Animated Music Videos

 

 Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Mr. Prism

 

 Richard Thompson - I Feel So Good

 

 Sparks - The Existential Threat

 

 The Dead Pirates - Wood

 

 The Future Sound Of London - We Have Explosive

 

 Vampillia - Lilac

 

 Wolf Parade - Julia Take Your Man Home

 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Pin

 

 Yellow Majesty - Honey Sweet

 

 Zywiołak - Bóstwa

 

Following the release of “Mr. Prism” earlier this month, their first single of 2020, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have now shared an adventure-filled clay animation video for the song. Created by Oliver Jones, who the band have collaborated with previously on their similarly kaleidoscopic videos, the video for ‘Mr. Prism’ takes us on a colourful journey through ‘sweetsville’, with some surprisingly dark encounters along the way. On the creation of the video, McEwan says: “A prismatic man needs a colourful adventure, so when we were throwing ideas back & forth with Oliver it was hard to pass on an edible Claymation. All of us were in awe when he sent us through the final animation – proper cherry-on-top work!”  From: https://thefirenote.com/videos/psychedelic-porn-crumpets-mr-prism-video/

The critical consensus is that Rumour and Sigh is your most accessible record to date. Do you agree?

I’m always making a conscious effort to be viable and accessible. Obviously, I’m not very good at it or I would have sold billions of records by now. [laughs] With a major label release, I certainly want to give them something they can work with if possible, without compromising my artistic integrity man. [said tongue-in-cheek] I do like to please myself on records though. I don’t like making records for other people. It’s a very forced job. So, I try and self-criticize and rely on quality as the yardstick.

What overt influence did the label have on the record?

They changed a song title. One was called "The Lost Sheep Returns to the Fold." [original title of "I Feel So Good"] They didn’t think it was snappy enough. They’re probably right, but I like those Gilbert & Sullivan titles. It’s not really interference though, because in a sense, I don’t know anything about record companies or how they work as far as marketing. I don’t really care what they do in terms of what they put on the radio or how they package something. If they think they know how to do it, I’m willing to see what they come up with.

Speaking of marketing, Capitol is financing an elaborate animated video for "I Feel So Good."

Yes, as we speak, thousands of Koreans are slaving over it. It’s being done by the same people who do The Simpsons. It doesn’t look like The Simpsons, but it’s very, very interesting. It’s quite an original piece. It’s my first promo video since 1983. Since then, they’ve been using bits of a long form concert video called Across a Crowded Room they shot in Ottawa, Canada at a club called Barrymore’s.

From: https://www.innerviews.org/inner/thompson-1

UK director/animator Cyriak brings all his mastery of subversive weirdness to this music video for “The Existential Threat”, a track off the newest album from venerable American pop innovators Sparks. Cyriak: “When I was asked to make a music video for Sparks I could hardly believe it. They sent me the whole of their new album to choose from, and there was this one song that immediately stood out ‘The Existential Threat’. Not only did the music fit perfectly with my animation style, but the subject of existential dread is also something I have been fascinated by for as long as I can remember. It was like I could see the whole video inside my head as I listened to the song. The brief was totally open, but I felt this track deserved more than just some crazy visuals. It has a psychology driving it, and a feeling that hangs over us all, especially in these modern times of information overload. Are these threats real, or imaginary? Are they just a paranoid delusion, or do we ignore them at our peril? It was great fun making this video, and I hope it makes people think about their inevitable impending death in a more light-hearted way.”  From: https://www.stashmedia.tv/sparks-existential-threat/

Dead Pirates roared into existence in 2009 as the “band” behind “Wood (Dirty Melody),” an infectious slice of garage punk that soundtracked an animated music video by the French illustrator Matthieu Bessudo—better known as Mcbess. At the time, the “band” was just Mcbess himself, a chance for him to stretch his creative muscles beyond the Max Fleischer-inspired artwork and videos for which he’s become known. Mcbess created the video for “Wood” during his day job at Oscar-winning VFX studio The Mill. “What I wanted to do was make music,” he says. “It didn’t really matter if I became famous or anything like that. It just started to get bigger and bigger.”  From: https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/dead-pirates-interview

We Have Explosive is an electrifying animation by Run Wrake. Wrake directed it as a music video for Future Sound of London's 1996 single "We Have Explosive" and it features snippets from the 1994 short "Jukebox." I love the collaged look of the trippy world in this video. Wrake was an incredible animation director and graphic designer who lived from 1963 to 2012.  From: https://boingboing.net/2022/07/06/we-have-explosive-is-an-electrifying-animation-by-run-wrake.html

Check out the music video for Lilac from the ten piece “brutal orchestra” known as Vampillia. The track features vocals from the iconic Jun Togawa, frontwoman for such influential bands as Yapoos and Geurnica. The grotesque music video was put together by “Toolate” and Tomomi Komazaki for the album “The Divine Move”. The visuals, that feel reminiscent of the work of standout mangakas’ like Nishioka Kyoudai, Hideshi Hino or Shintaro Kago, offers a disturbing backdrop too the otherwise serene track. Additionally, Togawa’s vocals elicit a strong emotional response, sung with the bravado that made her an icon and innovator of the rock and pop genre.  From: https://asianmoviepulse.com/2020/10/music-video-lilac-by-vampillia-feat-jun-togawa/

Wolf Parade have shared the official music video for their Thin Mind track "Julia Take Your Man Home." For the psychedelic visuals, the band enlisted fellow Canadian indie rocker, skilled animator and Sub Pop labelmate Chad VanGaalen. Released as a single earlier this month, "Julia Take Your Man Home" follows previous tracks "Against the Day" and "Forest Green," and hears Spencer Krug on lead vocals, exploring male stupidity. The release of the video comes on the tails of a North American tour announcement, which includes a handful of Canadian dates.  From: https://exclaim.ca/music/article/wolf_parade_share_chad_vangaalen-directed_music_video_for_julia_take_your_man_home

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Pin: With a very cartoonish stop-motion animation, the production fits well with the song's lyrics and shows a doll (probably Karen O) being chased and tormented by a contraption that sticks pins into her. The animation is quite peculiar and even features a romance with a cockroach. The plot focuses on those insects that are pinned and framed for collection.  Translated from: https://musicainstantanea.com.br/videografia-yeah-yeah-yeahs/

