Funk band Sly and the Family Stone played a legendary show @ Woodstock festival on August 17, 1969. They went on at 3:30 n the morning and awoke the crowd from its sleep and turned the place into a party. While it has been readily available on CD for quite some time, it will get it first release on vinyl as a 2LP set for Record Store Day.
Alternative rockers The Dream Syndicate will release their new album These Times on May 3 via Anti- Records. Lead single Put Some Miles On. has a double meaning hitting the road and playing Miles Davis music, things that go together well actually. It's a slice of gnarly psychedelic rock, with band leader Steve Wynn's signature phrasing riding on top. The video was directed by David Dalglish.
When the British invasion happened tons of American acts tried their best to sound like their heroes. And some musician s still do aim to do so. Meet Wes Hollywood, a signer and guitarist from Chicago who has internalized the complete songbook of Elvis Costello, Ray Davies as well as the output of highly influential cult bands like Big Star and Badfinger.
His latest album Dynamite is filled with crunchy powerpop and melodic rock adn like his heroes he tells short stories within the space of tow or three minutes. The majority deals with the highs and lows in a relationship, but he always finds a line that hasn't been thousand times before. It all sounds familiar, with all the hooks and fills in the places you'd expect them. It's a tribute to a bygone era in music that is still relevant and essential. This album could be an incentive to reappraise his peers.
A legendary Ramones show in New York comes to vinyl for Record Store Day. Live At The Palladium was broadcast live on December 31, 1979. That recording became the source for countless bootlegs. The full set will now be available as a 2LP.
Dutch rockers De Staat are this this year's Record Store Day ambassadors in The Netherlands. Besides a freebie 7" (Kitty Kitty (long version) b/w Kitty Kitty instrumental version)) for the first 5.000 buyers they will release a 12" Bubbles B-Sides, a companion for their latest studio album Bubble Gum:
A-Side: 1. Kitty Kitty (long version) / 2. Outrageous Contagious (previously unreleased)
B-Side: 1. Me Time (live) / 2. Down The Rabbit Hole (previously unreleased)
Multi-instrumentalist Tyler Ramsey as a recording artist sort of disappeared from the radar after the release from his The Valley Wind album in 2011. But now he returns with a new record, For The Morning. Not much has changed since his last one. Melancholy still reigns supreme, with lead single White Coat as a first taste. It's a gentle love song, both to his lady of choice as well as the mountains, rivers and trees that surround his home in North Carolina.
Watch Teeth & Tongue tackle the Smiths classic There Is A Light That Never Goes Out as part of a show for The J Files. And yes, they have listened a lot to Joy Division as well.
Belgian American multi-instrumentalist Trixie Whitley appears to be suffering form a mild case of horror vacui on het new album Lacuna, filling every available space with sounds, effects. Add her musical diversity - soul, jazz, rock, pop and electronica - and changes that she would have ended up with an undecipherable mess.
Truth be told that it does get a bit crowded at times, when she adds yet another layer. And another. And another. Persist and Lacuna shows itself as multifaceted art rock extravaganza, about halfway PJ Harvey and Björk.
Roots rockers Chris Robinson Brotherhood will release their sixth studio album Servants Of The Sun on June 16 via Silver Arrow Records. Lead single Comin' Round The Mountain can be streamed at the usual digital services. The accompanying video was directed by Camille Johnson.
London synth pop band Organised Scum love channeling other bands and on their new single Fotograph they lean heavy on the Talking Heads. Driven by irresistible back beat - walking bass and handclaps - the songs is about yearning for a past that looks a lot better, because only the higlights were captured for posterity.
Music is an extraordinary vehicle for expressing emotion - very powerful emotions. That's what draws millions of people towards it. And, um, I found myself always going for these darker places and - people identify with that.
Annie Lennox
Truus de Groot made a video for Dream On, a track from the latest Johnny Dowd album Family Picnic. A rowdy instrumental that you can dance to.
Canadian songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Swann brings his dark psych pop project Astral Swans to Japan. "His sophomore album Strange Prison is about fears, flaws and vulnerabilities, both real and imaginary. Swann can describe the predicaments of the passengers stuck in a plane going down without resorting to screams, depicting the horror in concise words.. Arson gets the same treatment in The Kids Came By And Burned Down The Scene. He is a reporter in the midst of turmoil, who focuses on the story, zooming in on harrowing details."
