Wolf People - Night Witch

AD 2016 and England is in flux. This bastard island is divided, shot through with doubt and self-loathing, ruled by the feverish egos of passing power hungry dilettantes, two-bit aristocrats and smiling psychopaths. Swathes of the country have been sold off, paved over, neon-lit. England is at war with itself and this time the enemy is in the mirror. The people require a new narrative. A new soundtrack. They need to feel the pull of history and navigate a new path through the morass of misinformation. Emerging from the woodlands, river-banks and the dales like the grizzled ‘green men’ resistance fighters of the post-Norman invasions, the spirit-raising purveyors of pagan folk psyche prog Wolf People return to provide exactly just that.
Ruins is their new album, and its over-riding theme is that of nature reclaiming the land. The transcendence of life over politics, plants over people. It asks: where are we going and what comes next? If culture is history’s narration, then Wolf People are custodians and conduits; electrified sages, if you will. Through them runs a time-line of a nation rising from bloody glory to existentialist confusion. Yet within Ruins, their album proper, lies a spirit of hope too, it is a reminder that society is no match for the mighty power of music and nature working in perfect symbiosis. Wolf People are time travelers, their tools mythology, history, hauntology, big riffs, bigger beats, electricity.
“It’s not a concept album, but a lot of the songs consider what the world might be like without humans,” says singer/guitarist Jack Sharp. “The title refers to the ruins of civilisation. I suppose like many people – especially now – we’re constantly veering towards complete frustration with the human race one moment, and celebrating all the positive things about humanity the next. The aim was to try and portray that without sounding too trite or preachy.”
Lyrically Ruins imagines how the planet might appear when society has finally fallen to dust and ash, and the creeping vines and nettles have reclaimed the land. It is the product of letting go of conceit, contrivance and, indeed, a career plan. For following the release of 2013’s acclaimed Fain, and a tough year for all concerned, frontman Jack Sharp considered giving up. Out of this doubt came a wellspring of new ideas that could only be recorded by Wolf People. The universe had spoken. It was written in the runes.  From: https://jagjaguwar.com/artist/wolfpeople/ 

Jefferson Airplane - Wally Heider Studios 1970

Jefferson Airplane - Wally Heider Studios 1970 - Part 1

 

 Jefferson Airplane - Wally Heider Studios 1970 - Part 2

Today (October 30), marks the legendary Grace Slick’s 80th birthday. While she is best known for her work as a vocalist in the seminal San Francisco psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, Grace got her start in Bay Area group The Great Society in 1965. Somewhat frustrated with the lack of direction in The Great Society, Slick would soon replace singer Signe Toly Anderson in Jefferson Airplane.
Jefferson Airplane would go on to score two Top 10 hits with songs that Slick originally penned while she was in The Great Society: “White Rabbit” and “Someone To Love.” These songs and others made Grace’s powerful mezzo-soprano voice iconic in rock history. Slick and the Airplane were also involved in the socio-political activism of the time and their 1969 album, Volunteers, showcased their revolutionary spirit.
Renowned sound engineer Wally Heider, who was integral in capturing the sound of a number of late ’60s San Francisco bands, recorded Volunteers at his state-of-the-art studio. Among guests appearing on the album are Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills, David Crosby and famed session pianist Nicky Hopkins (The Rolling Stones).
After the album’s release in November of 1969, Airplane returned to Heider’s studio in early 1970 to capture a number of the songs from Volunteers live on film including “We Can Be Together,” the title track and the Paul Kantner/ Crosby/Stills co-write “Wooden Ships.” The live performance includes classics like “Somebody To Love,” “Plastic Fantastic Lover” and more. The band also chats about the heady times they found themselves in.  From: https://www.jambase.com/article/jefferson-airplane-wally-heiders-studio-1970

 