‘Honey Sweet’ is 3.27 min long and it takes you on one of the most intense, surreal, colorful, funny, provoking, entertaining, cute, crazy, and uniquely weird journeys. Its grotesque, appealing, and raw imagery is presented in a fresh, stylish, and modern format, making it such a unique video and song worth remembering. On top of that, there is a character in the video resembling the world wide known wrestler The Undertaker, doing what he does best, putting the evil into the grave.
His karmic role in the video goes well with the story of the song, emphasizing human behaviour when it is as its most sinful stage, doing all the things that one wants to do in the name of sex, glutony, greed, wrath, hypocrisy, addiction, and more. The video is thus a direct projection of showing the double standards of human nature, manifested through a very entertaining, different, and thought provoking way, offering the viewer many different layers of interpretation and at the same time providing a high sense of ridicule and irony in the message: life is honey sweet!
The video was animated by the artist Inari Sirola, and this is what she had to say about the collaboration with Amir, the man behind Yellow Majesty: The track’s melodic rhythm evoked my creativity. Coming into this project I really wanted to give this beat a visual representation. Amir approached me, knowing my style and being familiar with my previous work. This allowed me to tap into the weird and comedic corners of my dark imagination. The brief I received had wonderful ideas and after an in-depth conversation with Amir we established what he wanted for the music video and what I could offer to the project.
The juxtaposition of grotesque imagery and the naivety of the world building is something I will always treasure. Although I knew the music video wouldn’t have a traditional A to B narrative I really enjoyed having some of these elements within the into. One of my favorite things in my work is writing dialogue, within the shortest interactions it allows you to establish characters as well as set the tone.  From: https://staticdive.com/2021/03/05/yellow-majesty-honey-sweet/

The song Bóstwa (Deities), included on 2017 album Pieśni pół/nocy (Midnight Songs), mirrors Żywiołak’s place as an ambassador between Slavic folk tradition and modern, Western rock through its depiction of Kupala, a pagan holiday celebrated on the longest day of the year. Originally practiced as fertility rites and an homage to the Sun, Kupala became Ivan Kupala, and fused with the Christian John the Baptist in a process known as syncretism.  From: https://popkult.org/zywiolak/ 

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

 

 Richard Thompson

 

 Sparks

 

 The Dead Pirates

 

 The Future Sound Of London

 

 Vampillia

 

Wolf Parade

 

 Yeah Yeah Yeahs

 

 Yellow Majesty

 

 Zywiołak

Avatarium - Rockpalast 2015

 Avatarium - Rockpalast 2015 - Part 1

 

 Avatarium - Rockpalast 2015 - Part 2

 

Darker, heavier, and more emotionally charged than recent efforts, Avatarium’s upcoming album “Between You, God, The Devil And The Dead” showcases a refined blend of soul-stirring lyricism, colossal riffs, and atmospheric depth. Led by the dynamic partnership of Jennie-Ann Smith and Marcus Jidell, the band has carved a sound that is uniquely their own, creating a rare space where both the artists and listeners alike can forge a shared journey through the universal questions of life and death. We had an opportunity to sit down with vocalist and lyricist Jennie-Ann Smith, reflecting on the band’s journey, and the diverse inspirations and influences that resonate throughout the album.

How are you feeling now that you’re close to the release date?

“It’s odd. It’s always fun because this album was finished in early summer last year, so we’ve worked very hard to get everything finished. It’s new again, and that gives you perspective, but we’ve done a lot of promotion. Besides listening to it over and over again, we also got feedback. And so far, it’s been overwhelmingly good.” 

How did you and Marcus decide to incorporate different musical styles on the album?

“It happens quite automatically. We feel it when we are writing towards the right direction. We care about our heritage and where we come from, but we aim to be as creative and free as we possibly can. And this time, I brought my old piano, it traveled from the west coast of Sweden to Stockholm. It sounds great. We wrote a lot of the material on that piano and translated that to guitar riffs. I think that broadens the possibilities… the range of what the guitar actually does. On this album, we’re going back to the roots. I’ve been very focused on melodies. And, as you know, we’ve done this for over 10 years, and I know what I like to sing live, what kind of melodies are intriguing and interesting. So back to the roots, but it’s also influenced by piano, and we listen to a lot of classical music.”

How do you feel your vocal style, which has clear jazz/blues influences, fits within heavier doom influences?

“It was a lucky accident that me, Leif Edling (Candlemass) and Marcus found each other and had the courage to try out this music together. Immediately we heard that this is something special and unique. I think that the unique thing is that we come from different musical backgrounds. I’m not the average metal singer. I come from a quite jazzy background and the way I perceive music, and my timing, is quite jazz oriented. In music history, things get interesting when you have these contrasts.

Do you have any jazz or blues artists that have influenced your vocal style and your evolution as a musician?

“As a teenager, I was introduced to jazz music, artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Nina Simone. These types of singers made such a huge impact on me. I do not come from a musical family. I was influenced by my parents because they like to listen to music, but none of them was a musician. Then I went to music school, and I was introduced to these wonderful Canadian heroes that I treasure, like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Listening to Joni Mitchell‘s “Blue” (1971) was life changing for me. I cannot describe how much it meant to me in every way.”

I understand that you’re a psychotherapist, and you mentioned that you encounter patients that deal with death anxiety. How do your professional experiences influence your music?

“I have thought a lot about that, and I think that sometimes your consciousness directly pulls you in a certain direction. I think it’s definitely been that way for me. It’s not morbid for me. I’ve been interested in these existential questions my whole life, I was quite a philosophical child. I remember writing this essay about death and the dying process in the region where I grew up, and the traditions around that. It’s interesting because as a person, I’m not particularly depressive or depressed, I have a quite light personality. I’m fortunate to have music to channel these questions, because these topics create new questions. I get to deal with that through music, which is a huge privilege. If you listen to the lyrics and the music, you can probably hear that.”

You have described Leif Edling as a mentor to both yourself and Marcus. How has working with him shaped your approach to the way you think about the music?

“Leif is a master of his craft. Working alongside him, I’ve learned a lot about songwriting, not because he explicitly told me “this is how you do it”, but by listening and interpreting and working with the arrangements of his songs. What has also been really important is learning from his musical integrity. He is such a free spirit, he allows himself to just go about music as he sees fit, which I think is so amazing. He’s free, and he does what he wants, follows his intuition.”

I have been collecting data on the diversity of bands signed to major labels or who have performed at major heavy music festivals. Very few had any gender and cultural diversity at all.

“And then, if you were to analyze that further, how many of those females have written the material they performed, or have chosen how to interpret the material, what to wear, and so on? It demands integrity and also certain conditions to be able to do it. I think in my case, my husband, who is also the guitarist of Avatarium, is enabling me. He provides a certain security for me. To do this, I’d have to say that he believes in me, he protects me, and I can be as free as I want and that’s great. The music business is competitive, and as anyone else, every man and woman in music, you have to earn your place and work hard.”

Is there a specific song on the album that stands out the most to you?

