The Who's classic The Who Sell Out album will get the superdeluxe edition treatment: 5CDs, 2 7" singles and a 80 page book. Orignally it was envisioned by the band's guitarist and resident genius Pete Townshend as at ribute to pirate radio stations, including a few offbeat commercials mostly created by bass player John Entwistle. It is now considered as the band's first concept album, fully embracing the pop art movement of 1967.
It seems to me that in my playing I have always done two things — one that gradually builds up, like a plane running up, and then when it's really moving the other, which is stepping on the distortion pedal and taking off. But when it did take off it wouldn't go into a solo as such — I don't believe in solos! With Can instead of it being collective improvisation it became collective composing, because the composition took place during the playing in all cases, including on stage. Pieces were newly composed each night around the same theme; I never got tired of this because one could do anything. If, for instance, we played 'Paper House', what was fixed was the rhythm and the key and nothing else, and the real happenings like an acceleration or some climax either happened because we felt like that, or they didn't happen.
Michael Karoli
Watch Martha Redbone play three songs for a NPR Tiny Desk Concert. She was scheduled to take part in globalFEST in New York in January. Because of the pandemic she streamed the performance from her home studio in Brooklyn's Navy Yards. She opened the three-song set with The Garden of Love (from her 2012 album The Garden of Love - Songs of William Blake), and continued with rendtions of Talk About It and The Underdog. Aaron Whitby was on keyboards and Marvin Sewelly played guitar.
Synth post-punk trio Autogramm followed the Billy Joel video for Sometimes a Fantasy shot by shot for the promo clip for the lead single of their second album, No Rules. It is a fast track that might revive slam dancing - they provide a breather bit two-thirds in - and the thick German accent is quite endearing.
No Rules is out April 16th on Nevado Records.
Californian rockers The Gama Sennin have released I Kill You, the lead single from their self-titled debut album. The musicians of this self-proclaimed 21st century "psychedelic rock collective" spell rawk in capital letters. Made by seasoned veterans this track is a testament of what can be done when there are no A&R people breathing down their neck, giving unwelcome advice about what it is commercial and happening right now.
Dutch folk singer Jack Poels keeps the momentum going with a quick follow-up for his debut album review of Blauwe Vear. On II introspection and counting his blessings are the main themes. Left to his own devices after the bulk of his scheduled live shows was cancelled he had plenty of time to look back on his life and finally get around to use the music of some of his heroes (Jeff Tweedy, Ron Sexsmith, Bon Iver) for his own lyrics, written as per usual in in the Limburg dialect, the language of his native province. Storytelling is his forte and he has a knack to turn highly personal words into an universal message.
Poels is keeping it close to home, but he is looking forward to go out in the world again on his own to play these intimate songs, and as the band leader of the uopbeat Americana and Tex-Mex band Rowwen Hèze.
Old school loud post-punk taking the piss. That is what Wet Eyes,, the debut single by English trio Social Haul is all about. Imagine walking into a pub and taking notes of the unhinged conservations. These will get even more incoherent when the amount of drink reaches a level that makes it is nigh impossible to keep a train of thought from derailing. Energetic stuff, with a bass line that stucks in one's head almost instantly.
After collaborating on soundtracks Nick Cave and Warren Ellis will release their first album ,Carnage, as a duo on May 28. The songs are slow and the lyrics are filled with biblical imagery, fear and loathing, a reasonable amount of violence, and of course the likelihood of a full-scale apocalypse. Piano, violin and synths dominate the music, with the occasional loud outburst to rip a shred in the fabric.
Carnage will be released on May 28 on CD and vinyl. Pre-order from his website. It is available for streaming now here.
André Salvador & the Von Kings, a Brooklyn-based psych-pop project led by multi-instrumentalist Tim Cheplick, have made an video for their single Something Nice, a track from their self-titled debut album: "(...) carefully assembled psych-pop songs. Orchestrated and bare bones acoustic segments are woven into a mesmerizing sonic tapestry".
» André Salvador & the Von Kings on Facebook
HCTF review of André Salvador & the Von Kings.
There a lot of Can live bootlegs floating around and there has been chatter for an official series of live recordings for years. The long wait is (almost) over. On May 28th Live in Stuttgart 1975 will be released as 3LP and 2CD via Spoon Records and distributed via Mute. The German inventors were keen improvisers and during concerts by the Krautrock ensemble anything could happen. The remasters are overseen the band's keyboard player Irmin Schmidt and producer and engineer Rene Tinner.
