Polecat Creek - Midway Road

Polecat Creek features Laurelyn Dossett and Kari Sickenberger, two singer-songwriters from North Carolina who have pooled their talents, ostensibly because their wonderful harmonies bring out more in their songs than each of their own individual voices could. Although the women straddle the fence between bluegrass and old-time (leaning more toward the latter), there are also occasional echoes of Cajun music, honky-tonk, and blues. Their second album was recorded in Louisiana with Dirk Powell producing and Riley Baugus as the main accompanist (mostly on banjo and fiddle). Kevin Wimmer (fiddle), Terry Huval (lap steel and resophonic guitar), Mike Burch (drums) and Powell (a mutli-instrumentalist) make up the rest of the backing crew. The songs, written individually by either Dossett or Sickenberger, are memorable and lyrically sophisticated. “Mama”, has nothing in common with the sappy tributes to motherhood that are prevalent in some country music circles. “The Past Ain’t Over Yet”, the story of a prisoner who is haunted by a murder committed while under the influence, is a jaunty blues that includes some classic lines: “Now I can’t look ahead and I can’t forget / My future’s behind me and the past ain’t over yet.” The title track is a touching song about the collapse of a small-town industry and the inhabitants’ struggle to survive. Strong vocals, tight harmonies, compelling arrangements, and impeccable musicianship all help to bring out the best in the duo’s songs.  From: https://www.nodepression.com/album-reviews/polecat-creek-leaving-eden/

Sons Of Zöku - Sun Shines On Everyone

There is an ethereal mist surrounding Sons Of Zöku that completely sets them apart from their peers in psych pop/rock today. Could it be their Australian roots? The remoteness and the otherworldliness also found in bands like King Gizzard and Tame Impala? Who knows, and also who cares really; the important thing is that they are here, and that we can dive into their wonderful tranquil pool of soothing multi vocals, reverb, and fuzz.
Like other contemporary psychedelic indie colleagues Upupayama, Vampire Weekend or Wolf People, Sons Of Zöku have found a natural way to merge ancient folk vibes from all over the world into their mellow psych songs. From the pastoral flutes of the Irish fields to the Tuareg blues of the African desert, or the sitar song of India, Sons Of Zöku respectfully borrows, forges new connections, and morphs it into their own sound.
Another strong vibe that radiates from Endless is that it is more than just a piece of music, it presents itself as a portal or a shrine through which we might find more than just music. When they chant “meet me on the other side if you will” you feel the willingness to take their hands and transcend to a lighter state of being, leaving troubles behind, clearing the mind of clutter. Mindfulness in indie rock form, just the thing we needed in this hurried bustling world. Sounds vague? Nah, you just need to spin this album a few more times…it will come to you.

I reached out to the band and found Portuguese born Ricardo Da Silva (vocals/guitar) at the helm, willing to provide the answers to my questions. An image unfolds of a strong collective with a unified vision that will very probably take them across many seas and hopefully even to Europe. But let’s meet them first and get to know Sons Of Zöku:

Hi guys, how is Sons Of Zöku doing these days? What is the last thing you did that gave you an energy boost?

Pretty exciting to see our second album Endless getting ready to be released, looking at all the amazing art work on vinyls and things like that, it’s pretty exciting. Also getting invited to play gigs like supporting Minami Deutsch in Perth and in our hometown, things like that always give us an extra boost.

Can you introduce the band to the Weirdo Shrine?

Of course, Ric (me) on vocals, guitar and electric sitar, Ica on flute, keys, vocals and everything percussion, Jordan Buck on Bass and so much more behind the scenes, Hannah Yates on vocals, bongos, congas, electric guitar and keys, Oscar Ellery on electric guitar and sitar and Eddie Hannemann on drums.

What are your musical backgrounds?

I started playing guitar and singing with my friends in Portugal, they had a band and I used to come around and watch them play and thought was the greatest thing ever. Eventually they told me if you can learn a song then I would be in the band, I took it literally and started practicing, I still sucked but eventually they let me join because we were all best friends. When I moved to Australia that was always the idea, to create a musical family. With time and watching each other’s bands and projects the band started taking shape, first me and Ica, then Jordan, then Hannah, Oscar and Eddie. A few different members in between but I won’t bore you with that.     

Where are you based, what is the scene like, and how has it influenced your sound?

We are based in South Australia, Adelaide. The music scene is really diverse, lots of different styles and sounds. It’s a great place to live, has a bit of everything, ocean, hills, countryside, a bit of desert. 

What can you tell me about the new album and its path to enlightenment? How should we listen to it in regard to its message?

To us, Endless represents our path to enlightenment individually and as a band. We are all in our own journeys to find purpose which brings us closer to happiness I guess. This album sings a lot about that, songs like Earth Chant sing lines like ”air is all I got, my god is air” or “when here and now we eternally bound” talk about to truly live is to simple breathe and in the moment so cliché yet so hard to achieve, or a song like Hunters, “we strong enough never to drown at sea, just weak enough never to make it to shore” or “we walked and sailed for days at once to a place where all the clouds were gone, to find nothing we found everything still we try and try and try, but words got in our way” and “ many years gone by but we still try searching for something we can’t be sure”, the struggles of becoming a successful band, to find our shore. Yumi, “here we are all form enlightened, here we are the void in spite of” or simply “the arrow is your guru”, what you aim to do in life is your purpose, guides you. Kuhnoo, ”will we ever bloom to bear our own weight”, Nu Poéme, “say what you feel say what you want for once”… so many examples I could give you but at the end of the day we would like to believe that music transcends all that, and that the listener will find their own meaning out of it.

Endless is your second album, what difference in approach did you guys take when creating it?

Sun was more of a collection of songs over the years as a band, Endless is more a representation of the band at a specific moment in time, a time where we are ever-changing in our personal lives and musically. It was a more calculated effort to say what we feel and less stream of consciousness type of writing.

What can you tell me about the non-music influences that inspired you to make the album?

We truly believe art is life and living, getting ideas in terms of music and sound from other artists is a big part of music, but to turn it into art and something meaningful to us, life and how we feel is the most important thing to us. We have lived, and we are living, that is the biggest catalyst in our songwriting.

Who are some artists that you really hold dear at the moment?

Mdou Moctar, Les Filles de Illighadad, The Perks of being a wallflower soundtrack, North Americans “Going Steady” album, Air, Vashti Bunyan, also I swear I have on repeat Raly Barrionuevo “De Alberdi” song and Nicholas Britell “Little’s Theme” from Moonlight motion picture soundtrack.

What does the future look like for Sons Of Zöku? And when can we expect a European tour?

Right now the plan is to release Endless into the world and then to see how our European fans receive it, but we definitely have them in our sights and we can’t wait to meet them all soon.

What should the Weirdo Shrine reader do immediately after reading this interview?

Follow Sons of Zöku on Spotify then put your headphones, ear pods or whatever, press play on any of our songs and go do something, bike ride, the dishes, cooking, jog, lay down, meditate, whatever, just let us be the soundtrack to whatever is happening in your life. If you like it, privately share it with a friend or loved one, that’s what’s all about.