“I think there are several songs that I really like on this album. If I were to mention a song, I do like “Being With The Dead” a lot. That one has a quirky, odd riff. It’s sort of resisting, and then it opens up in a major chord on the chorus, and I really like that.”

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

“The music speaks for itself. It’s powerful, but wherever a classical sound is, you can immediately hear that. So that means it’s very dynamic. We moved from being very, very fragile to bombastic and super powerful. Since your webzine is focused on females working in this genre, I hope this will inspire more women to take active part in creating music.”

From: https://www.femalefrontedpower.com/interviews/avatarium-interview/ 

 

Animal Collective - Oddsac - Visual Album

 Animal Collective - Oddsac - Part 1

 

 Animal Collective - Oddsac - Part 2

 

Oddsac is a visual album by Animal Collective, featuring psychedelic visuals directed and edited by Danny Perez. First announced in August 2006, the film took over four years to complete. The band members and director Danny Perez dubbed the 53 minute combination of Perez's film and Animal Collective's music a "visual album" or "visual record" in which the visual "scenarios" were created to reflect the music and the music was created to reflect the imagery. The band members make appearances as major characters in the film. According to the band, the film's name is both a pleasant combination of letters and the name for a bag of gummy candies. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2010, It was officially released on DVD on August 10, 2010.
The project was first conceived when Plexifilm approached the band regarding the creation of a documentary or concert film. The band decided to approach Perez about making a film which resulted in Perez going on tour with the band in order to create some concert footage for the upcoming project. This film was never used as the band decided to make a film that was more to 'their taste'. While Perez was on tour with Animal Collective concepts for many of the scenes for the film that would become Oddsac were discussed and the shooting of the film began shortly thereafter. Many of these concepts were based on ideas that the band had been discussing for several years. During the production of the film the musicians and director collaborated, and thus neither the music nor the film was created independent of the other aspect of the work. This had been the concept of the film since its inception. Josh Dibb explains:
That was the goal of what we were setting out to do. We didn't want to have him make a video and have us score to it and we didn't want to make a piece of music and have him just cut a video to it. So we did a lot of back and forth and ... both things informed each other. And that was what we wanted to make.
Many of the sounds created by the band were inspired directly by the images created by Perez and Perez's images were changed often in response to new music and sounds from the band. The film was shot outdoors in what was intended to be an "alien landscape". The sound from the film footage was not used because of its poor quality and the noise of the generator used on the outdoor set.
The band members and Perez have indicated that Oddsac would only be released in theatres and in DVD form. According to Portner (AKA Avey Tare) the band will not release a separate sound-track since the video and audio are intended to be seen and heard in tandem. However, he also stated that fans will inevitably rip the music and listen to the sound track separately. The DVD package includes a 40-page hardcover book containing imagery from the film.
    
1 "Mr. Fingers" – 7:01
2 "Kindle Song" – 2:53
3 "Satin Orb Wash" – 2:53
4 "Green Beans" – 2:22
5 "Screens" – 3:39
6 "Urban Creme" – 6:36
7 "Working" – 2:45
8 "Tantrum Barb" – 3:42
9 "Lady on the Lake" – 3:52
10 "Fried Camp" – 5:12
11 "Fried Vamp" – 3:46
12 "Mess Hour House" – 3:10
13 "What Happened?" – 4:40

Whorses - Have You Seen Bob

Straight from the prairies of Kortrijk, Whorses have buckled themselves firmly in the saddle of the Belgian rock scene since they struck their first note of noise, somewhere back in 2017. These four cowboys found each other in a mutual quest for something new, different, crooked or quirky in music — rough, hard and uncompromising, but without knowing what exactly it was they craved for at the time.
It didn’t take Harry, Baptiste, Timotheus and Tijl long to stumble upon a sound quite their own: already with debut single ‘Rocky’, they frankly showed how to blend clenched and bone hard noise tunes with more sensitive and softer parts. That fresh, cutting edge sound was praised by press and public right away: Whorses quickly played Sonic City, Ancienne Belgique, Trix, Vooruit and Volta amongst others, got featured by Humo and Red Bull Music and were invited as support act for Belgian cult bands like Stake, Brutus and Raketkanon.
Not long after that intensity became their trademark, a fair amount of other influences started to drip in. Winter times, a rehearsal space in renovation and lockdown periods made the band reach for acoustic set-ups, resulting in more melody-based and kinder compositions — although in any case, artists like Pavement, The Beatles or Eliot Smith were already undisputable influences from the start. But don’t expect their country-infused songs to sound like your average singer-songwriter: Whorses wouldn’t be Whorses without a little edgy, weird or uncommonly intriguing angle on literally anything they create.
In fact, Whorses deliberately explores all which can exist in their own universe, and is not afraid to experiment with whatever comes out. Similar to a band like Ween, there are no limitations or fixed expectations in music for them, but only endless amounts of possibilities. Add to that a good portion of humour and subtle self-irony and you’ll quickly understand how the band’s self-titled debut came to be a double album, not limited in style or genre but filled with almost everything the four-piece worked on over the years.  From: https://toutpartout.be/artist/whorses/

