Melbourne indie band Fan Girl are gravitating towards art rock on their new single flood, with a shifting back beat that somehow always lands on its feet. Lots of fuzz, so mastering engineer Felix Davis had plenty of work to salvage Noah Harris's vocals from the stems that were send to him. The result: a mangled sound that is quite catchy.
Watch the Giant Day video for Overtone, a track from their Glass Narcissus album: "a record for listeners who are willing to go in at the deep end to explore inner turmoil, pet peeves and serious concerns, wrapped in subdued yet danceable music."
Live date:HCTF review of Glass Narcissus
Funky afro-beat big band The Brighton Beat wrap up 2024 with a couple of shows, playing their favourite haunts in the lead up to their home-coming gig in Marlboro on December 7.
Live dates:
English bluesy folk singer Natalie Bouloudis has a soft spot for carefully orchestrated arrangments. On her new single Dream River she goes on trip on a glorious Summer day through an imagined landscape, where time runs at a different speed. It is a concept that is both compelling and a bit scary as the river is on the brink to overspilling, taking her away to an unknown destination.
Italian avant-garde duo DC duo dive head first into the alleys marked experimental and free jazz for their new album Mnemosine, with three improvised tracks that are dense to get into at first, but having an open mind combined with quite a bit of endurance pays in spades. Andrea Dicò (drums) and Francesco Carbone (guitar) are sonic explorers, always trying to find new ways to surprise themselves. Spontaneity is key, even when they seem to get stuck on a motif, there is always a little deviation creeping in that will lead them to the next part of a composition.
There previous album Take the Long Way Home was basically one track, but now they tell three different stories without using words. All tracks are inspired by the treasure trove that is Greek mythology. Mnemosine is the titanness of thought, intellect and memory. Lete is named after the personifaction of oblivion - it also the river of forgetfulness that the deceased are supposed to drink from before they entered Hades. Asfodelo is named after the plant that were used on graves, but whose roots also were used as medicine against snake bites.
Phoenix, AZ based musicians Jason P. Woodbury and Zachary Toporek named themselves JPW & Dad Weed for their debut EP Two Against Nurture. The three tracks were recorded in fits and starts over the years, but they share the same framework: free-flowing, gnarly power pop that mixes the Byrds with unhinged 90s grunge.
Never mind the stoned teenagers having a laugh name for their duo. This is very much a release for music geeks, who will have a field day dissecting all the references Woodbury and Toporek managed to sneak in.
English twee trio The Happy Somethings named their new EP Love Songs, but rest assured: they haven't gone soft. It was more entertaining to poke fun at prospective signifant others - after all if he or she can't take a joke, it is time to get the hell out of there.
It's all done tongue-in-cheek and slightlty over the top, but it also very refreshing to indulge into a bit of wryly sarcasm. After the novelty of being in a relationship wears off, sharing the same sense of humour is what keeps people going.
Dutch composer and pianist Alan Lauris is in full-on bleak 80s post-punk mode on his new single Break, a dark song about foregoing religion and being disappointed in friends and family who assured him that they would have his back, no matter what. Something had to give, but in the end he came to the conclusion that there is only one person he can fully trust: himself. And maybe the fellow musicians who helped him to create this powerful accusation.
Phish
2024/10/27
MVP Arena
Albany, NY
Watch Japanese composer and pianist Koki Nakano perform Vertical Pool with Nigerian future soul singer Wayne Snow. The studio version can be found on his new album Ululō: "[He] solidifies his status as a driving force for 21st century modernism, an album that is both a joy and a challenge to listen to."
All music industry bodies were saying the same before Brexit: ‘We have to address the needs of touring musicians in this deal.’ And the government were all: ‘This’ll be fine, we hold all the cards’ – blah blah blah. And they did absolutely nothing.
Dave Rowntree
Phish
2024/10/26
MVP Arena
Albany, NY
Musical maverick Johnny Dowd has the recipe to scare the shit out of those kids who demand free candy: a face mask with his signature smirk or the drawn version from his Family Picnic album, both available from his webshop. Strapped for cash? Help yourself to a free Halloween card.
Dutch-French-Italian gothic Americana band Templo Diez named their new album Sunland after ghost town in California, the first of a what will become trilogy. Now down to a trio the band focuses even more on their core values: intimate storytelling on top of soft-spoken yet intense music.
It is a roadtrip that shuns the highways, but chooses the backroads as a means of travel. By doing so there is ample room to cherrypick elements of slowcore, indie rock and country-tinged roots. They are a band who are perfectly capable to give the Americans a few pointers on how things should be done., a classic case of pupils beating their masters after putting in years of hard work.
