The Last Dinner Party - My Lady of Mercy

One drunken evening in 2019, Abigail Morris and Georgia Davies rushed into a discount store in Brixton, south London, and bought a cheap notepad to write down their band’s manifesto. At that point, the rock group, then called the Dinner Party, only had three members, and had never actually rehearsed any songs. But Morris and Davies — the singer and bassist — knew exactly how they wanted to look and sound: “Gothic,” “Indulgent” and “Decadence” were at the top of their list. As the English literature students went from pub to pub, they added to their proclamation, including modest ambitions (playing shows with hip British bands) and more grandiose aims (“We want to be role models for younger girls”). Later in the evening, Morris accidentally cut herself on a broken glass, and dripped blood onto the notepad. “I was, like, ‘This is perfect!’” Davies recalled in a recent interview. The splatters emphasized the pair’s vision for a band teetering between the beautiful and the grotesque.
Some four years later, this meticulous yet playful approach has helped Davies and Morris achieve some of their goals. Now called the Last Dinner Party, the theatrical rock group — which also includes Emily Roberts (lead guitar), Lizzie Mayland (rhythm guitar) and Aurora Nishevci (keyboards) — has this year become Britain’s buzziest new band. The group has built a following through its theatrical live shows, which have sometimes featured a dress code for attendees.  In January, the group — whose sound is often compared to the sweeping pop of Florence + the Machine — topped the BBC’s Sound of 2024, a much-watched annual poll, which has previously anointed Adele and PinkPantheress. At a time when rock bands often struggle for attention, the Last Dinner Party has broken through by taking a surprisingly traditional route, prioritizing touring, rather than producing social media-targeted hits. A North American tour starts Thursday, including sold-out dates at New York’s Webster Hall on March 26 and Brooklyn Steel the following day, as well as the Coachella festival in April.
Morris said this approach, with which the band has gone from playing pubs to selling out 5,000-capacity London theaters, would help them sustain a career. “There’s no longevity in having a viral song blow up,” she said. “That’s not how you build a community.” A striking visual aesthetic, though, can help. The band’s fashion sense is magpie-like, taking inspiration from various historic eras and fantastical styles. Last fall, the group set dress codes for a British tour and although it’s stopped that practice, at a recent London gig, dozens of younger audience members donned outfits including floral headdresses and corsets, inspired by band’s theatrical imagery. Even those who didn’t dress up seemed all in. The comedian Kerry Godliman, 50, said she’d become a fan after her daughter came back from a festival raving about the group. “I love the grandeur of it, the camp archness of it, the theatricality of it,” Godliman said. The fact that the band is made up of women and a nonbinary person is “still such a rare thing,” she added. After releasing its debut single, an expletive-filled love song called “Nothing Matters,” in spring 2023, the Last Dinner Party’s ascent has been so fast in Britain that, on social media, some observers have accused its members — who are all in their mid-20s — of being “industry plants,” brought together by record label executives.
Roberts, the guitarist, said she found such suggestions “quite sad,” as if people “don’t want to believe that a young female and nonbinary band can be successful.” The reality is less dramatic, Morris added: She has been an aspiring rock star since her teens at a Catholic school, where she developed “a crushing need to be adored by everyone at all times at whatever cost.” She met Davies at college in London; the other three band members were also music-obsessed students in the British capital, who Morris and Davies gradually brought into their fold. With Britain in and out of lockdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic, the nascent band initially couldn’t play live, and honed its sound instead: moody, grand indie-pop, topped by Morris’s swooping vocals. By the time of its first show in November 2021, Morris said the members had “rehearsed so long, we were fully formed.” By its fourth show, at an out-of-the-way venue on a south London industrial park, record labels were deluging the band with messages.  From: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/arts/music/the-last-dinner-party-prelude-to-ecstasy.html

The Doors - The End - Live at The Rock Scene Like It Is 1967

“The End” served as the finale for many of The Doors' most notable concerts. The lyrics are a combination of different variations sung during jam-style performances over several months at the Whiskey A Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles in 1966.
The song was famously used in the iconic opening scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now, with images of the Vietnam War to the cinematic battle towards the end of the movie between Willard (Martin Sheen’s character) and Kurtz (Marlon Brando’s character).
In a 1969 interview with Rolling Stone, Morrison said the song means something different every time he listened to it: It started out as a simple good-bye song… Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood. I really don’t know. I think it’s sufficiently complex and universal in its imagery that it could be almost anything you want it to be.
Several musical influences are apparent in Robby Krieger’s composition of this song, including Chopin’s “Funeral March.”

Sometimes the pain is too much to examine, or even tolerate… That doesn’t make it evil, though – or necessarily dangerous. But people fear death even more than pain. It’s strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah – I guess it is a friend…
Jim Morrison

He was giving voice in a rock ‘n’ roll setting to the Oedipus complex, at the time a widely discussed tendency in Freudian psychology. He wasn’t saying he wanted to do that to his own mom and dad. He was re-enacting a bit of Greek drama. It was theatre!
Ray Manzarek

A “Roman wilderness of pain” is a metaphor to describe situations that one struggles to overcome, or a bad experience that has to be dealt with. Morrison was heavily influenced by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who argued that over coming difficulty and dealing with struggles makes a person stronger and better.

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes again

Can you picture what will be?
So limitless and free
Desperately in need
Of some stranger's hand
In a desperate land

Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain

There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's Highway
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake
The snake, he's long, seven miles
Ride the snake
He's old and his skin is cold
The west is the best
Get here and we'll do the rest
The blue bus is calling us
Driver, where you taking us?

The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall
And he came to a door
And he looked inside
"Father?" "Yes, son?" "I want to kill you"
"Mother? I want to..."

Come on baby, take a chance with us
And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a blue rug, on a blue bus

Come on yeah
Fuck, fuck, fuck yeah!
Come on baby, come on
Fuck me baby, fuck yeah
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end

From: https://genius.com/The-doors-the-end-lyrics

Puscifer - A Singularity (Re-Imagined by Carina Round)

 Puscifer have now rolled out a fourth music video for the Carina Round reimagining of their track “A Singularity“. The alternative rock outfit, who are fronted by Tool/A Perfect Circle vocalist Maynard James Keenan, wound up with multiple videos for that reworked version of the song.
This latest clip was helmed by actor Yul Vazquez. Puscifer commented of his take: “Many of you know Yul Vazquez from one of his numerous TV roles (Severance, The Outsider, Russian Doll, etc.) but he’s also a talented photographer and painter. Yul lent his talents to our series of “A Singularity (Re-Imagined by Carina Round)” videos.
‘As an actor I have the opportunity to travel to incredible places and witness beautiful and often lonely things. I do my best to photograph these moments, the architecture, the shadow and light. I used some of this footage I’ve photographed all over the world for this track. But when Maynard revealed to me the source of these lyrics it altered the edit. The song now had far more emotional impact on me which sent me on my own journey and prompted me to include some very personal footage. It’s my contribution to a song about loss.'”
Further videos done by Odin Wadleigh and Keenan‘s daughter Lei Li are also lined up for this track. The song itself serves as a tribute to Keenan‘s late dog MiHo, with the man himself having previously stated: “On Oct. 7, 2021, I lost my Muse. Deadly Little MiHo lost her 2 year battle with pancreatitis and kidney disease. We thought we lost her in late 2019, so I panicked and wrote her this song. We were certain she was done for. But we were blessed with a second chance and a bit more time. I rarely share things like this. Too painful. But this one can’t be kept bottled up. As I have mentioned before, she has been hiding in most of my vocal tracks since 2005. She was either in or near the vocal booth every time I tracked. Her sigh, her bark, sniffle, sneeze. Her jingling collar. Her squeaky toys. Usually poorly timed.  From: https://www.theprp.com/2023/02/12/news/puscifer-release-fourth-music-video-for-carina-rounds-a-singularity-remix/

