Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)

My childhood was filled with a very healthy overload of music and I was one of those incredibly lucky kids that saw the latter half of the ‘70s come to a close, lived through the entirety of the ‘80s, was a teenager as I entered the ‘90s and a fully blown young man as I entered the new millennium. My musical influences were, and are, as diverse as they possibly can be. A big part of this diversity had strong roots in the ‘80s and one band, Eurythmics, played an instrumental role in my musical education. Fresh from the success of the band’s two previous studio albums—Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) and Touch, both released in 1983—the duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart moved into a more commercial pop/rock sound for the first time with their fourth studio album Be Yourself Tonight. Pulling from the ‘60s and utilizing the sounds of American soul and British pop, Eurythmics managed to combine these two sounds perfectly on the album’s first track and lead single “Would I Lie To You?”
There is no denying that Eurythmics were at the forefront when it came to experimenting with their music via synth sounds and the usage of Lennox’s hauntingly, but incredibly soulful voice. For many, Be Yourself Tonight was a departure from this formula and was even perceived as “selling out” given its phenomenal commercial success. I disagree. Even with the introduction and implementation of a more traditional lineup and usage of instruments, their distinctive and somewhat unconventional take on the norm was still in full view. Be Yourself Tonight is no doubt Eurythmics’ most commercially successful studio album to date. The album spawned four singles, with the aforementioned lead track storming the charts around the globe, ultimately securing the number one spot in Australia, whilst cracking the top ten and top twenty in the US and UK respectively. Two months later, the duo released the gospel inspired “There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart).” Again proving that Eurythmics where onto something special, the song hit number one in three countries, including the U.K., the only number one the band has ever achieved there. A harmonica solo by the legendary Stevie Wonder adds an extra, soulful layer to an already ethereal song.
Towards the latter half of 1985, the band turned up the soul to full blast by releasing “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves,” featuring the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. The feminist anthem was filmed in the now historical Music Hall in Detroit, Michigan and also featured three of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers. Mike Campbell provided the lead guitar, Benmont Tench on the organ the legendary Stan Lynchan on drums, all bringing an extra layer to a song that remains anthemic to many women around the world to this very day. Tina Turner was originally offered the track by Eurythmics, but was unavailable. Imagine if there is a long-lost demo floating around somewhere out there of the Queen of Rock going head-to-head with Annie Lennox. One can dream. The fourth and final single from the album was “It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back).” Whilst it did break into the top 20 in the UK, it failed to make an impact elsewhere, like the album’s first three singles. The duo did go on to receive an Ivor Novello Award in 1986 for best song, recognizing the composition’s musical and lyrical importance.
There are some other treasures on this album too. “Conditioned Soul” opens with some beautiful instrumental work courtesy of the pan flute, which continues throughout the track, coupled with Dave Stewart showcasing some of his spectacular guitar work. Another equally interesting track on the album saw Elvis Costello join Lennox on vocals on the romantically fear laden “Adrian.” Yes, the commerciality is present in this album, but it was a move in the right direction both financially and yes, even creatively.
Whilst this album covers a wide array of musical styles, many of them new for the duo at the time, it is safe to say that each song independently brings something of value to this album. There is no question that Be Yourself Tonight is by far one of the best pop/rock albums of the 1980s. As mentioned earlier, the creativity and even grandeur that was delivered by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart is something that is rarely rivaled, let alone heard today. Their innovation and ability to not succumb to the “machine” that was so prevalent with so many artists at the time meant that like most of their work, this album has also remained one of music’s finest masterpieces.  From: https://albumism.com/features/eurythmics-be-yourself-tonight-turns-35-anniversary-retrospective

Xiu Xiu - Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy

Xiu Xiu (pronounced shoo-shoo) is my favorite band. I’m drawn to them for many reasons, but some of those are the same reasons that people find Xiu Xiu polarizing and challenging to listen to. In the wake of their recently announced 15th album, Oh No, I’m here to provide a guide to Xiu Xiu, what I find appealing about them and how to get into them, because with a discography this diverse and wondrous, there’s something for everybody. To start, what does Xiu Xiu sound like? This is a difficult question to answer as they tend to change up their sound quite often and blend many genres. Xiu Xiu combines aspects of synth-punk, art pop, and post-industrial, often all in one song. It’s this unique blend of pop and noise that creates something truly unique and keeps me and many others hooked. It’s not just this unique sound that makes Xiu Xiu difficult to navigate, but also their lyrical style. Frontman Jamie Stewart’s lyricism is unparalleled. Though his brutal truthfulness is what made me fall in love with Xiu Xiu, some people might find it overwhelmingly sad, just wallowing, or in some cases even triggering. Jamie’s willingness to discuss personal struggles so openly is refreshing. As someone who struggles with trauma and depression, I have found comfort in Jamie’s words. No other artist I’ve found is so blunt; it’s terribly cathartic.  From: https://acrn.com/2021/03/03/ce-finding-comfort-in-a-hopeless-place-a-guide-to-xiu-xiu/

For over twenty years, Xiu Xiu have been confounding expectations, pushing boundaries, exploring personal experience through sound, and so, so much more. Those two decades are bursting at the seams with avant-rock, experimental pop, dreamy electronica, reimagined soundtracks, otherworldly collaborations – far too much to condense down into a few mere paragraphs here for your perusal. If you’re unfamiliar with their oeuvre, then our strongest suggestion is to plunge yourself straight in and see where you come up for air.  If your sonic explorations lead you directly to Roadburn 2024 then Xiu Xiu will be there waiting for you with a very special set titled The police bear such resemblance to those they pursue.  It’s part retrospective, part preview, all guaranteed to be something unforgettable.  They tell us: “For thee superb Roadburn Festival, we will be playing bad dream, newly intense, experimental arrangements of Xiu Xiu songs. The set will include unreleased songs from our next record and exploded versions of deep cuts and smashy smashy bangers.” So if you were doubting whether to pack your dancing shoes, the decision has hereby been made for you. Through their open-hearted approach to their own music over the years – in particular the vulnerability and candour of founding member Jamie Stewart – Xiu Xiu create a space to look inwards and shine outwards however you see fit. This set promises to be something special – we can’t wait to witness it.  From: https://roadburn.com/band/xiu-xiu/

Meat Puppets - Armed And Stupid

Usually slotted as part of punk music’s “post-punk” development during the 1980s, the Meat Puppets have surfed atop the rise and fall of that movement, riding beyond it into the “grunge” rock boom of the 1990s. Given such a history, it’s not surprising that critics have spent a decade arguing over the correct term for the band’s music, taking their cues from the mutations occurring from one Meat Puppets album to the next. “With each of their five albums,” Simon Reynolds wrote in Melody Maker, “the Meat Puppets have not so much made a giant leap forward as a perplexing step sideways; each time hitting on a totally new, totally original sound that any other band would have milked for 10 albums.” While Kurt Loder called them a “thrash band” in Rolling Stone in 1984, other critics later commented on their distance from the conventions of hardcore punk. One of the effects of such a resistance to tidy categorization has been the Meat Puppets’ reputation for forward-looking music—for anticipating and spearheading changes in musical style.
As teenagers, Cris and Curt Kirkwood and Derrick Bostrom, who would later create the Meat Puppets in the late 1970s, had grown up in the open spaces surrounding their hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. Brothers Cris and Curt arrived in Phoenix from Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1965, when Cris, the younger sibling, was about five years old. The Kirkwood family’s income came from racehorses that they owned. Bored with how little the city had to offer, the two brothers found recreation in using drugs amid Phoenix’s desert landscape. “Punk rock began as an urban phenomenon,” Ivan Kreilkamp wrote in Details, “a musical response to miles of concrete and industrial noise. The Meat Puppets were the first group to adapt punk to the twisted landscapes and open spaces of the American Southwest.” Curt Kirkwood told Kreilkamp, “There’s no trees, there’s no real society. It’s easy to get into drugs there because there’s nothing to do.” Their hallucinogenic experiences would eventually be credited with shaping the distinctive sound of their music. Kreilkamp, for example, speculated that “The Puppets’ music is rooted in the experience of three kids, heads throbbing with LSD-induced visions, riding motorcycles on a canal bed in the Saguaro desert.”
After a brief effort at the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1977, Curt returned home. Having had some musical training, including classical study, he and his younger brother started playing house parties with area bands. They also played in local cover bands, with Curt on guitar and Cris on bass. After one of the more successful local bands, Eye, broke up in 1979, the Kirkwood brothers decided it was time to do something on their own. At that point, Derrick Bostrom came on board to play drums. Bostrom had a practice space in which the Meat Puppets could shape their sound, already heavily influenced by an odd jumble that included the Grateful Dead, the Sex Pistols, Johnny Cash, and Iggy Pop. The group had no particular venue in mind, simply a desire to see what kind of music they could make. “I came to hardcore through experimental music,” Curt told David Fricke in a Melody Maker interview. “I started getting into Edgar Varese, when he was composing things that sounded like raindrops. I didn’t give a shit about composing anything. But I thought if I hooked up a couple of fuzzboxes to my guitar and turned it up real loud, and played faster than anybody could think, what was going to come out was going to be heavily impassioned.” Curt quickly emerged as the band’s major force, lending a compelling character on vocals and guitar, as well as his odd skill as a songwriter; Kreilkamp referred to him as the trio’s “chief visionary.” Jas Obrecht, writing for Guitar Player in 1994, described Curt as the “master of the enigmatic lyric and monotone delivery.”
While critics have often suggested the dual influences of drugs and the desert landscape on Curt’s style, the musician himself also attributes it to a specific childhood experience: “I had encephalitis when I was nine,” Curt told Reynolds, “my head swelled up, I was in a coma for a long time. After that I started to daydream an awful lot, I was able to pick and choose what I wanted from my imagination.” Reynolds dubbed the three “modern visionaries who liberate the flux of experience from the grids with which we attempt to structure and manage time and reality.”  From: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/meat-puppets