The Rolling Stones - Hide Your Love

Hide Your Love: Mick Jagger was playing piano between sessions when engineer Andy Johns encouraged him to record what he was working on, and that became the basic track. The Stones recorded the song in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at De Doelen, a concert hall rather than a studio proper. Jagger's voice bleeds through from when he was singing on the piano track. You can hear it with headphones. The album this song is from, Goat's Head Soup, is considered by some fans to be the very last album of the Stones' "golden age." While most critics liked it, the immortal Lester Bangs spoke of the sadness that hung about the Stones, coming from when you "measure not just one album, but the whole sense they're putting across now against what they once meant." It was also the first album the Stones had recorded with only all-new original material in six years.  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-rolling-stones/hide-your-love

Kontiki Suite - Bring Our Empire Down

At a time when music is marketed as merely something to be consumed, like tins of beans, it seems that great songs, played and recorded with warmth and emotion are overlooked. So it is great to see the many very positive reviews, in the UK and internationally, that Kontiki Suite’s On Sunset Lake has gathered. My enjoyment of the CD led me to the bands website, where the experience is enhanced by the visual impact of the videos which impeccably reflect and enhance the songs.
I was determined to find out more about the Kontiki Suite and how they created this musical gem. Happily for me Craig [Craig Bright – keyboards & percussion] and Jonny [Jonny Singh – guitars, lap steel & backing vocals] from the band gave me some of their time to chat about the creation of the CD and how they achieved a warmth and clarity that is both vintage and modern. Something not often heard in contemporary recordings.

Firstly, I want to say how much I enjoyed the album.

Jonny: Thanks for the kind words. We’ve been absolutely blown away by the response we’ve had. It’s weird, we really never knew how folks would respond to it, but it really seems to have been embraced by like-minded music lovers.

My particular favourite song is Magic Carpet Ride, both the original and remix versions are great. It achieves that rare feat of being both familiar and new at the same time. There is some great guitar on Magic Carpet Ride. However, it is the longest track on the album. What was the reason for choosing it as the single? Hollywood, for example, struck me as being a more likely candidate for a single and may have wider appeal.

Jonny: We’ve been ending our live sets with Carpet Ride since, pretty much, the beginning and it quickly became a live favourite. It was usually the track that most people would be buzzing about after gigs. I think its crossover potential helped us out on occasion too if we were playing showcase type gigs to a varied audience. I think the track has got longer and longer over the years. I’m sure we’ve even clocked in a 20 minute version on occasion but managed to restrain ourselves to under 9 minutes for the album.
I don’t recall there ever being a discussion about singles, as I’m not really sure if we ever planned to release one as such. If there was then this was made easy for us anyway as Richard Norris had produced a great remix of it and kindly released it as a double A side on his 5D record label.

Craig: Jonny is right, in that there was no conscious decision to release a single, let alone for it to be Magic Carpet Ride. I guess I understood that in order to make any waves in a music world increasingly awash with all types of self-released music, good and bad, we had to make a statement from the get go. To do so, asking a well-respected DJ in Richard Norris to put his stamp on our 9 minute set closer was an obvious choice. As contrary to the norm as that is.
Richard, as one half of Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve with Erol Alkan, had given me some memorable nights at Glastonbury spinning their take on 60s psych and garage tunes as well as great re-edits of more recent folkier stuff by Midlake and Findlay Brown. The decision to release it as a double AA side 12″ was, again, the obvious thing to do because we wanted DJs out there to pick up on the ‘dancier’ mix by Richard and be able to play it at its best, on vinyl.

I felt that Magic Carpet Ride had a bit of a Madchester vibe going on. How did you come to write it?

Jonny: I wrote the track when I was living in Manchester and back when I was only really a part-time member of the band, if I recall correctly. I’d only recently finished producing the first Kontiki demos, so it must have been 2007. I think even from the moment of strumming the chords on the acoustic, I knew what sound I wanted from it. It came from an appreciation of what Ben [Ben Singh lead vocals and guitar] had already been writing for the band and our more obvious 60s influences. It also came from our, or really ‘my’, less obvious influences from early 90s shoegaze bands like Ride, Swervedriver and My Bloody Valentine. I’d also been spinning Notorious Byrd Brothers heavily at the time, which all helped the trippy swirling grooves and harmonies of Carpet Ride just fall into place, even in the first demo I put together of it. In fact, that demo is probably more psychedelic than the proper version.

