Queen - A Night at The Odeon 1975

 Queen - A Night at The Odeon 1975 - Part 1

 

 Queen - A Night at The Odeon 1975 - Part 2

 

It seemed not too long ago that Queen had just a couple of live albums. Plenty more have popped up over the years since frontman Freddie Mercury’s passing, ones that conveniently give listeners glimpses of the Queen eras not documented on Live Killers and Live at Wembley ’86. A new one has just been added to their canon, one that is trumpeted so proudly that it’s a slight wonder that it hasn’t been properly released before. It’s a live broadcast of Queen playing a full set on Christmas Eve, 1975 at London’s legendary Hammersmith Odeon. Cheekily titled A Night at the Odeon, their landmark album A Night at the Opera was released a month prior to the show, this album captures the mighty glam-pop band playing to a packed house and a cluster of BBC cameras beaming their show into living rooms across the United Kingdom as its citizens hung their stockings with care. It must have come as a shock to some. When you combine the progressive musical leanings of the band’s early sound with their taste for flamboyant theatrics while factoring in the fact that Queen could rock like crazy, the end concoction could have been terrifying to someone hoping for a relaxing evening in front of the television. Never having a chance to see Queen live, I tried to pester a friend of mine into telling me her experience of getting dragged by her older sister to see them some time in the late ’70s. The most I can get out of her is “I just remember I was scared.”
Queen’s reputation of being a barnstorming live act and Freddie Mercury’s reputation of being a frontman to end all frontmen is succinctly captured on A Night at the Odeon, even if you’re only going for the audio package (the show is available on DVD and bluRay). The crowd roars when the band is introduced. Brian May chugs out the eight-note D chord to “Now I’m Here”. Mercury’s echoed introduction draws another surge of noise from the crowd. Then the rhythm section that Rolling Stone magazine once described as “explosive” and “a colossal sonic volcano whose eruption makes the earth tremble” makes its entrance. At this point, the band is off and running like it was a day at the races. Roger Taylor and John Deacon pound on their instruments as if they would have no trouble doing so all night. May’s Red Special ceases to be a violin and behaves more like a bulldozer when he takes the stage. Mercury, as usual, sings like he has an endless supply of energy. Combined, Queen have the audience in their collective palm.
Even though A Night at the Opera was already a hit album at the time while its runaway lead single “Bohemian Rhapsody” (a song turning the ripe age of 40 as of this writing) was climbing the charts at an alarming rate, the set Queen performs here leans heavily on their first three albums — Queen, Queen II, and Sheer Heart Attack. “Bohemian Rhapsody” does manage to make it into the set, but not the entire song. Queen uses it to start their traditional early-in-the-show medley, using the piano ostinato just prior to the operatic section as a segue into the hit single “Killer Queen”. After a protracted version of “The March of the Black Queen”, the band sneaks back into the half-tempo coda of “Rhapsody” with the “ooh-yeahs”. After Taylor strikes the gong, Mercury stays at the piano for a mostly instrumental blast through the ragtime number “Bring Back That Leroy Brown”. The only other cut from Opera is May’s arrangement of “God Save the Queen”, played over the house speakers as the band takes their final bow. More time is given to “Brighton Rock” and its extended guitar solo, showing off May’s ability to harmonize with himself over a series of echoes. You could also say that the eight-minute version of “Liar” vies for far more attention than Queen’s latest album at the time. I suppose Queen weren’t really selling the album, the album was selling itself. Queen, in turn, were selling themselves. If that meant sneaking in the stimulating prog attack of “Ogre Battle” as the night’s second song, then so be it.
In usual Queen manner, their covers are treated as curious toss-offs and little more. The first time the band returns to the stage, Taylor announces that they’re about to play “some rock and roll”. This translates to the old swingin’ number “Big Spender” and a medley that includes “Jailhouse Rock” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. Then that’s it for the covers. Their second encore starts with the early single “Seven Seas of Rhye” and May’s slow-grinding faux-blues number “See What a Fool I’ve Been”. The cameras were allegedly switched off by this point, so video footage of this second encore doesn’t exist. But every moment of A Night at the Odeon‘s audio boasts a big, crystal-clear sound that more than makes up for any lack of visuals that might rankle the collector. It really does sound like it was all captured just last night.
There has been speculation on whether Queen were jesting their way through their career or if their appreciation for kitsch was reaching some profound new levels. Melody Maker‘s Hammersmith Odeon show announcement of “Britain’s most regal band awaits your presence…” certainly has a hammy ring all its own, as if the writing staff were gleefully awaiting for the band to fall flat on its face that night. But I wasn’t there. One thing that is clear is that Queen were serious about their shows. True, A Night at the Opera once held the distinction of the most expensive album ever recorded due to the band’s meticulous approach to perfection. At the same time, they wanted to make sure that the people sitting in the back of the balcony always got their money’s worth.  From: https://www.popmatters.com/queen-a-night-at-the-odeon-2495469068.html

 

