Dust Mountain - Holy Equinox

Since the late ‘60s, Finland has had one of the most diverse, eclectic and genuinely exciting music scenes in Europe, and much of that has been brought to a more global audience through the work of Svart Records. The fact that Svart were given their own showcase at this year’s Roadburn Redux festival was testament to the quality of their roster, but if there was one band who stood out that weekend it was the hitherto unknown cosmic folk outfit Dust Mountain. Featuring members of Oranssi Pazuzu, Cats of Transnistria, Hexvessel, Death Hawks and Dark Buddha Rising, they brought a broad spectrum of talents together for a set that was earthy, gorgeous and sometimes unsettling. This month sees the release of their debut album Hymns For Wilderness and in celebration, David Bowes spoke to founders, siblings and prolific creators Henna and Toni Hietamäki to discuss the creation of this singular work of outsider folk rock.

E&D: How are things in Tampere?

Henna: Toni is in Tampere and I live in Helsinki. The rest of the band live in Tampere so I travel from Helsinki for band practice.

E&D: Was the runup to Roadburn Redux quite tough work then?

Henna: It was different, actually. We had our own camera team and lighting technician, sound technician. We rented our own space as we had the opportunity to decide where we would be filming it and who we are working with but also it was a big production to do ourselves. Still, I’m really happy to see how it came out.

E&D: Was that space quite comfortable for you, then? Were you already familiar with it?

Henna: I hadn’t played there before but I think Toni had, with Oranssi Pazuzu. It’s a really nice space, I really liked it. We didn’t use the stage itself, we just used the hall where the audience would be so the camera crew would have more room to move around.

E&D: Did Walter contact you himself for that or was it largely handled through Svart?

Toni: It was mainly part of the Svart Sessions so initially it was Tomi (Pulkki, Svart Records founder) who suggested it but it had to be approved by Walter and we were happy to be included in that.

Henna: We were happy that they had the trust in us to do something like that because we hadn’t released anything at that point. It was kind of a world premiere for the band so it’s nice that they took a leap of faith in the end.

E&D: Did you enjoy having your material out there in a live setting before any kind of official release or was it more nerve-wracking?

Toni: I think it was a nice thing to do because obviously there aren’t many shows happening right now. There will be some soon but at that point, live shows were pretty much impossible. That, at least, was very comforting to do and it all worked very well with our music. It was very pleasant for us though we did do a few very small shows in Helsinki and Tampere prior to that. It was our first for a wider audience though.

Henna: It was very nice for us to get the chance to show people what we had been working on in secret, give us a chance to play in a nice space, and practice for that too. It gave us something to focus on because it had been understandably quiet on that front.

E&D: How long have the two of you been working on this material?

Toni: It has been quite a long time, but I can’t even remember how long it has been since Henna and I came up with our first song ideas.

Henna: I was shocked as recently I was going through my phone, looking for old photos, and I realised that Toni and I first got together at our practice space five years ago. I remember that was when we made the first songs that are on the album. So yes, it has been a while – slow progress.

Toni: Yeah, we have not been in a hurry. We wanted to do it properly and to find the right people to play in the band so that it will feel like a real band. Eventually things came together very nicely but it took some time.

Henna: There have been long pauses in the middle but always when we decided to get active again and practice with the band, it’s been really nice. Things tend to fall in to place and the whole thing seems to work effortlessly.

E&D: The full band work together so well. How did you both come to decide on the line-up?

Henna: Well, the drummer and guitarist have been playing with Toni before in different bands.

Toni: We go way back with both of them. I have been playing with Jukka (Rämänen, drums) in Atomikylä, and he’s in Dark Buddha Rising so we have known each other for very many years. Pauliina (Lindell, guitars/vocals) and I played in Pauliina’s band Vuono, and also have known each other for many years, but we didn’t have a bass player so that was hard to find. We knew Riku (Pirttiniemi, bass)’s band Death Hawks and it was very close to what we wanted to do. Also, he’s a very talented musician, not just a bass player. We are really happy that he also joined the band when we asked.

Henna: I used to sing in the same choir with Pauliina when we were children. We’re from the same small town, we have a long history of singing harmonies together so it was very nice that Toni suggested that Pauliina could be a guitarist in the band, because she has a lovely voice also.

E&D: You’ve stated that the lyrics for the album come from a mixture of stories, folk tales and personal beliefs. How did you strike that balance?

Henna: I usually like to write things that don’t have just one meaning but are multi-dimensional and can be interpreted in different ways. The meanings also change when I’m singing in different places. I’m really interested in folklore and old traditions; pagan-rooted Finnish traditions that have been mostly forgotten. I’ve also been interviewing some shamans working in Finland and I’m really appreciative of their thoughts but there’s also this playfulness. The lyrics are not only traditional neofolk but there are also stories and fantasies that are metaphors and not so strict.

E&D: Does the video for ‘Holy Equinox’, which is such a beautifully surreal piece, tie in with the stories or rituals that you are discussing on the record?

Henna: The movements of the girls in the video are loosely and playfully based in different midsummer spells, interpreted by video makers Tekla Valy and Tereza Holubova and choreographer Lotta Nuppola ‒ who is our sister. I’m really interested in these old traditions that are related with seasonal changes, and phases of the sun; these festivals and traditions that are still a part of our culture, but their origins are often forgotten.

E&D: You come from Tampere, which is largely known as an industrial city. Looking at it from that viewpoint, do you think there has been a recent push back towards folk roots and nature?

Henna: I think it’s a rising trend that people are seeking ways to deal with climate change and the situation of the world, the direction we are going and I think people are getting more interested in those basic, important things in life.

Toni: Yeah, it might be a counter-reaction to the industrialisation and technology surrounding us but I think also that people have a natural draw towards the mystical. Traditional Christian religion is not very widely popular in Finland anymore and I think people are starting to get drawn into these older ways, or at least get more interested in old ways, and how the relationship is between man and nature.

E&D: Two interesting, and telling, artists mentioned in relation to your music are Pentangle and Fairport Convention. How much influence have those artists had on you?

Toni: I really enjoyed the soft sound of that music and how that is instrumented. I think those bands were very innovative and we’re not trying to reproduce that same thing but to take something from that era and use it in this moment, in our own way

Henna: I double that – wonderful bands and a very great inspiration.

E&D: To me, it feels like you’ve taken that sound to a darker place. Is that the modernity seeping in?

Toni: It might be. Of course, Pentangle has some dark songs also but maybe we are drawn to the more gothic side of that.

Henna: Yes, you need some danger beside the beauty.

Toni: Also, there are quite celebratory moments in there so it’s not like it’s mournful. I think it’s more celebratory.

E&D: You’ve been working on this material so long, but how did it actually come together? Was there a concentrated recording period or has it been done in bits and pieces over the years?

Toni: I think it’s mostly that we are just very slow. When we work together on music, Henna and I, I feel it comes very naturally. We have a good chemistry and come up with things very effortlessly, and it’s quite fast, but then to arrange band practice and studio time, it’s a bit complicated because all of us are playing in many bands, and there are time schedules and other practical things like that. When we get together, though, it’s very effortless and the record was done in that way. We went to a fine recording place in Tonehaven with Tom Brooke, a small studio space in the woods.

Henna: It used to be a barn, it’s very nice.

Toni: Then we just captured all the songs that we normally played live and then did some overdubbing on that. We tried to preserve the natural flow of these things in the recording.

Henna: The overdubbing and the mixing process was quite long. Overall, from when we started and went to record the basic tracks to when we were finished, it was maybe half a year? That’s not long! I don’t know what’s normal.

Toni: It depends on who you are comparing it to. If it’s Guns ‘n Roses, then it’s not long.

E&D: Is this the first project that the two of you have worked on together?

Toni: Actually, yes.

Henna: We’ve been asked to play together for family events but that’s about it. We’ve just been together for fun, not seriously, before this.

Toni: I think it was just a matter of the timing being not good for this. I’ve wanted to do music with Henna but we’ve always been doing our own stuff separately. I don’t know why it happened now.

Henna: I’m really glad that it happened just now because I think that now, we are old enough to work together as siblings.

Toni: Yes, where we can not argue like sisters!

Henna: We are now professionals!

E&D: Toni, you said that the two of you have a good chemistry together. Is that because you are similar or is more of a contrast?

Henna: Personally, I like everything that Toni does. I might have some suggestions if I want to take a melody somewhere else in some part but I appreciate his talents. Like he said, it’s usually quite effortless for the two of us. I think we have the same taste and both want to push things. We are both ambitious, though I think Toni is maybe more musically ambitious than I am.

Toni: Nooo…

Henna: I mean, neither of us want to make generic musical structures. We want to try to make creative choices.

Toni: I think we have similar tastes in aesthetics. We do like some different things but I think that is only a good thing in terms of complementing each other. I think we also have quite clear roles when we write songs. I mostly write some guitar lines and chord progressions and then Henna comes up with the vocal melodies. Both of us come up with what makes us feel good and then we try to make it work together. It’s pretty much that simple.