Mary's Danish - Yellow Creep Around

In the song “Axl Rose Is Love,” Gretchen Seager of the Los Angeles rock band Mary’s Danish goes after Guns N’ Roses’ singer the way Thelma and Louise take on a sexist trucker. Incensed by the hotheaded Rose’s use of racial and sexual invectives in his song “One in a Million,” Seager takes aim at the rocker on the new Mary’s Danish album, “Circa”. So Seager’s easy to peg, right? She hates Axl Rose and loves “Thelma & Louise.” Wrong. “I’m a fan of Guns N’ Roses,” Seager says. “I just don’t agree with their politics. The song is my way of making a social comment. I mean, Rose is criticized for being racist and misogynistic, but the bottom line is there are a million people who love him and Andrew Dice Clay, so there has to be some truth in what they’re doing. And that in itself says a lot about our society. . . But I love Guns N’ Roses’ music.” And being well-versed in feminist literature, Seager found the conclusion of “Thelma & Louise” to be “totally contrary to the feminist statement,” even though most of her own songs are about taking control and taking responsibility for one’s own life--just as that movie’s heroines do.
Those are just a couple of the many complexities and contradictions that make Mary’s Danish perhaps the most intriguing and promising band to emerge from the L.A. alternative-rock scene since Jane’s Addiction. Those contradictions have at times nearly torn the band apart. But to Seager, 25, they are the sextet’s strengths. “You should just look at our record collections,” said the blunt, bright blonde, sitting in a Melrose Avenue restaurant with the band’s other singer-lyricist, Julie Ritter, 24, and Louis Gutierrez, 28, one of the band’s two guitarists. “There are a few common threads, but for the most part the influences are so different. When you see Mary’s Danish you’re seeing a bunch of people who really don’t have that much in common musically. “One guy in an interview criticized us, saying that the diversity hurts us. He said, ‘You have these two Exene-style singers, a funk bassist and drummer, one psychedelic guitarist and another who plays more blues-based. Where’s the continuity?’ I said, ‘That is the continuity.’ We’re not going to shy away from any styles or ideas.”
Seager and Ritter were bored French majors at UC Berkeley when they decided to transfer to UCLA early in 1987 so they could start a band in the city where they had grown up. After choosing the name Mary’s Danish (“for no particular reason,” according to Ritter), the pair hooked up with David King, a guitarist who was working as a clerk at Tower Records, and bassist Chris Wagner. With a succession of other players, the quartet recorded the demos that were eventually released in 1989 as the album “There Goes the Wondertruck,” which was hurried out by the independent Chameleon Records to capitalize on the airplay that the spunky single “Don’t Crash the Car Tonight” was receiving on KROQ.
Just before the release of “Wondertruck,” guitarist Gutierrez and drummer James Bradley Jr. joined. The pair brought a background of music-biz experience to Mary’s Danish, whose other members were relative newcomers to professional music making. Gutierrez had been a member of Los Angeles’ Three O’Clock, which released several heralded albums of fragile psychedelic pop, and Bradley had played with the likes of Anita Baker and Chuck Mangione. The members of Mary’s Danish don’t have a lot in common outside of music, either, and the different backgrounds and interests helped make the two years between album releases a tumultuous time. Though Mary’s Danish was rapidly gaining recognition and musical stature--aided by tours opening first for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and then Jane’s Addiction--the group nearly broke up on several occasions. Seager actually did leave at one point, having tired of the touring grind and fallen out with King. “We fought like cats and dogs,” Seager said of both the musical and personal disputes. “It seemed more trouble than it was worth. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in a rock band. There was no money, and we had all been putting in a lot of time and energy beating our heads against the wall. . . . Ultimately I had to give that up in order to discover that being in the band was something I really wanted.” Her frustration was compounded by several other personal crises suffered by band members and by legal entanglements over the group’s recording contract that delayed the release of “Circa,” which was recorded more than a year ago. (In the interim, a partly live EP, “Experience,” was released last year.) Finally released by the new Morgan Creek label, the album reflects many of the hard-learned lessons of all that turmoil.
As hard as Seager is on Axl Rose on the album, she and Ritter are even harder on themselves. In “7 Deadly Sins,” Seager berates herself for sticking with a bad relationship.  In the album-closing “Cover Your Face,” Ritter is even more resigned to a self-imposed fate. “I meant for ‘Cover Your Face’ to be heavier than ‘Sister Morphine,’ ” Seager said, referring to the Rolling Stones song. “I wanted it to be the most depressing song ever.” That’s the kind of self-examination and self-torment that have characterized the most dynamic rock to come out of Los Angeles since the late ‘60s, from the Doors through X and the Blasters through, yes, Guns N’ Roses and Jane’s Addiction. “I don’t know if we think of ourselves as part of L.A. history,” Seager said. “But it’s hard to escape that.” Added Ritter: “I think you can’t help but be influenced by your environment and what came before you. I grew up seeing X a lot, and that had something to do with me wanting to be in a band. There’s a legacy that goes on.”
Perhaps what distinguishes Mary’s Danish from those other bands--besides the musical diversity--is the fact that all the lyrics are written by women. “These songs are really about emotional violence and being put through--or putting yourself through--hell,” Seager said. “I don’t know if they’re supposed to be from a woman’s point of view, but just ‘cause we’re girls means we write from that perspective. But anybody can relate to emotional abuse.” “I’ve been through so much in the 4 1/2 years since the band started, and it’s all chronicled in the record,” said Ritter, wearing a myriad of earrings on both lobes to go along with a nose ring and a new tattoo on her upper back. “I wonder if I was working as a bank teller if it would be the same thing. It seems to me I’ve gone through an extraordinary amount of problems, but then it’s my job to write about that . . . questioning relationships and your own sanity and confidence.” But for all that, it’s the attack on Axl Rose that is getting the most attention for the band now, including a recent spot on “MTV News.” That’s a mixed blessing. “As far as I’m concerned, the song shouldn’t be the focus of our album,” Seager said. “But I’m ready to stand behind my viewpoint and the reasons I wrote the song. The main message I’m trying to say is, ‘Yes, everybody has freedom of speech and the right to say what they want, but what does it ultimately say about that person when they say things (like Rose said)?’ Axl Rose, whether he likes it or not, is influencing millions.” “There are more dramatic songs lyrically by both of us on the record,” Ritter said. “It’s funny how you can pour out all this poetry, and it’s this song that gets the attention. Pop culture loves pop culture.”
Will the attention be enough to get the band the national recognition that has come to the Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction, especially considering how hard the band is to pigeonhole? “They certainly don’t sound like a Top 40 band,” said Craig Marks, editor of the College Media Journal, which tracks sales and airplay of alternative bands. “But often whether a band makes it has more to do with what label they’re on and the label’s patience. Morgan Creek is a new label that’s very involved and has made the band a high priority. The single, ‘Julie’s Blanket,’ is pretty catchy, and even though the rest of the album is very different, it only takes one song to break through.”
Also helping to set up the band to move beyond recognition within the fragmented L.A. scene is its new manager, Peter Asher, who has guided the careers of, among others, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and 10,000 Maniacs. Now, having survived its time of turmoil, Mary’s Danish is chomping at the bit to get moving again. Tour plans are pending while bassist Wagner recovers from surgery to repair a damaged hip, but a national trek is penciled in for September and October, with a Los Angeles show likely to come sooner. “With this record I feel like we’re still playing catch-up, like we were with the first album, because we’ve been playing the songs live for a year now,” Ritter said. “I can’t wait till the next record, when we’ll finally be on track. . . . A lot of different writing combinations are happening between people. I’m curious to see what direction the band evolves in.” Gutierrez is also eager to move forward. “The record is so old and we’ve been sitting on it for so long that it’s almost like it’s part of another era,” he said. “We’ve gone through so many changes since then, a lot of complications and a lot of problems, not knowing if we were gonna be together, not knowing if we were going to have enough money to feed ourselves.” The three musicians sat silently for a moment. Finally, Ritter spoke. “You know, Gretchen has always said that if it ever stops being fun, it’s over. Well, she was wrong, because it has stopped being fun at certain times, but so far you’ve always had the feeling that it will come back. There’s always been a sense of hope. This is what I’ve always wanted to do--what we’ve all wanted to do--and I’m just so grateful.”  From: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-04-ca-375-story.html

