XTC - Then She Appeared

 #XTC #new wave #post-punk #progressive pop #art rock #pop rock #baroque pop #art punk #power pop #psychedelic pop #1980s #1990s

XTC are one of those odd bands that defied convention and actually got better as time went on. Usually a band makes a big splash at the start of their career and continue to make continually less impressive albums as their career progresses. XTC did it the other way round: they started off as a reasonably good power-pop act and actually steadily improved over time. True, there was a slight stumble with Mummer and The Big Express, but they had reached incredible creative heights with Skylarking and by the time of Nonsuch they had reached a point where they had outlasted almost all of their peers and were still making music at least as good as what had been released before. Andy Partridge was still at his height as a songwriter, Colin Moulding was gaining confidence and penning gems like “Bungalow” and Dave Gregory’s guitar and keyboard work was giving the whole band a musical maturity which marked them as a band of rare quality.
Despite it equaling Oranges & Lemons’ chart success, Nonsuch has become increasingly overlooked as a key album in XTC’s career, as it wasn’t cited as an influence on the second wave of Brit-pop that reached its crescendo in the middle of the last decade, nor was it hailed by the more heavyweight music press in the same way that Skylarking, and to a lesser extent Oranges & Lemons were. For years the only copies of Nonsuch available in the UK were as a part of a substantial remaster and reissue programme by their former record label.
While Nonsuch has never enjoyed the sycophantic praise smothered over it by lesser acts as their early albums have, or enjoyed the press recognition of being a lost classic in the same way that Skylarking has, it remains one of XTC’s most well-rounded and broad albums. Over two decades on from its original release Nonsuch finally seems to be getting the recognition it deserves for being not only a great XTC album, but one of the finest British pop albums of the 90s. Oddly enough there seems to be a major reissue of it due in the not too distant future, as apparently Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame has been following his success of doing similar work for the likes of prog rock acts like King Crimson and Yes, by working on a full bells and whistles version of Nonsuch.
From: https://www.backseatmafia.com/not-forgotten-xtc-nonsuch/

Tracy Bonham - Jumping Bean

 #Tracy Bonham #alternative rock #post-grunge #singer-songwriter #1990s

Woman to Woman: Erin Harkes chats with Tracy Bonham
When offered the opportunity to interview Tracy Bonham, I jumped at the chance. As I struggled to teach myself how to play guitar in my college dorm room back in the 90s, this powerhouse musician of the Lilith Fair era was an inspiration to me. Thankfully, and not surprisingly, she was an absolute delight to talk with. She was also super patient with the technical difficulties and all the times throughout the discussion where I made it about me.
Me: Obviously you’re best known for “Mother, Mother,” a song I love. The first time I heard it I was in the car with my mother, so it was just perfect. She was like, “Oh, this is a nice song” with a hint of passive aggression. And then you started screaming at her and I thought, “Tracy and I are best friends now.”
Tracy: That’s an awesome story—really cool. No one has ever told me that.
Me: I’m sure you know how moms can be. They’re like, “Oh, maybe you should write a song like this for me.” Then it got to the chorus and I thought, Maybe I will…
Tracy:  That’s great. That’s awesome.
Me: But beyond that, which work would you say you’re most proud of?
Tracy: It’s gonna sound so stupid, but I’m really proud of my body of work. I can’t choose one song because they’re all a timestamp of who I was at that moment. When I look back, I see it as a kaleidoscope or a tapestry of who I am. And I like knowing that I have many albums out there—not as many as I should have in my almost 30 years of doing this—but at least I have a nice handful.
Me: I’m sure it’s hard to choose just one. I know that when you’re known for one particular thing, sometimes people tend to overlook your other labors of love.
Tracy: Yeah, that happens all the time.
Me: But I’m glad to hear that you’re proud of all your work because that’s not very common. Sometimes you have a couple of stinkers that you’d rather nobody ever heard.
Tracy: Oh, I went through that. I thought my second album, “Down Here,” was a stinker for a long time. Then it happened to come up on my playlist or my iTunes while I was driving and I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. I was like, Wait a minute. I actually LIKE this. I had to come around. I needed time away from that one.
Me: That makes sense. I also have a song I didn’t like that much, but then my friends would tell me “That’s my favorite song on the album!” Maybe that would be somebody else’s favorite, too.
Tracy: Yes, exactly. You have to give it up at some point. It’s like letting your kids go off to college. You have to let them go.
Me: And I do think of songs as my children, so it’s funny that you said that. When somebody asks me my favorite song, I ask them, “Do you have kids? Which one is your favorite?” Then they get it. Except once in a while, somebody says, “Kyle’s my favorite,” and I’m like, “Okay, you ruined the question.”
Tracy: That’s hilarious.
From: https://nippertown.com/2022/06/28/woman-to-woman-erin-harkes-interviews-tracy-bonham/

The Albion Country Band - I Was A Young Man

 #The Albion Country Band #Ashley Hutchings #Martin Carthy #John Kirkpatrick #British folk #folk rock #British folk rock #1970s #ex-Fairport Convention

