Lo-fi fuzz post-punk band Document come close to prog on their new single Red Tape, with an extended instrumental coda to underpin the Dystopian vibe of the track. The Tel Aviv band question the digital era, a connected age where ab individual can get caught in a maze and feel lonely and afraid.
Indie powerpop band Daddy Lion have released the final single from their forthcoming album Learn to Have Nothing and You Will Have Everything, their debut full-length as a quartet. Future Tense is pushed forward by grumbling instruments - note the undertow created by bass player Randal Franklin, while lead singer Jeremy Joseph makes a last ditch attempt trying to convince an unnamed party that he is very sorry indeed.
Distant Creatures are a dream pop from Northern Virginia who like to dabble in folk, post-rock and orchestral pop. Their latest album Snares in Safe Harbors is best experienced in one sitting to fully appreciate the almost seamless sequencing of the songs. With two multi-instrumentalists, a rhythm section that can run rings among most of the competition and a singer that can whisper and rock out the quintet has plenty of moods to choose from while keeping an overall consistent sound.
They can be gentle and almost shy (Unsure), harsh and confident (Pause for Epiphany) and mysterious and menacing (A Song for No Name). By adding a violin and cello sadness and melancholy come to the fore where it is needed and carefully placed feedback pops up when anger prevails. Recommended if you like Deleyaman, The Sundays and Dead Leaf Echo.
Trey Anastasio will be on the road on his own in February, playing acoustic shows at select theatres. Tickets will be available through a real time pre-sale beginning tomorrow, November 28 at 12pm ET at treytickets.shop.ticketstoday.com. General on-sale will begin this Friday, 1 at 10am ET at trey.com/tour.
Live dates:» trey.com
After creating an illustrated Supper's Ready designer Nathaniel Barlam is putting together a musical comic for the classic Genesis album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Side 1 is done so far. It helps if you are familiar with the story and background of one of the corner stones of progressive rock.
Can you write a song in one day? I am Oak's Thijs Kuijken rose to the challenge after spending a day in the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam as one of the guests of visual artist Joost Stokhof's (aka The Things We Are) project I See Plants Shaking Hands. Kuijken recorded his track Field Studies that same evening:
Writing a song based on one day and one location was a peculiar challenge. Completely void of any expectations or set methods we did manage to reach a point in the evening where we were both busy working on processing our impressions of the day – Joost drawing away behind his desk and me in recording-mode on the other desk. I tried to make scraps of observations, conversations with Joost and discoveries we’d made together wandering through the gardens and green houses that day into a song
Watch Israeli experimentalial duo o.ccult perform Free from their Same EP for live session @ Hariton Studios in Jerusalem.
HCTF review of Same.
Johnny Dowd's new record Twinkle, Twinkle will be released on January 12th. It is a collection of radically rearranged public domain songs. He has put up a stream of Red River Valley on his website.
He will be on tour in the UK and The Netherlands in January and February to promote the release, sharing the bill with Dutch musician Melle de Boer. They named it the Going Down the Road Feeling Bad Tour.
French singer-songwriter Octave Lissner tries to find the middle ground between jazz and folk on his new album Wildflower an dended up with a bunch of radio-friendly soft-spoken songs. Lead single Corners made it to lots of easy listening playlists, but the slightly more challening tracks >Little Mary and She Leaves Me have the potential to turn some heads among the latte crowd, with a few pointers to Jackson Browne and Kenny Logins.
Lissner gets interesting when he wears his heart on his sleeve and allows his voice to waver a bit. Heartbreak doesn't register properly when it is served in a polished way.
English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead will release their new album The Euphoric on May 18 next year. They are playing a headline show @ The Black Heart in London on that same day, the first time for them to unleash their full 80 minutes set in The Big Smoke.
HCTF review of Field Recordings (live).
Chicago based funky soul band The Right Now will ring out 2017 with a hometown show at The Hideout on New Year's Eve. Special guests will help them out.
