Bent Knee - Live at Big Nice Studio

 

 Part 1

 

Part 2

 #Bent Knee #progressive rock #art rock #industrial #baroque pop #avant-garde #music video

New music rarely can surprise today but, once in a while, artists emerge whose works are as accessible as they’re intellectual, and it doesn’t take any effort to be charmed and mesmerized by such creators. Boston’s Bent Knee belong to this category: unlike many of their perceivably alternative peers, the sextet’s exploration of ethereal and noisy extremes isn’t “for the sake of it” kind of exercise, just because the result feels so organic – never more so, perhaps, than on the band’s latest album, their third full-length studio offering. There are almost-hits on “Say So”; the audience only has to embrace the record. Too bad, then, Bent Knee sometimes play to a very limited, if utterly captivated, crowd. Still, one may sense it’s just a matter of time before they hit the big time. While it’s happening, it’s tempting to tap into the ensemble’s collective conscious; that’s why, before the group’s Toronto gig, this scribe sat on a near-venue lawn with guitarist Ben Levin, singer-keyboardist Courtney Swain, bassist Jessica Kion and violin player Chris Baum for an engaging conversation.

– Guys, you are clearly getting traction now. Is it because the band are backed by a label now or vice versa: you got a record deal because audiences started paying attention?

Ben: Having the label deal has definitely helped us get traction because it’s enabled us to reach a new audience and gave as a sort of a seal: “Hey, these people are working hard and they’re serious!” The listeners know that Cuneiform wouldn’t sign bands that aren’t very active and trying to make the best music they can as much as they can. In terms of what came first – the traction from Cuneiform or us getting traction and then the deal with Cuneiform – it’s a mix of both, because we’d just finished a three-month tour last summer before Cuneiform approached us, and I think just the fact that we had been out for so long – it was our tenth tour or something – and that we already worked so much was important for the label in their decision to sign us.

– So having Cuneiform backing you gives you validation in the listener’s eyes?

Everyone (at the same time): Absolutely!

Ben: I don’t think labels in general will be that important or around much longer because things are just changing so much that the stuff that makes money in music is more based around live performance now, so unless labels start to play a bigger role in that economic stream… There’s not enough money coming in from recordings themselves, and a big part of why a label is useful these days is that seal of approval. But a lot of people still hold on to the idea that labels are the tastemakers and doorkeepers.

– But from a purely financial standpoint, would it be easier for you to operate now?

Chris: Yes and no. With Cuneiform, because of how much we tour, we’re actually our label’s bigger customers as we wind up purchasing our own records from them, wholesale, and then go out and sell the CDs at shows. It’s hard to say because we’re gaining a larger audience thanks to Cuneiform and, like we’ve been saying, the seal of approval has also helped us validate claims and propel our music forward, but at the same time, we’re making less per record.

Ben: That they do all that fulfillment, that’s huge. While we’re out on the road, we can’t be sending our records out to people who buy them; that’s something the label does that’s useful.

– The music that you play and that pulls people to the band is characterized as “avant-garde pop”; but what’s so avant-garde about it in your eyes?

Courtney: There’s a lot of experimentation in how we’re putting together different forms of the song, but I guess it’s a mindset more than a product. We’re most interested in creating something new: that’s the whole idea of being “avant.” There is a genre and a market for music right now where people are essentially creating the same thing to fill the specific needs of filling a silence in a cafe, people dancing; essentially, commercial music. And I think the whole idea of being avant is that we’re trying to create what’s new. Certainly, if we wanted to be imitative it could be imitative as a byproduct, but we’re trying to create something that’s more than just a regurgitation of what’s happened before.

– Do you have to somewhat restrain your experimentation to retain a pop aspect?

Jessica: I don’t think so. We’re going as far as we would like to go, and that’s both as weird as we get and as normal and acceptable as we get. Every new song kind of steers the ship in a slightly different direction with regards to genre or techniques that we’re tying together into our world, and we are always going in a new place.

Chris: Basically every genre label that has been given to Bent Knee has not been coming from us. We’re not composing music to fit into any kind of genre box; we’re composing music that we like, and the only barrier for a song entry into the repertoire is that all of us in the band have to really love it and be behind it. (“Yeah” and nods from everybody.) We’ve never writing to make sure we’re in the pop box or the experimental box; we’re just writing music that we really would like to exist in the world, and then, after the fact, it gets labelled in a box as we have to figure out where to send it off to, but that’s not at all a part of our writing process, this consideration of genre.

– Many of your pieces are comprised of a few sections, and I think you could easily make a separate song out of each of those. How hard it is to construct such a piece, and how do you decide where to stop and not add or subtract anything from it?

Chris: With every detail you add to a song you’re either helping to create momentum or you’re destroying momentum, and I think a good song carries you through the whole way, so throughout the whole song you’re engaged as a listener, and it takes you on a journey to the end. When we’re creating sections, we’re trying to further the story and push the momentum forward, so sometimes if things are very secular and the same thing is happening over and over again, it can be helpful to make a sudden change to very new territory, and that’s why we can sometimes fit maybe two songs into one of ours. But then, when we draw the line, we’re not going any further and not adding any more sections because, eventually, if you keep adding too much stuff you blur the whole experience so it doesn’t feel like a journey anymore – it feels like you’re lost in the abyss. That’s how we gauge it – is this furthering the momentum of the song or is it hurting it? – and then we consider what to add.

– Is your Berklee background helpful in this process or is it restricting creativity?

Jessica: When I studied songwriting at Berklee, we learned a lot of songs with really strict forms, and so I feel, after writing songs at Berklee, I always have what a song should be according to people who study songs in the background. But when we’re writing in a rehearsal, I don’t think it changes how we feel about the song we’re working on. Maybe as a principle we prefer not taking to a normal musical form like A-B-A-B-B, B, B, B forever (laughs) which is very popular right now. In general, we all like to have more sections than just A and B, or at least have a reason why the song winds up being whatever it becomes.

– But isn’t a simplification to call your composition “a song”?

Ben: The quote I like to call on all the time is: “Lyrics make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. Songs make you feel thoughts”. Our goal is to make you feel the thoughts, so calling it “a song” is appropriate as long as there are lyrics.

Chris: If there are lyrics and the piece itself holds its own outside of a larger structure, that’s the only requirement I see for a song.

– Did it take you long to learn to collectively construct a song? I feel seams on your debut album but sections flow into one another seamlessly now.

Chris: It’s getting quicker. When we first started doing this, having six people with creative ideas and strong opinions and different backgrounds in the same room, there used to be a lot of butting of heads, so especially with “Shiny Eyed Babies” when we were hashing all that out, it was like pulling teeth because we couldn’t all come to agreement on anything, but we were committed to this idea that everyone needed to agree on everything, so it took a very long time to actually finish that record and turn it in. But since that process happened and we’re all very happy with the outcome, things have gotten much quicker just because we trust each other a lot more and we can validate each other’s ideas. So, it’s getting faster but it still takes a while, and part of our process is: someone will bring in a core of a song and then we all hammer away at it, and once it’s in a playable format we play it out, and we play it in front of an audience to see how it feels to us and see how the audience reacts, and then we take it back to the workshop and continue working out the kinks. Then we get it to the studio, and the last step of our writing process is sitting down with it and continue to reshape it so it takes on its final recorded form.

– Going from quiet to loud section and back again is an assault on the senses. Is it vital for you – especially from the vocal perspective?

Courtney: Is moving dynamically necessary? Oooh, it’s a good question. I was talking before about how we want to do something new, and that idea applies to what we do ourselves, but at a certain point it’s really hard not to repeat yourself, and one thing that we do repeat or we do rely on is that everyone’s playing loud, because there’s a certain visceral feeling to just being hit with that wash, that assault on the senses as you described it – there is something to that. But we’re trying to keep it up there and not use it too much, so that when we do use it it’s because we want to conjure a really intense feeling in a listener, but also because we want to express something within us. Most of the music we write is based on something that happened in our lives, although sometimes we write it like a story that we made up, but even if it’s someone else’s experience that we’re all performing, it’s because we all think of ourselves as introspective people and we need that relief of playing loud and playing hard: it’s just the way that we cope with life… at least I’m speaking for myself. When we get back from touring and stop playing out for a while, we’re emotionally constipated in a way. I think I’m more of a performer than a writer and, for example, Ben’s more of a writer than a performer; but my medium – one that I’m most connected with – is performing in front of people. So in that sense assault on the senses is sort of a need.

