Emigrah - Live at Sea You Music Showcase 2025

 Emigrah is a Tricity-based band composed of artists united by a fascination with world music. They present intercultural dialogue using pieces collected during their travels around the world. Through music, they strive to explore cultures while simultaneously discovering their identity and roots. The group presents music as an element that transcends the laws of time and geographical divisions, combining what may seem incompatible with a wide range of possibilities. Their music proves that there are no barriers between faiths, regions, and languages. The group comprises six members utilizing a diverse array of instruments. One of the hallmarks of their music is traditional singing interwoven with the sounds of instruments of various origins. A wide variety of rhythms can also be heard in their work – from the tripartite rhythms characteristic of Polish traditional music, through the odd-numbered Balkan rhythms, to inspirations from the Arabic makam and the Indian konnakol. The group explores new sounds through a unique combination of instruments from around the world, presenting traditional music in their own arrangements. The group is an ambassador for both Slavic and Eastern music. In 2020 and 2021, the band performed a concert at the invitation of the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk as part of the "Traces of the Past" event. In October 2021, the band performed at the Gdańsk Biographies festival at the Miniatura Theatre.  Translated from: http://teatr.grudziadz.pl/wydarzenie/lnsm-emigrah-folk-muzyka-swiata/

a.P.A.t.T. - Cigarettes & Margarine

a.P.A.t.T. is quite an off-the-wall project that has been releasing albums and EPs since the turn of the decade. No one really knows what their exact purpose is, but in 2013, they came close to exposing that purpose by performing a piece of music that was composed and played by following the positions of bird droppings (substituting them for notation) on pieces of music manuscript paper. This ended up being a 20 minute performance at the Tate Liverpool art gallery and was called Bird Sheet Music. Are you starting to get the idea?
According to the band's website, "a.P.A.t.T. wears white, but the music is colorful. Redefining notions of success and failure. A restless, relentless take on 21st century music and performance involving deconstruction, reconstruction and ever evolving values." Does that even confuse you more? Then the best thing to do is to just listen to their avant-garde style, which also includes an album of new music composed for the film "Nosferatu". They have also collaborated with other eclectic and avant- rock bands like Secret Chiefs 3, Acid Mothers Temple, and The Sun Ra Arkestra, just to name a few.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7239

Buffalo Daughter - Times (V-edit)

Buffalo Daughter‘s 2021 album, We Are the Times, is a good time capsule of what was happening in the band’s lives, and all our lives, in the middle of a pandemic. The band declared that we had had adapt to the times we were in or be stuck in them forever.
“Music is the vitamin to live under. Too much pressure in quarantine,” they say at the beginning of the album on “Music.” Synth-bloops and heavy electro-bass pep us up for the times to come. In fact, “Times” is the next track, and it’s bumping dance track about adapting to circumstances beyond your control – so why worry about them? They state the obvious on “Global Warming Kills Us All,” and they state it with robotic voices, possibly to emulate our eventual A.I. overlords that take over the planet to save it from us.
“Life is long, life is short. I’m not sure what time we’re in. Should I stay, or should I go?” Whatever you do, “Don’t Punk Out,” they warn on this cool post-punk jam with sharp guitars and bright synths. “Loop” lands somewhere between electro and industrial. “ET (Densha)” brings in dubstep bass, but plays it slow to create a sense of dread and danger. On “Jazz,” they encourage us to open our hearts and minds in these weird times. People might need us as much as we need them. The album ends with the quirky “Everything Valley,” which encourages us to hold onto hope.  From: https://www.7thlevelmusic.com/?p=10284

Bhopal's Flowers - Diamond Queen

A collective of like-minded musicians led by Lionel Pezzano and based in Montreal, Canada, Bhopal's Flowers are inspired by both Eastern and Western influences in their soulful, sophisticated approach to songcraft. Inspired by the spiritual science of Anthroposophy, the band seeks truth through beauty, with each song blending modal and harmonic systems in a dancing constellation of esoteric concepts, powered by sitar and 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and driven by catchy melodies and intricate psychedelic arrangements.  From: https://www.soundflat.de/format_en/magazine-buecher-1/bhopals-flowers-diamond-queen-the-majestic-purple-sky-7 

Blood Lemon - One More Time

Blood Lemon was formed in 2018; what is the story behind your band?

Lisa: Boise is a tight-knit music scene, for the most part. We’re not a big city and it’s easy to become acquainted with other musicians/bands. I had played in a band called Finn Riggins from 2006 onward and we moved to Boise in 2009. I decided to join with some friends to form an (almost) all-girl band called Mostly Muff. We would play a themed cover show once a year for a local charity or cause and did this for ten years. Lindsey joined Mostly Muff once she had moved to Boise as well. I’d met her and her husband in Pocatello when they came to a Finn Riggins show. Towards the last few years, we had some other all-girl groups open for us, and Mel was part of those bands. I also knew her from her previous group, Marshall Poole.  
Mel approached a mutual friend about starting a band, and that friend suggested Mel and I get together to play. So, I reached out to Mel and let her know I’d be interested in giving it a shot. I suggested Lindsey would be a good option on drums. We started learning some covers to get the feel of playing with each other, and the rest is history.  

You recently shared the exciting single and video for “Black-Capped Cry” off your debut album, out April 23rd; what has the creative process of this album been like, and how long have you been working on this album? What are you most excited about in finally sharing this project with your audience?