Belgian guitarist and singer Fik Dries (Poppel, Believo!) goes out on his own with hi solo project Outta Here. One And One Is Two is a collection of lo-fi songs. He covers a lot of groung, from psych pop (Truth Is Near), fuzzy garage (Pod), shoegaze (Chill) and blues (Big Boss Man).
One And One Is Two has all the charm of a homemade album, plus the songwriting skills of a musician who can tell a tale within the space of a couple of minutes. It's a warts-and-all release - basically firing up the recording device and press "rec". It is as if he is playing right in front of the listener, feeling his way through the songs.
Tape Op has launched another podcast series: DISCussion. They get on the phone with an artist to discuss an album they love. In episode 12 Sadie Dupuis talks about Aimee Mann's Lost in Space.
Percussionist Willie B (nom-de-plume of Brian Wilson) was messing aroung with a cowbell song. Truus de Groot liked wht she heard and turned it into an avant-garde dance ditty. The video is helpful for those who need some pointers for shaking their bodies.
When the pandemic hit vibraphonist and percussionist Mike Dillon found himself hung out to dry. Performing live is his bread and butter - playing 100+ shows in a year, wowing his audiences with his blend of punk, jazz and funk. He had to find a way to redirect his energy and recorded three full albums, releasing them via Bandcamp as digital downloads. Now Shoot The Moon, Suitcase Man and 1918 will come to vinyl via Royal Potato Family.
Watch Xander Naylor leading his musicians through Riddlin', a track from his latest album Continuum: "an album that requires some time to get into. A working knowledge of what is going on in the world of avant-garde and world music is helpful. Naylor's use of dissonants, free-flowing chord changes and rhythmic risk taking are a joy for anyone who wants to be surprised and taken down roads that they did not even know were there. Woodwinds, brass and eerie vocals sit next to the "rock" instruments, not as competitors but as true collaborators. He has a vision and he is lucky to have a band that is able to play what he is hearing in his head".
The clip was filmed by Yuan Liu.
HCTF review of Continuum.
English band The Catenary Wires started out as a duo. Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey bonded over a shared love for melodic pop, something that is still very much part of their sound now that they have teamed up with three other like-minded musicians to form a full band. Their new single Mirrorball is about feeling awkward during an 80s dance night, with two people checking each other out, not sure how to make the first move. Musically it is a throwback to the heyday of the New Romantics, albeit with an indie twist and the warm sound of a Hammond organ acting as a comfy blanket. Nostalgia abounds, while fully realizing that they are not young anymore.
Milwaukee, WI based Velocihamster may well be the world's only lap steel guitar progressive metal band. Founded by musician/producer Sean Williamson they put this instrument smack in the middle of the spotlights. And it turns out, it can hold its own amidst the "conventional" guitars that have dominated the genre. By default the steel bar that is used to play the guitar is tailor made to go nuts with glissandi (of which there are plenty). The bass players can follow suit, using fretless instruments.
On their first full-length Balls to the Wall is a breath of fresh air in the instrumental shredders niche. Pyrotechnics and chops never get in the way of throwing down a mean rocker. Williamson can make his lap steel scream and wail (Trap, Fall) as well as whisper and soothe (Baba). With the addition of two covers - a respectful version of Misirlou by the king of surf guitar Dick Dale and the funky Phish track First Tube - a splendid time is guaranteed for all. Recommended if you like The Aristocrats.
I'm the kind of person who would love to play whenever I felt like, with a band, and it might as well be the Holiday Inn in Nebraska - somewhere where no one knows you, and you're in a band situation just playing music.
George Harrison
Dutch musician anad self-proclaimd Zappa-nut Fred Händl was scheduled to perform Frank Zappa's music on piano om March 19 and 20 at the Festival Moo-Ah! in the Raven Hall in Corby, UK. The festival was cancelled becurse ifo the pandemic. He has announced that he will be webcasting from his Yellow Hippo studio in The Hague instead.
Steven Wilson is interviewed on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast. He discusses playlist culture, his new album The Future Bites, surround sound remixes, people making generic music on their laptop, getting away from song structures, and much, much more.
Glasgow based Celtic folk band The Gracious Losers have found a way to make an album, Six Road Ends, with a 15-piece band. Band leader and singer Jonathan Lilley is the main songwriter and guitarist. On the lead single Loath To Leave he shares vocal duties with Amanda McKeown. It is a dreamy song about trying to disappear. A fairy tale for grown-ups that becomes real, with meandering soft-spoken psychedelic rock embedded in early Seventies folk with a gentle swaying melody.