Jessica: Just to add to that, I think that a cathartic experience for us, and for the audience more importantly, is playing really loud and then playing really soft or stopping. It’s something that a lot people don’t expect. It’s a very interesting thing to do to an audience, because I feel like a lot of dynamics are flattened with a lot of bands who play loud or soft for their entire performance. But to abruptly go from really loud to really soft is magical!

– So you consciously put an element of surprise into every song, right?

Courtney: That is a byproduct of our method. Sometimes we’re being surprising on purpose, but sometimes it’s just what we feel the songs need, and it might be surprising but it does happen. (Laughs.)

– Is there also an element of synesthesia in the thing that you do?

Ben: There is definitely a sense of imagery that we all get from what we hear in some form or another, but since none of us has synesthesia full-on, and none of us agrees, “Hey, let’s make music that’s the color red!” or “Let’s make music that reminds me of water!” we don’t go and do that, so I don’t know if it translates very strongly in that way.

– Orchestral scope of your pieces like “Little Specks Of Calcium”: do you use it for the best sonic expression or for theatrical presentation?

Ben: For sonic expression, for sure: we’re looking for a sound first and foremost. An original electronic version of “Little Specks Of Calcium” that existed before the band worked on it was not dynamic; it was pretty flat – it was kind of neat flat! But when we started playing it didn’t really feel great; it was part of where we got that exploding sound from, it worked live – it was working.

– Would you like to work with a real orchestra at some point?

All at once (laughing): Yeah. Yes. Sure. It would be awesome.

Ben: I’m scared of brass in arrangements, but yeah, bring it on, bring an orchestra.

Jessica (laughing): Tell them!

Ben: Tell them to give us an orchestra! (Everybody laughs.)

Chris: We’ll make good use of it.

From: https://dmme.net/interviews/interview-with-bent-knee

 

 

Alice Cooper - Elected

 #Alice Cooper #hard rock #heavy metal #glam rock #art rock #classic rock #glam metal #garage rock #1970s #music video

Alice Cooper’s truly hilarious promo film for Elected, features everyone’s favourite shock-rocker cruising the streets on his fictitious presidential campaign, ‘meeting’ the public (including one lady who appears to think he’s an actual candidate) and planning his next senatorial move with the aid of a suited-up chimp. It’s hard to convey in words just how expertly assembled this bit of irreverent comic nonsense is, from the moment a limo pulls up to reveal him grinning out of the window, to the madcap rally invaded by someone in a sub-Banana Splits elephant suit at the end, but if you’re familiar with Elected and know how good it is, then saying that it’s a perfectly judged visual accompaniment should get the manifesto across just fine. What’s particularly interesting is that while this may all seem like a two-fingered response to America’s political establishment in the wake of Watergate, the actual scandal was still some months away from breaking when the song was recorded and indeed released as a single, and this promo film will almost certainly have in fact been filmed while the initial attempt at covering up was taking place. Nothing ever hits quite so hard as inadvertent satire way before the event.  From: https://timworthington.org/2020/08/07/were-all-gonna-rock-to-the-rules-that-i-make/

Forget Marilyn Manson, forget the Sex Pistols; when it came to shocking the self-appointed guardians of international morality to the core, Alice Cooper pretty much wrote the handbook. Flaunting a sketchy past swathed in urban legend and cunningly fabricated falsehoods concerning witches, ouija boards, dismembered chickens, blurred genders and necrophilia, Alice Cooper succeeded in outraging the forces of decency to an unprecedented degree over the course of his casual early-70s transition from cult notoriety to mainstream ubiquity. Cooper’s infamy was such that in May 1973 Leo Abse, the incumbent Labour MP for Pontypool, spluttered in the House of Commons: “I regard his [Cooper’s] act as an incitement to infanticide for his sub-teenage audience. He is deliberately trying to involve these kids in sado-masochism. He is peddling the culture of the concentration camp. Pop is one thing, anthems of necrophilia are another.” The nation’s leading censorial nanny figure, Mary Whitehouse, head of the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association, offered eager support to Abse’s campaign to ban Alice Cooper from returning to the UK. But as public reaction veered in the general direction of hysteria, sales of Billion Dollar Babies (Cooper’s most provocative recording to date) soared stratospherically; then, as now, controversy sells, and in 1973 nobody was selling more than Alice Cooper. Of course, back in those days Alice Cooper were a band; five individuals who had translated a shared fascination for the mop-tops and the macabre into a million-dollar industry that had not only brought them universal vilification as depraved, corruptive pariahs, but also celebrity beyond their wildest dreams.
The quintet’s story begins innocently enough in Phoenix, Arizona, when track athlete Vincent Furnier is volunteered to organise the Cortez High School’s autumn 1964 Letterman Talent Show. Unfortunately no one seems to boast any discernible talent, so Vince encourages some friends to take the stage as The Earwigs where they mime along to Beatles records while wearing Beatles wigs. Guitarist Glen Buxton can actually play his instrument. And while drummer John Speer fumbles his way around the rudiments of percussion, bassist Dennis Dunaway hones his craft with the benefit of some valuable lessons from Glen. The Earwigs metamorphose into The Spiders; they play local Battle Of The Bands shows; and they replace their departing rhythm guitarist John Tatum with ex-Cortez High football star Michael Bruce of The Trolls. Following a move to LA in spring ’67, the fledgling Coopers, now known as The Nazz, replace John Speer with fellow Phoenix emigré Neal Smith and set about endearing themselves to the Sunset Strip in-crowd by hosting regular séances.  Soon enough – now that they’re mixing in a social circle that includes The Doors’ Jim Morrison and Love’s Arthur Lee – Miss Christine (of The GTOs) arranges for the band to audition for Frank Zappa’s Straight label. The somewhat over-eager Coopers famously turn up for their 6:30 pm appointment at 6:30 am, but find their naive tenacity amply rewarded when Zappa offers them a record deal. Two days after changing their name to Alice Cooper they are taken on as the house support band at the 20,000-capacity Cheetah Ballroom, where they gradually build a following in spite of the fact that their vocalist – having ditched the name Vince in favour of the infinitely more noteworthy Alice – had taken to wearing full make-up and a pink clown costume.
Gradually, the winning Alice Cooper formula takes shape, and after recording a brace of feet-finding collections on Zappa’s Straight imprint (1969’s Pretties For You and ’70’s Easy Action) the band sign to Warner Brothers and, with Canadian whiz-kid producer Bob Ezrin at the controls, hit the peak of their form with three set-piece collections released in rapid succession: June ’71’s Love It To Death (the album that shocked America), December ’71’s Killer (the album that conquered America) and July ’72’s School’s Out (the album that conquered the world). School’s Out, bolstered by the enormity of its anthemic title track, quickly attained the accolade of being the biggest-selling album in Warners’ history and, thanks to a frenzied tabloid press virtually foaming at the mouth with a level of hyperbolic vitriol unseen since the advent of the Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper became the most newsworthy and controversial band on the planet. But now came the difficult bit. In the face of blanket condemnation from the great, the good, the humourless, the pious and the post-pubescent, the band needed to consolidate their position. Specifically, they needed to make the greatest album of their career: an over-inflated Grand Guignol masterpiece; an ostentatiously offensive, flashy, crass and unbelievably expensive combination of Herschel Gordon Lewis and Busby Berkeley positively guaranteed to expand the generation gap to Grand Canyon proportions. In short, they needed to make Billion Dollar Babies. Following School’s Out was always going to be a daunting task, but with band morale at an all-time high no one involved harboured a shred of doubt that they could not only do it, but also do it in style.  From: https://classicrockreview.wordpress.com/2021/07/27/the-scandalous-story-of-alice-coopers-billion-dollar-babies-1973-2020/

