Bab L' Bluz - Imazighen

Bab L’ Bluz is a musical group consisting of four members of Moroccan-French origin. The quartet was formed in 2018 with the intention of paying tribute to the Gnawa culture, with the Arabic term “Bab” meaning “gate.” The group’s lead vocalist, composer and guembri player, Yousra Mansour, hails from Morocco, while her co-founder, Brice Bottin, is a French producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. The two artists honed their skills on the guembri, a three-stringed instrument, while exploring its possibilities as they composed in their studio in Marrakech.
The creative output resulting from this collaboration is displayed on the group’s debut album, “Nayda!” Brice comments on the challenge of composing with such a limited instrument, stating that it was an opportunity to explore various styles, scales, and textures. This led Bab L’ Bluz to play original material that combines different styles. Yousra, who grew up in El Jadida, a fortified town on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, was exposed to a diverse range of musical styles, including those of Janis Joplin, Oumou Sangaré, and Erykah Badu. She also attended the annual Gnawa Festival in nearby Essawira and fell in love with the trance grooves of Gnawa music.
Young Yousra was raised by a strong, widowed mother, who was a science teacher and inspired her daughter to follow her dreams. Despite resistance at first, Yousra persisted in singing Gnawa-style music with friends and at home. However, she notes that injustice persists everywhere, with corruption, racism, and poverty, as well as notions of visas and borders, which continue to affect society. For this reason, Yousra and her bandmates believe that art can be used to open minds and change mentalities. Yousra mainly writes in Moroccan Darija and tackles current subjects and societal issues in her lyrics. The meaning of her writing can be easily understood, despite its subtle nature.  From: https://worldmusiccentral.org/2023/03/27/artist-profiles-moroccan-gnawa-blues-band-bab-l-bluz/

While this Moroccan-French band has made it a mission to introduce traditional instrumentation to the world, you'll likely agree with their self-characterization as a rock band. Drawing on their North African roots of Gnawa and meshing them seamlessly with African blues and the Western influences, this is hardly a band couched in a traditional sound. While respecting and presenting the history of the music they draw from, the trio takes North African instruments awicha and gimbri in directions previously unseen. Unafraid to transition to more traditional compositions amidst their ’70’s funk and ’60s psych, and rock explorations, these turns are coloured with unlikely sounds. The occasional nod to thumping electro beats results in hypnotizing digressions worthy of the nomadic artists of the California desert who spend their time composing hallucinatory soundscapes under the Milky Way after staking their place in Joshua Tree. Bab L’ Bluz offer not just a sonic bridge between genres but an overwhelming intersection of off ramps, turn lanes and open roads.  From: https://calgaryfolkfest.com/artists/bab-l-bluz

A Perfect Circle - Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums

Formed by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel, A Perfect Circle is an extension of the alt-metal-fused-with-art-rock style popularized by Tool in the early to mid-'90s. While similar to Tool in intensity and melancholy, A Perfect Circle is lighter and more melodic, with a theatrical, ambient quality that incorporates occasional strings and unusual instrumentation. After the release of Ænima in 1996, Tool found themselves in the midst of an extended legal battle with former label Freeworld Entertainment. When the dust settled two years later, the band reached a 50/50 joint venture agreement for future recordings and, feeling a little burned out, decided to take some time off. It was at this point that Keenan joined up with Howerdel and Paz Lenchantin to form A Perfect Circle. Keenan had met Howerdel in 1992 when Tool opened for Fishbone. Howerdel had been Fishbone's tech at the time and had played Keenan a few of his songs. Keenan was impressed and the two talked of collaborating in the future. However, the opportunity didn't present itself until after the Freeworld settlement. With Keenan on vocals, Howerdel on guitar, and Lenchantin on bass, the trio recruited ex-Failure and Enemy member Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar and ex-Vandals and Guns N' Roses member Josh Freese on drums. The quintet rehearsed together but didn't announce the formation of a new band until performing for the first time on August 15, 1999, at a benefit concert at the Viper Room in Los Angeles. Howerdel, who had been composing songs for years, as well as working with bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails, became the band's chief songwriter and producer. A Perfect Circle released their debut album, Mer de Noms, in 2000.  From: https://www.iheart.com/artist/a-perfect-circle-29559/