Start the Week Over started as a powerpop power trio in 2019, releasing fresh faced songs set in a perennial Summer. They have aged a bit and with two more band members there are more clouds in the sky as they enter the world of emo-rock with their new single Up Tonight, about a guy shuffling his feet when contemplating his next move to win over the girl he is head over heels in love with. Unabashedly radio-friendly with a hint of Weezer and licks that will sound familiar to fans of Huey Lewis and Hootie & The Blowfish.
A new Motörhead live album, Louder Than Noise… Live In Berlin, will be released on April 23 via Silver Lining Music in various formats. The show was recorded at the Berlin Velodrom on December 5th, 2012. Watch them tearing through Over The Top.
Electro-pop artist Kaitee Page reenters the world as recording artist after a hiatus that lasted eight years with What Day Is It Today, a dreamy song about all the changes the United States are going through during the pandemic and the political upheaval. 24 hours news entering the safety of her home on a wide variety of screens made her feel nervous and out of touch. Should she try to make sense of it all or hide in her shell? There is no definite answer, but it doesn't hurt to ask questions.
Late Aster was founded by four students while studying music at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Half of the band, Aaron Messing and Anni Hochhalter, mix classical piano and jazz vocals on their cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic Dreams. The sadness of the lyrics really comes to fore in this stripped down arrangement. It will be released as a bonus track on the limited vinyl version (50 copies) of their debut EP True and Toxic, due for release on May 21 via Bright Shiny Things.
Tape Op has launched another podcast series: DISCussion. They get on the phone with an artist to discuss an album they love. In episode 11 Mark Guliana talks about LCD Soundsystem's American Dream.
English indie trio Waves of Dread give their 2019 single The Make-Believe the opening slot on their new EP Endless. Back then they were deep into neo-psychedelic rock, a genre that is still recognizable in their current sound, but thye have branched out and added ambient shoegaze (Blind) and electronic pop (Solitude) to their palette. The Jesus and mary Cahina and Britpop continue to be major influences and the two of them come together in Way It Is, a surf-tinged song with an instantly hummable melody.
Cramming such a wide variety of genres into half a dozen of songs could have resulted in recording an indiscernible mess of sounds, but they managed to keep it from falling apart. Endless flows like a continious piece of music that has "recommended late-night listening" written all over it.
Singer Narisa Khamvanthong was born in born and raised in the Bay Area of California and the music that surrounded her there followed her to her current place of residence, Lexington, KY, where a bit of country seeped into her songwriting. As Nari she shared some her stuff on Soundcloud and people started taking notice pretty quickly.
Her new single Lower My Expectations is her way of coping with a guy who always was running late when they dated. She was kinda surprised that she put up with that for quite some time, but this song is a quiet way telling him to fuck off. Recommended if you like early Sixties bubblegum pop, a genre that despite its derogatory name is often quite cutting lyrically.
Belgian multi-instrumentalist Wim Lankriet tackled the Pink Floyd classic Cirrus Minor with his Euphemia Rise project, turning it into a soft-spoken synths extravaganza. It is the B-side of his debut single Farewell to Greatness.
» euphemiarise.myportfolio.com
HCTF review of Farewell to Greatness.
Songwriter and producer Kimon Kirk is driving just a bit South of the mainstream on his new album Altitude. Most of it is easy on the ears, only exposing its musical complexity after a more thorough inspection. He is best known as a sideman and composer for artists like Aimee Mann and Lori McKenna, having a knack to create a tune that appeals to fans of West Coast country-tinged rock. Setting aside songs for a solo album was never high on his to do list, but when he did finally get around to do so the creative juices started flowing.
Midtempo rockers (Evergreen, Trampoline and ballads (What Do I Know, Halfway Right) are his forte, but the real gems are the two short instrumentals, interlude and reprise, both of them not mere linking pieces but sonic explorations that deserve to be developed more fully and incorporated into his "proper" songs. Aimee Mann fans will be pleased that he added the duet Baby Who Knows they recorded for a single in 2017.
All musicians are required to play time. It's up to the drummer to make that time interesting.
Gavin Harrison
Brighton based shoegaze trio Ciel put an end to a love affair on their Pretty Face, letting the person on the receiving end walk away with some dignity. Nice touch to throw in a bit of noise near the end to make the hurt a little more palpable. Recommended if you like The Beautiful South and the Sundays.
