Vartra - Live Nisville Jazz Festival 2021

Recently I came across Vartra, a Serbian band that explores world fusion, dark folk, and extremely ethereal music that to me is ideal music to write for a film score. Founded in 2017 by Siniša Gavrić and sisters Ivana and Aleksandra Stošić, Vartra takes musical inspiration from Slavic and Vlachian folk themes and Native American drumming. It’s different, it’s out there, it’s downright magical quite often, and I’m pleased to have them over for a chat.

Zdravo, from the other side of the world! So nice to have you on the blog. Can you tell the readers a bit more about Vartra, the meaning of the band’s name, how the project came together and what the first years of the band has been like?

Zdravo! Thank you for inviting us. As you mentioned in the introduction, we are heavily inspired by the southern Slavic relics present in the oral tradition of the Balkan region. Even though the Slavic influence is most notable in our lyrics and style of vocals, our musical inspiration is drawn from a far broader pool. We are combining different indigenous musical practices from various regions (such as shamanic drumming, didgeridoo, middle-eastern instruments etc.) as well as the influences of musical subcultures we all grew up with (80’s and 90’s ambient, metal, post punk, gothic etc.). The name Vartra comes from the Sanskrit word for protection, defense, warding off – chosen to complement the ritual healing and protection spells from the Balkan region that inspired our early works. The band was founded through a friendly artistic collaboration of Siniša Gavrić and the sisters Ivana and Aleksandra Stošić. In the first year of existence, the founding trio was mostly focused on composing and recording the music that is now our first album “Luna Noua”. During this time, we also produced and recorded a few music videos for the songs with the help of the performers from Ivana’s dance studio “Twisted Dolls”. As the album slowly came together, there was a need to share this music with the world and other musicians were recruited to the band to bring the instrumental variety of this music to life on stage. The current lineup includes Stevan Momčilović (didgeridoo, rattles), Andrej Bunjac (djembe, other percussion), Ana Katić (violin, backing vocals), Julius Velker (drums, sound engineer).

Where did Siniša connect with the Stošić sisters?

After a decade of living in North America, Siniša returned to Serbia in 2016. He was friends with Ivana since 2010 and upon his return they started to live together as roommates. Being a frame-drum and rattle craftsman, Siniša incorporated handmade instruments into his music compositions and included Ivana in the singing/song writing process. Sometime in 2017, Ivana’s pole art troop decided to develop a performance describing a Vlach ritual from Eastern Serbia “Dubočke Kraljice”. The idea was to compose and use original music reminiscent of the Vlach rituals but with a strong rhythm suitable for dance. That was when Ivana’s sister Aleksandra joined them bringing her methodical approach to the table. In four months, the three of them worked to compose 60 minutes of music for the performance. The completion of this project marked the beginning of their creative teamwork and future collaboration. After the festival, they started composing new songs, eventually recruiting new members and kicking off a successful series of live shows in the years that followed.

When I first heard Luna Nouà, I was reminded a bit of Heilung from Germany although a bit less freaky, a bit more mystical, and even more accessible (to me at least). I think it’s deep and rich music that definitely paints a picture. If there were an art exhibit inspired by Vartra, what are some art pieces you would like to see in the exhibit?

That is quite a compliment. Heilung is amazing! As to the art exhibit, that is an interesting and tough question. We would definitely like to see photos depicting old traditions like for example the work of Evo Danchev (we really admire his work) or works of Damselfrau. Definitely photos depicting traditional festivals (example the carnival of Vevcani in North Macedonia, Busójárás in Hungary). If the more classical art work or concrete art pieces are in question, maybe Albrecht Durer’s The four horsemen, Viktor Vasnetsov’s Sirin and Alkonost. A few more could be Nymphs Dancing to Pan’s Fluteby Joseph Tomanek, Dancing Fairies by Johan August Malmström, and all such magical, pagan and simply natural (as in mountain landscapes) paintings would fit very well.

The cover work for the album is quite stunning. Who did the artwork and what was the inspiration behind that visual and the album itself?

Thank you. Our art performer Anđela Vujić designed the album cover. It features the beautiful Luna moth, that represents intuition. The first album has a lot of influences from the cultural heritage of the Vlach ethnic minority in Eastern Serbia. The song Flori is inspired by the Vlachian ritual singing on the morning of the holiday Cveti. The holiday Cveti traditionally celebrates the beginning of the spring. The song Primovara (Spring) depicts the dawn of the holiday Cveti before the ritual performance is about to take place. The lyrics of the song Luna Nuoă are part of the Vlach oral lore as well, as one of the incantations for health, sung to the new moon. Other songs include fragments of Vlach oral lore (Roša and Jo Čero), or of Serbian incantations (Mrza, Razija). Žal (Mojot Dom) is inspired by transcendental experiences and written by Ivana Stošić (Macedonian language).

Checking my blog stats, I don’t have ­­­­­­­many­ people who are from your neck of the woods. How would you describe Serbia to someone who isn’t familiar with the country?

It is a beautiful country. If you love hiking or just being in nature you should definitely check out some of our many mountains. There are many well preserved medieval monasteries and fortresses open for tourists. Due to the centuries long Ottoman Empire occupation of the Balkans, our cultural heritage is a mix of Slavic and Oriental, which you can hear in the music, see in traditional dresses and architecture, taste in the food. You can also visit the prehistoric sites on our territory reaching all the way back to the Neolith era. The 20th century left Serbia with a lot of traces from the socialism era (Yugoslavia) – just by walking through the streets of any city in Serbia you cannot miss these. Serbian people are generally recognized as friendly hosts, so welcome!