From: https://weirdoshrine.wordpress.com/2024/01/25/review-qa-sons-of-zoku-endless-2023-copperfeast-records/

Jefferson Airplane - Two Heads

Want two heads on your body
And you've got two mirrors in your hand
Priests are made of brick with gold crosses on a stick
And your nose is too small for this land
Inside your head is your town
Inside your room your jail
Inside your mouth the elephant's trunk and booze
The only key to your bail

Two heads can be put together
And you can fill both your feet with sand
No one will know you've gutted your mind
But what will you do with your bloody hands?
Your lions are fighting with chairs
Your arms are incredibly fat
Your women are tired of dying alive
If you've had any women at that

Wearing your comb like an ax in your head
And listening for signs of life
Children are sucking on stone and lead
And chasing their hoops with a knife
New breasts and jewels for the girl
Keep them polished and shining
Put a lock on her belly at night, sweet life
For no child of mine
Want two heads on your body
And you've got two mirrors in your hand

Jefferson Airplane finally finished their third LP Halloween week after two months of off-and-on recording in Los Angeles. It’s called After Bathing at Baxter’s, has a fold-out cover designed by cartoonist Ron Cobb, and, says lead singer Marty Balin, is "a whole new and different thing for the group." Recorded while the San Franscisco band lived in luxury at a Beverly Hills mansion that the Beatles rented on one American tour, the album’s very tentative release date is November 15.
As of November 1st, seven tracks, besides ‘Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil’ and ‘Two Heads’ previously released as a single, were finished. Three are Paul Kantner compositions: ‘Watch Her Ride,’ ‘Martha,’ and ‘Wild Time.’ The other members, except for Jack Casady, have contributed one track each. Grace Slick’s song is ‘Rejoyce,’ originally called ‘Ulysses,’ whose lyric is snatches of James Joyce’s novel. An oboe plays behind her voice. "It’s too powerful for Top 40," says Balin, "it has the line, ‘I’d rather my country died for me,’ and there’s a character in it named ‘Blazes Crotch’." Spence Dryden did his cut, ‘A Package of Value,’ all by himself, putting three drum tracks, a marimba track, and one on harpsichord into a ‘song sandwich’ that is the joke of the album. Jorma Kaukonen’s number, ‘Last Wall of the Castle,’ is ‘a mind-blower,’ according to the Airplane’s personal manager, Bill Thompson. ‘Young Girl Sunday Blues,’ Balin’s contribution, is over five minutes long, the album’s longest cut.
Answering criticism that the album is way behind schedule, Balin said the group had never set a date for the album’s completion. "We’ve just done it when we could." As the Airplane left the Fillmore a week ago Sunday for their last planned session in RCA’s Los Angeles studios (the same ones used by the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead), they had no idea of what songs would complete After Bathing. "We have a few more done," Balin said, "but we don’t like them. There’ll probably be two more and they’ll be things we come up with right at the last minute. We always do that. "Man, we’re the worst people ever in a recording studio. We create our music in the ballrooms. Compared to them a recording studio is so sterile, like a hospital, that it takes us three weeks just to get used to walking through the door." This time, with complete artistic control and without the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia as ‘spiritual and musical advisor,’ the Airplane has been on its own. "No one helps us," said Balin, "I think everyone there is afraid of us. We try crazy things and no one tells us they can’t be done. Our producer is like a school teacher with a real creative class, letting the kids do what they want and just making sure they don’t smash all the erasers."
Bill Thompson says the album cover is as strange as the sounds inside. Cobb’s cartoon is a monster airplane which carries, in tiny detail, symbols of plastic American culture; beer cans, billboards, ticky-tack houses and buildings, some of which are recognizable San Francisco landmarks. The plane trails a banner inscribed with the album’s title, a name suggested by an "underground-underground group called the Night Owls," says Balin. It refers to no known place or event. Inside the fold are six pictures of the Airplane taken by photographer Allan Frappe. Thompson says they are indescribably far out, with strange color and form distortions. Balin is so impressed that he would like to do a whole book with Frappe’s photographs. If hard times in the studio have held up the works, la dolce vita back at the mansion hasn’t helped any either. The mansion, with a giant pool, sauna bath, rifle range, electronically-controlled gate, and a Japanese houseboy (all for $5,000 a month), has been "a giant toy," says Balin for the group who haven’t always had it so good. "Every night something was happening," Balin said with a fond smile. "There were parties, strange parties, and then weird parties. We just sat there and watched the world go by right inside that house."  From: https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/jefferson-airplane-after-bathing-at-baxters

Ritual - Sadly Unspoken

Ritual is a relatively new Swedish band with a very unique sound, using acoustic instruments like violin, mandolina, bouzouki, etc.. Melodic complex rhythms reminds of early Yes but with a personal and innovative touch. An excellent folk-prog production with skilled musicians.

Finally the new Ritual album has arrived. Ritual released their debut album, simply called "Ritual", in 1995. Looking back it's quite clear that their debut album was one of the best debut albums in the 90's, so it was with great excitement I started listening to their follow-up "Superb Birth". Although their music has changed a bit since the debut you can still hear the typical Ritual sound and compositions with great musicianship. Their music is a mixture between Anekdoten, The Flower Kings, Folk music, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin and Rush. The tracks are the opening "Dinosaur Spaceship", the folky acoustic "Golden Angel", "Coming Home", "Really Something", "Lobby", the oriental "6/8" with cello, violin and viola, "Into The Heat", the Led Zeppelinish "Sadly Unspoken", the single "Did I Go Wrong", the Led Zeppelinish "Mothersong", "A Voice Of Divinity" with only a grand piano and great vocals from Patrik Lundström and the closing "Do You Want To See The Sun". Ritual have managed to record an album that almost equals their debut album, and they have had a great impact on the progressive rock of the 90's. I certainly hope that they will take their music into the new millennium so that we can have many Ritual albums in the future. Highly recommended and a superb album!

From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1174

Nuha Ruby Ra - Rise

A certain degree of gracious humility might be de rigueur for a rising artist talking about their increasing successes, but when Nuha Ruby Ra says that the last twelve months have exceeded her wildest expectations, you can tell she’s not just playing for compliments. Influenced by Nick Cave’s discordant first band The Birthday Party and German experimentalists Einstürzende Neubauten, the London artist makes hypnotic, uncomfortable, hyper-sensory music that’s about as far away from an easily-quantifiable Spotify playlist category as you can get; on stage, she prowls the space performing to a live-recorded backing track, dressed in leather with a painted N slashed where a third eye might sit. An obvious choice for a mainstream audience, Nuha most certainly is not, and yet in recent months, she’s found herself on a steady stream of high-profile tours, handpicked to support the likes of Yard Act, Viagra Boys, Warmduscher and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. This month, she’ll step it up another notch, joining Self Esteem on her sold-out victory lap.
“I really would not have expected in my wildest dreams that people would connect with the music I’m doing on the current scale of things. It’s already exceeded all expectations. I thought if I was lucky I’d be some niche small, small thing, but it’s given me some genuine hope and belief in people seeing things outside of the norm,” she begins, sat next to a rail of outfit choices that include a vast array of red and black cowboy boots and coats, alongside a black bunny mask procured from a Hamburg sex shop. “Something I get from people at shows is, ‘I’ve never seen, heard or experienced anything like this before but it’s inspired me’. I think it’s a new thing for a lot of people but they seem to be into it. I think what helps is that I’m really not putting anything on. I’m very honest when I’m performing and maybe that travels through somehow. It never comes from a place of antagonism.”
Though, on a surface level, the music Nuha makes exists in an uneasy space that refutes ideas of what should be palatable - both musically and lyrically - she baulks at the notion that any part of what she does would be seen as playing a character. Instead, music is a space to let all the shadow parts come to the light, leaning into the angry, sad, sexual sides of herself and pushing them to the fore. “I’ve found a place where I can let out these parts of me and these ways of being. It’s not a persona, it’s kind of the most real me there is,” she says. “When I was younger I was exposed to pop music and bands where everything was quite ‘correct’ in terms of song structures, and people singing ‘well’ in inverted commas. Then when I came across bands [like Neubaten] I just felt like it was giving across a feeling that wasn’t about perfection, and feeling over perfection remains the most important thing to me.
“I’m lucky enough to be able to write songs and go out and perform them, and that helps shed a lot of trapped emotions,” she continues. “I scream on stage in some of the songs and those screams are a fucking godsend. There are so many times when you need to be a bit primal in life but you can’t go and scream in the street or people think you’re crazy. Recently in ‘Run Run’ I’ve started saying to the audience, ‘This is your space to scream if you want to scream’ and some of the shows people have really let rip! It’s like a little help group.”
This month, the group will receive a new text in the form of ‘Machine Like Me’ - six strangely mesmerising, sometimes jarring yet consistently playful tracks unlike anything else around, that push Nuha’s self-sufficient polymath ethos even further. Having pivoted from her punk band roots to perform with nothing on stage aside from a backing track and herself (“I found myself performing in a really different way because the connection is just between me and the people at the gig”), and having directed her own recent videos on top of designing and making her own DIY merch, now Nuha is playing almost every instrument on the record herself too.
“It’s just this massively narcissistic thing where I do everything myself!” she cackles. “No, but with every record it’s just what I feel like doing at the time. On the first EP I wanted to have the role of the singer because I’d never had that before, and then with the new one I wanted to be like, could I basically create what sounds like there’s a good band here but I’m playing everything? It’s all just play to be honest, and seeing what might be fun. So for the one after that, I really don’t know. I just tend to see what I want to do at the time and where that takes me.”  From: https://diymag.com/interview/nuha-ruby-ra-march-2023-interview