Dutch retro-pop act Donna Blue will end their club tour in The Netherlands on October 30 in The Hague, sharing the bill with label mates Cape Sleep. Spain is next to promote their latest album Into the Realm of Love: "(...) carefully crafted love songs that could have been released in the mid-sixties when psychedelic rock took off. (...) At first it may seem that Into the Realm of Love offers more of the same, but by going in at the deep end, they have come up with so many gems that a listener may have missed a few the first time around. It is a slow burn that leaves no blisters, offering plenty of food for thought instead."
Phish
2024/10/25
MVP Arena
Albany, NY
Japanese composer and pianist Koki Nakano tries to be an open book emotionally on his new album Ululō ("howl" or "cry"). He vividly remembers the moment when his fathers arms, trying to touch the moon. Frustrated that he could not make it happen, he screamed. That single memory became the launchpad for this new collection of compositions, taking elements from traditional classical music, avant garde, jazz, minimalism, and ambient mixed with static noises.
For some of the tracks he felt that words were needed to make things more clear, so he invited French-Israeli singer and actress Yael Naim, Nigerian future soul singer Wayne Snow and English rapper Jordy, who all went above and beyond to make Nakano's visions a little easier to understand. With Ululō Nakano solidifies his status as a driving force for 21st century modernism, an album that is both a joy and a challenge to listen to.
English musicians and music geeks extraordinaire Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness have posted a new episode of their podcast The Album Years. They talk about 1982, discussing albums by John Cale, Pete Townshend, Squeeze, King Crimson, and a whole lot more. This is part #5 about this year. The pair can be watched on YouTube as well.
Dutch dream pop duo ISLE have been lying low since the release of their A Siren's Call album in 2021. Singer Lise Low and multi-instrumentalist Arjan de Wit are back on track with a new single, Sad Song, the first taste for their new album Equilibrium.
Les Biologistes Marins is an Italian ambient avant-garde duo that seeks to capture the sounds of water on their If places were sounds album. Inspired a boat trip that took her across the globe Beatrice Miniaci connected with Anton Sconosciuto in her search to combine ambient, drones and field recordings to create a catalogue of all the different guises in which Earth's seas and oceans set up a conversation with anyone who cares to listen. It makes a big difference whether you are on the coast of France (Marseille), Japan (Cape Sukoto) or New Zealand (Auckland)
Each note counts, as the tracks were carefully assembled to create an immersive mood that is best experienced with a pair of good headphones, that can handle all the subtleties. Japanese minimalist composer Hiroshi Yoshimura, who pioneered kankyō ongaku (environment music), is one Miniaci's musical heroes and his composition Clouds is covered respectfully.
English old school blues trio Jo Carley and The Old Dry Skulls will take their blend of vaudeville and tongue-in-cheek horror on the road again, playing shows in the UK, Italy, Germany and Belgium.
Live dates:Quirky pop act Dirty Nice show their versality with a new double A-side single. When She Starts It Up is upbeat, a hats off song for a friend of a friend's mum, Elspeth, who was the first woman to a ride a motorcycle around the world.
There's A Ghost In My Home is slow and almost childlike, in which a life and all the regrets that come with it, are captured in melancholy. Charlie Pelling and Mark Thompson have a knack for nailing various moods and making it look so easy. Anyone who has tried that, knows it is actually fucking hard.
Phish will broadcast the 3 nights @ MVP Arena in Albany, NY (October 25-27) to raise funds for the Divided Sky Foundation as pay-per-view-webcasts in HD or UltraHD 4K.
100% of net proceeds from all concert and merchandise sales will be directed to the Divided Sky Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to addiction recovery, and the Divided Sky Residential Recovery Program in Ludlow, VT. Conceived of and founded by Trey Anastasio and program director Melanie Gulde, The Divided Sky Residential Recovery program gives hope to those struggling with addiction by providing a safe, nurturing environment to begin their recovery journey.
Swedish singer Orlando Hotopf mixes folk and electronics on his new single Half Light, an introspective song about supporting a friend who is not well. It is unclear whether that person will get better - it will be a long journey for sure, but being an optimistic ally is the way to go for now.
NYC noise rockers A Place To Bury Strangers have made unveiled a stylish B&W video for It's Too Much, a Sci-Fi song wherein magic and chemistry are equal partners, allowing people to travel great distances without any side effects. The clip was directed by Travis Stevens.