The tangled vine that is the family tree of English folk-rock music has several long stems that wind through it, touching many other stems and branching wildly. One of these is Ashley Hutchings. As Ashley “Tyger” Hutchings, he was a founding member of Fairport Convention. Throughout his long career, he founded or influenced so many other bands and musicians that his status as a folk icon cannot be questioned. His insistence on exploring the pre-industrial folk music of England over more rock-based musical styles may have led to musical partings, as seen with Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, but this idealism is compelling. One of the bands Hutchings founded after leaving Fairport Convention (besides Steeleye Span) is The Albion Band.
The Albion Band grew out of a large backing band that played on Shirley Collins’s No Roses album in 1971. The Albion Band’s lineups changed regularly, to say the least, even before the first recording as “The Albion Band.” Before the recording of their first album, the band included Richard and Linda Thompson, among others. An exhaustive history of the band in all its various incarnations, not to mention its some twenty album releases, would be of book-length.
The Albion Band’s first album, Battle of the Field, recorded as The Albion Country Band, had Hutchings, Sue Harris, Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Simon Nicol, and Roger Swallow as the band’s lineup. Ex-Fairport drummer Dave Mattacks plays on a cut as well, and four sackbuts are used to great effect on “Gallant Poacher.” The album, recorded in 1973, was not released until 1976. The feeling of the music overall is unsurprisingly reminiscent of Fairport Convention, given the musicians involved. Shortly after recording the album, this Albion Band disbanded, and Hutchings is said to have considered leaving music behind. After a break, though, he formed the all-acoustic Etchingham Steam Band, and then in 1975, restarted a new Albion Band, calling this incarnation The Albion Dance Band. In the mid to late 1970s the band concentrated on earlier music and dance music, with John Tams, Philip Pickett, Dave Mattacks, and Ric Sanders, among others, in the lineup.
From: https://agreenmanreview.com/music-2/albion-country-bands-battle-of-the-field-and-the-albion-bands-1990-happy-accident-and-songs-from-the-shows/

Fotheringay - Too Much Of Nothing

 #Fotheringay #Sandy Denny #Trevor Lucas #folk rock #British folk rock #singer-songwriter #ex-Fairport Convention #Bob Dylan cover #1970s #Beat-Club

Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock group, formed in 1970 by vocalist Sandy Denny on her departure from Fairport Convention. The band drew its name from Denny's 1968 composition "Fotheringay" about Fotheringhay Castle, in which Mary, Queen of Scots, had been imprisoned. The song originally appeared on the 1969 Fairport Convention album, What We Did on Our Holidays, Denny's first album with that group. The band expressed Denny's vision of the potential of folk rock to express complex meaning and deep personal emotion, using traditional ballad forms, but with the power of a rock band. Their self-titled first album was one of only two albums, as they broke up a year later, in January 1971, while working on their second (recently released). The rhythm section was formed by Gerry Conway and Pat Donaldson, lauded by Denny as the best in the business. In the absence of Richard Thompson - who was prepared to tour with her, and act as session musician, but wanted to follow his own career - lead guitar was taken by Jerry Donahue, whose transatlantic country roots and softer personality brought a different, less edgy feel to the music. However he was a skilled technician, with great feel, as he showed on their album, and later Fairport Convention records. The group was completed by rhythm guitarist and second lead vocalist Australian Trevor Lucas, whom Denny was to marry, and who also later accompanied her back into Fairport.  From: https://www.last.fm/music/Fotheringay/+wiki

Squirrel Nut Zippers - Animule Ball

 #Squirrel Nut Zippers #swing revival #retro-jazz #Americana #Harlem jazz #New Orleans jazz #jump blues #gypsy jazz #punk jazz #retro-1930s #retro-1940s #animated music video

The Squirrel Nut Zippers began their musical journey in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the mid 1990s, as a musician’s escape from the cookie cutter world of modern rock radio at the time. Jimbo Mathus along with wife Katherine Whalen and drummer Chris Phillips formed the band as a casual musical foray playing for friends and family around town. It wasn’t long before the band (which had grown in size) developed a reputation for pioneering a quirky mix of jazz chords, folk music, and punk rock leanings and attracted a national audience. Outside of the rollicking concerts which were rapidly growing in attendance, NPR was the first significant national media to take notice of the band followed by an appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. With grunge and alternative rock in full swing back in 1995, the Squirrel Nut Zippers debut album ‘The Inevitable’ sounded like nothing happening musically at the time.  From: https://thevogue.com/events/squirrel-nut-zippers-november-8-2022/

Since 1995, the Squirrel Nut Zippers have sacked and plundered old, weird America then sailed off to further distant lands. They have used New Orleans as their hideout and base of operations. Jean-Lafitte-like, they hide on the lee side of Barrier Island, receiving goods and masking dark back channel deals, hiding in cellars or in plain view. On Sept. 25, fans will be able to gaze into the tea leaves that make up their brand new album, ‘Lost Songs of Doc Souchon’, to see if they can discern their own destiny. The first single from the album “Animule Ball” was originally recorded back in 1938 by Jelly Roll Morton.
“This new album was inspired by all of the mysterious characters from the history of New Orleans jazz music,” commented band leader Jimbo Mathus. “It speaks to the hidden roots of where our aesthetic, interests and philosophy comes from. It pulls on the hidden thread.” As mentioned above, the album’s first single is a cover that dates back to 1938. In keeping with that time period, the band turned to Fleischer Studios (home of Betty Boop) to use some of their historic animations for a brand new video for the track. “When I first started the Zippers, the Max and Dave Fleischer cartoons were a huge part of our inspiration. The look, the music, all of it,” Jimbo said. “So to have their blessing to use some of these characters and create something new with it is thrilling to me.”
“Fleischer Studios has a long history of bringing together the best in music and animation, so the opportunity to continue that great tradition with a band like the Squirrel Nut Zippers, nearly 100 years after debuting the first sound cartoon in 1926, is a wonderful honor, and one that would surely put a smile on Max Fleischer’s face,” commented playwright Jeni Mahoney, who serves on the Board of Directors for Fleischer Studios.
From: https://parklifedc.com/2020/08/10/song-of-the-day-animule-ball-by-squirrel-nut-zippers/ 