Fairport Convention - Sloth

Full House marked the consolidation of Fairport’s transition from West Coast-styled, hallucinogenics-influenced outfit - a British Jefferson Airplane, perhaps – to purveyors of rocked-up, electrified British traditional folk; a courageous move tentatively started with the inclusion of A Sailor’s Life on Unhalfbricking and triumphantly completed on Liege And Lief, perhaps the most influential and important UK rock album to appear since Sergeant Pepper. But Fairport had then lost arguably its two most important contributors, founder and direction-setter Ashley Hutchings and crystal-voiced frontwoman Sandy Denny. New bassist Dave Pegg proved a valuable acquisition with his rocky style, but the other members had to close ranks and take on the vocal chores themselves. They did so, with an initial naivete that retrospectively evinces considerable charm, Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick proving to have distinctively different rural vocal deliveries and Simon Nicol reluctantly airing a melodious tenor that would eventually see him become the band’s leading voice.
The other element that newly marks Full House out is the humour and looseness which its illustrious predecessor lacked. With talented but earnest female vocalist Denny no longer having to be accommodated and adulated, the boys were free to have some fun, and it comes across in these grooves, notwithstanding the doomy themes of some of the lyrics: songs about sexual exploitation, sin and death can be funky, as Doctor Of Physick, Sloth and Sir Patrick Spens show. I recall seeing this line-up play the Bath Festival Of Blues And Progressive Music at Shepton Mallet in 1970, and the high jinks on stage would not have been on display a year earlier.
Walk Awhile is a wonderfully swinging opener, with all three lead vocalists taking turns at the verses and fine, fiery harmony and octave work between Thompson’s guitar and Swarbrick’s violin. Sloth is an ominous, downbeat death march that builds to an almost unbearable tension in the lengthy instrumental break as Thompson’s edgy Strat and Swarb’s compressed, wailing fiddle duke it out in opposite stereo channels: perhaps the best instrumental work the band ever produced. The two cheerful jig medleys offer a variety of familiar and little-known traditional tunes, forefronting Swarb’s and Peggy’s dueling mandolins on Flatback Caper and all four string players on Dirty Linen. Spens is a gloriously disrespectful, steady-rollin’ take on that revered Scottish traditional ditty, while Nicol’s amplified dulcimer provides the backbone for that country’s mournful anthem for the dead, Flowers Of The Forest. The Island CD re-release offers a number of bonus tracks, including the unnecessarily lugubrious Poor Will & The Jolly Hangman that had been removed (probably wisely) from the original pressing at the last moment at the insistence of its writer, Thompson, and the brief but excellent non-album single Now Be Thankful, one of the band’s evergreens.
Full House is arguably Fairport’s last really great album, its release being followed by the departure of Thompson for a solo career and his replacement by Jerry Donohue, whose elegant Nashville style prefaced a gentle slide in the direction of country rock. Henceforth Swarbrick would take over the band’s direction as the quality gradually declined until his own departure, when Nicol as the last-standing original member would take the reins. After countless further line-up changes and albums the band remains extant and much-loved to this day, with its annual outdoor reunion at Cropredy in Oxfordshire attracting swarms of the faithful.  From: https://therisingstorm.net/fairport-convention-full-house/

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London 2006

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London  2006 - Part 1

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London  2006 - Part 2

The Dresden Dolls - Live at The Roundhouse, London  2006 - Part 3

The Roundhouse in London was one of the most happening places to be in the 60’s & 70’s as they hosted many well known acts such as the Who, the Stones, Bowie, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Doors, Kraftwerk, & the Ramones as well as all forms of nude performance art & avant theater. The Roundhouse closed its doors in the 80’s but reopened in 2006.On November 3rd & 4th of 2006 the Dresden Dolls brought their “Punk Cabaret” show to the Roundhouse & recorded both nights for this DVD release.
The DVD is theatrical, amazing, and intense from the introduction by comedian Margaret Cho all the way through the closing song “Delilah” which lead singer/keyboardist Amanda Palmer sings an amazing & strange duet with new wave icon Lene Lovich. The Dresden Dolls are a duo featuring Amanda Palmer & one of the hardest hitting drummers I’ve ever seen, Brian Viglione. The opening number “Sex Changes” grabs the viewer immediately as Palmer(wearing whiteface, a faded old black “Who” t-shirt, a garter belt with black & white striped stockings & combat boots has the fans singing along shouting ”They always said that sex would change you! ”.The duo launches into “Gravity” from their s/t album and 3 girls appear on the stage. One girl is dressed in black & white stripes, climbs a curtain hanging from the center of the stage & performs some upside down acrobatics while the 2 other girls who are dressed in garters and stockings dance to the demonic rhythm of the song. I could probably write a 4 page review on the performance because there is so much going on during the show but I’ll just stick to the highlights which includes an incredible performance of “Backstabber” from their ‘Yes,Virginia’ CD. ”Coin Operated Boy” has the whole audience singing along with Palmer as she sings about her plastic fantasy. ”Mandy Goes to Med School” features 2 females dressed as pregnant schoolgirls skipping out to the front of the stage and hitting each other in the stomach with hammers. The 2 girls then hold hands and kneel in front of the duo and watch Palmer & Viglione present an intense musical exchange of drums and keyboards. The Dolls launch right into a fast paced punk tune titled “Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner”. The tempo is brought down as they perform “Slide” which features a few music box dancers in the center of the crowd. The stage filled with all the performers dressed in various styles and costumes as well as a few girls dressed in bondage while tied to chairs as the band performed “The Jeep Song”. The crowd all waved Sparklers in the air as the group performed their 2006 single “Sing” before leaving the stage for the first time. For the encore Brian came out with his acoustic guitar as Amanda danced around and sang “Mein Herr” from the musical ‘Cabaret’ & ended the song by crowd surfing. Australian under ground band, the Red Paintings’ singer Trash McSweeny performed a duet of “Mad World” and the set ends with the Dresden Dolls revved up psychotic single “Girl Anachronism”.
Bonus features documentary & 2 extra songs: The first is “Missed Me” which probably could’ve fit in nicely on Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’. ”Missed Me” is another duet with Palmer singing with Edward Ka Spel (lead singer of the Pink Dots) which is followed by “Delilah” featuring Lene Lovich. Overall this is an entertaining and intense performance with something going on all the time. Palmer says in the liner notes that for every performer you see on the DVD there are a dozen more that don’t make it onto the camera.  From: https://www.classicrockforums.com/threads/dresden-dolls-live-at-the-roundhouse.6663/

The Grip Weeds - The Inner Light (Beatles/George Harrison cover)

The Grip Weeds are a powerhouse pop-psyche band extraordinaire who write insanely gripping melodic nuggets- a gorgeous alchemy of the 60’s and 70’s brought into the 21st century, with ripping guitars, powerful drumming, and golden harmonies. The Powerpopaholic interviewed both lead guitar Kristin Pinell and band leader, Kurt Reil.