I read that the lyrics are inspired by Vlachian incantations and performed in (Wallachian) language, Serbian, and Macedonian. Most people won’t be familiar with these languages, though music often taps into something more primal that connects us. Ideally, what would you want your music to evoke in listeners around the world?

We believe that the perception is quite individual. What we would like to evoke are cathartic experiences as per individual needs and without the given context (meaning of the lyrics for example). One of newer to date yet unpublished songs, Jerovine, is sung in a crafted language for this very reason. On the other hand, we decided to base our songs on the incantations (spells) from this region, because they are an important relic of our culture and history and unfortunately close to be forgotten. This is our way of giving them a chance to survive.

What are some of the most peculiar places where you have fans?

Thanks to our social media – Twitter, Facebook, Bandcamp, Youtube and Siniša’s online drum shop on Etsy we have found fans all around the world spanning multiple continents. Besides the Balkans, we came in touch with fans from both North and South America, Russia, North African countries etc. In the current day and age, it is difficult to reach audiences without a serious marketing budget but we are happy that no one reached by our music was left indifferent by it and that the base of people enjoying our works grows steadily every day.

You describe your shows as a cathartic experience, almost a healing ceremony. Dark but in a way where the darkness is drawn away from the spectator. Can you tell us more about that and what the intention behind the music is like?

Repetitive drumming, chanting and dancing were the core elements in rituals since the beginning of civilization when it came to ceremonial/healing practices. Although one might perceive our music as “dark” listening it for the first time, we use the same approach by incorporating the primal, organic sound with the mantric drumming and through the repetitive, atmospheric sound and simplicity of harmony - we believe we part with the darkness. Similar to shamanic healing, where the shaman leads an individual to face and recognize their traumas and guides them to overcome and heal, each individual spectator can experience this process for themselves by surrendering themselves to the sound and atmosphere around.

How many instruments are there in the album? I ask because beyond some more common instruments, the band performs on handmade drums and rattles crafted by Siniša. Also, how long does it take to make those instruments and where did he learn how to do this?

A lot. Percussions make the majority of our sound. They range from handmade frame drums and rattles, sticks, darbuka, djembe, rainstick to bells, cymbals etc. As for the melodic instruments, we use flute, didgeridoo, violin, keyboard, saz, electric guitar and the most perfect instrument of them all – the human voice. Siniša learned how to make frame drums in 2006 while he was in North America, following the traditional drum making from First Nation Tribes such as the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh etc. The whole drum making process takes a couple days to complete. After coming back to his motherland, Siniša developed and perfected his own style in frame drum making that is recognized by many as stunning craftsmanship infused with great energy.

From: http://jdestradawriter.blogspot.com/2021/03/creative-connections-vartra.html

Dungen - Nattens Sista Strimma Ljus

This month Stephanie Nicole Smith interviews one of her favorite bands – Dungen. If you aren’t familiar with their catalog of work, perhaps you have been sleeping under a rock. Swedish bred Dungen are quite possibly the best living psych band. “Allas Sak” (2015) is their eighth full length album and possibly their best album, thus far. I asked bassist Mattias Gustavsson and guitarist Reine Fiske about their recording process, best & worst tours, favorite gear and other projects they are involved in at the moment. Read the interview below and be sure to follow Dungen on all things social!

What are some of the other projects you guys have worked on and are working on?

MG: I was writing in a band called The Works, back in the early 2000s, before I left to study in Vietnam in the middle of recording our debut album. I’ve written and produced three records as Life on Earth! A project that sort of evolved, or expanded into Our Solar System, which has released two LP’s the last couple of years. One of them just the other week, actually! I also plunged into a solo project last year, called Hi Tom Low Tom, and released a cassette earlier this year. I also write and sing and what not in a pop band called AOP.

RF: The first band I was in was Landberk between 1991-1998. That’s when I started to actually work on trying to write songs, but it was always in collaboration with others. My older musical relationship with Stefan Dimle (of Mellotronen shop/label) led to us forming a one-off thing called Morte Macabre based on our love for soundtracks, mostly from 70’s horror films. Then we started Paatos, which I did one album with, then I got involved in Dungen and Gustav Ejstes a lot - that sort of took over. I have maybe written 5 songs on my own up to now. A current project called The Amazing, which is Christoffer Gunnrup doing the songs, is pretty much like working with Gustav. We get to be involved in the arrangements a bit, but most of it is already written. Anna Järvinen and her producer Mattias Glavå wanted to incorporate Dungen as backing band for her and since 2007 we all have been playing on and off with her, recording and touring her albums, now three in total. Lately, I have been involved with Elephant9 in Norway and I’ve also recorded with one of my absolute favorite bands of all time, the Norwegian band Motorspsycho out of my mom’s hometown of Trondheim. They deserve more praise I think. They have been going since 1989 and made about 20 albums by now.

Where did you spend your “coming of age” years?

MG: My coming of age was a ride! I moved away from home when I was 16 and got heavily depressed for years. I just couldn’t find my place anywhere. Totally lost! I was reading, painting and playing music non-stop as a sort of refuge. I started figuring things out, how to rudimentary understand people basically, in my mid-20’s. In a way, I feel like I am still coming of age.

RF: I was a kid playing guitar a lot, listening to my mom’s mix-tapes with a lot of 60´s music, playing along. My uncle and their cousins in Norway were very influential getting into music that, perhaps, was a little more demanding. I was an early Peter Gabriel-era Genesis-fan, as well as early Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. Listening to that when everyone was into hardcore or punk has the typical “nerd” written all over it, but I found something in that complex and epic music. That deepened with the coming of the early 90’s when I sort of left my brief Mudhoney/No Means No/Nirvana period. I listen more to late 80’s, early 90’s music now than I did then, actually. School was o.k., music was always the escape in a way. Music became my muse, my sort-of language.