Tatran - Eyes

 #Tatran #progressive rock #electronic #experimental #post-rock #avant-garde #instrumental #Israeli #music video

Tatran (formed 2011, Israel) are an eclectic instrumental power trio, with musical influences that range from experimental jazz, rock, classical music, avant-garde, post-rock, experimental and electronic, combining to produce an ecstatic musical experience. Tatran's uncanny melodies, state of the art virtuosic playing and vivid sound, alongside their innovative relentless improvisations and their deep, near psychic on-stage communication, make them a mesmerizing live act. Tamuz Dekel’s versatile, almost omnipotent, psychedelic guitar with Offir Benjaminov’s thick, funkadelic yet-baroque bass combined with Dan Mayo’s diverse, supernatural futuristic groove-oriented drumming, reanimate a lucid dream to their listeners and spectators. Tatran's live act integrates breathtaking sounds with a hypnotizing atmosphere, both of which are considered by many of their fans to be Tatran’s hallmark, and although their show is completely instrumental, the strong feeling of intimacy and personal touch is unharmed and unrivaled.  From: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/3754101-tatran 

Jasmine Sandlas - Patt Lai Geya

 #Jasmine Sandlas #bhangra #Indian music #world music #Indian folk pop #Punjabi folk #music video

Born in Punjab and raised in California, Jasmine Sandlas has an East-meets-West heritage that’s helped her stand out among Punjabi playback's most beguiling singers. Born in Jalandhar, Sandlas was raised in a Sikh family and spent her formative years inspired by Punjabi folk singers. At age 13, she moved with her family to Stockton, California, adding the music of the US West Coast to her palette of influences. By 16, Sandlas was writing her own material, rooted in the style of her Punjabi inspirations but undoubtedly inflected with Western pop stylings. As a recording artist, Sandlas has spun many plates in her career to date, including prolific playback work across three languages as well as stylistically diverse solo pop albums and collaborations with the rapper Bohemia.  From: https://www.shazam.com/artist/jasmine-sandlas/377061445

Bhangra is a type of traditional folk dance of Punjab. It is done in the season of harvesting. Bhangra is especially associated with the vernal Vaisakhi festival. In a typical performance, several dancers execute vigorous kicks, leaps, and bends of the body - often with upraised, thrusting arm or shoulder movements - to the accompaniment of short songs called boliyan and, most significantly, to the beat of a dhol (double-headed drum). Struck with a heavy beater on one end and with a lighter stick on the other, the dhol imbues the music with a syncopated (accents on the weak beats), swinging rhythmic character that has generally remained the hallmark of bhangra music. An energetic Punjabi dance, bhangra originated with Punjab farmers as a cultural and communal celebration; its modern-day evolution has allowed bhangra to retain its traditional Punjabi roots, while broadening its reach to include integration into popular music and DJing, group-based competitions, and even exercise and dance programs in schools and studios.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhangra_(dance)

Mediaeval Baebes - Musa Venit Carmine

 #Mediaeval Baebes #medieval music #choral music #traditional #crossover #a capella #vocal ensemble #ex-Miranda Sex Garden  

The Mediaeval Baebes are a crossover vocal ensemble whose unique style features a deft mixture of medieval music, multi-language texts, modern arrangements, and both ancient and modern instrumentation. Their skillful and attractive arrangements, usually fashioned by member Katharine Blake, often have a dark, somber character while exhibiting contemporary rhythmic and sound features. Consisting of about six to twelve singers, Mediaeval Baebes are typically attired in long, sometimes provocative gowns or gothic-inspired costumes, and may wear, depending on the concert's theme, vampiric teeth, flowered headwear, or other exotic accoutrements. Song texts typically deal with such subjects as death, drunkenness, unrequited love, and religious and supernatural subjects. The ensemble's members often play an instrument during performance. Katharine Blake, Bee Lee Harling, and Jo Burke, for example, are violinists; Emily Ovenden and Blake play the recorder; and other members, Esther Dee, Clare Edmondson, and Tanya Jackson, play various instruments. Over the years the group has made use of accompanists like Frank Moon (oud, cittern, etc.) and Rebecca Dutton (medieval fiddle, psaltery, etc.). The range of languages in which the Mediaeval Baebes sing is vast and includes Latin, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Irish Gaelic, English, various older forms of English, and such archaic languages as Cornish and Welsh. The Mediaeval Baebes were formed in London in 1996. Founding members included Katharine Blake, who also serves as the ensemble's musical director, and Dorothy Carter, who played several medieval stringed instruments like the hurdy-gurdy and hammered dulcimer. Some of the earliest members were drawn from Blake's musical group Miranda Sex Garden. After early concert success, the Mediaeval Baebes were invited onto Thames Television in 1997 to sing the 14th century hymn Gaudete. Their first album, Salva Nos, was issued on Virgin Records the following year and it's success led to more prestigious concert venues and a string of popular recordings.  From: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1vQmLYgD92RwmsfHqTwjmQ 