Kristin – What made you first want to pick up a guitar and start playing? How did you end up hooking up with Michael Mazzarella and The Rooks prior to joining the Grip Weeds?


KP: I was a music fan since I can remember (about three years old). I had older brothers and sisters who were always playing music. I would sneak into their rooms after school and play their Beatles, Monkees and Byrds records over and over for hours. At twelve, I picked up a friend’s guitar and started to figure out how to play stuff, pulling parts off records and going to shows.  I really got into Jimmy Page- He had a great sense of melody mixed in with this power and raw energy- It made an impression on me as a shy teenager. Years later I met Michael from the Rooks when we both were gigging around Hartford, CT. We would do shows together and hang out. He turned me on to a lot of cool music back then.  I loved the songs he was writing and figured we should form a band. At some point later on we both found ourselves living in NYC and I think originally he had asked some of The Grip Weeds to back him up on a few recordings. I wasn’t in The Grip Weeds yet…but it was all one big scene back then and one thing led to another.

Kurt – Did you play in any other bands prior to The Grip Weeds? How 
did it all begin for you and Rick in Jersey?


KR: Any bands we were in before The Grip Weeds really don’t matter, because none of them  were any good or worth writing about! My Brother Rick and I started playing together as kids, once Rick put the drums down and picked up the guitar, as we were both drummers up to that point. The Grip Weeds formed gradually from there as we searched for our sound. When Rick and I started the group, we were at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, and just wanted to play cool obscure sixties covers from The Who and The Hollies. Eventually, we started writing our own songs and slipped them one by one into our live shows, hoping they would work alongside these great old songs. Our songwriting improved to the point where we wound up with a totally original live set, which we then recorded- that eventually started a whole other career of music production! 

Kurt – How did the relationship with Kristin get started and how 
has it grown over the years?


KR:  We met through playing in the New York City Pop Scene of the nineties- actually, it was at a Smithereens show! I was a young drummer and she was a beautiful guitarist who I thought was way out of my league! But we hit it off in the best way and eventually she joined The Grip Weeds and we got married. We have a dual musical and real-life relationship; sometimes, we’ll be fighting in the studio and go upstairs for dinner and be getting along great! To me, it’s important to maintain that division so that we can have our personal life outside the band and studio, which tends to take over everything.

Kristin – Have you experienced any big challenges in being a female 
lead guitarist for the band?


KP: I wish I had more female role models. I didn’t realize I was such a misfit. I always tried to find other female musicians to form a band with but it was difficult to find the level of dedication and musicianship there.  I did have an all female group for several years when I lived in Boston. We were very driven and I really got my chops playing with them.The biggest challenge is that it’s very physically demanding playing shows and touring. It’s a constant struggle to keep myself healthy and balanced. It ain’t easy. Most women at my age are doing other very important things like raising children and keeping families running.  I have very few female musician friends who go through what I go through.

Kurt – Now that the re-issue of House of Vibes is done, Any plans 
for new material?


KR: We started a new album last year, and were originally going to work on both, but the reissue was difficult to put together and took a lot of time and effort, so we had to stop work on the new one. If we didn’t, House of Vibes Revisited wouldn’t have come out for another year! Also, we’re recording additional tracks for an upcoming "best of" compilation on Little Steven’s label Wicked Cool, and we recently recorded and videotaped a "live in the studio" performance, which will see the light soon as well. Once all this is done, and we’ve adequately promoted HOVRE, we’ll get back to our new stuff. Rick and I are still writing new songs all the time- I have written several this year that we’ll want to record. For once, we have much more material than we can release! But I am very excited- I think this next one will be our best album ever.

Both of you – Is touring in support of House of Vibes still fun? Or 
is it a pain in the butt and you can’t wait to get in the studio?


KP: This summer we played some festivals but right now we are focusing on building the band through our web presence, press and radio. We always love playing live shows but we definitely have a great recording situation right in our house.  Recently Little Steven and his label have taken us under their wing and that may open up the doors to more live work.  Our goal is to get our music out to the most people we can and doing a lot of shows without the right promotion and support doesn’t help us.  Most of our last shows were put on with the help of our record label, Rainbow Quartz.

KR: I love to play and miss it terribly when we’re not, and even though touring is hard I enjoy it. But that said I’m very into getting back into the studio to continue working on our next album, which was started last year and interrupted. We’ll probably do some local shows and then get back to work in the studio this Winter.

Kurt – Any regrets not being on a major label? Or do you feel that 
the smaller labels work harder for you as band?


KR: No- The reality is that major labels don’t nurture artists anymore. If you don’t produce sales right away, you’re out. And now major labels are seen as dinosaurs, as they haven’t yet figured out how to survive in the modern world of digital downloadable music, which is threatening to destroy them. We are in a good place as we’re able to make the music we want to when we want to. Still, it takes a lot of money and effort to promote music, and we’ve been very lucky to have had Rainbow Quartz getting our name and music out there.

From: https://www.powerpopaholic.com/artist-interviews/the-grip-weeds

Sarah Mclachlan & Paula Cole - Elsewhere (Live)

Four years before she founded Lilith Fair—a traveling music festival which prioritized the work of and the collaboration between women musicians—and just before she broke into the upper regions of the American charts with “Building a Mystery,” Sarah McLachlan was alone in the Canadian woods. In order to write and record her third album, 1993’s Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, the Nova Scotian singer-songwriter isolated herself and her two cats in a cabin located in the mountains of southern Quebec. She felt incapable of writing anything for the first three months, faintly aware of something stirring inside her which routinely failed to assemble into words or songs. It was cold. Snow had accumulated on the windows of the cabin in thick columns, and the temperature sank into the negative 30s. Outside were mammoth rock formations and woods and ice and an empty dark that invaded them at night. She felt small and alone.
McLachlan had grown self-conscious about her previous two albums, considering them either too amateurish or rigid in their writing and production. Her debut, Touch, consisted of the first songs she’d ever written; in lieu of any personal experience, she adapted her lyrics largely from the material of her dreams. Her second album, Solace, expressed a confusion and displacement she associated very specifically with her early twenties, a “mourning of [her] lost innocence,” as she told Hot Press in 1994. So she settled herself within the vastness of the mountains of Quebec longing for a kind of self-annihilating perspective—to get close to herself by getting as far away from her life as possible.
In the year before she situated herself in the wilderness, McLachlan had found herself stalked by two of her fans. They followed her from show to show and wrote her letters that progressively warped into disturbing exposures of their inner psyches. One of them moved to Vancouver, where McLachlan lived at the time, and routinely materialized in her neighborhood. “There were instances like running into them a couple of blocks from my house, and saying they’d been there for a couple of days,” she told the Toronto Star in 1993. “It was pretty scary. I stopped answering my mail a long time ago. I had my best friend answering it for a while, and then she had nightmares so she’s not doing it anymore, either.” A court issued a restraining order against the fan, but McLachlan was considerably shaken by the experience. She started looking over her shoulder whenever she left her house, checking her periphery for any menacing, incoming blurs.
While writing the album, McLachlan kept a small journal. Every morning she’d fill three pages of it with free association, circular thoughts about coffee that would barely solidify in her head before disintegrating, but which, halfway through her second page, would evolve into a kind of accidental introspection. She would play Tom Waits records, and she would focus on the slow redistribution of detail on one of her favorite albums, Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden. On that record, Mark Hollis, the principal member of Talk Talk, abandoned his band’s synth-pop aesthetic and stretched his new compositions out like canvas, applying his voice to them in minimal, liquid strokes that interrupted and gave shape to the yards of silence that surrounded it.
Then spring arrived. The snow evaporated and McLachlan discovered that a river, recently thawed, flowed just behind her cabin. Small blooms unfolded on branches of the trees outside. “The whole world just blew up like I’ve never seen it before,” she said. “Everything became so amplified.” She started writing songs again, and would now routinely walk the two miles from her cabin to the studio with whatever ideas she had gathered over the course of the day. Whether it was a fully-formed song or a flicker of an idea, she and her producer, Pierre Marchand, would add musical ornaments—the scattered pulse of a drum machine, a few pale shimmers of electric guitar—until they sounded like whatever it was that Sarah McLachlan songs were beginning to sound like. The songs were located somewhere between the suggestive adult contemporary gloss of her previous albums and something as boundless and figural as Spirit of Eden, a vast stone temple in which her sourceless voice echoes and decays.
This is the image that Fumbling’s first song and lead single, “Possession,” places in my head, or rather it’s the painterly details of its sound design that submerge my head in that colossal space. “Listen as the wind blows/From across the great divide,” McLachlan sings, her voice drowsy, delayed, unraveling at the same pace as a pale ribbon of smoke, “Voices trapped in yearning/Memories trapped in time.” McLachlan wrote “Possession” about her stalker; the song actually takes place in the tortured, pressurized depths of his perspective. The lyrics reproduce the rhetorical and metaphysical somersaults that appear in devotional religious texts; the narrator of “Possession” conceives of his own desire as an empty tomb where he sits and yearns, consumed by an ancient longing.
For McLachlan, inhabiting this perspective was a way for her to convert her trauma into a kind of investigation of the often porous border between desire and obsession. (Her stalker attempted to sue her for harvesting the details of the song from the content of his letters; before the suit could ascend into any court, he killed himself.) The question that animates “Possession” is the question that animates the majority of her work since, most visible in songs like “Sweet Surrender” and “I Love You”: Why does falling in love feel like lightning forking through the body?  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/sarah-mclachlan-fumbling-towards-ecstasy/

