomplishment for a band that counts Stockhausen among their influences and has been known to cover Amon Düül II.” “Midday Veil consistently produces some of the best experimental psychedelic music I’ve ever heard, always bending genres and minds at the same time.”
“Even when they’re voyaging deep into the unknown, Midday Veil stimulate the synapses with dynamic arrangements and the kind of melodic sensibility that eludes the majority of their peers. They bludgeon, seduce and inflame.”
Known for dramatic performances as well as subtle, varied recordings, Seattle experimental rock ensemble MiddayVeil combines otherworldly vocals and cosmic synths with driving, hypnotic rock grooves to produce music that rewards careful listening and defies easy categorization. These Space rockers adding electronic elements to their arsenal , but Midday Veil’s sojourn into more danceable rhythms doesn’t hinder their ability to get really far out, while still dispensing existential lyrical wisdom.
With very little fanfare (or at least so it seems) the wonderful Cave Singers have shared a new song. A new song from one of Seattle’s musical treasures — very good stuff, as usual, they simply describe You Don’t Know Me as a dreamy number.
Multi-talented musician Jessica Dobson from Seattle band Deep Sea Diver. Even if her name doesn’t ring a bell right away, you probably know her work because she’s toured with one of your favorite bands The Shins, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Beck (as their guitarist).
But her own band Deep Sea Diver, have released their second music video from the most recent album, “Secrets”.
It’s called “Wide Awake,” and the moody video will jolt you wide awake with Dobson’s bold, breathy lyrics that come in after a steady musical build-up.
“Wide awake / And I’m chasing after you / Like a tidal wave / Rushing around the heels of your every move”
We love the delicate balance of explosive rock and low-key intimacy that Deep Sea Diver has achieved here, not to mention the strength of Dobson’s vocal.
A spate of grunge classics are going to be hitting the quarter-century mark this year, and certainly one of the biggest is coming back in a big way this month.
Temple of the Dog only released one self-titled album in the spring of 1991 to relatively little fanfare. But by the end of the year, when critics started to take notice of the tidal wave of rock bands from Seattle and lighting the fuse on an eventual grunge explosion, people began to take notice.
Temple of the Dog, conceived as a tribute to the late Andrew Wood, frontman of Seattle group Mother LoveBone, featured two musicians who played in that band (rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament); lead guitarist Mike McCready, from Gossard and Ament’s new band Pearl Jam (frontman Eddie Vedder also guested on the album); and Wood’s friends, singer Chris Cornell and drummer Matt Cameron, both of whom earned recognition with Soundgarden that same year. (Cameron currently is the drummer for both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam!) The album, featuring the mainstream rock hits “Hunger Strike” and “Say Hello2 Heaven,” went Top 5 in America and sold more than a million copies. The band never toured at the time, but made sporadic appearances together in the quarter-century since Temple of the Dog album was released.
For its 25th anniversary, A&M/UMe are pulling out all the stops with a four-disc CD/DVD/Blu-ray deluxe edition, due out September 30th. Featuring a new mix of the album by longtime Pearl Jam associate Brendan O’Brien, plus three alternate mixes from the original multitracks by Adam Kaspar
Seven demos (including unheard songs “Angel of Fire” and “Black Cat” plus five newly mixed outtakes by Adam Kaspar
A DVD featuring many of the band’s most notable performances, including a “rehearsal” show at Seattle’s Off RampCafe, while the album was being recorded; the “Hunger Strike” music video; fan-shot footage of the band’s reunion at the PJ20 festival in 2011 (combined with professional audio of the show) and Seattle’s BenaroyaHall in 2015
A Blu-ray featuring a 5.1 surround mix by Kaspar, who mixed Soundgarden’s Superunknown into 5.1; the “Hunger Strike” video in 5.1; plus HD stereo versions of O’Brien’s mix and select HD bonus video
This set will be marked by the band’s first real tour, a sold-out affair across five cities in November. Double-disc, CD and vinyl editions are available, too.
CD 1: New remix of original album by Brendan O’Brien (released as A&M Records 750 215 350-2, 1991)
Say Hello 2 Heaven
Reach Down
Hunger Strike
Pushin’ Forward Back
Call Me a Dog
Times of Trouble
Wooden Jesus
Your Savior
Four Walled World
All Night Thing
Say Hello 2 Heaven (Alternate Adam Kaspar Mix) *
Wooden Jesus (Alternate Adam Kaspar Mix) *
All Night Thing (Alternate Adam Kaspar Mix) *
CD 2: Demos and outtakes (previously unreleased except for Track 1, from Pearl Jam Twenty soundtrack – Columbia/Monkeywrench 88697 96035-2, 2011)
Say Hello 2 Heaven (Demo)
Reach Down (Demo)
Call Me a Dog (Demo)
Times of Trouble (Demo)
Angel of Fire (Demo)
Black Cat (Demo)
Times of Trouble (Instrumental Demo)
Say Hello 2 Heaven (Outtake)
Reach Down (Outtake)
Pushin’ Forward Back (Outtake)
Wooden Jesus (Outtake)
All Night Thing (Outtake)
DVD: Videos
Hunger Strike (Live @ The Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle – 11/13/1990)
Wooden Jesus (Live @ The Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle – 11/13/1990)
Say Hello 2 Heaven (Live @ The Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle – 11/13/1990)
Reach Down (Live @ The Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle – 11/13/1990)
Call Me a Dog (Live @ The Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle – 11/13/1990)
Times of Trouble (Live @ The Off Ramp Cafe, Seattle – 11/13/1990)
Say Hello 2 Heaven (Live @ The Moore Theatre, Seattle – 12/1990)
Hunger Strike (Live @ Lollapalooza, Desert Sky Pavilion, Phoenix – 9/8/1992)
Hunger Strike (music video)
Say Hello 2 Heaven (Live @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI – 9/3/2011)
Hunger Strike (Live @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI – 9/4/2011)
Call Me a Dog (Live @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI – 9/4/2011)
All Night Thing (Live @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI – 9/4/2011)
Reach Down (Live @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI – 9/4/2011)
Call Me a Dog (Live @ Benaroya Hall, Seattle – 1/30/2015)
Reach Down (Live @ Benaroya Hall, Seattle – 1/30/2015)
The Fat Angel Sings 