Evripidis Sabatis goes back to the sound of Eighties synth pop on Bitter, the new single by Evripidis and his Tragedies project. He invited Greg Goldberg from NYC gay indie pop duo The Ballet to share the vocal duties. It's about relationships that don't last long and trying not to care about that. Humour and sadness are playing catch, with no clear winner. The general mood comes close to camp, but they keep it real.
Avant-prog improv trio Stick Men have posted a board mix of their show @ Higher Ground in Burlington, VT on August 2, 2017 on Bandcamp. The recording was made by F.O.H. engineer Robert Frazza, so it sounds rather splendid. As per usual there are plenty of songs from the King Crimson universe - check their treatments of Breathless and Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part II - carefully arranged for this power trio format.
Dutch folk singer Jack Poels sings about about a thinking about a fantasy world while lying awake at night on De nacht van 't greune graas, a song from his forthcoming second solo album II. It is almost a spoken word piece, with a guitar repeating the same motif all the way through. His debut album Blauwe Vear got rave reviews and it gave him the confidence to go out on his own again, next to fronting the popular Americana band Rowwen Hèze.
The video was made by Ruud Geuijen.
Dutch band The Wasters invoke the spirits of Nineties alternative rock and grunge on their double A-side Choose To Lose b/w Taking My Picture. Hailing from Nijmegen, a fertile environment for loud music, the power trio brings both the noise as well as catchy melodies with earworm potential. These tracks need to be released on vinyl posthaste.
Alan Lastufka, the man who bought the The Future Bites (Ultra Deluxe Music Product On Obsolete Media Limited Edition Of One) album by Steven Wilson, made a video for The Tastemaker, the unique 7" Single, one of the one-of-kind items in the box. He went above and beyond, and came up with a clip that captures the rampant consumerism that is one of the main themes on the album.
An interview with Alan Lastufka can be found here. Wilson granted him permission to share the audio of the track (FLAC, MP3).
Watch the new Geiger von Müller video for Interstellar Resorption #3, a track from his Ruby Red Run! album. The London based acoustic slide guitarist " is a sonic explorer, stretching his notes and sometimes bending his strings until they almost break. He uses resonance as a means of creating feedback and he can sound like a one-man guitar army, playing lead and rhythm simultaneously". The song is dedicated to Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler, who managed to escape from Auschwitz and tell the world about the atrocities and mass-murder.
The clip was directed by Rob Sulman.
HCTF review of Ruby Red Run!
Tape Op has launched another podcast series: DISCussion. They get on the phone with an artist to discuss an album they love. In episode 10 Sarah Jarosz talks about James McMurtry's Too Long in the Wasteland.
Toronto based fuzzy electro-rock duo Paragon Cause have made a video for their Making Up for Lost Time single: "it is OK to fuck up every now and then when taking changes. It is about getting up again, laugh about it maybe, and move on. Singer Michelle Opthof made sure she could be heard above the din created by the guitars of her musical partner Jay Bonaparte and guest player Sune Rose Wagner on bass and drums".
With the release of their Toluca Jazz two in-demand sidemen of the Southern California jazz scene step into the spotlight. Gitarist Doug MacDonald and bassist Harvey Newmark serve up a dish of easygoing, laidback tracks, six of them MacDonald originals, and seven standards, including a rather shy version of Coltrane's Village Blues.
The two men have an instant rapport, with their instrument blending seamlessly. Their superb technical dexterity to play blues-tinged jazz and gentle swaying bossa nova gets in the way of the spontaniety. A bit more risk taking would not have hurt. When the floor is yours, make it count.
English rhythm & noir band Alberteen have changed their sound a bit on their new album Lowenva - a Cornish word that can be translated as "House of Happiness", and also the name of the home in which one of the band members was born. They were first and foremost a guitar band, but they branched out and added clarinets, saxophones, and even a theremin. John Rose, Phil Shaw and Ade Berry recorded it as a three-piece, in and out of lockdowns using the technology that was developed for Soho's legendary Trident Studios.
Lyrically it is a grab bag of subjects, loosely held together by a sense of loss and unease. The English landscape (Against Nature), its buildings (Station Hotel), endangered fish (The Greenland Shark), melancholy (Baby, You’ve Served Your Time) - they cover a lot of ground within half an hour. It feels like the band is searching for something solid and sturdy to cling on to. Failing that they decided to put anxiety first, a fitting choice in these weird and troubling times, making Lowenva an album that is unsettling and melancholic lyrically, wrapped in dark but comforting rock music.