Where do you live and work now?

MG: I live in Stockholm and play music most of my time.

RF: I live just outside of Sodermalm in Stockholm with my amazing girlfriend and her 14 year old daughter and a rabbit named Oshi. I have always had a day job, but I just decided to quit in order to have more time for music. I’m also pretty fed-up of course. This year is quite busy, so I simply had to make a leap in this direction. We barely can make a living out of the music anyway, so I will work extra hours later this year I think - hope. Sometimes, I think the job has saved me from going out of my mind in a way, it demands certain routine in everyday life that you usually miss out on when you’re your “own boss”.

How long have you been in Dungen?  How did the name of the band come about? What does it mean?

MG: I started playing with Dungen sometime between 2001 and 2004. In the beginning it was just the odd gigs here and there as a substitute bass player. They were my friends! But since 2005 it’s been full time.

RF: I’ve been involved with Dungen since 2001. Gustav had the name already. It’s a place in Västergötland where he grew up on the other side of the small hill, or mountain, of Billingen, just out of Skövde. The name means “The Grove”, a small gathering of trees.

How would you describe your current band’s sound?

MG: Dungen sort of… rocks? Maybe the sound now is about some vague feeling of authenticity. Raw basic recording live in the studio as much as possible. Our live shows are a lot about the interplay between us, I think, and to create something ecstatic and ethereal. A release of some kind.

RF: That is for others to decide, I think. We usually get lumped into the psych bag, which is both right and wrong, in a way, it easily puts a stamp on the music. Gustav and the Dungen thing has always been very song-based with possibilities for improv and the odd craziness. Gustav has a strong sense for the structure of songs and he is a master in recording, producing, and creating a certain soundscape with his records.

What bands do you draw inspiration from?

MG: I like Can a lot. And early Kraftwerk, Amon Düül II and the whole german Kraut thing. I am really into the idea of sustained intensity by minimal means. Lately, I have been listening more and more to Ralph Lundsten.

RF: There are so many, The Beatles, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Tame Impala, and Kevin blew me away when I first heard it. I wanted to join the band sort-of. There was just an immediate click. He sent their first EP to Gustav to eventually work on the mix in 2008, or so, but Gustav thought the sound was already there. Now we are playing with them in New York this June. Amazing! I’ve always been very affected by Radiohead. Their guitars have a serene and very unique weave that is always breathtaking. I’m sort of a record collector and I’ve been into the Scandinavian psych/folk/prog scene of the late 60’s and 70’s since 1990, or so. I guess me and Gustav are the ones mostly affected by those players and the records they made. I’m also into a lot of the garage and beat/psych scene from the 60’s to come out of the U.S. New unearthed stuff still keeps popping up in these reissue times. The U.K around 1971 was just amazing. There were so many bands that made these amazing albums. I’m fascinated by the sound on those records too, some of them sound like they were recorded in cardboard boxes with tons of reverb; stuff like Egg, Arzachel, Julian’s Treatment, East of Eden, Van Der Graaf Generator, Comus, Trees, C.O.B., Blossom Toes, I could go on forever. Brazilian music, Aphex Twin, Fleet Foxes…

Who were your main early influences on your sound?

MG: I don’t know if I even have a particular sound! The bass playing on Van Morrison’s ‘Astral Weeks’ was an early influence. Also, Bella Linnarsson in Mecki Mark Men, and Jojje Wadenius on the Pugh albums.

RF: Kenny Håkansson, Hank Marvin, I guess, and Terje Rypdal. Jimi Hendrix, of course.

From: https://originalfuzz.com/blogs/magazine/114991556-five-minutes-with-mattias-gustavsson-and-reine-fiske-of-dungen?srsltid=AfmBOorYmmpalBcOjVYg82ZdPKzL6-lLJ_1_mrQMYG-xuSNAH1bH5Qa1

Laboratorium Piesni - Hé Oyáte

Laboratorium Pieśni (Song Laboratory) (world/ethno/spiritual/mystic folk music) is a female group of singers from Poland, created in 2013. Using traditional, polyphonic singing they perform songs from all over the world, mainly: Ukraine, Balkans, Belarus, Georgia, Scandinavia, Poland and many other places. They sing a capella as well as with shaman drums and other ethnic instruments (shruti box, kalimba, flute, gong, zaphir and koshi chimes, singing bowls, rattles etc.), creating a new space in a traditional song, adding voice improvisations, inspired by sounds of nature, often intuitive, wild and feminine. The traditional songs are often brought from their source – different regions of Poland, Europe and world, by the members of the group - having their unique history and evolving in the course of work. Finally, they are performed in a new form – traditional or enriched.  From: https://medicinefestival.com/labatorium-piesni/

Future Clouds & Radar - Dr. No

A relatively unknown but intermittently astounding indie pop album that answers the question: What happens when you give a power pop refugee with unbounded musical creativity access to a studio and the latest technology, but no editor? You get a sprawling double-album that ranges from glorious baroque pop music to silly self-indulgent experimentation, peppered with a handful of insanely catchy earworms.
Robert Harrison is the co-founder, singer, and guitarist for Cotton Mather, a crunchy power pop outfit active in the late 90s and early 00s (and recently returned after a long hiatus). During that band's time off, he recorded a ton of material with various musicians under the moniker of Future Clouds & Radar. Musically, think edgy, post-Beatles psychedelia-tinged pop like XTC side project Dukes of Stratosphear, Jellyfish, Beagle Hat, and the Pillbugs. Shades of Guided by Voices and the Kinks crop up as well.
As noted, given the seeming lack of limitations, it's a bit of a gleeful, kid-in-a-candy-shop mess; it could have been pared down into a fantastic single LP. As it stands, it's more in White Album (or Wowee Zowee) territory, but if you work your way through it you're going to find plenty that grabs you. Personal favorites include they joyously tuneful "Build Havana" (sounding like singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston with a bubbly electronic beat); the mid-tempo psychedelic pop of "Hurricane Judy"; the orchestral Beatlesque flourishes of "You Will Be Loved"; the galloping riff-rocker "Holy Janet Comes In Waves"; the relatively straightforward sunshine pop balladry of "Our Time"; and the skewed, Fountains of Wayne on acid "Altitude." But the two dozen or so songs here kinda beg for you to jump around and program your own faves.  From: https://www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2020/08/future-clouds-radar-st-2007.html