Lisa: We recorded the tracks back in January/February 2020 but we were writing most of them in 2018 and 2019. A lot of the songs were sparked by our frustrations with the US administration at the time. After we recorded, the pandemic, though terrible, gave us a chance to take our time with the mixing. We were able to work with ZV House (Rabbitbrush Audio) here in Boise as the engineer and producer. We’ve known him for many years so it was easy and comfortable working with him. We’re really proud of how the album turned out, and after such a long wait, we’re beyond thrilled to finally share it. It’s been fun to release the singles that we have, but we’re more excited for people to hear the entire album.

Can you speak also about your experience with making the video for “Black-Capped Cry,” and some of your favorite visuals from the music video?

Lisa: This is just one of four videos released with the corresponding singles leading up to the album.  Each one is a different style. The shoot for “Black-Capped Cry” is the only one that we actually feature in.  Jessica Winfree with Northwest Motion Pictures Production did the treatment and direction for the video. 

Melanie: I messaged Jessica initially because I had worked with her and the NWMP team on a few previous projects and thought they’d be perfect for what we were looking for. Jessica really had a deep understanding of the pain behind that song so it clicked pretty quickly when we talked about how we wanted to conceptualize the concepts of nature vs. industrialization and colonization. It turned out to be a stunning video that we were all incredibly happy with. I think my favorite part was filming us playing the song because we had to play it way faster for it to be put in slow motion to the real tempo in the video. It was actually pretty difficult!

Are there any other particular tracks in this album that you’d like to speak to?

Lisa: We’ve been very excited to share the entire album. It wasn’t always easy to decide what tracks to feature as singles, because we feel all of the work is strong. Personally, I’m excited for people to hear “Master Manipulator.” Mel came to the group with that song just a couple days before we went into the studio, so it was brand new for us and brimming with raw energy.  

A recurring theme in your album is what has been described as “environmental (in)action;” can you speak to your passion here and the impact you hope your album may have?

Lisa: I have a daughter. She’s only seven years old. When I think of how inaction could impact her lifetime…it’s hard to put it into words. I think the theme is there because of the nature of how it is present in our day to day lives. I didn’t intentionally write music to spur action but often I’m writing as a way of processing my own feelings. I was very inspired by the address Greta Thunberg made to the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019 and that inspiration led to the track “Leave the Gaslight On.”

Melanie: There are so many possibilities and things we can do for our planet and the people who inhabit it (on a global scale) so inaction can’t be an option anymore. My hope, as we’ve written songs like “Black-Capped Cry” and “Leave the Gaslight On,” is that it sparks conversation and reflection. 

The album explores what has been considered our “modern state of discontent” — America’s political scene, social justice, the female experience of adulthood, and the aforementioned environmental issues. How would you describe your desire here to “get political” with your music?

Lisa: There was no conscious intention. As I said, I’m often processing what’s going on around me in my own songwriting. Sometimes I’m drawing from other source material, books, people. These are all topics that are part of my day-to-day life. I’ve been performing as a musician since the mid-90s. The experience of women and music and being a woman that makes music have always been important to me. Maybe it feels like a chicken-or-the-egg kind of question. All of these things have been politicized, and I’m over here just trying to process that experience. I’m making art that imitates life that imitates art. I don’t have a need to shy away from the process. We don’t believe creating art about our experiences is in any way representative of all women. I would be foolish to think that. It’s my experience, and if other people find connection with that — well most music is more about that connection, the context for me. I love to listen to a great song, a well-written or just plain fun song. I also love to listen to music that I can find a personal connection with. I write a lot of songs that are very personal to me.   

Another hallmark of your album — and overall style — is the palpable 90s alternative feel. You have previously cited influences like Pixies, The Breeders, Hole, and 90s Riot Grrrl bands like Sleater-Kinney. Can you speak to the role of these influences in each of your music careers and lives as artists? How do you like to describe your “Post-Riot Grrrl” sound and style?

Lisa: I was a teenager in the early 90s. I was listening to this music and reading Sassy magazine. I wore cut off corduroys and baby barrettes and black lipstick when I was feeling particularly dramatic. I really didn’t write music as heavily influenced by that until this project. I’ve always felt very influenced and inspired by musicians such as Kim Deal or Tanya Donnelly. My own “career” as a musician has been one of jumping on the ride and seeing where it takes me.  

Melanie: I had the opportunity to see The Breeders perform live in 2018 and it was definitely a contributing factor in deciding to start a band with other women. I was deeply inspired by how they didn’t give a shit on stage. They were laughing at each other, making mistakes, but still totally KILLING IT. In that moment I realized that, for so long, I had been overthinking everything. So with the philosophy of starting a band with friends and writing good songs we enjoyed, all while presenting ourselves authentically and RAW, we drew inspiration from Riot Grrrl. As for the “post-” part, 90’s Riot Grrrl was criticized for not being intersectional enough and it’s important to acknowledge that. We want it to signify a movement forward as well as a branching of other genres to draw from. 

From: https://interlocutorinterviews.com/new-blog/2021/4/27/blood-lemon-interview-debut-album 

Carmanah - Roots

Q: Is there any significance to the band name, Carmanah?