Watch the new Tunabunny video for Nevermind the Cobblestones, a track from their wildly eclectic double album PCP Presents Alice In Wonderland Jr., on which Athens, GA band tackle the Lewis Carroll classic children's book and The Beatles' self-titled 2LP extravaganza in one big swoop.
HCTF review of PCP Presents Alice In Wonderland Jr.
When I founded the group I was a classical composer and conductor and pianist making piano recitals, playing a lot of contemporary music but also Brahms, Chopin and Beethoven and everything. And when we got together I wanted to do something in which all contemporary music becomes one thing. Contemporary music in Europe especially, the new music was classical music was Boulez, Stockhausen and all that. I studied all that, I studied Stockhausen but nobody talked about rock music like Sly Stone, James Brown or the Velvet Underground as being contemporary music. Then there was jazz and all these elements were our contemporary music, it was new. It was, in a way, much newer than the new classical music which claimed to be 'the new music'.
Irmin Schmidt
London quintet Talma mix The Smiths and The National on their new single Lifeline. Melodic alternative rock with a few short and sweet guitar breaks. They are the kind that the folks at NME will be raving about, hailing them as the next big thing until the next group of hopefuls comes around. Stick by them if you rank Johnny Marr way above Noel Gallagher.
Garage blues rock duo The Sideshow Tragedy expanded their musical palette on their new album The View From Nowhere. Ben Senterfti played funky bariton and alto sax to add colour to Time To Taste and the album's producer Kenny Siegal played various keyboards, piano, upright bass and vibraphone, but the core of Nathan Singleton (vocals, resonator guitar) and Jeremy Harrell (drums) is always upfront.
Playing roots rocks with an irresistible backbeat is their bread and butter. Nevermind that the lyrics deal with heartbreak (For Your Love) and other mishaps (Nobody), The Austin, TX based duo deliver what their band name implies: putting one hell of an upbeat show, using raw blues to harness their grievances and turn them into a celebration.
Dutch jazz trio Kapok have changed their modus operandi this year, going for improvisations and using more instruments - synthesizers, vibraphone and baritone guitar. Watch them perform Drop Your Shoes For Zero Gravity, a 100% improvised track captured by director Bas Vermolen ( Dubbelglas.tv) in Kytopia in Utrecht. It's a taste of what to expect for the band's MIRABEL 360° shows in February next year. Their fourth studio should be in the shops by then.
Dutch folk noir band The Bullfight have posted the audio of The Ballad of Martin van Dongen on YouTube. It's a track from their forthcoming live album Whisper In The Dark For Me, which will be released on December 11th on Brandy Alexander Recordings.
Live date:HCTF review of Whisper In The Dark For Me.
London funky rock 'n'roll quartet Flare Voyant are firing on all cylinders on their self-titled debut EP. Incorporating bits of glam and blues the band work their way through four tracks, using syncopation to make it sexy and danceable. Produced by Chris Kimsey (the Rolling Stones, Joan Jett) they got a Seventies sound that sounds deceptively basic, but it is actually quite difficult to get it right.
They dress the part, projecting the image of rock stars of yesteryear, And they got the songs that can act as a spring board for extended live improvisation. Don't be surprised when Ephemeral Romance and Empty Soul go on for ten minutes or more. Transcendental bluesy funk that goes for the gut. A few decades late for some maybe, but also an invitation to explore and enjoy the artists who inspired them.
Dutch adventurous jazz trio Kapok will be on the road in the UK:
5 concerts, 1.782 km driving on the left side of the road in 20 hours and 15 minutes, 2x a 9,5 hour boattrip and the highest level of packing-the-tourbus-tetris.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have added festival in Finland to their 2018 Summer tour, as headliners @ Pori Jazz 2018.