Hey Elbow - Martin

Swedish experimental pop trio, Hey Elbow just released their debut album, Every Other, and it’s been running through the Grimy Goods speakers non-stop. With a unique marriage of ethereal sounds and distortion, Hey Elbow’s eccentric blend of music makes for quite an exquisite debut. The group took its curious name from an aerobics warm-up exercise they were introduced to during a live concert by The Knife. But that’s not all that curious about them. The trio comprised of Julia Ringdahl (vocals/guitar), Ellen Petersson (horns/electronics) and Liam Amner (drums) has no clear cut leader or front-person among the group. Instead, the improvisational influences of their jazz background foster a more collaborative, free-flowing approach to cultivating their unique sound that could intrigue any passing listener.
The poignant vocal swells and galloping beat of “Martin” followed by the fiery, punk number “Rael” got my gears grinding and was a real eye opener at the top of the album, both served up against a backdrop of brass and electronic drone. “Ruth” felt like a call to arms of sorts with its multi-layered call and response vocals and deep primal beat, faintly reminiscent of the stylings of tUnE-yArdDs, before catapulting into a swift and unexpected tidal wave release of energy and breath at the end of the song. The slow choral chant, blurry synths and brassy wails of “Naksno” offered up another striking moment – the kind of song I could envision myself swinging and swaying to live with a serene smile and stomach-full of vodka. Hey Elbow thoroughly impresses with their masterfully constructed, but never confined, rich and ethereal sonic creation. Every Other is music to dream to, music to wander off to, music to lose yourself in and escape the real world, if even for a half an hour.  From: https://www.grimygoods.com/2015/04/28/hot-band-alert-swedish-experimental-pop-trio-hey-elbow/

Gary Wright - Dream Weaver - Midnight Special 1976

If you’re of a certain age, the Sunday night of September 9th, 1956 is seared indelibly upon your memory, because it’s the night Elvis Presley first appeared on CBS Television’s The Ed Sullivan Show before 60 million viewers, changing your young life forever. If you’re of a younger age, the Sunday night of February 9, 1964 is the one you’ll never forget, because it’s the night The Beatles first appeared on CBS Television’s The Ed Sullivan Show before 63 million viewers, changing your young life forever.
But if you’re my age—which is to say you were born at the tail end of the Baby Boom—the Saturday morning (and by that I mean 1 AM) of April 9, 1976 is the moment that changed everything forever, because it’s the night Gary Wright appeared on CBS Television’s The Midnight Special. And just as was the case with Elvis and The Beatles, I wasn’t the only kid who would never be the same.
I would guesstimate that there were sixty-three other kids across the country who watched in awe as Wright, the American keyboardist who made his name in the English band Spooky Tooth, played his smash single “Dream Weaver” before cavorting across the stage with his portable keyboard as he “rocked out” to his other smash single “Love Is Alive.” And I would venture that all sixty-four of us wanted keyboards we could wear around our necks. Gary didn’t play a keytar that life-altering night but he was a keytar pioneer, and had he been playing one I dare say we’d all have gone out of our little minds.
I knew a visionary when I saw one. I may not have known that Wright had befriended and absorbed the Eastern religion of former Beatle George Harrison after playing keyboards on Harrison’s 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass, but you didn’t have to be a holy man to realize Gary was a sublimely spiritual being, one who had pierced the veil of Maya through means of pure keyboard karma. I too wanted to hop aboard the Dream Weaver train. I too wanted my very own astral plane. That wasn’t Gary Wright on stage that night—it was an avatar of Krishna. He wasn’t playing music—he was preaching an escape from samsara rebirth to the masses.
Like Krishna, Wright was a charioteer, and his chariot, of course, was 1975’s The Dream Weaver. One night Krishna appeared to Wright in a dream, wearing pretty much the same white suit with celestial necklace Wright wore on The Midnight Special, to say, “You will spread bliss by producing a very special album, an album that will transport its faithful adepts to the supreme abode of the all-pervading.” He added, “It would be really cool if you used only that holiest of holy instruments, the keyboard. Although I guess real drummers would be okay. And I wouldn’t object if you were to bring in Ronnie Montrose to play guitar on track five. It’s a real rocker.”
And who argues with the eighth avatar of Vishnu? Nobody who doesn’t want to answer to Hanuman, the shape-shifting monkey god and commander of his very own monkey army, and who served informally as Vishnu’s consigliere! Gary immediately set to work, in his native New Jersey of all places, on the songs that would make up the third, and most bliss-inducing, of his solo albums.
When I say The Dream Weaver was produced using mostly keyboards, I’m not implying that Gary was a one-man keyboards band. No, Wright’s band included two additional keyboardists, David Foster and Bobby Lyle. Three keyboardists! The album’s lousy with ‘em! And while all the keyboards leave the LP with this Space Age meets New Age aura, it doesn’t have an iota of Wendy Carlos in it. Wright’s a rocker at heart and a pop songwriter by trade and the results are what Robert Christgau, writing about another one of Wright’s solo LPs, once (dismissively for the most part) dubbed “cosmic-commercial.” Like his mentor George O’Hara (Google him!) Wright had one foot firmly planted in the spiritual world and the other in the material world, and maya or no maya, a gold record is a gold record.  From: https://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/graded-on-a-curve-gary-wright-the-dream-weaver/