Turn Me On Dead Man - Cyclops

 #Turn Me On Dead Man #psychedelic rock #heavy metal #psychedelic metal #stoner metal #space rock #retro-1960s #retro-1970s 

Turn Me On Dead Man are a ‘heavydelic’ space rock band from San Francisco. combining heavy metal and psychedelia to forge a music that is both transcending and unforgettable. The songwriting plunges listeners into the heavydelic landscapes of 60’s experimentalism and 70’s bombast, creating a sound that is enthralling, imaginative, hugely entertaining, and incredibly hard rocking! The group have been creating their unique brand of lysergic-soaked rock since their inception in 2000, gigging extensively throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and garnering praise from all over their home turf and the country, spurred on by heavy rotation at the influential WFMU station in New Jersey. Alternative Tentacles founder Jello Biafra was suitably impressed by the band’s spaced-out, glammed-up, turned-up brand of audio mayhem enough to re-release their first epic record, “God Bless the Electric Freak”.
Live, Turn Me On Dead Man is a spectacle of epic proportions; a visceral sonic boom that spans the spectrum from the meanest, most gorgeous anthems of rock to the exotic ragas of modern psych, creating an explosive and diverse stage performance as energetic as it is uncommon. Simply put, Turn Me On Dead Man plays Heavy Crush Bliss Rock breaking the sound barrier on their own private Lear Jet headed straight to Hell! The bands twin guitar harmonization, melodic rhythmic switchbacks and trippy apocalypto-mystical lyricism keep California’s psychedelic rock tradition alive. In their own words: “mind melt music for the sick and twisted, heavydelic super rock for the ultimate freak outs”.  From: https://maximumvolumemusic.com/featured-band-turn-dead-man/

In September 1969, as I began ninth grade, a rumor circulated that the Beatles' Paul McCartney was dead, killed in a 1966 automobile accident and replaced by a look-alike. The clues were there in the albums, if you knew where to look. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band's "A Day in the Life," for one, recounts the accident: He blew his mind out in a car / He didn't notice that the lights had changed / A crowd of people stood and stared / They'd seen his face before / Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords. The cover of the Abbey Road album shows the Fab Four walking across a street in what looks like a funeral procession, with John in white as the preacher, Ringo in black as the pallbearer, a barefoot and out-of-step Paul as the corpse, and George in work clothes as the gravedigger. In the background is a Volkswagen Beetle whose license plate reads "28IF" - Paul's supposed age "if" he had not died. Spookiest of all were the clues embedded in songs played backward. On a cheap turntable, I moved the speed switch midway between 331/3 and 45 to disengage the motor drive, then manually turned the record backward and listened in wide-eared wonder. The eeriest is "Revolution 9" from the White Album, in which an ominously deep voice endlessly repeats: number nine ... number nine ... number nine.... Played backward you hear: turn me on, dead man ... turn me on, dead man ... turn me on, dead man.... In time, thousands of clues emerged as the rumor mill cranked up (type "Paul is dead" into Google for examples), despite John Lennon's 1970 statement to Rolling Stone that "the whole thing was made up." But made up by whom? Not the Beatles. Instead this was a fine example of the brain as a pattern-recognition machine that all too often finds nonexistent signals in the background noise of life.  From: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/turn-me-on-dead-man/

SpaceCream - Pterodactyl Sky

 #SpaceCream #Savannah Pope #progressive rock #glam rock #neo-prog #contemporary rock #theatrical #retro-1970s

If there is a hole in your soul that can only be filled with a large helping of highly imaginative, theatrical, cerebral, glitter-fueled, prog-tinged, sexually charged rock n’ roll, then you may not know it yet but SpaceCream are your new favourite band. Self-described as “an intellectually charged revival of stellar rock n’ roll, told from the point of view of a sex-positive feminist revolutionary,” Pterodactyl Sky is set to challenge every norm you never knew to be holding you back. David Bowie, Leigh Bowery, Rocky Horror; a little Queen, a little Yes and a soupçon of Morrissey: all are clear influences here, and yet Pterodactyl Sky is much more than a homage to a time and styles long since passed. One listen to the album’s title track, or the likes of “Nefarious Lothario” and “Feel The Light”, demonstrate that this is a group of consummate musicians delivering complex, erudite and scholarly, yet wholly accessible songs of existential depth, empowerment and unabashed joy. Where else would you find a lyric referencing the allegory of Plato’s Cave and a hair raising guitar solo in the space of five and a half minutes? As well as weaving tales of fearless warriors riding atop Brontosauruses to defeat invading alien hoards, “Pterodactyl Sky” sees SpaceCream visionary and vocalist Savannah Pope deliver a towering performance worthy of the very best rock singers. And nor is that empty hyperbole. We’re talking Ann Wilson, maybe. Or Cass Elliot. A slightly less gritty Joplin or Jett with the range of Mariah Carey. Maybe that sounds crazy, but damn this music works. In fact every single song here provides more than one Doc Brown-esque “Great Scott!” moment. The heavenly arrangement and celestial choir of the title track; the spine-tingling guitar and slow-burn build of “Feel The Light”; the positively sticky and otherworldly intercourse of “SpaceCream” (both band and, presumably, song being named after THAT scene in the Nicolas Roeg-directed, Bowie-starring The Man Who Fell To Earth, by the way); the electric sparkling funk of lead track “Killer.” This is a shiver-inducing collection in the very best sense of the word. And whilst it is the class and quality of the music that should – and does – make its mark here, SpaceCream’s philosophy of living your weird and embracing your strange permeates everything that they do. Just take a look at those album covers, or track down a video of one of the band’s live shows. These guys are the living and breathing embodiment of artists fiercely and fearlessly living their influences, passions and visions for the future.  From: https://skinbackalley.com/2016/01/20/album-review-spacecream-pterodactyl-sky/