Live dates:
English-American duo avant-garde duo Churn Milk Joan are back with a soundtrack for a children's movie. Der Traum eines Kindes is a far cry from Disney-fied candy coloured landscapes, rainbows and unicorns. An unnamed Grey Man is up to no good, toys are playing with themselves and then - surprise - the child does not meet an untimely demise, but is carried home instead, fast asleep as those little brats are capable to do.
American Richard Knutson (Plum Flower Embroidery. Neutral Sons, The Chacers) and Englishman Colin Robinson (Big Block 454, Jumble Hole Clough) are acting like demented chefs in a well-equipped musical kitchen, and cooked up a full-course meal of skewed instrumental radio drama. With weird percussion, the occasional wail of electric guitar and pastoral interludes Churn Milk Joan are the missing link between Soft Machine and King Crimson. Foregoing lyrics they let the music tell the story.
John Cale performed at Howard Gillman Opera House / BAM in Brooklyn, NY, USA - November 18, 2017. 75th Birthday Celebration. With The Wordless Music Orchestra and BGV Music Choral Group.
The band:
John Cale: vocals, guitar, viola, keyboards
Dustin Boyer: lead guitar, samples
Joey Maramba: bass
Deantoni Parks: drums, samples
The Contribution tackled the Rolling Stones classic Gimme Shelter during their set @ Gallows Stage, Hangtown Music Festival in Placerville, CA - 2017/10/27. Full show can be found at the Live Music Archive.
Tim Carbone: lead vocals and percussion
Jeff Miller: electric guitars, background vocals
Phil Ferlino: piano, Hammond organ and background vocals
Sheryl Renee: lead vocals
Steve Adams- bass
Matt Butler: drums
(Thanks: Triple-B)
Other people - they practice and they practice... these fingers of mine, they got brains in 'em. You don't tell them what to do - they do it. God given talent.
Jerry Lee Lewis
John Cale performed at Howard Gillman Opera House / BAM in Brooklyn, NY, USA - November 17, 2017, commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Velvet Underground & Nico. With the Wordless Music Orchestra.
The band:
John Cale: vocals, viola, keyboards
Dustin Boyer: lead guitar, samples
Joey Maramba: bass
Deantoni Parks: drums, samples
Wordless Music Orchestra:
Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris: violin
Caleb Burhans, Drew Forde, Isabel Hagen, Caitlin Lynch: viola
John Altieri: sousaphone
Sam Nester: trumpet, flugelhorn
Setlist
(Thanks: Marek Koudelka)
What do you need for a night of off-kilter freaky folk music with a punk attitude? The two remaining members of Zapoppin' beating the Hell out of a Hohner Symphonic 32 and a drum set at The Curse, a fabled Cornish underground venue, should cover it.
Brace yourself for half an hour of chaotic goodness touching base with the 13th Floor Elevators, Pere Ubu, Butthole Surfers, The Pogues, The Birthday Party, free-from jazz, anti-folk, New Wave. Ever wondered what Ray Manzarek would have sounded like had he been an English guy raised on a diet of Tom Waits records? Playin' The Fool is the correct answer. Also, Joe Meek would have loved their instrumental Theme From A Spelling Bee. Zapoppin's set is like being caught in the midst of frantic, friendly fire. Resistance is futile.
John Cale performed at Howard Gillman Opera House / BAM in Brooklyn, NY, USA - November 16, 2017, commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Velvet Underground & Nico. With the Wordless Music Orchestra.
The band:
John Cale: vocals, viola, keyboards
Dustin Boyer: lead guitar, samples
Joey Maramba: bass
Deantoni Parks: drums, samples
Wordless Music Orchestra:
Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris: violin
Caleb Burhans, Drew Forde, Isabel Hagen, Caitlin Lynch: viola
John Altieri: sousaphone
Sam Nester: trumpet, flugelhorn
Setlist
(Thanks: Marek Koudelka)
Ian Anderson takes Jethro Tull's 50th anniversary tour to the States next year They were huge in the USA, playing Madison Square Garden quite a few times back in the day. The groundbreaking progressive act kicks off the celebrations with an UK tour in April. Anderson (vocals, flute) will be joined by David Goodier on bass, John O'Hara on keyboards, Florian Opahle on guitar and Scott Hammond on drums.