Laboratorium Piesni - Karanfilče Devojče

 #Laboratorium Piesni #world music #European folk #Eastern European folk #traditional #polyphonic chant #Slavic folk music #a capella #white voice #Polish #music video

Things you can learn from traditional folk music: You know what’s the least cool thing on Earth when you’re a teenager in Poland? Traditional folk music, that’s what. Only village grandmas would perform it when I was a kid, they sang in regional dialect which sounded weird and archaic, and the lyrics never made any sense. “A rose grew in my garden, tell me dear Marysia if you’ll marry me. How can I tell you this, how can I know if my mom will agree.” Totally relatable for a kid who’s not going to marry anyone for at least the next six hundred years, and is certainly not going to ask her mom for permission if she finally decides to do so.
But the worst thing of all was “Marysia”. In Polish and other Eastern European languages every name comes in several different forms. There’s an official version for adults you don’t know very well, there’s a “naughty kid” version which in my days was the only acceptable form to be used among teenagers, and there’s Marysia. This is a form of my name Maria used either when speaking to little children or to someone you’d like to be tender with. When you’re a teenage punk rebel it almost sounds like an insult. Somehow in the old times people weren’t as creative in naming kids as they are now, so literally every traditional Polish song had a Marysia or Kasieńka in it. Being the only Marysia in class that had a lot of such songs assigned in the school curriculum was a great opportunity for all other kids to make fun of you. It took me many years to find traditional music pleasant to listen to, or even acceptable.
The first band that did this for me was Arkona, who sneakily smuggled traditional folk influences into their heavy metal songs. They sang in Russian, so even if the lyrics were still ridiculous and archaic it didn’t bother me at all cause I only understood a few words. I fell in love with Arkona because of their incredible lead singer, a five foot blonde girl with the most Earth-shattering voice. She could start with a touching, lyric melody and change it into a demonic growl a few seconds later. I hadn’t thought I would find female growl attractive, but Masha carries such power in hers it’s fucking unbelievable.
With time I got to enjoy other traditional Eastern European songs, even if they didn’t come together with growl and heavy guitar riffs. I learned to appreciate the ancient wisdom in these ridiculously archaic lyrics that puts my remarkably modern life in perspective. Yes, I’m an independent, self-sufficient woman who can choose whether or whom to marry, but this simply wasn’t the case for my female ancestors. Life in a village used to be incredibly hard, and making a living independently wasn’t an option for anyone, not only women. No one would think about independence when they struggled to survive. Even my own grandma got married at the age of eighteen to a 30-year-old she just met, as she explained, mostly to escape from her abusive stepfather.
It also serves as a guiding anchor through different stages of life. This is not a kind of music you would create as a masterpiece to be performed on stage. These were ordinary songs sung by ordinary people as they went through different events in their lives. There were at least a few for every occasion. Birth and death, love and heartbreak, work and rest, joy and sorrow, marriage and pesky in-laws, sowing and reaping, there was a song that could help you make sense of any of these experiences, and process the emotions that arise with it.
Music creates a kind of emotional resonance that words alone will never do. Singing together synchronizes minds and souls in a way that is difficult to describe, as I learned in traditional music workshops. If you’re going through childbirth, death, marriage, or breakup, everyone singing with you validates your experience, shows you that they understand what you’re going trough, and that what is happening is a normal part of life. It integrates your emotions into the whole community, and helps you heal the challenging ones.
I have my own wedding coming soon and I want a ceremony that won’t be just a government official talking about civil rights and obligations. Even if they prepared the most touching speech, it would still be processed through the rational parts of the brain first. I’d rather go directly into the hearts and souls. So though the irony is not lost on me, I’m going to bring some of the ancient wedding ritual songs I used to despise so much as a kid to guide us and all of our guests through the most important moment of our lives so far. I even put a “Marysia” on our wedding invitation cards.  From: https://madeincosmos.net/things-you-can-learn-from-traditional-folk-music/ 

Ouzo Bazooka - Clouds of Sorrow

 #Ouzo Bazooka #psychedelic rock #neo-psychedelia #Middle Eastern rock #garage rock #Middle Eastern psych rock #desert rock #psychedelic surf #Isreali #music video

Ouzo Bazooka was formed in Tel Aviv, a city with its own unique lifestyle, where one can feel that the vibrant urban scene is driven by cultural coexistence and vigorous creation. Drawing influences from this melting pot and exotic Middle Eastern feel, along with classic hard rock, psychedelic art, garage rock and surf – Ouzo Bazooka’s sound is a dizzying concoction of east meets west.
Leading the pack is renowned musician and local guitar hero, Uri Brauner Kinrot, who grew up on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean sea, absorbing surf culture and playing a mean rock guitar. Uri has been active in the music scene for over a decade, throughout which he has played with, recorded for, and helped shape the influential sounds of big names such as Balkan Beat Box, Shantel, Firewater and Kocani Orkestar. Uri is also the leader of the critically acclaimed Mediterranean surf band Boom Pam, who are currently collaborating with Turkish psychedelic-folk legend Selda Bağcan. His unique sounds have made their way to far corners of the world, rocking out major music festivals such as Roskilde, Glastonbury, Fuji Rock, Lollapalooza and many more.
After roaming the globe and spreading his mediterranean-chic love, Uri felt the urge to pursue a new project using earlier influences that had always echoed in the back of his mind. He returned to the sounds and artists that have shaped him since his teens; Cream’s blasting energies, Link Wray’s surfed-up style and The Sonics’ soulful garage feel. Uri’s kaleidoscopic vision exemplifies good ol’ rock n’ roll with an oriental tinge, which is undoubtedly heard in his latest endeavor, Ouzo Bazooka. Recorded with local giants such as Adam Scheflan on bass and Kutiman on drums, the album consists of several catchy hits granting a melodic-pop feel that brings a sweet sound to the ears with a tangy middle eastern twist. Ouzo Bazooka’s self-titled debut album was released in 2014 and kicked off the bands career with a brilliant start.
Uri then decided to team up with drummer, Ira Raviv (Monti Fiori, Boom Pam) and keyboard player Dani Ever Hadani (Rami Fortis, Boom Pam) to form the present band and create the second album, Simoom. The album is an elegant demonstration of Uri’s ability to combine all of his influences and experiences together in the smoothest way possible. The album takes you on a dreamy psychedelic journey through heavy fuzzed guitars, colourful synthesisers, roaring drums and “garage-esque” fun. This well-performed blend can easily be heard throughout the album, from the spacey psychedelic keys and vocals on Look Around, to the traditional heavy dabke groove of Clouds of Sorrow, and up until the swinging thundering drums on Black Witch.  From: https://www.stolenbodyrecords.co.uk/ouzo-bazooka

Avatarium - Boneflower

 #Avatarium #doom metal #heavy metal #heavy psych #prog metal #folk metal #metal supergroup #Swedish #animated music video