London based alt emo duo Mothercanyouhearme take a long hard look at trying to cope with peer pressure and running away from reality on their new single Chemicool. Popping a pill is only a short term solution, a message that best friends Rosie, singer and guitarist, and Georgia, singer and drummer. have gift wrapped in a punkish song with jangling indie guitar and shuffling drums:
"The chemicals in your brain,
Are there to take the stress away,
Artificial happiness,
So you can't feel afraid."
Belgian lo-fi bedroom pop duo Melting Mallows comprises of Bices Mali (guitar, vocals) and Brian Jon P. (drums, vocals). Their first full-length Something Sweet is filled catchy songs about falling in love, feeling awkward around women, and finding solace in listening to music. It's all quite charming and innocent sounding, something that they might not have accomplished with a bigger budget or access to better equipment.
They have a knack for writing succinct, optimistic songs, with leaning towards power pop and late Sixties psychedelia. Melting Mallows make it clear that is OK to be shy and a bit self-conscious. If anything those characteristics have supplied them with plenty of confidence that they will not run out of things to write about.
Dutch alt-folk singer Lieke Heusinkveld, who goes by the stage name La Loye, channels Elliot Smith Nick Drake on her new single I Only Hear You In My Song, an exploration about the ending of a love affair. It turns out that the break does not hurt as much as she was afraid before hand. The decision to walk away is actually liberating.
Most bands have a sound that they're already identified with, so for the producer it becomes a process of helping them find their muse in the studio to make a record that will not only satisfy them artistically, but will also do something in the marketplace.
Jerry Harrison
Subterranean Street Society have shared a single edit from Weapons Of Mass Destruction, a track from their Twelve Steps album. It follows The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) that got the father of singer and guitarist Louis Puggaard-Müller sober after falling down hard : "The songs (...) do not preach, but observe and support. It is an album about despair, setbacks, reconciliation and hope, steeped in blues and folk, switching from elecrric to acoustic with an intensity that can be overwhelming at times. Puggaard-Müller made this album for himself and his father, but its universal message should resonate with anyone who has been confronted with addiction."
» subterraneanstreetsociety.com
HCTF review of Twelve Steps.
At the time the members of and the crowd at the sold out The Fierce & The Dead show at the Hope And Anchor in London on March 5, 2020 would not have guessed that this would their last live gig due to COVID. Luckily the tapes were rolling and now they have released a 3-track live EP, kicking off with the first ever on stage outing of 10x10, using keyboards, an instrument that had started using only recently. They added the two more oldies Part 2 from If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe and Palm Trees, a fan favourite from their 2015 EP Magnet.
Few rock bands have the ability to keep playing for years on end like there is no tomorrow like Londoners Sabatta. They have collected a bunch of high energy songs for What Set List? 2, compromising of a handful previously singles and material that will sound familiar to those who were lucky enough to see perform live, offering the best of funky trash metal tinged rock to be found in the Big Smoke.
Singer and guitarist Yinka Oyewole and bass player Debbie Dee keep it simple and straightforward, digging in their stash of riffs and hooks, and go straight for the gut with their music while nudging the brain with their politically charged lyrics, writing about racism, police violence. But there is also plenty of good time rawk on this compilation. It will be released on February 12 and is available for pre-order from their website.
Denver's outsider lo-fi noise rockers American Culture know all about driving around the States to gigs in ill-equipped basements to play another show. They dubbed their fans "animals", not in a degrading but loving way, and wrote a song for them. It became the title track for their third studio album, For My Animals, due for release in March 19th via Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records (vinyl, cassette). Recorded on a 4 track cassette it sounds a bit murky, but that is intentional and part of the charm. Songwriter Chris about how the song was written:
I don’t want to feign modesty here (isn’t put on modesty even more pretentious than bragging?) but this is super hard. Writing about a song I made? It’s always awkward to talk about your own. It’s especially tricky to talk about this stuff because we have a policy in this band (perhaps our ONLY policy) to never think too long, never fuss too hard on a song. If it starts to be labored or over thought, we throw the whole idea out. We might be lazy but we’ve found that the best ones just kind of write themselves. The happy accidental songs are the only keepers here. Our practices are more about finding jams that songs can grow out of. I usually take those loose sketches home and make the poetry part as I’m drifting off to sleep or as I’m waking up from sleep.
Taking the piss about Alpha male posturing by means of punk, noise and free jazz is the main theme on Welfare Jazz, the new album by Stockholm based band Viagra Boys. It is not that easy to mix satire and music, but they pull it off with flying colours. Singer Sebastian Murphy has a way with words, loading his lyrics with double meanings and puns with full-throttle bangers like Ain't Nice and I Feel Alive.