London garage punk rock trio False Heads have released the first taste from their upcoming full-length. Slease touches all the bases. Energy, anger sexual innuendo, and all the other things gentlemen are likely to discuss. Why they labeled this as "reggae" on Soundcloud is rather odd.
Slease is released via These Bloody Thieves Records / Ditto Records. The video was directed by Brigi Poti-Szaszfai.
Irish singer-songwriter Sara Ryan has two shows coming up in April. She will perform songs from her debut EP Glitter Skies as well as some of the new material from her forthcoming full-length. "If Kate Bush would decide to reinvent herself as the toughed up torch singer, fronting a kick ass band playing at your favourite pub, she might have sounded like this."
Helium, the debut album of the new acoustic psychedelic prog project Custard Flux led by Gregory Curvey, is coming to vinyl as a 2LP set, including all the tracks of the Helium Bonus disc:
Being a newbie at this, without any record company help that is, I had way too much music per LP side (Thanks for the tip Pete!). Cutting off limbs is never an option, so I've added another LP. Helium will be a Double LP on 180g Raspberry Colored Vinyl housed in a Jacket with a 1/4" spine, kept nice and neat in a reusable plastic bag. The price will be $40 + Shipping. I'll be sending a crate or two of LPs to my wonderful helpers in Bristol England for EU distribution, and I expect a few to go to Clearspot International. But...
Punk-rock and some politics are the main ingredients of the new Mean Streets (Born in the Same Gutter) single from Brighton band 40 Shillings on the Drum. With a far more complex melody than is usually associated with their chosen genre, they point an accusing finger to the powers that be as well as themselves as being part of the problem.
Quite refreshing, with hints of The Clash in their prime, bookended by two suprisingly gentle piano bits. Somewhere Pete Shelley and John Peel are hearing this and are high-fiving each other.
Watch the new Tullycraft video for Midi Midinette. Note the nod to Big Black's small town putdown song Kerosene in the lyrics.
It's a track from their album The Railway Prince Hotel."(...) filled with upbeat, rambling garage tunes that will get many a listener spin the wrong foot. Is there something wrong with the rhythm? Well, no actually, but it's a kind of free-flowing music, jagged and lo-fi while they take the piss at pretty much anything. Think a mix of XTC, The Velvet Underground, Jonathan Richman and the Decemberists".
HCTF review of The Railway Prince Hotel
Thought You Were Dead, a previously unreleased song on the B-side on the Record Store Day exclusive Morrissey 7" single Lover-To-Be (already available on the deluxe version of the Low in High School album), makes it worth tracking down. It will be released on clear red vinyl.
Lincoln trio psychedelic rock The Ego Ritual have made a video for Waves Upon The Water, the final track from their self-titled debut EP, The clip shows a close-up of pyramid-shaped lighthouse, a continuation of the band's fascination for ancient Egypt.
HCTF review of The Ego Ritual EP.
David Bowie's Revolutionary Song baked by Marlene Dietrich singing Just A Gigolo will be released on a split 7" for Record Store Day.
After legendary English musician David Bowie started his movie career by playing the lead in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) he was starring in Just a Gigolo Bowie contributed a piece of music to the film; his so-called "Revolutionary Song", played by a band called The Rebels. Later it became a collector's item. Besides this track the 7-inch include the 1928 title song Just a Gigolo, performed by Marlene Dietrich. It was her last film appearance and last song she recorded during her lifetime.
Limited to 10,000 (other sources mention 8,000) numbered copies on blue vinyl.
Wardrobe started out as one-man project by Flemish musician Johan Verckist, but now is has turned into a full band. With the new Giving Up a Ghost album they travel to the outskirts of electro-pop, where anything might happen - provided it is catchy and melancholic. Most of the songs deal with heartbreak and loss (Distance, Back Doubles), although Verckist doesn't shun opinions. Exhibit A: the album's opener Armchair Critic.
He is not taking it lying down. In the defiant Off the Reel the band turns it up a notch with an abrasive Pixies-alike guitar and bass tandem. After all is said done it becomes apparent that a Hollywood ending isn't in the cards. All is not lost just yet. The album ends with a superb, slowed down cover of Come Back and Stay.
Watch Billy Strings and Marcus King perform the George Gershwin classic Summerime. Recorded live @ Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville, TN.