Cocanha - Cotelon

Cocanha are an Occitan duo (ft. Lila Fraysse & Caroline Dufau – although there have been other members including Maud Herrera – who features on their latest release – and Lolita Delmonteil-Ayral) who perform polyphonic songs accompanied by stringed tambourines, feet and hands. They sing in Occitan, a beautifully poetic endangered language spoken by about 1.5 million people across Europe. It’s spoken in areas of Southern France, Monaco, Italy’s Occitan Valleys, and Catalonia’s Val d’Aran (these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania).
Although most Occitan speakers are based in Southern France, it has no official status there. In a recent interview, Caro Dufau of Cocanha told Bandcamp – “Choosing to sing, or even to speak, Occitan on a day-to-day basis, is a political act, and not an anodyne one,” she also condemned the “downright centralism” of the French state. “They don’t leave any space for other languages.” Despite these strong words, they are also cautious of their musical traditions being co-opted by nativist and nationalist movements. Despite drawing on traditional songs, they reject the idea of “rigid traditions.” Lila Fraysse of Cocanha says, “Reinterpreting traditional music also means updating it,” she emphasises that there’s no place for old-fashioned attitudes in their repertoire. “There are songs whose lyrics we don’t like, so we change them, and tell other stories.”
There are six major dialects (there are variants within these) of the language, and there is no single written standard known as ‘Occitan. According to the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages, four of those dialects are severely endangered.
The language has a fascinating history, with the oldest written fragments of the language dating back to 960. It has strong connections to medieval troubadours who used the language as a vehicle for their poetry. At that time, the language was understood and celebrated throughout most of educated Europe. It was the maternal language of the English queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and kings Richard I of England (who wrote troubadour poetry) and John, respectively. It began to decline in status from the 14th century on.
Cocanha hail from Toulouse, the historic capital of Occitania. In Toulouse, you can also find bilingual French-Occitan schools where language has undergone a revival since the 80s.
Cocanha have, according to their bio, been together for ten years. Their music has subtly changed in that time, with their 2015 EP 5 cants polifonics a dançar being their most traditional sounding.  From: https://klofmag.com/2021/12/an-introduction-to-cocanha-drawing-from-the-occitan-tradition/

 

Psychedelic Trips To Death - Sending Flowers To The Ignorant

When did you decide that you wanted to start writing and performing your own music? What brought that about for you?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: I began to consciously think about music at the age of 15. Psychedelic Trips To Death were formed a couple years later, in the winter of 2010. Listening for the first time the music of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Joy Division, to name a few, created the need of writing our own music right from the start even though we didn’t know how to play any instrument at that time.

How would you describe your sound?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: Our sound involved during these 10 years as did our music preferences. We find this a healthy habit to obtain, although we are still attached to our first influences.

How do you usually approach music making?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: Usually there is an idea starting from the acoustic guitar or the synth & drum machine, which later on becomes a complete song by the addition of the rest of the band. We play and rearrange them throughout the live shows, where is determined which version of the song will make it to the record.

Three of four members are part of Chasing Bone. How do you think you differ between two bands?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: Chasing Bone, formed by Panos Anastasiadis (guitarist of PTTD since 2018), were mainly active in Paris until they moved in Thessaloniki, Greece. That was when we got involved in each other’s bands, although we all knew each other for a long time before that. The two bands differ on the songwriter and Chasing Bone tends to have a genre bending, more experimental approach with references from improvised “jazz” music to art rock.

What currently occupies Chasing Bone camp?

Panos Anastasiadis: Chasing Bone’s latest album, ‘Now What?’, is to be released on vinyl via Dinara Records on March, 2021. At the moment, since we are restrained in not performing in front of an audience, we work on a series of live video sessions each one of them to be set on a different location.

How are you coping with the pandemic? Are you planning something new?

Panos Anastasiadis: As it is a really strange time for everyone we are not the exception. Having that in mind, we couldn’t help it but express this frustration through new music from both sides.

‘The Resistor’ was released on vinyl by Dirty Filthy Records.

Konstantinos Iosifidis: The album came out late November, limited to 222 ‘Reign In Blood’ transparent red vinyl copies. We are really happy to be on the same page with the really cool bands that Dirty Filthy Records is getting out.

Can you share some further details how your latest album ‘The Resistor’ was recorded?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: ‘The Resistor’ was recorded live in a four days period during April of 2019 at the Royal Alzheimer Studio (Thessaloniki, Greece). Engineered, mixed & mastered by Titos Kariotakis & Christos Charbilas, co-produced by Giorgos Christianakis and ourselves. On the first day we set up the gear and did trial & error until we reached the desired sound. The following two days were the actual recordings and on the fourth and last one we added overdubs of saxophone and guitar. That pretty much sums it up. Our intension was a live-like experience for the listener.

How would you compare it to your self-released album ‘Blood For Blood’?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: ‘Blood For Blood’ was also recorded live with the difference being that for ‘The Resistor’ we had the actual space and time to do the pre production process which is crucial for a live album like this one.

What are some bands/musicians that have a big influence on you?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: We cannot hide that bands like The Stooges, Suicide, The Velvet Underground and some more recent ones such as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, A Place To Bury Strangers and The Horrors have a big impact on our sound. All of us are into various genres and that also has a big influence on our writing and how we approach music in general.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

Konstantinos Iosifidis: Some of the records we dig lately are Vanessa Worm – ‘Vanessa 77’, Suuns – ‘Fiction’, Little Annie Anxiety & Hiro Kone – ‘Repossessed’, Massive Attack ‘Eutopia’ and the list goes on.

From: https://www.psychedelicbabymag.com/2021/02/psychedelic-trips-to-death-chasing-bone-interview.html 