Birdeatsbaby - Deathbed Confession

Having walked the high wire between punk and prog for nine years, Birdeatsbaby have foregrounded their progressive leanings while retaining a punk ethos on fourth album Tanta Furia. “In the beginning it was a punk cabaret kind of thing,” explains singer and pianist Mishkin Fitzgerald. “Quite theatrical and not very heavy, but as the band has progressed it’s got bigger, better, heavier, darker. I now feel we’re close to creating that perfect sound that I’ve been looking for the whole time. It’s definitely progressive but it’s also classical, punk rock, goth and I like it that way,” she says, citing Muse and Queen as key influences.
The Brighton four-piece, completed by Hana Maria on violin and vocals, Garry Mitchell on bass and guitar and Forbes Coleman on drums and vocals, also showcase multi-layered string arrangements in their music, adding to their unique sound. “We’ve got two violins, cello and double bass. I’m a sucker for strings so having Hana, this virtuoso violinist, in the band is incredible.”
A gospel choir (The Dulcet Tones) appear on two tracks on the new album, including the politically charged Mary, which Fitzgerald describes as “basically the ‘Hail Mary’, but with all the words changed”. In the accompanying video she stars as an authoritarian preacher. “It’s about feminism and religion,” she explains. “The Church has abused its power over the years to oppress women so we’re taking the prayer back. I was brought up very much in the Church. I would sing hymns and play organ and piano there so a lot of my early writing influences came from hymns. Then, much to the disappointment of my parents, I went to study music in Brighton but secretly I was just forming a band.”
Third album The Bullet Within was Kickstarter funded in 2013 to the tune of £11,000 by fans (who are affectionately dubbed ‘The Flock’ by the band) who continue to bankroll ventures on a subscription basis. Fitzgerald reveals just what that means to a fledgeling outfit attempting to fly the nest. “Now we’re using Patreon. We’ve got a really strong group of superfans helping us with our touring and production costs and every expense that comes from being a DIY band. We have all the control, all the freedom. If we want to put out a metal album next time, we can. We’ve recently covered Tool’s Sober, which we’re going to put out – one of my favourite songs of all time. We don’t have to answer to anyone and that’s just beautiful.”
The devotion of The Flock has already paid for European and US tours, as well as a Mishkin Fitzgerald solo show in Mexico City, where the fans were plentiful. “I’ve never seen so many people know about our music,” the singer muses. “It was just weird in a really cool way. We’re going to do another American tour next year and go down to Mexico. It’s why we named our album Tanta Furia as well, a little nod to our Mexican fans.”  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/introducing-prog-punkers-birdeatsbaby

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Helplessly Hoping

This song is about two young lovers. I'd venture that it's a romance built largely around the wordplay in the lyrics.

"Helplessly hoping..." this is a series of alliterations built first on "H" and then on "W," and "G". In the Italian Commedia dell'arte theater tradition, "Harlequin" was the name given to a clown/mime figure who was also usually the young male romantic lead. This stanza is a portrait of a confused (and like the original "Harlequin", speechless) young man who is attracted (as so many of us are) to an elusive lover that is leaving ("sound of goodbye").

"Wordlessly waiting..." this is alliterations again, this time with the W first, and then the H. Now that his lover is gone, he pines and misses her. But has she really left? He doesn't know if his love interest is entering or leaving his life ("hello" or "goodbye").

"Stand by the stairway..." is new set of alliterations, this time "S", "C" and "L". This is the love interest, the Columbine to the Harlequin, an equally confused young lady who is trying to leave, but instead "lingers" feeling "lost." She is drawn to a love connection, but she is "choking" on admitting it.

"They are 1 person..." There's a different word game in the chorus. Each number after the first one is a pun. You should read this as:

They are one person
They are too alone
They are free together
They are for each other

As with many songs, the chorus answers the questions and resolves the confusions of the verses. The lovers may not know if they are destined for each other, but the chorus confirms their pre-ordained love. They are "one person" --that's possibly an allusion to (pseudo) Aristophanes's myth that soulmates are two halves of the same person, from Plato's Symposium. They are lonely, they bring each other freedom, and finally, they are "for each other."

This song was written by Steven Stills. It was written when he was trying to make ends meet as a session musician, before he became a superstar. The woman in the song he is writing about is Judy Collins, who he met and fell in love with working as a session musician. She was a huge star at the time, as big as you could get in the folk music scene in 1968. He was not, as the band he belonged to had just broken up. Anyways, they did start a relationship, and she already had a son who Steven adored. I believe thats where the "3 together" line comes in. So, as this goes on, Judy meets actor Stacy Keach, who also gets along extremely well her son. She drops Steven, and goes with Stacy. And that's that. I'm sure there are more sordid details of the relationship, but I don't know them. He also wrote Suite: Judy Blue Eyes about her, and I'm sure some other songs.