Laura Mitic: Carmanah is named after the Carmanah Walbran Provincial Park on Vancouver Island near Port Renfrew on the ancestral and current territory of the Pacheedaht and Ditidaht Peoples. This land is home to a forest that has never been logged, and the ancient trees that grow there include some of the largest Sitka spruces in the world. We first chose the name somewhat naively, hoping to find a namesake that connected us to our west coast home. But over the years, we continue to learn more about the communities that protect the forest and those who spared the old-growth trees from being logged in the late 1980s. The cultural and environmental significance of the forest is irreplaceable and invaluable.

What are your musical influences that shape the overall blend of roots, rock, and blues together to your distinct sound?

While I’m often discovering new music that inspires me, I consistently draw from a few of my favourites, including but not limited to: Feist, Dusty Springfield, Nancy Sinatra, Roy Orbison, The Chambers Brothers, The Beatles, Bahamas.

Could you walk me through the typical Carmanah songwriting process?

I usually begin the writing process alone, with my guitar and a cup of coffee (I write best in the mornings). Once I have the framework of a tune, I bring it to the rehearsal space with my five pals/bandmates. Everyone adds their own creative touch and influence, and we compare notes and ideas to make the song as strong as it can be. Every musician in Carmanah brings their own flare to the creative process, which makes writing new music really fun and exciting.

If you got the chance, what musician would you like to collaborate with? Rather this is past or present and either to write a song/album with or even tour with?

I’d love to collaborate with Leslie Feist on a song or two. I feel like we could sink into something really creative, quirky, and deep together. Maybe if we could also borrow Dusty Springfield from the past, we could start a sweet and badass harmonizing trio. 

You guys released your most recent album, Iris, on October 2nd. How has it been received by listeners so far?

Iris has been received well so far. Normally we’d have embarked on a tour or two by now where we would be able to witness the album’s impact in person. But we are happy with what we have seen online with streaming numbers, music video views, radio play, and playlist adds. We’ve received some really nice feedback, which encourages us to push on, especially since like I mentioned, we can’t tour, and that’s our favourite part of this whole music gig.

Do you have a favourite track, or even more than one track off your brand new album, Iris?

It tends to change, but my most highlighted favourites are “Demon Host” and “Stand Up.” Both tunes have distinctive musicality and harmonies. I had a lot of fun with the lyrics; in creating something relatable yet mixing in some symbolism and quirkiness so the songs leave something for the imagination and can mean different things to different people.

Is there any song off Iris that you are looking to perform live in front of an audience, whenever that chance might be?

Hmm... Live streaming and the few small-scale performances we did this past summer aside. I’m most looking forward to performing “Something Else” in a large live setting. This tune is strange, dreamy, and a little haunting. Throw a sweet light show into the mix, a great venue, and a music craving audience fresh out of living in a distanced world for a year. Yeah, we’re going to have an amazing party.

How has it been releasing a brand new album in the middle of a worldwide pandemic?

Releasing Iris during a pandemic has been an interesting experience. Originally the album was supposed to drop in the late spring, but our team decided to push back the release so that we would have content to share throughout the summer when everything else was coming to a halt. This gave us time to release singles with music videos and additional content to go along with them. We drew out the full release until October 2nd. I’m grateful that we had an album ready to go at the time the pandemic hit so we could develop a strategy that enabled Carmanah to be able to share our creativity intermittently throughout the summer.

How have you six been keeping busy with all the downtime?

My bandmates are all active and creative people, so there’s been lots of home projects, creative endeavours, and adventures on Vancouver Island. Personally, I did a lot of gardening, paddling, portaging, foraging, and hiking over the summer. 
Pat, our lead guitarist, and all-around handyman has been making a tour rig out of a 1972 GMC Greyhound bus. It runs on used vegetable oil and will soon be a tiny-home/tour bus for our music adventures… One day.
Mikey, our keys player, created a podcast called Carmanah Radio (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean) where we interview interesting people, chat about current topics, and reminisce with the band back to some of our wildest stories from the road. Eventually, the goal is that the podcast will join us on tour to help record stories and interviews from our travels. 
Collectively we have been using this opportunity at home to create content for Iris (music videos, live streaming, live recordings) and to work on new music and new ideas. Since everything is up in the air, we are staying flexible and taking it all in stride.