E&D: Were you both involved with the mixing and recording of the album? It has this wonderfully warm, very rich quality to it.

Toni: Niko (Lehdontie), who is also the guitarist in my other band Oranssi Pazuzu, did the mixing. He’s a really good guy for that kind of natural sound with cosmic overtones. He has a taste for that kind of stuff and is really good with effects, things like that. We worked really closely with him but he did all the technical work himself.

Henna: I think the overall production is a lot of Toni’s handiwork. The layering of the organ brings a lot to the sound.

Toni: Yes, I did quite a lot of the stuff for the arrangements, like the mellotron and keyboard, that kind of stuff. Then we just handed the whole mess to the mixing guy.

E&D: So, what’s next on the agenda? Henna, you mentioned some live shows in Finland.

Henna: Yes, there’s still restrictions but it looks like we can do a couple of shows when the album comes out. It would be nice to play a lot of shows but it’s still in the process.

Toni: Of course, we are trying to do many shows when the album is released but it is impossible to say just now how many we can do with the situation in the world right now. We are also trying to write some more songs but it is hard to say when they will be finished, Maybe five years from now if you go with the previous timeline! Maybe earlier than that though.

Henna: I’m curious to see how the album is received, that will affect how many shows we can play and where.

Toni: I’m very happy about how the album turned out and I’m very excited to hear how people are receiving the music.

From: https://echoesanddust.com/2021/10/dust-mountain-voices-from-the-wilderness/

Mother's Cake - One Of These Days

Advanced music and powerful dynamics, Austrian three-piece Mother’s Cake are set for big things. With elements of Rage Against the Machine and dollop of 90s melodic grunge they’re at a pivotal stage where bands either become big or become footnotes. Talking to Trebuchet after their clamorous European support slot with Limp Bizkit, they’re already playing to big crowds, but what do they make of it all? Where does it go from here?
Sprawled on couches and ramshackle chairs in a Brixton Academy dressing room amongst the press teams and management cautioned not to smoke, three tired musicians awaited the barrage of questions. Up close Yves Krismer (Guitar Vocals), Benedikt Trenkwalder (Bass) and Jan Haußels (Drums) are quite young looking and, having played for almost a decade in various groups and guises, have earned a maturity when it comes to how they make music. This is continental rock, confident in itself, sounding good, but with a hesitance. This is England. Is it really Ground Zero for wider careers? We often forget the access and range the English language affords. The language of record companies, international tours and musical history, is the lingua franca of ‘next level’. But is there a level 2 for this band, and if so, how are Mother’s Cake going to make their future for themselves? Does the answer lie in the past?
“We started in 2009. We just met and started to jam. We didn’t have lyrics until around 2013. We did sing before that but it was a fantasy, like Sigur Ros, but the crowd wanted more. It came to point where we had to have lyrics. I think we are now in stage where we are changing how we write songs. We don’t have an idea how we’ll do it, but we’re trying different things. The first record was jamming. We jammed a whole lot, it developed over almost two years. So the second record (Love the Filth) came from that. We worked it out at home and then pre-produced it and worked it out together in the rehearsal room. The third we’re working on is where we’re trying to work out what we’re doing. The other records had a selection that we liked and we put them on the record and hoped for the best With this record we want to make a record that fits a mood or fits a style (as a whole). When you are three people everyone has to do as much as they can. You don’t have a guy in the back who’s just plodding along or whatever, playing one note every half hour. On the other side, what makes us love playing in this band is that all of us have so much space to do different things and to play to the max. But now we are having fun reducing ourselves and minimising what we do, getting older and all that shit (laughs). But it’s fun trying to reduce.”
Great warbles of noise, huge strokes of sound painting sonic abstraction. All with a syncopated drum and bass (not the dance music) workout. The vivid colours of earlier work have been tempered with a force. The change is subtle, and suggest a move to becoming something else. Perhaps more psychedelic? “No, actually we’re getting harder. The first record was way more funky. We’re a modern hybrid band I guess. With Filth there is a concept there in some way but it’s really just about the concept of filth. It’s as simple as that (or not). Gojira is basically a big lump of filth but is also lovable, so… love the filth. It’s super basic for us. Love being dirty. Loving sounding dirty. Not everything is supposed to be perfect. Especially on stage. It’s the x factor!”
In 2010 Mother’s Cake won a national music competition called Local Heroes Austria. Propelled into a wider field of attention (not least for the competence of their individual members, who won commendations for their talents) they released their debut Creation’s Finest in 2012. Yans and Benedikt’s previous band Brainwashed was rumoured to have toured with bands like Le Tigre and Velvet Revolver and, no strangers to the peccadilloes of the road, they can recover the situation when things go south.  “People love it. We’ve had plenty of shows where we played it pretty perfect but people didn’t really move. But then we’ve had other shows where it was a bit weird and people preferred it. Take tonight for instance, when the bass monitor died. It added something to the show, everyone gets super focussed when something like that happens. If you commit to the filth then you can have a good time. One time the bass effects stopped working completely, so he just had a clean channel, but it was at a festival so we had to do it. So we played about one note and the drums fell off the riser! Everything went wrong but people really got behind us. “ Mother’s Cake’s performance before Limp Bizkit was strong. Despite the equipment issues they played a solid set, jumping on monitors, drawing our the drama of slower passages, and by the applause, winning a few new fans.
The album’s out in October (Love the Filth October 16th), we’ve got a tour going, perhaps, but we can’t speak about it too much at the moment. We’re also working on film project with Austrian TV called Artists in Residence and we’re making this Spinal Tap-influenced mockumentary. On one level we’re basically just playing as a band, but we have a character called Johnny who is this 80s rock guy stuck (hilariously) in the past. He’s actually a friend of ours from California so it doesn’t sound fake. He’s like super stuck in the 80s and trying to find the rock and roll in Austria. That’s coming out in September. People will be able to find it on YouTube. Also, we have a live record out called Off The Beaten Track which is basically Creation’s Finest but played very differently live. It’s also on YouTube. It’s about 45 minutes long and has a bunch of guest musicians on it. Normally live in between songs we continue the structures and take it somewhere else. Supporting, we weren’t able to do this. But on Off the Beaten Track you get to hear some of things that we do. For instance we had Ikey Owens (Isaiah Randolph “Ikey” Owens) playing with us, who played with the Mars Volta and also Jack White. He died unfortunately of a heart attack. But he’s on our first record.
Discussing the videos, movies, and tour footage they’ve released, it sounded like Mother’s Cake was interested in the visual aspect of performance. When they’re headlining I wondered whether they put on more of a show?  If the tour sells well we bring a lot! We always have a show in Innsbruck where we live, where we try and do something special. At one gig we had an elephant, sometimes we have a giant vagina and we all come out of the vagina. (Making the Gojira video) We came together on that idea but the one before also had a successful video (‘Soul Prison’). In that video we captured the idea in a day and luckily we found a room in a disused building that had all the different furniture. We started to put it all on the roof and paint it all white. It all happened in one day. Off the Beaten Track we also did together. Our thing is to get people thinking ‘What the fuck?!’  From: https://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/love-being-dirty-loving-sounding-dirty-interview-mothers-cake/

Black Moth - Looner

This weekend, Leeds-via-London stoner metallers Black Moth will play their final shows. After breaking onto the scene in 2012 with debut full-length The Killing Jar, they harnessed the power of the occult and the morose with a healthy dose of Black Sabbath, Nick Cave and Uncle Acid to become one of the brightest lights in the British stoner/doom scene. However, such is life, circumstances didn't work in their favour. Their final album, Anatomical Venus, was recorded a year before it was eventually released, which ultimately slowed the band's momentum – leaving over three years between records. "The album was done but we weren’t out there promoting it," vocalist Harriet Hyde tells Kerrang! from the comfort of a north London pub. "Although we did some really nice things off the back of it. We toured with L7, played with Sleep, which for us were ultimates. Hearing Donita (Sparks, L7 vocalist) say to the crowd that I was their frozen embryo child (laughs)… It genuinely made me cry.” Couple the delay with the fact that Black Moth's lineup are split across England – two members living in London, and three living in Leeds – made touring and rehearsal a trying ordeal.
"I quit so many jobs because we’d been offered a tour, and you can only do that for so long. What’s sad is you’ve got five people who have this incredible chemistry for making music together, but it all ends up being frustrating because you can’t scrape two hours together on a Friday night." Logistically, it became impossible to carry on. Harriet herself was burning out, using every available holiday she had to go on tour, she never found time to actually rest.  "There was a heartbreaking moment where we were playing Vienna on tour and I was desperate to go see Vienna. Did I see it? Did I fuck!" she laughs. "I saw the back of a van then a venue, then we left." Ultimately, Harriet wrote the band an email, calling time on Black Moth. Admitting it was a hard pill to swallow initially, the rest of the band agreed that the band should leave it at the three albums they're proud of, instead of "pissing it away and falling out." Here, we talk to Harriet about the legacy of Black Moth, what she's learned, and what she hopes for the future of the music industry.