This man, Maynard James Keenan, may well be philosophical but he performs as an artist. That is his primary function in society. Art embodies feeling, emotion, information that is otherwise difficult to qualify but, nontheless, very real and generally significant to us. We tend to value art - possibly because art has this unparalleled ability to convey meaning through various mediums and not just spoken or written language. In other words, an artist does not have to explain his, her, or itself, through modern day language. If the work satisfies the artist's motivation, then it is a finished piece. Expecting a rigorous and/or logical explanation of said work is unreasonable and, possibly even, quite bizarre - however normal. So, therefore, permit me to address this piece from my gut - a place very real and possessing meaning, but a place that possesses little currency in a world that weighs words for the express purpose of creating corrupted scales upon which to weigh those very words. In me, Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums invokes frustration with the way civilization is going. We are but the descendants of a violent, aggressive manifestation of informational organization. We are prone to war, ready to snatch each other's faces off for minor grievances. Our society has become parasitic in nature rather than synergistic. We survive in spite of each other rather than as willing, mutual beneficiaries. How disturbing! Nay, how natural! Just go to sleep. Listen to the propaganda and the advertisements. Do not be alarmed or you may realize that you're a sheep, marching off a precipice to the benefit of someone claiming to care for you. Watch or read 1984, A Handmaid's Tale, Fight Club, various footage of Jane Goodall's research, and you will now the meaning of this song better than the artist himself.  From: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858515743/

Silly Sisters - Doffin' Mistress

Silly Sisters begins in the weaving mills of the Industrial Revolution, where we learn that the workers liked to stick it to the boss as much as we do today. “Doffin’ Mistress” is sung by a group of workers called “doffers,” who had the unimaginably dull job of changing the bobbins on the weaving machines in the spinning sheds. When you have a shit job, you have three choices: bitch about it, have fun with it or both. These young ladies, as expressed through the tight harmonies of Maddy Prior and June Tabor, choose both, supporting the female supervisor in a united front against the screaming bully of a boss. The arrangement is terribly inviting, particularly in the opening measures where Martin Carthy is joined by Andy Irvine on mandolin, Nic Jones on fiddle, Tony Hall on melodeon and Danny Thompson on bass before June and Maddy enter in tandem. The melodic magic of British folk is on full display here with a joyful, exuberant melody that makes you want to join in with throats opened to full throttle. The verse where the girls align in teasing defiance of male power is sung with a hands-on-hips, energetic display of psychological independence:

And when the boss he looks round the door,
 “Tie your ends up, doffers,” he will roar. 
Tie our ends up we surely do,
 For Elsie Thompson but not for you!

We leave this relatively happy scene for a dark tale of revenge involving Scottish clans. “Burning of Auchindoon” is based on a feud between the Clan Mackintosh and the Earl of Huntly, a thoroughly disreputable character who left a thick trail of blood in his wake and traitorously plotted with the Spanish to launch an invasion against his homeland. The Clan is out to avenge the death of one of their allies at the hand of Huntly by burning Auchindoun Castle (the “ou” is the proper spelling). This chilling tale receives an equally chilling treatment from Maddy and June, who heighten the tension with dissonant harmonies sung a capella. The ending interval, where June stays on the root of the C-minor and Maddy flattens the already flattened third of the key creates a powerful sense of foreboding: though the castle is in flames, the act is certain to trigger a response, and the bloody cycle will continue. Singers in search of new harmonic possibilities are encouraged to study these patterns in detail, for “Burning of Auchindoon” is a stellar example of how to move beyond the obvious to build tension and capture mood.
Each woman has a solo on Silly Sisters, and Maddy’s is “Lass of Loch Royal.” This is a song that has morphed over the years as it traveled through different countries from Ireland to Scotland to the United States, with various artists emphasizing different features of the plot to modify the message. It is believed that the original is a tale of betrayal of a young pregnant woman by the lover’s mother, and that aspect is certainly present in Maddy’s version. Through careful verse selection and an extraordinarily vivid performance, she transforms the main theme into one of abandonment, possibly after rape, possibly after a night of passion, or something in between. The lass travels day and night with her newborn baby to arrive at the castle of her lover, only to be turned away by the lover’s mother, who dismisses her with cold cruelty:

The rain beats at my yellow locks, the dew wets me still,
 The babe is cold in my arms, love, Lord Gregory let me in.
 Lord Gregory is not here and he henceforth can’t be seen,
 For he’s gone to bonny Scotland to bring home his new queen.
 Leave now these windows and likewise this hall,
 For it’s deep in the sea you will find your downfall.

