#alain johannes

[ruthblon]

Alain Johannes - Kaleidoscope (short cover)

[jt1674]

[rainingmusic]

Sound City Players - A Trick with No Sleeve

[alucardstears]

"I’ve been a part of so many other great records, but Euphoria Mourning is as close to a masterpiece as possible. It’s on another level. Not just because of the music itself but also because of the human connection. When I listen to it, not only does it take me back to a powerful, painful and nostalgic feeling, but it also hits me in such a loving way. I remember both Chris and Natasha as the two most important people in my life. They come back alive in those moments – they are almost eternally there. The bonding memory of the Euphoria Mourning experience is something I strive to reach again in whatever situation I am in. Specifically, it was this egoless focus that we had. We were powerful and creative people, but the purpose was to serve the music. Sometimes that meant pushing for something and sometimes it meant giving in to something. There was never an argument about it, we always just agreed. When you feel a connection like that, it always stays with you." – Alain Johannes (x)

[harmonycorrupted]

Alain Johannes - Endless Eyes

[sinceileftyoublog]

Nikki Lane & Jaime Wyatt Live Preview: 12/14, Evanston SPACE

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Nikki Lane updates Cher’s “Mom, I am a rich man” on her latest and best album: “I’m going my way, livin’ and dyin’ / And I can buy my own damn denim and diamonds.” Throughout Denim & Diamonds (New West), the Highway Queen reflects on her past, present, and future, weaving tales of independence with boisterous rock and roll. The high school dropout-turned fashion designer-turned vintage Western wear shop owner and operator wears tumult like earned badges. On “Born Tough”, she sets the stage as a “big-hearted girl” in “a man’s world,” divorced “by the age of twenty-nine,” delivered over arena rock drum fills and monster hooks. “Black Widow” lays down an outlaw with whom Lane likely feels kinship: “Full metal woman in a thrift store jacket / Runnin’ Tulsa to San Antone / Making bad decisions / Don’t need no permission / If she wants to get a little stoned.” And in contrast to the platitudes of songs like “Try Harder” and “Live/Love”, a trotting song like “Good Enough” features Lane’s strongest songwriting to date. “Patience is a virtue,” she sings, making you think she’s going to provide us with another mantra, before deftly subverting traditional Americana imagery: “Battered up and beaten by the road that horse has traveled / And I’ve rode so far my rope has come unraveled in the rain.” 

For her first full-length in 5 years, Lane sought the assistance of Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, admittedly a head-scratching choice considering his recent history of legal troubles, including domestic violence allegations from his ex-wife Brody Dalle. I still think Denim & Diamonds is worth listening to, and that it’s certainly worth paying to see Lane live, as, in my mind, she didn’t need him or any of his band members to bolster her pop or rock chops. (After all, this is someone who’s already co-written with Lana Del Rey and sung backup vocals for Spiritualized.) Matt Pynn’s pedal steel wouldn’t be as affecting on “Faded”, nor Alain Johannes’ nylon string guitar on “Chimayo”, without Lane’s longing vocal turns. With every album, Lane is widening her reach; soon, she’ll be the one folks reach to in order to help shape their sound.

Opening for Lane tonight at SPACE and rendering it one of the best country bills of the year is singer-songwriter Jaime Wyatt, still riding strong off of her excellent 2020 album Neon Cross (New West). Wyatt grew up on country and folk and entered the music industry as a teenager but ended up addicted to hard drugs and spent jail time after robbing her drug dealer. Her marriage ended after serving 8 months, and when her father passed away, she relapsed. A lot of these hard times informed 2017′s Felony Blues; her further recovery and coming out as queer informed Neon Cross, from its instant classic title track to the somber version of Dax Riggs’ “Demon Tied to a Chair in My Brain”. I can’t wait to hear what Wyatt does next. Maybe she’ll play something new tonight? Fingers-crossed.

Tickets still available at the time of publication. Doors at 7:00 P.M., show at 8.