Carina Round: Maynard’s vocal for this song is synonymously a sorrowful hymn and a siren of celebration. I wanted the main vocal and the bass and drums to be anchors in a sea of jubilant chaos. A kind of controlled cacophony of celebratory joy. Familiar, but a bit unnerving. Even Carla’s groove, so meticulous and powerful, sounds like it could derail into a delightful nervous breakdown at any point. The horns and saxes at the end are all moving together but somehow so loose, dispersing off into foam and then coming back together into one harmonious wave and then breaking off again, cascading. I feel excited when it’s over and like I want to get back on the ride. Birds, a charm of finches bookend the song. You can feel their energy. And within, there’s Maynard’s lone whistle, mimicking them. The one who keeps them alive and in turn draws his own life force. The synergy of composure and chaos in a dance reverence.  From: https://genius.com/Puscifer-a-singularity-re-imagined-by-carina-round-lyrics  

Ramona Falls - I Say Fever

Ramona Falls is beautiful. Seriously, check it out on Google Earth some time. A multi-tiered waterfall in a dark glen on the slopes of Mount Hood in Oregon, it's one of those endlessly photographable landforms that makes you want to be there any time you see a shot of it. As a sort of shorthand for the natural majesty of the Pacific Northwest, the name works well for Portland's Ramona Falls, aka Brent Knopf of Menomena and a huge cast of his friends. In fact, of the various Menomena side projects, this is the one that most matches that band in terms of both sound and quality, paying meticulous attention to sonic and compositional details to emerge with a record full of memorable surprises.
Sometimes it's just an unexpected element that mails a song all the way home, like the impromptu choir that suddenly emerges from the acoustic guitar and spaciously recorded drums of "Bellyfulla" or the unbelievably gorgeous violin part that shines like a vibrant light from the center of "Russia". The violin melody interacts with the chord sequence to grow more aching by the second and turns a decent song into one you can't forget. Knopf is piano player and programmer for Menomena, and he comes up with some wild stuff here, especially on "Always Right", where he sticks you with these bizarre, stuttering phrases for the odd-metered verses. It's offset by big choruses and a strange Eastern European-ish bridge with a carnivalesque atmosphere. More simple is "Boy Ant", a short piano instrumental with a sense of melody derived more from traditional European songs like "Edelweiss" than anything in contemporary pop sphere.
Any Menomena fan will recognize Knopf's voice, which is a delicate instrument-- it's not rangy, but he knows his capabilities and uses them. He gives himself a bit of electronic assistance on "I Say Fever", falling down a processing rabbit hole on the title refrain, which precipitates a sudden downpour of heavy guitar. Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss provides the song's pounding rhythmic floor, but Knopf's own piano gives it its funky stride. Knopf's solo songs share with Menomena an ear for contrast--"Going Once, Going Twice" swings between easy-flowing passages and lurching sections that build tension for the next rhythmic release.
Intuit, a word that nicely serves as a homophone for "Into It", works as a title for the album because it so neatly seems to describe the writing process-- very few of the odd shifts and unexpected turns in the songs sound contrived or forced. Down to the cover art, it feels like a strong echo of everything great about Knopf's primary band. There are no cut-outs or flipbooks, but Theo Ellsworth's elaborate, grotesque illustrations are worth taking in-- they're like a combination of Where the Wild Things Are, a fever dream, a pagan woodland ceremony, and a notebook doodle. The music is worth taking in, too, over and over again.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13418-intuit/

Ghost Funk Orchestra - Eyes Of Love

 

 

Ghost Funk Orchestra is a retro-toned combo whose layered sound traverses a number of different styles including psychedelia, jazz, soul, R&B, and exotica. The band emerged from New York in the late 2010s under the leadership of producer/arranger Seth Applebaum. Initially an experimental recording project, Applebaum slowly built his endeavor into a dynamic live group supporting a series of small releases before making their label debut with 2019's A Song for Paul. With 2022's A New Kind of Love and 2024's A Trip to the Moon, their sound grew to include orchestral pop, lounge, and surf.
Known for his work with bands like the Mad Doctors and Mom Jeans, Applebaum started Ghost Funk Orchestra as a personal side project, alternately playing all of the instruments himself and borrowing musicians from various New York bands to capture the gritty, heavily reverbed mood-funk of early releases like 2014's The Haunt and 2016's Night Walker. The project grew into a live band the following year with a series of shows in New York and the vibey, self-released Something Evil. By this point, their sound had evolved to include a series of female vocalists and a horn section.
After signing with Colemine Records' Karma Chief imprint, Ghost Funk Orchestra made their full-length label debut with 2019's A Song for Paul. The group's next album, An Ode to Escapism, arrived in November 2020 and featured guest appearances by Julian Applebaum, Kam Franklin, and Sean Pastorok. On their cinematic third LP, 2022's A New Kind of Love, Applebaum steered the band's sound toward mid-century exotica and classic orchestral pop. From there, the Ghost Funk Orchestra's pastiche grew to include film music, surf, and dense, '70s-inspired funk on their deeply layered 2024 release A Trip to the Moon.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ghost-funk-orchestra-mn0003776450#discography

School of Seven Bells - The Night

Like many bands before them, School of Seven Bells were born as the result of a late-night revelation. Benjamin Curtis connected with sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza in 2004 while their bands--Secret Machines and on!air!library!, respectively--were on tour. While watching PBS at 3am, Alejandra caught a show about the School of Seven Bells: a mythical South American pickpocket academy that may or may not have existed in the '80s. The idea of seven minds working as one appealed to her, as did the phrase's cryptic musicality, and a creative spark ignited.
By the end of 2006, Curtis and the Deheza sisters had completely disappeared into School of Seven Bells. From the outset, it was clear that the trio's music transcended the usual genre restrictions. Early recordings popped up on Sonic Cathedral, Table of Elements, and Suicide Squeeze, then Blonde Redhead tapped School of Seven Bells for a tour. Remixes came from Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie and Prefuse 73, whose "Class of 73 Bells," a re-imagining of SVIIB's "Iamundernodisguise," ended up on his 2007 album Preparations (Warp).
School of Seven Bells' music is full of tensions--Curtis' gentle guitars wrap around jagged beats; silky vocals hide behind grumpy, alien synthesizers--but the resulting songs are effortlessly cohesive, and insidiously catchy. Elements of dream-pop, Afrobeat, IDM, and 4AD's gauzier moments provide a constantly shifting frame for the Dehezas' lyrics, which they write as mysterious missives between the School's imaginary seven members. On their Ghostly debut, Alpinisms, we get the impression that the three seasoned musicians have taken up full-time residence in a dizzying fantasy world; they move freely within the realm of pickpockets and dreamers, composing a soundtrack according to their own odd, beautiful logic.  From: https://ghostly.com/artists/school-of-seven-bells