The lass has no choice but to leave and accept her fate. When Maddy arrives at the last verse, you can picture her, drenched and cold on the heath, releasing all the bitterness of betrayal in a heart-rendering climax.
“The Seven Joys of Mary” features the pair in harmony again singing a folksy version of the Christ story. For some reason, the plain folk seem to capture the positive aspects of the faith more effectively than priests or preachers. The repetition of the affectionate phrase “good man” is a reminder that Christ retains more power when he is not embellished with godlike trappings but as a representative of the best aspects of humankind. The harmonies here are especially sweet during the crucifixion verse, as June and Maddy lower their voices in respect and mourning.
The anonymous multitudes who composed British folk songs always found their way into the sack sooner or later, but in this tale, sad disappointment lurks under the counterpane. “My Husband’s Got No Courage” is a dramatic monologue sung by a young wife who finds she’s married a man who can’t get it up. Since women were not allowed to divorce in the 19th century, and the possibility of release through lesbianism, masturbation or a quick trip to the vibrator shop were not realistic options, her agony is understandable. Maddy and June sing the moaning, hand-wringing chorus together without harmony and then take turns singing the verses solo. This poor horny broad has tried everything: vittles, meats, oyster, rhubarb, clapping a hand between his thighs, throwing her leg over his and nothing she does gets a rise out of this hopeless prick. Bitter that he continues to present himself to the world as handsome and desirable, she finally explodes in the last verse, giving as clear an expression of sexual frustration you will ever hear. The frustration is made more emphatic because June and Maddy break the pattern and join together for this verse, singing it with more passion than precision:

I wish my husband he was dead 
And in his grave I’d quickly lay him
 And then I’d try another one
 That’s got a little courage in him

From: https://www.50thirdand3rd.com/classic-music-review-silly-sisters-by-maddy-prior-and-june-tabor/

Post Animal - Bolt From Above

This past Friday night, I caught up with the boys in Post Animal before they headlined night one of Chicago’s Psych Fest at The Hideout. Although the band was down one member, with this weekend being one of the first times they’ve played without guitarist Joe Keery, the remaining five members still had plenty to talk about. Throughout the conversation, I found out all you need to know about this up and coming Chicago band, including news on their upcoming album and tour, stories about their haunted recording space, their influences, and their feelings on a certain Netflix show (which, if you didn’t already know, one of them happens to star in). There’s no doubt about it, 2017 will be an incredible year for Post Animal, so get familiar with them now.
One of the first things I always want to know about musicians is how they got into playing music.  Matt Williams, Javi Reyes, and Wes Toledo all credit their parents for getting them into music at a young age.  “I started playing music when I was like four,” Wes says. “My dad was a musician too, so he just kind of started me at an early age. I started listening to the Police and bands like that, like the Beatles and my liking of music came from that," he continued on. Matt adds, “My mom was a musician so she kinda forced me to take guitar lessons. She’s a bass player, but she was like ‘you need to learn how to play guitar,’ and then I kinda got forced to.” Javi says his mom also had guitars laying around, and he first started playing the guitar that his brother was given for Christmas one year. “I  learned how to play the James Bond theme,” he recalls.
Dalton Allison says that other bands, like Black Sabbath, inspired him to start making music, while Jake Hirshland admits that his inspiration stems from just wanting to be in a band, saying, “I just wanted to be in a band so bad dude, that I like picked up a guitar and tried to get good enough.” All of the guys also agree that films scores played a big part in influencing them, with Dalton deeming the Jurassic Park score as his favorite.
Oh, and the part about Mel Gibson? That came up while Matt chatted about the early days of guitar lessons, revealing, “The very first lesson I took was so awkward. There’s like these guitar books, I think they’re called Mel Gibson, wait! Not Mel Gibson...those learning books...”  It turns out he was actually talking about Mel Bay guitar books, which we quickly figured out, thanks to a member of another band playing that night.
If you’ve ever seen Post Animal live, you know they’ve got a lot of guitars on one stage (they also have a lot of hair on one stage, but that’s besides the point). The reason for so many bandmates stems from a few of them originally being substitutes who just never left. Dalton and Matt grew up together as self-proclaimed “bad boys of Danville,” first starting a band in sixth grade. As for the rest of the guys, Matt says,“We just kinda met people through friends and through work, and then someone was like ‘Hey I know this guy who’s a really good drummer, Wes. You should play with him.’ Then we did, and someone was out of town and Javi had just moved into town. So we were like ‘Javi wanna play these couple shows with us?’ And he just never stopped playing with us.”  
“We’ve pretty much just been tacking people on. I moved to Chicago and started playing with these dudes. It was a lot of people going out of town for a while, so we were just subbing people,” Jake chimes in.  The rest of band agreed that they just can’t let anyone go.
Dalton also gives credit to the adaptability of his bandmates, saying “We’re really lucky to have a mutli-talented group. Like Javi can pretty much play anything, Matt can pretty much play anything, Jake can play anything. Wes is one of the best drummers that I’ve ever played with.”  
It’s been a minute since Post Animal released their 6 track EP called The Garden Series, but lucky for us, the next album is just about ready. How is this new full-length different than the band’s previous releases? Other than the location where they recorded it, Dalton says,“It’s the first one with all 6 of us on it, so this is the most exciting for sure,” adding on that it should be between 10 and 13 songs. He also says that this new record is more collaborative than their past work, crediting each band member with writing their own parts.  
“Yeah we’re all pumped. Recordings are done and Dalton’s in the cave doing post production on it. We’re hoping the spring time,” Jake adds about the progress and planned release of the record.  Continuing on about their recording process, he adds, “I feel like the way we recorded is also...we did a lot of stuff at the same time and we never really used the rooms we were in. Rather than recording it in Dalton’s bedroom like we’ve been doing for the last couple, we actually went to this lake house of our good friend and just squatted in the living room and played everything loud...getting all the sound of the space. I think you can tell it was recorded live.”
While we’re on the subject of the lake house, Wes drops the bomb that the place was haunted. Javi and Dalton both attest to strange glitches appearing on their recordings from the lake house, while Jake, Wes, and Matt admit to having to sleep in the same room eventually after several scares. Jake recalls one night in which a nightstand flipped over in the room they were sharing, after already being woken up by a ghost. “These old, wrinkly leather hands just tugged me awake. It was bizarre,” Jake says. The rest of the band add that they’re not big on embellishment or really into paranormal activity, with Jake continuing, “Yeah we’re rational at heart, but it was bizarre, I had no explanations for some of the stuff I was feeling and seeing. The table flying over…”
In addition to the ghost scares, coffee got spilled on their computer halfway through recording, causing the band to worry they’d lost all of their work. Despite all of these scares, the band say they still had the time of their lives recording in the house adjoining Paw Paw Lake.
At the moment, the Post Animal boys have only got a string of live dates announced for this year, including some shows in Michigan with Twin Peaks and a slot at Daytrotter Downs Festival in Davenport, IA. However, they let on that they’ve just locked in the first two weeks of an upcoming tour, with Wes adding on that they’ll be out on the road all summer.
Talking more about Daytrotter, Dalton says,“I think that’s the first time that any of us were kinda shocked that someone asked us to play. We really respect what they’ve got going on.” They’re also all excited to check out some of the other bands on the line up, with Jake shouting out NE-HI and Wes and Matt giving nods to Joan of Arc and Gaelynn Lea.  From: https://www.anchrmagazine.com/interviews/2017/1/29/get-to-know-post-animal 