Durand Jones & The Indications - Smile

Playing tough soul music that deals with good times, heartbreak, and the realities of life in the 21st century, Durand Jones & the Indications are a potent deep soul revival band based in Bloomington, Indiana. Formed by college students with a taste for vintage R&B and a desire to have some fun, the band found themselves jumping to professional status when their self-titled debut album (2016), recorded on a shoestring using mostly amateur gear, became an underground success as their emulation of classic East Coast and Midwest soul styles won over fans and critics. A storming live show and a reissue of their first album by a larger label helped boost Durand Jones & the Indications' profile, leading to two more full-lengths, American Love Call (2019) and Private Space (2021), the latter of which drew more from '70s inspirations.
Durand Jones grew up in a small town in Louisiana, and first performed in public as a member of the youth choir at his church, where the congregation was impressed with his strong vocal abilities. Jones' grandmother, who persuaded him to join the choir, also urged him to take up the saxophone, and in 2012, after receiving a BA from Southern Louisiana University, he left home to attend the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington as a graduate student. While performing with a campus saxophone ensemble, Jones stuck up a friendship with fellow students Aaron Frazer and Blake Rhein, who shared his love of vintage soul and R&B. Jones was a reluctant lead singer, but Frazer (who played drums and sang) and Rhein (who played guitar) felt he had potential as a frontman. Bassist Kyle Houpt and keyboardist Justin Hubler, bandmates of Frazer and Rhein in the blues-fueled rock band Charlie Patton's War, rounded out the lineup, and Durand Jones & the Indications began playing parties off campus.
As their popularity grew, the group began penning original material, and they started recording in Frazer's basement, using a four-track recording rig and a karaoke microphone for lead vocals. Some of their early recordings made their way to Terry Cole, who ran a small soul-oriented label called Colemine Records, and in 2015 Cole issued their debut single "Smile." In 2016, Colemine issued the Durand Jones & the Indications album, which they recorded at home for just $452.11, which included the cost of the beer they drank. Word of mouth and the support of indie record stores helped the album find an audience, and the band hit the road, winning new fans with their powerful live act. The independent Dead Oceans label struck a deal with Colemine to release an expanded edition of the debut album in 2018, fortified with the inclusion of several live tracks. Dead Oceans and Colemine joined forces for the March 2019 release of American Love Call, the second Durand Jones & the Indications album and the first cut in a proper studio, featuring new keyboardist Steve Okonski, who replaced Hubler.
Between albums, the band offered a pair of ballads with indicative titles, the slow-grooving "Cruisin to the Park" and the reassuring "Power to the People," and welcomed bassist Mike Montgomery following the departure of Houpt. Frazer, who previously cut a gospel single under the name the Flying Stars of Brooklyn NY, released a solo album, Introducing..., in January 2021. Jones' activity outside the group had included some saxophone work and a collaboration with Stone Foundation; he also co-wrote and fronted the Bamboos' "If Not Now (Then When)," which appeared on the album Hard Up in May 2021. Two months later, Durand Jones & the Indications returned with Private Space, on which the band delved into smooth soul and disco. The original demo mix of "Power to the People" was released as a limited 45-rpm single for Record Store Day in 2022, with an unlimited pressing following in 2023.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/durand-jones-the-indications-mn0003515392#biography