[arabrot]

Of Darkness And Light lyrics

Hangman’s House

In her pain we are one

I have finally found the calm

I have searched for so long

Stars I am drawing down

I hold her hand tight

If I could I would

Reach inside and rip the heart out

I’m a fool to raise my voice

And cry for rope in a hangman’s house

I see the two of us in his eyes

You raise your finger as to imply

Silence

Then you move your finger across your throat

As if I didn’t know what that was all about

I’m a fool to raise my voice

And cry for rope in a hangman’s house

It matters so much

Her hand to my chest

Is cold to touch

I’m caught in heaven’s web

What comes from the inside

Coagulates

I feel myself pumping

I feel myself filling up

I’m a fool to raise my voice

And cry for rope in a hangman’s house

You Cast Long Shadows

You cast shadows, you’re hiding at dusk

Holding a knife

You cast shadows, in the teeming dark

Seeking revenge

You cast long, long shadows

You cast shadows, you’re waiting in the dark

Teeth grinding

You cast shadows, a conclusion awaits

An ending

You cast long, long shadows

You cast very long shadows

When waiting in the dark

Oh, I see your heavenly smile

But a devil is whispering in your ear

I cast, I cast the shadows

I cast very long  shadows

I’m waiting in the dark

You cast long shadows, upon the ground

Seeking redemption

You cast shadows, but there is no life

To the seeds you have been sowing

You cast long, long shadows

You cast very long shadows

When waiting in the dark

Horrors Of The Past

I am chased down a gravel road

Trees fall down behind me

They all have hearts carved

They bear stigmatas

Burnt onto wrists

Drilled into palms

Scratched to the chest

Marked in the mind

I read the books for clues

But I don’t understand

These are the horrors of the past

Hand to the crank, round and round and round

Dead tunes creep all over my face

These are the horrors of the past

I approach the abandoned hut in the woods

The doors are locked, the windows barred

The moss feel hot to touch

Feel hot to touch

From the swamp sieve mists in shape of ghosts

And the whole of the forest cries

And the darkening skies

The darkening skies

These are the horrors of the past

Hand to the crank, round and round and round

Dead tunes creep all over my face

These are the horrors of the past

Madness

I see the sun move backwards

In a world retrograde

In an elliptical reverse

In a world retrograde

This is madness

This is madness

This is madness

In a world retrograde

I wipe the tears from my eyes

In a world retrograde

As Babylon’s swept into the skies

In a world retrograde

This is madness

This is madness

This is madness

In a world retrograde

The birds soar the air in reverse

I see rainwater from the ground rise

I see the sea reflex the tide

Yield a subliminal power mind

This is madness

This is madness

This is madness

In a world retrograde

This is madness

This is madness

This is madness

I’m a subliminal power mind

Cathedral Light

I am Lucifer, I stretch rainbows across your soul

I bring dark red roses to your rites in the sun

My thorns cut sharper, this is deep this is real

You see my mask in the blood, you let me in

You’re down on your knees again

Blinded by cathedral light

You’re down and out again

Blinded by cathedral light

We’re in dreams, babe, we live the dream

I have horns and you wear black goat skin

We rent the animal and eat the flesh raw

Cause we feel like living a little, we feel like living

You’re down on your knees again

Blinded by cathedral light

You’re down and out again

Blinded by cathedral light

We Want Blood

Write the story of your life

No truths held back

Nothing barred

Write the story in blood

Oh, we want blood

Write in your own blood

Let passion carry the words

In big bold letters

Write the burning desires

Oh, we want blood

You shall not hold back a drop

Write the anxieties

Write the horrors of your dreams

Write the sadness and the joys

Write the goddam truth

You shall not hold back a drop

Fire!

There’s a thousand women bleeding

From under their skirts blood’s seeping

(animus, animus)

There’s a thousand women on fire

From the bosom passion’s pounding

(animus, animus)

I’m only burning

In need of something afire

In need of something ablaze

I’ll leave you the ashes in the morn

Dear world, I brought you ashes

Will you bring me fire?