Pizzicato Five - It's a Beautiful Day

“Imagine every great record you’ve ever heard stuck in a blender overlaid with the most experimental heavy metal guitar you’ve never heard combined with the most outstanding montage of video clips you can’t imagine plus super-adorable camp fashions, all synthesized through a demented Japanese consumerist impression of America. Then try to imagine something better than that...”
These are some of the words I wrote nearly 20 years ago about Pizzicato Five’s San Francisco stop on the Tokyo-based group’s first US/European tour. Even looking back today, I still think about my initial 1995 encounter with P5 as one of the most startling, fully realized concerts I’ve ever experienced, and their records remain among my most beloved.
Pizzicato Five were many things, but never ordinary. They’d started in the mid-’80s as an easy listening quintet, switched vocalists to favor smooth plastic soul, discovered samplers around the time their third (and defining) singer Maki Nomiya arrived in 1990, then morphed into a dance/pop-art/retro-futurist act that pulled from just about every musical genre and aesthetic movement since the mid-20th century. By the time leading American indie rock label Matador Records introduced them internationally with the 1994 samplers Five by Five and Made in USA, P5 was only two, the absurdly productive songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Yasuharu Konishi the sole original member. When the act called it quits in 2001, Pizzicato Five had released 14 studio albums, at least that number of compilations, about as many EPs, and every kind of single conceivable.
When popular music was at its bleakest and most monochromatic, Pizzicato Five were neon-hued and eclectic. Their international arrival occurred between the sudden deaths of Kurt Cobain and Tupac Shakur, figureheads of the grunge and gangsta rap that defined American music in the ’90s. Even house music – severed by this point from its gay and black roots – was straighter, whiter, less melodic, and more formulaic. The resulting electronica was hailed as “the new rock” while Britpop reintroduced previously retired orthodoxies. Although the ’90s featured more successful women rockers than any other decade, the era’s sensibility remained traditionally male – loud, brash, barbaric. Even the guitars were often downtuned to sound more ominous and growling. Juxtaposed against the furious flannel-clad sasquatches of the Pacific Northwest, P5’s worldly, feminine lightheartedness was even more refreshing than it would be today.
“I don’t like dark, brooding music – I don’t understand the purpose of it,” Konishi mused during a 1996 interview I conducted with the pair that went unpublished until now. Intrigued by my concert review, the band merely wanted to meet the American critic who they felt understood them. “I don’t think music should reflect reality. I think music should be more of a magical entity, something that lets you escape from reality.”
P5 found inspiration in both the sunniest and most radical qualities of the ’60s. “I have three superstars: Godard, Warhol, and Maki,” Konishi told Puncture. As P5’s vocalist, Maki was unrelentingly cheery and extraordinarily composed, as if she were biologically incapable of striking an unflattering pose or emitting a wayward note. A professional model before, during, and after her P5 reign, Nomiya was rail-thin like the face of ’60s Swinging London, Twiggy: Pizzicato Five’s most internationally popular song, “Twiggy Twiggy/Twiggy vs. James Bond” was a souped up 1991 remake of a track on her 1981 solo album that streamlined and simplified its source material with a caffeinated, sample-invigorated arrangement that would serve as the prototype for most P5 to come.  From: https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/11/pizzicato-five-feature

Pink Floyd - The Gnome

Song History
"The Gnome" is a track from Pink Floyd's debut album, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," released in 1967.

Composition
The song was composed by the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band, Syd Barrett.

Song Theme
The song tells the story of a gnome named Grimble Gromble who lives a carefree life in the forest. This can be interpreted as a commentary on the countercultural “back to nature” ethos of the late 1960s.

Musical Style
Set in a whimsical, fairy-tale like narrative, "The Gnome" is a good example of the band's experimental and psychedelic sound in their early years.

Psychedelic Influence
The song is one of the prime examples of the band's psychedelic rock phase under the influence of Syd Barrett before they transitioned into progressive rock.

Unique Song Interpretation
Unlike most of Pink Floyd's later work, "The Gnome" is an acoustic folk-style song and is more playful and less serious.

Song Length
"The Gnome" is one of the shortest songs on the album, with a duration of only 2 minutes and 13 seconds.

Album Concept
The title of the album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is a reference to the title of a chapter in Kenneth Grahame's book "The Wind in the Willows" which inspired several of the songs in the album, including "The Gnome."

Lyrical Imagery
The lyrics of the song create vivid and fairy-tale like imagery, which was often typical in Syd Barrett's writing style.

Syd Barrett's departure
Unfortunately, Syd Barrett, the faltering genius who wrote "The Gnome", was forced to leave the band soon after the album due to his deteriorating mental health.

Limited Live Performances
"The Gnome" was very rarely performed live by the band, mainly owing to the departure of Syd Barrett, the song's main creative force.

Current Reception
Today, "The Gnome" along with other Syd Barrett compositions, serve as cult classics among Pink Floyd fans who admire the band's early psychedelic era.

From: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/24429406/Pink+Floyd/The+Gnome

Mary's Danish - Foxey Lady

Mary's Danish, which came together in Los Angeles in the late '80s, was itself a diverse lot — in personality and background — that served up funk, pop, punk and country. The blending of the last two genres clearly betrays the influence of X, from whom lead singers Gretchen Seager and Julie Ritter also inherited intricately woven harmony vocals. They were joined in Mary's Danish by bassist Chris "Wag" Wagner, drummer James Bradley Jr., guitarist David A. King and second guitarist Louis Gutierrez, who had played in the Three O'Clock. All were accomplished musicians with an uncanny pliability, but their secret weapon was frequent sax sideman Michael Barbera, who added jazz and R&B flavor to the mix. Mary's Danish were as varied thematically as they were sonically, with religion, domestic violence, social criticism and biting self-analysis all receiving narrative attention.
The newly cemented group signed with Chameleon Records in 1989 and released their debut album 'There Goes the Wondertruck'. It featured the single "Don't Crash the Car Tonight" which gained the band an initial following. The band had some early success, and was chosen by Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times as one of 1989's brightest newcomers. That same year they were listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of their "Top Five New Faces." Hollywood Reporter referred to the band in a review as having "spirited anarchy and rock solid musicianship."
A live album was released later in the year titled Experience (Live + Foxy Lady). Five of the six live tracks on Experience are more fully realized versions of songs from 'There Goes the Wondertruck', particularly a frenzied, beefier "Blue Stockings" and the high lonesome croon of "It'll Probably Make Me Cry." The disc's studio track, a riotous take on Hendrix's "Foxey Lady," slyly recasts the classic rock staple with a letter-perfect Led Zeppelin quote inserted into the bridge.  From: https://rockonvinyl.blogspot.com/2016/11/marys-danish-experience-live-foxey-lady.html 

The Lancashire Hustlers - Some One

The Lancashire Hustlers are a musical duo made up of Brent Thorley (vocals, guitars, keyboards) and Ian Pakes (drums, vocals, other instruments), originally from Southport but now based in London. Musical magpies, they borrow from a variety of genres including soul, pop, folk, jazz, old musicals, psychedelia, bossa nova, film soundtracks and blues. Their critically acclaimed Sing Walter de la Mare (2013) sets to music four poems by Walter de la Mare: ‘Autumn’, ‘Comfort’, ‘John Mouldy’, and ‘Some One’.  From: https://readingwalterdelamare.wordpress.com/music/ 