From: https://www.crucialrhythm.com/interview-with-carmanah-s-laura-mitic 

Mien - Western Shouting

Sometimes the best projects come into existence without anyone involved being
quite sure why or how, and so it is with Mien. John Mark Lapham of Anglo-Texan
acid folk legends the Earlies, Montreal-based sitar virtuoso Rishi Dhir of Elephant
Stone, singer Alex Maas of Austin, Texas’s lords of reverberation the Black Angels
and keyboard player Tom Furse of London’s consistently inventive The Horrors
might seem like a psychedelic dream team, but they never mapped out this trawl
through the inner wardrobes of their collective mind. In fact Mien, whose debut
album finds the uncharted hinterland between industrial dread, new age
ambience and cosmic expansion, was almost entirely accidental.
“It was very random and unpredictable,” says John Mark Lapham, of Mien’s
beginnings. “Rishi had contributed sitar to the Earlies’ second album, and I was
living in Rochester, New York in 2012 when I saw that he was playing with the Black
Angels in Buffalo, which is down the road. I went to go see them, and the whole
idea of us working together with Alex started floating around. The Black Angels had
crossed paths with the Horrors, so Tom was the last piece of the puzzle. It was
initially just a case of exchanging ideas. We loved the music, but we never wanted
to form a supergroup. We just wanted a fun experience. We didn’t even know we
were a band until we got the record deal with Rocket.”
“I seem to remember DJing at an Elephant Stone show in London,” says Tom Furse
on his own involvement. “Rishi and I hadn’t seen each other in a while. He started
talking about this idea for a band with Alex and I jumped at the chance. I love
collaboration, I knew Rishi and Alex were really good at what they do, and that’s
exactly what you want out of your collaborators. I had no idea what it might sound
like, but JM took the lead there. He’d developed this aesthetic that was psychedelic
without falling on any old tropes and that resonated with me massively… His shit
just sounded cool.”
Beyond Rishi using the darkness and drama of Scott Walker’s later albums was a
reference point, nobody actually knew what kind of a band this would be — or
indeed if it would be a band at all. Tom describes responding to what he was
hearing by “sometimes just adding a little sound, at other times putting on
something completely bonkers.” With the four members spread across the globe
there was no agenda and none of the baggage that inevitably comes with playing
music with people over time, meaning the ideas could flow freely without fear of
suppression. It helps explain the unique quality of sound and vision, with Alex
Maas’s lyrics combining mystery and realism as they veer from playfulness — the
nonsense poetry of Odyssey’s “tchi-tchi boy” — to reflections on political upheaval,
such as “(I’m Tired Of) Western Shouting.”
It was only when the ominous “Black Habit” emerged that everyone realized they
were on a shared journey. “That was the weird part,” says Rishi. “Nothing was 
talked about. We have our own projects and our own egos but with this, if someone 
felt that a song wasn’t working, we were generally all fine with it. Everything 
was unspoken.”
“We would each add something singular before it went through the filter that is
Mien,” says John Mark. “It passes through all of us and ends up sounding like a
cohesive album. The litmus test was: Are we in that Mien world?”
“Apart from the sitar, it was difficult to know who played what because the tracks
would go back and forth and it ended up being the product of the same mind,” adds
Alex. “If it met the criteria of whatever Mien is, we all knew it.”
What, then, is Mien? Unsurprisingly those involved find it hard to describe, so 
let me help: Mien sounds like it has emerged from the primordial swamp. 
Psychedelic music typically has associations with the late 60s and early 70s, 
but this is  timeless. An industrial slant gives modernist heaviness, but the 
sitars and sweet  melodies bring an ancient quality. This is searching music, 
made by people who aren’t quite sure what they are looking for but will keep on 
searching until they have found it.  

From: https://www.forcefieldpr.com/2018/04/05/mien-feat-members-of-the-horrors-the-black-angels-more-shares-new-single-from-debut-lp-out-this-friday/

CocoRosie - Smash My Head

It's been a while since we've heard a whole lot from CocoRosie, the art-pop duo of sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady. In the early days of this decade, there was enough argument swirling around the group that Stereogum felt like it had to publish a damn artists' op-ed roundtable to defend them. But CocoRosie haven't released an album since 2015's Heartache City, and they haven't demanded the world's attention since they teamed up with ANOHNI on the 2017 protest rager "Smoke 'Em Out." But that'll change early next year, when CocoRosie release their new LP Put The Shine On.
CocoRosie have been quietly busy this year, improbably showing up on Chance The Rapper's album The Big Day and releasing the single "Lamb And The Wolf" in August. Today, they debut their video for the Put The Shine On single "Smash My Head." It's a polished song but a busy one, and at various moments, it sounds like mid-'00s festival-indie, '90s industrial pop, car-commercial jungle, and operatic arena-goth. Bianca Casady directed the costume-heavy video. 
In a press release, CocoRosie write: For us, our song "Smash My Head" is a running-on-fire cry from the teenage heart, an inner scream we never dared to let out. The song climaxes in an exaltation, an expression of ecstatic death. It journeys from a hard-knock desert childhood scene to a transcendent cosmic passing to another realm.  From: https://stereogum.com/2063293/cocorosie-smash-my-head-video/news

 

Motorpsycho - Stanley (Tonight's The Night)

Few things in life are more exciting than the 4min blast of a perfect rock song.
Ace of Spades… Summertime Blues… Goodbye t’Jane… Smells Like Teen Spirit…
Tin Soldier… the list is long!
Songs like these somehow manage to both encapsulate and express something
profound and, dare I say it … Sacred?
A giddy feeling of elated expectation, possibly equaled only by finding yourself
carrying a plastic bag filled with 3 bottles of beer and a 10 pack of cigarettes on
an early Saturday afternoon with yer mates, when you’re almost 18, knowing
there is a party out there with your names on it. That kinda adrenaline soaked,
expectant kind of giddy! There is nothing quite like it – the best feeling in the world.
The best rock songs capture this. Now, we’ve never been able to quite scale
those peaks of rock perfection, but we try our best, and the perfect 4 min banger
is something we’ll always come back to and try to nail. Stanley (tonight’s the night)
musically owes quite a lot to Slade and Kiss and other 70s power pop merchants,
but it is also somewhat related to earlier Motorpsychodelic attempts like You Lied,
Starmelt/Lovelight and Hey Jane, and while Stanley (tonight’s the night) might not
be quite perfect either, we felt like we got close to something really good with this
one!
Icarus flew too close to the sun, and we fear that the hubris we court playing our
roles in Arild Ommundsen’s video to such perfection, will come back and bite us
on the ass… But if the perfect 4min rock song is divine, our gods are rock gods.
And as Stanley (tonight’s the night) is but a tribute to them, we feel fairly certain
our wings won’t melt and our asses will remain unbitten.  From: https://motorpsycho.no/2025/01/stanley-tonights-the-night-single-out-24-01-25/