R.E.M. - The One I Love

Song of the Week: The One I Love. The song begins with a simple but energetic drum intro by Bill that launches into Peter’s electric riff that to me, makes the whole song. The riff is fairly simple but it’s perfect to me by how catchy it is, and how well it sets up a mood. The riff begins with a couple plucks of the low E string to accent the Em chord in the verse, before it goes to a more melodic part on the B and big E strings. It’s a simple riff because a lot of the notes are just open strings but yet it’s able to create a dark and yet catchy melody that fits perfectly for the rest of the instrumentation and lyrics. And when you get to the verse, you get those wonderful patent pending Peter arpeggios.
Now it’s important to note that this song’s structure is interesting as I know everyone is aware. You have an intro, and then a fair short verse, a pre chorus, a chorus (that only contains backing vocals and Michael yelling “fire!”) and then it just repeats other than a short solo. The lyrics in every verse, pre chorus and chorus, are all almost the same minus a small change in the last pre chorus. I think it’s the simplicity of the structure and lyrics though that makes this song so powerful.
When you hear the verse “this one goes out to the one I love, this one goes out to the one I’ve left behind” you might think this is a love song. Mainly because he sings “the one I love” which is not past tense even though he’s had to leave them behind for some reason. But when we get to the pre chorus, things don’t seem so lovey dovey anymore. “A simple prop to occupy my time” seems like he’s using something to keep himself busy and I think he’s using people to “occupy” his time.
Michael is usually one to leave his songs open to interpretation, but in a interview with Rolling Stone he did say that the song is “incredible violent” and that “It's very clear that it's about using people over and over again". Which makes sense because in the last pre chorus he changes “a simple prop” to “another prop” which I think shows that using people has become a habit or ritual for him. The “prop” is a person and where he actually truly loves them or not is up for debate. What I do know is that I love Mike’s bass playing in the chorus. It’s a fantastic bass melody but it’s not mixed too high in the song where it takes away from the melody or guitar playing.
I’m curious what you guys think “fire!” in the chorus is suppose to represent. Because other than Mike’s backing vocals of “She's coming down on her own now / Coming down on her own" it’s only Michael yelling fire. Either way it’s catchy as hell and I love how it shows off Michael’s vocal abilities. Sure, he sounds great when he’s using his lower register and being reserved, but when his really goes for the high and louder register, it honestly gives me goosebumps.
I also don’t want to forget about Peter’s little solo in the middle of the song. Much like Peter’s playing, it’s not flashy or in your face, but it fits the song so well. It’s one of my favorite parts of the song because how great that melody is. We also can’t forget about Bill’s drumming because not only does it drive the song, but his fills are top notch and help give the song its energy. The song had a music video made for it and as some of you might remember, the director of photography for it was Alton Brown who later went on to host the show Good Eats on the Food Network channel. It was a video that saw heavy rotation on MTV and helped with the popularity of the song.
The song was also a live staple for the band and was definitely a crowd favorite. I especially love the live versions just because you can hear Mike’s backing vocals more clearly in the live version. I didn’t even know he had backing vocals on the song for the longest time because it’s mixed so quietly on the studio version. But live you can really hear them and just like all of Mike’s backing vocals, it includes a great melody and is the glue to Michael’s vocals.  From: https://www.reddit.com/r/rem/comments/s5eqfy/song_of_the_week_the_one_i_love/

Daisy House - Ready To Go

Just stepped out the Tardis, back from a quick trip to San Francisco circa 1967 and I could swear I heard Daisy House blasting out of some greasy spoon on the Castro. They’re that authentic. Welcome to Daisy House. If you love Joni Mitchell, the Mamas and Papas, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, or Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, then you are going to want to stay awhile. I went to their bandcamp site to download just a few choice cuts but ended up buying it all – they’re that good. It’s not just that they emote a particularly addictive blend of 1960s folk rock + killer harmony vocals, the songwriting is also first class. Daisy House are a father and daughter duo, Doug and Tatiana Hammond, with dad writing and playing on nearly all the songs while both provide vocals. Over four albums, they have developed their clear influences into an impressive body of work.
The debut is simply 2013’s Daisy House. The basic formula is here: twelve string acoustic and electric guitars, a celtic twist in the songwriting, with vocals reminiscent of Joni Mitchell (on “Ready to Go” and “Cold Ships”), the Mamas and Papas (on “Two Sisters”), and Richard and Linda Thompson (on “The Bottle’s Red”). The Byrdsian influence is particularly strong with dad’s vocal on “Statue Maker.” 2014’s Beaus and Arrows reproduces the ambience of the debut, with a few new surprises, like a very early solo Paul Simon atmosphere on the Salinger-inspired “Raise the Roof Beam Carpenter.” I agree with Don over at I Don’t Hear a Single, the first two albums draw heavily on 1960s British and American folk idioms.  From: https://poprockrecord.com/2017/06/28/welcome-to-daisy-house/