Strawbs - Queen Of Dreams

 

The departure of Rick Wakeman didn't stop the Strawbs from fully embracing a sort of "symphonic folk" song, but it did shake the band's confidence - especially band leader Dave Cousins, whose feelings of betrayal at the time leak out in the lyrics to Tomorrow on here. Depressed by this turn of events, Cousins turned to the rest of the band members for songwriting support, but the end product is both extremely consistent and, what's more, conceptually cohesive, the album tracing the journey of an everyman protagonist from cradle to grave. Blue Weaver's keyboard style is less prone to showboating than Wakeman's, but arguably that's what was needed at this juncture - someone to provide keyboard textures whilst the other band members demonstrate their instrumental and vocal chops. The band absolutely needed to prove that there was more to them than Wakeman's technical virtuosity - some sectors of the music press thought that Wakeman leaving would spell the end of the band, which in retrospect seems crazy but considering what a major presence he was on From the Witchwood does kind of make sense. The group step up to the challenge admirably, play their hearts out, and sing beautifully - the harmonies on opening track Benedictus are simply divine. With a heavier dose of acoustic guitar than most prog bands of the time (aside from Jethro Tull), and a new willingness to get experimental - there's some really *strange* instrumental tracks on Queen of Dreams, Grave New World sees the band perfecting their own model of progressive music which is uniquely theirs. It might not be as complex as their competitors, but it's certainly powerful and emotionally moving - as on the best song on the disc, the harsh and biting New World. This album is the first real Strawbs classic.

It had been just during the promotion tour of their From The Witchwood album when Rick Wakeman decided to leave the band for joining Yes (which was understandable considering his big talents) actually without saying any word of farewell to them (which hadn't been that nice though). As if the remaining band members wanted to supply evidence that they can do very well without (not yet by then) keyboard wizard Rick they created their most ambitious (and arguably best) effort, the album here in review "Grave New World". It's a concept work reflecting the story of one man's life, from the cradle to the grave. The title is most obviously a hint to Aldous Huxley's famous novel and the fantastic cover art depicts William Blake's "Glad Day" painting. As Dave Cousins points out in the leaflet notes, Tony Visconti, who had produced their live album, was beginning to have an increasing influence on the band during onset of this record. Let me cite here his own words: "He was into martial arts, and encouraged me to read 'The Tibetan Book Of The Dead'. I even managed 'The Egyptian Book Of The Dead' - hence the quotes on the sleeve!" He also says there, that people were beginning to write the band off after Wakeman's demise but I think this album here had been the best prove that the Strawbs were still a great band. The opening track "Benedictus" being written when Wakeman left the band sets the tone for the whole album with its devotional and contemplative sound. Derek "Blue" Weaver took over the empty keyboard stool and he did an excellent job here I've to say. Cousins tells a mysterious story in the leaflet notes about how he came upon the words for the lyrics. He played the solo on his electric dulcimer with a steel through a fuzz box, and there are also two guest vocalists, Trevor Lucas and Anne Collins added here. After the short acoustic interlude "Hey Little Man" which supposed to tell the story about an older man giving advice to his young son, who probably didn't listen we have "Queen Of Dreams" which is the most experimental song they've ever done I'm quite sure. They used a play back in reverse of a recording of the guitar and first verse of the song for this track which provides a quite interesting psychedelic touch. Then there is "Heavy Disguise" written by John Ford and as well performed by him with a brass section played by the Robert Kirby Silver Band giving this track a nice special note. The rather bombastic but brilliant mellotron-laden "New World" is the next one and Dave Cousins tells about its creation that it had been written after he had seen a tv report about young kids in Belfast being asked to paint pictures in their art lessons, and many of them had painted soldiers lying dead in the gutter; what else to tell about such type of inspiration? After the nice acoustic folk song "The Flower,” comes the next big highlight on here with "Tomorrow" with a really great symphonic sound. The next two tracks are early songs from them of which the first one "On Growing Older" still fits quite well though sounding rather Byrds-alike (one of Cousins' big favs) whereas the pastiche to a very old English song "Ah Me, Ah My" sounds to me quite awkward and inappropriate. But the latter one is really the only redundant song of this album since the Eastern inspired "Is It Today,Lord?" with Richard Hudson on sitar and as well the final "The Journey's End" are very good tracks.

From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=2897

Pizzicato Five - Sweet Soul Review

 “Imagine every great record you’ve ever heard stuck in a blender overlaid with the most experimental heavy metal guitar you’ve never heard combined with the most outstanding montage of video clips you can’t imagine plus super-adorable camp fashions, all synthesized through a demented Japanese consumerist impression of America. Then try to imagine something better than that...” These are some of the words I wrote nearly 20 years ago about Pizzicato Five’s San Francisco stop on the Tokyo-based group’s first US/European tour. Even looking back today, I still think about my initial 1995 encounter with P5 as one of the most startling, fully realized concerts I’ve ever experienced, and their records remain among my most beloved.
Pizzicato Five were many things, but never ordinary. They’d started in the mid-’80s as an easy listening quintet, switched vocalists to favor smooth plastic soul, discovered samplers around the time their third (and defining) singer Maki Nomiya arrived in 1990, then morphed into a dance/pop-art/retro-futurist act that pulled from just about every musical genre and aesthetic movement since the mid-20th century. By the time leading American indie rock label Matador Records introduced them internationally with the 1994 samplers Five by Five and Made in USA, P5 was only two, the absurdly productive songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Yasuharu Konishi the sole original member. When the act called it quits in 2001, Pizzicato Five had released 14 studio albums, at least that number of compilations, about as many EPs, and every kind of single conceivable.
When popular music was at its bleakest and most monochromatic, Pizzicato Five were neon-hued and eclectic. Their international arrival occurred between the sudden deaths of Kurt Cobain and Tupac Shakur, figureheads of the grunge and gangsta rap that defined American music in the ’90s. Even house music – severed by this point from its gay and black roots – was straighter, whiter, less melodic, and more formulaic. The resulting electronica was hailed as “the new rock” while Britpop reintroduced previously retired orthodoxies. Although the ’90s featured more successful women rockers than any other decade, the era’s sensibility remained traditionally male – loud, brash, barbaric. Even the guitars were often downtuned to sound more ominous and growling. Juxtaposed against the furious flannel-clad sasquatches of the Pacific Northwest, P5’s worldly, feminine lightheartedness was even more refreshing than it would be today. “I don’t like dark, brooding music – I don’t understand the purpose of it,” Konishi mused during a 1996 interview I conducted with the pair that went unpublished until now. Intrigued by my concert review, the band merely wanted to meet the American critic who they felt understood them. “I don’t think music should reflect reality. I think music should be more of a magical entity, something that lets you escape from reality.”
P5 found inspiration in both the sunniest and most radical qualities of the ’60s. “I have three superstars: Godard, Warhol, and Maki,” Konishi told Puncture. As P5’s vocalist, Maki was unrelentingly cheery and extraordinarily composed, as if she were biologically incapable of striking an unflattering pose or emitting a wayward note. A professional model before, during, and after her P5 reign, Nomiya was rail-thin like the face of ’60s Swinging London, Twiggy: Pizzicato Five’s most internationally popular song, “Twiggy Twiggy/Twiggy vs. James Bond” was a souped up 1991 remake of a track on her 1981 solo album that streamlined and simplified its source material with a caffeinated, sample-invigorated arrangement that would serve as the prototype for most P5 to come.
Like early Warhol superstars Baby Jane Holzer and Edie Sedgwick, Nomiya exuded larger-than-life glamour: In the mode of subsequent Factory graduates like Mary Woronov, she was a beautiful woman presenting herself like a drag queen imitating a faded Hollywood starlet. Her favored fabrics were vintage and synthetic; her wigs even more fake. In the video to “Sweet Soul Revue”, she struck moves like Jagger while radiating the poise of Hepburn before morphing into a Pan Am-esque flight attendant.
Even more than the early De La Soul and Deee-Lite records that almost certainly provoked their initial Maki-era shift, P5 were vigorously post-modern: A Pizzicato jam might feature astoundingly accurate pastiches of the vocal and orchestral arrangements from baroque pop acts like the Fifth Dimension and the Left Banke, discothèque breakbeats played live and continuously at double time, and hip-hop production techniques that recall Godard’s jump cuts. Occasionally the guitar got harsh, but sophisticatedly so: Bravo Komatsu – the guitarist who temporarily replaced founding member Keitarō Takanami on the 1995 tour – could wail on his instrument while flaunting enviable chops: Check out the virtuoso surf-metal spew he shoots over prerecorded “Twiggy Twiggy” tracks while Konishi dances the Frug on UK music show The Word.  From: https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2014/11/pizzicato-five-feature