Dutch neo-psychedelic folk duo Myriad's Veil consists of singer-songwriter Ismena and Temple Fang guitarist Ivy van der Veer. Their debut single The Darkness is a dreamy throwback to the early Seventies pastoral progressive rock, wherein the lingering melodies of both the music and vocals team up to build up to an ambigious happy ending - lot of questions without any definite answers. It is a gentle head-scratcher that bodes well for their debut album Pendant.
Singer-songwriter Eliot Eidelman has been all over the place before settling down in tiny house trailer in a remote canyon outside of Ojai, California. Making money as a private music teacher gives him enough wiggle room to work on his own songs and share them with the world. California Blues is slow and intense, a peak behind the curtain of a depression that kept him from creating for a couple of years, as he had visions to return to "The Golden State", when that would financially feasible. The lyrics are a 101 for telling a humorous and self-deprecating story
Amsterdam based art-rock band Labasheeda have just announced their first show for 2025. They will be playing at De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam on February 14. Expect lots of tracks from their latest album Blueprints: "Firmly grounded in the post-punk meets noise tradition, they are not in it for the entertainment of their audience, but offering them a challenge instead with rhythmic shifts, choice feedback, and using string instruments as equal partners for the electric guitar as a lead instrument."
HCTF review of Blueprints.
French indie rock trio Don Aman showed a special kind of ecleticism on their Monsterlock album in 2020, mixing genres and laughing at so-called barriers or people going "that's never going to work". Fast forward to 2024 and the long-awaited follow-up is finally there. They called it Open for a reason, because once again anything goes. Listeners are treated to a rollercoaster ride, albeit taking it litte slower than they did before.
Latching onto a theme, a groove or a lick and see how far it will go, seems to be their modus operandi to get a track off the ground. Over time it changes a bit, sometimes even quite drastically, in ways that will be applauded by jazz and avant-garde fans. It is a kaleisdocope with dazzling sound effects.
Welsh poppy indie punkers Swansea Sound have never shunned away from their taking a stand. Their new single Toxic Energy is both an accusation and a consolation for those who feel that they are trapped in an unhealthy relationship. It's fast and damn catchy. The B-side Dinosaur Bones moves at a glacial pace, with the unspoken threat that failing to evolve will get you killed.
Fresno, CA power pop band Blake Jones & The Trike Shop have good reason to be worried about the extreme-right Proud Boys organisation. Their Fascist Bumblebee Winter Formal single, a track from their and still... album, describes them barging into their environment, which was quite scary.
» Blake Jones & The Trike Shop on Facebook
HCTF review of and still....
We're genre-sluts, really. We're all good players, and I don't see why we should have to confine ourselves into playing in one particular style. The Beatles never did. It's whatever floats the boat, really.
Alex James
Live in Detroit, recorded at the Cobo Arena on May 8, 1970, captures The Doors in full flight. The show will be released as a pricey 4LP set on Black Friday (November 29). 5000 copies worldwode. It was previously released in 2000 as a 2CD as part of the band's Bright Midnight series. Also: 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the band when they got the ball rolling in California, so there will be plenty of reissues and the like.
Dutch musician Benjamin van Vliet has released two albums by his Microwolf project at once: a live one, Claptrap, and West of, a collection of odds and ends. He is been a vital member of the lo-fi underground scene, a musician's musician who mixes folk with Krautrock and dream pop. He doesn't shy away from getting atonal at times, throwing a spanner in the mix to catch the listener off guard.
Watch English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead perform Photogenic Love @ Music Hall in Ramsgate on May 4, a track from their News From The Invisible World album. The video was directed by Lucy Foster. This version can be found on their new album Live at Ramsgate Music Hall '24.
HCTF review of News From The Invisible World.
Canadian post-punk quartet The Meringues have made a video for Shambles, a track from their Pavlova's Dog album: "(...) raw, abrasive and fucking catchy. There is not much wiggle room for different view points, when the hurt of a breakup comes crashing down like a tidal wave. Honesty is overrated at this stage as well as turning a blind eye at one's own faults". The clip was directed by Braedon Mathers and Ted Evans.
Live dates:HCTF review of Pavlova's Dog.
More Jimi Hendrix product: five songs from the Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts box set are being released on blue and violet swirl vinyl on Black Friday (November 29). 4500 copies worldwide. A missed opportunity to release the five tracks from the second show on December 31, 1969 that were not included on the set instead.