Where and how did you record the album? Was it a local studio and if so do you think familiar surroundings contributed to the warm feel of the album? The production is very supportive of the songs. Did you get involved or if a producer was used, were they known to you before recording? 
 
Jonny: We recorded the album ourselves between our rehearsal room and my basement studio, so really recording technique decisions were kind of made easy by what equipment I had. The number of available mics and inputs was usually the main factor. Having our own studio was a huge benefit to achieving the right sound. It allowed us to take our time to get it all just how we wanted it. Although, sometimes this luxury can lead to too much time being taken.

Did you record any of the songs as a band, with overdubs as required or did you all lay down your parts individually? I feel some of the warmth that comes through in the songs is not just the recording techniques but also to do with closeness of the band.

Jonny: Initial tracking was generally performed as a 3 or 4 piece to get the drums down at the right tempo and groove. Everything else was then tracked individually to get the best performances down. We are generally a well-rehearsed band anyway so I think that adds to capturing that “closeness” sound that you mention. A lot of recording techniques went into it too. I experimented with “vintage” mic’ing techniques, for want of a better description, such as only mic’ing up the kit in mono with 3 mics, which I think adds a lot to the sound of the album.

From: https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/interviews/kontiki-suite-the-north-west-coast-sound/

Snake River Conspiracy - Act Your Age

Every sound made by Tobey Torres, lead singer of Snake River Conspiracy captivates the essence of the powerful emotions boldly portrayed on this extremely impressive debut. The versatility of the band shines through as every track demonstrates a different aspect of their own personas and indeed, the music scene. From the aggressive metal tracks 'Vulcan' and 'Oh Well' to the sweet, nearing pop tune 'You and Your friend', Sonic Jihad covers many diverse musical genres, linking them together and trade-marking them with a heavy dose of very edgy industrial experimental sound, and an occasional mockery of American idealism.
The complex layers of digital effects pile sound upon sound until they have a thick wall of it, which, teamed with the sultry, sometimes irate sounding vocals of femme fatale Ms. Torres, makes for a very emotive musical explosion. With such a huge amount of emotional force and excitement, Sonic Jihad is evocative of a sea, whisking you into its mystifying world incorporating rage, lust and violence, with a pace varying from raging thunderstorms 'Breed' and 'Strangled', to nearing calm waters 'Act Your Age' and 'Causality' plus a few scattered somewhere in the middle to hold it all together. Throw in a few extremely credible covers by bands such as The Cure and The Smiths for good measure and Snake River Conspiracy are already nearing perfection. More than just a straight nu-metal collection, Sonic Jihad is a journey, lyrically and musically, through human emotions and represents, to me at least, the triumph of passion over technology... and no one told you that you had to see them live. It's not about their stage presence - it's about the music.  From: https://drownedinsound.com/releases/2792/reviews/2633-#:~:text=Every%20sound%20made%20by%20Tobey%20Torres%2C%20lead,boldly%20portrayed%20on%20this%20extremely%20impressive%20debut.

Bhopal's Flowers - I Feel Free (Cream cover)