Squeeze - Last Time Forever

 This mid-eighties release by Squeeze is unique. Most reviewers back in the day gave it low marks primarily due to the cluttered, heavy-handed, and high-tech production by Laurie Latham. Squeeze was primarily revered for its intelligent songwriting and traditional (and often sunny) pop sensibilities and this album was certainly new sonic territory for the band. The organic pop sound of previous Squeeze records is replaced with synths, drum machines, and psychedelic Sgt. Pepper cello/string flourishes, all processed through tons of effects. The overall result is a dark, moody sound that was atypical of Squeeze. As for the songs themselves, they are strong. Full of odd chord progressions that match the dark mood and make them less accessible than most of the band's other song sets, and tackling heavy subject matter like family strife, alcoholism, broken relationships, etc, this album will take repeated listens to appreciate but is worth it. "By Your Side," "I Learnt How to Pray," and "Last Time Forever" are all darker tunes than just about any Squeeze had done so far but they carry an emotional punch. "Big Beng," "No Place Like Home," and "Break My Heart" are quirky and disjointed but they are intentionally so and are really quite finely crafted tunes. "King George Street," "Heartbreaking World," and "Hits of the Year" are more straightforward melodically and are all quite good. While this isn't the typical Squeeze, it is still good and deserves more credit than it has received. Not the best place to start if you're just getting into the band (see "East Side Story"), but for fans willing to explore new territory with the band this album has its rewards.  From: https://www.amazon.com/Cosi-Fan-Tutti-Frutti-Squeeze/product-reviews/B000NDFK7C

Old Blood - Slothgod

 Old Blood: Interview With Vocalist Lynx

Having been without live music since March of 2020, I was beyond ready for a show. Lucky for me Old Blood stopped at Barleycorn’s in Wichita, Kansas on Halloween night. Their lead singer Cat Braithwaite aka Lynx was kind enough to have a brief chat with me before their blend of soul and psychedelic doom burned the landscape.

Thank you for performing in Wichita on Halloween.

I’m ready to get witchy in Wichita.

How did you prep for this tour? With concerts being so scarce for so long I’m sure you were equally excited and a bit apprehensive?

This tour has been on the book since spring. We started planning it in mid-August. We were so ready.

I’m sure you’ve missed the energy exchange when performing in front of a crowd?

Yes, we were excited to get back out there. We did a lot during 2020. We shot videos, I honed my makeup skills, we released the Acid Doom album. I don’t feel like we wasted that time. I learned a lot about music marketing, also we’d be ready to tour again.

As someone who has a major in cosmetology, I have to compliment the outstanding makeup. Is it to add to the music experience or is there a deeper story behind it?

The half face makeup I’ve shifted it into, I feel like it plays at the duality of Lynx. She is a seer. A knower. She sees stuff no one else can. She keeps her secrets, but she tells you about yourself. You’re not going to get away. Lynx will catch you.

Lynx will kill the guitar player for some cool album artwork?

Yes. It was out of love. And thankfully I didn’t have to sit on him [laughs].
The half face makeup I’ve shifted it into, I feel like it plays at the duality of Lynx.

Lynx, I looked up your Discogs and was floored to find out this was your only professional release as far as I could find. How long have you been singing?

I’ve been a singer all my life. I’ve sung on other albums. I’ve been in a disco band. I’ve done a lot of musical theatre stuff. But this is the first time I’ve ever been in the kind of band I’ve really wanted to be in. When I saw Old Blood was looking for a singer, I went all in and auditioned.

What’s the strangest thing that’s happened at any show?

Ohhhhh [laughs], well in Seattle my parents showed up. I mean. They’ve never been to a metal show before.

Did they like it?

They actually did! I was shocked they stuck around after the music started. I thought they’d come by, give their best wishes, meet the guys and go home. Maybe go to the yacht club or something. But no. They came. Stayed for the first band. Saw us. The third band started and they said ‘okay we’re gonna go now’.

What’s your favorite Halloween tradition?

I listen to the music of Twin Peaks.

My wife and I watch that religiously.

…and you’ve never seen me because I ended up on the cutting room floor.

Wha…what?

Yeah, I don’t remember how old I was, but I was an extra. It was a rush call, and I was there about half a day. I don’t think I made it on camera because I watch that…a lot.

We need to talk more about that later! Back to music, does it bum you guys out that outdoing an album named Acid Doom is damn near impossible?

We’ve been working on new material since September. But I’m not telling you the title for that one yet. And that it’s even more mind-blowing.