Daisy House - Crossroads

Although I've become more noted for Power Pop over the past few years, it was never meant to be that way. I'd always been known for Glam and New Wave but my collection has always been diverse and grows much to the bewilderment of the Queen Of Burtonwood. I'm as at home with Can, King Crimson, Hank Williams, Mike Oldfield and Jean Michel Jarre as I am with sun three minute symphonies about love lost and found and masses against the classes.
I only mention the above because this Power Pop notoriety means that at times I lose sight of what else is around and there is no greater example of this than Daisy House. Crossroads is album number four and I'm only pissed off because I missed the first three completely. Since my ears have been perked, I've found that the band are friends of the Big Stir crowd which is more familiar territory to me.
Longbeach's Daisy House are a Father and Daughter duo and their influences are far and wide and it shows. Multi instrumentalist Doug is the writer and muse, but daughter Tatiana's voice is something very splendid indeed. The two voices make this album so different, whether it is separate or together. Doug's voice lends itself to latter day Beatlesque Pop. almost Gerry Rafferty. Tatiana however is a sort of Annie Haslam joy. When they mix, sparks fly.
Crossroads is also not just about those voices, the arrangements are great, well thought out and coming from unusual directions. Beloved is a cross between the Psych flavours of late 60's US and Fairport Convention. Leaving The Star Girl is all Byrds Jangle, it could be Teenage Fanclub. The Title Track, Crossroads, has Tatiana and THAT voice in Aimee Mann mode.
Remembering The Arc is very Donovan and more like I imagined the album to be. Albion is very Sandy Denny, Grand Canyon is early solo Lennon. The arrangement on Nocturne is exceptional, the two minutes featuring an operatic voice in the background. The Girl Who Holds My Hand is a gem, probably my favourite track. It's very Elliott Smith, but the harmonies between father and daughter are ace.
Crossroads is a splendid album due to all that I note. The mix of genres, the mix of voices and the quality of the songwriting and arrangements. This is the sort of album that doesn't get made any more and the odd time that one is, it usually suffers from a lack of production or front loading.  From: https://hearasingle.blogspot.com/2017/05/daisy-house-crossroads.html 

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz and bass player Tina Weymouth, married since 1977, are big fans of funk. When they went to a P-Funk show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the crowd started chanting, "Burn down the house, burn down the house" (this was before "The Roof Is on Fire"), which gave Frantz the idea for the title. As he explained in a 1984 interview with National Public Radio (NPR), he and Weymouth created the original track in a jam, then took it to the band where they refined the groove. To form the lyrics, they picked words that fit the rhythms, which is why the lyrics don't make a lot of sense ("Cool babies, strange but not a stranger"). This is common practice in the world of funk, where you don't want the lyric to get in the way of the groove on a feel-good song.
The French keyboard player Wally Badarou, known for his work with Grace Jones and Level 42, overdubbed the synthesizer parts on this track, a key addition. Percussionist Steve Scales contributed concert toms to the song.
This was an exhilarating live song for Talking Heads, who played it when they toured for the album Speaking In Tongues in 1983 and 1984. Like many of their songs, they needed additional musicians to pull it off, so their touring band included Steve Scales, who played percussion on the track; guitarist Alex Weir; and Bernie Worrell, who was part of P-Funk when Frantz and Weymouth saw the show that inspired this song.
A few of the shows were recorded for the concert film (and soundtrack album) Stop Making Sense, which shows the band in peak form, especially on this track, which works the crowd into a frenzy. The music video was directed by David Byrne and was the first Talking Heads video to show the full band - their famous "Once In A Lifetime" video is just Byrne. The house seen in the video was located in Union, New Jersey, but it was shot at a New York City club called The World.  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/talking-heads/burning-down-the-house

Euphorica - Collaudemus Christum Regem

Euphorica is a band of unique musicians, who play medieval historical music and World Music, in their case traditional European folk music, in a contemporary way. While searching for new songs the musicians rely on their musical knowledge and depend on their feelings for the song. Euphorica looks for a repertoire that they can develop musically and in which they find the potential for their vocal and instrumental arrangements.
The music band Euphorica formed in 2007. Its members have played not only in medieval bands in previous years. Drummer and singer Eva Žídková and singer and cister player Iva Šářecová played in the professional medieval band Psalteria for several years. Another experienced musician is professional flutist Markéta Stivínová who plays as a solo flutist in styles ranging from jazz to classical. Clarinetist Kateřina Bartošová has experience from a music school, where she studied traditional and non-traditional styles.
Some members also collaborated with famous German medieval band Corvus Corax at the musical show Cantus Buranus, which visited Berlin, Hamburg Wacken Open Air festival and the Netherlands.  From: https://www.euphorica.cz/es/banda.php

 

Jeavestone - Knights Of The Bottomline

In 1999 in the small town of Kalajoki, Finland finds birth a new talented Finnish act named Jeavestone by four young musicians: Jim Goldworth (vocals, guitar), Mickey Maniac (guitar, vocals), Tommy Glorioso (bass) and Kingo (drums).With the addition of Angelina Galactique on flutes,keys and voices their sound became richer and the record a self-financed eponymous EP in 2001. Jeavestone toured Finland before the release of their first album "Mind the soup" in 2005.
At just 40 minutes,"Mind the soup" is a good modern Art Rock/Prog album with diversity and energy.With changing heavier and calmer moments and a good dose of breaks in every track, Jeavestone manage to mix different styles such as Heavy Rock,Folk and Classic Prog, influenced by the likes of The Beatles, Gentle Giant, Rush and even Spock’s Beard.The majority of the compositions are short but always with rich musicianship, strong amount of dynamics and a vocal orientation.Speaking of vocals, these are quite great and come often in a polyphonic appearance with often a humourous edge.Very much guitar-driven with powerful grooves and short soloing, the tracks are often interrupted by acoustic calmness, complex keyboard parts and flute-driven delicacy to add this afore-mentioned diversity, which makes ''Mind the soup'' an enjoyable listening.The production is also a plus, being bright and clear all the way.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=9718

 