Here we have the debut from the Swedish doom super-group that are calling themselves Avatarium. At the helm is bassist Leif Edling (Candlemass, Krux), along with guitarist Marcus Jidell (Evergrey, Royal Hunt), drummer Lars Skold (Tiamat), keyboard player Carl Westholm (Jupiter Society, Carp Tree) and pop-rock vocalist Jennie-Ann Smith. The band mixes the crushing, epic doom style of Black Sabbath and Candlemass with the classic metal influence of Rainbow, the psychedelic hard rock of Blue Oyster Cult, the prog of early Genesis, and the bluesy folk of early Jethro Tull. Sounds like an interesting combination right? Well, it most certainly is. Smith has a lovely voice, and lends her gorgeous vocal passages to songs that are brimming with doomy might, classic rock sophistication, and the occasional pastoral prog touch.
"Moonhorse" kicks things off in fine fashion, as angelic vocals supported by folk guitars give way to behemoth doom riffs and scorching lead guitar work. The mysterious "Pandora's Egg" once again combines the folk with some psychedelia and massive riffing, as Smith just soars here over symphonic keyboards and some of the biggest riffs you'll hear this year. Absolutely crushing doom meshes with tasty prog rock keyboards on the melancholy title track, an epic, memorable number that also features some splendid lead guitar & slide work from Jidell, who at times on this CD reminds a bit of Ritchie Blackmore from the Rainbow Rising album. And, if you can imagine Heart's Ann Wilson singing in a doom band, well, that's kind of what you get with Smith and her amazing vocals. "Boneflower" is more of an upbeat psych/hard rocker (for fans of Ghost & Blue Oyster Cult) filled with tasty keyboards, riffs, and Smith's alluring vocals, while ominous Mellotron from Westholm permeates the doom laden dirge that is "Bird of Prey", a venomous number driven by huge Uriah Heep inspired Hammond organ & Sabbath styled guitar riffs. Rainbow-meets-Black Sabbath on the grandiose "Tides of Telepathy", with Skold delivering some amazing drum fills alongside Edling's massive bass grooves, and Jidell & Westholm layering in plenty of thunder to support Smith's emotional vocals. This amazing album ends with the folky prog of "Lady in the Lamp", a tranquil meeting of Heart, Rainbow, and Genesis, as lush Mellotron, lilting guitar chords, soaring slide guitar, and those incredible vocals just grab at your heart and refuse to let go.
For a debut, this is astounding material from Avatarium. They could have easily gone the safe route and created a straight doom record, but thankfully they wanted to do much more than that. Any fan of '70s heavy rock, psych, folk, doom, and prog will find lots to love here, and hopefully this is the first of many releases from this very fine ensemble. The musical pedigree of the members goes without saying, and Jennie-Ann Smith is truly an incredible singer.  From: https://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=15550

Poco - A Good Feelin' To Know

 #Poco #Richie Furay #Timothy Schmidt #Jim Messina #Randy Meisner #country rock #folk rock #ex-Buffalo Springfield #pre-Eagles #1960s #1970s

For Poco – or Pogo, as they were initially called – the presence of George Harrison, Doug Dillard and Janis Joplin at their shows was surely a sign that they were going to join that aristocracy. On their debut gig they supported the well-established Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and blew them off stage. A banjo player and wannabe comedian called Steve Martin became their regular warm-up act as Hollywood flocked to catch this new sensation. Influential LA Times rock critic Robert Hillburn said Poco were destined for the top and, with Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt offering their congratulations, they believed him. But Poco didn’t become the next big thing. Or the one after that. Their story is one of temptation and corruption, thieving managers who doubled as drug dealers, openly internecine hostilities, and a side order of rampant ambition and green-eyed jealousy.
Poco were formed from the ashes of Buffalo Springfield after Neil Young effectively quit that group for the last time following a drugs bust in March 1968. During a noisy jam session at Stephen Stills’s Topanga Canyon ranch, irate neighbours called the cops. Hearing the patrol cars, Stills escaped through a back window, while the Malibu sheriff rounded up Cream’s Eric Clapton and three Buffalos – Young, Richie Furay and Jim Messina – and hauled the brain-mushed stoners off to the LA County jail, where they spent a weekend in the cells with a bunch of Black Panthers who admired their shiny hair and pink boots. Severely traumatized, Young stuck around merely for a farewell show then got out of Springfield in the same Pontiac hearse with Ontario number plates on it that he’d arrived in – and with the master tapes for his solo album. Cut adrift, Furay and Messina immediately began rehearsing a new band, with the Springfield’s nominal guitar tech Rusty Young, a pedal steel ace who could play anything with strings on it, and his drummer friend George Grantham.
“Me and Jimmy started Poco,” says Furay. “I’d been the frontman in Springfield but it was Stills’s band. Neil was restless; he had too many agendas. We bossed places like the Whisky, the Palladium and the Troubadour, but there were too many Canadians with immigration problems in the group and it just fizzled out.” Or as Young said: “We thought we’d be together forever. But we were just too young to be patient.” Everybody knew that was nowhere. Rusty Young recalls the early days: “I came from Denver to play on a Richie song called Kind Woman for the Springfield’s Last Time Around sessions, only to find they’d broken up. Richie and Jim had this concept – to mix country and rock with banjo, mandolin and dobro. It was a new idea. We searched Los Angeles for recruits.
"We tried out Greg Allman on organ, and Gram Parsons way before he joined The Byrds. They released Sweetheart Of The Rodeo using our sound, which Gram took from us and taught them. It was typical that they beat us to the punch so everyone thought we were copying them. Gram was into George Jones; there was no rock in his country at all. It’s a myth that Gram invented country rock. Chinese whispers. It became the truth, but it was an absolute lie. Sure, he formed the Flying Burrito Brothers. But only because he’d played with us." Furay, originally a pleasant farm boy from Ohio, had more reason to admire Parsons: “I knew him when we were folkies in New York City. He played me The Byrds’ first album and prompted me into that music. But I’m definitely a pioneer, because it was Poco who broke down barriers between hippies and rednecks. Country clubs, even in California, were real intimidating places. Watch out if you had moderately long hair."
With Buffalo Springfield’s accounts in disarray, and the Troubadour’s Doug Weston paying absolute bottom dollar, action was necessary. “We had no money at all,” says Rusty Young. "Our manager, Dickie Davis [Springfield’s road man], had dozens of airline tickets spread on a table. One was for Neil Young, who never turned up for gigs half the time. The name said ‘Mr. N. Young’, and since my middle name is Norman - Neil got our band off the ground.” Having enlisted bassist Randy Meisner, Poco were slow off the mark as a recording act, and had trouble settling on a band name after running into a legal battle with Walt Kelly, the creator of the wildly popular Pogo The Possum newspaper cartoon character. They flirted with calling themselves RFD (standing for Rural Free Delivery), before returning to the Troubadour in their new guise, wearing cowboy gear stitched by wives and girlfriends. Stardom seemed but a step away.  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-poco-invented-a-brand-new-sound-only-to-have-it-stolen-by-the-eagles

Lykantropi - Wild Flowers

 #Lykantropi #hard rock #blues rock #folk rock #psychedelic rock #retro-1970s #Swedish 

Melody Lane had an interview with Martin Ostlund, singer and guitarist of the Swedish psychedelic folk melancholic rockers Lykantropi. A great band highly recommended to fans of Coven, Blue Oyster Cult and Fleetwod Mac.

Melody Lane: First of all, can you tell us where the name Lykantropi comes from?  

Martin Ostlund: In my opinion it´s the process and transformation in the creation of songs. A song is like chapters in a book that is transforming in a way by its dynamic etc., and also I do love horror movies and you can hear that in the lyrics.

Melody Lane: The line-up of the band is confirmed. Is it the same from the beginning of the band, or have you had changes in the last years? Can you tell us something about the roots of Lykantropi? And where the band was born?

Martin Ostlund: I started the band in about 2013. No one except me was in the band from the beginning. Tomas joined us about 2014-15, Ia and My about the same time. We had just recorded our first album when the drummer decided to drop out, so then came Ola. The latest to join is Elias. He was a stand-in player instead of Pär “Pärry” Nordwall, and became a member about a year ago.

Melody Lane: Can you list us five songs from the Lykantropi discography (including new material), that can define the sound of the band. Five songs that can help our readers to know Lykantropi.

Martin Ostlund: Black Old Stone, Julie and Alexandra on the first album, Vestigia and Sällsammanatt on Spirituosa. Kom ta migut and Coming Your Way on Tales to be told

Melody Lane: Tell us something about the creative process of your music. Is there a main composer or is there team work? The songs come from ideas of a single member and then the band works on these ideas in the studio jamming together, or your songs are written in the studio and all the members compose together? What about messages and subjects of your lyrics?

Martin Ostlund: Oh, it’s different depending on which song, but what’s new for us is that me and Tomas have spit the writing on the new album. I did almost everything on the first two except two songs on Spirituosa. Both me and Tomas come with the skeleton of a song idea, and we work together as a band. Some songs have messages, but you have to read between the lines of fiction and private exposures. Some songs are inspired by old folklore and fairytales, but also we have much fantasy in it with the Northern melancholy touch.

Melody Lane:  Apart from the all the problems and troubles related to the Covid-19 pandemic, any chance for us to see Lykantropi playing live here in Italy/Europe in the next months/years? Maybe summer festivals? Any plans?