Opera singer meets rock when Anna Coogan hits the stage. The singer and guitarist returns to the UK in January and February, performing solo and her commissioned score for Jean Cocteau's silent film The Blood of a Poet.
Live dates:* Live silent film accompaniment
Brooklyn retro duo Fascinations Grand Chorus offer a slice of vintage bubblegum pop on their new single When You're Mine, replete with descending guitar fills (courtesy of guest player Dennis Pierce) and borderline cheesy keyboards.
Stephanie Cupo (vocals/keyboards) and Andrew Pierce (drums) Stephanie Cupo (vocals/keyboards) and Andrew Pierce (drums) once again have found the recipe for a catchy as Hell song, bringing back Summer on a gloomy November day.
NYC based English singer-songwriter Spottiswoode and Danish singer Dear Joy will perform @ The Green Note in London on December 10. Duets are likely to happen.
» Spottiswoode & His Enemies on Facebook
» Dear Joy on Facebook
HCTF review of English Dream.
Dreams came true for Dutch electropop band North Star when bass player Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas and drummer Darren King, the rhythm section of MuteMath, agreed to play on five tracks on their self-titled debut album and recording them in Nashville - the other tracks were captured @ De Geluidwerkplaats in their hometown Zwolle.
They have been playing together since 2016, initially starting out as a studio project, sharing a love for bands like Massive Attack, Hooverphonic and Kraftwerk. René Postma, the band's composer and resident multi-instrumentalist, came up with ten melodic songs that sound like a trip to am updated version of the Eighties. Lead singer Anne-Linn Beekhof brought in a slightly hoarse jazzy phrasing, adding a layer of melancholy to songs like Billy Come Home. Changes are that he has listened to a lot of Alison Moyet and Madonna records. Their own drummer Matthias van Olst uses a more rock feel than his American counterpart - compare his work on What Will Happen with Darren King's on Deadweight.
Garage rock power trio Sewage Farm have made a video for Plastic Bag, a track from their latest album Harmony Beach. Bit of Pixies + bit of Britpop = win.
HCTF review of Harmony Beach.
Brighton based psychedelic pop band White Room take it slow to hammer home the menacing message of their Cannibal Song. It's their most complex track to date and a step up from their previous mostly harmless songs. The video was directed, shot and edited by Tom Holborn. Their new new double EP Eight will be released on December 1st.
Acid Baby Jesus hail from Athens, Greece, but they sound like late Sixties English psychedelic band. Their new album Lilac Days is a mixed bag of pastoral Pink Floydian songs (Birth) and reverb rockers (Me & Panormita, Guide Us In).
With three band members playing keyboards (two of them also lay guitar) they have plenty of ways to add layers and textures to basic, straightforward songs. Bring out the liquid light show and dance the night away. Recommended if you like Jacco Gardner, Tame Impala and Elephant Stone.
Watch English guitarist Richard Hawley perform a slow version of The Velvet Underground classic I'm Waiting For The Man. Recorded for the Irish TV show Other Voices.
Watch the Jimmy Page full address and Q&A @ Oxford Union on October 23. A full transcript can be found at ledzepnews.com.
As I say, the lifetime achievement of this is here I am now talking to you guys and there have been a number of re-releases of Led Zeppelin, but from day one there’s been people, musicians, coming to listen to Led Zeppelin and through the decades and whether it’s from the guitar playing and the performance aspect of that, whether it’s songwriting, or whether it’s the production, it’s been inspiring to young musicians and I feel that really is my lifetime achievement to do something which was initially my hobby, turn that into something which was a very professional process but still a very creative one, not closed down and just something which is constantly reinventing itself. To inspire young musicians is something which is really wonderful because you pass the baton further on, thanks very much.