The John Renbourn Group - Belle Qui Tiens Ma Vie/Tourdion

German record label MiG music have come up with a real find here: a live recording of The John Renbourn Group from a show in Roemer, Bremen (Germany) on 14th February 1978.  The recording was made and broadcast by the local station, Radio Bremen, before promptly fading from public memory and awareness.  MiG music deserves real thanks for unearthing the tapes and issuing this live recording because it’s a real gem; not only a fascinating time capsule for the legions of Pentangle and John Renbourn devotees, this is also an album that provides an excellent introduction to those keen to discover what all the fuss is about.
Let’s first have a look at the line up of the John Renbourn Band that evening 43 years ago: along with Pentangle’s vocalist Jacqui McShee, John was joined by Tony Roberts on flutes, Keshav Sathe on tabla and, from the French prog/folk/rock outfit Mormos, Sandy Spencer on cello.  The sound they made was awesome and, on this recording, it’s preserved in all the crystal clarity that those lucky enough to have been present will have enjoyed at the actual show.
And what’s more, the choice of material was inspired!  To a large degree, the setlist is structured around selections from the John Renbourn Group’s then current album, A Maid In Bedlam with a liberal sprinkling of Pentangle standards added for good measure; the setlist really couldn’t have been better planned even if John et al knew that the recording was going to be submerged and would only resurface some 40-odd years into the future!
Back in 1978, Pentangle was, of course, in suspended animation, following the departure of Bert Jansch some five years earlier.  After the Pentangle split, John Renbourn continued to work with Jacqui as a duo, but both agreed that they missed the fuller sound and opportunities for experimentation that a group could provide, and The John Renbourn Group was born.  The band’s first album, the aforementioned A Maid in Bedlam was released in 1977 and was followed by further releases The Enchanted Garden (1980) and Live in America (1982).  By the time of that February 1978 gig, the band was cooking, with a repertoire that included the full range of John’s extensive musical interests, from straight traditional folk, via early music and medieval rounds, through jazz, Americana and country to authentic delta blues.  And it’s all preserved here on this tremendous album.
And yet despite the familiarity of the source material, the band’s sound is unique.  John’s intricate guitar passages mesh delightfully with Tony’s flute and Keshav’s tabla, Sandy’s cello provides a marvelous finishing touch and Jacqui’s vocals are exquisite throughout – as good as I’ve ever heard them – and the overall impact is a beautiful blend of western music styles with a distinct flavouring of the Indian subcontinent.
The whole album has a wonderful continuity too.  This is one of those live albums that make you feel that the band are there in the room with you, and in these COVID-riven times, that’s a real bonus.  Jacqui’s and John’s introductions are lucid and add to the intimacy of the show and I strongly suggest that the way to listen to this album is to draw the curtains, jack up the volume, pour yourself a large drink and settle down to enjoy a wonderfully entertaining concert.
The standard is set by the concert’s opener, I Am A Maid That’s Deep In Love, a Pentangle number from their 1970 Cruel Sister album where Jacqui’s voice and that eclectic mix of instruments let you know exactly what is to be served up over the next hour or so.  There’s more of the same on Death and the Lady, the first of five featured songs from the A Maid In Bedlam album, before Jacqui takes centre stage for the stunningly beautiful A Capella Westron Wynd.  Seasoned Pentanglers will be familiar with the bluesy rag Sweet Potato, a fast, furious piece that reminds us just how excellent a guitarist John Renbourn really was and which also provides room for Tony and Sandy to stretch out on their respective instruments.
Traffic, Steeleye and Fairport are just three of the acts that have tackled the broadside ballad John Barleycorn, each time with a different approach.  On A Maid In Bremen, The John Renbourn Band strip the song back to its medieval origins and present it as a round with John, Jacqui and Tony all taking a vocal part.  Snatches of the medieval dance tune La Rotta are incorporated into the song to emphasise and enhance the medieval feel.
In keeping with the eclectic theme, the medieval drinking song is followed by Turn Your Money Green, a 1920’s Furry Lewis blues with excellent harmony singing from John and Jacqui.  Some nice flute from Tony complements the always excellent guitar work and the song achieves an authentic 20s feel.  After the blues interlude, we’re back to traditional folk with My Johnny Was A Shoemaker, a song from the A Maid in Bedlam album that sounds clean and pure and is set alight by the interaction between the flute and tabla.  And if that’s not enough variety, To Glastonbury can only be described as a chunk of medieval jazz, a delicious mix that is brought to a conclusion by a sublime tabla solo from Keshav.
We stick with the medieval theme for Gypsy Dance/Jew’s Dance Neusedler Melody, before returning to trad folk with The Maid on the Shore, an intriguing story, beautifully sung by Jacqui, and A Maid in Bedlam, the title track from the recent album.  Sidi Brahim is a frantic raga which, on the day of the concert was so early in its gestation that it hadn’t even been given its name.  It’s a wonderful mélange of raga guitar, soaring flute, dependable tabla and odd time signatures and it was to be given full justice on the band’s next album, The Enchanted Garden.
Jacqui introduces Cruel Sister as the show’s last number and then goes on to exceed even her own monumental standards with a fantastic vocal delivery.  The song, the band and the set get the fulsome applause they deserve before they are brought back for two encores, the first an authentic adaptation of Mississippi Fred MacDowell’s Kokomo Blues and, to finally bring the whole thing to a close, a great version of Willy O’ Winsbury.  From: https://atthebarrier.com/2021/02/24/the-john-renbourn-group-a-maid-in-bremen-album-review/

Twin Temple - Let's Have A Satanic Orgy

To celebrate the fact they're back on the road right now in the U.S. with Ghost and Volbeat, Twin Temple have just released a bewitching new double-single: Let’s Have A Satanic Orgy and Tengamos La Orgía Satánica. The first is an English-speaking version while the latter is a reworked Spanish rendition, with Alexandra explaining of the decision to do both: “We love Latin music. It’s an integral part of early Doo-Wop and a huge influence on us. This latest single is us continuing to explore that concept and sound in our own blasphemous way, of course. We chose to have a flip cover for the 7” as opposed to having an A-side and B-side so that the Spanish and English versions are equal. They’ll be released simultaneously as well, to reflect that equality.”
Zachary adds of how it was all made: “Unlike the 24-hour live session with the band this time we played every instrument ourselves – other than the saxophone – as well as produced, engineered and mixed the record ourselves. We still kept everything analogue and one take to give it a raw feel, but it was just the two of us in the studio together doing everything. It allowed us to expand the sounds and gave us the freedom to add more instrumentation. We always like to stir the cauldron and change things up, and we were excited about challenging ourselves in this evil new way.”  From: https://www.kerrang.com/listen-twin-temple-have-released-a-bewitching-new-single-lets-have-a-satanic-orgy

The Beatles - It's All Too Much

Written while under the influence of LSD, ‘It’s All Too Much’ was the second song by George Harrison to feature on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack.

“It’s All Too Much’ was written in a childlike manner from realizations that appeared during and after some LSD experiences and which were later confirmed in meditation.”

Based on a droning G chord, ‘It’s All Too Much’ transposed the continuing influence of Indian music onto a psychedelic setting. The lyrics combined the cosmic philosophy favoured by Harrison with some nursery rhyme-style whimsy.

It’s all too much for me to take
The love that’s shining all around here
All the world’s a birthday cake,
So take a piece but not too much
Sail me on a silver sun, for I know that I’m free
Show me that I’m everywhere, and get me home for tea

‘It’s All Too Much’ contained a couplet from The Merseys’ 1966 hit single ‘Sorrow’: “With your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue”. The trumpeters, meanwhile, performed a motif from Jeremiah Clarke’s ‘Prince of Denmark’s March’, also known as ‘Trumpet Voluntary’.

“I just wanted to write a rock ‘n’ roll song about the whole psychedelic thing of the time. Because you’d trip out, you see, on all this stuff, and then whoops! you’d just be back having your evening cup of tea! ‘Your long blond hair and your eyes of blue’ – that was all just this big ending we had, going out. And as it was in those days, we had the horn players just play a bit of trumpet voluntarily, and so that’s how that ‘Prince of Denmark’ bit was played. And Paul and John just came up with and sang that lyric of ‘your eyes of blue’.”

The version used on the film soundtrack was 6’28” long. An eight-minute mix, meanwhile, has appeared on Beatles bootlegs, and contains a verse which also featured in the Yellow Submarine film.

Nice to have the time
To take this opportunity
Time for me to look at you
And you to look at me.

Recording began with the working title ‘Too Much’, at De Lane Lea Studios in London. On 25 May 1967 The Beatles recorded a number of rehearsal run-throughs before taping four takes of the rhythm track – Hammond organ, lead guitar, bass and drums. On 31 May they returned to De Lane Lea, adding percussion, lead and backing vocals, and handclaps.