From: https://musicfans.stackexchange.com/questions/8195/what-does-the-song-helplessly-hoping-by-crosby-stills-nash-csn-talk-about

Altın Gün - Rakıya Su Katamam

Hailing from Amsterdam but coming from various backgrounds, Altın Gün has captured the world’s imagination with an indelible fusion, for over five years now. The band combines psychedelic rock, deep funk, synthpop, cosmic reggae, and more with the rich and incredibly diverse traditions of Anatolian and Turkish folk music.
After two years of recording separately from home during the pandemic and releasing Âlem and Yol (2021) as a result, the band members of Altın Gün now recorded a live album in the studio again, called Aşk. This album sees Altın Gün swinging away from the electronic, synth-drenched sound of their home-recorded albums, to capture all the infectious power and urgency of the band’s famously, propulsive live performances. Aşk (2023) therefore marks a new start for the band, who’s ready to tour the world again.
Recorded using vintage equipment and techniques, the ten groundbreaking tracks on Aşk all represent visionary new readings of traditional Turkish folk tunes, revealing how these ancient songs remain eternally resonant and ripe for reinterpretation. This results in an exuberant return to the 70s Anatolian folk-rock sound that has characterized Altın Gün’s first two albums.  From: https://ebbmusic.eu/artists/altin-gun/

The Grateful Dead - Beat-Club 1972

The Grateful Dead - Beat-Club 1972 - Part 1 

The Grateful Dead - Beat-Club 1972 - Part 2

Beat-Club, a music program broadcast from Bremen, West Germany, was born in the same year as the Grateful Dead, 1965. Eventually, the show reached cult status amongst German youth. Beat-Club evolved with the times, incorporating go-go girls to dance to the music and integrating psychedelic backdrops and colorful imagery while musicians played. This stage hosted the premier musical acts of the day.
On April 21, 1972, the Grateful Dead set up on the Beat-Club stage and sound checked “Loser” and “Black-Throated Wind.” After they were introduced, the band proceeded to play for eighty-three minutes. Out of this dynamic set of music, only “One More Saturday Night” was aired on Beat-Club. Five decades later, the entire Beat-Club video was shown in select theatres nationwide at the 4th annual Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies in 2013.
A triumphant “Bertha” opener sets the tone as the band digs in and performs as if this is just another concert on their magical journey across Europe. A slow-moving tie-dye/psychedelic backdrop glides across the screen as the band jams. The closeups of the Dead are superb. As “Playin’ in the Band,” begins, Donna joins the festivities. One of the highlights of this video is watching Jerry unload early in “Playin’” as Donna softly sways. Pigpen’s vocals impress during a swinging presentation of “Mr. Charlie.”
The Grateful Dead had difficulty capturing the X factor in recording studios throughout the years. On this occasion in Bremen, they were essentially performing a concert without a live audience, and the results were fabulous. Fifteen years later, the Dead successfully used this format of setting up as if they were performing live when they recorded In the Dark, which turned out to be their most successful commercial album.
A lively “One More Saturday Night” is followed by a second serving of “Playin’ in the Band.” Redundancy is not an issue here as the band doles out another wild and wicked round of improvisation—fusion fireballs galore. TV for Tivoli (4-17-72) and Beat-Club both feature essential footage of the Dead during this legendary tour. The Tivoli segment is more song-oriented. Beat-Club rages with numerous flights of free-flowing improvisation.
Since this wasn’t a live show, a song could be restarted when the musicians weren’t feeling it. There were minor missteps early on in “Sugaree,” the second “Playin’,” and “Truckin’.” The Grateful Dead could play through anything, but on these occasions, they proclaimed a mulligan and started over. The “Truckin’” jam was cooking along, but the band skipped the chorus reprise and let their drummer lead them into “The Other One.” A clock was ticking out their allotted stage time.
The last “Other One” on 4-16-72 was a twisted tease of anticipation without the volcanic eruptions associated with this tune. The Beat-Club rendition is the complete opposite. The band blasts away from the get-go and there’s an abundance of succulent “Other One” meat. Garcia’s shrieking leads blaze a trail through a path of pounding bass detonations. The jam dissolves, reorganizes, and strengthens before Weir sings, “Spanish lady comes to me she lays on me this rose.”
Between verses there’s an aural inferno before the jam dissolves into a dreamlike state, drifting in and out of consciousness—time out of mind terrain. With a subtle shifting of tempo, the jamming becomes more furious than before—Garcia’s searing leads spiral round and round in a tight blizzard of sound. “Escaping through the lily fields I came across an empty space,” howls Weir. On this day, Apollo 16 landed on the lunar highlands of the moon. All this cosmic improv captures the flavor of the day. Back in Bremen, the Grateful Dead’s allotted studio time is almost done. Instead of an abrupt ending, the band noodles away as they resist the temptation of breaking into a new tune before improvising a climactic instrumental fanfare.  From: https://liveforlivemusic.com/features/grateful-dead-europe-72-revisited-germany-beat-club/

The Soul Survivors - Expressway (To Your Heart)

“Expressway to Your Heart” was the first Top 40 hit not only for the band, but also for its producers, a pair of ambitious Philadelphians named Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Gamble and Huff would go on to develop the silky sound of Philadelphia soul, perhaps the single greatest musical style to reach America’s radios in the Seventies. (Think “Love Train,” “Me and Mrs. Jones” and “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” just for starters.) They hadn’t found their own sound when “Expressway” came out. It’s pretty much Young Rascals with a twist of Righteous Brothers.
Soul Survivors frontman Charlie Ingui puts a little too much of himself into the “much too crowded!” vamping after the first verse. As a result, he sounds like he’s fighting to get most of the second verse out of his throat. Sinatra used to call those moments of hoarseness “coughing up a Chesterfield;” Ingui’s second verse sounds like he brought up a half-pack of king-size. And yet, it works, in an impassioned sort of way.
Now, you can’t have a Young Rascals-style white-soul single without the Hammond organ any more than you can have clam sauce without garlic. But the main keyboard instrument on “Expressway” is the driving piano that carries the riff, and that needs to come through loud and clear. So G&H found creative uses for their Hammond player, who lays out in the first verse; drops in to support the breakdown (“I was wrong / It took too long”); and then leans on every two-beat during the second verse, further accentuating the work being done by the snare drum. The listener receives his or her required dose of soulful organ without ever really noticing it, like the vitamins that are baked into bread.  From: https://neckpickup.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/five-for-the-record-the-soul-survivors-expressway-to-your-heart/