Even though it was a choice, you must be gutted it's over.


“Anatomical Venus said what I wanted to say. It was an offering that was a very woman-centric, feminist album that we made. Until that point we just happened to be women in a band. It was important to do it because I think a lot of people were like, ‘God, why are people even mentioning that we have female genitals, what does that have to do with it?’ But also, I do think as a woman you have a different experience to a man in any situation, and in a very male-dominated world you want to show that you can do as men do. But also your experience is different by way of being a woman, so I wanted to make a record that did properly respond to that. There was a very immediate response where there were a lot more teenage girls rocking up at the shows, coming up and thanking me for the lyrics and inspiration. That’s the point of owning what you’re doing as a woman, it’s not incidental.”

If you’re receiving such a strong reaction from fans, the logic isn’t to just stop.


“I started to find touring really difficult. I read a Leonard Cohen quote that I loved and seemed to hit the nail on the head, ‘Tours are like bullfighting, they’re a test of character every night.’ They bloody are! And women are cyclical, quite literally, so one night you might be ovulating and be like, ‘I’m the fucking queen of the world, I’m going to own this,’ but then you’re still on tour every night. But it’s the same for men and women. Putting yourself up there and performing on the days where you just want to be huddled in a ball started to feel very difficult. We all have our strong days and our mental health days, but you just have to get up there and do it anyway. We’re all in our 30s now, but the sad thing is that as musicians ripen and get better at what they do, life is also getting harder. You need to make a living. Everyone knows, but no-one talks about how it’s near enough impossible for bands. You’re touring with big bands and people think you’re in champagne hot tubs (laughs).”

Did you ever think it was going to be like that?


“The priority for us has always been about making the music we want to make. I don’t think we ever expected with the music we’re making to make millions, or even to make a living, but we weren’t even scraping by. The band was almost always operating at a loss and that’s not unusual at all. The bigger you get, the more outgoings you have. As life gets harder you need to support yourself, and you’re a musician alongside that, so it’s like a full-time job, but also your heart and soul’s in it. It’s a real testament to how important music is in life that people continue to do this. People do this until they’re rammed into the ground and penniless. I know people that’ve lost fiancées and given up so much, putting all their eggs in one basket and can’t make a living. That’s real. Fans need to know that musicians are real humans.”

Do you see yourself doing anything else musical?


“I think we’ll all do bits and pieces on a casual basis. Nico, our old guitarist, has a rockabilly/surf punk band called X-Ray Cat Trio and I’ve been doing a bit of singing on some doo-woppy tracks, which is ace. I’ve started doing dark versions of Everley Brothers’ songs with friends, just getting back to the roots of it all. Then we'll see what happens.”

Is there anything you wish you’d have done differently?


“I think I’d have been even bolder. It took me a while to land in my own skin, just through growing up. I have a much bolder sense of who I am now, I found it a lot harder when I was younger – finding how to present myself onstage as a woman. I went through all these different phases of glamming up, then suddenly feeling quite exposed by reviews pinning me as some kind of sexy frontwoman. So then I went full grunge to hide myself away… Maybe I would have just said, ‘Fuck it’ earlier on and just been who I wanted to be. I think this is why I’m excited for the future and I’m happy to hand the torch to other women coming through. We’re living through really exciting times. We’re not even thinking in binary terms about men and women any more. It’s amazing to see more trans people in rock’n’roll. I have a lot of hope for the next generation.”

No regrets?


“No regrets. We did what we did. I think we appealed to the weirdos, the real weirdos. I went to see John Waters earlier this week, I’m a massive fan, and I’m just reminded of how in awe I was of how he made art that really celebrated the weird, the perverted and the odd. And that’s what I wanted our songs to do. Some of our songs are really weird and perverted and dark and odd (laughs). Maybe that’s what we’ll be remembered for.”

It's a shame you didn’t make more money doing so...


“(Laughs) Yeah. It’s a weird thing to say because it’s not romantic. People like to think of their rock stars and musicians as being tortured poets doing it for the love of it, and I’m sorry, but we’ve got to fucking live like anyone else! We’re living through weird times where music has become an unlimited free resource. You don’t have to pay for it anymore. That’s great in some ways, of course, but people have to realise that a lot of musicians can’t afford to do what we want to do. We’re not asking to be Bono in a mansion. It would just be quite nice to carve a life for yourself that supports your creativity in making music alongside being able to live. And have solid mental health because we’re not exhausted and constantly trying to achieve something in a hostile environment.”

What change would you like to see in the industry to keep bands going longer?


“If I had the answer I would probably be a millionaire right now. Everyone is asking, ‘How does the music industry recover from this strange situation where the product isn’t the actual music, it’s merch and live?’ I wish I had an answer. In other countries the government invests in the arts more, there’s more support, more funding. But fans, please buy the records. Try before you buy, but buy it. Or buy the merch if you don’t want the records. Understand that bands are working bloody hard to do what they do, and if you like something then support it. Nothing in this life is really free. Our time isn’t free. Our energy isn’t free.”

From: https://www.kerrang.com/a-farewell-to-the-perverted-darkness-of-black-moth

Tibetan Miracle Seeds - Ideas

Tibetan Miracle Seeds are a new psychedelic rock band from Scotland, and the latest signing by upcoming UK psych record label Fuzzed Up & Astromoon Records. Their music leans heavily towards Anton Newcombe-ian psychedelica, so you better get your sitar and acoustic guitar ready before joining in with these soothing chants. There’s definitely some of that Brian Jonestown Massacre/Dandy Warhols fuzzy laziness going on here, but although Tibetan Miracle Seeds luckily also know how to write some ear worms for your brain to remember them by, they’ll never end up on top of the tops any time soon. Which is fine by them probably, let them emanate their incense heavy fumes from the periphery for a while. Their special edition vinyl records are long since gone, so I guess they have found their tribe. You know, those people who just know what a Tibetan Miracle Seed is, even without ever Googling it. Or an Inca Missile for that matter…that’s exactly the kind of tribe that will put these miracle seeds in their pipe and smoke it until they melted all their wellies.  Personally I would have liked the album to be a bit more varied, and the highlights for me are therefore the songs where TMS really kick it off with some extra added grit where they almost land in stoner rock territory. A song like Melted Welly for instance does this terrifically. Otherwise Inca Missiles is a pretty cool debut album with a consistent sound, some real tunes, and killer artwork. Psychheads know what to do.
I asked main man, singer/songwriter and guitarist Jack McAfee to introduce his band, and this is what he had to say:

Hi guys, how have you been these past two years of ominous dread?

Busy writing and recording lots of music! It has been a weird time but also not having anything to do has been a good incentive to make music. 

Can you tell us who you are, where you come from, and what you love most in the world?

A humble goat farmer from Dundee, Scotland. I love my goats more than anything.

Can you explain “Tibetan Miracle Seeds” and “Inca Missiles”? I have pictures in my head, but I’m sure they don’t come close to the truth!

The pictures in your head are closer to the truth than anything I could ever tell you.
 
These are our absolute heroes in life and music: George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Ken Kesey, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Noam Chomsky

If your lives depended on it, which record would you be able to agree on as a band as the holy grail in music?

It’s not even my all time favourite record, but if aliens were to visit Earth and demanded we show them the greatest piece of music ever made, I’d give them The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

How did you determine your sound as a band? Was it a conscious decision or a natural one? And how does decision making go in general for TMS?

Really it’s determined by whatever bands and artists are currently being listened to. When you hear a song that makes you feel a certain way, and then asking the question, what is it about that song that made me love it so much, or moved me like it did? It could be a chord sequence, a particular instrument, the vocal performance, a cool riff – any element of the song that makes you feel something. Unexpected moments or changes really do something for me too.

What message would you like to convey as a band?

Save the bees.

What are your immediate- and future goals? What would be the ultimate achievement?

Immediate – play a gig. Future – go on tour. Ultimate – Make the greatest album of all time

What should the Weirdo Shrine readers do immediately after reading this?

Call your loved ones and tell them to listen to Tibetan Miracle Seeds. And read that book you’ve been meaning to read but haven’t made time for.