“John and Paul’s backing, meanwhile, started to waver a little, the chanted ‘too much’ eventually becoming ‘tuba’ and then ‘Cuba’. It was that sort of a song.”

‘It’s All Too Much’ was completed on 2 June, with the addition of four trumpets and a bass clarinet. One of the trumpet players was David Mason, who also performed on ‘Penny Lane’, ‘A Day In The Life’, ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, and ‘All You Need Is Love’.

From: https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/its-all-too-much/

The Nields - Tailspin

Now billed as a twosome, Nerissa and Katryna Nields have retained the signature sound of their former band the Nields on their newest release, Love & China. The key to the Nields' sound over the years has always been the slightly quirky combination of the sisters' voices. Despite the duo billing, former band mate Dave Chalfant is very much involved in this record -- as bassist, producer and husband of Katryna; former band mate Dave Hower also appears on drums on several tracks.
Love & China offers a listener-friendly collection of songs all written by Nerissa, which vary from the folk-rock that the Nields are known for, to alt-country and even alt-pop -- maybe even alt-power pop in the case of several songs such as "Yesterday's Girl," which in some alternate reality would be, could be and should be huge hits. Perhaps this is what the alt-labels are really all about. "Ticket to My House" leads off the album with a nice slice of folk-pop that would also go down very easily on the radio.
Tracks three through six move resolutely into country territory, with "Love Me One More Time Before You Go" sounding more traditional than alt-, featuring pedal steel guitar and a classic story of soon-to-be-lost love. "Tailspin" follows with some wonderful fiddling by Alicia Jo Rabins and excellent production to match. Look out Dixie Chicks! "I Haven't Got a Thing" continues the country groove established by the two previous tracks.
Intelligent and clever writing also makes this record special. On "Christmas Carol," the Nields put their unique vocal stamp on Christmas with an original song that uses the titles of familiar Christmas carols in the lyrics. Lines like "Merry Christmas, new born baby" in addition to the obvious Christmas connotation, have a nice double meaning as a reference to Dave and Katryna's daughter Amelia, who was born just before the recording of this album began.
The title track is the high point of the album with another strong pop arrangement and great lines like "I was young but I looked twenty-seven, you were old but you acted like eleven." With a tone that sounds incredibly autobiographical, this song gets intense with lyrics such as "All I ask is that you treat me like a friend, and walk me through the shards of all of your lies, through the broken love and, the broken china, all along the shore of the Jealous Sea." With songwriting this good dominating, it's easy to forgive the indulgence of memorializing a deceased dog on "Eulogizing Emma," performed solo by Nerissa. With first-rate songs, musicianship, vocals and production, Love & China, the Nields' 10th album, could well be their most fully realized and best effort to date.  From: https://www.rambles.net/nields_love02.html

Saint Abdullah & Eomac - Good Morning Machete/Old Enough to Log In

Saint Abdullah and Eomac is a long distance, ongoing collaboration between Mohammad and Mehdi Mehrabani, New York based Iranian-Canadian brothers who make up Saint Abdullah and Eomac, aka Ian McDonnell, a producer from Wicklow, Ireland, who released the excellent ‘Cracks’ LP on Planet Mu a couple of years back. They hope to finally meet this summer, but that hasn’t stopped them already releasing an album ‘Patience of a Traitor’ on Nicholas Jaar’s ‘Other People’ label last year.
Initially starting work together in 2019, they were mutual fans of each other’s work and found that their own productions, Saint Abdullah using outboard analogue gear and Eomac in the box, complemented each other with a sense of rawness and heavy use of samples and extreme contrasts.  With a title that hints at not getting too caught up in the information war, the EP also sounds like a rule of thumb for a collaboration, based on building tracks by passing music back and forth and working intuitively.
The five tracks here run at different speeds, from the beat-less opener, title track ‘A Vow Not To Read’ to the hip hop pace of ‘Wali’ with samples that draw from Shia Mourners, to the spaced out crunchy slow-mo of ‘Mother I Couldn’t Sleep’ with Aquiles Navarro on trumpet. While ‘Toes In The Hummus’ has a rhythm like marbles being shook, all the EP is underpinned with thick chords, giving it a sense of cohesion, even with the chaos bubbling above.  From: https://planet.mu/releases/a-vow-not-to-read/

L'Ham De Foc - Un Nom

L'Ham de Foc is a Spanish group that has made two beautiful albums. Their music is enchanting and intense. The Spanish sound is mixed with all kinds of influences from other traditional music forms. This creates the group's own timeless sound. The third CD is on it’s way and since the band is not really known here in the Netherlands (but does perform regularly in Germany), an introduction is in order. Who are L'Ham de Foc? Can you introduce yourself to the readers?

The core of the group is formed by singer Mara Aranda and by Efrén López, who plays the various string instruments. We are also the two who make the compositions and lead the band. There are six other musicians besides us. The complete band is as follows: Mara Aranda: vocals, didgeridoo, tanpura Efrén López: zanfona (hurdygurdy), oud, saz, laouto de Creta, langeleik, santur and other string instruments Diego López: percussion (davul, bendir, riq, panderetas, kanjira...) Eduard Navarro: traditional wind instruments (gralla, dolçaina, Xirimia, gaita , gadja...) and string instruments (llaüt, moraharpa...) Constantino López: cittern, oud, saz, mandola. Hristos Barbas: ney, kaval, renaissance flutes Osvaldo Jorge: percussion (tabla, riq, ghatam, darbuka, redoblant...) Juan Manuel Rubio: medieval harp, zanfona, saz, santur. We are based in Valencia, but since it is difficult to find musicians who play the instruments we want, they come from all over Spain and even Greece.

When did you start making music?

As L'Ham we have been playing together for eight years now, but everyone played in other bands before that, with different styles. Some in purely traditional bands, others in more experimental groups. Mara and I (Efrén) met in another band from Valencia, which no longer exists. We discovered that we could inspire each other by composing music that we both love. That is how we started our first sessions at home with simple recording equipment.

Where and from whom did you learn to play traditional music?

Mara studied traditional Valencian singing, and still does, with the best singer ever from Valencia, Apa. Mara and I live together and travel regularly to Greece and Turkey to learn to play the instruments that come from there, such as the saz, laud and oud. Eduard Navarro (one of the musicians in the group) has been teaching the Dolçaina (traditional wind instrument) for more than twenty years. A while ago he went on a field trip and recorded old people who still knew melodies from the old days in small villages. Another musician, Osvaldo Jorge, had a scholarship to study percussion from the North and South of India in Delhi.

Is it true that most of your music is not really traditional, because you wrote it yourself?

We don't like to take traditional melodies and play them our way. We prefer to create our own songs, using the aesthetics and tradition in an open way. All the instruments we use are traditional, we don't use keyboards, bass guitars or drums. However, we try to create a clear and powerful sound of our own. For this we use instruments that have their limits compared to modern instruments, but for us they have a personality.

How would you describe your sound; Spanish, Pan-European, a fusion of Southern European and Oriental music?

The word fusion is often used to give a name to forms of traditional music, whether it comes from Lapland, Turkey, Iran or Galicia, that is mixed with pop or another Anglo-Saxon style. We prefer to use instruments that are sometimes half forgotten, or undervalued, but that can be very inspiring in the process of creating melodies. Perhaps the constant element in our music is a certain form of aesthetics, the drone. You can find this in the medieval music that we find very beautiful, but also in Afghan music, our own traditional music and Scandinavian music, to name a few examples. In addition, we emphasize the lyrics and try to give a poetic twist to what we do.

Your two records seem to be conceptual works. What are your ideas behind these records?