 

Mahalia Barnes & The Soul Mates - Nasty Gal (Betty Davis cover)

Her last name reflects the heritage of her Australian superstar father Jimmy Barnes and her first name evokes American gospel superstar Mahalia Jackson. Mahalia Barnes is an enticingly true representation of what her name suggests: a powerful, soulful singer, listing Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, Ann Peebles and Betty Davis as influences.
It’s that last influence that, thanks to producer Kevin Shirley’s prodding, is the subject of Mahalia Barnes’ new album. I didn’t google it, but I’m pretty sure that Ooh Yea, The Betty Davis Songbook (February 24, 2015, J&R Adventures) is the first album dedicated to the songs and music of the woefully unheralded, one-of-kind Betty Davis, and the exclusive stream above of Barnes’ covering the raunchy Davis number “Nasty Gal” testifies to the greatness of both women.
Betty Davis was Betty Mabry until she married Miles Davis in 1968, appearing on the cover of Miles’ superb album Filles des Kilimanjaro later that year and he even titled the track “Mademoiselle Mabry” after her. By the following year, the marriage was over but Davis had already pushed her much older husband in a direction that reflected the tastes of her generation, turning a slowly fading jazz legend twenty years her senior into a bonafide rock star.
However, Betty Davis wasn’t done making her mark. She made three albums in the mid-1970s that turned the tables on the battles of the sexes, writing and singing songs about being the sexual predator of men. That kind of attitude from a woman was ahead of its time, alas, too much so. Instead of fame and acclaim, Davis only got notoriety instead and she slipped into obscurity.
Her music had much more going for it than its liberated woman brashness, though; these are tightly constructed tunes every bit as funky and hard-rocking as Sly and the Family Stone of the time, pulling together many of the best funk musicians of the time (including Family Stone’s Larry Graham).
That is why a fresh look at those trio of forgotten records — Betty Davis, They Say I’m Different and Nasty Gal — is badly needed and Mahalia Barnes is the right woman for the job. A bonafide soul shouter herself, this project benefits from some serious muscle, from producer Shirley and a helping hand from blues-rock guitar god Joe Bonamassa.
Joe Bonamassa has had success porting his blues-rock style comfortably alongside the powerful soul-rock voice of Beth Hart, but he also brandished impressive funk credentials on the fusion side project Rock Candy Funk Party, so just because Shirley is tight with the guitarist doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea to bring him on board for this record.
“Nasty Gal” comes from the 1975 Davis album of the same name and Barnes with her Soul Mates backing band does nothing to dilute the hard-hitting impact of the original; it’s as funky as the JB’s on a good night, with Ben Rodgers’ fuzzy bass line first capturing the attention. But Mahalia Barnes’ torrent of swagger begins as soon as she opens by growling “I ain’t nothin’ but a nasty gal/I said you said I was a bitch now, a ho’, didn’t ya didn’t ya,” later shouting “I used to leave you hanging in the bed by your fingernails screamin’!” and then purring “You said I love you every way but your way, but my way was too dirty for ya’.” Mercy!
Joe Bonamassa plugs right into the sleazy groove, summoning up a nasty guitar solo fit for a nasty gal. Nowadays it’s much easier to find nasty gals in music and it’s much more widely accepted. But no one has done it quite as well with a forceful, funk-rock punch as the trailblazer Betty Davis. Mahalia Barnes is making damned sure we know that, too.  From: https://somethingelsereviews.com/2015/02/22/mahalia-barnes-the-soul-mates-feat-joe-bonamassa-nasty-gal-from-ooh-yea-the-betty-davis-songbook-2015-exclusive-stream/ 