Then we both geeked out over David Lynch…

From:  https://www.thesleepingshaman.com/interviews/g-q/old-blood-lynx/

Animal Collective - Also Frightened

 With their constantly evolving sonic identity, in-your-face vocal mannerisms, and open-ended ideas about what their music might "mean," Animal Collective seem designed to inspire obsessive fans and vociferous detractors in equal measure. Merriweather Post Pavilion, their latest full-length, has been anticipated to an almost ridiculous degree, with blogs and message boards lighting up with each scrap of new information or word of a possible leak. No one who's been looking forward to it should be disappointed. Everything that's defined the band to this point-- all those strands winding through their hugely diverse catalog-- is refined and amplified here.
Since their inception, Animal Collective have wandered the territorial edges of music, scoping out where boundaries had been erected and looking beyond them. They've punctuated perfectly likeable indie rock songs with bleating vocalizations. They've seeded pretty instrumentals with irritating noise. They've juxtaposed West African rhythms and melodies cribbed from British folk. They've stayed on a single chord for 10 minutes. But Merriweather feels like a joyous meeting in a well-earned, middle place-- the result of all their explorations pieced together to create something accessible and complete.
Although it will be tagged as Animal Collective's "pop" album, Merriweather Post Pavilion remains drenched in their idiosyncratic sound, a record that no one else could have made. The album is named for a Maryland venue that last year played host to Santana, Sheryl Crow, and John Mayer, but its songs won't be heard on the radio, and besides, Animal Collective's M.O. requires them to exist outside of rigid formats. Nonetheless, they've found a natural way to integrate the sing-along melodies, sticky hooks, and driving percussion that have long been hallmarks of celebratory popular music.
Animal Collective's two vocalists, Dave Portner (aka Avey Tare) and Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear), have never sounded better together, and the way their styles complement each other is the story of the album. On the one hand you have Panda's straightforward melodies, his fuzzy, head-in-the-clouds dreaminess, and his instinctual trawl through pop music history. The tracks that favor his songwriting typically have an underlying sense of drone, with everything moving forward along a line in relation to some subliminal center: They begin, then build, expand, and contract. Tare, meanwhile, tends to work within a more classic pop structure, with clear bridges and snappy choruses, greater harmonic development, and a sharper lyrical focus. Here, he reins in the blurting vocalizations that he's so often used as punctuation (the hardcore faithful might miss this unhinged emoting just a little). Both songwriters are on exactly the same page and, working with sonic spelunker Brian "Geologist" Weitz and producer Ben Allen (no Josh "Deakin" Dibb this time), they've found a sumptuous musical background for their most accomplished songs.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12518-merriweather-post-pavilion/

Steeleye Span - ATV's Music Room 1970/Live Ainsdale Beach 30 June 1971/Electric Folk BBC 1974

 

Steeleye Span - ATV's Music Room 1970

 

 Steeleye Span - Live Ainsdale Beach 30 June 1971

 

 Steeleye Span - Electric Folk BBC 1974

 

The initial idea by soon-to-be ex-Fairport leader Ashley Hutchings, was a band that would explore the electrification of traditional music from the British Isles. It started after discussions at the '69 Keele folk festival in June between Ashley, Maddy Prior & Tim Hart and Dave & Toni Arthur. They discussed their dissatisfaction of the isolationist nature of the British Folk scene, and the unwillingness to consider an 'electric' approach to traditional music from within the folk scene, rather than it coming from the Rock side, which it had so far. In the car on the way home after the festival Tim, Maddy and Ashley also got the seal of approval of Bert Lloyd for what they were planning. Ashley had already explored the use of traditional music in Rock setting with Fairport Convention, culminating in 'Liege and Lief' in Dec 1969. Ashley left Fairport to continue this 'Folk Rock' after the remaining members of Fairport had seen it as a one-off experiment.
Ashley initially tried to form a band with Sweeney's Men (Irvine, Moynihan and Woods) and had good initial discussions with Terry, with whom he had become very good friends with. Johnny Moynihan however was not interested after a falling out with Terry, whilst Andy Irvine wasn't keen without Johnny. This left Ashley with only Terry Woods (now with his wife Gay, who had come over from Ireland). They then considered the Pegg's, but they wanted to explore a more experimental direction. Finally, after an unsuccessful approach to the Dransfield brothers, Ashley then called upon Maddy and Tim, recalling their discussions at Keele. Tim and Maddy were at a point where they were to keen to expand their own sound having been successful as a duo on the folk club scene.
The name of the band, Steeleye Span, comes from a song about 100 – 150 years old. There’s this place called Horkstow Grange (the name of the folk song) up in Lincolnshire; the foreman there was a man called John Bolin, and there was a waggoner called John ‘Steeleye’ Span who worked there too… and both men obviously hated each other’s guts. They eventually had an enormous punch-up and the whole thing is commemorated in the ballad. Well the song has got changed somewhere along the line so that Steeleye Span is now a miser, and John Bolin is his foreman. In the song, Span takes every opportunity to shit on Bolin, who eventually loses his cool and hangs one on him. Then Span, instead of belting him back, takes revenge through the courts.
Alternative names were 'Lyubidan Waits' (Terry and Gay, named after an Irish God) and 'Middlemarch Wait' (Hutchings) Maddy and Tim wanted Carthy's suggestion but apparently Tim voted twice!
With Ashley's success from Fairport Convention they managed to get the successful producer Sandy Roberton as their manager, who had recently joined B&C records after working for RCA, and who were keen on getting into 'underground music'. This gave them the funds and the equipment they needed to go and live together in Winterbourne Stoke, a small village in Wiltshire, where they practised for 3 months 'getting it together’. Later described by Ashley as 'Two couples and a referee'. Although they all found the music inspiring, living so close created strains amongst the two chalk and cheese couples and 3 months of living this way proved too much.
The recording of the first album was fractious with the living arrangements spilling over into the recording sessions, and with one song still to finish Gay and Terry left after a bust up in the studio. The reasons highlighted since have mainly centered around Tim and Terry's relationship. They were both strong personalities with their own ideas about the direction of the music and didn't particularly get on, in part apparently because Tim & Maddy continued to gig together during the initial rehearsals, which straight away got the relationship off to a rocky start.
As far as Terry and Gay were concerned there was an agreement that if anyone left, the band split up and the remaining members would not use the name Steeleye Span. This 'betrayal' almost certainly accounted for Terry Woods never appearing with the band again, including the 1995 big Reunion concert where he was the only member to not appear. Terry said: "We ended up signing stuff that we should never have signed. It was such a nasty way for such a great thing to end". Terry and Gay went onto record albums together as a duo and as 'The Woods Band'.  
Released after the band split up and after Martin had joined, Hark! The Village Wait, the debut album was mostly traditional material apart from the opener - 'A Calling-On Song' which was written by Ashley based on an old tune (Earsdon Sword Dance'). 'Fisherman's Wife' Lyrics were written by Ewan MacColl. As became the accepted way for a Steeleye album, all the members brought different songs to the recording sessions. 
Guest drummers were Gerry Conway and Dave Mattacks, both of whom performed later with the band in the 90's.  A 'Wait' is a Tudor village/town band or musician. No outtakes have appeared from the sessions but it's believed one song was recorded but not included.  
The band had effectively split up when the Wood's initially left. Ashley went off to pursue a project with Bob and Carole Pegg. However, Tim Hart was keen to continue the project and called up his friend Martin Carthy to see if he would be interested. Martin had seen his playing partner of 3 years - Dave Swarbrick - join Fairport (Carthy had turned down Fairport) and was in his words 'living out of a suitcase', having just split up from his first wife. All these factors made Martin think why not, he "just fancied it...it was this huge thing - why not?" This then encouraged Ashley to leave the Pegg's, with whom he was working with again to come back and try again with Steeleye. As Maddy said, Martin joining gave Steeleye 'A stamp of approval' amongst the Folk audience.  The significance of Martin joining cannot be underestimated. As well as providing a folk 'legitimacy' Martin also drove the group to being a fully electric band. Martin described the first album as 'mainly acoustic'. Martin's reputation also gave the band a boost in being able to start touring and get gigs straight away as there was considerable interest in seeing how he would play in an electric band - having only played acoustic guitar so far.
After practicing for 2 months at the Vicarage, St. Albans, the four members soon realised they needed another multi-instrumentalist to join them as they felt they were too guitar heavy. Peter Knight had been seen playing in the folk clubs, particularly the Irish Folk scene in London, so was known to Ashley, Tim and Maddy, having performed with Maddy on TV recently (now lost). He had also done some gigs with Bob Johnson. Peter was classically trained which appealed to Martin and Tim as they had a good musical knowledge themselves but wanted to explore more complex arrangements. This then completed the first Steeleye line up that went out and played live and produced two classic Electric Folk Albums.  From: https://steeleyespanfan.co.uk/the-history/1969-1971