As we actually said in the previous answer, it is mainly about a certain sound that is convincing, the use of instruments that sound really magical and that we ourselves do not even understand a hundred percent because they are not used in other music. When you listen to "modern" music, 90% of the sound is based on guitars, bass and drums. We therefore believe that rock music is the most conservative form of music you can play today. The first album, U, was a very powerful album, the second, Cançó de Dona i Home, was much more ethereal.

What can we expect from the upcoming third album?

The second CD had many quiet passages, but we also felt like we played a lot with compositions of rhythms that we had never used before, such as 11/16, 9/8 and 5/8 bars. However, these pieces were never made on purpose, they emerged in a natural process. Each CD reflects what you are doing at that moment. It is difficult to define your own work, but people who have already heard the new CD say that it is more rhythmic again. The harmonious feeling of Cançó de Dona i Home has disappeared and has made room for a more rhythmic sound. The Turkish saz plays an important role on the new record. We have six different saz instruments, six different big ones, and in several songs this instrument forms the basis. Another aspect is that we use more open structures without thinking about the length of the songs. So there are pieces with long instrumental passages, which may not be so easy to listen to at first hearing.

There is always a lot of time between your records. Is it a long process for you until a record is ready? Can you tell us something about the creative process?

If we would just play traditional songs we could probably make a CD every year. A new record demands a lot from us, too much to just release something. In addition to L'Ham de Foc we have other projects running in parallel that give us new ideas that later find their way into the music of the band. We are not a band that works traditionally and therefore where everyone participates in the creative process. Mara and I compose the music at home and when we have something important to say we record a new CD, without thinking about how we can present that music in a live situation. Only when we have to perform the songs live do we start thinking about the musicians we need for that. Every CD is a project and sometimes the band will look different when we have new repertoire to play live.

What is your view on traditional music? Should it remain pure or are experiments necessary to keep it alive?

We believe that both are necessary. We have worked with other groups that are purely traditional, but also with musicians who do not shy away from experimenting. Tradition is not something static and fixed. It has never been that way. As an example, you can take an instrument like the accordion. This is recognized in Bulgaria, Colombia, France and Egypt as a traditional instrument. But if these traditions had been closed to this instrument at the time of its invention, the possibilities that the instrument offers would have been lost. There are more examples like this.

Is traditional music on the rise in Spain?

Yes, in Spain you see more and more groups, festivals, workshops and instrument builders. We cannot say much about the market for this music. We ourselves listen to mostly purist music that never penetrates the music business.

Translated from: https://www.folkforum.nl/archief/profiel/5119-interview-lham-de-foc

Large Plants - This Lock Will Hold

One of my favorite debuts of last year was The Carrier from Large Plants. The band, essentially the solo output for Jack Sharp of Wolf People, carries on the band’s decidedly English brand of psychedelia. Recorded in the same country barn that birthed The Carrier, Sharp follows up with an extension of the sessions, moving away from the more muscular psychedelia of its predecessor for an album wrapped in mists, mystery, and damp melancholy. The Thorn couldn’t come at a better time, rising from the bogs in the bottom-half of November, embracing the barren chill as it begins to seep in to your bones. Reflecting the biker psych bravado of its cover, The Carrier was rife with riffs, though still doused in Sharp’s prog-dipped poison. If the first album was a tale of a modern marauder with his steel horse rumbling a lysergic pulse through the bloodstream, The Thorn is its Arthurian reflection in the oil slicked puddles below.
The prog thread rises quickly and holds tight to this one. Sharp’s leads curl like wood smoke through the thatch, burning with an acridness that permeates the senses. Sharp has spent years carving out the kind of mossen psych niche, but here there are a few touch points that seem notable. The album balances ferocity and fantasy in the way that obscurities like Day of Phoenix or Twink’s heady solo stint Think Pink once perfected. The Thorn winds deep into the heart of loner prog, phantom hooves pounding behind each song as the album wends on its quest through overcast odes and solos that glow like firelight embers. Leaving only ash and agony in its wake, the album is a dark cloud, but also a bright spot in the 2023 calendar. The more listens that wind around the listener, the more it feels as if The Carrier doesn’t exist without The Thorn. The albums are indispensable companions, born of the same solitude and reflecting two sides of Sharp’s psyche. This is the kind album that stave off list culture quick draw. Sometimes one of the year’s best creeps out as the hour draws to a close.  From: https://www.ravensingstheblues.com/large-plants-2/ 

Aretha Franklin - Soul Serenade

Yes, the saxophone is absolutely gorgeous, provided by King Curtis, one of the players responsible for the original 1964 recording. And the pensive piano playing by Spooner Oldham ushers in a degree of wistfulness to the song that is utterly ethereal. But without a doubt, the true magnetism of ‘Soul Serenade’ lies in the inimitable voice of Aretha Franklin. The way she forcefully coos and wails comfortably in each pocket of the instrumental, slowly building to a stunning, reverberating crescendo with each subsequent cadence. By the track’s waning moments, it is, in fact, the audience who has been mesmerically serenaded. Without a shred of hyperbole, it’s truly one of the most groundbreaking recordings of the 20th century - and it’s not even the most acclaimed song on the album.
It’s difficult to fathom that 1967’s I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You, perhaps Franklin’s crowning artistic achievement, was actually her 11th studio album, and even more difficult to fathom that the album largely consists of covers. The suspension of belief mainly lies in the fact that there is no single instance in the annals of rock history where an artist has taken on the herculean task of interpreting others’ work with such masterful grace and gusto. Even Otis Redding’s 1965 ‘Respect’ (an artist much renowned for his otherworldly singing prowess) was largely escorted to the sidelines with Franklin’s ubiquitous 1967 version. Further gems like ‘Do Right Woman, Do Right Man’ signaled the eternal crowning of a musical goddess, one that could inject profound meaning into each and every crevice of her deafening yet infectiously melodic vocal utterings.
I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You is commonly listed as one of the greatest all-time artistic achievements by any publication with an ounce of credibility. But Franklin didn’t always dabble in the secular arts. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, but spending the majority of her formative years in Detroit, Michigan, she developed the brunt of her singing chops while singing choir in the church. After signing to Columbia records, she tasted her first chart success with 1961’s ‘Won’t Be Long’. Usually, there is a maturation process with soul singers, but Franklin exhibited an almost uncanny control over her sprawling voice, thoroughly penetrating the innards of chords all the while dripping with an untamed, ferocious confidence. Her throaty howl, combined with a mezzo-soprano touch that she first utilized in the church, was purely arresting and lent itself well to her secular leanings. During these early years of her career, while exhibiting a particularly lively performance in Chicago, she was dubbed “The Queen of Soul”, a well-earned moniker that would stick with her for her entire career.
A fortuitous move to Atlantic saw the records that would ultimately come to define her legendary career, such as Aretha Now and Lady Soul, the latter of which featured the Grammy-winning ‘Chain of Fools’ – a Franklin staple for years to come. After a slight string of slumps in the late 70’s as she struggled to acclimate herself to changing musical tastes, Franklin rebounded with 1985’s ‘Freeway Of Love’, bringing about a platinum plaque for the album Who’s Zoomin’ Who? Franklin once again captured massive success in later life with 1998’s A Rose Is Still A Rose (her 37th album), which went on to reach certified Gold status.
Perhaps the scope of Franklin’s true brilliance and iconic reach cannot be truly measured in album sales but the exponentially growing heartfelt condolences from the likes of Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, Adele, Liam Gallagher, and Elton John. It seems incomprehensible that one woman could have had such a profound effect on such a varied class of innovators in their own right. But to put things in perspective, all one must do is take a look at the cover of I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You. Franklin is at once demure and tenacious, with eyes seemingly posed to quite literally set the world on fire, equipped with an elegant dynamism the world had yet to fully encounter. As she so eloquently put it on ‘Soul Serenade’, Franklin is now free to fly away and sing to the world about her soul serenade.  From: https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4151972-in-memoriam--aretha-franklins-soul-serenade