Dutch swamp blues grunge band Martha Jane & the Talisman have made for a video for their latest single When Nothing Comes To Mind, a swaggering road trip song with a hint of violence. It's a track from their new EP Love Spells due for release in March 2018.
Watch the new Galapaghost video for Pulse, the title track from the forthcoming new album. Multi-instrumentalist Casey Chandler teamed up again with Federico Puttilli who also co-produced the song. It's about cycles and making the same, fatal mistakes over and over again.
Pulse is available for pre-order. The EP will be released on January 12th.
HCTF review of I Never Arrived.
Dutch progressive rock quintet Novatia's modus operandi is improvisation, which might explain why all five tracks on their new EP Flow sounds loose despite they underlying complexity of the music. Vocalist Joep Selen can hit the high notes. He is no Geddy Lee or Jon Anderson, but those singers lack his jazz feel. Check May we interrupt for a prime example of his capabilities.
Flow aims high. The tracks are tailored to get the listener "in the zone", a place where only the music matters. That means they must a find a way to never loose focus in order to this friendly version of a pied piper moving. Bass player Fabian van Dijk and drummer Joost Lobbes lead the way, laying down a gently path through the woods with guitarist Rindert Bul and synth player Ingmar Kops as the colourful wild life that inhabits it. Novatia's world is a happy place mostly, but there is some danger lurking in the shadows as well.
With this new EP, their third one, Novatia has enough original material for a full live set. Visiting prog acts should consider them giving them a chance as a support act.
The new ZAPPATiKA live album should From Glasgow to the Isle of Wight, hadn't the master for he planned Live on the Isle of Wight album have been lost (and another copy of the files sounded like shit). Recorded during 2017 UK "Tour Britannia" they picked the best tracks from various performances.
As a seasoned tribute band ZAPPATiKA know Zappa's material inside out - they have shared the stage with quite a few of FZ's band members - but they are not mere copyists and also add something extra. Energy, musical chops and sense of humour are essential for playing Zappa's music and they have it in spades. They let rip during Broken Hearts are for Assholes and City of Tiny Lights. By contrast you can hear a pin drop during Black Napkins and Watermelon in Easter Hay. The highlight is a tight version of the challenging The Torture Never Stops, Many musicians have dropped the ball during this one, but they bring it home safely.
French darkwave band Deleyaman have shared a home recording of Murdered Days as a free download. It's a track from their 2014 album The Edge.
The finished track is far more complex, but all the key melodic elements are already in place.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have added two dates in Scandinavia: headlining the Bergenfest in Bergen, Norway on June 12th and a show @ Dalhalla in Rättvik, Sweden on June 13rd
Norwegian musician Trond Ole Paulsen explains why you should not listen to music through your phone's speaker. Yes, he is pretty angry and rightly so.
(Thanks: Fred Händl)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will be headlining the Ejekt Festival in Athens, Greece on June 23rd, 2018. After announcing a show in Dublin with Patti Smith this is the second confirmed date for next year.
On June 18 this year Dutch folk noir band The Bullfight set up their instruments in a living room in The Hague on to record a live album, with no audience present. Listening to Whisper In The Dark For Me is like having a private concert in the comfort of you own home. Performing songs form their last three studio albums they opted for an almost completely acoustic approach.
The sextet's forte is their ability for captivating their audience with storytelling songs. With singer Nick Verhoeven as Master of Ceremonies the band's music has written off-licence speakeasy written all over it. With a bit of DeVotchKa, and Tom Waits and Nick Cave nodding approval in the background, The Bullfight work their way through shared of jump blues, Weill and Brecht, swing and jazz.
Morrisey has released another single from his forthcoming album Low in High School (out on November 17 via Etienne/BMG). Jacky's Only Happy When She's Up On The Stage can be streamed on YouTube. Another fine example of sneering melancholy.