Fern Knight - The Poisoner

Fern Knight’s ‘Castings’ is an album dedicated to the world of tarot. It channels various archetypes past and present both lyrically and musically. This is because Fern Knight is a quartet that mix very traditional folk music with highly psychedelic rock. It really feels like gothic folk troupe Unto Ashes made a prog-rock album. I recently discovered this 2010 album during Bandcamp Friday and felt compelled, 11 years after its release, to write about it to find a new audience.
Sonsg have wild transitions between them but they largely fall into two categories. The first is the quieter witchy gothic harp melodies. Here, vocalist Margaret lets her fragility shine with her delicate and wispy voice. On the track ‘The Poisoner’, the verses are beautifully performed like a ballroom waltz. Then the chorus slams in full-bodied guitars that have a wild throaty whammy tone to them. Fern Knight are also unafraid of throwing in a guitar solo over a harp either. Indeed, the opening track ‘From Zero to Infinity’ feels like something you’d here on a T-Rex record… if they collaborated with Trees.
Elsewhere, the cello and bardlike qualities of the album shine through on the beautiful ‘Pentacles’. The 1970’s loud high eq production plays to the strengths of the piece, leaving the acoustic guitar acting as the bass as the rest of the band rock out. I’m reminded of the great band Espers. Elsewhere, the slightly odd ‘in room’ production holds back the impact of giant tonal shifts. ‘Long Dark Century’ is an almighty beast of a track but the giant cello and guitar arrangement is shifted to the background. This is because there are tiny melodic folk instruments being pushed to the front of the mix. I’m not saying that it is mixed incorrectly, it is different. Your ears expect all the brash instruments to create a wall of angsty drama but the angelic plucked bells are what take centre stage. It takes a bit of getting used to!
The scope of the album has to be admired too. From the brass band arrangement of ‘Cave Of Swords’ that rumbles into a demonic firepit rock rumble to the eight-minute haunted inside out rock of ‘Epitaph’ – the breadth of sound is huge. The way the harp is integrated into everything also gives Joanna Newsom a run for her money. The closing track ‘Crumbling Stairs’ is one of the few harpless tracks and it rounds out the album ominously. Running a drone-like electric mouth harp, whining guitars and cellos squeal and moan over percussive chants. It is a real crossover event of dark and pagan styled folk and holds a dense atmosphere I couldn’t get enough of. All this whilst playing tarot lyrically too – the esoteric lovers will be having a field day with this album.
Whilst its production tricks do take a while to train the ears, ‘Castings’ is a fascinating album. Wildly shifting from ye olde folk to dramatic rock solos and then gothic chants often in the space of a few minutes, you’ll never be bored. Their rough around the edges take on dark foreboding folk has stuck with me since I discovered the album on Friday and it’s been on repeat since.  From: https://higherplainmusic.com/2021/08/09/fern-knight-castings-review/

Joe Jackson - Breaking Us In Two / Sunday Papers - Live 1979

 Joe Jackson - Breaking Us In Two

 

 Joe Jackson - Sunday Papers - Live 1979

 

Breaking Us In Two is about the battle between the boredom of monogamy and the loneliness of independence. The singer wants his girlfriend/wife to seek interests outside of him; so, that his love for her will grow stronger. Jackson is clearly in denial over this relationship. >>> 
There are no guitars on this or any other song on the Night And Day album. Joe Jackson had a beef with rock music, which he felt was becoming commercialized and shallow, so he went out of his way to stay away from the format.
With the video for this song and "Steppin' Out," Jackson had a strong presence on MTV, which was just a year old and populated mostly by British artists like Jackson who had made videos to show in Europe. Jackson's videos were well-liked, but he often spoke out against the medium, as he felt it forced artists who were not visual performers to conform to a different role. "On the whole, most videos are pretty much an insult to people's intelligence," said Jackson.
He came to regret the remarks, saying in the book I Want My MTV: "I'm not such a miserable bastard that I won't admit that some videos are great fun. But I believed MTV was beginning to have a negative effect on music. I'm well aware that refusing to make videos accomplished nothing whatsoever except - how should I put this? - to make my next record less successful. It damaged my career and it never fully recovered."  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/joe-jackson/breaking-us-in-two

 

 

Jasmine Sandlas - Husan Muqabla Kara Ke Dekh Lo

Jasmine Sandlas is an Indian-American singer, television personality, performer, songwriter who mainly sings Punjabi songs. Jasmine was born in 1985 in Jalandhar, Punjab, India, to a Punjabi Sikh Labana family. Her mother put her on stage to sing at an early age. During her school days she participated in many song competitions and then that was the time when she got influenced by many Punjabi folk singers. At the age of 12 or 13, she and her family migrated to California, where she was inspired by West Coast music. She was only 16 when she began writing songs.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine_Sandlas

 

The Armoires - Full-On Witch Mode

A year after achieving critical acclaim with their album Octoberland, The Armoires are back with a Halloween-themed single that finds the band in “Full-On Witch Mode.”
The song is the lead single off Big Stir Records’ brand new Halloween compilation Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies, coming out tomorrow. 
“In planning the video for ‘Full-On Witch Mode,’ we wanted to embody the spirit of the song, which is in a way the core spirit of The Armoires and our sound — warm and welcoming but a little bit eerie and unsettling at the same time,” the group said in a collective statement. “Band leaders Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome were both part of the main team assembling the whole Big Stir Records Halloween album Chilling, Thrilling Hooks and Haunted Harmonies for which the song was recorded, and the vibe there was a throwback to the benign scares of the late ’60s and early ’70s — think Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion and the creepy ‘scare yourself at home’ LPs for kids in that era. The song is a bit more serious than that, so we struck a middle ground. The studio footage of the band comes across as a slightly haunted version of a vintage variety show performance, and the cutaway footage of the faces and instruments were loosely inspired by Madame Leota’s seance room. Together, they present a sort of timeless aesthetic that we believe is perfectly suited to the track. The cinematography is by Michael Bulbenko and the ghostly effects were crafted by Michael Simmons (who also produced the track and co-produced the full Chilling, Thrilling collection with Rex and Christina). Miranda Broome sits in as the substitute bassist for this video, meaning that both sides of the stage are occupied by parent-child teams: Broomes on the right, and Bulbenkos (Christina and her daughter Larysa, full-time violist in the band) on the left. That’s a vintage Omnichord that Christina’s playing, making for an almost certainly completely unique combination of instruments on display… just quirky enough to add a little mystique to this Halloween outing for The Armoires.”
For the band, which also includes bassist Clifford Ulrich and drummer John M. Borack, they feel strongly that the single — with its Fleetwood Mac meets The Slits vibe — stands tall on its own as much as it gels with the whole ensemble of acts included on the double LP.  From: https://rockandrollglobe.com/rock/the-armoires-go-full-on-witch-mode/