Gillian Welch - Caleb Meyer

David Rawlings told me Gillian Welch’s life story. She had grown tired of telling it herself. Welch is a singer and songwriter whose music is not easily classified—it is at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms—and Rawlings is her partner. Welch describes them as “a two-piece band called Gillian Welch.” I had asked her to talk about her past, and she demurred. Then she said, “Why don’t you tell it, Dave.” We were in Asheville, North Carolina; Welch and Rawlings were making a brief tour from Nashville, where they live.
Welch and Rawlings’s music is deceptively complex, despite its simple components: two voices, two guitars, and four hands. The broadest category into which it comfortably fits is country music. In the Country Music Hall of Fame, in Nashville, a video of Welch and Rawlings performing is shown with other videos that are intended to convey the breadth of modern country music. Welch and Rawlings are portrayed as defenders of a faith—old-time string musicians—practitioners of a lapsed form. They initially found a model for their enthusiasms in records made in the thirties and forties by musicians such as Bill and Earl Bolick, who performed as the Blue Sky Boys. Vocal duets unaccompanied by other musicians were eclipsed in the forties by the more forceful sound of bluegrass—the Blue Sky Boys broke up in 1951—leaving duets as one of the few forms of American music not yet completely covered with footprints. The music Welch and Rawlings play contains pronounced elements of old-time music, string-band music, bluegrass, and early country music, but Welch and Rawlings diverge from historical models by playing songs that are meticulously arranged and that include influences from rhythm and blues, rockabilly, rock and roll, gospel, folk, jazz, punk, and grunge. Furthermore, Welch prefers tempos that are languid. A typical Welch song has the tempo of a slow heartbeat.
Welch’s narratives tend to be accounts of resignation, misfortune, or torment. Her characters include itinerant laborers, solitary wanderers, misfits, poor people plagued at every turn by trouble, repentant figures, outlaws, criminals, soldiers, a moonshiner, a farm girl, a reckless beauty queen, a love-wrecked woman, a drug addict, and a child. Her imagination is sympathetic to outcasts who appeal for help to God despite knowing from experience that there isn’t likely to be any. Their theology is ardent and literal. They are given to picturing themselves meeting their families in Heaven, where mysteries too deep to comprehend will finally be explained. “Until we’ve all gone to Jesus / We can only wonder why,” she sings in “Annabelle,” a song about a sharecropper who hopes to give his daughter more than he had but who delivers her to the cemetery instead. A number of Welch’s songs are written from the point of view of male characters. “My Morphine,” the drowsy, intoxicated lament of a man whose addiction is souring, is the only song I am aware of about a narcotic which creates the sensation of having taken the narcotic. She is accomplished at compressing dramatic events into a few verses and a chorus. In “Caleb Meyer,” a man appears, transgresses, dies, and is revived as a spectre in the imagination of the woman who slit his throat in self-defense. Welch admires the troubadour songwriters Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, and Hank Williams, and she writes good car songs. The first song she made big money from was “455 Rocket,” which was a hit for Kathy Mattea in 1997, and is about a hot rod. More and more, Welch’s songs describe her actual life. “No One Knows My Name” is about her birth parents. “My mother was just a girl seventeen,” she sings, “and my dad was passing through, doing things a man will do.” Her mother was a college student in New York, and her father was a musician. By the time she was delivered, her adoption had been arranged.
Welch was born in New York in 1967. Ken and Mitzie Welch already had a daughter, Julie, who’d been born in 1961. She and Welch are close; she lives in California, is a graphic designer, and also teaches improvisational comedy. Julie’s birth had been difficult, and Mitzie wasn’t eager to go through another pregnancy. According to Welch, when they approached adoption agencies “the agencies said no dice because they were entertainers.” Ken Welch had been a performer since childhood, in Kansas City. He had begun piano lessons at four, but the teacher soon told his parents that she couldn’t do more with him until his hands were large enough to span an octave. “I couldn’t reach an octave on a piano, but I could on an accordion,” he says. By the time he was seven, he was tap dancing and playing the accordion throughout “Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa, the remains of the old RKO circuit,” he says. Eventually, he attended Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon, in Pittsburgh, where he studied painting. He met Mitzie at an audition. They moved to New York separately. She sold handbags at a store on Broadway, and made twenty-five dollars on Sundays singing in the choir at Norman Vincent Peale’s church. She auditioned for Benny Goodman and got the job, but she had only a few weeks in which to learn Goodman’s repertoire. She ended up writing lyrics on the palms of her hands and on her fingernails.
As the comedy team “Ken and Mitzie Welch,” they appeared in clubs where Lenny Bruce also performed. Bob Newhart was once their opening act. They had their most public success on the “Tonight Show,” when Jack Paar was the host. They performed a slowed-down version of “I Got Rhythm.” Mitzie faced the audience and sang, and Ken stood with his back against hers, playing the accordion. By the time the Welches adopted Gillian, with the help of their doctor, Ken was writing music for television shows, and Mitzie was working in commercials and on Broadway.
When Welch was three, her parents moved to Los Angeles, to write music for “The Carol Burnett Show.” As a little girl, Welch came home from school one day weeping because she had been reprimanded in art class for making a black outline around snow in a painting. This led her parents to enroll her in a school called Westland. At Westland, the students gathered every week to sing folk songs and Carter Family songs, with Welch accompanying them on guitar. “On the tapes from the period, she sounds the same as she does now, except that her voice is higher,” Rawlings said.
Welch’s parents bought songbooks for her, and, sitting by herself in her room, playing guitar, she made her way through them. When she got to the end, she wrote songs of her own, “about ducks and things,” Rawlings said. “Like a kid who writes poems, and they go in a drawer.” Welch attended a high school called Crossroads, “where I get way into ceramics and art and stay hours after school building things and they let me,” she said.
Welch and Rawlings appear often on the Grand Ole Opry. They also perform in clubs in the United States and abroad, where their audiences tend to consist of between a thousand and two thousand people. They play very quietly. Welch sang so much by herself in her room that she never learned to sing above the sound of other musicians. Audiences at even the beeriest clubs attend them closely, as if they were at the theatre. Her voice resonates more in her head than in her chest. Its range is not wide—it is more an alto than a soprano—and it has a mournful, vernacular, almost factual quality, as if she were a witness to the scene she is describing. She conveys emotion through dynamics, not vibrato, and by a self-effacing absorption with the narrative. What ornamentation she employs comes mainly from bluegrass and brother-team singing—the pounce on certain syllables, the dying falls, the trills, the quick fades and returns, the small tear—though she manages, partly by the solemnity of her bearing, to give the impression of singing without artifice, which in itself is dramatic.  From: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/09/20/the-ghostly-ones

Bubblemath - Routine Maintenance

Received wisdom would have it that Bubblemath take aeons to release new music. Absolutely ages. The faithful left awaiting new crumbs of musical comfort from their Minnesotan heroes after the release of the band’s debut album, Such Fine Particles of the Universe, in 2001 had to wait a full sixteen years for the next transmission. But what a transmission it was; Edit Peptide was my favourite album of 2017, and remains so, its intricate prog-math sound still getting under my skin to force a break out of off-kilter and jerky movements, to the point where the uninformed might think I need an ambulance.
Bubblemath’s music hits all the right receptors in my noggin, and the news that a new album was due for release only five years after Edit Peptide brought whoops of joy in our house. Well, from me at least; my better half started twitching at the thought of having to listen to more of this convoluted madness: it’s safe to say, it’s not her thing. You have to invest yourself a bit into Bubblemath and let it all just happen to you. Go with the flow, allow it to work its magic without expectation. Give the alchemic musical interactions the space they need to do their peculiar synapse altering thing in peace. Once in, this stuff is bloody compelling.
There’s so much to take in from Turf Ascension‘s four lengthy tracks, three around the 10-minute mark, with opener Surface Tension running to almost 18-minutes. All of the band’s hallmarks are in place with the dextrous arrangements supporting the wide-eyed vocals of Jonathan G. Smith in a swirling stew of the largely unexpected. No wonder it takes them years to put this stuff together, the often dense passages exploding in all directions before resolving into memorable hooks and lead parts. It’s a stunning achievement, a fascinating and fully satisfying listening experience, hugely entertaining whilst keeping the brain agile.
From the off, with a keyboard rush into an enticing chord sequence as the pace increases, Surface Tension is engrossing. Jazzy piano asides move into thumping sections and soloing guitars, all the while Smith’s forceful voice dexterously delivers Kai Esbensen’s dense words (about a school becoming an access point to a secret underground complex that aims to ensure the survival of humanity as a catastrophic war unfolds above) with aplomb. Mood shifts and angularity combine to give a driving momentum, the whole band contributing fully to the symphonic math swirl. A chiming lyrical section emerges from the intense verses and Jonathan G. Smith’s keening guitar (with support from Blake Albinson) offers hope as the subterranean population await the moment when they can emerge and start again. It easily sustains its length and crams ingenuity into every pore.
Everything eases the intensity a little, its melancholic setting around electric piano driving clever lyrical focal points concerning the complexities of modern life, where misinformation and obfuscation make everything even more confusing. It’s all crisply delivered, with James Flagg’s beautifully understated drumming particularly worthy of praise. The scene of a decaying apple tree springing back to life each year is beautifully set as a metaphor for life in Decrypted, the pace picking up a couple of minutes in with a distinctly King Crimson vibe, which moves on in a mathy direction with slide-rule interplay between the instruments, repeating patterns evolving and reinventing. The frenetic forms ebb away and the low-key conclusion sees the tree fall back into slumber.
Refuse exudes power from the off, a jazz-fusion thread running through it. The lyric is again fascinating, utilising a similar style to Everything as power corrupts, militarisation increasing at every turn, driven by insinuated fear. The intensity ramps up into a frenetic instrumental call and response, Jay Burritt’s bass leading the way out as the pace increases, Esbensen’s keys joining the fray in a rampaging torrent of riffs. It’s quite something, the abrupt stop at the end suggesting a poor outcome for everyone.
Expertly mixed by Blake Albinson, Turf Ascension is exhilaratingly high-energy for most of its length, but it never gets wearing as the dexterity, both in the instrumentation and the delightfully delivered lyrics (Smith doing a fantastic job throughout), keeps the mind racing along with the music. The vocal lines and melodies are often unorthodox but they sit within the intricate musicianship like a particularly satisfying pearl in a beautiful oyster. Bubblemath are on a roll now and the thought of more new sounds from this most engagingly obtuse band before the end of the decade can no longer be ruled out as the deranged ramblings of a loon.  From: https://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2022/07/03/bubblemath-turf-ascension-draft/  

Cellar Darling - Rebels

Dark/Live/Mag Interview with Anna Murphy, Cellar Darling
- On Bats, Squirrels And The Love To Death

Marco: Anna, first of all thank you so much for taking the time for an interview with us.

Anna: Thank you for having me.