From: https://weirdoshrine.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/tibetan-miracle-seeds-inca-missiles-2021-fuzzed-up-astromoon-records/

Dolly Parton & Nickel Creek - Shine

There are few artists of the 20th century as decorated or prolific as Dolly Parton. She has written over 3,000 songs, 26 of which charted at #1, and has won 11 Grammy Awards. The seventh Grammy she won was Best Female Country Vocal Performance for this cover of the 90s hit “Shine,” part of her 2001 album, Little Sparrow. Parton sped up the tune a bit and replaced the grunge with her signature country twang. She was joined by the band Nickel Creek, who put on a bluegrass clinic during each breakdown. They make the tune their own through fierce musicality, while maintaining the prayerful themes of Collective Soul’s original.
The lyrics themselves are described by Collective Soul’s guitarist, Dean, as “basically a prayer.” Their front-man Ed Roland wrote the song in just one night, he told Songfacts: I always had the “Shine” riff, and I thought, “That’s a cool riff.” Then I came home and spent the night with my parents and Dean, who is 10 years younger than me — I didn’t even know he played guitar. So he was playing guitar, and I joined in. I just showed him the riff, and I was like, “I need to finish this.” So, I literally just wrote it right there, with Dean, sitting in my parents’ living room. I didn’t think anything about it. I probably wrote it in 1989, and it wasn’t out until 1994. He also told Songfacts that the lyrics may have been inspired by “This Little Light of Mine,” a song he had sung many times growing up as the son of a Baptist minister. Collective Soul released “Shine” as their first single from their debut album, Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, in 1994.  From: https://aleteia.org/2018/05/28/dolly-partons-cover-of-shine-is-a-bluegrass-masterpiece  

Lykantropi - Vestigia

There are many threats facing our world today. Some are man-made (climate change, for example), while other dangers manifest as actual men and women. But is there any threat less talked about than that facing Sweden today? The time vortex seemingly whirling across that Scandinavian country, spitting out 70s alt-rock bands left, right and center? From Witchcraft, Horisont, and Graveyard to my subject today, Lykantropi, and, let’s be honest, recent Opeth too, there is a significant number of them around. This is not a negative per se, as much of the bluesy rock these groups turn out is enjoyable, but should it concern us? I mean, how much 70s rock can the present actually endure? Could it be Lykantropi’s sophomore effort, Spirituosa, that finally tips all of Sweden back into the past?
Possibly, quite frankly. Like their 2017 self-titled debut, Spirituosa is pure nostalgia, from the music itself to the lyrical subject matter. From the first chord of opener “Wild Flowers,” there is no doubt what these Swedes are about. And to be fair, what Lykantropi do, they do very well. We’re talking 70s bluesy rock, with melodic leads and groovy basslines, layered harmonies including flutes—and why the devil not?—all providing a platform for clean English and Swedish vocals. As to the subject matter, Spirituosa deal in whimsy, in old folk and fairy tales. I think it’s worth being quite clear upfront that there is very little that is metal, or let alone angry, about this record. This is a band that cites the “sweet harmonies” of The Mamas & The Papas, as one of their influences. I don’t personally see this as a negative (and I have been known to do a very poor version of “California Dreamin'” at karaoke) but it’s important that everyone is on the same page here.
And I have to say, it’s a page I increasingly liked. On my first listen—both to Sprituosa and its slightly rougher-edged predecessor—I found myself nodding along to the bass line and pricking my ears up to occasional harmonies on the vocals, particularly the female vocals (which I’m reasonably sure are delivered by the brilliantly named My Shaolin, though credits on the album are hard to come by) but not much more. Put on the spot, I would likely have paused, nodded sagely and then said, “yeah, it was fine.” Much like Coven’s Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls, which I suspect members of Lykantropi know well, I found that on further spins, significant parts of the album had actually wormed their way into my brain. Indeed, Spirituosa is more layered than I appreciated on my first listen. The multiple vocals (three, I believe, in band leader Martin Östlund, his fellow guitarist Pär Nordwall and the aforementioned My), coupled with psychedelic guitars and the flautist, all work surprisingly well. There is also structure to the album that carries you along, while highlighting certain parts, notably the starkly delicate “Songbird” and the groove-laden “Wild Flowers” and “Vestigia.”  From: https://www.angrymetalguy.com/lykantropi-spirituosa-review/

2 Foot Yard - Crisis

Any band with a name that looks like somebody’s email password instantly arouses my suspicions — probably because clunky alphanumerical strings seemingly composed of someones ‘porn’ name and the year they were born were irritatingly prevalent among pop and dance bands of the early 90s. The number 2 was a repeat offender. In 1993 a euro trash rave band called 2 Unlimited held up the airwaves with the hit “No Limits.” Then there were Boys II Men. There was 2Pac.
Perhaps it’s just me, but 2 Foot Yard also has the whiff of a working title, like a loose confederation of Dutch DJs who got together for a couple of albums. But while they may be an ‘outfit’ of sorts, a vehicle for the talents of Marika Hughes (Charming Hostess, Vienna Teng), Shahzad Ismaily (too many to mention) and Carla Kihlstedt, they are no stuffed shirt. To name but a few of Ms. Kihlstedt’s projects: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (Mr. Bungle with violins), The Book of Knots (responsible for a compilation of scary portraits of rotten industrial towns), and a song cycle for the stage based around Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings. The last is particularly impressive when you consider the influence of another famous musical menagerie: Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals - which, while being the source of as many radio friendly soundbites as any pop album, is experimental, cacophonous in parts.
If I may extend the analogy to 2 Foot Yard themselves, the eponymous “Borrowed Arms” is the radio friendly equivalent of the Carnival’s ‘swan’ (song), a perfect gem of chamber pop that would be unpleasant only to someone in a really bad mood. On the other hand the album throws up tracks like “Crisis”, which is shouty and abrasive. Overall though, Borrowed Arms and 2 Foot Yard are an experiment within the parameters of pop. Carla Kihlstedt implied as much in an interview after a gig in Amsterdam (the home of techno I might add). The band’s tiny 2 Foot Yard was that limited space in which the artists were hanging their work, leaning their stepladders, paint cans and so on. Although the sound was lush, the band members were few, and the arrangements were for songs of pop length, which could be reproduced easily on stage without the whole of Polyphonic Spree in tow.
The series of live videos with interviews are perhaps a more accurate glimpse of what the band can do than the album itself. But this is not to say Borrowed Arms isn’t great, it’s just so clearly created on the white paper that neutral ‘space’ estate agents and gallery attendants are so fond of pointing their clipboards at. It’s as if the record can never be more than a brochure for the live performance. Perhaps chamber pop is faulty anyway in it’s attempt marry the incompatible — a bold sketch of a pop song and something consummately ‘finished’. Is it a fundamentally pointless exercise? Or is the genre like classical music — put down on record for convenience, while it’s taken for granted that most music buffs would rather go to their church, the concert hall.
Despite all that’s been said though, 2 Foot Yard do transmit a rough and readiness, and even a kind of wartime bawdiness (see the provocative “Red-rag & Pink-flag”, based on E. E. Cummings’ poem) which appears to be born out of a life lived permanently on the road. Carla Kihlstedt is described on her myspace as “a wayward waif wandering the wide world, happily lost somewhere between the music conservatory, the arboretum, and the road house.” This excursion into fancy has the potential to be irritating, but it’s self deprecating enough to be endearing. In the Dutch interview, Carla seemed rueful about her tendency to end up with a band flanking her. I imagine her idea of normality must be pretty strange, but her talk of popping up in various projects as if she were a circus brat continually — but unsuccessfully trying to strike out on her own — seemed to make deliberate light of her prolific achievements. Anyway, what came across clearly was that the work of creating and recording music was more important to the members of 2 Foot Yard than where it originated.
Indeed there’s a touch of old fashioned socialism about the band, exemplified in the way they come on stage wearing workaday gear. Musicians, after all, must sweat a lot under those lights. 2 Foot Yard are old hands, ‘comrades’ skillful enough to make the best of any limitations imposed on them, even by themselves. They have the reliability of classically trained musicians and the rakishness of rock entertainers. Their accomplished album may not represent the full warmth of their live sound, but its influences (Klezmer and European Jazz) and its concerns (the restless heart, the cabaret bar, the sadness of settled life) record their trek through music, glamorous or world weary, and sometimes a bit of both.  From: https://www.tinymixtapes.com/delorean/2-foot-yard-borrowed-arms

Drug Couple - 2027

Brooklyn indie duo Drug Couple is a band marked by a series of contradictory facets. The band’s members, Miles and Becca (themselves a couple) are willing to talk about their past projects, while hesitant to delve into the specific details (or even provide their surnames). Becca is ever the optimist, while Miles is a pessimist to his core. Most notably, their forthcoming EP seeks to reconcile the process of finding love and romantic companionship in a time when the End seems increasingly Nigh.
After sitting down with Miles and Becca in their Bed-Stuy apartment last weekend, however, I came to understand that these opposing parts represent a sort of harmony, an element key to understanding the band’s sound and ethos. Miles and Becca find that their respective personalities provide a necessary balance to their home life, and are able to recognize their music and relationship as something beautiful that exists despite our increasingly precarious political climate. Following the release of their debut EP Little Hits, I interviewed Drug Couple to better understand their relationship, their politics, and what we can expect from their forthcoming sophomore effort, Choose Your Own Apocalypse.
 
Q: So the two of you met at Brooklyn recording studio The CRC, where Miles was working as a producer for Becca’s old band. Can you tell me about that meeting, and how your relationship progressed. Did the music come before your relationship, or vice-versa?

A: Miles: The music definitely came before the relationship. Becca was in a band with my old next-door neighbor. I hadn’t seen him for years, and one day he showed up at the studio and played some demos, and I was like, “Oh, I see what you’re trying to do here.” But what he was playing me didn’t have Becca on it at all.