The Legendary Pink Dots - The Junkyard

The always clever and mind expanding Legendary Pink Dots return once more with new album ‘Angel In The Detail’ and it is a blinder. The Legendary Pink Dots exist outside of the defined mainstream and are a band treasured by many, though perhaps nowhere near as many as they deserve. It is therefore my job as reviewer to try and convince the uninitiated that they should give this album a thoroughly good spin. So how shall I hook you dear reader? Well, imagine a trippy and eclectic collision between Bowie at his most experimental, Pink Floyd at their most atmospheric and throw in oodles of prog and electronica, are you intrigued yet?
For those of you already acquainted with the Dots to some degree, I’ll bring you up to speed. This album brings their release tally to more than 40 albums in a four decade career. A daunting prospect for a new listener to wrap their head around, but don’t be off put, start here! Chief Dots Edward Ka-Spel (vocals, keyboards, songwriter) and Phil Knight [aka The Silverman] (keyboards, electronics), are joined by guitarist Erik Drost for ‘Angel In The Detail’, the band’s follow-up to 2016’s ‘Pages Of Aquarius’.
Now, ‘Angel In The Detail’ is unmistakable as a Dots album, but it is also clearly a very strong entry in their discography. It is surreal, quirky, dense and whimsical, funky and complex and charmingly enjoyable. This is an album that feels alive and full of weird wonder. It starts in an upbeat manner with ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’, hypnotic rhythms and pulsing bass setting the scene for Ka-Spel’s unique voice and surreal poetic lyrics. ‘Double Double’ drifts hazily in comparison, bubbling synths and a touch of guitar, and a chorus that has more than a hint of magic to it. A funky guitar riff introduces ‘Junkyard’, a quirky and poppy song with darkly witty lyrics belying the lighter musical palette. ‘Itchycoo Shark/Isle Of Sighs’ is a two parter with the first being a somber lament to the digital age. Soundscapes bridge the gap into the second part, a brooding and delicious minor key piece. We are not left morose for long however, as ‘Neon Calculators’ feels sprightly and has an urgency to it. Next is another double bill, ‘My Land/Parallels’, the first part of which is surreal collage of bleeps and squelches that is both jarring and tranquil at the same time, while ‘Parallels’ is a slow burner filled with echoes of an ominous future with perhaps a glimmer of hope also. Melodically it is one of the more haunting numbers on the album. Following the pattern of up tempo/brooding, ‘Maid To Measure’ is another kooky psychedelic pop song that sprinkles light on its dark predecessor while lyrics flirt with future sex. Bucking the trend, ‘Mantis’ does not slip back into somber mood and carries itself with a swaying rhythm and crystalline synths. ‘Penultimate track ‘The Photographer’ is a slightly sinister piece of musical drama wit finely crafted bombast, the chorus soaring to heights along with the best of the Dots. And then we reach the conclusion, the eleven minute epic that is ‘Red Flag’, perhaps also the master stroke of the album as it visits countless sonic terrains while somehow making it sound cohesive. Taking in rolling percussion, heavenly choirs, sublime guitar, luscious pads and more besides, it really is a thing of beauty.
I have tried not to dwell too much on the fact that this is the latest in a long line of albums from a band 40 years into their career, as this is such a strong album that it does not need the weight of history to back it up. The production is flawless with everything having its space, the songs are finely crafted and full of subtleties and the lyrics are as strangely poetic as ever. I urge anyone open to wonderfully weird music to give this a go.  From: https://mmhradio.co.uk/album-review-the-legendary-pink-dots-angel-in-the-detail/

Exploring Birdsong - (Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult cover)

Exploring Birdsong hails from the UK.  The trio includes Lynsey Ward on vocals and piano, Jonny Knight on bass guitar and synth, and Matt Harrison on drums and percussion.  You’ll also hear Tee Soulful on programming, Elaine Ambridge on violins and viola, and Luke Moore on cello.
Pigeonholing this band’s sound is pretty impossible.  Exploring Birdsong plays a form of progressive rock, but you’ll notice that they don’t have a guitarist.  That means the music is driven by piano, synth, and bass grooves; sometimes, that can mean overflowing and melodic passages, and other times that can be some bulkier, even heavier segments.  I think the band is influenced by a wide range of artists, and so they have pop elements, neoclassical elegance, and rock fervor all deeply sown into their musical DNA.
Possibly the most potent part of the music, Lynsey’s extraordinary vocals do communicate a level of eagerness and vigor that few others do.  When she chooses to swell her voice to higher octaves, the true magic of Exploring Birdsong begins.  From: https://theprogmind.com/2023/03/20/exploring-birdsong-dancing/

DakhaBrakha - Kozak

Thomas James returns to music videos for a very special project for the Ukranian modern folk quartet DakhaBrakha - filmed under wartime conditions in Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The video for Kozak is a metaphorical interpretation of Ukraine's battle for survival, with a mythical setting that starts with the brave young hero being tutored by a wise elder before facing his adversary - the personification of the enemy that calls itself 'Mother'. 
The video was shot on a recent visit to Kyiv and James creates a richly cinematic and atmospheric vision - as darkly imaginative as many of his previous videos, for the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, Nothing But Thieves and Ghostpoet. And with the War going on, this was achieved in extraordinarily testing conditions, made possible by the commitment of members of Kyiv's hugely experienced filmmaking community, as he explains. 
"DakhaBrahka come from a stylised folkloric tradition - celebrating their home nation across the globe with their incredible music - and we wanted the promo to do the same," says James.
"With a trip planned to Kyiv to see family, the project was born from a want to draw attention to the incredible talent still working in Ukraine, from production through to crew. To show that insanely talented people were still making phenomenal work, despite everything.
"The film came from an idea of Ukrainian cultural pride. So it made sense to us all, to take the mythologies of traditional Ukrainian folklore, and treat it with a cinematic spin. We built upon myths from old Kozak tales, that perhaps feel metaphorically relevant, and used that as a vehicle to investigate the beautiful narrative and tone of the track... And to perhaps go a little way in trying to celebrate the awe-inspiring energy that is so present in Ukraine - with folklore from the country that inspired it.
"This was about celebrating Ukraine, attempting in what little way we could, to embody the pride and resilience that is clearly so abundant there. It was a honour to be back in Kyiv, and to work with everyone. It was an experience I'll hold very dear for a long time. It certainly put things into a very clear perspective."  From: https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2025/12/02/dakhabrakha-kozak-thomas-james/93370