Hot Tuna: will be perform at Fur Peace Ranch in Pomeroy, Ohio on March 23. The show will be available as a free webcast. The show is set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET. Cahnges are that Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady will welcome some guest players.
Frank Zappa alumnus Ike Willis and Anglo-Dutch band ZAPPATiKA were on tour in the Uk in November last year, having fun and playing well. After the releasing a visual document - The Highway Maintenance road movie an audio companion featuring live songs from the tour has seen the light of day.
ZAPPATiKA are not a slavish tribute band they always something extra to Zappa's repertoire and for this tour they surprised and delighted their audiences with some deep cuts, including the 200 Motels nugget Magic Fingers and stitching together tracks to turn them into avant-garde mini-suites. O, and they take the piss of the Republicans, which no doubt will be labeled as "explicit" on streaming services and their ilk.
Truus de Groot made a video for Family Picnic the title track from the latest Johnny Dowd album. The vintage footage of the revellers on their day out makes the dark lyrics even more compelling.
Colin Robinson originally planned to make another generative music album for his Jumble Hole Clough project as a follow-up for Chair Envy. But after attending a concert by The Residents he changed course. He opted for a record dedicated to short, pulsating tracks that could have been used as incidental music during an episode of Doctor Who or maybe a BBC Four documentary about Dada, steam trains or other things that can be filed under gentlemen's guilty pleasures.
Robinson is never short on ideas and he can with between switch prog, rock and ambient at a moment's notice. Both his dry, factual sense of humour - When A Door Closes, Open It Again. That's How Doors Work., You Won't Catch A Hare By Running After It - as well as his childlike curiosity to see the beauty in pretty much anything - A Footbridge Over A Non-existent Railway - has served him well. In a parallel universe this album could almost be considered as a radio-friendly. Take The 21 Grams Experiment, a composition about a prime example of selective reporting by a daft physician. That is a way to teach the youth of his native Hebden Bridge and far beyond about scientific values. Changes are they he will remain a cult artist, catering to avant-garde loving breed of cognoscenti, the kind of people who tend to dance to Captain Beefheart songs in a style that is quite peculiar.
English rhythm & noir band Alberteen are bound to enter the studio to record their new full-length, the follow-up of their excellent Miss World album. Safe for a few singles and remixes things have been pretty quiet since 2015.
Their new double A-side Hardly b/w The Son's Room (Comma Period remix) offers a few pointers of what to expect. The previously unreleased Hardly is dark and melancholic, a piano driven avant-pop ballad wrapped in electronics courtesy of Parisian DJ Comma Period who handled the production. On the flip is his radically reinvented remix of The Son's Room (the original was shared in 2018).
John Cale will be headlining the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival in Seoul, South Korea (June 6-9).
Chicago based progressive improv jazz trio Typical Sisters (formerly known as Greg Uhlmann's Typical Sisters) are back with a new album. Hungry Ghost aims to serve as an escape from a busy world where fact-free politics and technology are clamouring for attention. They do this by weaving intricate textures, musical filigrees wherein themes and choruses are linked together to create a delicate piece of jazz art.
They use the middle ground between composed section and free-flowing spontaneity. Hungry Ghost pushes all the right buttons, without using force, but with determination to create something worthwhile and memorable: quiet intensity at it finest.
Dick Dale, the undisputed King of the Surf Guitar, died of heart failure yesterday aged 81. He is best known for his signature hit Miserlou, a storming guitar rave-up that got another lease on life when it was used by director Quentin Tarantino as the intro music for his Pulp Fiction movie. Dale's rapid alternate picking technique has been copied many times, but no one got it exactly right. Crippling medical bills - he was treated for cancer - prolonged his career as a stage performer until 2016.
Dutch rockers De Staat have announced a club tour: seven shows in November.
Live dates:
Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar are following the blues and paths that were explored by the likes of Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, and Sharon Jones. While her voice is no competition for the power of those two singer the vibe is all there, with an ace band and gospel-tinged backing vocalists. On their new album Run To Me they channel the Stax sound, with spot-on brass, comfy keyboard fills and sparse, but highly efficient, percussion.
Run To Me is basically an album about love in its various guises - joy, pain, doubt. It sounds pretty damn good, but it lacks a spark to make it stand out. There's nothing wrong with being in step with the tradition, but an own twist is needed to leave a more lasting impression.