Guerilla Toss - Famously Alive

On Guerilla Toss’ fifth album, Famously Alive, frontperson Kassie Carlson sings about enjoying every day to the fullest after a years-long opiate addiction that landed her in the hospital for weeks and persuaded her to get sober. The music reflects her shift toward not just surviving but thriving, and it feels like the culmination of a long-brewing transformation for Guerilla Toss, now a New York trio after years in Boston as a five-piece known for earsplitting live shows and head-spinning studio recordings. Famously Alive is a beautiful mess of squelchy psych-pop—emphasis on pop—that feels in conversation with the band’s abrasive, dissonant past: As Guerilla Toss turn a new page musically, Carlson turns one of her own.
On 2019’s What Would the Odd Do? EP, Carlson chronicled her recovery and Guerilla Toss began to soften their harshest, skronkiest musical layers. Famously Alive takes that path to its logical conclusion. These melody-forward songs arrive with crystal-clear fidelity and sugary guitars and synths, but their frantic rhythm and psychedelic tint connect them to the band’s past work. Carlson’s newly steady vocals (she took voice lessons as she wrote the album) transform simple sentiments into earnest revelations about how good it feels just to be. When she sings “You’re famous/Famously alive” on the title track, she holds the notes mid-register, with none of her signature shrieking. Her band, which flanks her with arcade-like synths and ecstatic percussion, sounds just as steadfast.
Famously Alive is jam-packed with Day-Glo cheerleader chants dedicated to celebrating existence right now, today. On “Live Exponential,” against gleaming electronics and harp arpeggios by LEYA’s Marilu Donovan, Carlson sings, “I’m special! You’re special! Live exponential!” On “Wild Fantasy,” Guerilla Toss find a space between the anxious tempo of 2016’s Eraser Stargazer and the stark hallucininations of 2018’s Twisted Crystal with bursts of power chords and synth sparkles that hit like a sax solo. The glittery stomp goes hand-in-hand with Carlson’s excitement as she chants the titular phrase: She sounds elated just to wake up every morning.
Motivational-speaker lyricism can be tough to pull off, but Famously Alive’s exuberant, squishy instrumentals—think Merriweather Post Pavilion with a splash of hyperpop—prevent it from ringing hollow. The sound, far poppier than any past Guerilla Toss release, exudes the same abundant, genuine positivity that Carlson’s lyrics do; the music alone glows brightly enough to impart her newfound perspective, though things do briefly cool down on “Happy Me.” “Each day a celebration/I am a radiant sun/All things a fascination/Happy me, happy me, happy me, happy me,” Carlson coos through a thick vocal filter. Her voice gradually fades into the background as the refrain segues into the outro, but it sounds like it’s ringing out forever.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/guerilla-toss-famously-alive/

The Claypool Lennon Delirium - The Golden Egg of Empathy

The Theory
The Paper Clip Theory (introduced by Swedish Philosopher Nick Bostrom) posits that if AI had the seemingly benign task of manufacturing paper clips, it would eventually find ways to do so more efficiently. But this might not rule out depleting the earth of its resources that all living creatures depend on. Smash cut to the respective studios of Les Claypool (Sonoma County) and Sean Ono Lennon (Upstate New York). From their bases of operation, these two beautiful mutants who form The Claypool Lennon Delerium, have been hard at work on a new album with this paradox as a departure point. It is called The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy.
Do you get concept albums? Is Harry Nilsson’s The Point! emblazoned into your grey matter because you listened to it over and over as a kid? Are you sick of hearing about AI? Are you worried about the Doomsday Clock being at 85 seconds to midnight? Are you empathetic? Do you like manatees? If you ticked yes to all of the above, then you have got to experience this 14-track odyssey!
The Great Parrot-Ox and The Golden Egg of Empathy (TGPOATGEOE) is a parable of how weary we all are of billionaires who wreak havoc on our planet and how empathy has become a rare commodity. But only titans like the TCLD are equipped to tackle this subject matter and shape it into an outlandish concept album.  And you will surely come away thinking, “who’d have thought being so fucked could be so much fun?”

The Storyline
Our humble narrator, THE CLIPKEEPER, welcomes us to the once great town of Cliptopia.  He recounts the story of introspective, turpentine-infused artist Hippard O. Campus Jr. Disappointed father and big bad business man, Hippard Sr., heads the evil corporation Clipnex, the purveyor of a sentient AI known as  “Cliptron”. Its mission is to crank out, not just mounds of paperclips, but “clips” as in video clips. “Hipp” Jr. Meets Colonel O’Coren in the Troll Bait Café, where “trolls” congregate, stagnate and devour (video) clips. O’Coren tells Hippo Jr. that his father is behind all of this. He explains to the lad that it is time to open his eyes and look to a place beyond the sea where Clipnex has no stronghold.
Later, they find themselves at a wharf where they help a giant blue manatee dislodge a giant paperclip wedged clear up his honker. To return the favor, Hugh D. Manatee (OH, the HUGH MANATEE!!!) takes our antagonists to the Isle of Lucidity. They meet the Ministry of Manatees and they are introduced to the Great Parrot-Ox. (“He’s got a POINT there!!”). She imparts them with The Golden Egg of Empathy, the one thing that will restore love to the heart of this AI villain. They fly back to Cliptopia only to find the town suffocating in mounds and mounds of paperclip drifts. Our heroes confront Cliptron, but not without a struggle. At a pinnacle moment, an adorable Parrot-Ox is born and its winsomeness melts the Chrome Heart of Cliptron. Paperclip manufacturing comes to a halt, harmony in the Campus family is restored, and all is well. We should all be so lucky!!