Martin Ostlund: We actually had plans for a tour in Italy, Spain, etc. just before the pandemic, so yes, we will come and play when it’s all over.

Melody Lane: Could you tell us two bands, from the actual international scene, you’d like  to tour with? Two bands that would represent a perfect line-up for Lykantropi to play with. And why these bands?

Martin Ostlund: English Purson, and maybe The Blood Ceremony. They have both the groove in their sound, but different in their sound.

Melody Lane: We know that ‘to define is to limit’ but how do you define the Lykantropi sound? Are you a psychedelic rock band? Prog/folk band? Vintage ‘70s rock band?

Martin Ostlund: Well, we define ourselves in all those actually. But the main thing is that we love vintage amps and what we call the warm tube sound, so there you go! Vintage rock it is!

Melody Lane: Which musicians are/have been your main musical inspirations?

Martin Ostlund: I have to say Fleetwood Mac´s “Then Play On”, and Swedish 60s-70s artist Bo Hansson; he played the Hammond organ, and has done instrumental records and is famous for “The Lord of the Rings” made in the 70s.

Melody Lane: Which are your favorite bands nowadays? Are there any musicians you’d really like to collaborate with? And why?

Martin Ostlund: No favorite, but I really like Amanda Werne in Slowgold, and also the Swedish band Amason with amazing Amanda Bergman on vocals. Great musicians and bands with the heart and soul in your face.

Melody Lane: What has been the most important concert for Lykantropi’s career?

Martin Ostlund: Hmm, I don’t know! We have had some great concerts in different places. Geronimos and Debaser in the capitol of Sweden Stockholm are some of them.

Melody Lane: As a musician, what has been your biggest achievement to date and what do you want to achieve in the near future?

Martin Ostlund: I think the latest soon to be released “Tales to be Told” is a really great record, where we as a band work together in the best way. It’s the best so far of our three albums in my opinion. We have plans for making a new album in the near future without revealing too much.

Melody Lane: Are you totally satisfied with your choices about sound and the writing of your previous albums? If you could, would you change anything?

Martin Ostlund: We are satisfied with the sound on all our albums. Even some years later.

Melody Lane: In the end - a message from you to all Melody Lane readers.

Martin Ostlund: Message to the people! Close your eyes in a calm spot in your favorite nature surroundings, and hopefully you hear and listen to mother earth’s prayer for our future existence and how we can take care of this place we call earth. A big kiss from Lykantropi.

From: https://www.melodylane.it/NEWSITO/index.php/818-lykantropi

Drug Couple - Still Stoned

 #Drug Couple #alternative/indie rock #psychedelic rock #neo-psychedelia #psychedelic alt-country

I have always believed that life is what you make of it and that very much depends on the opportunities that arise and how you make things happen. In the case of Miles and Becca Robinson, they had already released one EP, Little Hits, as a band from Brooklyn which had a crazy mix of alternative rock and country and the kind of sound we might have heard if Paul Westerberg had taken over the reins of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and given it an alternative country twist. But big city life clearly does not suit us all and this is most certainly the case for this particular Drug Couple.
One day in March 2020, Miles and Becca literally upped sticks to plan their wedding, headed right up to the hills of Vermont, and soon vowed never to return as they quickly found that they were not missing city life at all. So what do you do when you suddenly find yourselves unemployed, in the middle of the woods and with a load of time on your hands? Being based in a two hundred year old barn they decided to build a studio which they called Freelandia, grow some marijuana, draw on their love for country and American indie rock and record themselves a debut album, Stoned Weekend. With a strong focus on love and hash fueling an unbridled creative spirit, the creation of this album quickly gathered pace. And whilst their developing sound lends more than a passing nod to the likes of Dinosaur Jr and The Lemonheads, there is much more to get your head around before you reach that inevitable transcendental state.
Whilst the majority of the vocals and instrumentation are down to both Miles and Becca, they were also joined by Pastor Greg Faison on drums throughout, together with Danny Meyer on saxophone and piano and Travis Rosenberg on pedal steel. All of this was put together in the Freelandia studio in the wilds of Vermont. In Stoned Weekend, Drug Couple have totally absorbed the DIY punk ethic and created a unique blend of alternative rock and country with a big slice of psychedelia that is guaranteed to chill the very fabric of your soul until you are horizontal and in a state of dream-like haze. From: https://louderthanwar.com/drug-couple-stoned-weekend-album-review/

Drug Couple is (or is it are) Miles and Becca Robinson. They used to be a “Brooklyn band”, until they moved to the Vermont countryside. They got married, grow marijuana, like country and American indie rock, and don’t particularly miss the city. Now that’s straight from the horse’s mouth as it were and yeah, I can see that is an unquestionable truth. Full of farm fresh sounds recorded in their very own barn studio Freelandia “Stoned weekend” is a sweet, sweet record giving you ten superbly balanced slices of seriously layed back guitar-based Americana that will have the hairs on the back of your neck tingling. And yes, I totally believe that you would have had to cut the air in their studio with a knife when they compiled this work. (Perhaps including a scratch and sniff cover would have been appropriate but I guess the DEA may have taken exception).
So, what’s going on here? well Drug couple have definitely zoned in on the chilled out retro sounds that only home-grown horticultural endeavors (which they unashamedly promote) can really bestow on an artiste. They have been widely compared to Neil Young. Hmmm - that needs qualifying. Let’s say Neil Young at his high-water mark with the legendary band he worked with as heard on 1972’s Harvest LP also recorded in a barn! That figures. There is just a certain “je ne sais quoi” about recording in a barn whilst stoned that you’re unlikely to get out of any metropolitan set up that I’m aware of. But there’s more. Of course, there has to be right? To me there are beautifully nuanced nods to Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd too with Miles Robinson’s vocals evoking the soulful rawness of Ronnie Van Zant particularly on the superb opening track “Stoned weekend”. That sets the scene for the whole of the LP which is drenched in glorious pedal steel guitars throughout and just to labour the point “Stoned weekend” concludes with an alternative take on track one “Still stoned” which if anything is even more mashed up than when they set off.  From: https://allmusicmagazine.com/review-of-the-debut-album-by-drug-couple-stoned-weekend/

Circulus - Little Big Song

 #Circulus #psychedelic folk #progressive folk #folk rock #British folk rock

A fanciful blend of traditional British folk, prog rock, psychedelia, and folk-rock, with a cultural mindset that is rarely seen outside of a revival screening of The Wicker Man, Circulus is the brainchild of Michael Tyack, a songwriter and musician who has set out to create music that exists in the 20th and 16th centuries at once. Based in South London, with Tyack the only constant member after dozens of personnel shifts, Circulus incorporate the drums, guitars, and Moog synthesizers you'd expect from a rock band with a retro early-'70s approach, but also features a variety of medieval instruments, including crumhorns, recorders, and a reed instrument called the rauch pfeifer, whose intense volume Tyack declares "isn't really acceptable to modern ears." Circulus are nearly as well-known for their collective fashion sense as for their music, with Tyack costuming himself and his accompanists in thrift-shop capes, caftans, hats, and masks that are equally influenced by the British hippie scene and Tyack's self-proclaimed model in style, Philip the Good, who was the Duke of Burgundy in the 13th century. Add to this the stated belief of Tyack and his bandmates in pixies, fairies, and "old gods" and you get a group whose reputation for eccentricity precedes it, but Circulus have also won a loyal audience for the strength of their music, with fans ranging from traditional music enthusiasts to death metal addicts. Circulus made their recorded debut in 1999 with an EP entitled Giantism, but it wasn't until 2005 that the band found a sympathetic record label interesting in financing an album-length recording - Rise Above Records, an extreme metal label that issued Circulus' full-length debut, The Lick on the Tip of an Envelope Yet to Be Sent. A second album, Clocks Are Like People, followed a year later.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/circulus-mn0000306289/biography