Live dates:
On October 31 improv blues rock quarter Gov't Mule performed their Halloween show at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, the first time they did this outside the USA. The second set and the encore were dedicated to songs by British rock band Free. Listen to them tackling the classic All Right Now.
Full show audience recording on bt.etree.org.
» mule.net
Jazz singer Hinda Hoffman recorded her Driftin' at the Lake in 2014, selling the album at her live shows. Now it is finally time for world wide release. She is an established member of the Chicago jazz scene. When she isn't busy delivering blue and other notes in one of the clubs, she shows the next generation the ropes on how to become a singer with a knack for swing and groove, besides the essential techniques that will preserve their vocals chords.
She has a voice that is smooth and silky, making the passive-aggressive lyrics about folks who have betrayed her all the more cutting. Life experience enables her to give some sound advice to those who are starting out on Hello Young Lovers. Urging her listeners to stand up for themselves like she does I've Got a Right and the ability to pick up your stuff and move on when all else fails I'm Traveling Light. Backed by a kick-ass quartet Driftin' at the Lake is an album of melodic jazz that is easy on the ears, but serious in content.
Watch Belgian band Triggerfinger perform the title track from their latest album Colossus live at Canvas Culture Club in their hometown Antwerp.
Neil Young and his curent backing band have teamed for a new stuiuo album, THe Visitor, dus fro release on December 1st. Opening track Already Great can be streamed on YouTube.
Tracks:
The North East of England gave birth to quite a few memorable New Wave acts in the early Eighties. The genre is not mainstream these days, but it is alive in well. The Radio Set's first release Ep#1 has all the key elements in place: dead center vocals and sparse, but highly effective music, with the bass a lead instrument.
To prove that they do things a little bit different in the 21st century they kick off the proceedings with the dystopian soundscape When We Heard the Silence it was Deafening. With that statement out of the way, they step out from their Tardis and serve up four brand new songs that sound vintage. The dance floor filler Can't Give You Up is a blend of Blondie and Soft Cell, The Human League gets a nod with You Broke My Heart When You Kissed Her during which singer Karen briefly refers to the TV series Charlie's Angels and the melancholic In the Night is tailor-made for rainy nights.
UK prog musician Steven Wilson has just announced the dates for his shows in Mexico and South America to promote the release of his latest album To The Bone:
I’m happy to announce a return to South America in May of next year with my band, and a new show based on the current album, To The Bone. As well as featuring songs from that album, there will be favourites from previous tours, as well as some of my older songs that haven’t been played by the solo band before. The visual aspects of the show are planned to be on an even higher level than previous tours, and as always the sound will be in quadrophonic
Cubs In Coves, a Brisbane band, label their music as "thinkpop". Their latest single Bring The Top Down is a a double-edged sword: those at the bottom of the econmic pyramid have to power to upset those straddling the top and, failing that, making the most of it. Listeners who don't give a fuck about those ideals can enjoy it as high energy electronic pop song with that would have been better without the vocals effects.
Irish indie pop band Shrug Life are taking the piss with their hilarious single First World Problems, the opening track from their self-titled album. The video features scratchcards, tarot cards and friends you don't really care about as means of escape to get rid of boredom in stead of dealing with the issues that are not that important anyway.
Shrug Life is released via Jigsaw Records and Little L Records.
British shoegaze pioneers Ride have released Pulsar, another single from their album Weather Diaries. They go easy on the effects on this one, a rather faceless song when compared to the other tracks they picked so far.
Athens, GA, garage rock outfit Eureka California fly across the big pond for a UK tour, to coincide with the release of their latest single Wigwam on the Wedding Present's record label Scopitones.
I don't need to be a frontman all the time, and in fact, the older I get, the less of an urge it is inside me to play that role. I've still got it inside me, and I do occasionally allow it out.
Damon Albarn