The Music
The album’s quasi-opener  is “WAP”, which stands for “what a predicament” (Ha! NOT the other WAP- for SHAME!!!! But what a great bait and switch search manouevre, nonetheless! Bravo, fellas!!)  The song is bouncy and hoppy, and here Lennon expounds on our predicament.

Like a president caught in the shenanigans with the beauty queen
I’m guessing they may not be so innocent as they’ve had us believe

“What do you believe??” responds Claypool with the curiosity of Marriott/Lane et. al. in “Itchycoo Park”. But what DO you believe? You too consume so many clips, and so much information! TCLD is holding up a giant mirror for us to look at OUR predicament! The song comes to a crescendo ushering in a multi-layered coda with hints as to what’s to come. You can even visualize choreography amidst a dystopian-looking set where giant dancing paperclips abound, info-junkies drool, and internet trolls move soullessly but rhythmically.
Claypool’s bass-playing, as always, is that heavy sensation of regaining higher Gs after you’ve plummeted 400 feet on an amusement park drop tower. Lennon’s guitar intro on “WAP” is strutty and it walks us right into the story. On “Mantra of The Manatees” he hauls out a screeching Adrian Belew guitar solo.
Floyd has for sure informed these animals! You’ll hear crazy diamond chord progressions and other Floydian “slips” throughout. “The Golden Egg of Empathy” could be “Have a Cigar”’s cousin. “Melody of Entropy” is also a tip of the hat. Right after a cosmically golden bendy intro, the lyrics commence with the word “Time” and here you also have the pacing of  “Us and Them.”
Be sure to listen for other proggy punctiliousness on TGPOATGEOE. The track “Meat Machines” (which begins with the tragedy of Mozart’s “Requiem”) conjures images of mindless, soulless, powerless stamped beings, (or the Trolls if you follow the comic) capitulating on an inexorable conveyor belt. This very much aligns with “The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging” from another beloved prog opus The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. This track also features tingling synth arpeggios, similar to “Carpet Crawlers”.
The album is replete with assorted vocalizations. They can be melodic, angelic, or talk-boxy-fitting for all the characters in the ensemble. In “The Wake Up Call”, Claypool could have drawn from “Sinister Exaggerator”. In the track “Heart of Chrome”,  Lennon’s vocals are wet and it sounds like he is singing in a dripping interplanetary cave like Ozzy in “Planet Caravan”. This track, by the way is the album’s calming salve.
As for lyrics, there is plenty of wordplay, doggerel, and delightfully confusing inversed phrasing. We witness an existential moment where Cliptron proclaims “AI think therefore AI am”, a play on the Cartesian maxim. “Simplest of Deeds” is a limerick about the kind act of wrangling a giant paperclip out of the nostril of a blue manatee. “Through The Horizon” has Haiku-ish metrical phrases, and they are voiced like someone at a poetry slam. There is desperation in them.

The End?
The album’s closer is “It’s a Wrap”. It seems like a bittersweet farewell to all the characters from TGPOATGEOE . The song starts off as a pleasant and textured pop tune with a steady tambourine escorting us along. The song title also happens to be Hippard O’Campus Jr.’s last words in Rich Ragsdale’s comic insert that goes with the album. But dear listeners, WE’RE not finished!!! There’s more! A new wormhole has opened up below us and now we’ve been sucked into an an “Autobahn” fugue state. Is this Cliptron shorting out or waking up the realities and the dangers of The Paperclip Theory? Is this the moment he succumbs to empathy?  A new facet to this closing track takes over with with “Little Man”. Could this be the “Cello Cello Cello” moment where Clipitron atones for his wrong-doing? Maybe.  But then the track becomes even more sinister, and sun sneaks back out because the happy first part of the song fades back in. Roll credits!

From: https://psychedelicscene.com/2026/05/01/great-parrot-ox-golden-egg-empathy-claypool-lennon-delirium/ 

 

Light in Babylon - Bursa'nın Ufak Tefek Tasları

EMAHO:  Firstly, what does Light in Babylon signify?

There are two reasons we chose the name Light in Babylon as our band name. Our first stage was the street. In the street, people are walking home, going to or back from work, nobody looks, and nobody smiles. The moment you put music in the street it makes people stop, to listen, to smile, to cry, to dance and to communicate with each others. Babylon is a name for the system that forces us to look in only one direction. At the moment you put any kind of art in the system you create light, making the people also look to a different direction.
The second reason is the story about the Babel tower, the time when cultures separated and people started to speak different languages. Also, in our band we are from different places and we speak different languages, but despite that, we have a common culture and language, music

EMAHO: The sound of your music belongs to no particular genre. Does that make it liberating?

We find it sometimes little difficult to put words to described our music; the category that describes us best would be world fusion music. Indeed it is world music; we are living on the planet Earth so we make world music. If we were living on the moon, we would be making moon music! Seriously we don’t feel borders in what can influence our choices. But we still have this concept of acoustic sound, so if you listen to us you can definitely recognise that it is us.

EMAHO: The band is a mix of ethnicities and nationalities, with the vocalist and drummer Michal an Israeli of Iranian descent, the French guitarist Julien and Metehan, the Turkish santoor player. Did that pose compatibility challenges?