With its rauch pfeifers and crumhorns, psychedelic guitar solos, squealing vintage synthesizers and songs about pixies and burning scarecrows, Circulus' debut album, The Lick on the Tip of an Envelope Yet to Be Sent, is so far removed from anything else currently available, so blithely unconcerned with any contemporary notions of cool, that it makes for genuinely shocking listening. It is by turns preposterous, unsettling, tear-jerkingly beautiful and wonderfully refreshing: the one thing it is not is a concerted effort to storm the charts by sounding a bit like Coldplay or Franz Ferdinand, which may explain the flurry of critical excitement the band are currently generating. But it is merely the tip of the iceberg, the musical wing of a wilfully skewed world view that vocalist and band "auteur" Michael Tyack has been formulating since a visit to America in the late 80s, when homesickness led him to begin attending Elizabethan music concerts: "When I discovered Elizabethan music I was like, wow," he says. "It was exactly what I was pining for, some ancient culture. I didn't really want to hear any modern music at all. All I did was go to early music concerts and mix with early music boffins for about five years, discovering a whole world of ..." His voice trails off as he searches for the right phrase. "Something great," he decides, with a beatific grin. The medieval era, he says, "is my ideal, the whole style and the music. I mean, I like tights. I like the way those dresses look on women. It's all just beautiful. Take away the diseases and the brutality and it's a very stylish period. Very, very long pointy shoes." As a result, he says, he has dedicated his life to creating his own world, "which has nothing to do with Tesco or anything. You get people in Finland doing it, they live their lives as Iron Age people and have a good time. That's the plan, to set up an alternative way of life, where all like-minded people can congregate."  From: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jun/17/worldmusic.folk

Blanche - Jack On Fire

 #Blanche #alt-country #Americana #folk blues #Southern gothic #country folk #gothic folk

The packaging for ‘If We Can’t Trust the Doctors’, the debut album by Detroit-based Blanche, includes an old time medicine ad for Blanche’s Nepenthe. The elixir claims to “induce forgetfulness of sorrow, dolor, ennui and wretchedness for those afflicted with melancholia, fits and tempers, neurasthenia, or the vapors”. The music that Blanche makes could easily be the promotional soundtrack for the Nepenthe sales pitch, the accompaniment to its traveling medicine show. It’s a collection of near-spooky gothic country-blues, dirges for sanity and laments for optimism wrapped in reverb, banjos, autoharp, pedal steel, and dank Poe atmospherics. Led X-ishly by the husband and wife duo of Dan and Tracee Mae Miller, Blanche plays old-timey Midwestern twang with one foot in authenticity and the other in well-versed satire.
Blanche was formed after the Millers’s short-lived band Two-Star Tabernacle called it quits in the late ’90s. (Another member of Two-Star Tabernacle — Jack White — would go on to find surprising success with the White Stripes, and later used members of Blanche as Loretta Lynn’s backing band for the critically acclaimed Van Lear Rose.) ‘If We Can’t Trust the Doctors’ was released by Detroit label Cass Records in 2003, was nominated for the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize, and is now finding a new life through distribution with V2 Records. Blanche is not yet a touchstone of the alt-country community, but it shows major promise as a potential bearer of folk fringe oddities.  From: https://www.popmatters.com/blanche-ifwecant-2495847373.html

Writhing and preening like a fistful of wild-eyed Southern preachers, Blanche sells sweet snake oil by the wagonload on their debut release ‘If We Can't Trust the Doctors’. Fronted by the enigmatic Dan Miller (the artist formerly known as Goober in the hillbilly-punk prototype Goober and the Peas) and his ethereal wife Tracee, the band weaves a hypnotic blend of old-timey medicine show theatrics and down-home acoustic pickin', all threaded through with a spooky string of murder ballads and women scorned. Along with assistance from Brendan Benson and His Name Is Alive's Warn DeFever, the album was handcrafted by the understated Dave Feeny, whose production reveals layers of banjo, pedal steel, autoharp, and subtly distorted guitars, all toothing together like rusting gears in a Model 'A' Ford rolled off the Detroit lines a century ago. While on the surface the songwriting seems straightforward and simple, the pages within peel back like crumbling photos in a black paper photo album lost in the drawers during the Eisenhower era.
While much of the energy from the album seems tied to the power of the old church, ‘If We Can't Trust the Doctors’ is no gospel album, but rather it taps deep into Greil Marcus' "old, weird America" of dusty 78's on Vocalion and Okeh, and the dusty-toothed wayfaring strangers of the Depression era circuit. The amazing thing about the album is that for all of its folkways influences, it still feels very much a contemporary work; certain to be found on iPods and peer-to-peer lists worldwide. Shining deep underneath the dust of the last hundred years are little glints of Blanche's sunnier moments, and while the band certainly proves that every silver lining has a cloud, the album is perfectly spooky and uplifting, chilling and rewarding, haunting and beautiful.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/if-we-cant-trust-the-doctors-mw0000396906

The Move - Colour Me Pop 1969

 #The Move #Roy Wood #Jeff Lynne #psychedelic rock #blues rock #hard rock #British psychedelia #psychedelic pop rock #art rock #proto-prog #proto-metal #1960s #music video

Colour Me Pop was a BBC television series from the late 1960s that devoted itself to some of the best rock & roll acts of the period, without the usual compromises that such programs engaged in - groups would perform on camera, with their microphones live and their instruments plugged in, for as long as 30 minutes at a clip, and they wouldn't limit themselves to singles, either; Colour Me Pop was among the first television shows on either side of the Atlantic that could be used to perform and showcase album-length bodies of music.
The Move's set captures the four-man lineup behind Shazam in peak form. Whether they're playing hard electric numbers like "I Can Hear Grass Grow" or acoustic guitar driven pieces such as "Beautiful Daughter," or pieces that were otherwise unrepresented in their history, such as "The Christian Life" and "Goin' Back," they sound great - indeed, the version of "The Last Thing on My Mind" here is superior to the officially released studio recording on Shazam, and also makes good use of super-imposition and split-screen effects for its time. Oh, and the sound is excellent.
From: https://www.allmusic.com/album/colour-me-pop-the-small-faces-the-move-dvd--mw0001009492

I've seen the Moody Blues, Small Faces and The Move episodes of Colour Me Pop. Does anyone know if these performances are studio backing track with live vocals?

Somewhere in the dark part of my brain I remember seeing a web site that dealt with that very question. The interesting thing was that it varied, even within a particular episode. For instance, 'Fire Brigade' on The Move show is live, but there are other songs that aren't.

The Move January 1969
Several tracks are completely live - vocals and band - either that or the totally "live" numbers were exclusive pre-recorded backing tracks. Fascinating to see and hear Carl Wayne on bass on "The Christian Life" and interesting to compare the vocals on "I Can Hear The Grass Grow" to the 1967 "Beat Beat Beat" version with Ace Kefford. "Fire Brigade" is just magnificent. However, "Wild Tiger Woman" is a mime to the single release, as is "Something". "Beautiful Daughter" is a curious one - it's a mix of what appeared on "Shazam" - the vocal is identical but the mix is very different since it features a drum part on it and there's no strings - I think - getting a bit confuddled here myself (hence swiftly re-editing this post a couple of times). All three shows are magnificent slices of early colour British pop TV. How tragic that the vast majority of episodes of this show were wiped - editions featuring Love Sculpture, Family, David Bowie, Orange Bicycle, The Kinks, The Hollies, Manfred Mann and many more, all lost forever.