Richard & Linda Thompson - The Little Beggar Girl

Richard Thompson, Richard Thompson, Richard Thompson... For years I was convinced he was destined for international stardom. Blessed with one of those instantly recognizable voices, Thompson was also a gifted writer and an amazing guitarist. In spite of years of critical acclaim (from both English and American writers), it never happened... 
One of the founding members and creative mainstays of the original Fairport Convention, Thompson left the band in 1971. The multi-talented Thompson spent the next year sharpening his chops with a series of studio sessions for the likes of Sandy Denny and John Martyn.  Late in the year he signed a recording contract with Reprise, releasing his solo debut "Richard Thompson: Starring as Henry the Human Fly". Prominently supported by backup singer Linda Peters (soon to become Mrs. Linda Thompson), the album featured a professional if somewhat pedestrian collection of folk-rock efforts. Unfortunately, precious little of Thompson's songwriting or guitar skills were on display. In spite of favorable reviews, the album failed to attract much of an audience leading Reprise to quickly drop him from it's recording roster.
I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight: First off, I'll be upfront and tell you this is one of my all time favorite albums... I normally don't hype albums, but here's an exception. Signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records, 1974's "I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight" found Thompson and new wife Linda officially collaborating as a duo. With Richard responsible for all ten tracks, musically the set contained some of his all time classic songs. Lyrically, material such as 'The Cavalry Cross', ‘Withered and Died' and 'Down Where the Drunkards Roll' was typically dark and depressing (hard to imagine Richard was only 25), though roughly half of the set was wrapped in memorable up tempo melodies. The real surprise here was Linda. Blessed with a wonderful voice that was easily a match for the late Sandy Denny, she effortless plowed her way through Richard's material. Equally at home with mournful ballads (Has He Got a Friend For Me), or injecting a dark sense of humor into her performances (The Little Beggar Girl), Linda's crystal clear voice provided a perfect balance to Richard's deep and somber delivery. Personal favorites, Richard's blistering guitar on ‘When I Get to the Border’ and Linda's wicked delivery on the title track. Sadly, the album didn't see an American release until the mid-1980s.  From: http://badcatrecords.com/THOMPSONrichardLINDA.htm

Keef Duster - Necrodancer

Super heavy acid/stoner rock, quite original for an otherwise sort of monotonous genre. in fact, songs lean more towards the weird and psychedelic, thankfully. I think that's because the guitar work's outstanding and, at least in part, undoubtedly inspired by Flower Travellin' Band's 'axe-wielding maniac' Hideki Ishima.  From: https://keefduster.bandcamp.com/album/keef-duster  

The Bangles - Dover Beach

A track from the first Bangles album, "Dover Beach" was written by their guitarists, Susanna Hoffs and Vicki Peterson, and sung by Hoffs. The beach in question is the one at the bottom of the white cliffs in Dover, England, exalted in the 1940 song "The White Cliffs Of Dover." There is no mention of Dover in the lyric: the title comes from the poem Dover Beach, published by the Englishman Matthew Arnold in 1867.
In a Songfacts interview with Vicki Peterson, she said: "Susanna and I were slightly geekish about opening the Norton Anthology of English Literature, flipping through that and going, 'Hey, this is a great line.' She had come across the Matthew Arnold poem Dover Beach at some point and that inspired that song, that idea of applying the fantasy of escape and the reality of what that would really mean. It was a really fun time to just mine the world for ideas."  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/bangles/dover-beach

Vinx - Keeping It To Myself

Vinx De'Jon Parrette (born 15 December 1957), known professionally as Vinx, is a percussionist, singer, songwriter, and former athlete. Vinx performed for the first time at Montreux Jazz Festival on July 9, 1978, after legendary musician Taj Mahal invited him to perform with him at Casino Montreux. Vinx was a member of the Austin, Texas funk & soul band Extreme Heat.
The next time Vinx performed at Montreux Jazz Festival would be July 20, 1990, when he performed nine of his own songs. The songs were taken from Vinx's first album, Rooms in My Fatha's House which was released through Sting's record label Pangaea Records, and featured guest vocals and bass by Sting. Taj Mahal, Branford Marsalis, Sheryl Crow, and Herbie Hancock were also among the album's guest musicians. The actor Roscoe Lee Browne appears on "While the City Sleeps". Vinx's regular band, made up of percussionists and a vocalist, was dubbed the Barkin' Feet.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinx_De%27Jon_Parrette