Frequency Drift - Run

Formed in 2007 by composer, keyboard player and multi-instrumentalist Andreas Hack, Frequency Drift are a unit that have crafted their art, producing more and more assured albums with each outing. This, their fifth studio recording, finds them throwing the net out further and the list of instruments used and the calibre of musicianship is impressive. I’ve often seen the title “cinematic prog” attached to this band and although not one for simple tags it does, in many respects, capture the band’s persona. So mention here of Andreas Hack’s careful choice of keyboard sounds, atmospheric approach and the ethereal treatment of the more percussive sounds. Along with the cinematic notion we might also add ‘music theatre’ to this album, as, on occasions, it can be detected within the arrangements.
At seventy five minutes plus, Over is a lot to digest in one sitting, however their rather unique way of combining traditional, acoustic and folk-like instruments amongst layers of keyboards and more strident guitar passages maintains a balance and flow. To complement this music Frequency Drift have once again found a vocalist of quality in Isa Fallenbacher, who to the best of my knowledge makes her debut with the band here. Her voice is crystalline and befits the music. The only comparator I might offer at this point is that of Claudia Uhle, however suffice to say that Isa’s performances on Over should firmly place her within the current crop of progressive rock female singers.
At this point it would be customary to offer an analysis of the music but there’s so much on offer it is difficult to know where to start. So I’ll backtrack slightly and say that Over comes across as a bringing together of all of Frequency Drift’s previous works – a consolidation if you like. Those familiar with the band will therefore have little to worry about.
Frequency Drift have always approached their music from a concept base however this latest album seems to be the exception. The cover pictures for Over by Alina Rudya form the basis – perhaps best expanded on by the following:
“The work of the Ukrainian shows the photographer’s hometown of Pripyat that has been abandoned since the Chernobyl disaster and where nature continues to make its way – despite all existence-threatening conditions. Corresponding to those aesthetics Frequency Drift, through their soundscapes, create a surreal atmosphere of loss, decay, abandonment but also liberation. The fact that the generous use of effects often leads to space-ish sounds only adds further to that impression.”
For those less familiar with the work of Frequency Drift I’ve elected to look at just a few of the tracks from Over which will hopefully illustrate what you might find.
We open with an engaging string arrangement (the real thing) before the band move in, initially a fairly simple mix of keys, bass, drums and a few more exotic inclusions. The delightful Isa Fallenbacher enters early in the piece and it doesn’t take long to realise what fine voice she has. Delicate at first, but more than capable of delivering the power needed for the beefier chorus. As the track moves forward we drift into a delightful keyboard, woodwind and piano movement before metallic riffing guitars and a driving rhythm are employed to bolster the music once more. This in turn takes us into a floating atmospheric section before the vocal chorus reappears.
As Run closes out with the chorus, we drift into the bluesier opening of Once. The stately pace, along with an ebb and flow arrangement, creates the setting for Isa Fallenbacher to give another impressive vocal performance. The following track, Adrift is one of the more theatrical songs and here Agathe Labus steps up to the microphone delivering a strong performance with images of Clive Nolan’s recent Alchemy project coming to mind. And across the album there are some impressive vocal sections, notably in Them where Fallenbacher and Labus work together.
Musically Over came across as well constructed with the arrangements placing their allegiances to the whole rather than the individual. So there were no elongated, solo instrumental sections, although there were sections when the band did cut loose – Sagittarius A* being one such example. The middle instrumental displaying some fine flute work and a nifty guitar solo.
Another track that captures the essence of Frequency Drift was the brief but enjoyable Wave. A powerful ballad with yet another superbly delivered vocal melody, nicely underpinned by instrumentation that is rich in texture, and it is the sounds used throughout Over that capture the imagination and adding that extra sparkle. I didn’t have a breakdown of who plays what, where and when, but Wave is full of great performances and sounds – whether it be well the chosen synth sounds or the cello or the electric harp – all can heard in this short song.
Memory, the longest track on the album, was always the most likely candidate to encompass the best of Frequency Drift and it pretty much has all those ingredients previously mentioned. What extra it has is, a great Tullian flute break (circa Roots To Branches) – a Tony Banks flavoured keyboard solo – along with oodles of rich textures and another fine guitar break. If all this wasn’t enough Isa Fallenbacher saves her best performance for the album closer Disappeared.  From: https://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2014/01/27/frequency-drift-over/

The Factory - Try A Little Sunshine

Whilst The Factory's debut single, the "Nuggets II" compiled "Path Through The Forest" (actually written by Clifford T Ward under a pseudonym, fact fans) is entirely the work of the band in question, that's certainly not the case in this instance. Southend-based songwriter John Pantry initially provided them with the track here in the full expectation that they would handle all duties themselves, reckoning without the lead vocalist Jack Brand's ability to hold the tune together. It would seem that the frontman's efforts were deemed to be unsatisfactory, and in the end, Pantry stepped up to the plate himself to deliver the final take.
None of the above really subtracts anything from the worth of the single, which is actually yet another full-throttle piece of slightly kaleidoscopic mod pop which is marginally indebted to The Who. There was so much material like this being peddled around at the time that one has to wonder why The Who were the only band of that ilk making it into the charts - presumably the others simply couldn't get the necessary airplay to build a fanbase upon. "Try A Little Sunshine" rolls, judders, shakes and smashes along with frustrated intent, seemingly at odds with its simplistic hippy lyrical message. Whilst "Path Through The Forest" sounded eerily prescient of the work of Joy Division, this is a soundsplash of buzzes, thrashed guitars, and oddly angelic vocal stylings - very much of its time rather than ahead of its time, but no less thrilling for that.  From: https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2010/05/factory-try-little-sunshine.html

Flykkiller - Little Death

Chances are you haven't heard of FlyKKiller yet, but if the press-monkeys are doing their jobs correctly then it's only a matter of time. They're the latest underground hype-sensation to emerge from the annals of London (via Poland) but surprisingly they're no newcomers to the scene, not by a long shot in fact. Producer Stephen Hilton is in fact the musical partner of none other than David Holmes (who pops up here for a rather tasty remix) in the Free Association, so having cut his teeth on Hollywood film soundtracks here we find him teaming up with Polish chanteuse Pati Yang. With this self titled debut record the two manage to lay down their manifesto - tight electronically produced beats, smoky, sultry vocals and influences from hip hop to music hall and it is a resounding success. Comparisons will no doubt be made to the unsurpassed Various Production but to me the tracks sound like they could have slipped from any one of Leila Arab's wonderfully eclectic albums, albeit with a more hip hop slant. With a pop leaning which should secure plenty of radio play this is the kind of British music the world needs more of; dangerous and defiantly experimental while retaining a listenable quality it's impossible to fake. Finishing on a killer rework of the title track from David Holmes this should rouse the flagging interests of music fans everywhere.  From: https://boomkat.com/products/experiments-in-violent-light 

Chris Isaak - Beacon Theater 1995 / Sessions at West 54th 1999

 Chris Isaak - Beacon Theater 1995

 

 Chris Isaak - Sessions at West 54th 1999

 