Chicago rock trio Mutts have launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.com to cover the costs for their new full-length Stuck Together. They are aiming to raise $16,667:
The new album, Stuck Together, is the best thing we've done. The songs are fueled by the most turbulent 5-year period in my life. Many tears, a lot of joy, heaps of disappointment, tons of hard work, and a lot of milestones and memories went into this record. And it was all captured for posterity by Rick Fritz from Audiotree, in bad ass sounding high fidelity.
I only choose musicians who I think will emerge, can emerge, with their own character, while still going along with the tune in question.
Robert Wyatt
At first Dutch neo-classical pianist Jacco Wynia started writing his new compositions as a means of solace and support for friends who were suffering from anxiety and depression. And then he realised that he bound to run into a wall himself, hence the title of his new album Discomfort. It's soft and melancholic, but pain and panic are just below the surface. To make matters worse an unexpected suicide of a close friend, left him in tatters, but it also provided him with an unwavering.sense of purpose to use his music both as a mental health treatment as wel as a monument for all those who could not make it back to safety.
Wynia merely caresses the keys, allowing each note to run its course Discomfort is a manifesto without words, an intense listening experience that demands undivided attention.
"Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way". Some comfort from a playlist while the UK is struggling to make sense of the whole Brexit fuck up. Whatever happens, the music remains. In alphabetical order: Alberteen, Fairport Convention, Led Zeppelin, Nick Drake, Pink Floyd, Robert Wyatt, Small Faces, The Kinks, The Smiths, The Zombies.
Between Me & My Mind, a new documentary about Trey Anastasio, will premiere @ Tribeca Film Festival in NYC. From Jambase:
A new documentary about Phish frontman Trey Anastasio entitled Between Me & My Mind will have its world premiere at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on April 26 as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. A special performance from the Trey Anastasio Band will follow.
Frank Zappa alumnus Ike Willis and Anglo-Dutch band ZAPPATiKA will perform three shows during their Cinco de Mayo Weekend Dash. These guys are fun, the venues are cool, and a beer won't cost you an arm and a leg.
Live dates:
English synth-pop trio AXLS tap into the classic Sc-Fi fear of first alien contact that could be fatal for Earth. The visitors of from outerspace are unimpressed by the ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) that are fired at them. This band used an early Eighties inspired rhythm track, while they sing about mind control, trying to reassure themselves - perhaps against better judgement - that they got this.
While the outcome of this intergalactic war is unsure, they have managed to write a dance anthem that will put a spring in the step of those fighting for the third rock from the sun. Recommended if you like Propaganda and New Order.
ICBM is a self-released single. Release date: March 21.
Dutch singer-songwriter Frank Nicolas is back in the game with a new single: Beaches of Berlin tackles fake news and false promises in an age where it is damn hard to figure is something is real or not. The only winners are the good old snake oil sellers, who can make a buck out pretty much anything. The songs is a warning wrapped in fine outlaw country music.
HCTF review of Free Advice for Sale.
Newcastle based alternative rock quartet FEVA are stepping up their game with Undone. Pushed forward by an upbeat, percussive guitar lick they serve up a melody with earworm capability. Add lyrics about letting loose and presto: snarling Britpop makes a comeback disguised as soulful rock.
The Trey Anastasio Band have added a show in New Haven added to their Spring tour. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 15 at 10AM ET at trey.com/tour./p> Live dates:
» trey.com
John Cale has announced a 3-night stand @ Philharmonie de Paris (September 23-25). Billed as John Cale (2019-1964): A Futurespective he will delve into his back catalog of a career as a musical inventor for 45 years (and counting).
Tickets go on sale on March 16.
In hindsight Swiss experimental industrial pioneers The Young Gods were ahead of their time, using samples before pretty much anybody in rock and leaning heavy on electronics in general. Their signature techno noise was huge influence n fellow musicians, including big names like David Bowie and The Edge. Founded in 1985 they are still going strong and leading the way to uncharted territories.
On their latest album Data Mirage Tangram singer Franz Treichler acts a master of ceremonies, with lyrics in French and English (no German this time). The seven songs or more actually soundscapes - the same number of pieces that are used for the Japanese puzzle after which the record was named - are like a maze, with twists and turns than can fit in pretty much anyway you want too. Expectations are met and turned upside down again. Their musical approach is now familiar in avant-rock circles, but don't accuse them of sounding like such and such - changes are it's actually the other way around.