Marco: 2018 was a very busy year for you. You toured intensively, in the UK, Japan, South America, played at the WGT in Leipzig and other big festivals. And on top of that you were working on your highly anticipated second album. How are you and the band doing at the moment?

Anna: I for one am exhausted. The album took a lot of energy to write and record. But it was worth it - I'm happy with the result. As for the band, we're currently switching back and forth between rehearsing and working... we all have other jobs and passions which we are trying to balance with our commitment to Cellar Darling. I'm a producer and sound engineer at the Soundfarm Studios in Lucerne, currently working with a death metal band and writing music for my other projects.

Marco: Well, that sounds like little sleep. Which brings me to 'Insomnia'. It was the first released single of the new album, which brought you a lot of positive feedback. The fans are now even more excited about your second longplayer. What can you tell us about it?

Anna: We've just announced that our new album will be a concept album by the name of 'The Spell'. We've released two small parts of a long, intense story... the latest song being the title track and the 'center' of the story about a girl who falls in love with death. The album will be released on the 22nd of March.

Marco: Now you make me even more curious! Would you reveal more of what the story is about?

Anna: Okay, it tells the tale of a nameless girl who is birthed into a world that is in pain, damaged and debilitated by the human beings that inhabit it. We follow her as she searches for a meaning in life, when suddenly she meets and falls in love with death. A spell is cast and a painful, elaborate journey begins.

Marco: Let's talk about Jacob the bat. When I first listened to 'Insomnia' I was immediately caught by the depth, the captivating variety and your beautiful vocal lines. The work seems original, fresh, but also complex, which makes it even more exciting. In the video, the oppressive atmosphere and melancholy is emphasized by the magnificent artwork of Costin Chioreanu. What did Jacob do to you that in the end such a work was created?

Anna: First off, thank you. I'm glad that you can sense what atmosphere we wanted to create with the song as well as hear how much work was put into it. Jacob came to visit us while I was recording the demo vocals in the control room of my studio. It was exciting of course and at one point we were just running around the studio being chased by him, but my main concern was if he'd find the way back out. We left all the windows open over night and he was gone the next day... or at least he hasn't come to say 'hi' since. A few weeks later a squirrel came to visit us at Tommy Vetterli's New Sound studio where we recorded more songs and mixed the album. It was during the only song of the album that has something "lighthearted" about it, a spark of hope. Kind of cool, the bat being there during a dark song and having a squirrel there for the lighter one. The animal world seems to be on board with our music!

Marco: And so do we! The combination of heavy guitar riffs, rocky drums, hurdy-gurdy and your voice has already provided you with a recognition value in your still young band history. But it's hard to assign you to a certain genre. I think that's on purpose, too. And one notices with your songs that your ideas unfold fully because you set no limits to them. When and how did you realize for yourself that you wanted to create new and unique things? I once heard that you are a talented painter as well?

Anna: I've just never had an affinity for boundaries. I think some artists need those 'restraints' and clear formulas in order to function, but I'm the opposite. Genres, set song structures, formulas.. it bores me. The fuel for my creativity is chaotic, 'all over the place', scattered... which also makes the results more difficult to enjoy or understand at times. I also admire the other thing, finding something that works, repeating it and being successful with that. It takes an equal amount of skills as the chaos principle does that I'm messing around with. As for the painting, it's like with the various instruments I play. I love doing a lot of different things, but that also means I gradually and slowly progress with each of them - I don't do one thing perfectly or overly virtuosic, I half-ass my way through ten things and hope I'll be able to do a few of them as good as somehow possible, haha.

Marco: But you seem so calm and balanced. How do you deal with stress? How do you balance yourself and what are you busy with if you don't want to have anything to do with music - or doesn't that happen at all?

Anna: A lot of people say that and it's interesting, because I'm quite a mess to be honest. I would say my core is calm and balanced, yes. But I have bouts of anxiety, paranoia and depression that come and go as they please. So far they haven't gotten the better of me though and I guess that's why I'm perceived as calm - the outside world rarely sees the other side. What helps me the most is being outside, hiking in the mountains is the most cleansing experience for my mind. I try to meditate and read as much as possible to stay grounded. And I surround myself with few, but good people... Oh and wine. Red wine.

Marco: Oh wow, that's an intense mix of emotions you have to deal with. Thank you for this insight in your inner life. Let's get back to your future plans: For 2019 you have already announced a number of tour dates in spring. The focus so far is on the UK. Are there already plans for more countries in Europe, as headliner or support band? What are the next steps you want to take?

Anna: We're working on doing more shows this year, as many as somehow possible. Most of it is still 'in progress' though... I don't really think about the next steps, I just do my part and work towards something unknown in the end. What I can do is create, be present and spread our stories - the future will happen on its own accord anyways and it did so wonderfully last year where we got to see so many parts of the world.

From: https://www.facebook.com/cellardarlingofficial/posts/interview-with-anna-murphy-thank-you-darklivemag-/2152823064784080/

The Pentangle - Captured Live 1972

The Pentangle Captured Live DVD offers a Belgian TV special recorded by the same team that has recorded the Nursery Crime tracks for Genesis, the Plague Of The Lighthouse Keeper for VDGG, Atomic Rooster special, ELP's live presentation of their debut album and a few more. Although The pentangle by 72 was a little pasts its creative prime - the tracks presented here are from the Reflection album onward, we still get a pristine performance with impeccable musical execution and correct sound - although do not expect this to have the sound of 21st century recording quality. The group is set up in a mid-circle with the two guitarists facing each other at the extremes and the others are stuck in the middle but a few feet deeper. This live in studio recording does not offer, of course, the real concert feeling but does give you correct idea of what they were capable of.  Starting with the trad track Circle Be Unbroken, the quintet is clearly in phase and warming for other tracks such as the good Wedding Dress, and the quieter Reflection. Another trad track Willy O Winsburry is taken from Solomon's Seal and the set closes on a great People On The Highway

It is only unfortunate that no Pentangle´s real live DVD has appeared yet. The band had a fantastic live performance that made them famous long before they recorded their debut LP. Well, the closest you got is this release, a studio live recording of them playing on the belgium TV. On the plus side we have decent sound, good images and a fine performance. On the down side we have short playing time and a limited repertoire (they were promoting the Reflection LP and most songs are from it). If you´re a fan of the band (specially a fan of their first line up and jazzy/folk/blues phase) this is a must have. Even if this is not a ´real´ live concert (I mean in front of an audience), this is the closest you can get to see them playing live so far. And do they play good! I love Jaqui McShee´s voice (so close of Renaissance´s Annie Haslam). Maybe not their best performance together, but still a fine document of a time when five talented people formed one of England´s most remarkable prog folk bands of all time.

From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=9997

IC3PEAK - Worm

The hip-hop, electronic, and experimental music duo of Russian origin, IC3PEAK surprises us with their latest release "Worm” in collaboration with Australian singer, Kim Dracula. The video directed by the French graphic designer Mattis Dovier shows us a disturbing story through illustrations where he makes a metaphor about metamorphosis. "Worm” breaks with the tour of video clips that IC3PEAK had previously published and tells us a story based on black and white illustrations. The story is located in a subway stop where he tells us a chilling story with a hidden meaning behind it.  From: https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/worm-ft-kim-dracula-ic3peak

IC3PEAK is a Russian music group consisting of Anastasia "Nastya" Kreslina (vocals/lyrics) and Nikolay Kostylev (music). They formed in 2013 after they meet at college. They are known for their unique mix of musical genres, unconventional looks, provocative music videos and politicised lyrics. The group became target of censorship by the Russian security forces with their concerts being suddenly stopped and the members being detained for no reason. Conservative media have accused them of distribution of "subversive" material and their music has been called frightening and destructive. Not scared by the attempts to silence them, in 2019 the group became speakers for free speech in Russia and have guested in multiple rallies. The members self-describe as "Audiovisual terrorism".  From: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/IC3PEAK

We have already had the opportunity to present to you the work of Mattis Dovier, whose creations adopt a particular style: 2D animation in black and white, close to pixel art, with a striking visual universe rich in visual metaphors. Today we invite you to delve in more detail into the world of this artist. Mattis Dovier agreed to come back for us on his career, his style and his projects, but also on his working methods.

3DVF: What is your background?

Mattis Dovier: I am a graphic designer by training, I did a baccalaureate in applied arts then a BTS in visual communication with a multimedia option. Then I did a year of professional training in motion design at the Gobelins school. Even if my school career gave me a lot, I rather developed my animation and illustration techniques as a self-taught person. This is why I did not continue with schools to concentrate on a more personal practice.

3DVF: You are currently a freelance illustrator and animator; what types of projects do you work on the most?

Mattis Dovier: I don't really separate the part of illustration from that of animation, for me it's more of a hybrid, of animated illustration in a way. And more and more, I consider drawing as a simple medium that illustrates a story. But the common thread in my work is its relationship with music, which is why I work more for music videos.

3DVF: Several of your recent films use black and white rendering close to pixel art. Why this artistic choice?

Mattis Dovier: It was a choice that imposed itself on me because it solves a lot of problems that made making clips difficult, even prohibitive. Being alone working on my projects, I had to find a way to work quickly, this is why I became interested in pixel art, we can cover a larger drawing surface on a low resolution image, and therefore gain a lot of time, which makes frame-by-frame animation less tedious. Finally, in addition to the practical aspect, I found this technique interesting for its digital aesthetic associated with the organic side of traditional animation. For black and white it is also a question of speed of execution, but I have always been fascinated by the radical contrasts and the visual impact that this produces among the great masters of black and white in comics. Especially since the “low res” pixel-art aesthetic lends itself quite well to it.

3DVF: On a technical level, what is your process for creating these animations?

Mattis Dovier: My technique is very rudimentary, I use Photoshop like traditional animation software: I create different video layers which serve as layers: one for the contours, one for each fill. When they are invention drawings I use the onion skin function, and when I use videos as a basis, I redraw the video frame by frame on a layer (rotoscope). Generally I mix the two to obtain a realistic result but with a degree of interpretation important enough not to be “photorealistic” and to highlight the drawing.
To get different shades of pixels, I draw pixel patterns which I embed in a layer to draw with. In this way I use pixel grids as more or less dark areas of gray. But there are several ways to do it, you can directly import the grayscale images as bitmaps, but I prefer the “artisanal” solution which gives less random results. Then I edit the animations on Premiere with sound.

3DVF: Is this workflow relatively fixed, or does it evolve over the course of plans and projects?

Mattis Dovier: I remain fairly faithful to my method to maintain consistency in my work and a certain mastery, but over time I refine it by sorting out what works and what doesn't. I often hesitated between breaking this aesthetic or gradually evolving it, and I finally opted for the second option. With each project I try to learn a new technique, for example I increased the resolution of the image to move more towards pointillism and be able to draw more details. In terms of animation too, I no longer animate all the elements with the same ratio, I realized that certain elements must be more fluid and others can be less animated while in my first works I remained on 12 frames/second constant. The main thing is to find ways to evolve without getting bored and falling into repetition. But even if aesthetics are important there are many other aspects to work on such as

Translated from: https://3dvf.com/redaction/dossier-1320-rencontre-avec-mattis-dovier-html/

Siouxsie And The Banshees - Peek-A-Boo

An oddball in the Banshees catalog, “Peek-A-Boo” is a very danceable track built around a reverse sample from John Cale’s song, “Gun” and a manipulated vocal from Siouxsie Sioux achieved through her using a different microphone for each line of the song. Due to the lyrics, “Golly jeepers/Where’d you get those weepers?/Peepshow, creepshow/Where did you get those eyes?“, the band was forced to give writing credits to Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. During an MTV interview, Siouxsie said that the song is about “the way women are portrayed in our fascist media.”

Creeping up the backstairs
Slinking into dark stalls
Shapeless and slumped in bath chairs
Furtive eyes peep out of holes
She has many guises
She'll do what you want her to
Playing dead and sweet submission
Cracks the whip, deadpan on cue

Reeking like a pigsty
Peeling back and gagging free
Flaccid ego in your hand
Chokes on dry tears, can you understand?
She's jeering at the shadows
Sneering behind a smile
Lunge and thrust to pout and pucker
Into the face of the beguiled

Strobe lights pump and flicker
Dry lips crack out for more
“Come bite on this rag doll, baby!
That's right, now hit the floor”
They're sneaking out the back door
She gets up from all fours
Rhinestone fools and silver dollars
Curdle into bitter tears

Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo
Golly jeepers, where'd you get those weepers?
Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo
Peep show, creep show, where did you get those eyes?

From: https://genius.com/Siouxsie-and-the-banshees-peek-a-boo-lyrics

Fleetwood Mac - I'm So Afraid - Live 1976

As is probably easy to tell, I have a weakness for emotionally charged guitar solos — doesn’t everyone, really? — to the point that I can even overlook lazy songwriting or cliché-ridden lyrics if, in the end, it’s all about the power of the mighty axe. But perhaps the greatest advantage of the guitar solo is that it is usually the most dynamic, experimental, "living and breathing" part of the song. Over years and decades of live performance, verses, bridges and choruses largely stay the same (unless you’re somebody like Bob Dylan who’s made a special art out of thoroughly reinventing his catalog over and over again), but the instrumental bits are specifically those moments where you have the potential to "update" the song with whatever textures, moods, and feels you think appropriate for the moment (unless you’re somebody like Lynyrd Skynyrd who have made a special art out of perfectly reproducing the exact same notes, regardless of the level of complexity, over and over again).
And when it comes to moody tunes with awesome guitar solos, no other song in the history of rock music has ever managed to grip my attention to the point of wanting to explore its entire lifeline than Lindsey Buckingham’s ‘I’m So Afraid’, from its first appearance as a studio track on the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album and all the way up to the band’s (and Lindsey’s solo) concert performances in the early 21st century. Compared to Fleetwood Mac’s big hits, ‘I’m So Afraid’ has always been more of a cult favorite — and not just because it was not released as a single, but also because it is one of the few Fleetwood Mac songs that offers not a drop of hope: bleak, morose, and desperate from start to finish, it claims to descend into much deeper depths of personal Hell than even something like ‘The Chain’, so it could never be a radio staple.
Yet it is also a song that has been steadily played at pretty much all Fleetwood Mac concerts since 1975, never ever dropped from the setlist — except for those time periods during which Buckingham stayed out of the band (e.g. on the Tango In The Night tour), presumably implying that nobody could ever hope to do the song justice apart from its own creator, a suspicion confirmed by the fact that absolutely no single pop/rock act of any notable stature has ever dared to cover the tune. Fairly few pieces in the history of the entire genre, to be honest, have been linked more tightly with just one man than ‘I’m So Afraid’, which makes it even more fascinating to track down the complex evolution of the song in live performance.
Although, apparently, no pre-Fleetwood Mac versions of the song have survived, it is usually said that Lindsey wrote the tune around 1971, while suffering from mononucleosis and having Stevie Nicks take care of him through much of the year; according to another account, he did not add the lyrics until his father’s death in 1974, but this I am not so inclined to believe because (a) the lyrics are entirely self-centered, with not the faintest hint of grieving for anybody other than oneself and (b) the lyrics show a certain clumsy crudeness that is more high school than college, if you get my drift: "Days when the rain and the sun are gone / Black as night, agony’s torn at my heart too long" is, frankly speaking, very cringey poetry — Lindsey’s no Dylan, for sure, but he got better with his words later on, and I’d rather believe that a 22-year old wrote this rather than a 25-year old. (Just in case, remember that the transition from 22 to 25 can sometimes be the transition from love, love me do, you know I love you to he’s a real Nowhere Man, sitting in his Nowhere Land).
Yet be it 1971, 1974, or 1975 when the song finally came out, every time I try to put it in context, much to my renewed surprise, I cannot truly understand its proper musical and spiritual roots. In fact, the more I think about it the more I realize that fear — primal, existential fear, the one that gives you a panic attack in the middle of the night with no apparent cause — is an emotion that was largely absent from popular music at the time. Skip a few years ahead to New Wave, and you get yourself Joy Division and The Cure and all sorts of goth-rock and what-not, but how many songs before that do you know that simply want to convey that terrified state of mind, driving you up the wall for no discernible reason? Having checked more than 120,000 titles in my personal digital library, I found absolutely no relevant compositions with words like "afraid" or "fear" in the title; most of them usually carry the encouraging message of don’t be afraid — amusingly, even Nico’s ‘Afraid’ from 1971’s Desertshore is a song of hope, and we’re talking of the prototypical «Goth girl» here!
You could think Jim Morrison, but Jim Morrison did not exude fear or vulnerability — his music embraced the darkness rather than dreaded it. You could think something like the Stones’ ‘Sister Morphine’, which comes close, but it was still a theater piece for Jagger who acted it out rather than lived it out. You could try and go deeper into the past, back to all those creepy old Southern bluesmen, but that would mostly be religious fear, drilled into them by tradition. Ironically, perhaps the closest person before Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac to bottling that vibe may have been... Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, whose own mental condition drove him to record stuff like ‘The Green Manalishi’ that crawled pretty deep under your skin. (And it is hardly a coincidence that the song that secured the acceptance of the Buckingham-Nicks duo into Fleetwood Mac was ‘Frozen Love’ from their eponymous album, which shares a bit of a common vibe with ‘I’m So Afraid’ — even a few lines in the guitar solo are the same — and might have easily given Mick Fleetwood a «this guy is the new Peter» impression).
Anyway, returning to the song, which closed out the self-titled Fleetwood Mac album on a stunningly morbid note compared to the overall vivaciousness, even breeziness of the record — the original studio version is fantastic all by itself, of course. It largely leaves out the ladies in the band, but it is an almost equally strong showcase for both Lindsey and the rhythm section, with John McVie pumping out the most grim-reaperish bassline he could think of and Mick, in tandem, never letting go of the bass drum throughout. Together, they create a bulging paranoid pulse for the song against which Lindsey unleashes his feelings — and those, within the some­what padded studio setting, are dressed up in expressively melodic, almost romantic textures, from the near-falsetto overtones of the singing to the colorful effects on double-tracked lead guitars. The sheer open dread does not begin to pour out until the guitar solo, with its shrillness and distortion, comes out into the open... but then it only does so for just a few bars before fading out, leaving us yearning for more.
It’s pretty much a given among Mac fans that the song only properly came to life on stage, but over the years I have learned to appreciate the special charm of the studio version in much the same way as, for instance, I like the soft acoustic textures of studio Tommy just as much as the rip-roaring stage version. The smoothed-out studio production gives the song, one might say, a slightly more nuanced, «aristocratic», Byronesque vibe, and while in live performance Lindsey usually howls, growls, or screams out the words, letting it all out, here he sings it with no audience in sight, making the entire delivery more of an internal monologue than a theatrical look-at-poor-me tour-de-force. I can certainly dig that; this is an ‘I’m So Afraid’ for the genuine depressed recluse, rather than a desperate exhibitionist.  From: https://onlysolitaire.substack.com/p/the-life-of-a-song-vol-1-fleetwood