 

Electric Looking Glass - Purple, Red, Green, Blue & Yellow

 

 

Electric Looking Glass are a Los Angeles based baroque pop band with an aesthetic and sound that is so authentically 60s, you feel like you’re reliving it. Recently, they released the music video for their new single, “Someday Soon”. The video is absolutely beautiful and reminds me so much of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. Very summery.
Electric Looking Glass are: Arash Mafi (organ, mellotron, vocals), Brent Randall (bass, vocals), Danny Winebarger (guitar, vocals), and

Angie Moon: How did you get started in music?

Arash: music has been surrounding me from a young age, my entire family has harvested generations of musicians, mostly flamenco and classical guitarist.

Brent: I watched too may Elvis movies growing up and it was pretty much a lost cause after that. That and plonking around on the family piano.

Johnny: Remember when you were a kid and you watched those cartoons and they drove around in a cool ass van and had a band? Yeah.

Danny: My uncle used to play acoustic guitar and he was always smoking as well. I used to remember thinking he looked really cool when I was a wee lad. When I turned 12 he gave me his guitar then I’ve been playing ever since.

AM: How did Electric Looking Glass get together?

Arash: Johnny and I met two years ago at a pop up I was having at Nico & Bullitt for Mercury Magicians and talked about music and our visions and starting a band together and the possibility of the current line up, fast forward to now and you have ELG!

Brent: I met Johnny in a pie shop and we discovered we both loved The Rutles. He introduced me to these other cats and now we’re stuck with each other.

Johnny: Lemon Meringue

Danny: Me and Johnny had another band prior to this called the turns.

AM: How did you get started in tailoring and fashion design?

Arash: I bought a sewing machine and pushed myself to make clothing that I wanted and couldn’t find, mostly because of long arms haha!

AM: Who would you say are your biggest music and fashion inspirations?

Arash: Granny Takes A Trip, Apple Boutique, Hung On You, Fashion from the 1960s, and the baroque period, which essentially to me 1960s did with a modern touch of the time.

Brent: Fashion: Willy Wonka. Music: Mary Poppins.

Johnny: Music: The Banana Splits. Fashion: The Banana Splits.

Danny: Same as Arash; the 60s is also my main music and style inspiration. I also listen to other stuff as well from other periods and genres as well.

AM: Who are your favourite organ players?

Arash: Richard Wright, Mick Fowler, Matthew Fisher, Glenn Quackenbush, John Lord, Jimmy Smith. Too many geniuses to name!

Brent: I don’t know any of these guys but Arash is my favourite organ player.

Johnny: Arash is king organ. But Quackenbush sure is a cool last name.

Danny: Arash for sure

AM: What is the psych scene like in LA?

Arash: There are some great bands out here, I don’t really like to label it as psychedelic scene. Everyone is doing their own thing here and something weird and interesting, but there is a “good music scene” here for everyone and everything in between to thrive in!

Brent: Groovy people are abound all doing splendid things and we are thankful for it.

AM: What have you been listening to recently?

Arash: I’ve been grooving to Tea & Symphony: The English Baroque Sound 1967-1974 comp. literally love every song on this comp.

Brent: Ian Whitcomb’s Mod, Mod Music Hall. Jaunty lil’ piano numbers for you and yours.

Johnny: Myself humming along with a made up mash up of Happy Holidays by Andy Williams and Henry the 8th by Herman’s Hermits.

Danny: I’m actually listening to Piccadilly Sunshine right now which is an amazing sixties pop compilation. Also the usual, and plenty of northern soul as well.

AM: What was recording “Death of a Season/Someday Soon” like?

Arash: The process was very straightforward and simple. We tracked everything straight off of the preamp into our 16 track 1” tape machine. One track at a time. Using about 12-13 tracks max with all the layers together, and mixing down to ¼” tape at the bounce down.

Brent: Yes!  Arash has an abundance of wonderful analog recording equipment so we stuffed it Johnny’s basement and had fun making our dreams reality. 5/5 Would recommend.

Johnny: Yes as stated above… the Yelp review was solid.

AM: What inspired those songs and the music video?

Brent: “Someday Soon” is the grumpy old men in us complaining about modernity. About wanting nothing more than to stroll along a cobblestone street and throw pennies in a fountain. The video however was just a fun jaunt in the park slightly inspired by those classic low budget romps all the beat groups did back “in the day.” We shot it on Super8 so that was fun!

AM: If you could go to any concert in the 60s, who would you see?

Arash: It’s really hard to say, I’d buy a time machine and go catch all the happenings!

Brent: Herman & The Hermits at a state fair.

Johnny: Okay well Brent claimed it. I’ll have to go with Andy Williams. Dang it.

Danny: Hmmm - Monterey Pop Festival? Would’ve been great to see Otis and Hendrix in one place. So many artists that my generation never got a chance to see so it’s hard to answer that question.

AM: What future plans do Electric Looking Glass have?

Arash: More promo films, Another 45 single coming out this Fall, followed by our long player that’s already in the works and tour dates. We’d love to play for you!

Brent: ELG Breakfast Cereal!

Johnny: ELG night lights. Will show that we are always there for you.

Danny: Ha! More music and more gigs. Hopefully a breakfast cereal too.