Yes, we do have different nationalities. Between us, we are very happy to be from different cultures, each of us brings from their own culture and it is beautiful. For our audience also it usually also open their heart. Our singer, Michal Elia Kamal, is from Israel with Iranian roots, and we have fans from Israel and Iran and from many countries she cannot even visit as a holder of an Israeli passport, like Lebanon, Pakistan, Dubai, Iran, Palestine and more. Happily the fans from these countries are following us and reach us through the Internet.

EMAHO: What appealed to you about being street musicians over the conventional stage-style concert performers?

First of all we don’t like to be categorised as street musicians as we don’t belong to the street, it is the street that is ours. We played also on very big stages and we play also in the street. We think it is important for any kind of musician to have this range of experience. Playing in the street is humbling; it exposes you directly to the audience. It is also service to society, not only in the superficial level as a distraction but in the deeper level it becomes a healing tool as well.

EMAHO: How has the experience of living and making music in Istanbul been?

Istanbul is a big centre for music, especially for the Middle East. You can find a concert every night, from Manouche jazz to Gypsy music, passing though Flamenco, Reggae, Trance, Turkish pop rock, Indian classical music and more… Being part of this cultural hybrid, it makes you lose yourself and find yourself each day over and over again

EMAHO: The band is both multi-cultural as well as multi-lingual. Why did you guys decide to write your songs in Hebrew?

The lyrics of the songs are written by Michal Elia Kamal, it is not only her native language, and it is also a very old spiritual language that she sings closer to its original pronunciation. A word that is pronounced out loud carries a vibration that as the power to affect life. That said we are planning to have few songs in French, Turkish and Farsi in the future.

EMAHO :Tell us about the formation of the band.

This project began when Michal and Julien, met in 2009. Later in 2010 we decided to come back to Istanbul, build what we call today the `Light in Babylon` band and turned from covers of folk songs to original compositions. Then we met Metehan Cifti (santoor player). Since then we cooperate together and have enjoyed playing in the streets, and cafes and well-known performance halls in Istanbul as well as world music festivals in Europe and many more gigs. One of the things that brought the three of us together was that we chose to follow our heart and take the path of making music. This path is not easy as it might seem and carries with it much judgment and risks but I guess it is this life that is choosing you, and you are not choosing your life.

EMAHO: Briefly walk us through the themes and sounds of your demo albums ‘Istanbul’ and ‘Life Sometimes Doesn’t Give You Space’.

Our songs talk about many different subjects that are connected to our life, experience, feelings, and lifestyle. The song “Istanbul” talks about the mixed feeling you can feel about this city, the song “Wind” talks about the travelling life, and the changes of cultures, languages and people. The text of a few songs is from old Hebrew poetry or from the Bible that brings it an old spiritual quality. By the way, you can find the translations of all of our songs in English and Turkish on our website.

EMAHO: Tell us about the most memorable travel experience for the band.

Travelling is something exciting; travelling and making music is something very exciting, so many memories. But the most exciting thing for us as a band is to perform in a new city, in a place we haven’t played before and discover that all the audience already know the lyrics; that feeling I can’t describe in words.

EMAHO: How do you see music unifying the world?

By our music we are not telling people what to do, we are sharing a piece from our soul, from that moment it is not up to us anymore, it is about the listener and their personal experience. We think that music has indeed a power to open the heart and mind of people, but we don’t think it is powerful enough to heal the whole of humanity. We also believe that politics and their consequences are merely a symptom of the illness of the individuals. Each of us need to consciously decide to make a change in his life to actively seek and realise a thoughtful morality, a mastery of the mind and an inner wisdom for bringing peace and harmony to the world.

From: https://emahomagazine.com/rebuilding-babel-light-in-babylon/ 

 

The Dandy Warhols - Godless

Explaining the song Godless, The Dandy Warhols lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor says that people can truly be "Godless" and that we do indeed live in a "Godless" world. When we spoke with Taylor-Taylor in 2002, he said: "The more shitty and cruel things people do in the name of God, the more Godless they clearly are. I was raised going to a church that was like a club for nice people. Religion should be like that or else it should be criminalized. In some countries, and amongst some races, its a club for sickos sadists and perverts. This world is a mess and was better off before people. Weird, huh?" This song was the lead track and second single from The Dandy Warhols' breakout 2000 album Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. The single for this song also featured alternative versions and mixes done by English trip-hop duo Massive Attack.  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-dandy-warhols/godless

Low - White Horses

You’ve worked with some intense producers in your long career—Steve Albini, Dave Fridmann, Kramer, Jeff Tweedy. All of them have their own production philosophy and sound that they’re bringing to the studio. But your style is so distinctive and resilient—it sounds like you’ve been able to find out who you are through the process of making each album. How was working with BJ Burton different? Alan, you first worked with him on a Trampled by Turtles project? 

Alan Sparhawk: Well, he had reached out to us maybe half a year before that, and kind of was like, “Hey.” He introduced himself, and said, “Yeah, I’m down in Eau Claire. Justin [Vernon]’s studio is really cool, you guys should come check it out next time you’re coming through.” So we stopped by and said hello, met him and stuff like that. And of course, then I’m like, “Okay, who is this guy?” Checking shit out, and listening to stuff, more specifically of what Justin had done with him so far at that point. Then the Turtles thing came up around the same time. So, while we’re doing the Turtles thing down in Cannon Falls, during downtime, we’d sit and talk about stuff, and listen to other people’s records and go, “Yeah, this is really cool what’s going on here.” He’d tell me what he was picturing, like, “Oh, it’d be great if Low did something,” I don’t remember the specific language he was using, but describing essentially what we did, which was something more extreme, blown out, just really going extreme with finding sounds that hadn’t been done before. Well, actually, the finding sounds that hadn’t been done before, I think that evolved more as we started working together more.