Side A
1. Stone Free (Live at the Fillmore East, NY – 1/1/70 – 2nd Set)
2. Hear My Train a Comin’ (Live at the Fillmore East, NY – 12/31/69 – 1st Set)
Side B
1. Izabella (Live at the Fillmore East, NY – 12/31/69 – 1st Set)
2. Machine Gun (Live at the Fillmore East, NY – 12/31/69 – 1st Set)
3. Foxey Lady (Live at the Fillmore East, NY – 12/31/69 – 2nd Set)
Dutch harpist Remy van Kesteren wrote the music for Closing Time in 2019, but he felt that something was missing. Kim Janssen (Cape Sleep) helped him out writing the lyrics and handling the vocals and they performed live in 2022, but now all the dots are connected with the cellos of the Metropole Orchestra and backing vocals by singer Tessa Douwstra. When a track has been on the backburner for so long, overthinking and overproducing are not uncommon, but it sounds like it was recorded in the round in a single take. Melancholy captured flawlessly by producer Wannes Salomé.
Brooklyn based musician Johnny Leitera released a couple of choice singles after his Yesterday Suit album by his one-man project Tuff Sunshine saw the light of day in 2021. The long wait for a follow-up full-length over and it turns out that the tracks on Vanity Matrix share a common theme: the shallowness of social media, where striking a post can't hide the fact that it is all an act, and there is no escaping from the real world.
Ageing is real (All My Best Laps Are Behind Me), getting a drink in a nice pub is real (I Will Meet You At The Bell, Elevator Eyes), and the threat of street violence is real and scary (No Juice). Leitera uses skewed post-punk as the foundation for his music, but also dips his toes into funk, Tex-Mex and blues-tinged rock. His hoarse vocal delivery is tailor-made for his tales and stories. He is his own protagonist, but he paints the picture of a relatable guy that will appeal to anyone who has found himself in a spot of bother.
English musicians and music geeks extraordinaire Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness have posted a new episode of their podcast The Album Years. They talk about 1982, discussing albums by XTC, Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Joe Jackson, and a whole lot more. This is part #4 about this year. The pair can be watched on YouTube as well.
NYC noise rockers A Place To Bury Strangers have made unveiled a video for Fear Of Transformation, a song about a kid who tries to come to terms with the fact that he is a werewolf. Lucky for him it is not that obvious when he attends a Furry party. The clip was directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle.
Good times rock 'n' roll is good hands with Speedmobile, a loud and fast power trio featuring members of Dutch bands Batmobile and Peter Pan Speedrock. On their second full-length Demolition Town they barrel through 15 tracks, celebrating living in the fast lane and ignoring all the warning signs. These men keep it simple and basic - the sole instrumental is called Instrumental, taking cues from the playbooks used by AC/DC, Motörhead and the Ramones, with a hint of the heavy glamrock of Alice Cooper thrown in for good measure.
This is a band that gets in your face, with your ears ringing. Trying to resist jumping and down, while headbanging, is a lost cause. Speedmobile proves that you only need a couple of choice chords and a supertight rhythm section to get a rise out of an audience. Sure, there is plenty of posturing, but isn't rock 'n' roll supposed to be bigger than life?
Jazz fusion prog rock trio The Aristocrats will bring their impressive chops and humorous stage banter to Japan next year
Live dates:
Experimental folk band Icarus Phoenix had to kill some of their darlings when they chose the tracks for their I Should Have Known the Things You Never Said album. Homeostasis was one of the tracks that fell by the wayside, but now sees the light of day as a single, with songwriter Drew Danburry being just a bit of tongue-in-cheek about trying to keep his desires under control. Its lighthearted mood comes to the fore more fully with the full band rendition, but is nice to hear his solo acoustic demo as well.
In 1973 Patricia “Trixie” Sullivan, assistant to Jimi Hendrix's manager Mike Jeffery, took home a tape with four demos that were recorded in 1968: Up From the Skies, Ain’t No Telling, Little Miss Lover and Stone Free. One lucky buyer with deep pockets will win the live-streamed auction which is to be held in London on 15 November by Propstore, London based specialists in film, TV and music memorabilia. Besides this particular tape there is a wealth of other tapes, press clipping, bills and letters, all from the same haul that bailiffs failed to recognize as valuable back then.
Fingers crossed these recordings don't end up in the vault, but will see the light of day as a proper release. Good luck trying to sort things out with the incompetents that run Experience Hendrix.
Watch English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead perform What A Time To Be Alive @ Music Hall in Ramsgate on May 4, a track from their News From The Invisible World album. The video was directed by Lucy Foster. This version can be found on their new album Live at Ramsgate Music Hall '24.
HCTF review of News From The Invisible World.