There’s a thousand women staring back at me

Streaks of blood on the floor

(animus, animus)

There’s a thousand women caught in heaven’s web

They whet the blade

(animus, animus)

I’m only burning

In need of something afire

In need of something ablaze

I’ll leave you the ashes in the morn

Dear world, I brought you ashes

Will you bring me fire?

Skeletons Trip The Light Fantastic

I eat pistachios

It leaves a mouldy taste in my mouth

A taste of something wrong

Skeletons dance alone

From that day on I see ghosts

Every time I close

My eyes to reflect upon

Skeletons dance alone

Skeletons trip the light fantastic

Someone is laughing behind my back

Every time I turn my head

There’s nobody around

Skeletons dance alone

In the corner of my eye

Upon clear white walls

I see dancing shadows

Skeletons dance alone

Skeletons trip the light fantastic

Swan Killer

I’d like  to become a swan killer

Like Siegfrid

Like Siegfrid

I want to hear its death song

Like Bonhomet

Like Bonhomet

I shave my head, put on a cloak and sing:

Halleluwah

I take aim and grab hold of its neck

But it carries me aloft

It carries me aloft

And brings me to unexpected heights

It’s conceptual love

It’s conceptual love 

I shave my head, put on a cloak and sing:

Halleluwah

Love Under Will

Beyond a troublesome night come day

And I enter a dark meandering maze

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

I’m bent to will

Deep within I know there is a void

So I best abide and move on

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

I’m bent to will

An echo hangs heavy in the air

And the blood I hear pumping in my ears

Is the same blood flooding the room

I sink in mire, I’m drowning

The echo whisper truths, I will abide

I’m in deep waters, but I’m not afraid to die

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

Love under will

Love is the law

I’m bent to will

[pjhfan83]

The Glorious Land 2016

[rainingmusic]

Chris Cornell - Follow My Way

[brodydalle-archive]

[elcopon]

Alain Johannes

[mitjalovse]

Billy Corgan's solo career showed the perils of the alternative rock players in search of their own identity outside their groups. I mean, what could they have possibly done? I'm not surprised many of them returned with their bands, yet I'm grateful almost all of them tried to do something on their own. For instance, Chris Cornell, my choice for the best grunge vocalist, had a highly uneven solo discography. Then again, he did attempt several different directions without fully developing any of them in spite of some intriguing opportunities they showed. Moreover, I would suggest Euphoria Morning, his debut, presented a more interesting musician, though I sort of get why the things went the way they did – the collectives these musicians were a part of sonically cast a long shadow.

[looseygoosey66]

Interview: Jonny Polonsky | The Big Takeover

My first record, that was the third version of those songs for most of those songs. They’d been around some of them since ’92/‘93. That record didn’t come out until ’96. I’m just psyched about the record and I’m excited to be working with Stone and Loosegroove. I’m excited that someone who’s not me is paying for the records to get printed up. They’re super supportive and very cool and smart. I’ll release music regardless but it’s always way better to have a trusty team behind what’s going on and have other people excited and have everyone doing their bit to help get it out to the people, because that’s the hardest thing. Anyone can make music now. The technology, as far as making it and distributing it, it’s never been easier, but as everybody knows, the hardest thing is just to get people to be aware of it.

Do you have a history with Stone and Regan?

JONNY: I’d never met them before. Stone, I guess, had known about me because Brendan O’Brien mixed my first record, Hi, My Name is Jonny, so I guess he was aware of me way back in the day. And Stone and I have mutual friends, but we’d never met. I didn’t know Regan. And the guy who mixed not this record, but the one that’s coming out in the fall, is Alain Johannes. He’s incredible. I’ve loved Al’s Music forever and we became friends in LA a little bit, and then we’ve worked together a little bit just since my moving to New York. He mixed this record. I knew he was friends with Stone. I asked him to give Stone a copy, and he did. And then Stone liked it and signed me. It was nice and simple. We still haven’t met in person. I’ve met Regan, he came out and did the videos. We filmed four videos in two days. He’s super talented.