Pink Floyd - Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict

 #Pink Floyd #David Gilmour #Roger Waters #psychedelic rock #British psychedelia #progressive rock #art rock #space rock #experimental rock #blues rock #1960s #1970s

Aye, an' a bit of mackerel, settler rack and down
Ran it down by the home, and I flew
Well, I slapped me and I flopped it down in the shade
And I cried, cried, cried.

The fear a fallen down had taken, never back to raise
And then cried Mary, an' took out wi' your Claymore,
Right outta a' pocket, I ran down, down the mountainside
Back on (Battlin'?) the fiery horde that was falling around the feet.

Never! He cried, never shall ye get me alive
Ye rotten hound of the burnie crew!
Well, I snatched fer the blade an' a Claymore cut and thrust,
And I fell doon before him round his feet. Aye!

A roar he cried!
Frae the bottom of his heart
That I would nay fall but as dead,
Dead as I can by a' feet, d'ya ken?

And the wind cried Mary.

Thank you.

One of the most interesting pieces Roger Waters ever produced, Several Species has been consistently underrated. While hardly melodic or even musical, the piece embodies the experimental era of the Floyd and other such bands through its imaginative uses of 'animal' sound effects (most of them done by Roger, then sped up or slowed down) to create a multi-layered chorus, functioning very effectively as a rhythm track. The animal section, lasting about three and a half minutes, supposedly contains hidden messages which are revealed when the record is played at different speeds, such as 16, 45 and 78 rpm. The 'Pict' section, lasting only a minute, is also fascinating. At first listen, Roger's rant makes no sense whatsoever. However, repeated listening reveals a discernible monologue, distorted by a heavily affected satiric Scots accent and some nonsensical words and phrases. Some sources have claimed that this monologue was improvised live in the studio, but it seems a little more coherent and linear than something that might be made up off the top of one's head. Based on the possibly incorrect assumption that the 'lyric' was written and actually means something, an analysis of its content follows.
First, a historical note: the Picts were composed of violent, raiding tribes of both Celtic and pre-Celtic peoples who held power in ancient Caledonia (now Scotland), most notably during the time period c.300-843 AD. After this point, they became united with (and in most minds, synonymous to) the Scots. This 'poem' if you will, which almost seems to parody the style of the renowned Scots poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), tells an interesting story. The transcription above converts the heavily accented words to standard English spelling in most cases (such as 'middin stain' to 'mountainside' and 'doon' to 'down'). The 'Pict' who tells the story starts by referring to the fact that his family settled down in this (apparently) coastal area, probably to fish for mackerel (a common industry in Scotland). But now, conflict and fighting has disrupted his life, all the more so because he is a coward, and has just fled from the battle that his brethren partake in, back to his home. He slaps himself for his cowardice, drops his sword in the shade, and weeps. He is afraid of the heavy blade causing him to fall down in battle — a mistake no-one survives ('never back to raise'). But then he gathers his courage, picking up what is probably his father's Claymore ('your Claymore') and rejoins the fray with a battle cry of Mary! (probably Mary, Queen of Scots, or else the Virgin Mary, a reference to his Catholicism). He sees his friends falling dead around the feet of a particularly ferocious enemy, who screams his defiance. Our young Scotsman grabs for his blade, but his worst fears are realized — it is too heavy, and the enemy's Claymore 'cut and thrust' and he falls at the enemy's feet. The enemy cries that he will not fall and live, and the young Scotsman meets his ignoble end, leaving only the wind to echo his battle cry ('and the wind cried Mary').
The poem seems to imply that it is Scotsman against Scotsman, a situation that did occur during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots in the mid-1500s, as the Catholic supporters of the Queen warred against the Protestant opposition. The above, is however, merely one interpretation of a piece which could mean any number of things — or nothing. What is particularly humorous about this section of Several Species is the elaborate poetic set-up used in order to end with a joking reference to a lyric already made popular by Jimi Hendrix a couple of years before ('the wind cried Mary') — and have it actually make sense. Someone who sounds a bit like Dave Gilmour says 'Thank you' in a normal accent at the end — perhaps Dave was in the recording booth?   From: http://floydlyrics.blogspot.com/2010/03/several-species-of-small-furry-animals.html

Emmylou Harris - Wayfaring Stranger

 #Emmylou Harris #folk #country #folk rock #country rock #Americana #progressive country #traditional #singer-songwriter #bluegrass