Richmond, VA based musicians Kenneth Close and Tracy Wilson decided that they needed something special to coincide with their upcoming tour. Their Outer World retro-futuristic pysch-pop project released the rather splendid album Who Does The Music Love? and they enlisted Kenneth Close (keyboards/samples), Tracy Wilson (vocals), Erin O’Hare (bass), Nate Rubin (guitar), and Keith Renna (drums) to be able to replicate the material live. As a thank you to these musicians they recorded Coming Down, a cover of cult psych-punk band The United States of America, and the brand new original Superior Washing Results together. The latter was inspired by a Stereolab laundry bag that has been lying around in their studio for ages.
Live at the Grande Ballroom Detroit, Michigan - March 2, 1968, an above average concert by Big Brother & The Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin) will be released on vinyl on Black Friday (November 29). The band played two back-to-back shows at the venue (March 1 & 2) for a live album, but the band's producer John Simon and manager Albert Grossman did not like the results and the recordings were shelved.
I suppose my little Martin acoustic guitar is quickly becoming a prize possession. It's a lovely guitar. I bought it at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2001 before I had cleaned up.
Graham Coxon
French-American dark wave band Deleyaman have made a video for Gold is Fading into Gray, a track from their The Sudbury Inn album. It uses the words of the Anna Akhmatova poem The evening light is broad and yellow: "By cherry-picking from the classic texts Deleyaman has given them as new lease on life. If only a small percentage of the listeners will hit the bookshops after hearing the album, it is mission accomplished for a band that is not afraid to offer a challenge as a means of showing the beauty of literature by means of carefully crafted music".
Darren Smallman takes his one-man garage-punk band Dez Dare on the road again to promote his latest album Billion Goats. A Billion Sparks. Fin album: "a rollercoaster ride without any of the nasty side-effects (nauseau, dizziness and the like). He is shouting at the heavens, calling in physics as well as science-fiction to make sense of it all. It is an album that is bursting at the seems with fuzz and reverb, and it sounds like it might fall apart at any second. Smallman is walking the thin line between structured mayhem and chaos, but it is worth the risk. The best art offers a challenge for both the artist and the public".
Glaswegian neo-punkers Declan Welsh & The Decadent West could not resist heaping tons of effects on the vocals on their new single Inaction. Not the best idea, as it takes a bit away from the righteous anger about the clusterfuck that is happening in the Middle-East right now. It is their fastest song to date - 188bpm - which will be a real challenge for the dancers near the stage at their live shows.
Watch English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead perform Landcrab @ Music Hall in Ramsgate on May 4,, a track from their If It Carries On Like This We Are Moving To Morecambe album. This version can be found on their new album Live at Ramsgate Music Hall '24. The video was directed by Lucy Foster.
English musicians and music geeks extraordinaire Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness have posted a new episode of their podcast The Album Years. They talk about 1982, discussing albums by Queen, Prince, Paul McCartney, Dexys Midnight Runners, and a whole lot more. This is part #3 about this year. The pair can be watched on YouTube as well.
Watch English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead perform Truck @ Music Hall in Ramsgate on May 4, a track from their The Euphoric album. The video was directed by Lucy Foster. This version can be found on their new album Live at Ramsgate Music Hall '24.
If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel.
Jim Morrison
Dutch art rock band Oh Hazar are dead serious on their new single Justice, a hard-hitting and unrelenting track about the tension between those in power and those who are left to their own devices. It is rather dark, with a few short breaks as breathers before they go all in again. Nice touch to add some echo to the last notes as the song fades out.
English musicians and music geeks extraordinaire Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness have posted a new episode of their podcast The Album Years. They talk about 1982, discussing albums by Thomas Dolby, Talk Talk, Gary Numan, Harioumi Hosono, and a whole lot more. This is part #2 about this year. The pair can be watched on YouTube as well.
Phish takes over NYC's Madison Square Garden again for a four-night New Year’s Run (12/28/2024-12/31/2024):
Surprise! Phish returns to New York City Saturday, December 28th through Tuesday, December 31st for a four-night New Year’s Run at The Garden, bringing Phish’s total number of plays at Madison Square Garden to 87. A ticket request period is currently underway at tickets.phish.com (ending Monday, October 7th at Noon ET).
Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, October 11th at Noon ET. A limited number of travel packages (hotel + tickets) will go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, October 2nd, at Noon ET at phishnye.100xhospitality.com. For complete ticketing information, visit phish.com/tours.
John Watts has rescheduled the dates for his solo tour in The Netherlands:
The new album is not finished yet - my broken leg slowed things down! The shows will feature the ‘Going Deaf for a Living’ Album, classic Fischer-Z tunes and exciting new material from the new upcoming album ‘Punkt!’. The first new track, ‘Conclusion’ will be released before Christmas. JW.Live dates:
