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/

Nephila - Who Are You

Swedish psychedelic rock band Nephila is set to release their self-titled debut album on The Sign Records. Drawing inspiration from 60s and 70s folk and prog rock, the album includes seven experimental tracks that launch the listener into a journey through space and time. The signature mix of retro rock and heavy guitar solos with fantastic vocal harmonies from their two lead singers makes this album truly stand out. Consisting of seven masked musicians, Nephila combines progressive songwriting and visual expressions to merge mysticism, folklore, and storytelling into a theatrical journey

Q: What is your upbringing?

A: Some of us went to the same music high school a couple of years back and we then wanted to keep playing music outside of school, but some different music from what we were doing in school.  // Josephine

How did you discover music?

Music has been a part of every member’s life and we all come from different kinds of musical backgrounds.  // Josephine

How did you start to write music?

One of our guitarists, Jacob Hellenrud, approached us with a self-written song; we then kept on writing music together. //Josephine

You are a Swedish psychedelic rock band. How did your band form?

I’d say it all started when we got together and did a cover of Rival Sons “Pressure and time” for fun in school. From that moment we’ve continued to develop our own sound and we started to create ‘Nephila’. //Jacob

Why 2 lead singers?

We love those two singers who can make harmonies together, the sound will be much wider and fuller. You can do a lot with it live, both with the performance and sound. Also, it’s really fun singing together, we give each other energy on and off stage. / Josephine

How did you get your bands name?

Nephila comes from a spider called Nephila clavata. The spider spins a golden web. From the beginning, we were eight members. One for every leg of the spider. But we lost one leg on the road, so our logo only contains seven legs now. //Jacob

Describe your music.

Spaceships collide with space rock from the year of 1969. We love combining psychedelic rock and heavy blues with theatrical expressions, our 7-headed rock orchestra wants to bring out the best of 70’s experimental rock while adding our own touch of mysticism and visual storytelling. //Jacob

What was your first performance like?

Our first gig was at a local pub where we’ve played a lot since. A small intimate show for mainly friends. We didn’t have many songs at the time so we played some covers from bands such as Cream and Abramis Brama.  //Jacob

Tell me about winning the Swedish music competition Livakarusellen in 2019?

It was an incredible feeling and absolutely rockin’. We had a blast throughout the whole competition and we grew a lot as a band. It was also a confirmation for us that people actually like and appreciate our music, which made us really happy. //Josephine

Before Livakarusellen you released the video “Growing Down” What is the back story to the video?

Some of the original members dropped out at the same time and we wanted to present the member shift through the video. The video represents a ceremony where the original members hand over the masks and the wreath to the new members.  //Josephine

Tell me about the making of the Belladonna video?

The video is about telling the listeners about the environmental crisis. The actress in the video, Ida Blom, is portraying mother earth, who’s feeling helpless watching the humans fill the world with debris and emissions. But the video ends in reverse, keeping the hope up for the future. Due to covid-19 we made the video by ourselves with the help from the amazing actress Ida Blom. //Josephine

What makes a good songwriter?

For me, a good songwriter doesn’t care about trends or what people want to hear. Instead, the songwriter should set the trends before we know what we want to hear. Express yourself in music and let your instrument lead the way to places you never knew existed. To be able to make something out of nothing, that for me is a good songwriter. //Jacob

What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?

Our first song was called “Blåa kräldjur”, which is “Blue reptiles” in English. Sadly, we never recorded this in the studio, but we played it live a bunch of times! Maybe we’ll dust it off someday and record it. //Josephine & Jacob

What is the process of writing your music?

Often someone comes with an idea or a riff and we jam together while trying to finish the song. Everyone in the band always has something to give with their own musicality so a song could sound completely different when adding all of our own ideas to it. It’s like a big compromise of ideas and you have to know when to “kill your darlings”.  //Jacob

Tell me about your single “White Bones” which was released at the beginning of the year?

“White Bones” is about the refugee crisis, where for example parents have to send their children across the ocean to risk their lives, just so they might get a better life without poverty, war and hunger. Some people won’t always make it all the way throughout the journey across the ocean, sadly some will have to witness the white bones of other travelers. Through the lyrics we want to give the listener some perspective, to picture how it would be if you switched lives. //Josephine

You debut album Nephila came out June 4th.is there a theme behind the music?

The lyrics from the album were inspired by worldwide issues, for example, “Guidance to agony” tells a story about violence against women, especially in near relationships. The song “White bones” is about the refugee crisis, where for example parents send their children across the ocean to risk their lives, so they might get a better life without war and hunger. We also have a song about the environmental crisis, “Belladonna ”, from the earth’s perspective. Stina and I often tend to write about issues around the globe, where a message can be sent through the song to the listener. //Josephine

What is your favorite track on your album?

For a bunch of us the favorite song is “Who are you”, but also “Alla galaxers centrum” and “Guidance to Agony” for some members. “Who are you” and “alla galaxers centrum” is also extremely fun to sing live. It’s like you disappear into the song. /Josephine

If “Video Killed the Radio Star” do you think that the Covid-19 virus has killed live music? Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?

I believe that live music has been laying on its deathbed many years before this pandemic, but covid was the nail in the coffin. But I think that live music will reincarnate and grow greater than before because of it. I hope that people are hungry for live music. At Least we are. //Jacob

Do you think that Covid-19 has been a plus to an artist career?

Maybe for someone, but in general, no. We thought that we would be more creative or write hundreds of songs. But it has been really hard to motivate yourself through this. //Jacob

How do you stay healthy during the lockdown?

Doing what you love. Maybe it’s baking, writing music, dancing around listening to your favorite songs, or video chat with your loved ones. It’s important to priorities your health and happiness! //Josephine

Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.  In October that is going to change at least on Facebook.  Facebook is cracking down on livestreamed shows that include recorded music with new terms of service, preventing artists from using the platform for “commercial or non-personal” purposes, unless they have obtained the relevant licenses. The updated music guidelines state that users “may not use videos on our products [which include Instagram] to create a music listening experience. This will include [Facebook] Live,” and stipulates that such content should be posted for the enjoyment of friends and family only. How do you think this will change the landscape of Facebook?

Everything that keeps people from playing music and expressing themselves could be bad. I get the idea that the artists and songwriters should get paid when people play their music. But shutting music down on one of the biggest platforms in a period where you can’t even go and see live music is a disaster. //Jacob

How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merchandise to them at the show?

We think that it’s important to connect with people and make sure to tell them that you’re alive and conversate via text. It is hard for bands to reach a new audience in these times. But I think that it is important to keep in touch with the ones that follow and listen to your music. They are what’s important. //Jacob

Is pay to play still a thing?  Now pay to play also means thinks like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.

We believe so. It is common to pay to support other bands. It can be a smart thing to reach a certain audience who may like your music, but that never would have listened if it wasn’t because of the headline. If it is financially worth it or not, we don’t know. But we see why it could be good for upcoming bands. //Jacob

What about Holographic concerts in our living room?

I think that it could hurt the live scenes around the world. But I see why people may want to watch Dio in your living room, haha. //Jacob

In the past if a musician stops doing music, they find a new career.  For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants. If you can’t do music, what would you like to be doing?

Move to nowhere and become self-supported from nature. //Jacob

Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to sell their entire song catalog for $140 Million.  In the past year a lot of musicians such as Stevie Nicks ($100 Million), Bob Dylan (over $400 Million), Taylor Swift, Journey, Def Leppard, K.T. Tunstall, and Shakira have sold their catalog rights within the last year.  Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog for a reported $300 million.   Neil Young sold 50 percent of his worldwide copyright and income interest in his 1,180-song catalogue to Hipnosis Songs Fund limited. Once you get to the age of about 70, publishing is far more lucrative than the mechanical royalties paid to artist based on sales, airplay and streams.  A good example of this is Michael Jackson brought the rights to the Beatles catalog in 1985.  And in the late 80’s the Beatles Revolution appeared in a Nike commercial. The lump sums being offered by publishing firms are more tax friendly concerning estate planning. Do you think you would be willing to sale your back catalog if someone like Universal is willing to buy everything, such as all the rights to all your songs?

I think that this can hurt smaller bands and artists that may have no other choice than to sell their music for financial reasons and for much smaller prices. I get why Dylan or Dee Snider sell their catalogue, they don’t know if their music will be popular in 10 years and they will always be the real songwriters, no matter who owns the songs. But it’s sad that it’s always about the money and not the artistry.  //Jacob

At Spotify’s ‘Stream On’ event on February 22, the company confirmed that more than 60,000 new tracks are now being ingested by its platform every single day.  This means people are adding new tracks uploaded to its platform every 1.4 seconds. The figure, announced by Spotify’s Co-Head of Music, Jeremy Erlich, means that across the course of this year, approximately 22 million tracks will be added to Spotify’s catalog. Spotify confirmed in November last year that its platform now played host to around 70 million tracks. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that, by the end of 2021, Spotify will be home to over 90 million tracks. And that in the early part of next year, it will surpass a catalog of 100 million for the first time. But still back at the beginning of the year Spotify deleted 750,00 songs, mostly from independent artists.  What do you think what that could mean to independent artist?

It is really hard to stand out when so many songs are released every single day, and that’s only on Spotify. Artists are struggling to end up on playlists which is so important to be on today. The demand is so much smaller than what is released every single day. Everyone wants to be stars, but no one wants to listen. I believe that it is important to support other artists, add them on your favourite playlists and stream them and create your own community around your music instead of relying on Spotify’s algorithm.  //Jacob

From: https://www.unratedmag.com/nephila/

 

Eddie Kendricks - Keep On Truckin'

Eddie Kendricks only topped the charts once after leaving The Temptations, but when he did, it was with a doozy of a track. Tom Breihan makes the case that “Keep On Truckin’” was the first disco song to top the charts, which may well be true. He also says that it’s more of a groove than a song, which is definitely true. There’s a radio edit, but who cares? You want the full eight minute experience.
“Keep On Truckin'” was produced by funk/soul/disco auteur Frank Wilson. Eddie Kendricks had quit the Temptations in part because he didn’t like producer Norman Whitfield’s psychedelic soul approach, but Wilson’s epic disco vibe also sounds suspiciously like psychedelic soul. Leonard Caston Jr plays the devastating clavinet part. The great James Jamerson plays bass, Ed Greene plays drums, Gary Coleman plays vibes, King Errisson plays congas, Dean Parks and Greg Poree play guitar, and Jerry Peters plays piano and organ. There are also unnamed horn and string sections. The texture is dense: four layers of percussion, three keyboards, two guitars, vibes, horns, strings, and layers of Eddie Kendricks’ voice. It could easily be a mess, but Motown cats know how to stay out of each others’ way, and the mix and arrangement are exceptionally tight. It’s rare for a club banger to be a good solitary headphone listen (and vice versa), but this track works equally well in both contexts.
“Keep On Truckin'” may have disco-like production and grandiosity, but its groove is classic early 1970s funk: heavily swung sixteenth notes, hi-hats ticking away on the eighths, snares smacking the last sixteenth note in the bar to keep you paying attention, muted wah-wah guitar going chicka-chicka on the sixteenths. The tempo starts around 98 BPM, and by the end has picked up to about 104. Motown players keep excellent time, but no one could resist speeding up through a groove this exciting. Here’s a section-by-section breakdown.

Intro: mm 1-4 (0:00)
If it feels like you’ve been dropped into the middle of the song, it’s because you basically have. The intro is an instrumental version of the prechorus, and you won’t hear it in context until later on. Starting the song with a piece of musical connective tissue is harmonically disorienting. The first two chords are Db7 and Bb7. Usually the first chord in a groove is the tonic, but if that’s true, then Bb7 would be a strange followup. Or maybe Bb7 is the tonic? But then Db7 would be a strange lead-in. Anyway, Db7 and Bb7 are repeated, and the answer becomes clear: they must be the bVI7 and IV7 chords in F or F minor. Presumably, we’ll be landing on the tonic in the next section.

Chorus 1/Break 1: mm 5-10 (0:10)
Except, no, we don’t. Instead of the F or F minor you were expecting, there’s a groove on Ab major, with some embellishing Absus4 chords thrown in on the guitar. So maybe Db7 and Bb7 were actually the IV7 and II7 chords in Ab? Strange, but appealing. At measure 9, there’s a Bb7, which sounds like it might be V7/V in A-flat. But then at measure 10, there’s a break on C7sus4, which retroactively explains the Bb7 as actually being the IV7 chord in F like you were originally led to believe. At the end of the break, there are two quick hits on a gospel-like Fsus4, which further set up the expectation that you’ll get a resolution to F on the next downbeat.

Build: mm 11-12 (0:25)
There is indeed a very quick F7 chord on the downbeat, but the clav immediately starts walking up the F minor pentatonic scale. When you hear minor pentatonic over a dominant seventh chord, that’s a sure sign of blues tonality. I would label this short section as being in the key of F blues.

Main Groove 1: mm 13-20 (0:30)
The groove opens up into eight bars of the F Dorian feel that will dominate the later parts of the track.

Prechorus 1: mm 21-24 (0:49)
This is the same as the intro, but now we know what’s going on: the Db7 comes from F minor blues, and the Bb7 comes from F blues or F Dorian.

Chorus 2/Break 2: mm 25-30 (0:59)
This chorus has the same basic feel as the first one: an Ab major groove with a few Absus4 chords for ornamentation. This time, however, one of the guitarists is playing licks in the Ab blues scale. If we were supposed to hear F as being the global key center, then the F blues scale would seem to be the more obvious choice. Hearing Ab blues instead suggests that Ab is the “real” key center, at least right now.

Main Groove 4: mm 90-133 (3:38)
You’re expecting the chorus again, but no, it’s back to the main groove. It starts restrained but quickly builds in intensity. From here on out, we stay in F Dorian, and all structure comes from orchestration and groove. The strings trade blues riffs with the rest of the band, a neat arranging trick.

Breakdown 2/Outtro Groove: mm 134-202 (5:21)
There’s a dramatic break that would make a logical ending for the track, but it’s not even close to being over. The groove breaks down to just congas and tambourine. The other instruments are faintly present, but very quiet. Then they gradually re-enter. The band must have kept on grooving straight through this, and then the breakdown and re-buildup were constructed at the mixing desk in postproduction. This is really what makes the song sound like disco: major compositional choices made by the producer at the mixing stage, using the multitrack recording of a live performance as raw material rather than the finished product. The track doesn’t actually end, it fades out. Remember how it didn’t exactly have a beginning, either? You get the sense that “Keep On Truckin'” really lasts for hours or days, and you just happen to have caught eight minutes of it. Songs have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but a good groove is potentially infinite.

From: https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2021/keep-on-truckin/

I Draw Slow - All Souls

George Orwell’s quote “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”, is sadly, as relevant today, as when he made it, in his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language”.  Perhaps things have always been so, then, and it is not just the chosen go-to operating style of the current crop of departing, or incumbent, holders of high office in several western democracies.
It is a quote that inspired the track ‘Copenhagen Interpretation’, which I Draw Slow chose to be the lead single from their eponymous fifth album ‘I Draw Slow’.  The song is about bringing words back down to earth and frames lead singer, Louise Holden‘s, ethereal voice over banjo musings, and a soundscape that could have graced any 70’s Laurel Canyon close harmony release.
I Draw Slow are probably better known in their native Ireland and the US, than they are here in the UK.  The rest of the band is made up of Holden’s sibling David (guitar), along with Konrad Liddy (upright bass), Colin Derham (banjo), and Adrian Hart (fiddle).  They have spent significant periods touring previous albums in the States, gaining them a strong following there.
This latest album was not born out of happiness.  Coming together after their individual experiences of pandemic-enforced isolation, the band found their influences had broadened and the music they subsequently created together had a new darker edge to it.  Their previous albums - ‘Downside’ (2008), ‘Redhills’ (2011), ‘White Wave Chapel’ (2014) and ‘Turn Your Face To The Sun’ (2017) - had more obvious traditional Irish and Appalachian influences.  In this latest 10-track collection, the band have added to that mix some fresh musical influences - New Orleans funereal jazz, 60’s pop, and cinematic soundscapes.  It all works to create a body of work that is pleasingly hard to place, both in time and in any single cultural home.  The result is music with a welcoming freshness and variety.
Stand out tracks on the album include the haunting ‘Bring Out Your Dead’, 70’s west coast road trip song ‘Crosses’ and the sung Irish language of ‘A chiud den tsaol’ which showcases Louise Holden’s affirmed vocals over a more traditional Irish music backing. A life-affirming dark, yet uplifting, sound.  It will be appreciated by lovers of the more traditional, and acoustic, styles of Americana, as well as those who enjoy west coast 70’s music.
I Draw Slow have created a sound that is very much their own, carrying you away, in equal measure, to the Appalachian woods and Dublin hills, with the odd detour on route to New Orleans or California.  What finer mix of places could there be?  Not quite George Orwell’s chosen stomping grounds of Catalonia and Wigan Pier, but you can be sure he would approve.  From: https://americana-uk.com/i-draw-slow-i-draw-slow

Chicago - Movin' In

 

In August 1969, Chicago went to work on their second album. Their debut album, The Chicago Transit Authority, released a mere four months earlier, broke much musical ground, and rock and jazz fans alike flocked to record shops to get their hands on a copy. However, the album didn't make a big dent in radio play (yet), so the band set back to the studio to record another album. The resulting album, which would not be released until January of 1970, is considered by many critics and fans alike as the band's breakthrough record, scoring the band three Top 40 hits on the Billboard Chart.
Chicago II would prove to be much different than its predecessor. Whereas Chicago Transit Authority was based on horn jams and guitar solos, Chicago II operates in a much more controlled environment. Not only are the horns tampered down, but Terry Kath's guitar playing is nearly non-existent, with the exception of a few tracks, most notably Poem for the People, In the Country, 25 or 6 to 4 and the exceptional It Better End Soon suite. However, Chicago trades improvisation for cohesiveness, as the songs on Chicago II are much more consistent and friendlier to the average listener who does not have a prog rock-trained ear. This is something that most '70s prog bands ended up doing in the '80s, but since Chicago was the first to "sell out", they are forever villainized for their mutiny. That said, Chicago II is still very much a progressive rock album, it just leans much more toward jazz fusion than its predecessor. In 1970, it was still cool for prog fans to listen to Chicago.
Side One opens up with Movin' In, the first of five consecutive standard jazz-rock songs. "Movin' In" opens with all horns blazing before settling into its groove. The song is a lyrical statement, penned by James Pankow, that the group is here to stay and make some noise. The Road is Peter Cetera's vocal entrance on the album. The horns and drums standout on this track, but the real star is Peter Cetera, as he turns in a showstopping performance, showcasing the golden pipes that would soon become an FM radio staple for decades. Poem for the People is my favorite track of the opening five tracks. The tracks opens with piano, followed by horns and then drums. The tempo changes quite a bit throughout the track, and tasteful guitar is sprinkled in by Mr. Kath. Lots of Beach Boys-style harmonies in the bridge and towards the end really make this track special as the horns take over just before the track fades. In the Country is probably the most passionate song of this set, as a prominent bass takes over, and we finally hear a good helping of guitar playing in this sweet, rollicking ode to country living. Terry Kath and Peter Cetera share vocal duties and turn in a delicious performance. The sound of these songs is very much like the songs on their first album, minus the long jams and solos. Rather, these songs are much tighter in construction, featuring excellent horn sections and tight bass and drumming. Finally, we have Wake Up Sunshine, which actually opens up Side Two, which features terrific vocals and harmonies from Robert Lamm and Peter Cetera along without standout horns and drumming.  From: https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/64538/Chicago-Chicago-II/

Pink Floyd - Animated

 Pink Floyd - Speak to Me/Breathe/On the Run - Simone Massi

 

 Pink Floyd - Time - Salvador Dali/Walt Disney

 

 

 Pink Floyd - The Great Gig In The Sky - Bruno Mazzilli

 

 Pink Floyd - Money - Kate Isobel Scott

 

 Pink Floyd - Us and Them/Any Colour You Like - Hueman Instrumentality

 

 Pink Floyd - Brain Damage/Eclipse - Lauren Edmonds

 

 Pink Floyd - One of These Days - Ian Emes

 

 Pink Floyd - The Narrow Way - Kunio Kato

 

 Pink Floyd - Welcome To The Machine - Gerald Scarfe

 

 Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond Pt. 4 - Seoro Oh

 

 Pink Floyd - Brain Damage - Nastassja Nikitina

 

 Pink Floyd - Eclipse - Yosh

 

In 1971 the English illustrator Gerald Scarfe found himself in LA creating an animated film for the BBC. He had spent the previous decade producing editorial cartoons and caricatures for British publications like Punch, the Daily Mail and The Sunday Times – and was now taking his satirical eye to the States. It was an era of drugs and cynicism, and Scarfe channelled these elements into his work. The resulting animation was Long Drawn-Out Trip, a warped visual stream of consciousness that reflected the illustrator’s take on American culture. It was trippy and hallucinogenic, mixing together everything from John Wayne and Micky Mouse to commercials and Playboy. Scarfe’s take on American society was relentlessly engaging, and it’s unique style seemed to strike a chord with viewers.
The following year it was seen by the members of Pink Floyd, and they loved it. They were eager to work with someone on visuals, and so they asked the illustrator if he might be interested. Scarfe – who admitted he was originally “no means a fan” of the band – went to see them perform The Dark Side of the Moon at Finsbury Park. When he saw their performance, his attitude completely changed. He loved the theatricality of their live act and agreed to see if they could find some projects to work on together.
After collaborating on tour programs, stage animations and a music video, Scarfe and the band finally landed on The Wall. Devised by Roger Waters, it was to be a hugely inventive album. Waters had already written three concept albums in the form of the group’s previous LPs – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975) and Animals (1977) – but this was to be his most personal and revealing album to date. It featured songs about isolation and abandonment and was an exploration of darkness and humanity. Scarfe was the perfect person to visualise these themes, and Waters wanted him involved from the very beginning.
“In the early days, Roger explained the whole of the music and lyrics of The Wall to me,” Scarfe wrote in his 2011 book. “Over the following weeks he retraced his steps, telling me which part of The Wall echoed his own life – his father’s death, his girlfriend’s infidelity etc., which was fantasy and what was fact. Gradually I built up a picture of what I felt I could contribute.”
Telling the journey of a character called Pink, Scarfe visualised his life as a twisted mix of elegance and horror. At the core of the story was the titular wall: a defensive barrier that Pink constructed to close himself off from a cruel world. Through Water's songs, we get to learn about the death of Pink’s father during World War II; we learn how his mother domineered him; how his school bullied him; the government controlled him; and how his wife betrayed him. Scarfe brought all these elements to life with an ink-spattered flick of the wrist. This grotesque cast of characters would go on to become iconic figures in the landscape of pop culture.
The Wall was released as a double album in 1979, but Waters had already envisioned it to be more than just an LP. From 1980–81, the band toured with a hugely ambitious live show. During the course of their performances, a massive thirty-five-foot wall of white cardboard bricks was constructed on stage and onto this was projected animations by Scarfe. The band also worked with the architect Mark Fisher and the mechanical engineer Jonathan Park to turn Scarfe’s original illustrations into massive inflatable puppets that represented characters from the story. These included the "Mother", the "Ex-wife" and the "Schoolmaster". Even today, The Wall Tour remains one of the most ambitious and complex theatrical events ever attempted.
One person whose attention had been caught by the show was the director Alan Parker: “It probably marked the high point of rock-and-roll theatre” he said, “I couldn’t imagine anything ever getting any bigger.” Parker had been a Pink Floyd fan since before The Wall, but the themes of this album really spoke to him. He approached EMI and asked if he could adapt it into a live-action film. Waters had himself already had the intention of turning the album into a film, and – when he heard that Parker was interested in an adaptation – he asked the director if he would consider taking the role. The process of getting it to screen was a challenge for everyone involved. Parker, Waters and Scarfe repeatedly clashed during its production, and Parker later described the ordeal as: “one of the most miserable experiences of his creative life.”
Despite the difficulties, The Wall (1982) was regarded by many critics as a success and it was praised for its unique and often horrifying depiction of self-destruction. As the film’s designer and animator, Scarfe’s distinctive illustrations came to life on screen, and these brought his work to a much wider audience. Throughout the film, Scarfe drew and animated a number of key animated sequences that featured disturbing and surreal images of violence, sex and gore. Over time the film established cult status and, alongside the album and tour, The Wall is now regarded as one of the most iconic and inventive projects in the history of rock.
Sadly, while Scarfe and Waters were collaborating on The Wall, relationships within the band were at an all-time low. The illustrator had worked with the group for six years and, during that time, he had been caught in the middle of one of rock's most bitter break-ups. The Wall would be Water’s penultimate album with the group, and many would argue that it was the band’s last great release
Despite the difficulties and challenges during Scarfe’s collaboration, what they created together was one of the most iconic and imaginative combinations of visuals and music ever undertaken. Within the history of music, it remains to be a groundbreaking work. The same can certainly be said too about its achievements within the history of illustration.  From: https://illustrationchronicles.com/how-gerald-scarfe-and-pink-floyd-built-the-wall

 

 

Żywiołak - Dens Makabreska

Interview with Robert Jaworski from the band Żywiołak

DP: On your website we read that: Żywiołak's music is the result of such musical styles as: folk, punk, rock metal, acoustic trans-techno and drum'n'bass. It also uses elements of music: dub, chillout and ambient, and is combined with the sounds of reconstructed old instruments, "inventions" of newer technology, and archaic and modern vocal techniques. I must admit that after reading this I was a bit scared and didn't know what to expect when going to your concert. Don't you think that this approach to what you do may discourage rather than interest many potential listeners?

Robert Jaworski: Excuse me? But what were you terrified of? So many trends at once? We direct this music to people who are interested not only in the impact shock (I call it the pulse). If such an approach scares away a group of people, I think that they will definitely not be the potential recipients of our music. Yes, our aim at our creation is rhythmic, but the second element is the text layer and ethnic sounds.

Dark Planet: Coming back to the previous question for a moment - could you tell the readers what instruments you use?

Robert Jaworski: Old ones: hurdy-gurdy, fiddle, flute, lute, baraban, djembe... Popular ones: viola, bass guitar, cymbals and part of a drum set, and all kinds of drums.

DP: Why do you focus on folk demonology in your work?

Robert Jaworski: Because we don't know a band in Poland yet that would take this topic seriously.

DP: Don't you think that there are already many bands (in various musical genres) that draw too much from this topic?

Robert Jaworski: From folk demonology? I don't know a single one.

DP: But aren't you afraid that the subject matter may turn out to be too trite?

Robert Jaworski: There is no official topic on this topic. This is knowledge for those interested and a bit of insight into the darkness of history and folklore.

DP: Another very interesting thing is how the band Żywiołak was created, considering that the musicians who composed it previously played / still play such different music?

Robert Jaworski: Just because they play differently doesn't mean they wouldn't want to play similar. Robert Wasilewski played in a folk band into which he tried to incorporate metal elements, but he failed in the long run. I did in mine. I was exposed to rock-metal from the previous band. Maciek Labudzki also plays rock covers in his Mistik Mahżonga. The girls had no experience with such aesthetics - at all. They needed to be educated a bit. However, somewhere there our paths crossed and Żywiołak was created.

DP: In April this year, you received the most prestigious award - the Grand Prix of the President of the Polish Radio for the 9th Folk Music Festival "New Tradition". What do you think made you win?

Robert Jaworski: Certainly the freshness of the trend. The jury had slight reservations about the workmanship, but decided not to take it very literally. Besides, the jury's verdict emphasized our spontaneity as our greatest advantage.

DP: Another question about your success is why you don't hear much about the band in the Polish media?

Robert Jaworski: This question is probably not for us. The media - not necessarily the Polish ones, are always more focused on commercial projects. We have created a quite flashy project, but still a niche one.

DP: Przemysław Trubalski from the website Wiadomości24 refers to the words of Zbigniew Hołdys, spoken after your concert in Warsaw's Pracovnia: "I saw them for the first time in my life, but I will do my best to tell people who decide about the fate of such artists that it is worth helping Żywiołak, that it's worth paying attention to this band. If someone doesn't help this band today, they will watch how the band makes its career. These are unstoppable procedures. The question is, has there actually been anyone who wants to help you open the door to a great career?

Robert Jaworski: I think that Hołdys' statement does not suggest that someone will be found, but rather that someone should be interested in us. I think this is a fundamental difference. I must admit that it would be nice if there were people in Poland professionally involved in the promotion of such non-commercial projects.

DP: Does it bother you that your work is compared to both the achievements of "troLi" and "Hedningarna"?

Robert Jaworski: The fact that our work is comparable to their troLe certainly cannot be questioned - after all, we play pieces of their troLe - and I was the main originator of the idea. As for Hedningarne…

Translated from: https://www.darkplanet.pl/Wywiad-z-Robertem-Jaworskim-z-zespolu-Zywiolak-2062.html

The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

“She kissed me again with her murderous lips.” Thus runs a typical sentence from the torrid 1870 novella Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (after whom the word “masochism” was later coined). It’s the lurid story of a man named Severin and his desire to be enslaved by a beautiful woman, Wanda von Dunajew; the couple become embroiled in explicit (for the time) episodes of what is now known as BDSM. The story became notorious and was frequently banned.
Fast-forward to New York in the mid-1960s, where Lou Reed and John Cale were putting together a band, which would become The Velvet Underground. They recorded demo tapes in a basement in Ludlow Street; among the songs was “Venus in Furs”, written by Reed and inspired by what he called Masoch’s “trashy novel”. Sung by Cale with abundant echo and a jangly folky guitar, it sounds almost like a medieval madrigal.
At that time, The Velvet Underground were still a work in progress with folky leanings and music that often reflected Reed’s fondness for Hank Williams. But viola-player Cale had worked with avant-garde composers such as La Monte Young and had been involved in the experimental Fluxus movement. He was drawn to drone music. Drummer Maureen Tucker was recruited, having apparently trained by hitting telephone directories while playing along to Bo Diddley records. Her style was elemental and primitive. Reed came up with his own unique guitar tuning, which he called “ostrich”, in which each string is tuned to the same note.  
The version of “Venus in Furs”that ended up on the band’s groundbreaking debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), utterly different from the earlier demo, reflects this new approach: it is a chilling, thrilling, sexually charged piece of drone-rock, Cale’s viola crackling like a whip, Tucker’s bass drum pounding, tambourine shaking, Sterling Morrison’s bass weaving a repeated pattern, Reed’s lyrics transporting the story to a modern urban milieu with “shiny shiny boots of leather” and “streetlight fancies” (it’s Reed singing this time).
The album sold badly; later, Brian Eno quipped that everyone who bought a copy went on to form a band. This wasn’t quite true, but many bands in the following decade’s punk years owed a massive debt to The Velvet Underground: the leather jackets, the musical minimalism, the drugs and sex, while the bondage of “Venus in Furs” became a key part of the punk look. Their association with Andy Warhol added to their arty allure. Punk and new wave bands channelled the power and the otherness of acts such as Iggy and the Stooges and The Velvet Underground.
Among those bands were Siouxsie and the Banshees, whose bass player, Steven Bailey, renamed himself Steven Severin after the character in “Venus in Furs”. They are the band who most faithfully covered the song in live versions, capturing its compelling drone, often without drums. Cale himself, who co-produced the band’s 1995 album The Rapture, toured on the same bill as a Banshees offshoot, The Creatures, in 1998, on which they would join forces for “Venus in Furs” with Cale on viola. Cale himself has continued to play it many times, with a typically saturnine reading, opening his 2007 live album Circus Live.
It formed an occasional part of Lou Reed’s stage repertoire, perhaps most memorably on his live Animal Serenade album (2004); deploying his by now customary casual conversational delivery, Reed seems to be taking the song less seriously than his band, notably cellist Jane Scarpantoni, who plays an electrifying solo that echoes Cale’s scrapings on the original. And The Velvet Underground featured it on their 1993 reunion album, Live MCMXCIII, with Reed again showing a Dylanesque disdain for his original phrasing; Cale’s viola saves it. Other notable versions have come from Beck, featuring an impressive drone created by a sitar, and a guitar played with a violin bow, though Beck’s vocals lack the required stentorian grandeur and the beat plods without being insistent. DeVotchKa’s 2006 version doubles up on the beat, which rather loses the point of the thing, though there’s impressive violin action.
A memorable solo performance, captured on video at McCabe’s guitar shop in Santa Monica in 2016, came from Paz Lenchantin, bassist and violinist with The Pixies since 2014: she samples herself on bass and violin, setting up loops and layers of sound, singing over the top while whipping her violin bow.
Reed’s dark dirge has become a signifier of edginess, like Masoch’s story a gateway into a world of forbidden pain and pleasure. Films and TV adverts have used this quality to add a dark lustre, most memorably in a TV advert in the UK for Dunlop tyres: directed by Tony Kaye, the wild one-minute film caused a stir with its bizarre imagery (including a grand piano falling from a bridge), leading to the tagline: “Tested for the unexpected”.  From: https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/venus-in-furs.html

Odetta Hartman - Dr. No

Following her debut mini-LP 222 and 2018’s Old Rockhounds Never Die (which saw her touring her unique performance style — part Jack White rock ’n’ roll folk blues, part electronic experimentations — with the likes of Let’s Eat Grandma, Cosmo Sheldrake and Skullcrusher), Odetta Hartman returns with her strongest set of songs to date. Swansongs is another fever dream of a record that includes the experimental pop of Goldilocks, the dramatic string lead single Dr. No and her radical re-working of the traditional Motherless Child, first made famous by her namesake Odetta. Equally inspired by AG Cook’s Apple and New Orleans trad jazz, the musical mixology of these songs cycle spans various genres of folk, Americana, pop, punk, soul, ambient and spiritual. Lyrically, it tenders the tension of two truths in opposition, through its inquisition of the interplay between fear and desire. Dichotomy is at the heart of this deep exploration into shadow work, mythological musings, healing frequencies, eclectic expressions, and the art of sculpted sound.
Constrained by the unique circumstances of modern isolation, Odetta and her co-producers — Alex Friedman and Wyatt Bertz — found their approach mitigated by the digital interface of remote collaboration. Synthesizers worked overtime to translate plunky banjos into lush wooden textures and shape white noise transitions into ASMR delights. They cast the widest nets in spite of life’s limitations and diligently discovered unexpected inside jokes. Versions upon versions ended up on the cutting-room floor until the songs resembled quilted sound collages woven by meticulous hands. Together they sharpened their tools and created a cathartic snapshot to capture the lightning of the historic moment. Swansongs is a dynamic and powerful reflection of love and ambition, hopeful, energetic and at times chaotic but always captivating.
The single Goldilocks arrived alongside a video directed by Bao Ngo. “This Grimes-inspired track first originated as a sassy banjo ditty, written backstage in-between sets in San Francisco,” Hartman says. “Its next phase jumped into an early 2000s rock vibe (a la The White Stripes) with the help of bandmates Lucy Arnell and Wyatt Bertz while on tour with Lola Kirke. In its final combined iteration — saturated with lyrical references to fairy tales & my favorite musical, Gypsy — it became a bombastic dance bop, a tongue-in-cheek pep talk, a vaudeville striptease, a whip cracking manifesto.” Of the video, Odetta continues: “Inspired by the Wizard of Oz technicolor transition, the music video for Goldilocks opens in the same black-and-white locale of Dr. No, but now the developing Swansongs world blossoms from Catskills gothic to Vaudeville gimmick. The lyrics to the femme power anthem directly reference Gypsy (‘Let me entertain you, let me make smile, I can do a few tricks, some old and then some new tricks I’m very versatile, and if you’re real good, I’ll make you feel good, I want your spirits to fly’), so we wanted to bring some old-school stage silliness into the visual accompaniment.”  From: https://tinnitist.com/2024/03/22/albums-of-the-week-odetta-hartman-swansongs/

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp

Recorded in May, 1967, this melancholy blues song appears on Electric Ladyland (1968) and was first released as a U.K. single. Jimi Hendrix uses the wah-wah effect on his guitar for the first time and also overdubs some harpsichord embellishments. This song is about the traveling that Jimi did. Ironically, Jimi finished the song on a plane journey from Los Angeles to New York. The R&B group Sweet Inspirations provides vocal backing.
Hendrix describing the song in his own words: "There are some very personal things in there, but I think everyone can understand the feeling when you’re traveling that no matter what your address there is no place you can call home. The feeling of a man in a little old house in the middle of a desert where he is burning the midnight lamp. That’s really a song I’m proud of. Some people say this is the worst track we have ever done, but I think it is the best. Even if the technique is not great, even if the sound is not clear and even if the lyrics can’t be properly heard, this is a song that you often listen to and come back to. I don’t play neither piano nor harpsichord, but I managed to put together all these different sounds.”

From: https://genius.com/The-jimi-hendrix-experience-burning-of-the-midnight-lamp-lyrics

The video is a rare clip of a playback performance of 'The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp' on the French TV programme "Un portrait de Marie Laforêt" broadcast on 21st October 1967.
Interestingly, the spread from a French TV guide that detailed the evening's viewing for the 21st Oct 1967 stated the show was a special on French singer Marie Laforêt and would feature both The Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Small Faces (my kind of line-up!), but the text in the corner of the programme read: "At print time the people in charge for this program still don't know if the recorded sequences featuring Jimi Hendrix and British band the Small Faces will be part of the show. Thus we announce them under all reservations."
Written by Hendrix and produced by band manager Chas Chandler, 'The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp' featured R&B group Sweet Inspirations on backing vocals. The song was released in August 1967 as the group's fourth single in the U.K. and later included on the 1968 British edition of their compilation, Smash Hits. In the U.S., it first appeared as the B-side of "All Along the Watchtower". The song was added to both US and UK editions of Electric Ladyland (1968).
Hendrix wrote the lyrics on a flight from New York to Los Angeles in 1967. They express the confusion he felt at the time. Writing for music website AllMusic, Matthew Greenwald proposed that the song is "one of Jimi Hendrix's more interesting records of his early career", praising the "wildly imaginative, psychedelic lyric" and the "striking" musical performance.  From: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=669034634009267

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - Castilleja

In the middle of her ongoing tour, we caught up with Molly Tuttle and the members of Golden Highway to celebrate her selection as July’s Artist of the Month and to go behind the scenes of making City of Gold. Luckily, it’s easy to make music with friends, and the entire group goes way back. Tuttle says Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddle), Dominick Leslie (mandolin), Shelby Means (bass), and Kyle Tuttle (banjo), have been a part of her musical life for years. “I’ve known everyone in the band since I was in my late teens, early twenties,” Tuttle explains via video call. Tuttle and Keith-Hynes attended classes and bluegrass jams together at Berklee College of Music. She met Kyle Tuttle (no relation) at around the age of 17 at an IBMA jam, and met Means while she was in Boston with the all-women string band Della Mae. Tuttle says she and Leslie met as kids, when they would both play the same bluegrass festivals. “When Molly told me what she was planning, and asked me to join the band and told me who else was going to be in it, I was thinking, ‘I’m already friends with all these people. This is gonna be really cool!’” Means said during our group interview.
When it came time to record City of Gold, the group worked with modern roots music icon Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show on much of the writing. Tuttle says there’s a definite Old Crow influence on the tracklist, which makes sense given “Down Home Dispensary” is a tune on the record originally written for the group best known for hits like “Wagon Wheel.” Tuttle said she initially worried the song was “too Old Crow” for Golden Highway, but is glad it ended up on the record. She and Secor got “into a good groove,” as she puts it, and churned out the tunes for City of Gold in about six months, often while driving in the car or passing around instruments during jam sessions. At least one track, though, was extremely collaborative. Tuttle, Means, Secor and Melody Walker (formerly of Front Country) all had a hand in finishing the tune. Jerry Douglas, the iconic resonator guitar player who’s worked with almost every name in the bluegrass industry, produced the album. Tuttle said that whereas she had only a few studio days booked for her previous album, Crooked Tree, the group had nearly two weeks of studio time to work with Douglas this time around. When asked what it was like working with the legend, every member of Golden Highway said they’d had a great experience. “Working with someone who’s a hero, there’s a lot of baggage that comes along with that,” Kyle Tuttle said. “But he’s the kindest dude. He supported us in a really cool way. It wasn’t hard or intimidating or anything like that. I thought it was easy and fun. Every now and then he’d play on a track with us.” Whether it was encouraging Golden Highway to take breaks or telling funny jokes, the group agreed that Douglas made sure everyone was comfortable and having a good time. Keith-Hynes said Douglas told the band that NASCAR drivers walk slowly to their cars to slow down their nervous systems, encouraging the musicians to do the same on walks between takes.
“Jerry has been a huge musical hero to all of us,” Leslie said. “Getting to spend all that time in the studio was the thrill of a lifetime. We all knew we were in really good hands with him musically going in, but what I didn’t realize was how good of a hang Jerry is. He was filling up any moment of dead air with a great story to break the ice.” On tour, the band’s camaraderie is just as apparent as it is in the studio, or as it was in the group’s music video for “Next Rodeo.” After Tuttle catches her no-good, fictitious cowboy boyfriend cheating, the band collectively decides to kidnap him and give him what for — although, of course, all in good fun. They say they haven’t (yet) had to kidnap anybody on tour, but that doesn’t mean the on-the-road lifestyle isn’t taxing. Kyle Tuttle said he missed a connecting flight the night before the album release show and was up all night driving to make it in time. “I was checking into the hotel and the sun was already up,” Kyle Tuttle said. “There was orange sky and some palm trees. I thought, ‘Damn it’s pretty. I sure wish I was in bed right now.’” While it’s a good time to be in Golden Highway, it’s also just a great time to be in bluegrass, the group says. All agreed that bluegrass is having a moment, and were happy to report multiple sold-out festivals with lineups that include country, folk, bluegrass, blues, and other roots artists. Means said it’s incredible to see bluegrass acts opening for bigger country artists, because it means the genre is a real selling point.
“I wonder if it’s a backlash to how crazy everything is with technology,” Keith-Hynes thinks aloud. “People want something real. Nothing is more real than people playing acoustic music on acoustic instruments.” Tuttle said the internet has also really leveled the playing field, making more music accessible to all kinds of fans. Golden Highway has had its own viral moments on TikTok, the short-form video social media app. Earlier this year Tuttle posted a 2022 Halloween clip that has now hit nearly one million views; inspired by a track on the new album, “Alice in the Bluegrass,” the band members are each dressed as a character from Alice in Wonderland, with Tuttle starring as the Queen of Hearts. “It took people by surprise to see this bluegrass band playing Jefferson Airplane in full Alice in Wonderland dress,” Tuttle said.  From: https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/its-a-great-time-to-be-on-the-golden-highway/

Marilyn Manson - Dope Hat

Marilyn Manson music videos

Get Your Gunn
The music video, directed by Rod Chong, features Manson performing in a damp "attic-like" scene, intertwined by footage of band members and two feisty teenage girls. It did not receive much video play.

Lunchbox
The "Lunchbox" video, directed by Richard Kern, features a boy played by six year old Robert Pierce, whose vocals were also used in the song, being bullied by two older students. The boy goes home, fed up with the way he is treated, and shaves his head and prepares for any future retaliation against the bullies with his metal lunchbox. The boy later goes to the rollerskating rink where Marilyn Manson is performing. The boy gives Manson his lunchbox, which Manson lights on fire and parades around. The video ends with the boy staring into the burning lunchbox. It is one of the few music videos with Manson performing without wearing makeup.

Dope Hat
The "Dope Hat" music video, directed by Tom Stern, features the band riding a boat through a psychedelic tunnel directly inspired by the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which happens to be one of Manson's favorite films. In the video, the band members perform with many children and people resembling the "Oompa-Loompas" from Willy Wonka aboard the boat.

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
The video for "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was filmed in a partially burned down church in about two days, most of which was spent trying to obtain footage of Manson riding the pig (as seen in the video). This video helped launch Marilyn Manson and director Dean Karr's careers into the spotlight.

The Beautiful People
Directed by Floria Sigismondi, the video for "The Beautiful People" has been described as "the creepiest of creepy videos". Filmed in the abandoned Gooderham and Worts distillery in Toronto, Canada, the clip depicts the band performing the song in a classroom-like setting adorned with medical prostheses and laboratory equipment. Intercut with performance footage are scenes of Manson on stilts, wearing a long gown-like costume, aviator goggles, and prosthetic makeup, making him appear bald and grotesquely tall. After being placed in this costume by similarly-attired attendants, he appears at a window to a cheering crowd in a scene reminiscent of a fascist rally, and later stands in the center of a circle while people march around him performing the Hitler salute. Other fast-cut scenes include extreme closeups of crawling earthworms; mannequin heads and hands; the boots of people marching; shots of the individual band members in bizarre costumes; and Manson in back and neck braces and a dental device that retracts the flesh of his mouth with hooks, exposing metallic teeth.

From: https://manson.wiki/Marilyn_Manson_music_videos#Dope_Hat