Sam Phillips - Strawberry Road

Speaking of her 1994 record, "Martinis and Bikinis," Los Angeles singer-songwriter Sam Phillips recently recalled an anecdote associated with one of the songs from that album--a track called "Baby I Can't Please You." It involved one of the musicians who played on the record, bassist Colin Moulding of the British alternative rock band XTC.
"I remember Colin Moulding coming in from England," she tells CBSNews.com. "We were at Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica recording. And I remember when he heard "Baby I Can't Please You," he had this big smile on his face and he said, 'We should do a Bollywood duet, you and me.' At the time I thought, 'Uh, maybe not.' But now I regret that. I think that would have been a wonderful idea and maybe someday we'll get to do that duet."
Still, Phillips did have a chance to rework some of the songs from the record that now appear as bonus tracks on a new reissue of "Martinis and Bikinis," which came out Tuesday. Produced by her then-husband T-Bone Burnett (whose production credits include Counting Crows, Robert Plant and Allison Krauss, and the Wallflowers), "Martinis and Bikinis" is generally well-regarded by the critics and perhaps her most accessible work.
"It actually came from my publishers at Notable Music," Phillips said about the idea behind the reissue. "They've been talking to this company Omnivore-- they started reissuing these vinyl projects. "It's been quite a while since "Martinis and Bikinis" has been released, and also because it's never been on vinyl, they were very excited to be involved."
Released at a time when alternative rock was the rage, "Martinis and Bikinis" was Phillips' third album for her then-label Virgin Records--the others being "The Indescribable Wow" and "Cruel Inventions." One thing she recalls about the record was T-Bone Burnett playing a lot of the guitars on it. "But I also remember that of the three records for Virgin," she adds, "it was the culmination of the other two records that the process that we had started when we first did "The Indescribable Wow." I felt like they were all connected and that "Martinis and Bikinis" was we finally got to the place that we wanted to get after a lot of work. I remember months in the studio for all three of those records."
In addition to Burnett, "Martinis and Bikinis" featured musicians such as Colin Moulding, Marc Ribot, Mickey Curry and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. And while the album was dominated by Phillips' vocals, melodic hooks, and pristine production, "Martinis and Bikinis" contained soul-searching lyrics that addressed political, personal and social themes.
"Writing melodic songs were going against the grain at that time," says Phillips, "and also going against the grain in terms of what the lyrics were saying. A friend of mine who was very wealthy once brought up the idea that he knew of a man who was a refugee and everything that he had that was of value he held in his heart. I was very struck by that, so I put that verbatim in "Same Rain." There were a lot of different ideas. "Fighting with Fire" was about having to deal with art and commerce and trying to make sense of that, trying to make a life when corporations dictate how you make art and dictate how you get paid and we're still dealing with that today. It was a very serious record."
The aforementioned "Baby I Can't Please You" was one of the many standout tracks from "Martinis and Bikinis." It took on different meanings for those involved in the record, according to Phillips. "What was funny was that [T-Bone] thought of the song was about the right-wing politicians. To me, I was just thinking of my struggle of growing up, struggling with self-image and all of that, so "Baby I Can't Please You" was more of a personal thing to me. It was really funny--he had one agenda for the song, and I had another agenda for the song, and Colin Moulding had a third agenda for the song [the Bollywood duet]. That's always been my aim to try to write songs that work on different levels--that are open to different interpretations that could be of service to the listener."  From: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sam-phillips-revisits-martinis-and-bikinis/