Skeptics who think Chris Isaak's image as a rock 'n' roll Mr. Nice Guy is just some phony P.R. front might want to consider what the Stockton-born pop star was doingbefore andafter his show Sunday night at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.
In the afternoon, Isaak and his band visited the Sacramento home of Carole Lowe-Enling, his first high-school girlfriend. She's battling cancer and they were there to serenade her. "We just wanted to cheer her up a bit," Isaak said later. "Just lift her spirits a little." After the show, the 42-year-old Stagg High School and University of the Pacific graduate spent 65 minutes in the auditorium's lobby, signing at least 500 autographs (many festooned with little drawings and personal remarks -- joking, kibbitzing, talking rock 'n' roll trivia and posing for photographs. Everyone in line got an autograph or a photo. "I do it every night," said Isaak, neatly setting up one of his patented one-liners. "It's court-ordered."
In between, he and his four-piece band Silvertone delivered one of their patented shows -- 22 songs and 100 minutes of twangy, melodic rock 'n' roll evoking the earlier times and places to which many in the mostly prim adult crowd of 3,200 could nostalgically relate. It was Isaak's biggest headlining show yet in Sacramento.
Mixing rollicking, rockabilly-derived romps with a smattering of his trademark blue ballads and a typically tasty selection of retro-rock oldies, Isaak -- dressed in his new purple sequined suit and twanging away on a white guitar with his name and Lowe-Enling's "I love, in the form of a heart, Carole" on it -- effortlessly unleashed his whisper-to-a-falsetto-wail vocals, engaged in the usual banter and Three Musketeers-style posing with the band, and, of course, regaled the crowd with his impish stand-up comedy schtick and a couple of semi-risque tall tales. This guy sure loves his work.
Five songs into the show, Isaak dedicated a tender, Latin-tinged version of "Return to Me," a Dean Martin chestnut from 1958, to "Carole." She was his "first sweetheart," said Isaak's mother, Dorothy. They met as 16-year-olds and graduated together from Stagg High and Isaak sends her a Hawaiian lei once a week to cheer her up. She's now a nurse and happily married mother of a 6-year-old son.
Mothers and daughters -- as well as sons and older husbands and boyfriends -- queued up to meet the man after the show. An absolute rarity in the jaded world of rock, Isaak's interaction with his fans is sincere -- he actually thanked the audience for showing up on a rainy night -- and a big part of the reason that his albums now reach gold and platinum sales figures in the absence of top-40 hit singles or heavy MTV rotation. Plus, he's the only one in '90s pop who's consistently mining the roots of American rock 'n' roll. He lovingly evokes the era of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison without becoming mired in it. No amount of guitar twang and tremolo is too much for this band, even when it roughs things up a bit in a garage-rock style ("Go Walking Down There".
And it is a band. Isaak, with his pompadoured good looks, flashy fashion statements and affable, aw-shucks personality, gets all of the attention. Silvertone, a lean, mean, hard-rocking unit, does a lot of the dirty work, though. It never has sounded tighter or better. The rhythm section of drummer Kenney Dale Johnson and bassist Rowland Salley has been there from the start in the mid-'80s, when people had to stand on tables to see Isaak and Silvertone in tiny San Francisco clubs. Guitar player Hershel Yatovitz has broadened and deepened the twang 'n' tremolo sound pioneered by original guitarist Jimmy Wilsey. New keyboard player Brett Tuggle -- a classically trained veteran of the Los Angeles pop-rock scene -- has enriched the flashback sound with his contributions, especially on Hammond B3 organ.
Sunday's set list included at least one song from each of the seven albums Isaak has released since 1985, and one unrecorded tune (the raucous, B3-enriched "Put Out Your Hand". He concentrated on the newest album, 1998's "Speak of the Devil," with five of its tracks ("Wanderin'," "I'm Not Sleepy," the angry and anguished "Please," "Speak of the Devil" and the atypically un-sad "Flying") getting the show off to a fast start.
As always, a couple of his signature broken-hearted ballads got the girls (and women) squealing -- particularly "Wicked Game," his only top-10 single back in 1991, and "Forever Blue," the super-sad, why-did-you-have-to-dump-me? song from the platinum 1995 album of the same name.
A belly dancer helped the band sashay its way through "Dancin'," the sturdy first track from Isaak's very first album "Silvertone," 1985, thus demonstrating that he's writing memorable music destined to transcend time and trend. And, of course, there were the requisite oldies. A connoisseur of vintage ock records, Isaak soared through a Latin-tinged version of role model Roy Orbison's melodramatic "Only the Lonely" (1960) during one of two encores performed in his famous suit of mirrors. The band also cranked out a sizzling version of "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee," a Sun Records gemlet from 1954 that featured Tuggle's boogie-woogie piano, "Sweet Leilani," a gentle Hawaiian favorite of Isaak's that was part of his acoustic "Baja Sessions" album in 1996, and "Diddley Daddy," the group's now-standard roadhouse romp through the Bo Diddley setpiece. Isaak honked away on harmonica. Though he's cultivated a recorded image as Mr. Sad, Isaak -- who's been nominated for a Bay Area Music Award (Bammie) as California's best male pop vocalist this year -- is always a load of laughs on stage (and on Leno and Letterman, for that matter).
Sunday, he told the truly tall tale of how he and Johnson discovered Yatovitz (who's actually from Palo Alto) playing in a strip joint in a "challenged" area of West Sacramento. He offered a sort of Jerry Springer-style counseling session on "connubial bliss" suggesting that, "If you're having an argument, be a man. Take the blame," and making references to squashed poodles and homicidal pyromania, among other things, discussed a New Year's resolution to stop wearing "taffeta" and tossed in frequent bits of semi-serious Sacramento/Stockton boosterism. He twice jumped into the non-moshing, semi-dancing crowd, eventually snaking his way through it -- pied-piper style -- on the closing "Bonnie," a trademark rockabilly romp. When he returned to the stage, five women from the audience were busy boogying away with the band. Isaak joined in. As usual, the show started with the proud pronouncement: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, from Stockton, California, Chris Isaak and Silvertone." The announcer could have added: " ... Who have never played in Stockton, California."
But, hey, at least they're getting closer.  From: https://www.recordnet.com/story/lifestyle/1999/03/02/stockton-s-chris-isaak-does/50810160007/

 

Traffic - S/T - Side 1

01 You Can All Join In
02 Pearly Queen
03 Don't Be Sad
04 Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring
05 Feelin' Alright