Becca: The demos had a previous lead singer on them. So we came in to the CRC, did some demos—

Miles: And I was like, “Oh my god, this is really cool, I’m really into it.” And what I was into is what she was bringing to the band. So part of us working together was convincing Becca she was a songwriter.

Becca: I had been writing songs for a long time, but I didn’t flex that muscle a ton, and didn’t really think of myself in those terms. And Miles really encouraged me to occupy that space. As soon as we started working together, we really clicked on a creative level. From early on it was clear that we had this really great collaborative relationship.

Miles: Not that long after, we broke for Thanksgiving, I stayed in New York and started mixing those demos while Becca went up to Vermont, and, y’know, I started forming a crush on this young woman who was writing these really compelling songs. So we had a production meeting and at some point I believe I said I had an “art crush” on you.

Becca: At that point, we realized we work so well together, we have a great collaboration, we should start a project ourselves. That was four years ago.

Miles: Since then we recorded a 16-song album, which we cut down into two EPs.

Q: Regarding the new EP, Little Hits, you described your music as “an attempt to showcase a dialogue between genders, as opposed to one side soliloquies.” Could you speak more to this point?

A: Miles: When we first started thinking about the idea, I was tired of bands comprised of men, specifically white men. I just no longer find it compelling, and I don’t know that it’s relevant. I also spent a lot of time as a solo artist, which is this incredibly insular, navel-gazing, staring-in-the-mirror thing. Which can be inspiring, but I feel like the end result of that is hating everything you make, because there’s too much of yourself in it.

Becca: I think doing things where it’s just you, it’s really easy to enter into this space where you either think, “Oh, this is really great” or, “Oh, is this terrible?” And I don’t feel that way when we write stuff because it’s not just me that’s reflected there, it’s you too — and I love you.

Miles: It creates this back and forth that feels more interesting, that has more staying power. I like it four years later, in a way that I don’t always like the things that I was thinking four years ago. And it’s richer.

Becca: And from a practical perspective, there’s two of us, and we have our own distinct perspectives, and sharing that space with Miles really elevates what I can do. It makes me better, I think it makes us both better.

Q: The sense I get is that this dynamic between the two of you amplifies your joint output.

A: Miles: Really, if I start a song on my own or Becca starts a song on her own and we run it through our filter by playing together, it comes out as a Drug Couple song.

Q: Besides the music, there’s another component of your relationship, in both the title of the EP, as well as the name of the band, which is drugs.

A: Becca: What!

Q: Yes, what a shocker. From your press release, you’ve indicated a mutual appreciation of LSD, especially given the cover art for the Little Hits EP is sheets of acid—

A: Miles: Well I will just say we think the name speaks for itself. I will say when we came up with the name it was very early on in the Trump era, before he was elected when Jeff Sessions was a person who was hanging around with him. We’re part of a culture that felt a little defiant about that. Like, yeah, y’know, we smoke a lot of pot. We’ll leave it at that.

Q: You cite your primary influences as Yo La Tengo, and Dinosaur Jr. Were there any non-musical influences or cultural touchstones that informed this project?

A: Miles: With naming the band Drug Couple, we’ve got a little bit of revolutionary in us. We have fairly radical politics; I’m very heavily invested in politics.

Becca: Miles still talks about running for office, and I feel like that’s something that could happen down the line. Drug Couple 2020.

Q: You’ve indicated a desire to release your music “before the impending armageddon,” and your new EP is billed on the premise of “finding someone special to share the end times with.” How does that shared existential dread affect your music?

A: Becca: For our second EP, Choose Your Own Apocalypse, we had started playing around with the idea of finding love in the time of the apocalypse right around the time that we had started writing together, which was around the 2016 election. So we have a lot of unreleased songs that kind of play on that theme and that concept. I think it just felt like a natural theme — it didn’t feel we were going to “explore” it, it was like, “Oh, everything’s going to shit.”

Miles: It’s like, “Oh, the climate’s getting worse and Donald Trump is gonna be president, so we’re not gonna make it, I guess.”

Becca: But amidst all that horrible shit, we met, and started doing something beautiful.

Miles: And at the same time, things have not necessarily gotten better; they seem to be getting worse. But we’re planning to get married this summer. I would like to start a family —the EP kind of deals with, how do you square that with the fact that, as a species, we’re kind of tying a bow on our own existence?

Q: That’s interesting, because It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of pessimism in your music.

A: Becca: Well, I wouldn’t say that we are pessimistic.

Miles: Which is funny, because I am definitely a pessimist. Which is the difference between the two of us, because I’m never disappointed—

Becca: And I’m an optimist, which means I’m always disappointed. And we meet somewhere in the middle.

Q:  One of my favorite tracks on Little Hits is “Be In 2,” because the narrative splits the difference between talking about a relationship and slightly cryptic, almost metaphysical phrases. What informed the writing of that song?

A: Becca: For that particular song, we sat down in my barn in Vermont and wrote it together, in that room, start to finish. We’re writing that way more and more. The actual content of the song was about the impossible things you ask someone that you’re in a relationship to do, that you ask of each other.

Miles: “Be In 2” is essentially about asking someone to be in two places. There’s an impossible aspect of love. It’s so grandiose, but we’re small people, and we’re flawed. And when you fall in love with someone, it’s this great thing that you’re asking someone to carry for you, and it’s preposterous. It’s an insane thing.

From: https://bedfordandbowery.com/2019/12/dont-be-surprised-if-musical-and-romantic-duo-drug-couple-runs-for-office-%EF%BB%BF/

Maryam Saleh - Ayez Awsal

In what could be described as a fresh and ingenious collaboration, Egyptian singer Maryam Saleh and Lebanese composer Zeid Hamdan came together to present Halawella, an album comprising of Arabic satirical lyrics and state-of-the-art electronic music. Initially meeting in 2010, Saleh and Hamdan swiftly began their collaboration, and experimented with this fusion of Arabic lyrics and electronic beats. Together, they performed an array of concerts inside the Arab world and abroad. Halawella is thus a continued collaboration between both musicians, albeit one that witnesses further experimentation. The album comprises of 10 songs, six of which are reinterpretations of Sheikh Imam and Ahmed Fouad Negm’s songs: Valerie Giscar D Estaing, Nixon Baba, Ghaba, Youyou, Halawella and Chal El Hawa. As for the other four songs, Watan El Akk, Eslahat, Emchi Ala Rimchi, Islahat, and Walaa Soda, they were written by Mido Zoheir, Omar Mostafa, Amr Qenawi, and Maryam Saleh. Saleh is also the music composer. The album is steeped in dark humor and rebelliousness and tugs at politics and life.
Maryam, a theatre artist herself, manifests her performance skills in Halawella, her second album after her debut release Mesh Baghanny (2012). She maintains her rejection of traditional music- her voice intensifies the black comedy characteristic of the album’s songs. Saleh chops the lyrics into little snippets, exhibiting a remarkable ability to play with her voice. Maryam began her music career with participations in Baraka band, which reinterpreted Sheikh Imam’s songs with rock music, and Gawaz Safar band which she founded herself, before commencing her solo career. Her repertoire also includes acting roles in films Ein Shams, Bel Alwan El Tabeeeya and Farah Layla TV series. Her theatre experience includes collaborations with El-Warsha and Tamy troupes as well as Choir Project. Furthermore, her repertoire is steeped in experimentation, with collaborations with Palestinian musician Tamer Abu Ghazaleh and Egyptian musician Maurice Louca. Halawella was produced by Mostakell, a music label for indie Arabic music operating under Eka3 platform. Palestinian musician Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, Eka3’s founder, explains that the platform “has become an incubator and accelerator for business models that helps to fill the gaps in the Arabic music market."
Besides Mostakell, Eka3's portfolio also includes “Almoharek (Live booking agency of indie Arabic music), Awyav (Arabic Music Content Agency), and Ma3azef.com (Music Magazine). The album was produced jointly with both Saleh and Hamdan. The production took a long time “because -- as usual -- we work with low budgets, and each of the artists lives in a different country, which made us work on the production bit by bit whenever the circumstances allow us,” Abu Ghazaleh asserts. Upon the album’s release, the production team opted to spread the album’s recorded music, rather than focus on live shows. So far, they have focused on the Arab region release, but they are scheduled to plan Europe's release, as well as an album tour by early 2016. Halawella was presented at Rich Mix London, UK on 23 October, and at BO18, Beirut, Lebanon on 12 November. Ahram Online spoke to Saleh about Halawella, her music collaborations, singing style and upcoming plans.

Ahram Online (AO): Is Halawella a development of your relationship with Imam’s music?

Maryam Saleh (MS): Certainly. Halawella witnesses a development in my own relationship with Sheikh Imam's repertoire. I also found in Zeid's music the right sound that we could present Sheikh Imam's music through, and thus introduce his music to the young generation that would not have heard this music otherwise.

AO: Tell us more about your specific collaboration with electro-music producer Zeid Hamdan.

MS: I've been a fan of Hamdan's music ever since he was performing with and composing music for Soap Kills, and Kazamada bands. Besides his incredible music, working with Hamdan is in and of itself an enjoyable experience. He is always excited about music, which in turn inspires me to fetch new songs that we can work on together.