Imagine the Stooges in their Raw Power phase having a ball with The Birthday Party and De Staat, with Tom Waits smiling in the background. Monolithic dance grooves clash with a prog rock flute solo or a screaming saxophone. But when all is said done they just want to settle down in the country with a nice lady. No wonder that they end the album with a cover of the John Prine classic In Spite of Ourselves, with Amy Taylor handling the part of Iris DeMent.
Undermine, the new weekly podcast about jamband Phish is collaboration of the makers of Under the Scales, Helping Friendly Podcast and Beyond the Pond . It dedicates its first season to the early days of the band. In the first episode they have a rather special guy among the interviewees, former guitarist Jeff Holdsworth, who left the band in 1986. Other guests include Steve “The Dude Of Life” Pollak and Amy Skelton, the band's first fan. Phish lyricist Tom Marshall is the main host of the show.
Playing no-frills pub-rock is a lot harder than it seems. It is all about the groove, the rhythm, and blue-collar lyrics. As a musician you have to live it to make it real. Enter Joe Normal & The Anytown'rs, a band led a New Jersey guy who ended up in LA and found three like-minded men to form a band. Their latest single follows the classic format: an upbeat (and angry) A-side, Stuck In A Job, backed by a more subdued B-side, the acoustic solo track Living In The Borough with Joe playing drums and mandolin.
This is a band who have been playing up a storm in any bar that would have them, winning over crowds and turning them into instant fans. With their blend for homespun working class garage rock mixed with the melodic pop sensibilities of the British invasion they are just what the doctor ordered after putting in long hours for a job that is not exciting or fulfilling in any sense. They can't wait to play again and provide a good night of rock'n' roll entertainment, sticking it to the man while they are at it.
Brooklyn based funksters Turkuaz teamed up with Talking Heads founder member Jerry Harrison and guitarist Adrian Belew (who performed on the Remain in Light tour) for an episode of Bonnaroo Virtual Roo-ality. They kick off with Psycho Killer, followed by Houses In Motion and their own song Ophidiophobia, and signing off with Crosseyed And Painless.
On January 29, 2021 French actress Fanny Ardant and dark wave band Deleyaman shared the stage for a night of poetry and music as part of web series initated by the Maison de la Poésie in Paris. The show was webcasted from the stage of Le Trianon Transatlantique in Sotteville-lès-Rouen. The complete performance is now up on YouTube.
» deleyaman.com
» Fanny Ardant on Wikipedia
HCTF review of Sentinel.
Watch the new McStine & Minnemann video for The Horse Is Dead, a track from their sophomore release II: "a raw album, its dirty sound has "come hither" written all over it, plus great hooks, solos and quite a bit of smokes and mirrors trickery with chord changes and challenging rhythms".
HCTF review of II.
Steven Wilson has used deep fake technology for the video for Self, a track from his new album The Future Bites. Tackling narcissim and asking questions what is real he drives home his point by replacing his face with the features of countless celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, 45, Joe Biden, Robert Downey Jr., Marc Zuckerberg, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt, Paul McCartney, and Tom Cruise. The final guise is his transformation into his hero David Bowie. The clips was directed by Miles Skarin.
The short-lived Athens post-punk act Oh-OK never released a full-length as a band (1981-1984). Singer Linda Hopper (vocals), Lynda Stipe (bass, vocals) and drummer David Pierce were special right from the start, relying on off-kilter, freeflowing lyrics on top of an utterly danceable back beat. They got their first break when they were the support act for REM, after being invited by Lynda's brother Michael... David McNair replaced Pierce and in their last phase as a recording unit the band had Matthew Sweet on guitar. After the 4-track mini-album Wow in 1982 and the Furthermore What EP in 1983 they broke up in 1984 shortly after recording two songs for a single that never saw the light of day. Hopper and McNair became founding members of indie band Magnapop, and Stipe handled the vocals for Hetch Hetch and Flash to Bang Time.
The band's reputation has only grown over the years and the upcoming reissue of The Complete Reissue on vinyl and cassette via Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records gives fans of rambling, melodic poppy punk the change to catch up with truly original approach. Think the B52's crashing a party hosted by the Breeders and the Slits.
English rhythm & noir band Alberteen will release their new album Lowenva on February 12. John Rose, Phil Shaw and Ade Berry recorded it as a three-piece, in and out of lockdowns using the technology that was developed for Soho's legendary Trident Studios. Expect less rock guitar. Clarinets, saxophones and even a theremin will feature prominently.