Traffic were more than just an interim vehicle for the developing career of Steve Winwood, and although the Birmingham four piece would be together for just 2 years and 2 albums before Winwood formed what was considered the first “supergroup” with Blind Faith, this band would leave a fine legacy of psychedelic rock, and their second album “Traffic” remains their most coherent, consistent work.
Having already achieved commercial success with their debut, the wildly drug influenced “Mr Fantasy” which included the hits “Paper Sun” and “Hole In My Shoe”, the band dispensed with the services of singer/songwriter and vocalist Dave Mason, and traveled to rural Berkshire to write and rehearse songs for a follow up. Quickly realising they were struggling to put together some strong material, they then re-instated Mason, and his input would form a large part of the forthcoming album. Where Winwood and Jim Capaldi’s music was psychedelically exploratory, Mason’s work was earthier, English folk rock and the combination of the two styles works extremely well. Mason’s material, with the excellent jaunty opener “You Can All Join In”, and the rolling pop folk “Feelin Alright ?”, is dissected by Winwood and Capaldi’s impressionistic rock workouts, which herald a tendency towards abstract lyrics and longer experimental instrumentals, almost forerunning the prog folk of Jethro Tull and King Crimson. Other highlights include “Vagabond Virgin” (not withstanding the questionable lyrics), the sweeping avant-garde “40,000 Headmen”, and the progressive “Cryin’ To Be Heard”. The album would be a top 10 UK hit, and would make the top 20 in the States, but before the band could enjoy the commercial rewards, Mason was fired, and just a few months later Winwood announced that the band were to split. They reformed in 1970 (minus Mason), for the prog rock “John Barleycorn Must Die”, which when compared to this recording, sounds a world away. “Traffic” is the logical extension of the British psychedelic rock tradition, all wrapped up in a Birmingham bonhomie that bites as hard as it barks.  From: https://hackskeptic.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/traffic-traffic-1968-review/

 

Eleven - Crash Today

Eleven was an American alternative rock supergroup from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1990 by Alain Johannes (vocals, guitar, sitar, horns), Natasha Shneider (vocals, keyboards, bass), and Jack Irons (drums). Eleven's early history is intertwined with that of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As teenagers Irons and Johannes formed the band Anthym with Flea and Hillel Slovak; this band was soon to be renamed What Is This. The members of What Is This then joined with Anthony Kiedis to form the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but Slovak and Irons also continued to record with Johannes, and What Is This released the EP Squeezed with Chris Hutchinson playing bass. After the recording of the self-titled second What Is This album, Slovak and Irons discontinued the band to concentrate full-time on the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Johannes and Shneider met and formed the duo Walk The Moon, which featured Irons and Hutchinson on several tracks. When Irons later left the Red Hot Chili Peppers he teamed up with his former bandmate Johannes and his new partner to form Eleven.
Midway through the recording of Eleven's third album, Thunk, Irons departed again to drum with Pearl Jam, and Matt Cameron played drums on the album's remaining four tracks. Irons was replaced by Greg Upchurch for their fourth album, Avantegardedog, but returned to the band once again prior to the recording of their fifth album, Howling Book. Rick Markmann played bass for Eleven on stage, though he did not feature on any of their albums.
Eleven toured with Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age and Candlebox, and Johannes and Shneider also became a sought-after production team that worked on albums such as Chris Cornell's Euphoria Morning (on which they also wrote, performed and toured), No Doubt's Return of Saturn, Steadman's Revive, and The Desert Sessions 7&8 and 9&10 with Josh Homme. Most of the recording took place at 11AD, their home studio; Howling Book was self-produced, recorded and mixed in its entirety at 11AD.
The band has cited as their major influences Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Beatles, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Sergei Prokofiev. With Chris Cornell, they recorded Shneider's arrangement of Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria", which appears on the album A Very Special Christmas 3, in the liner notes of which they state they deliberately chose a classical work to help interest young people in classical music.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleven_(band)

Rising Appalachia - Cuckoo

Songs like "Shake It Up" may have won over the average pop listener but the real delights on a Cars album for hardcore new wave fans were the tracks where the band stretched out and experimented. One of the Cars' finest experimental tracks is "Moving in Stereo," a gem from their debut album that sounds like a new wave update of Eno-era Roxy Music. The lyrics are cryptic but interesting as they depict a disturbed individual who describes the apparent nervous breakdown he's suffering with stereo-related imagery: "It's so easy to blow up your problems/It's so easy to play up your breakdown/It's so easy to fly through the window/It's so easy to fool with the sound." The music avoids the typical verse-chorus pop song structure of their singles to create an eerie sing-song melody that rise and falls in a circular fashion that is quite hypnotic. This hypnotic feel carries over to the Cars' recording, which uses the bare-bones melody and lyrics as a springboard for sonic experimentation: it fades in with an eerie electronic whine then slowly adds layers (a guitar riff, a pulsating beat from rhythm section, and otherworldly synthesizer lines) as Benjamin Orr croons the detached lyrics like a vampire-ish lounge lizard. Producer Roy Thomas Baker also adds plenty of effects to the vocal, including stereo panning of Orr's voice from one speaker to the next. The combination of odd songwriting and hypnotic sonic effects made "Moving in Stereo" one of the Cars' most distinctive tunes. It was too quirky to be released as a single but gained notoriety in 1982 when it popped up on the soundtrack of Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the sonic backdrop for the famous scene where Judge Reinhold fantasizes about Phoebe Cates rising from the pool to seduce him. The song's eerily stylized feel captured the mood perfectly, ensuring that "Moving in Stereo" will always have a special place in the heart of both Cars fans and 1980s movie addicts. From: https://www.allmusic.com/song/moving-in-stereo-mt0012266075#review 

The Cars - Moving in Stereo / All Mixed Up

Songs like "Shake It Up" may have won over the average pop listener but the real delights on a Cars album for hardcore new wave fans were the tracks where the band stretched out and experimented. One of the Cars' finest experimental tracks is "Moving in Stereo," a gem from their debut album that sounds like a new wave update of Eno-era Roxy Music. The lyrics are cryptic but interesting as they depict a disturbed individual who describes the apparent nervous breakdown he's suffering with stereo-related imagery: "It's so easy to blow up your problems/It's so easy to play up your breakdown/It's so easy to fly through the window/It's so easy to fool with the sound." The music avoids the typical verse-chorus pop song structure of their singles to create an eerie sing-song melody that rise and falls in a circular fashion that is quite hypnotic. This hypnotic feel carries over to the Cars' recording, which uses the bare-bones melody and lyrics as a springboard for sonic experimentation: it fades in with an eerie electronic whine then slowly adds layers (a guitar riff, a pulsating beat from rhythm section, and otherworldly synthesizer lines) as Benjamin Orr croons the detached lyrics like a vampire-ish lounge lizard. Producer Roy Thomas Baker also adds plenty of effects to the vocal, including stereo panning of Orr's voice from one speaker to the next. The combination of odd songwriting and hypnotic sonic effects made "Moving in Stereo" one of the Cars' most distinctive tunes. It was too quirky to be released as a single but gained notoriety in 1982 when it popped up on the soundtrack of Fast Times at Ridgemont High as the sonic backdrop for the famous scene where Judge Reinhold fantasizes about Phoebe Cates rising from the pool to seduce him. The song's eerily stylized feel captured the mood perfectly, ensuring that "Moving in Stereo" will always have a special place in the heart of both Cars fans and 1980s movie addicts. From: https://www.allmusic.com/song/moving-in-stereo-mt0012266075#review 

Richard & Linda Thompson - Walking On A Wire

 

The clear sound of a marriage falling apart. It is about regret and resignation but no anger, and so much more sad for it. The Album, Shoot Out the Lights was a culmination of Richard & Linda Thompson’s career together. In hindsight, we see how their records and Richard Thompson’s texts of jealousy, rage, and betrayal lead to this emotionally  document of sadness. Walking on a Wire with Richard’s lyrics for Linda to interpret, well, it must have been hard.