There have been many iconic pairings in country music and about half of them involve Emmylou Harris. Gram and Emmylou. Willie and Emmylou. Skaggs and Emmylou. Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou. The list could go on through a litany of country greats and each one would probably remember their collaboration with Harris as among the highlights of their career. One of the most powerful harmonizers in the genre, her delicate singing style had a thread of iron running through it, a strength that gave her mournful twang a heartrending power that made her contributions to ballads and breakup songs essential to the evolution of country as a whole. It’s a shame then, that her solo career should be, while overall consistent, somewhat of a letdown, with a string of minor classics early in her career followed by a slew of releases that never really lived up to everything she offered as a singer. There are, to my mind, two albums that fully live up to the enormous artistic talent Emmylou’s displayed over the years: the titanic comeback that was 1995’s Wrecking Ball, and Roses In the Snow, perhaps the most complete expression of Emmylou’s potential and the perfect closer for the early period of her career.
Roses In The Snow, for the most part, stays true to bluegrass convention, although the music occasionally tends toward gospel and her country roots, two styles which have always had significant overlap with bluegrass. Ranging from wellworn classics to new compositions, she effortlessly makes each piece her own, indelibly marking her takes on the old classics and claiming the new cuts as incontrovertibly her own. Her take on Wayfaring Stranger, one of the archetypal examples of traditional American song, instantly becomes the standard against which all other iterations of the song are measured, the doleful hymn to the hope of a better world beyond this one a clear highlight in Emmylou’s career. No less astonishing is her take on Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer, which, by staying largely faithful to the original within her bluegrass framework, she more than lives up to, although she can’t quite lay claim to the song like she can with Wayfaring Stranger.  From: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/78184/Emmylou-Harris-Roses-in-the-Snow/

Elephant Stone - Setting Sun

 #Elephant Stone #psychedelic rock #neo-psychedelia #Indian music #world music #ex-High Dials #Canadian #music video

Combining the influence of Indian classical music with the influence of British Invasion bands like the Kinks and the Beatles, Canadian neo-psychedelic outfit Elephant Stone is the brainchild of Rishi Dhir, formerly of the High Dials. The project's first album, 2009's The Seven Seas, demonstrated Dhir's knack for breezy melodies as well as his use of instruments like sitar, dilruba, and tabla in a Western rock context. Elephant Stone was operating as a trio by 2014's Three Poisons, and they made use of a children's choir on 2020's Hollow, the project's fifth album. The French-language EP Le Voyage de M. Lonely dans la Lune appeared in 2022.
Inspired by his own ongoing Indian classical music discovery, Dhir formed Elephant Stone in Montreal in 2008. With Dhir singing lead and handling nearly a dozen instruments, he recorded the project's debut album with help from several guests, including producer Jace Lasek. It arrived in May 2009 on Dhir's own Elephants on Parade label (with Fontana Distribution). The Glass Box EP followed in 2010 on Elephants on Parade and 360 Degree. The group then signed with Canada's Hidden Pony for 2013's Elephant Stone. Settling into a regular lineup of Dhir, Gabriel Lambert on guitar, and Miles Dupire-Gagnon on drums, Three Poisons arrived in 2014, also on Hidden Pony. They covered "L.A. Woman" for that year's “A Psych Tribute to the Doors.”  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/elephant-stone-mn0001606201/biography

Tautumeitas - Bērzinš

 #Tautumeitas #folk #Latvian folk #world music #traditional folk #Eastern European folk #music video

One of the most notable events in recent years in Latvian folk music has been the debut of the ensemble Tautumeitas. As their name implies, the group gathers together six ‘folk girls’ who perform songs inspired by Latvian folk songs and folklore. Their first recording, Lai māsiņa rotājās!, was performed together with the drum and bagpipe ensemble Auļi, and the group’s proper first debut album, simply entitled Tautumeitas, was released in 2018. In just a few years, the ensemble has become one of the best known and most popular folk ensembles, and have even appeared in a commercial for the Latvian national airline airBaltic. The members of the group are Asnate Rancāne (violin, voice), Aurēlija Rancāne (drums, voice), Ilona Dzērve (accordion, voice), Lauma Bērza (violin, voice), Laura Liepiņa (percussion, voice) and Laura Marta Arāja (percussion, voice). The album also features additional musicians and instruments, such as brass instruments and cello. Integral to the album’s sound is also producer, percussionist and arranger Reinis Sējāns. Though they use many elements from Latvian folklore in their songs, it is still a thoroughly modern album, and one might consider the songs to be a kind of ethno-pop style of world music. As all six members of the group are singers, it is then no surprise that the vocals are the main focus for the musical offerings. The importance of singing is echoed in the first song, the appropriately titled ‘Sadziedami’, where the powerful vocals are supported by a thunderous musical accompaniment while the ensemble sings ‘sadziedam mēs, māsiņas’ (let’s sing together, sisters!) Inspired by the Krustabas ritual (or Latvian folk Christening), the song ‘Pāde’ is a song about self-growth. The ritual of the ‘pādes dīdīšana’, where the one being christened is passed around in the arms of the invited guests, is meant to pass along positive thoughts from the guests. In this song, as with many of their songs, Tautumeitas use the mystical aspects of Latvian folk rituals to create a richly layered song, with help from Reinis Sējāns, who provided the arrangement.  From: https://latviansonline.com/popular-tautumeitas-ensemble-release-debut-ethno-pop-folklore-album/

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rise Up (With Fists!)