Something has been nagging me about the various jangle pop bands growing in popularity today, and I think that I have finally put my finger on it. While these bands are enamored with the Rickenbacker sound — and who isn’t? — there is something lacking in the results. They have captured the 60s / 70s West Coast LA psych vibe, but not the essence. Back in that era there was an edge to the music: the Vietnam war was raging, and the anger felt by many young bands found its way into their music, augmented by hallucinogenic stimulants. There was an urgency to the music and lyrics, which were foremost. And that is what I find missing with contemporary jangle pop. The songs are mellow, all rounded corners, nothing that bites into you and grabs your attention. Now, having said all that, Canadian neo-psych group Bhopal’s Flowers straddles this gap. Bhopal’s Flowers first came to my attention via Fruits de Mer. Their song “H.I.G.H.W.A.Y.S.” appeared on The Half-Time Orange freebie compliation and their raga rock cover of Cream’s “I Feel Free” on FdM’s massive compilation A Band for All Seasons. I was impressed and eagerly awaited the release of their double vinyl LP Alstroemeria - A Journey on Earth & Beyond. The double album roughly follows a day in the life, with the first LP, subtitled Sunshine Pop, running from 5 AM to 6 PM, and the second LP, subtitled Moonlight Pop, running from 7 PM to 4 AM, completing the 24 hour cycle. When Bhopal’s Flowers blends Eastern and Western music, they excel. The combination of the signature Rickenbacker sound with sitar, tamboura, and tabla is magical. Following the 24 hour day, these magical moments occur in the wee hours of the morning on Sunshine Pop and the pre-dawn hours on Moonlight Pop: “Enjoy Your Life on Earth [5 am],” “Napoleon Candy Sweet [7 am],” “Hail to Her Sun! [9 am],” “A Night at the Devachan [1 am],” ‘“Moon - Earth - Jupiter [2 am],” “Eastern Star [3 am],” and “I Feel Free [4 am].” Sandwiched in between are a set of gentle neo-jangle pop songs that just don’t connect with me, except for perhaps “When the Sinner Becomes a Saint (Then the Devil Bleeds) [1 pm]” and “1221 Jasmin Street [3 pm].” My wish is that Bhopal’s Flowers would focus more on their unique blending of musical cultures, perhaps covering more late 60s tunes, rather than strictly psych pop.  From: http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/bhopals-flowers-alstromeria-a-journey-on-earth-beyond-6.html  

Sally Rogers & Claudia Schmidt - Going By

Old friends Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt, each with productive and storied solo careers, relish joining forces to make glorious music. Between them, they have over 30 fine recordings, but only three as a duo, most recently Evidence of Happiness in 2012. Radio stations across the country voted their 1987 collaboration, Closing the Distance, in the top 10 most popular albums of the year. Their separate home bases (Rogers in Connecticut, Schmidt in Minnesota) and full teaching, composing, and touring schedules make it challenging to converge. This Ithaca concert is a rare chance to hear them create magic together, with the synergy that comes from shared musicality and a gift for lyrics, instinctive harmonies, passion for social justice, education, and the environment, and radiant joy in the “Tree of Life.” These are energetic, powerful women who revitalize their audiences with a mix of humor, poignancy, and fire. Both drew attention decades back as regulars on A Prairie Home Companion, and have traveled far and wide since then.

Free-ranging and unclassifiable, Claudia Schmidt is fluent in folk, jazz, blues, and world music styles, a prolific composer and great wordsmith, and a soulful player of 12-string guitar and mountain dulcimer. In addition to taking the stage at festivals, big arenas, and house concerts across North America and Europe, she writes and performs in film, television, and theater. She’s an inimitable force. “When Claudia sings a song, it stays sung,” declares Garrison Keillor. A reviewer in the San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote, “Schmidt’s shows are a lot like falling in love. You never know what’s going to happen next, chances are it’s going to be wonderful, every moment is burned into your memory, and you know you’ll never be the same again.”

Sally Rogers is firmly grounded in traditional folk, old-timey, and children’s music, graced with a pure voice and accomplished playing of guitar, banjo, and dulcimer. In her hands, songs, whether original, contemporary, or hundreds of years old, have a timeless quality. Once heard, audiences remember them and take them home to sing in the kitchen, car, or at gatherings. As a born, and now professional, teacher, Sally Rogers’ successful mission is to set the world singing. When she’s not in a schoolroom, she’s likely to be touring across the States, Europe, or China, recording, creating books and videos for children, composing songs for Unitarian and Quaker hymnals, and quilting. She has won numerous awards, including Best Folk Album of 1982 (Circle of the Sun), Parents’ Choice Gold of 1990 (Piggyback Planet: Songs for a Whole Earth), Best Children’s Recording in 1993 (What Can One Little Person Do?) and in 1994 (At Quiet O’Clock). Her eagerly awaited recording for adults, We’ll Pass Them On, was recently released on Red House Records. She can tackle serious subjects in a way that uplifts rather than numbs. Writes Peggy Seeger, “Sally Rogers has a clear, fluid, and remarkably agile voice, a keen sense of drama, and a most refreshing sense of fun.”

From: http://canaaninstitute.org/mikesmusicblog/sally-rogers-and-claudia-schmidt-in-concert/