From: https://crazyonclassicrock.com/2019/07/03/interview-electric-looking-glass/

 

 

Fern Maddie - Hares on the Mountain

 

 

Vermont-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Fern Maddie fell for British and Irish traditional music in her teens, then inhaled folk songs and began songwriting, encouraged by her composer father. After his early death, she decided to live her life making music in tribute to him in her own curious way. She now makes a podcast about traditional music, Of Song and Bone, writes music in her woodland cabin, tends goats, and documents her life, without embellishment, on Instagram.
Ghost Story is Maddie’s powerful, immediate 10-track debut (you can imagine her singing its songs on festival stages, as if early-career Sharon Van Etten had been diverted on to an ancient, rougher road). The mood throughout evokes the dimly lit intimacy of early 2000s albums by Diane Cluck, Emilíana Torrini and Nina Nastasia, with added warmth. Tunes are often carried by banjo or guitar, supported by low strings, the percussive shudder of bones, or on Scottish ballad Ca’ the Yowes, a synthesiser providing a strangely fitting, scratchy counterpoint.
Maddie’s young, welcoming voice also makes her an accessible storyteller. This often gives a surprisingly unnerving quality to songs that already hang heavy with horror, something she plays with. As she twists the gender roles in the well-known ballad Hares on the Mountain, turning the maids into hares, and men into the hunters, contemporary US politics barrels into view.
Her fantastic, original lyrics unsettle you, too. “Don’t worry, don’t wait around / Just leave me in the ground,” begins the protagonist of Unmarked, before we’re told delicately, terrifyingly, to “take off that winded skin”. Even better is Dorothy May, the tale of a woman who sleeps “on a pillow of salt brine”, then asks if we can hear the trumpets ring out. This album is constantly arresting, emotional and thrilling.  From: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/01/fern-maddie-ghost-story-review-folk-album

 

Euzen - Phobia

After a long back and forth, the third album “Metamorph” by the Danish-Norwegian quintet Euzen has finally found its way into my system. And how happy I am about that, because “Metamorph” turned out to be a really nice thing. First of all, something about nomenclature: According to the booklet, the album title does not refer to the epic of the same name by the Roman poet Ovid, but rather to the band's music. The band wants to express that they want to lose themselves between creative and actual realities. Modern possibilities make it possible to capture the moment and create a bridge between the band's intentions and the listener's interpretation. The band name Euzen probably comes from an ancient Greek philosophical concept that deals with a happy life. It also fits that the band's debut is called "Eudaimonia", which means bliss. Someone should say again that you don't learn anything with us anymore! But now to the music. The foundation of this is electronic sounds and synthesizers, which are complemented by organic instrumentation, with the latter always operating in the background. In addition to the drums, you can also hear guitar and bass. Maria Franz sings with a lovely voice and a folky touch. Well, does that sound familiar? Right, that screams – at least on paper – for a comparison with the avant-garde icon Bjork. However, this turns out to be difficult because Euzen play less introverted and reserved, instead the music is more “In Your Face”. This also applies to the lyrics, which are written much more directly and less personally than you would expect from the Icelandic art pop elf. But singer Maria Franz sounds a lot like BJÖRK, so at least in this respect there is a certain comparability. And the Norwegian can withstand that, even if Franz sings much more open-heartedly. The metamorphosis takes place on a musical level when the powerful synthesizers come together with fragile piano and an idiosyncratic rhythm like in “The Order”. Maria Franz sings with her fascinating and hypnotic voice and immediately captivates the listener. You could almost say that “Metamorph” sounds like the love child of Trent Reznor and Bjork. This creates a uniform interplay between nature and technology, folk and electro. Maria Franz effortlessly switches between moods, be it powerful hymns like “Mind” or sensitive passages like “Words”. The music ranges from dreamy ballads like “Me And My” to danceable numbers like “Wasted”. Despite all this, the music of the Scandinavians is surprisingly minimalistic, which gives the individual pieces an original touch and contributes to their independence. Actually, the only thing missing from the songs is the overall contextual framework. Overall, Euzen develop a wide spectrum of different influences that you have to discover for yourself little by little. These individual parts transform into a larger whole that has enormous recognition value. In addition, the production is rich and the music is very audible without appearing flat. Anyone who enjoys experimental music with female folk singing simply cannot ignore “Metamorph”. Not fans of Bjork at all.  Translated from: https://www.metal.de/reviews/euzen-metamorph-60504/

Devo - R U Experienced

 

 

American rock band Devo recorded "Are You Experienced?" for their sixth studio album, Shout. It was released as the album's lead single (stylized as "Are U X-perienced?" on the picture sleeve) and includes the non-album track, "Growing Pains", as its B-side (which was also released as a bonus track on CD release of the album). Their adaptation carried on the Devo tradition of radically transforming notable songs, which began with their 1978 cover of the Rolling Stones song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."
A lavish video for "Are You Experienced?" was produced by the band in conjunction with Ivan Stang of the Church of the SubGenius. The video includes Devo as floating blobs of wax in a lava lamp and Jimi Hendrix (played by Hendrix impersonator Randy Hansen) stepping out of his coffin to play a guitar solo, and the cover children Zachary Chase and Alex Mothersbaugh. Despite being one of Devo's most visually complex and expensive music videos, costing about $90,000 to produce, it was not included on the 2003 DVD music video collection The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (although it had been included on the LaserDisc of the same name issued in 1993). In an interview, group co-founder and bass guitarist Gerald Casale explained:
E.C. (earcandy.com): Speaking of de-evolution, why didn't the Hendrix estate give you permission to put the "Are You Experienced?" video on the DVD?
Gerald Casale: Further de-evolution. You understand that the consortium of people that now represent the Hendrix estate are basically run by lawyers; the lawyer mentality. Lawyers always posit the worst-case scenarios. Though that video was loved for years by anybody who saw it including the man who commissioned it—Chuck Arroff, a luminary in the music business, who still claims to this day that it was one of his five most favorite videos ever—they [the lawyers] didn't get it and assumed we were making fun of Jimi. That's like saying "Whip It" makes fun of cowboys. This is so stupid it's unbelievable.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Experienced%3F_(song)

 

Belly - Slow Dog

 

 

It was hard to resist keeping Tanya Donelly on the phone for 12 hours straight. A founding member of Throwing Muses and the Breeders, as well as frontwoman for her own band, Belly, and a subsequent catalog of solo work, hers is a storied biography, full of flowers and not a few thorns. Now practicing as a post-partum doula, Donelly is still writing songs, in the past months releasing a series of collaborative EPs called Swan Song Series, marking an unofficially-official retirement from the industry. The last volume will be issued in December, though Donelly qualifies, “There will be songs trickling out after that.” Before the end comes, we look back to the beginning as part of our “Holy Hell!” series. It’s been 20 years since “this little squirrel I used to be slammed her bike down the stairs.” Join us as we contemplate the life cycle of Star.

Thinking back to 1993, what are some of the first flashes that come to your mind about that year?

Oh my goodness, I don’t know! It was such a crazy year. I mean, it just really felt surreal to me. Because there really weren’t – from either label and from myself and the band – any expectations of [Star] doing that well. We wanted it to do as well as I had previously done in my other bands, but we had no idea that not just that record, but alternative music in general would explode that year. A lot of the success of that album had to do with a lot of other things that were going on, just timing in general. For some reason that was a gate-opening year.

When we’re looking at what led up to the formation of Belly, obviously your work with Throwing Muses and the Breeders – two huge, revolutionary alt-rock bands – comes up. The narrative often is that you were in a deferring role to Kristin Hersh in the Muses and Kim Deal with the Breeders. Kind of like a John Oates phenomenon. And Belly was your liberation from that. How accurate is that? Or is that a misconception altogether?

It is a misconception because it had more to do with the logistics of everyone releasing their songs. We had our outlets for that. There was never a point where I ever expected to start releasing those kinds of songs with Throwing Muses specifically. The Breeders was a different story. The genesis of that band was going to be that Kim would have an album and then the next one would be my songs. And in fact all of the demos for Star say “The Breeders” on them. Like, on the reels and on the boxes. Because that was supposed to be the second Breeders album originally.