 #Jenny Lewis #The Watson Twins #ex-Rilo Kiley #indie rock #alt-country #indie folk #singer-songwriter #Americana #music video

Very rarely do record company press releases bear repeating, but in the case of Jenny Lewis we thought there was cause for its inclusion. Describing her as "having hair the color of a Pacific sunset, a voice as sweet as an ice cream cone and a wit sharper than a razor blade", the folk over at Rough Trade have almost managed to articulate what makes 'Rabbit Fur Coats' so arresting. Bearing comparison with the likes of Diane Cluck, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins (yup, they're bona fide twins) mine classic Americana for a sound which is as clear as cut-glass and emotionally primed to match, resulting in the friable heartache of songs like 'The Big Guns' and 'Born Secular'. Like the sirens from 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins have voices that could floor you from 50 feet, bringing a pathos and profound beauty that seem entirely natural partners.  From: https://boomkat.com/products/rabbit-fur-coat-a918b5d7-5899-47fa-a236-8f0604d63ada

What are you changing?
Who do you think you're changing?
You can't change things, we're all stuck in our ways
It's like trying to clean the ocean
What, do you think you can drain it?
Well, it was poison and dry long before you came

But you can wake up younger under the knife
And you can wake up sounder if you get analyzed
And I better wake up
There but for the grace of God go I

It's hard to believe your prophets
When they're asking you to change things
But with their suspect lives, we look the other way
Are you really that pure, sir?
Thought I saw you in Vegas
It was not pretty, but she was (not your wife)

But she will wake up wealthy
And you will wake up forty-five
And she will wake up with baby
There but for the grace of God go I

What am I fighting for?
The cops are at my front door
I can't escape that way, the windows are in flames
And what's that on your ankle?
You say they're not coming for you
But house arrest is really just the same

Like when you wake up behind the bar
Trying to remember where you are
Having crushed all the pretty things
There but for the grace of God go I

But I still believe
And I will rise up with fists
And I will take what's mine (mine, mine)
There but for the grace of God go I

Fanny - Ain't That Peculiar

 #Fanny #hard rock #blues rock #classic rock #Marvin Gaye cover #1970s #Beat-Club

Fanny - four young women who were accomplished rock instrumentalists and singers; who never depended only on their sexuality to sell the music; who were self-described as being musicians first and women second. But the fact that they WERE women, and that they reached a level of success previously unheard of for a rock band composed solely of women, was a remarkable achievement. Fanny was the first all-female rock act to record an entire album for a major record label, and in fact recorded and released five albums for major labels. Fanny was the first all-female rock act to rise to real prominence in the US and Europe. Acknowledged by both the press and their many fans as an awesome live act - in the words of Steve Peacock, a top UK music journalist of the era, “if you close your eyes, it’s like listening to the Stones” - Fanny toured tirelessly for up to nine months of every year. In a career that stretched from 1970 to 1975, they had a string of hit singles and also played on the studio recordings of some legendary artists. In addition to their many live gigs, they performed on top music and variety television shows of the time, including The Old Grey Whistle Test, the Sonny and Cher Show, American Bandstand and Beat-Club, Germany’s most famous rock music program. The four original members of Fanny were June Millington (guitar, vocals), Jean Millington (bass, vocals), Alice de Buhr (drums, vocals), and Nickey Barclay (keyboards, vocals). June and Nickey were the primary songwriters for the band, but Jean and Alice made significant contributions to Fanny’s repertoire and all four participated in arranging the songs and crafting their stage performances. Some of the biggest music stars of the time, from David Bowie to Deep Purple to George Harrison to the Kinks, were so blown away by these four teenaged rockers that they went out of their way to promote the band and to book them as an opening act. Despite their success, Fanny were never quite superstars, but they prepared the way for women in rock. When they started out, the idea of young women as rock players was as unthinkable as the idea of women having the vote had been to earlier generations.  From: https://fannyrocks.com/about-2/

They were extraordinary: they wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers, they were just colossal and wonderful, and nobody's ever mentioned them. They're as important as anybody else who's ever been, ever; it just wasn't their time.
— David Bowie

Crooked Still - Ain't No Grave

 #Crooked Still #bluegrass #neo-bluegrass #folk #folk rock #progressive bluegrass #country folk #Americana

For any fans of Blue Grass or Folk, Crooked Still are highly recommended. They are a self-styled alternative bluegrass band consisting of vocalist Aoife O’Donovan, cellist Tristan Clarridge, fiddler Brittany Haas, banjo player Dr. Gregory Liszt, and bassist Corey DiMario. Meeting at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston in 2001, the evidently talented musicians started to collaborate and play gigs together which were brilliantly received by crowds and they soon gained a cult reputation. Making waves on the US folk scene, the band now have four LPs and a much larger fan base to attend their shows. The energetic performance onstage is captivating as the multi-instrumentalists cross genres and sounds with quick succession as they rattle through a selection of songs from their career thus far. Their technical skill alone could engage a crowd, as it's enjoyable to watch five truly skilled musicians collaborating and making really interesting sounds onstage. Songs such as 'Ain't No Grave' are extended and re-imagined to make the live experience really exciting for an audience as it's not simply like listening to the album regurgitated onstage. A great live act who engage audiences with their talent for their instruments and enjoyable personality.  From: https://www.songkick.com/artists/12695-crooked-still