Linda:
 “I wish that I could please you tonight” 
“I hand you my ball and chain / You just hand me that same old refrain.”
“Too many steps to take
Too many spells to break
Too many nights awake
And no one else”

My god, how harrowing a break-up can be!

Richard and Linda:
“I’m walking on a wire, I’m walking on a wire
And I’m falling”
…they both fall and they share the blame and the regret, and they know how this is gonna end.

Richard Thompson cries through his guitar in a solo just as painful as the lyrics (starts at 4:42), it is incredible and he manages to convey his/their sadness in a howl from his electric guitar! He has done some great guitar work through the years but this must be one is his most emotionally demanding solos committed to record. The song had to be included in our series of the saddest songs in history.
Linda Thompson was several months pregnant when the album (Shoot out the lights) was recorded and so there was no prospect of an immediate release or supporting tour. By the time the album was released Richard and Linda Thompson’s marriage was over. Ironically, the album was their best-selling album and acclaimed as one of their greatest artistic achievements …but as I said, it is the sad sound of a marriage falling apart. 

From: https://borntolisten.com/2021/02/01/the-saddest-songs-walking-on-a-wire-by-richard-and-linda-thompson/

Spirit - Nature's Way / Love Has Found A Way / Mr. Skin

While not well thought out, Twelve Dreams was intended to be a sort of science fiction concept album, with the twelve songs supposedly representing, or being visions drawn from twelve actual dreams, though the construct was so loosely developed that most listeners were unaware of this attribute at all. Without a doubt, the album, and for that matter, the three previous albums by Spirit were miles ahead of their time, with the band’s vision so original that there was absolutely no precedent for almost all of what the band was laying down, meaning that far too many missed out because the music didn’t click immediately, or wasn’t as cohesive as the radio friendly hits, “Animal Zoo” and the gorgeous “Nature’s Way” … both very good, yet representing only a narrow portion of Spirit’s vision. This notion was not lost on the band either, as Randy California wanted to dive into his more loose experimental aspirations, while Jay Ferguson was in favor of more commercially acceptable material, hence the far and differing presentations on this release.
One of Spirit’s most enduring features is that none of their material ever sounds dated or self indulgent, and all of it comes across crisp and clean, sounding as remarkable today as it did so long ago. If anything, Twelve Dreams was Spirit’s apotheosis, Spirit’s merger of everything they had developed and learned over the years, especially from playing live, which they did relentlessly during the 60’s, finding the key to getting inside of any musical style and almost matter of factly making it their own, and I haven’t even mentioned “Mr. Skin” yet, or the bewildering and exciting “Morning Will Come,” a song that in my option nearly foreshadowed the coming of glam rock.
It was Neil Young’s producer David Briggs who managed to bring this album to completion, where despite the tripped out album jacket, is a very atmospheric album … but of the atmosphere of this planet. Briggs was swept away by Spirit’s jam oriented fuzzed out psychedelia meshed with tinges of jazz, where he managed to allow guitar prodigy Randy California to soar in time with the drumming of his stepfather Ed Cassidy, and the vocals of Jay Ferguson were not stepped on, where things got streamlined, and the magic leached out due to an equality for all involved, resulting in the creation of a stunningly well rounded endeavor that will not be forgotten.
*** The Fun Facts: Referring to the album’s title, Dr. Sardonicus “Mr. Sardonicus” was a 1961 horror film relaying the story of Sardonicus, a man whose face has becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing his father’s grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket, and the Doctor who is coerced into treating him. The ‘Twelve Dreams’ represents the twelve songs on this album.
Risus Sardonicus, known as a rictus grin is an actual medical condition, manifesting a abnormal sustained spasm of the facial muscles that appears to produce the effects of grinning.  From: https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2018/02/from-vault-spirit-twelve-dreams-of-dr.html

Let's Eat Grandma - Sax in the City

This multi-instrument toting Norwich-based duo of Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth, both 17, released their debut album I, Gemini last month to critical acclaim. In Sax In The City, the latest single from the album, Let’s Eat Grandma reflect on a human race enslaved by a reliance on tablets and smartphones and share this dystopian nightmare through their unique brand of what they term “sludge-pop”.
The track is a beguiling mix of innocence and inventiveness. After a sea-shanty style beginning, lyrics are whispered in a child-like tone before the saxophone blares out, seemingly uncontrollably at random, and it becomes dub-infused lo-fi pop. It’s catchy and sugar sweet but, with a dark undertone reflected in the subject matter and the repetition of “tell me something interesting”, this duo commands respect. It’s refreshing to hear a band full of creativity whilst retaining a unique, and sinister, sense of humour.  From: https://www.rhiannonholly.com/2016/07/26/lets-eat-grandma-single-review-sax-city/

Pretenders - Kid

"Kid" is a song written by Chrissie Hynde that was released on the Pretenders' 1979 album Pretenders. Hynde wrote the song about a fictional boy discovering that his mother is a prostitute. The song's melodicism was attributed by guitarist James Honeyman-Scott to Hynde's growing interest in pop music. Honeyman-Scott wrote the song's solo, which he had designed over a couple of days.
Of the lyrics to "Kid," Hynde stated, "It's about a prostitute whose son finds out what she does for a living and this is her having a conversation with him. Not all songs are autobiographical."
Guitarist James Honeyman-Scott attributed the song's melodic quality to Hynde's shift from punk to pop; he explained, "Chrissie started to like pop music, and that’s why she started writing things like 'Kid’”  Honeyman-Scott also assisted in arranging the song and composed the guitar solo. Drummer Martin Chambers said of Honeyman-Scott's solo:
Jimmy would be the person that said, 'Right, there's eight bars here that I can put a really good stamp on.' He would go back with a guitar, sit on the bed and just work out what sounded really good. I've got the demo of 'Kid' that has a different ending than what's on the record, but the solo is absolutely the same. Jimmy had gone somewhere for a couple of evenings, and he had worked on it so he could play it fluently when it was ready to record.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_(Pretenders_song)