Dutch country singer Amber Kamminga heads out to Nashville to play four shows. Her new single will be released on April 12.
Live dates:HCTF review of Star-Crossed Lovers.
Everything is old school on the new Atomic Road Kings album Clean Up The Blood, who captured their love for Fifties blues in sparkling mono @ Bigtone Studio in Bristol, VA. Owned by their singer Jon Atkinson they were free to take their pick from his huge collection of vintage microphones and amps to secure the warm and open sound they were looking for.
Clean Up The Blood is in-your-face, raunchy, loud or gentle, depending on the mood of the song. Veteran band member Eric "Jailhouse" Von Herzen, the only remaining member of the band's original line-up, plays a mean harp, and bass player Bill Stuve has the swing of Jack Bruce. Atomic Road Kings aren't a retro act - they play timeless music.
Johnny Dowd was interviewed by Felix Teitelbaum for WRFI Community Radio, an independent station broadcasting in his hometown Ithaca, NY, and Watkins Glen, NY. He discussed his latest album Family Picnic, Charlie Parker, reuniting with Kim Sherwoord-Caso, Michael Edmonson's guitars skills and playing cover songs. Listen to the whole thing on Mixcloud.com. Kinda lame they beeped out the curse words, but that's the American way.
Amsterdam based hard rockers Two Too Many have made a video for their Got My Rock n Roll single: "a tribute to the no-frills attitude that makes riffs and passionate vocals as the go-to key ingredients for raucous rock. Sure, it's basic, but keeping it simple is what makes it so damn catchy. Don't sleep on the lyrics: they make some very valid points in clear language".
The clip was filmed by Lucas De Bra and edited by Damien Roussos.
Live date:
Janis Joplin played a solid show @ the legendary Woodstock festival on August 17, 1969, but only a couple of tracks from that performance have been released officially. Now the long wait is over by way of a new double album that will be released on Record Store Day (April 13). Plenty of copies were pressed, so expect no trouble securing one.
Manchester based indie rockers New Luna have made another single that is both tough and vulnerable, Swarms is a mix of blue-eyed soul and abrasive guitar rock, defying pigeon-holing to create a whole new take on tried and true mannerisms in songwriting.
The Blue Yellows took their lo-fi approach to its logical conclusion when they laid down the songs for their Kitchen Sessions, a mix of home recordings and live tracks. Eccentric, funny, tongue-in-cheek vaudevillian garage rock. with enough musical references to keep the music geeks at bay, like the Take Me Tot The River bit in Spiral Dive. Singer Jonathan Tarplee is an old fashioned balladeer turned indie rock musician, but the band's secret weapon is Emma Alcock with her uncanny knack for syncopation on both accordion and keyboards to give the music an off-kilter quality that make the songs jump up and down in a good way.
It was good move not to try to clean up the material. The sheer joy of playing was paramount, creating on the spot moments of inspiration that could have been lost during Take 34 in a recording studio.
Red Hot Chili Peppers will be perform at The Great Pyramids Of Giza in Egypt on March 15. The show will be available as a free webcast.
Psychedelic electronic indie trio The Slideshows released the promising Sunrise Reprise EP in 2016, but since it was a side project for its members they fell silent shortly after that. But lo and behold, they are back and not just with another EP, but a a full, self-titled album.
The Slideshows play a mix of New Wave, dance and rock that will appeal to fans of LCD Soundsystem. By using vintage analog synths, there is an endearing, makeshift quality to the songs. The rhythms hark back to the early Eighties, with treated vocals floating on top. Vintage technology may be cumbersome and time consuming, but those limitations were put to good use. With happy sad lyrics about getting older, family, nightlife and death, they recorded an album to dance to while lost in thought.
After NY synth shoegaze quartet Elika folded, lead singer Evagelia Maravelias dropped out of the music scene, but now is back with Measured, a new trio tryign their hand at soft spoken dream pop. Her former band mate Brian Wenckebach is on board again playing guitar, baas and keyboards and Ulrich Schnauss brought along his impressive range of synths.
I'd rather play a tune on a horn, but I've always felt that I didn't want to train myself. Because when you get a train, you've got to have an engine and a caboose. I think it's better to train the caboose. You train yourself, you strain yourself.
Don Van Vliet