AO: Tell us more about Halawella.

MS: The album comprises of six of Sheikh Imam's songs, and the rest are my own musical compositions, which include Watan El Akk, Eslahat, Emchi Ala Rimchi, Walaa Soda and Islahat. I also wrote the lyrics for Emchi Ala Rimchi, and took part in writing Walaa Soda, alongside Amr Mostafa and Amr Qenawi. As for Watan El Akk and Islahat, they were written by poet Mido Zoheir. What I like the most about Zoheir's lyrics is how he sees things. He reminds me of Samuel Beckett’s plays, a kind of art which I really love. And I’ve been interested in these styles of lyrics and music state since I was in Baraka band (2008) and also in my debut album Mesh Baghanny (2012).

AO: In Halawella, as elsewhere, you perform, rather than just sing. Is this style of singing influenced by your experience in theatre?

MS: I've worked with my father, director, writer and theatre critic Saleh Saad in street theatre since age nine. I specialised in the character of the popular clown. Most of our work together was based on the idea of folk arts in Egyptian society, and which in turn really influenced my musical career. I was also influenced by Sheikh Imam and others. All together, these influences contributed to the way I sing now.

AO: In Halawella, we see you as a performer, singer, songwriter and composer. How challenging was this project for you?

MS: I love each of Halawella's songs, and the making of each song constituted a unique experience of its own. This, I believe, explains why I didn't find the idea of taking on many and diverse responsibilities hectic or challenging, especially that the project took so long to finish. I'd say that the biggest challenge we encountered was that Zeid and I live in different countries, which negatively affected our ability to rehearse together, to think collaboratively, and to also work on new songs. But I’d say that our excitement towards this collaboration always overcame these challenges.

AO: This is your second collaboration with Mostakell, after your debut album Mesh Baghanny. How important is this music label to you?

MS: Mostakell helped me launch my solo career, after I had always performed as part of bands. I had feared the idea of working on my own, but I nonetheless grasped the importance of taking such step through my work with Mostakell.

AO: How do you assess this current moment in your musical career? What has changed? And what are your upcoming steps?

MS: The main change I encountered is that music has become a career, and I now devote all my time to singing and music, a decision which I wasn't so conscious of, and which is a constant source of fear. I fear losing the playful spirit I approach music with, and the ability to enjoy the music process as a result. To deal with that fear, I like to involve myself in many projects, and to constantly experiment with different people. My future plans include a collaboration with musicians Tamer Abu Ghazaleh and Maurice Louca. The project includes research and experimentation with the new music in our society, from maharaganat, to shaabi music, to experimental music. Each of us will leave their own imprint in this project. All three of us are merged together in an end result, which seems unusual yet exciting nonetheless. The project is scheduled to come out by the summer of 2016.

From: https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/33/168776/Arts--Culture/Music/INTERVIEW-Egyptian-singer-Maryam-Saleh-on-her-new-.aspx

Dream The Electric Sleep - Heretics

An individual’s musical taste is almost as fluidic as music itself, it’s a constantly growing and changing thing. It adapts to the life of the individual, the soundtrack changing as the movie evolves. But we don’t lose what we had, though we may not listen to it for months or years at a time, and anything that comes to us anew with elements of music of yesteryear will usually appeal to us rather quickly. My own musical taste started with my older brothers cranking Yes when I was exceptionally young, and that set some pretty high standards for anyone who followed. Of course not every band I listen to has to have the exceptional musical talents of the prog giants, but when a band comes along that does have those elements, or that of Rush, IQ, Dream Theater, Marillion, Pink Floyd, or any of my other favorites, they usually will stand a good chance of getting some of my hard earned money. Now when a band list a good four or five of my favorites as influences, they surely will get some cash out of me.
Which brings us to Kentucky based Dream the Electric Sleep. Not only is their name a nod to the great novel that inspired Blade Runner, but they list the likes of Pink Floyd, Rush, Genesis, and Peter Gabriel as influences, all of whom hold very valuable shelf space in my collection. Formed in late 2009 in Lexington, Kentucky, Dream the Electric Sleep consists of Matt Page (guitars, vocals, and keyboards), Joey Walters (drums, vocals), Andrew Hibpshman (guitars) and Chris Tackett (bass). The next few years were committed to recording and producing their debut album, Lost and Gone Forever, which went on to get enough acclaim to get them an invite to the Rites of Spring Festival (RoSfest), one of the premiere prog festivals in the USA. Upon returning, they diligently worked to release their second album, Heretics, in the beginning of 2014. I went into this album looking for the influences of bands of my past, and came out with an intimate knowledge of a solid new force in the progressive rock field, Dream the Electric Sleep.
Heretics is a conceptual album, and as is proper form in the prog arena, the band opens with a primarily instrumental number, managing to sneak in some lyrical elements towards the end. Also the title track, Heretics, the opener displays one of the things the band is best at, busting out crunching melodic chords. The sense of epic that is a prerequisite for me in any concept album is immediately noticeable, as the drums crash around the rest of the band dropping the resounding notes, serving notice that we are in for some juicy good music. The song then goes into a soft strumming and the first vocals are distorted, an announcer introducing the theme so to speak. A subtle element of hand claps and dragged out bass notes is built upon by the guitars, keys, and choral vocals, making altogether for a superb opening number, and also setting up the second track, Elizabeth, which is nothing short of stunning. With eleven tracks amassing to over seventy minutes, the band gives themselves a ton of room to play around, and with their skills on their respective instruments and collectively as songwriters, they make the most of every one of them. Elizabeth opens with a structured form, we finally hear the non distorted vocals, and they are solid. No uber ranges are hit here, and when he does stretch it, it’s noticeable, but he is very clean otherwise. The band does a quick slowing down before breaking into a four minute instrumental that lets us know once and for all that we are in for a show. Using all the best tricks in prog, clever time changes and mix-ups, alternating leads, and escalating intensities, they bring the house down, just in time for nine more songs.  From: https://ladyobscure.com/http-www-ladyobscure-com-post_typealbumsp7376/

Lula Wiles - Bad Guy

What will we do? For Lula Wiles, the trio made up of Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obomsawin, the question is central to the creation of their music—and it’s the title of their new album. “We wanted to make an album that reflected, in a current way, what we are all staying up late thinking about and talking about over drinks at the dinner table,” says Obomsawin. “What is everyone worried about, confiding in their friends about, losing sleep about?” Anchoring the band’s sharp, provocative songcraft is a mastery of folk music, and a willingness to subvert its hallowed conventions.
They infuse their songs with distinctly modern sounds: pop hooks, distorted electric guitars, and dissonant multi-layered vocals, all employed in the service of songs that reclaim folk music in their own voice. The musicians take turns in different roles––Burke and Buckland on guitar and fiddle, Obomsawin on bass, all three singing and writing—but no matter who’s playing what, they operate in close tandem. All three members grew up in small-town Maine, and the band came of age in Boston’s lively roots scene. Since then, they have toured internationally, winning fans at the Newport Folk Festival and the Philadelphia Folk Festival, garnering acclaim from NPR Music and a Boston Music Awards nomination, and sharing stages with the likes of Aoife O’Donovan, the Wood Brothers, and Tim O’Brien. Lula Wiles exists in the tense space where tradition and revolution meet, from which their harmonies rise into the air to create new American music.  From: https://purplefiddle.com/bands/lula-wiles/

 