So Star was going to be the follow-up to Pod?

Yeah, it was unnamed at that point, it wasn’t called “Star,” but those songs were all demoed under the Breeders name and Kim actually played on a few of the songs.

How did that not come together then? Was there a crystallizing moment where you were like, “You know, I’m just doing this”

Yeah, it was in Dayton, Ohio with Kim, and we were trying to figure out how we were going to make it work, timing-wise. I had left the Muses and she was not at that point going to play with the Pixies, and they had a ginormous tour coming up [supporting U2’s Zoo TV Tour, in 1992]. At that point I said, I think it probably makes more sense if I just do this solo. And originally I was just going to start off on a solo gig but then I just really wanted another band. So I went home to Rhode Island and started Belly.

Getting back to the “secondary songwriter” idea, I had read that some of that had to do with your introversion?

Definitely. I think Belly somewhat cured me of a lot of shyness. But I was still terrified, too. There was something about having it be my name that felt wrong. And being very shy was part of that. And also just being very afraid of how things were gonna go, and what was gonna happen, and if I was making the right choice, and I wasn’t quite ready to take ownership of that by putting my name on it. And I really wanted to start that band with those people.

How did you manage your shyness? What were some of the coping strategies you used?

A lot of vomiting (laughs). And unfortunately, probably some drinking. There was definitely too much of that going on. Although I have to say, when [bassist] Gail [Greenwood] joined, she’s straight-edge and has been her whole life, and I didn’t stop completely but I was inspired by her honesty and bravery. She was a huge part of reeling me back from that.

At some point do you just become brave, or is it something – then and throughout your career – you continue to struggle with?

It was not so much gaining confidence as immunity.

In terms of publicity, in going back and reading reviews and interviews from that time, how in control of your image were you? With the ethereal quality of your voice, there was this sort of elfin, wood nymph thing you were getting. In the interviews it always seemed like you were having to push back against that, especially too because the riot grrrl scene was in full force. How did you deal with that?

That was very upsetting for me. I felt like no matter what I did, I couldn’t break that image. It’s certainly not the image I have of myself, I’m about as far from elfin as you can possibly be. I tried really hard not to engage in the attack posture [the riot grrrl scene] was taking against me, against Kristin, against at one point PJ Harvey. I mean, why???

Those “gender traitor” accusations were getting leveled at us. I really tried hard not to engage in that but it was difficult. And Melody Maker was constantly quoting these women who were SO angry at other women. It bummed me out. Because I came from a community and a mindset that everyone makes their own art and that that’s a journey everyone was doing individually and you held that as sacred. It was a sad time, it just really made me… bummed out.

It’s funny, because I’ve always thought Star had a lot in common with [Hole’s] Live Through This, at least in respect to its totems: dresses, dolls, witches, stolen children, mother/sister/daughter themes. Did you ever feel a sense of sisterhood with that album?

I do, and I did, and I doubt that she feels the same way. I think she’s a wonderful songwriter and singer and performer. I think that album is amazing. I love it. I don’t really come up on her radar much I’m sure these days, but there were a couple of times where she stuck up for me. She said, “Well, whatever you think of her, at least she’s writing her own songs and playing her own instrument.” That could be seen as damning by faint praise! (laughs) We actually had a funny moment the first time we met. She said, “You’re not so little and cute…” And I said, “Well… you’re not so big and scary!”

“Witch” is emblematic of these themes, the first line of what sounds like a lullaby is this cooing whisper of “You’re not safe/ In this house.” It’s like this angelic warning of dark, dark possibilities. Star almost feels like a concept record in this regard, with this nightmare secret fairy tale mythology and magic at the core of it. What inspired you to tap into the occult aspects of childhood?

That comes from my childhood, I felt all of those dark undercurrents very acutely. I think children can go there very quickly. Halloween has become really child-owned because of that. They’re so right there. It’s frightening, but I think as a child people see the beauty in it too, and the power and the mystery. Sometimes we’re afraid of things that are actually quite necessary to pull into your personal ecosystem.

You can hear that in the music of Star, the coexistence of opposites. The balance between safety and danger is always very emotionally close on that record. Is this something that you were intentionally going for?

Not intentionally. But that album was really me killing my childhood. I think that’s where I was able to process a lot that I hadn’t really up to that point – a little late at [age] 24 when I wrote those songs! But it was still an important thing for me to do. I don’t want to sound all Psych 101, but it was very much me as an adult taking care of that person.

Can we talk about “Slow Dog”? For years I was dying to find out the meaning behind that song – until I did.

That one’s almost an embarrassing story because it was one of my most manipulated lyrics ever. Usually they just come and I work with it a little bit to make it more listenable, but that one was a story I read about ancient Chinese culture. It was a piece of fiction about a woman who was an adulteress, and as punishment had a dead dog stuck to her back until it decomposed. That image – I couldn’t shake it. So I started to write it as a poem, and it took on this Southern Gothic character to it, so I framed it there, in the American South.

But it’s a jubilant song! How…?

Oddly, it ends up being about her liberation. Once the dog is gone – and I put it so that the dog was some sort of metaphor – she’s free.

“Maria, carry a rifle/ Maria, carry a dog on her back” – certainly “Maria” is not a name from a Chinese folktale…

I used to actually say “Mariah.” And it was the Pavement guy who pointed it out to me: “Did you write a song about Mariah Carey?!?!”

Stephen Malkmus?

No, it was Bob [Nastanovich]. It was when I had just done the demos and I gave him a copy. And I said, “Who’s Mariah Carey?” (laughs)

In the past week, I came across a few Belly references coincidentally – both from the AV Club. One was in a “Hatesong” interview in which Dean Ween rails against 4 Non Blondes, but agrees with the interviewer that “Feed the Tree” was an alt-rock single that worked. Another was a bit they did about songs about ghosts where they revisited Kristin Hersh’s duet with Michael Stipe, “Your Ghost.” Tangentially, Belly gets a lot of love in the comments, and those folks are tough customers. It seems to me that Belly has done well against the test of time, especially a band with a two LP discography, which is more than you can say for a lot of ‘90s alt bands. How do you view Star after everything else you’ve done in your career, these 20 years on?

I love that record and I loved making it and I loved touring it. The whole year was a halcyon year for us. We loved each other so much at that point! It was so fun and exciting and scary and nerve-wracking. But I am proud of that one. There was a chunk of time there when, if I was making a guest appearance somewhere or doing an interview, they would say “formerly of Throwing Muses” or “the Breeders” and stopped having Belly in there. There was some erasure that was happening. But recently I noticed it’s back in there! Apparently, we’re okay again. It’s okay to like us now! (laughs)

From: https://spectrumculture.com/2013/11/13/holy-hell-tanya-donelly-talks-about-belly-20-years-later/

 

Blvck Ceiling - Young

 

 

Music video for Blvck Ceiling created by Redrum Image: facebook.com/redrumimage. Written, directed, cinematography, edit, postproduction, vfx, graphic, set design, styling: Katarzyna Widmanska & Amadeusz Wróbel