From: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/colour-me-pop-uk-tv.146238/

Occasionally plundered for clip shows, The Move’s Colour Me Pop appearance from 4th January 1969 saw them tearing through hits like Flowers In The Rain and Fire Brigade as well as the popular b-side Something, chaotic chart-missing single Wild Tiger Woman, a work in progress version of Beautiful Daughter, and covers of the Gerry Goffin and Carol King number Goin’ Back and bluegrass standard The Christian Life, both of which had recently also been covered by The Move’s noted favourites The Byrds. As well as an early sighting of the sort of glittery jackets that the Carnaby Street boutiques had recently started to sell – maybe inspiring David Bowie and Marc Bolan to take a trip to Alkasura the following Monday – this performance is also notable for capturing the band as they were adjusting to the recent departure of original bass player Ace Kefford. The Move had always shared out lead vocals as the ‘narrative’ of each song dictated – if you want a good trivia question to catch someone out with, ask them who the first person heard singing on BBC Radio 1 was; chances are they’ll know the first record played was Flowers In The Rain and automatically say Roy Wood, but the opening verse was actually handled by Carl Wayne – and Ace Kefford can be heard prominently on many of their best known singles. Although any fan of The Move would be able to tell that they were audibly struggling to compensate for his absence in places, their vocal interplay nonetheless caught John Lennon’s attention; while discussing how to approach The Beatles’ new songs, he mentioned the effect that The Move’s distanced stage positioning had on their vocal arrangements and began playing around with ideas inspired by that. This was an especially startling moment for me, as when I had a chat with Beatles expert Chris Shaw about the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, we got on to the subject of speculation about how The Beatles might have sounded if they had started playing live in 1968. Sceptical of some of the more fanciful ideas of string sections and elaborate stage effects, I had suggested instead that they’d have sounded more like the flashy psychedelic pop captured on the live album Something Else From The Move. It’s quite something to realise how close to the reality that very nearly was.  From: https://timworthington.org/2021/12/21/did-you-watch-the-bbc2-thing/

Beth Orton - Shopping Trolley

 #Beth Orton #folktronica #folk rock #trip-hop #contemporary folk rock #electronica #singer-songwriter #music video

Has Beth Orton ever sounded as angry as she does on "Worms", the caustic kiss-off that opens her fourth album? "I'm your apple-eatin' heathen, any ol' rib-stealin' Eve," she sings on the chorus, turning talk of original sin into empowering invective against some unnamed target. It's an odd song with an odd little shuffle to it, and even though it sounds uncannily like Fiona Apple (right down to her rushed cadence at the end of the second verse), the track reminds you how singular Orton seemed on her first two albums and how much she buffed away the rough edges on her third album, Daybreaker, an AOR makeover that aimed for but missed the same listeners who one year later made Norah Jones a sensation.
So it's nice to have the old Beth Orton back. It's also nice to have Jim O'Rourke at the helm, particularly because he puts some rhythm back into her songs. Orton needs it, too: Her voice hits your ears at an angle, as if refracted prismatically, and O'Rourke's sturdy beats don't reset that angle to perpendicular so much as make sure it hits its target with a little more force. Comfort of Strangers is strongest when O'Rourke and percussionist Tim Barnes translate Trailer Park's spacey effects into earthier rhythms, especially with the oscillating bass line and tight drum beat on "Conceived". They let loose on "Countenance" and are joined by what sounds like a full band on "Shopping Trolley". The intro to the title track sounds like "Walk on the Wild Side", but to their credit, Orton and O'Rourke undercut that seedy strut with handclaps, sparkling piano, and perhaps her most straightforward performance.
Orton's vocals - so arced and mellifluous - reign over all other sounds on Comfort of Strangers. On Daybreaker, her voice sounded like an empty vessel, beautiful but conveying very little; here it has a very real personality behind it, one that allows itself to be angry, cynical, hopeful, and snide - a complex and compelling emotional mess. This attitude fits her songwriting well, giving her words added resonance. On "Heartland Truckstop" she sings, "I wanted to love, but I turned 'round and hated it," and her strong, glaring delivery of that second line - as if she's making eye contact through her voice - reinforces not just the wordplay, but the cheated disappointment of the sentiment.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6050-comfort-of-strangers/

XTC - Dear God

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

Andy: “This was the B-side to ‘Grass’, but radio stations started to flip it over. The lyrics really got up some people's noses, and it became a big radio hit. Whoever first flipped it probably saved us.”

Andy (on the band demo): “A lot has been written and wrangled over with this song, and, you know, it hasn't deserved it. I just tried to wrestle with the paradox of God and the last dying doubts of belief that had hung, bat like, in the dark corners of my head since childhood. I'll just say one more time this song failed to crystalize all my thoughts on the subject in under 4 minutes. Human belief is too big a beast to bring to the floor in such a short time.

“This tune had a few incarnations. It started as a kind of skiffle rag with a much bluesier melody but after several blacksmith like bending and bashing sessions (oddly, in my kitchen) it gradually morphed into its well known shape.

“On the run up to the Skylarking sessions with Todd Rundgren, we congregated at Dave's tiny terraced house, in Swindon's Stanier Street, to record a few band demos on his four track reel to reel. So, awash with much tea and ginger biscuits, we tackled this and ‘Summer's Cauldron’, trying to get something presentable for Todd. Dave found a very ‘House of the Rising Sun’ arpeggio guitar figure to ornament my rather pedestrian acoustic strumming, while Colin anchored away with the Linn drum pretending to be a future Prairie Prince. The Mellotron had been living at Dave's for a few months (where he would tend lovingly its Heath Robinsonesque guts) so we decided this would supply the strings, I'd asked for something a bit Gershwin in the middle, a pinch of ‘Summertime’, a soupçon of ‘It Ain't Necessarily So’. You know, ‘Dat Ol' Debbil Be A Coming Missy’, orchestral blues bend. I remember that Dave's front room floral wallpaper seemed to gaze down at us with almost temperance meeting scorn, as we stirred up our sinful sounds that afternoon.

“Surely, for this tune, we will burn in Hull.”

Andy (on the skiffle version): “Found this a while back laying cowering in a corner of a cassette. It's pretty much me feeling-out the tune with blah blah type lyrics. Little did I know that this piece of brain blurt would be the tip of the iceberg to so much more acceptance for XTC in the U.S. Thank you God.”

From: https://xtc.fandom.com/wiki/Dear_God

Andy is a militant atheist. It's amazing how people see what they want want to, no matter how clear the message is. The idea that he must believe in god because it's addressed to god is just silly. It's a lyrical device...take a literature course. For those who refuse to see the song for what it is and how it was meant, here is a quote from Andy about the song: "it [Dear God] failed in part, because it wasn't as caustic as I would've liked it to be. It should've been a nail in throat of the public, but instead some took it as a declaration of faith when I wanted to make it clear that I don't believe in God - and that even if there is a He or a She they have nothing to do with organized religion." Just watch the video for Dear God. Andy is attacking the massive twisted tree (religion) that people are desperately clinging to, which is exactly what he is doing in the lyrics. I really don't see how he could be any clearer.  From: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/103714/ 

Purson - The Contract

 #Purson #Rosalie Cunningham #psychedelic rock #progressive rock #stoner rock #occult rock #neo-psychedelia #music video

Purson was a psychedelic rock band originating from London, England, active between 2011 and 2016. Described by bandleader Rosalie Cunningham as "vaudeville carny psych", the band utilizes a wide range of sounds including psychedelic rock, folk, acid rock, occult rock, prog and a general inspiration of 60s and 70s rock. Purson gained significant buzz with only a handful of songs on Soundcloud before signing to Rise Above Records and being named the band of the week by one Fenriz of Darkthrone early on. The band name has its origins in demonology, in which Purson is one of the Kings of Hell. Cunningham wanted to name the band after a god. After not finding any god-like names that they liked, they searched in the names of demons or devils. Purson managed to release two studio albums in their short tenure along with touring throughout Europe and The United States, building their name up as a rising act in the UK rock scene.  From: https://riffipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Purson

While her previous band, Ipso Facto, always had a sense of drama about it, Rosalie Cunningham moved into an even more theatrical direction with the formation of Purson - she described the band as specializing in "vaudeville carny psych." Exploring the world of proto-metal, the English group wove together influences like Cream, Deep Purple, and Jethro Tull into a quasi-mystical pastiche of psychedelic wonder made up of fuzzed-out guitars and Wurlitzer organs. Purson's full-length debut, the well-received The Circle and the Blue Door, arrived on Metal Blade in 2013. 2016 saw the band make the move to Spinefarm for their sophomore outing, Desire's Magic Theatre. The group ceased operations the following year, with Cunningham embarking on a solo career in 2019.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/purson-mn0002881568/biography

The Golden Grass - One More Time

 #The Golden Grass #hard rock #heavy psych #blues rock #heavy metal #retro-1970s #music video