Cheeto's Magazine - Nova America

Oh my prog! Wassup with band names these days? When I see the moniker of the Spanish band Cheeto's Magazine from the greater Barcelona area (El Prat de Llobregat to be exact), I can't help but think of the artificially flavored junk food snack that used to have that cheesy cheetah hocking the "cheese that goes crunch!" There were the soft fluffy Cheetos as well but personally I never cared for those. Anyway, this crazy title along with a cute cartoon image of a chicken in a pot of water on the album cover really stood out amongst the heavily crowded halls of modern prog. I mean if a band can name itself Cheeto's Magazine, can we soon expect a Dorito's Diary? A Frito's Fannypack? A Ruffle's Razorblade or even a Pringle's Pantyhose? I dunno and I digress before I even begin this review. I'm such an American having eaten all this crap in my youth and I have no idea if they even sell this garbage in Spain! But despite the funky band name, this is some seriously splendiferous prog behind the super silly packaging!
The origins of Cheeto's Magazine (and I have no idea where the name came from) dates back to the summer of 2005 when founders Esteban Navarro (lead vocals, keyboards) and Manel Orella (guitars) set out to do some comedy shows with some music added for good measure but the whole project got expanded with the inclusion of Dídac García (bass) and Joan Montané (drums) which turned into a band that steered the quartet into the realms of prog rock. Having a little performance history under their belt the band spent some time conjuring up some proggy music mojo and performed the first gig in 2007 and was a smashing hit as the band had already hit upon it’s own quirky delivery system mostly thanks to Esteban's eccentric silly demeanor that found the band adding all the humor and childish antics to their unique style of symphonic prog. Zappa and Canterbury stalwarts would approve!
By 2009 the band had recorded some of the best songs and released their first EP titled "All The Chickens In The Bowl" which would be performed for a few more years and ultimately led to this debut full-length release Boiling Fowls in 2014. Somewhere along the line drummer Montané was replaced by Rafa Weber and Matias Lizana joined the cast as primary keyboardist. While the band debuted as a quintet, Boiling Fowls also features a few guest vocalists as well as a couple sax performances by Sergi Felipe (on "Nova America" and "Naughty Boy.") The final product presents a shiny exuberant production job based in a modern version of symphonic prog that takes a few cues from bands like Spock's Beard and other Neil Morse led band's like Transatlantic as well as the dreamy lengthy prog workouts found in other bands like Echolyn or the Flower Kings. Boiling Fowls delivers a lengthy series of prog workouts and clocks in at over 64 minutes which is usually a red flag for, yeah you guessed it - filler! But not the case with these Spaniards. This is an amazing display of twists and turns that keep me enthralled for the entirety.
The opening track "Nova America" alone takes up almost 26 minutes of sonic real estate but showcases the band's ability to weave tight knit melodies with schizoid freak outs, choppy time signature rich instrumental gymnastics and best of all delivered with a quirky sense of humor. Belying their geographical origins, Cheeto's Magazine gives no indication that they emerge from one of the Latinate language speaking regions of Europe and rather sound like they originate from some Anglo-dominant sector of the world. Within the album's nine tracks you can hear not only the modern sounds of symphonic prog but also find some Beatles inspired melodies and harmonies, Gentle Giant prog quirkiness, Kansas symphonic prowess as well as the Zappa fueled silliness not to mention interesting segments of Eno inspired electronica as well as heavy guitar riffing that borders on the neo-prog sounds of bands like IQ or Arena. The album comes off as quite ambitious and obviously a labor of love and not one forced upon the team at hand because all is displayed in a graceful manner with the passion shining through every cadence.
Cheeto's Magazine scores on their debut Boiling Fowls which finds inspiration in the entire history of the melodic side of prog and pulls it off with a stylistic flair all their own. Perhaps the only weak track is the closing "Driver French" which sounds eschews the prog scene altogether and opts for a danceable electro-pop style which is found in small doses throughout the album but integrated quite fashionably whereas the ending track goes nowhere else. While not quite the perfect masterpiece of prog, Cheeto's Magazine found a unique way to forge their visionary style into the prog world without the all too often derivative confinements that don't allow the experimental touches to shine. Many newer symphonic prog bands suffer from this phenomena but Boiling Fowls just comes off as taking an unexpected journey down a road of prog that I didn't know existed and once on it, I can't help but get lost as the non-linear stroll pleasantly twists and turns into unexpected and unforeseen scenery that wasn't in the tourist's brochures.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=8923 

Joan Osborne - Hard Rock Live, Las Vegas 1995 / House Of Blues 1995

 Joan Osborne - Hard Rock Live, Las Vegas 1995

 

 Joan Osborne - House Of Blues 1995

 

As the unpredictable winds of mainstream popularity shift more frequently than ever, Joan Osborne has been able to sustain her career through steadfast touring and well-received live performances. Osborne exploded onto the popular music scene in 1995 with the Mercury release “Relish,” propelled by the monster hit “One of Us.” Relish has sold 1.9 million copies in the U.S., according to SoundScan.
Since that time, Osborne hasn’t scaled those commercial heights again; even so, she maintains a heavy touring schedule that keeps her in the public eye. The artist resumes her touring cycle in support of her Interscope release “Righteous Love” — which has sold 105,000 copies sold in the U.S., according to SoundScan — June 22 in Hampton Beach, N.H.
For an artist who came to music indirectly (she originally pursued filmmaking at New York University), Osborne has taken to touring like a born troubadour. “Live performing is a very natural part of what I do,” Osborne explains. “It’s not like, ‘I put out an album, therefore I tour.’ Touring makes me less dependent upon the vagaries of the label or radio. It’s kind of a touchstone for me.”
Perhaps fittingly, the Kentucky native’s musical journey began onstage, when a friend persuaded her to grab an open mike at a corner blues bar on New York’s Lower East Side. “He dared me to go up and sing with the piano player,” Osborne recalls. “They invited me to come back down, and I kind of made a habit of it.”
A vital early-’90s blues/roots music scene in the East Village made a convert out of Osborne. “A number of bands came out of that scene, like Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, and Chris Whitley,” Osborne notes. “I was very drawn to that scene, going out every night to see these groups and spending all my college money on Etta James and John Lee Hooker records.”
As Osborne became more comfortable with live performance, she put her own band together. “I always knew I had a good voice, and I sang in school, but this was completely different,” she says. “There is something so captivating about how real and passionate this music is.”
Prior to signing to Mercury in 1995, Osborne gained notoriety as a regional performer, hitting a Northeastern U.S. circuit that included such markets as Philadelphia; New Jersey; Burlington, Vt.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Rochester, N.Y.; and her home base of New York City. A live CD sold at shows helped foot the gas bill. “Step by step, I built a following,” she recalls. “That’s the great thing about live performing, and I love to do it.”
It’s a sentiment those involved with her touring career appreciate. “Joan Osborne rocks my world,” says Jonathan Levine, Osborne’s agent at Monterey Peninsula Artists. “She’s one of the most magical and gifted artists I’ve ever worked with. The reason I do what I do is because of people like her.”
Osborne has dates on the books through the end of August, playing a mixture of summer-type venues that includes wineries and smaller sheds, as well as such music festivals as Ben & Jerry’s One World, One Heart Festival in Warren, Vt. (June 23); Milwaukee Summerfest (June 30); and Humphries Concerts by the Bay in San Diego (July 5). She’s also booked in such theaters as Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio (June 26); the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pa. (June 24); and the John Anson Ford Theater in Los Angeles (July 9).
Promoter/venue owner Mark Adler of True West promoted Osborne at his Aladdin Theatre in Portland, Ore., around the time of the “Righteous Love” release, as well as July 25 at the Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheatre in Seattle. Both dates sold out. Osborne’s fans don’t particularly seem to care whether she’s on the radio, Adler says. “I work with a lot of artists whose popularity is a bit transient, but Joan is one of those people where record sales and radio play may go up and down, but she maintains a solid fan base. And that’s good for a promoter, because we don’t get much out of record sales.”
Earlier this year, Osborne toured as the featured vocalist with the Chieftains, a role she relished. “I had done some recording with them,” she says. “I have learned so much from them, and I love their sound. There’s something so ethereal and beautiful about it.”
This summer, Osborne plays some dates with artists she admires, including Hooker and Al Greene, as well as such newer acts as the Holmes Brothers — whose debut Alligator release, “Speaking in Tongues,” Osborne sang backup on and produced. Osborne’s touring band this year includes multi-instrumentalist Jack Petruzelli (Rufus Wainwright), drummer Billy Ward (Chris Whitley), guitarist Andrew Carillo, and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie).
Osborne’s set includes cuts from “Relish” and “Righteous Love,” as well as choice covers often geared to fit the venue. “We just did a casino in Reno, Nev., and we worked up a version of Gram Parson’s ‘Ooh, Las Vegas,’ ” she says, adding that the set changes nightly. “I can’t do the same exact show night after night. If I’m not excited, I don’t feel like the people that come to see me will be, either.”
In addition to her touring efforts, Osborne continues to work on her Womanly Hips project, a multi-artist festival celebrating women in the arts and music tentatively set for mid-September at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., with Bill Graham Presents/SFX promoting. If the event is successful, Osborne is considering a tour and an album for later in 2001. As a side project, Osborne oversees the Web zine heroinemag.com, where she interviews “women who are doing interesting things.”
But music remains her true love, regardless of current mainstream trends. “I’m sure there are moments when other artists get discouraged if they’re not on the radio, but I’m grateful I can go out and play music for people,” she says. “This is not rocket science. I love to play music, and I get to play music — so I’m happy.”  From: https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/joan-osborne-takes-on-troubadour-style-79371/

 

 