Sinéad O'Connor - Fire On Babylon

"Fire On Babylon" is about Sinéad O'Connor's mother, a common topic in her songs. O'Connor has accused her mother, who died in 1985, of abusing her and her siblings. In this song, she levels another accusation when she sings: "Look what she did to her son."
"It had to do with something I found out she'd done to one of my brothers that just really made me angry," O'Connor explained in her memoir Rememberings. "Truth to tell, it's very hard for me to get angry about my mother. It's the way I've survived. I've convinced myself she didn't know what she was doing. People will do that, but of course, I've misplaced that anger and it might be more mature for me to accept it."
The song was released as a single from O'Connor's fourth album, Universal Mother. By this time, she had burned many bridges in the industry, so she had trouble getting radio play or positive publicity. In 1990, she had a huge hit with "Nothing Compares 2 U," a song from her second album, which made her a global star. But she kicked back against the notoriety and became more political, veering as far from pop stardom as she could. Her next album, released in 1992, was a collection of covers called Am I Not Your Girl? By the time Universal Mother came out in 1994, her star had fallen, which was fine with her. She still had enough fans to get the album on the charts in many countries.
O'Connor wrote the song with John Reynolds, her first husband and the father of her first child. They divorced in 1991 but shared a lasting bond and kept working together. He also produced the track (along with O'Connor and Tim Simenon) and played drums on it. Michel Gondry directed the music video, which shows O'Connor in what looks like a doll house as she shares screen time with her younger self. At one point, she presents her mother with a birthday cake that catches fire, a symbol of her resentment. Gondry has many very clever videos with bright colors and shifting perspectives. Others include "Everlong" by Foo Fighters and "Human Behaviour" by Björk.
A few things were different about O'Connor on the Universal Mother album. For one, she had hair. Not a lot, but enough to cover her head. Also, she sang in her Irish accent instead of suppressing it like she had done before. The trumpet riff is a sample of "Dr. Jekyll," a 1958 track by jazz great Miles Davis.  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/sinead-oconnor/fire-on-babylon


Tangerine Stoned - Le Verità di Allen

I have a really complicated relationship with The Doors - I love them, but I also roll my eyes at some of the ‘poetry’ for which Jim Morrison was so famous and lauded. My favorite example is from ‘Riders on the Storm’, in which "there’s a killer on the road, his brain is squirmin’ like a toad". That, my dear friends, is lyric!
I had to take that potshot at The Lizard King, but the reason I have occasion to bring up one of the best bands of all times, is that Italian band Tangerine Stoned have made a bluesy, psychedelic album on par with some of the best from the height of the genre, circa 1967. And yes, at times, this album is very much a Doors-ian trip. Young Doors, though, not bloated, alkie, bearded-to-hide-the-double-chin Morrison Doors.
Just to be totally clear, I read the press release notes for the Tangerine Stoned album, and it specifically mentions The Doors as an influence, but also mentions such heavy-hitters as The Seeds and 13th Floor Elevators.
I am way more familiar with The Seeds than the 13th Floor Elevators, having bought A Web of Sound for mere pennies at a junk sale when I was about 12. My dad, the man that has been the biggest single influence on my musical tastes and all, laughed when he saw a Seeds album, but as always, let me figure it out for myself. The Seeds were campy at best, but they were the epitome of the pipestem trouser, page-boy hair, peasant-shirt-with-vest image associated with their ‘scene’, man. Let’s just say this: Tangerine Stoned is way better than The Seeds could ever be, closer to being as good as The Doors.
The opening track is ‘Venice’, which is likely an homage to the beach of the same name, the beach on which Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek (may he rest in peace!) met. This number is bluesy and funky, with sort of haunting vocals. Or maybe it’s about the Flooded City (since these guys are Italian) - Either way, it’s a pretty rocking track. ‘Clean Window’ is more of the same, very smooth, very ‘60s, very ethereal in parts. This track also showcases more vocal range, and some cool-sounding guitar riffery. I think that the mish-mash of clean-sounding and distortion effects on the guitar make this one my early favorite.
‘Blues in Door’ starts off with some Keith Relf-style mouth-harp (that’s what we cool folks call the harmonica) in this rollicking party track. This song reminds me of movies like ‘Coogan’s Bluff’ in which the Psychedelic scene folks are portrayed as crazy, drug-addled, Hammond-playing weirdos. I dig it, man! The harmonica in this mostly instrumental track is cool, and there is a really funky bass almost-solo as well. Anyone up for the Pigeon-toed Orange Peel for a shroom cocktail tonight?
‘Dirty Ceiling’ expounds further on the Hammond organ, and is so similar in style to The Doors, vocally, that it’s almost too close. I am quite impressed that this vocalist’s first language is not English, yet he totally nails it throughout.
I feel like I have to mention the drumming, as well, to be totally fair - it’s solid and not overpowering, and these guys are pretty tight. I get the feeling that they really know what they wanted things to sound like and maybe whomever did the mixing as well - nothing seems like out of place or overdone.
‘Nave Da Bar’ is a bit faster, but more of the same coolness. Swirly guitars and ‘Light My Fire’ organs underneath it, with a cool couple of bass/drums moments mixed in. I’ve got no idea what the lyrics are or what they might mean (something about magical and mystery?), but the delivery is cool and enjoyable. The singer could match Ian Astbury note-for-note in my book.
The last track, and a long one at over 11 minutes, ‘L'Urlo della Strega’, has some Sitar at the beginning (or emulated Sitar?), and I’m frankly surprised that the song is not exactly 4 minutes and 20 seconds long (see what I did there?). It’s a bit meandering for me at the start, as a dude that is not a poker of smot any more, but again, it’s a cool track in the same vein as ‘Riders on the Storm’ or similar.
During my research, I happened to have read another reviewer’s take on this album, and he wrote something like these guys have stayed more than one night at the Morrison Hotel, and goddamnit! I wish I had written that!
Tangerine Stoned’s Facebook page is in Italian, so I don’t know much about them at all, but I am really pleased that I was able to review their self-titled effort. These are some solid musicians that play some pretty good, nostalgia-friendly tunes. And with a huge hole left in the world of music with Manzareck’s passing recently (and I am being totally sincere, I loved hearing him talk about music and such), there is even more room for such an homage to a group with whom I have such a complex relationship. Cheers, Gentlemen! Or maybe ‘Saluto’? Either way, nicely done.  From: https://echoesanddust.com/2013/08/tangerine-stoned-tangerine-stoned/