Delta Shade - Hollow

Hailing from the high desert, Delta Shade play hard rock with a fierce groove that provides the backbone to their soulful melodies. After starting in 2016 by members Chad Buchanan, Andrew Laich, and Travis Prine, the band quickly gained a sizable local following and became known for their lively, impassioned performances that meld a variety of music genres. Their songs are full of life’s turmoil and heartache, as well as rising above such dire experiences to make it out the other side. Delta Shade are constantly looking to the future and striving for progression, eager to avoid getting tied down to any particular genre. They released their first full-length album in 2017 and are currently working on their second album.  From: https://www.reverbnation.com/deltashade

My Little White Rabbit - Behind the Door

In the manic depressive pandemic winter, "My Little White Rabbit" throw themselves into a colorful ball pit of psychedelic garage rock and 80s synth pop. Common for all those who currently love to curl up with tea and a cozy blanket in snow-covered window panoramas; here you get the full broadside with danceable up-tempo numbers and wafting guitar walls. The quintet from Hamburg around singer and guitarist Rike Pfeiffer used the forced break last year to nestle in the Hanseatic city's Schalltona Studios and record 12 songs for the follow-up to their debut "Bullets & Poor Hearts". The fruitfulness of this creative phase under slightly different conditions can already be felt in the first energetic seconds of "Bat in my Livingroom". The songs now seem more determined, more lively and the sound overall more mature. The band, whose name is an allusion to a classic by Jefferson Airplane, dominates the political discourse just as much as their instrumental craftsmanship. The content deals with important topics that are still of social importance in the shadow of the omnipresence of Corona. While "Rusty Nail" and "Moneymaker" are a scolding of the ever-popular enemy object "capitalism", after "Lucky People" the bells should ring about what a privilege it is not to have to be an animal among humans. And "Hello Mister" is undoubtedly already one of the most humorous songs of 2021 with its subtle feminist message, its radio pop appeal and charming synth sounds. The fact that "My Little White Rabbit" handles these topics so easily and unobtrusively may be due to their humorous nature, which you can personally convince and get infected by in the band's own podcast. In addition, Pfeiffer also emphasized in an interview with HORADS: "We are not a political band that constantly points the finger at others." Associations with stylistically related representatives such as "Blues Pills" or the Würzburg band "Wolvespirit" are constantly in the air when listening, but are only permissible to a limited extent. The Hamburg band is too happy to pull out the punk rock club, or occasionally present the listener with disturbing experiments that are not designed for song length. So it rarely gets boring on "Lowest Heights". It's just that the feeling of having heard everything before in one way or another is somehow difficult to shake off with the record. Apart from that, we think the genre mix is very successful. So much so that even the streaming algorithm has to look carefully in the end to find where to locate "My Little White Rabbit". At the same time, the young collective with "Lowest Heights", as well as "Sperling" recently, provides the best arguments for the young talent offensive of German bands, whose raison d'être is now more a matter of the lack of live performance opportunities than a lack of courage to innovate and a lack of talent. However, there was already a quiet promise of a performance in the Kessel in the interview, which is why we are slowly longing for relaxations for the music and culture industry twice and three times over. Until then, you can and should take the time to warm up to this up-and-coming band.  Translated from: https://www.horads.de/albumschau-my-little-white-rabbit-lowest-heights/