X - Country At War

This is probably the least surprising album of note released this year, chronicling predictable growth from what was once the most important punk band from Los Angeles. Hey Zeus! isn't bland — how could any X album be bland in today's musical climate? But it isn't a hallmark of the Next Big Thing either. It's simply more X. It makes sense that X's rockabilly-punk-country mix would mellow a bit, spotlighting the songwriting and letting everything breathe freer. It's sensible to downplay the musical components that were X trademarks: minor-key vocals, unbridled energy, razor guitar riffs on top of sophisticated lyrics. Why cover the same ground again? Yet it isn't disappointing (or unexpected) when X drifts into familiar punky ground toward the end of the disc, climaxing with the hot duo of "Baby You Lied" and "Lettuce and Vodka."
Actually, it would have been fun if this gently subversive and political album (with songs such as "Someone's Watching," "Country at War," "Arms for Hostages") had come out last year. The possible confusion with the Spike Lee film would have raised hackles (and X-consciousness) nationwide. As it is, Hey Zeus! runs the risk of being quietly forgotten. If there is a hit in here, it's hiding well.
Perhaps that is because the aforementioned trademarks that made X's name a notable band are downplayed so rigorously. Up front in the sound mix are the bass and the electric guitar, which allows the grooves and melodies to be spotlighted, but partially obscures the unique vocal interaction of John Doe and Exene Cervenka. And I hate to be a spoil-sport, but the world's need for guitarcentric albums is limited. On Hey Zeus!, guitarist Tony Gilkyson's Hendrix homages make for pretty music, but are just plain tired. Yes, yes, we've all heard "Third Stone from the Sun," and yes, it is flippin' awesome. Paraphrasing it in "Drawn in the Dark" only invites comparisons, not illumination.
Still, this is an X album. Songs like "New Life" and "Big Blue House" disarm you with modest lyrics about domestic life, while "Country at War" and "Arms for Hostages" debates where money should be spent in a country with rampant poverty. Punk energy burns in an even flame on "Clean Like Tomorrow," with its chugging chorus and Gilkyson-moody verses. Folks would pack Tewligans to hear this music, but they would listen closely rather than thrash around. Can there be such a thing as mature punk? Hey Zeus!  From: http://www.louisvillemusicnews.net/webmanager/index.php?WEB_CAT_ID=50&storyid=12759&headline=X_%96_Hey,_Zeus&issueid=54

The Sundays - Summertime

When The Sundays hit the British indie scene in the summer of 1989, they were heralded by the press as the next Smiths. While they didn't share The Smiths' ambitions of world domination, they certainly proved to be one of the most original and innovative bands of the 90's and they quickly became indie heroes. Their sound is airy, ethereal, driven by shimmering melodies and jangling guitar atmospheres. Harriet Wheeler's high-flying sorprano is loose, boundless and beautiful, and her husband David Gavurin's gleaming guitar work boasts a similar soaring feel, free to glide across the songs' laid-back energy. Their presence has been completely personal and unconcerned with passing trends and fads in the highly flakey U.K. music market. This reflects in their rather sparse album output, as they've released a total of three full-length records since their 1988 formation. Yet their international fanbase remains unfettered, as they've managed to win a place in the heart of nearly every thinking music fan and their influence is well aparent in ethereal-tinted acts such as The Innocence Mission and Sarah McClachlan.
David Gavurin was attending university in London, England in 1988 when he met fellow student Harriet Wheeler. Both sharing a passion for music and a mutual ambition, they became lovers and began rehearsing in David's bedroom with his 4-track. By that summer they'd teamed with the wonderfully tight rhythm section of Paul Brindley (bass guitar) and Patrick Hannah (drums), making their debut in London as The Sundays. They were spotted by a number of writers, who swooned at Wheeler's angelic vocals and Gavurin's Johnny Marr-esque guitar jangle. Word quickly spread and as the year closed a label bidding war commenced, ending with The Sundays' settling on renowkned U.K. indie label Rough Trade. The debut single "Can't Be Sure", with its shuffling, almost stuttering beat, mournful guitar echo and free soaring vocal delivery by Wheeler thrilled the press and listeners alike winning The Sundays an instant following. They were praised as The Cocteau Twins meets The Smiths, and certainly this wasn't a faulty comparison, as the songwriting team of Gavurin/Wheeler resembled a more ethereal take on the Marr/Morrisey unit.
The debut album, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic was everything to be hoped for and more, a youthful, energetic collection of downtown London lullabies driven by tights rhythms, loose melodies and a distraught, but never despairing, self-reflective lyrical outlook. It was released in 1990 along with the single "Here's Where the Story Ends", a cynical tale of love-lost elegantly draped in strumming acoustic guitar. Amidst the endless sea of "trying to be trendy" British market the album and single stood out, and the innovation materialized in major sales, chart success and a lucrative (if sparse) tour. Already The Sundays had won an international following. More recordings couldn't have emerged soon enough.
Yet, with Rough Trade's financial troubles and the band's decision to manage themselves, The Sundays' next single, "Goodbye" wouldn't emerge until 1992. It revealed a slightly more intense guitar sound, and an even gloomier atmosphere made whole by Wheeler's still stunning vocals and the band's trademark gleaming overtones. Again, The Sundays were both critical darlings and the delight of indie fans everywhere. The next album, Blind, revealed a more grown-up Sundays, with Wheeler's vocals and Gavurin's guitar more free and soaring than ever. The moods were darker and just as ethereal, certainly Blind is just as essential as its predecessor. A second single emerged in 1993, a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses". Again, the band's touring schedule was sparse, although they were met with nearly salivating fans, starved for new material. Despite the obvious thirst the band dropped out again, and this time they wouldn't be heard from for five years.
Finally, in 1997, The Sundays broke in with their third full length album, Static and Silence and the single "Summertime". Although the record retained the band's trademark jangling guitar and utterly beautiful vocals, it revealed a more traditional folk rock feel (apparently Gavurin and Wheeler had taken a liking to Van Morrison). The melodies were more concise, less free-spirited than in the past which reflected in both Wheeler's vocals and Gavurin's guitar playing, both of which now operated within a more planned, orderly fashion. Mournful crooning gives way to straightforward pop melody, tight guitar/bass/drums approach gives way to string and horn arrangements, ethereal gives way to folk. The Sundays had changed quite a bit, and although the album was fantastic, it wasn't the stunning innovation they'd showcased in the past. Again the band would quickly drop out of the public eye yet The Sundays remain beloved internationally and have found comfortable status as one of the most popular cult bands in the world.  From: https://www.angelfire.com/indie/impryan/sundays.html  

The Karovas Milkshake - Factory

Q. When did The Karovas Milkshake start, tell us about the history.

A: It began in Ekaterinburg, a city where Europe meets Asia, the future meets the past. It appears very symbolic to us. First thought of the Karovas Milkshake came about when Albert and I walked out of a music bar where a band played fake rock’n’roll. We just couldn’t bear it! That evening we decided to create a band with wild live sound that would sweep all that humbug away. Besides nobody played 60’s garage in the surroundings. We listened to heaps of records thinking that all these great 60’s unknowns have been long buried and their great songs forgotten. There was a strong desire to bring it all back and share with our local music lovers. Around the same time we went to a cinema club where ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Stanley Kubrick was shown. That’s where we picked our name from. We looked for something simple and recognizable that would reflect our tastes both in literature and gastronomy. In a while we were joined by Nick the Kick and Shasha which added more complexity and psyche to our music, but the basic 60’s garage energy remains as a stem.

Q: Who are your influences?

A: Our main heroes are bands and signers who emerged in the 50’s and the 60’s on both sides of the Atlantic, when emotions were fresh, true and genuine, one had no second chance and music just sounded cool.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…

1. Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
2. Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead
3. Captain Beefheart – Safe as Milk
4. Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
5. Doors – L.A.Woman

Q. How do you feel playing live?

You feel excited before playing live. And once you’re on stage it can be different, sometimes it feels at home and at times it feels as if you were thrown into an abyss, and that feeling can vary within one concert or even one song. Playing live is much like living – you are searching for the right way.

Q. How do you describe The Karovas Milkshake sounds?

It comes out thick and dense, no matter how we try to play quiet. It can be gentle at times, but mainly it is wild!

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?

Recording is part of our music-making process. We came to a conclusion that our music sounds best on tape and since then we record ourselves on a tape recorder. We experiment with natural sound and different microphones quite a lot. Recording process can be full of fun and curiosity.

Q. Which new bands do you recommended?

A: We like the music by the Jaguar (tribal Bo-Diddley beats), the Madcaps (barretesque psyche) both from France and we recommend you our friends ‘The Thunderbeats’ (Moscow’s rhythm’n’blues and freakbeat), ‘The Traulers’ (eco-country from Ekaterinburg) and ‘Anton Ripatti & Sabaka Babaka Band’ (chanson, blues).

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?

The Sonics (and we already have!)

Q: What´s the plans for future?

We plan to release our first LP ‘In the shade of the Purple Sun’ in sunny Portugal this September and would love to go on a tour, after which it would be fine to record our new songs.

Q: Any parting words?

Pick good music that gives inspiration. Play it with all your heart. Thanks!

From: http://theblogthatcelebratesitself.blogspot.com/2015/08/freak-out-factory-with-karovas.html

Light - Betray

Light is a larger than life orchestra from Toulouse, France that released its debut album The Path in 2023 showcasing some of the extreme limits of musical fusion. The band incorporates an entire classical orchestra, a large choir and a sizeable jazz ensemble which together incorporate progressive rock moments. The overall effect is tantamount to a classical orchestra that has adopted both jazz and rock elements thus bringing the world of progressive rock into ever higher levels of accomplishment. If that wasn't enough, the main writer Camille De Carvalho plays dozens of exotic instruments ranging from everything from the marimba, glockenspiel and Burmese gong to ethnic instruments like the duduk, guanzi, hulsi and bawu. The overall count of musicians is around two dozen.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=12466