Fields - Song For The Fields

Birmingham, UK band Fields display a curiously diverse spread of influences on their full-length debut, Everything Last Winter. At first they seem to have a baroque ’60s folk bent a la The Incredible String Band and Pentangle, but soon enough a soaring, mighty rock sound emerges, finding the band closer in spirit to My Bloody Valentine and Radiohead. And yet there’s a hypnotic ethereality to it all, harkening the ambient pop sounds of Broadcast or 4AD acts like The Cocteau Twins. It’s difficult to pin down one defining quality with this band, which is precisely what makes Everything Last Winter such an exciting and welcome revelation.
At their core, Fields are a rock band, one with verses and choruses, hooks and riffs. I could even imagine hearing many of the songs from Everything Last Winter on the radio, I just haven’t yet. It’s in the way these songs are executed with intricacy and innovation that makes them sound so fresh and fun. Opening track “Song For the Fields,” a holdover from their earlier EP 7 From the Village, progresses precisely in the manner I described earlier, opening mystically and mysteriously before erupting into a burly, distorted rocker.
Over the course of ten tracks, Fields’ modus operandi becomes a bit less confusing, as patterns begin to emerge, a pervasive psych-folk influence driving the melodies while huge guitars are added for the sake of making them rock out more. And really, who hasn’t thought to themselves `Fairport Convention could use more power chord riffs’? Okay, probably nobody, but expected or not, Fields are on to something really cool here.  From: https://www.treblezine.com/fields-everything-last-winter/

Ghosts of Jupiter - Imperium Waves

ME: Was Homer Simpson correct when he said, “Everyone knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It’s a scientific fact”?

NATE WILSON: I’d say it was probably closer to 1972 but yeah, I think he was on the right track. At the same time I think it’s kind of closed-minded to be one of those people who always says “I don’t listen to anything that was recorded after 1972…..blah blah blah.” I like a lot of contemporary bands and I’m always searching around for new shit to get into. It just so happens that all the new stuff I’m into SOUNDS like it was recorded in the 70’s. So to clarify, I don’t listen to anything that SOUNDS like it was recorded after 1972.

ME: Whichever year it was, which albums, artists, and songs contributed to the molding of said perfection?

NATE WILSON: There are a ton. Big ones for me are Jethro Tull‘s Thick as a Brick, [Yes’s] The Yes Album, Captain Beyond [self-titled debut], Meddle [Pink Floyd], [Traffic’s] The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys….

ME: When did it reach its nadir, or are we still awaiting it?

NATE WILSON: I have to admit that I had to Google nadir. I thought it was a Spanish verb.

But it’s really tough to pick out some low-point in music. Again, it’s easy to complain that there’s no good music and everything was better way back when. But there’s always been some good music out there, and there’s always been a ton of garbage, too. I remember that time period just before the Internet changed everything as being particularly shitty. It just seemed like major labels and MTV had so much power and control over the pipeline and it was basically musical fast food. Now, at least as a music fan, there’s a whole new universe available to discover things you never would have heard of in the past.

ME: Fill in the blank: “I wish that I were half the singer-songwriter/musician that _______________ is?”

NATE WILSON: Gustav Ejstes (Dungen)

ME: What is your favorite rock ‘n’ roll documentary?

NATE WILSON: Off the top of my head probably Dig! about the Brian Jonestown Massacre. I like their music but I love the train wreck even more! Honorable mentions are Last Days Here and that newish one about Ginger Baker [Beware of Mr. Baker]. OK—those are all train wreck movies I guess!

ME: Did transitioning from the Nate Wilson Group to Ghosts of Jupiter consist of anything other than a change in name (e.g., line-up changes, relocation)?

NATE WILSON: We had a few different bassists when we were Nate Wilson Group, and when we solidified the line-up and added our second guitarist I think we figured it was time to have a proper name. I did move to Worcester, but that’s incidental.

ME: How do you draw on your training at the New England Conservatory when composing music? Which field is your University of New Hampshire degree in?

NATE WILSON: My degree from UNH is in music performance. I always draw on my musical training, although the stuff I studied in school is fairly different from what the band sounds like. But studying music in an academic setting I think just broadens your awareness of sound in general. You don’t always use everything you learned in classical music or jazz within the setting of a rock band, but that awareness helps your creative process.

ME: How did the Museum of Science show come about and how long did that run?

NATE WILSON: It ran for over a year which was pretty amazing. The idea came from our friend Phil Stepanian, who has helped us with a bunch of management stuff over the years. He just beat some doors down for us over there and they thought it was an interesting enough idea to give us a shot at it.

ME: If Ghosts of Jupiter were to do an album of covers, what would you offer (2 or 3 songs/artists) and what would you expect each of your bandmates to propose?

NATE WILSON: Man, that’s a tough one. I’d love to cover a bunch of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, but I don’t know if recording it would make much sense. My take on it would be to re-create it EXACTLY the way it sounded on those records ‘cause its fucking awesome. So what would be the point of that really I guess…..

ME: How widely has the band toured and what is the largest audience for which you have performed?

NATE WILSON: We’ve stayed pretty close to the Northeast for the most part. We did a tour out to the Midwest with our friends the Buffalo Killers a few years back, and we did a few tours in the US Virgin Islands, but those were really just glorified vacations. The biggest crowd we’ve played for was probably at the Hatch Shell in Boston where we opened for Blue Oyster Cult.

ME: What is the plan for the next Ghosts of Jupiter recording?