The Nields - I Need a Doctor

The Nields - Gotta Get Over Greta: It's easy, with many many rock bands, to get the impression from their lyrics that they decided to be in a band first, and only later acknowledged that this suggests that they need to write some words for their songs. I never got the impression, for example, that Steve Perry would have spent his lunch hours writing love poems even if he'd turned out to be an insurance clerk rather than a singer. The Nields lyrics, on the other hand, have the feel of family gossip, childhood pageants, late-night discussions and long-distance confessions. They feel like stories that came first, little dramas that weren't thought up to fill the meter, but, quite the reverse, were what drove the family into music to begin with, searching for the proper setting for their tales. And so we get the charming inside-joke insistence on referring to the philandering older man in "Best Black Dress" by his full name ("Mr. George Fox" they sing, forming the words so precisely that, though no rancor is evident, I feel certain the family is smiling sardonically at remembrances of the man's transgressions), the title-track's ambivalence about growing up (where I particularly like the projection of adult standards onto childhood relationships when they describe the end of a childhood friendship by "there is no divorce more final"), the frank inside perspective on an anonymous sexual encounter in "I Know What Kind of Love This Is", the adolescent dominance games of "King of the Hill", and childhood memory itself in "All the Pretty Horses".
To me the most affecting pair, however, are "Fountain of Youth" and "Cowards", which come back to back towards the album's end. The crisp, bouncy "Fountain of Youth" is almost certainly the most fascinating pop song I can recall about a younger woman's view of her affair with a married older man. "'Here are the keys to my Infiniti', you say to me", she sings, both reporting his come-on and, effectively, her reaction to it. When she dreams, in the middle of the song, about his wife, things could easily take a cliched turn, but Nerissa avoids this deftly by having the dream take a surreal (and perfectly dreamlike) turn, in which the narrator and the wife are discussing the man's immaturity, and wondering if he'll ever have children, despite the presence of lots of photographs in which he already has some. "Cowards" is a stalled-relationship song that gets its authenticity and pathos not from the relationship itself, but from the contrast between the couple's denial of their stasis and the reactions of their friends and family.
Even the album's packaging suggests a lineage. The intricate hand-done layout of the lyrics reminds me strongly of the program for a family play, and the profusion of iconographic illustrations suggests an intimate involvement with these songs, as if the contents of this album were selected from an overflowing chest of personal treasures, rather than just being invented to fill the running time. In an era where too many albums sound to me like they were made because the creators had a record contract, it's profoundly encouraging to hear one that sounds like it would have been made even if there were no record contracts, no records, and nobody but the band themselves to hear it. And even though I'm not related to them, I like it, too.  From: https://www.furia.com/page.cgi?type=twas&id=twas0060

Maldito - Moon and the Stars

Maldito is out of Trondheim, in the north of Norway and the home to a jazz-oriented conservatoire as you may know but their music is definitively tinged by a previous era and I’m thinking of the 1970s. Maldito was actually formed in Liverpool by students of the Institute of Performing Arts there, in common with many other bands that have come to my attention in recent years, and mainly from Norway as it happens. They established an early name as energetic live rockers. Then they gained some early fans while touring Germany, just like a scouse band whose name escapes me for the moment, back in the 1960s.
Prior to the pandemic they played many gigs across Europe including blues festivals. They even represented Norway in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in January 2020. Their debut album was released in 2021, followed by ‘Contact Light, in May of this year, in which they ventured into new and previously unexplored territory, “drawing inspiration from 1970s prog rock, experimenting more with sound, time signatures, and genres while staying true to their roots in blues rock.”
That’s where we pick them up and while they released some early singles from it I zeroed in immediately on the opening track, ‘Moon & the Stars’, a blazing, rollicking, rocker of a thing that falls somewhere between The Allman Brothers and Yes, if you can imagine Steve Howe playing a catchy Blues riff while Wakeman picks away at a synthesiser with mazy little runs. And speaking of Yes, Maldito’s vocalist, Vegard Ring, has a distinctive rock voice and easily nails the very same high notes and pitch that was and still is Jon Anderson’s trademark. I like what they’ve done here. A Blues/prog combo isn’t unique but it isn’t found frequently either, and they have made it work exceptionally well. ‘Moon & the Stars’ makes you hungry for the whole 11-planet Solar System that is ‘Contact Light’ and is an excellent choice for opening track.  From: https://www.nordicmusiccentral.com/maldito-norway-moon-the-stars-sample-track-from-the-album-contact-light/

Inner Ear Brigade - Shaman Coin Toss

A Rock Oaklanders Inner Ear Brigade were founded in 2006 as a quartet by a guitarist / frontman Bill Wolter and his fellow musicians. Although their lineup has not been settled, basically they've utilized Hammond Organ, Fender Rhodes, Moog synthesizer, voices, vibes or a viola for their music experimentalism, obviously influenced by Sun Ra, Ruins, and especially Magma. Since 2009 they've expanded their formation into a septet, featuring voices, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, saxophone, and vibraphone. In January 2012, Inner Ear Brigade released their first full length album "Rainbro" via an Italian independent label AltrOck Records and upon their bandcamp (as a downloadable material).  From: https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7638

Jesus Christ Superstar (Yvonne Elliman) - Everything's Alright

"Everything's Alright" is a song from the 1970 album and 1971 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is about the anointing of Jesus. In the song, Mary Magdalene tries to calm Jesus with an expensive ointment and tells him not to get worried. Judas accuses her of wasting resources which would be better served helping the poor. Jesus retorts by saying that there will always be poverty in the world and that they will never be able to help everyone. The song is musically notable for its 5/4 time signature. Yvonne Elliman and Ted Neeley sing "Everything's Alright" in the 1973 film Jesus Christ Superstar. Yvonne Elliman, who sang the part of Mary Magdalene on the original rock opera concept album Jesus Christ Superstar and also in the 1971 Broadway original cast and 1973 film, released a single of "Everything's Alright" in 1971.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything%27s_Alright_(Jesus_Christ_Superstar_song)

Inga-Dingo - I'm Alone

The music of Inga-Dingo is a thrilling combination of airy melodies and raw intensity that takes listeners on a sensory adventure. Every note demonstrates their command of the guitar as they skillfully weave complex riffs and solos that have a profound effect. Their music is distinguished by its wide dynamic range, which allows it to flow from intense and dramatic sections to reflective and surreal ones with ease. Inga-Dingo takes cues from the 1960s psychedelic movement to create a kaleidoscope of vibrant sounds and textures in their music.  From: https://www.viberate.com/artist/inga-dingo/