Timechild - And Yet It Moves

 #Timechild #hard rock #heavy metal #heavy prog #progressive metal #retro #Danish

Timechild is massive and organic heavy rock from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band’s soundscape is made up of a powerful and present lead vocal, characteristic twin guitars and atmospheric vocal harmonies, which together create their unique Scandinavian expression. Timechild was formed in 2020 by four seasoned musicians from different corners of Denmark. With extensive past experience in a number of former and existing Danish rock and metal bands, the members had already crossed paths on both Danish and international stages. When the opportunity arose, they decided to unite their musical experiences and visions and created Timechild. The debut album was written and recorded during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, which paralysed the Danish and international music industry. However, this silence gave the band time to jointly develop their common sound and expression. The vision from the start was to show how heavy rock can continue to challenge and surprise audiences even in 2021. Although the foundation of the band’s sound universe is clearly laid by the rock giants of the past, Timechild’s inspiration is drawn from across both time and genres. The opportunity to dive into the music history of past decades, and through this define one’s own sound, is one of the greatest privileges that today’s musicians have at their disposal. We can learn from the past without being backward-looking or unoriginal and we can be relevant and innovative without having to define a new genre.  From: https://mightymusic.dk/artists/timechild/

Turtle Skull - Rabbit

 #Turtle Skull #psychedelic rock #doom metal #psychedelic metal #stoner rock #stoner metal #Australian

Art As Catharsis Records are proud to announce the release of Turtle Skull’s second album, Monoliths - a texture-rich record that dances between bone-crushing lows and ethereal highs. Taking inspiration from Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Turtle Skull’s blend of warped psychedelia, shattering doom and indie-rock sensibility merges into their own brand of music dubbed ‘flower doom’. While the final product contains a faint similarity to the sounds of King Gizzard & The Lizzard Wizard, Khruangbin, or Kikagku Moyo, Monoliths is distinctively its own beast. It’s a record that heaves and soars, taking joyous compositions and steering them headfirst into a realm of fuzz and fury. ”This record is about the intimate connection we share with the Earth on which we stand. It’s about the world and your place in it. It’s about looking deep inside yourself and seeing what you find. It’s about life and death and everything in between, and most of all it’s about the pure joy of creation. We are very happy to share it with you." At the end of its runtime, Monoliths undeniably displays a much more fleshed-out realization of the doom, psych rock and indie fusion that launched the five-piece into the public eye following their self-titled release. Tipping between heavy and catchy is the strength of Monoliths - the roar of the fuzzed-out amps is counterbalanced by feather-light vocals, creating a contrast as clear and harmonious as sun and sky.  From: https://turtleskullmusic.bandcamp.com/album/monoliths

Country Joe & The Fish - The Return Of Sweet Lorraine

  #Country Joe & The Fish #psychedelic rock #folk rock #psychedelic folk rock #psychedelic blues rock #acid rock #singer-songwriter #1960s

The “CJ Fish” album was the sixth to be issued by Vanguard Records in 1970, and was the last to feature new material from the group as the only subsequent album was the historical retrospective “Life And Times of Country Joe & The Fish”, issued the following year, by which time the band had broken up and Joe McDonald had embarked on a solo career. The new album can be seen as an attempt by Vanguard to see if they could steer the group towards a more mainstream pop rock position, with production duties being handled by Tom Wilson whose credits by then already included Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel. The group's earlier material had been extremely varied, ranging from blues and jug band music to folk, ballads and eastern-influenced rock, but they had gradually been cutting slightly more commercial material, some of which sat in the then-emerging country rock vein almost akin to Poco and others. This however was not a country rock album, but rather a pop rock one with a more uniform set of songs that producer Wilson was able to meld into a cohesive sounding whole.
The Fish line-up that cut the album was different from what is seen as the classic one. Gone were David Cohen, 'Chicken' Hirsh and Bruce Barthol, and now alongside Joe McDonald and Barry Melton were keyboard player Mark Kapner, bass player Doug Metzner (ex-Group Image) and drummer Greg Dewey (ex-Mad River). The album opens with Melton's very pop-oriented ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’, perhaps strangely not picked for single release at the time, and he also contributes the rockier ‘Silver And Gold’. Otherwise all the songs are from McDonald's pen, and are uniformly professional, varying from the gentle piano-led jazzy ‘Mara’ and ‘She's A Bird’ with its dreamy guitar soundscape midway through to ‘Rockin' Round The World’ which is much more upbeat and funky, as you would expect. ‘Hang On’ is an easy jog-along country-tinged song, while ‘The Baby Song’ is solidly romantic and miles from some earlier Fish material, though here is a later nod to the group's past with ‘The Return of Sweet Lorraine’. Hints of Joe's political leanings surface briefly on ‘Hey Bobby’, built on the well-trodden ‘Hang On Sloopy’ chord progressions, and the album closes with another easy mid-tempo poppy song ‘Hand Of Man’.  Before this however had come the longest track, ‘The Love Machine’, which allows much more instrumental interest. The new players, on other tracks professional but somewhat anonymous, put their heads above the parapet here with some of the invention of earlier Fish line-ups. They provide sudden keyboard interjections and solos, interesting bass runs and even a strong drum break, lifting this track as one of the most interesting and evocative of the band's history. Although quite different to much of what had gone before, this album can be seen as a solid addition to the group's canon, even though it was to be their swansong, and as such no collection should be without it.  From: https://acerecords.co.uk/c-j-fish