NATE WILSON: We’re already recording it. We’ve cobbled together our own little recording rig and lately have been of the mind to forgo recording in studios. It’s freed us up financially to experiment a whole lot more. We recently rented a house in Vermont and did some tracking there. We recorded most of the keyboards at my home. I don’t know if we’ll do the entire project on our own, but so far it’s been a lot more fruitful to be off the clock.

From: https://blakemadsblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/asked-answered-nate-wilson-of-ghosts-of-jupiter/ 

 

Eurythmics - Right By Your Side / Would I Lie to You

 Eurythmics - Right By Your Side

 

 Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You

 

For Eurythmics third album, Dave Stewart set out to make a "killer R&B riff." He found it one morning when he was having breakfast with his acoustic guitar on his knee. He took the riff to Annie Lennox, who wasn't sure about it at first, since it didn't fit their sound.
As Stewart explained in The Dave Stewart Songbook: "When we started putting it down the song had a lot of energy and inspired Annie to come up with the great lyric, 'Would I Lie To You" and a melody with very odd answering harmonies, 'Now, would I say something that wasn't true.' These harmonies are very unusual and Annie is a genius at working them out very quickly in her head. The song started to be a fusion between Stax type R&B and Eurythmics."
Lennox sings this from the perspective of an angry girlfriend who walks out on her cheating lover. It was not directed at Stewart, although they were a romantic couple before forming Eurythmics, but inspired by the breakup of her first marriage, to a Hare Krishna named Radha Raman.
"I was always looking for a good relationship, and you can see it in the songs, all this unrequited love," Lennox told Q magazine regarding her songwriting during this period. "I was never in one spot, so my emotions were in turmoil."
Eurythmics recorded Be Yourself Tonight in a small room they set as a recording studio in the suburbs of Paris. Lennox and Stewart lived in apartments on top of each other while they were making the album.
Benmont Tench from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played the Hammond organ on this track; he and Stewart previously worked together on "Don't Come Around Here No More." Martin Dobson was brought in for horns.  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/eurythmics/would-i-lie-to-you

"Right by Your Side" was something of a departure from previous Eurythmics songs, and is an uptempo love song which features a calypso music instrumental backdrop, complete with synthesized steel drum and marimba sounds and a horn section. The steel drum sounds were triggered from a Voyetra synthesiser that Stewart acquired in New York. After spending a few hours getting the Voyetra to function, Stewart landed on a sound that resembled a set of steel drums, which was the first noise that he achieved with the synthesiser. He then worked with Lennox to develop "Right by Your Side" around the steel drum sound. According to Stewart, it took roughly ten minutes for them to write the song.
Stewart sought to record a solo that emulated the playing of King Sunny Adé, so to accomplish this, he recorded his part at half-speed and later sped the recording up. The song's horn dubs were recorded in London by some session musicians.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_by_Your_Side_(Eurythmics_song) 

 

Diane Coffee - Mayflower

Mixing the flamboyant, gender-bending attitude of early Rolling Stones and David Bowie with Beatles-esque melodies, Diane Coffee (real name Shaun Fleming) has been releasing his brand of exuberant rock n’ roll since 2013. Taking a break from being the live drummer for Foxygen, Coffee recorded his debut album My Friend Fish in New York on his own, not recruiting a full band for touring until afterwards.
In 2015, Coffee released his follow-up album Everybody’s a Good Dog, which included the horn-filled single “Mayflower”. Blasting off out the gates like a marching band on speed, the track then flows into a chill acoustic rhythm as Coffee enters with bluesy vocals, “How can I help you? I can get you what you want”. If it’s not an intentional Stones reference, I would be pretty surprised, as Coffee sounds like a young Jagger. The triumphant horns return with chugging guitars during the commanding chorus. If you miss the classic rock of the 60’s, Diane Coffee can satisfy that craving.  From: https://theindyreview.com/2017/09/26/check-this-diane-coffee-mayflower/ 

Farafi - Calico Soul (full album)

 Farafi - Calico Soul - part 1

 Farafi - Calico Soul - part 2

 

One of the women in Farafi comes from the US, the other from Britain, with French-Indian roots. Darlini Singh Kaul and Jot Tyson met in Goa in India, started singing together unaccompanied, found their voices and musical ideas clicked and decided to do more with it. Now they both live in Berlin, and after a pair of official bootlegs, this real debut does credit to their mix of percussion and singing, along with ngoni, kashaka, and ghungroos,, The duo often sing in languages which aren’t theirs, mostly from Africa, as well as one of their own invention.
So far, so cultural imperialist, right? Well, not really. The music might nod vaguely towards different cultures, but everything here is their own invention. While the heart of it all is just the pair of them, they actually sound at their best and most adventurous when accompanied by a full band, as on the opener, “Desert Sun,” which quickly catches fire. There are plenty of African inflections, yet it still possesses something that’s completely its own – a manifesto for what’s to come on the disc. At times it can get pretty wild, with the electric guitar pushing hard towards the boundaries of atonality, as with the solo on the closer, “Kele.” But it works. The band fires up the women and they respond. Individually together they have excellent voices, but it’s together that they shine, becoming more than the sum of the parts, strong, confident and certain, no matter what tongue they’re using.
Yes, it does get hippy-dippyish at times. But thankfully it’s only for brief moments, then the music is blazing again. There’s real power here, vocally and instrumentally, and in the duo’s songs; for all the cues they take from Africa, they keep the listener’s attention. Farafi really do have a warmth and will that’s all their own.  From: https://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/farafi-20.shtml