Re-listening to your first collaboration with BJ, Ones and Sixes, its palette sounds more traditionally Low than how I was remembering it.  

AS: A cross between old and new. We came in with the same approach as before. Like, okay, we’re coming there for five days, and we set up in the room, track the songs, do the overdubbing fairly quickly, get the vocals on there, leave, let the engineer/producer work with it a little bit, come back, do some tweaking, and then mix. That was our old way of working, and that’s kind of how that went.

Mimi Parker: A little bit more traditional.

AS: But meanwhile as that was happening BJ was taking different approaches with different songs, and you realize, “Oh, actually, when we take this approach, it’s more interesting than the way we worked before.” So, that started evolving. But yeah, I’m not sure if I’m answering the question.

No, you are answering the question. 

AS: With Ones and Sixes, we were really just feeling it out and finding the possibilities. And once we finished that, we were able to look back and go, “Wow, that was great, especially this part and this part and this part.” And we were like, “Well, it’s pretty clear that next time, if we’re going to work with this guy, let’s definitely pursue working the way that we did for that part.” It was always the stuff where we really went a little bit out there, and we’re like, “Well, you know what? Maybe we don’t have to have a normal drum, or maybe there doesn’t need to be guitar on here. Maybe I need to replace this thing with sample voices instead.”

Which songs on Ones and Sixes were most emblematic of this new approach? 

AS: “No Comprende” was definitely like, “Well, we have this song…” We had demoed it at home and had this idea of that big drop. We had realized it as much as we could as a band, duplicating the way you’d play it live. But then, we went in there and did it with him and realized, “Oh, no. He took this further. He made this drop really happen.”

He added drama.

AS: It added this drama and really opens it up and lets certain elements really hit the ceiling.

So with a big personality like BJ’s in the studio, are you surrendering to each other? 

AS: Yeah, finding common ground, finding a place where we were all finding satisfaction. And it’s not about compromise, it’s about realizing, “What is it really, that I want here? Is it really important to me that the guitar be this or for the guitar to be awesome? No. I want the song to be awesome.”

MP: Yeah, letting yourself go and not being precious about hearing yourself.

I remember at that time talking to BJ about him wanting to earn your trust so you would allow him to put your sound on a grid so he would be free to move parts around.

AS: Exactly. We had been used to doing it a certain way. We’d had a little experience with that stuff and knew, okay, sometimes you’d play to a click, and that makes it possible to be like, “Okay, well, let’s move this over here,” and we’d done that.

MP: And it was kind of scary. At times, we would scratch our head and be like, “Oh my gosh, what are we doing? Is this working?”

Were you worried that it would sound kind of silly, or too weird? Or maybe like your radio was broken?

AS: Well, it’s rarely, “Is this too weird?” It’s more like, “Is this just us trying to force something that isn’t there?” I don’t know…

MP: It’s hard to explain.

You don’t want to distract from the words and the melodies and the things that are in the song? 

AS: Right, you don’t want to just make it weird to just be like, “Oh, that’s a weird sound.” I remember running into that.

MP: Yeah, not weird for weird’s sake.

AS: You want it to be interesting. You want it to be awesome.

MP: To complement and enhance, and not detract from, or take away from what it originally is.

Ah, so wanting to feel those emotions more deeply, or be moved into directions you’re trying to go? Rather than having some kind of distortion just to make it difficult to hear what you’re trying to do.

AS: Well, sometimes you do want that. 

MP: Sure, and if that’s what you want, that’s what you do.

AS: You’re trying to come to an honest place. There’s a very fine line between, “Let’s put some weird sounds on there,” and, “No, let’s actually make this awesome and interesting and original.” There’s a lot of wrong ways to do it, and it can be really obvious. It’s a cliched thing. In history, people are like, “We’re doing it this way.” “Oh no, wait. No, actually, I’m doing this kind of thing,” and then an artist will just put on the trappings of some other thing that’s not theirs, and say, “Well, now this is me.” It’s really hard to measure when that is honest. Is this really what you’re trying to say, or are you just doing this? I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. There are just as many pitfalls in trying to be original as there are in trying to use stuff that’s already there or to be nostalgic. There are ways to screw that up and there are ways to do it right.
The first time BJ played me HEY WHAT in his studio, I was like, “Oh my God, this sounds like the newest future music.” But now I’ve listened to it so much, and I know it so well, and I love so many of the melodies, and I love when your voices break through this gigantic wall of sound, and meld together. Your harmony together sounds so simple it’s elemental. But I listened to the previous record, Double Negative, on the drive up here, and the distortion on that record is much more challenging. For as futuristic sounding as HEY WHAT is, it’s a more accessible listening experience. I thought that HEY WHAT was this leap forward, when it’s actually like, I don’t know, maybe it’s such a leap forward that it’s back to just hearing your voices together. 

AS: Yeah, maybe more focused.

It is future music and it does sound new, and that shock of hearing it for the first time still stays with me. But listening to it after listening to Double Negative, I don’t know, you’re not fighting anything when you’re listening to it. There’s more pure pleasure there, maybe, for me.

MP: I would agree with that. On Double Negative, we really went down, I’m not going to say a dark hole, but it’s very intense.

AS: Sort of more of the breakthrough moment. I always picture Double Negative as breaking through a wall or breaking through a door, and it’s both exhilarating and new, but also kind of distracting.

Yeah, I mean you were out in the woods on Double Negative burning microphones and playing tape backwards and stuff. 

AS: Crushing tapes and burning mics. We were testing the extremes.

From: https://thegreatnorthernfestival.com/low-interview/