Dionne Warwick - Walk On By - Live 1964

It’s difficult — and probably somewhat foolish — to try to choose one composition as the definitive work from the long and prolific hitmaking career of pop maestro Burt Bacharach, who died Wednesday at age 94. Working first with lyricist and longtime songwriting/production partner Hal David and later with his then-wife Carole Bayer Sager, Bacharach penned dozens of the biggest hits from the early ’60s right through the early MTV era, spanning doo-wop to new wave, with seven Hot 100 No. 1s to his credit — no two by the same artist, but all bearing his unmistakable thumbprint.
But Bacharach and David’s longest-lasting and most essential artist collaboration was undoubtedly with pop icon Dionne Warwick, with whom the duo scored a career’s worth of exquisite chart hits over the course of the ’60s. Even within the Bacharach/David/Warwick trio’s resume together, it’s difficult to choose just one signature song, as “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “A House Is Not a Home,” “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “I Say a Little Prayer” have all proven enduring classics in their own right.
Still, there’s something singular about “Walk on By,” the 1964 hit that has since become a regular finisher in Greatest Song of All Time polls. No work better demonstrates Bacharach and David’s peerless ability to blend the delicate with the overpowering, to capture the sound of a bursting heart in the split second before it shatters into a million pieces, and to do so with timeless textbook songcraft that nonetheless never fails to delight and surprise. And no song better demonstrates why Warwick was their ideal conduit, a vocalist who could find the strength and stateliness in fragility better than any pop star before or since.  From: https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/dionne-warwick-walk-on-by-greatest-song-of-all-time-1235250870/

Raze The Maze - 7am Dream

After MoeTar came full circle four years ago with the release of their final EP Final Four, and having two studio albums in the can from Magna Carta Reords, Tarik Ragab and Moorea Dickason have returned to the Bay Area prog scene with a massive kick in the family jewels with a new project called Raze The Maze. According to their website, Raze The Maze is seeking the internal maze of fear-based corporate driven culture and raise up creativity, connection, and expression in its place. They released their sole self-titled debut in 2019. And now in 2022, they’re following it up with their second album 7am Dream. It has the spirit of MoeTar’s legacy and the elements of chamber pop, avant-prog, and sheer attitude that is brought to the kitchen table. The visions on here have odd time changes, spirituality, brainwashing corruption, and the crazy-ass shit that’s been going on during the pandemic two years ago and into today.
From the continuation of songs such as ‘Under the Spell’, ‘Hero Villain’, and the title-track, they continued where they left-off from MoeTar’s ‘Butchers of Bagdad’ and the ‘Entropy of the Century’. You can tell that the duo have made a reprise by returning and concluding the stories by bringing the final chapters into their compositions. And they have a real psyche of the band’s mystery, adding a twist of lemon into their homemade lemon pie. ‘Persistence’ is a tip of the hat to Zappa’s Uncle Meat-era with escalating grooves to whirlpools of synths, Hanson’s bassoons jumping from one crocodile head to another, and Ragab conducting him to go crazy at the very end. Then, all hell has broken loose for Moorea to transform herself into a vicious, snarling blood-thirsty beast by reading the ‘Letters from the Parking Lot.’ Both she and Tarik race up to the spiraling staircase with crazy textures that have a blistering effect, and right in front of your face as he channels the styles of Alex Lifeson’s arpeggiated powder-keg with a Mother Goose twist in the styles of ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb.’ 7am Dream is an enthralling roller-coaster ride from start to finish. It proves that both Moorea and Tarik are keeping the machine going, and never touching the stop button. It’s an album that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.  From: https://echoesanddust.com/2022/10/raze-the-maze-7am-dream/

Spiral Shades - Frustration

RidingEasy Records is pleased to announce the debut release of Hypnosis Sessions by Spiral Shades on 5th August. A uniquely assembled album four thousand miles in the making. Formed by Vennesla, Norway-native Filip Peterson and Mumbai based singer-songwriter Khushal Bhadra Spiral Shades is a heavy rock record unlike any other.
As avid fans of obscure ’70s rock, doom and proto-metal, prior to forming Spiral Shades both Peterson and Bhadra relied on YouTube to unearth lost music and showcase their individual talents as musicians. Each would upload their own cover versions of songs they had discovered online but it wasn’t until one evening in the Summer of 2012 that Khushal happened to stumble onto Filip’s video channel where he was immediately taken aback by the Norwegian’s choices and impressive guitar playing.
“We appeared to possess identical influences and a love for the ’70s,” recalls Khushal. “Later we discovered that we shared in the belief that music created in that era had a certain kind of depth and emotion. My late father got me into bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple when I was young and those bands completely changed my world. Since then I have been trying to unearth bands with similar vibes.”
Frustrated by the absence of a metal scene in Mumbai but buoyed by the discovery of a like mind, Khushal reached out in hope of exchanging ideas and recommendations. The pair soon fell into discussion about their reverence for Scott “Wino” Weinrich; compared notes about Necromandus’s Barry “Baz” Dunnery’s guitar technique and debated which John Gallo band ruled more, Orodruin or Blizaro. Forming a friendship and shared admiration for the music they played they began sowing the seeds of what would eventually become Spiral Shades’ debut album.
“I don’t really follow the music scene around where I live,” explains Filip. “I don’t think there are any doom metal bands around here that I know of and I don’t have any experience playing in a band. My original goal was always to try and find somebody to jam with. Starting a band or even creating an album was never really something I had planned. Then suddenly Khushal contacted me out of the blue and it kind of evolved from there.”
Using software to pre-programme the drums, Hypnosis Sessions is a completely virtual project where everything was recorded, shared and mixed remotely. Even though this may seem at odds in some ways with the feel of the music contained within, given that the idea was to replicate that traditional approach to 1970s production – raw recordings, free flowing exchange of experimental ideas – the album captures that spirit and conviction in every aspect.
“It did get difficult at times when English isn’t your main language,” answers Filip when asked about the duo’s serve/return method of production. “At the beginning it was quite rough understanding what we both meant at times. Finding the right words is always difficult. However now that we have worked together for a couple of years, we understand each other much better.”
As well as sharing the same influences luckily both share the exact same work ethic. Taking over a year and a half to craft and assemble the recordings that make up their impressive nine-track debut the duo became veritable master controllers of their vision. Ungoverned by time, money or needless pressures they fell naturally into an arrangement that enabled them to write and record unhindered. Honed, polished and perfected the result is the creation of Hypnosis Sessions, one of the most original doom metal albums you will likely hear in 2014.
“Metal records aren’t usually made this way but we had no choice. One has to connect with another musician to make good music even if they are not together. I couldn’t find another musician who had similar tastes so finding Filip was like an instant connection. We knew what we were getting into from the start. We expected nothing; we just wanted to make good music. The kind of music we both love.”  From: https://www.ridingeasyrecs.com/spiral-shades-interesting-band-rock-n-roll/