The Golden Grass are a rock band from Brooklyn, New York. Following close on the heels of the 7” single “One More Time,” the group’s self-titled debut album is one of refreshing, modern-sounding Blues/Rock in the vein of Led Zeppelin and Cream. “Please Man” opens up to some trippy, distorted guitar effects before giving way to the frantic drum fills that introduce the song’s exuberant main riff. From the wailing solos to its working-class lyrical content and spacey sound-effects, this song is a great introduction to the band, especially in the sense that it showcases the genuineness that permeates throughout “The Golden Grass”. Many groups only imitate the sounds they were inspired by originally, but The Golden Grass manage to channel the upbeat, carefree sounds of 60s/70s electrified Blues while sounding no less up-to-date in the process. Michael Rafalowich’s guitar playing is spot-on, reaching a great balance between technicality and musicality. In addition to his solid vocal performance, Adam Kinrey’s enthusiastic drumming is also noteworthy, maintaining a solid rhythmic foundation while also using the instrument to add to the energy and vibe of each song. “Stuck On A Mountain” is, to me, an even better realization of the band’s musical vision. Relaxing, infectious, and soulful just a few of the words that can be used to describe this sprawling, nearly-seven-minute long track, one of catchiest songs here. Lead single “One More Time,” with its confident, swagger-filled riffing and slower pace, is another winner, rocking with plenty of attitude before ceding to the bluesy behemoth that is “Wheels.” This song, like “Stuck On A Mountain,” is the complete package as far as key Golden Grass elements go, though its sheer length makes it just a bit harder to digest. Still, it is yet another inspired performance, replete with memorable lyrics, riffs and melodies and a great overall feel to it, mixing in psychedelic sounds and acoustic passages to great effect while never sounding pretentious. “The Golden Grass” is a breath of fresh air in this highly commercialized, post-Nirvana musical landscape we exist in today. The music itself is heavy, but the mood is much less so, and the group’s authentic, entertaining brand of feel-good Blues Rock will appeal to lovers of almost all kinds of rock music as well as old-school heavy metal fans.  From: http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/reviews/cd_3/t_2/the-golden-grass-the.htm

Carole King - Pleasant Valley Sunday (demo)

 #Carole King #singer-songwriter #pop #folk pop #pop rock #Brill Building #1960s #1970s

Carole King established her solo career in 1971 with her hit album Tapestry, but in the lead up to this she had already written hits for artists such as The Shirelles, Aretha Franklin, The Monkees, The Drifters and more. To celebrate her music and 'Beautiful - The Carole King Musical' currently in London, we've put together a list of popular songs you probably didn't know were hers.

The Beatles - 'Chains' 1963

Originally written for girl group The Cookies, 'Chains' became a popular cover song for Liverpool bands, and was an early track in The Beatles' live sets. In 1963, The Beatles recorded a version for their debut album LP Please Please Me. George Harrision took lead vocals and this was the first time fans heard him singing on a commercially-released song.

Dusty Springfield - 'Goin’ Back' 1966

Made famous by Dusty Springfield, the song perfectly describes the loss of innocence when becoming an adult, and hoping to recapture an essence of youth. David Crosby lost his place in the Byrds after criticising their decision to record the song. It has been covered by Freddie Mercury, The Pretenders, Bon Jovi, Phil Collins and Diana Ross among many others.

The Shirelles - “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” 1960

The Shirelles' original is one of the most well-known soul tracks ever recorded. Lead singer Shirley Owens originally didn't want to record this track, as she believed it sounded too country. This became Carole’s first No. 1 at the young age of 18. It was later recorded for her 1971 album, Tapestry. It has been covered countless times, by everyone from Dusty Springfield to Amy Winehouse. Apparently, Carole hailed the Bee Gees' cover as the "definitive" version.

The Monkees - 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' 1967

Gerry Goffin wrote the lyrics about the faults of suburban life, based on the street he and Carole lived on called Pleasant Valley Way in West Orange, New Jersey. It became one of The Monkees' most successful singles.

The Byrds - 'Wasn’t Born to Follow' 1968

Released in 1968 on 'The Notorious Byrd Brothers' album, it was used the following year to great effect on the soundtrack of Easy Rider. It has also been covered by Dusty Springfield, appearing on the 1999 'Dusty in London' album of lost recordings. Carole recorded her own version in 1969 when she was fronting a group called 'The City'.

Steve Lawrence - 'Go Away Little Girl' 1962

The lyrics consist of a man asking a young woman to get away from him, so that he will not be tempted to cheat on his girlfriend and kiss her. Control yourself, please. Later recorded in the 70s by Donny Osmond.

Aretha Franklin - '(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman' 1967

Made famous by Aretha Franklin, it also appears on Carole's 1971 album, Tapesty. This powerful song has been taken on by various female powerhouses, including Celine Dion, Mary J Blige, Kelly Clarkson, Bonnie Tyler and, obviously, Rod Stewart.

From: https://blog.seetickets.com/2016/01/18/19-popular-songs-you-might-not-have-known-were-written-by-carole-king/

Carole King & Gerry Goffin

 

Kula Shaker - Govinda

 #Kula Shaker #psychedelic rock #neo-psychedelia #raga rock #post-Britpop #psychedelic revival #world music #1990s

By reviving the swirling, guitar-heavy sounds of late-'60s psychedelia and infusing it with George Harrison's Indian mysticism and spirituality, Kula Shaker became one of the most popular British bands of the immediate post-Brit-pop era. More musically adept and experimental than many of their contemporaries, Kula Shaker brought the overpowering rush of Oasis to psychedelia. Led by vocalist/guitarist Crispian Mills (born January 18, 1973; the son of '60s actress Hayley Mills and film director Roy Boulting), Kula Shaker were initially a psychedelic quartet called the Kays, which formed in 1993. In addition to Mills, the Kays featured his teenage friend Alonza Bevan. The two had previously played together in a band named Objects of Desire; during that time they also ran a psychedelic nightclub in the back of an ice rink. Following the dissolution of Objects of Desire, Mills made a spiritual pilgrimage to India, and upon returning he formed the Kays with bassist Bevan, drummer Paul Winter-Hart, and vocalist Saul Dimont. Within a year, Dimont had left and organist Jay Darlington had joined the band; prior to joining the group, Darlington had played in several mod revival bands. After spending two years touring and recording, releasing two EPs on Gut Reaction Records, the group had not made any headway. According to Mills, the band changed its name and direction in the spring of 1995, when he had an epiphany that the group should be called Kula Shaker after a ninth century emperor and pursue a more spiritual direction. For the next three months, they performed as Kula Shaker, and they quickly received a record contract with Columbia, which was eager to sign another band that had the multi-platinum crossover appeal of Oasis.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/kula-shaker-mn0000776408/biography

Kula Shaker’s Crispian Mills, now 27, is the son of actress Hayley Mills, so he met a lot of artists (including David Gilmour) when he was growing up in the '70s and '80s. Some of those artists introduced him to Indian music and philosophy when he was only 10, and by the time he was 16 an interest had grown into an obsession. "I finally got on a plane to India when I was 20," he says. "When I got there, I was very lucky to meet people who understood the best aspects of India, especially the older devotional traditions. I was lucky because India is sinking more and more under the weight of the industrial world we live in. A lot of the time they don't notice the treasures they've got because they want to stock up on Coca-Cola and get a satellite TV. I don't know how long it will last, but it's still there." Mills didn't become a classical Indian musician, however. Instead he tried to integrate elements of Indian culture into the rock'n'roll he had grown up with. He found that the droning guitar tones and repeating rhythms of psychedelic-rock were especially easy to blend with Indian music. "Because psychedelia in its purest sense, putting aside all the drug associations, is about mind expansion, it fits in nicely with the Indian concept of transcendence. Both want to take us beyond what we already know into fresh territory, fresh experience, a fresh outlook. They complement each other.” "The world has shrunk to the size of an orange," he adds, "so we're rediscovering our planet and all these interesting people in different places. In the West, we have a monopoly on technology, but we have a lot to learn in other areas. And we should learn it before it disappears forever."  From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/07/09/kula-shaker-what-a-concept/1baea3a4-0d82-4b3f-b7dc-b923da508b7e/