#got an album released by roadrunner and everything

[moonlightandmarble]

I really need people who are bitching about Sleep Token "selling out" to

1. Actually look up what that phrase means

2. Actually look up how artists are getting absolutely screwed by venues, Spotify, LiveNation, Ticketmaster, record companies, and so on

3. Stop assuming every musician has got Beyonce money. Most do touring to just to barely scrape by.

4. Stop expecting Vessel to provide you with answers about the Lore when the Lore is like 98% fan-developed. Behind all of these songs and the imagery and the mask is a real person talking about the pain he has gone through in his personal life. The Lore is just a fun diversion and a way to let us connect with what he says in our own way.

5. Go listen to Tool's Hooker With a Penis and by all means don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

[basementdoll]

Wait And Bleed

Murderdolls were on a high with their 2002 debut album. Before Joey Jordison knew it, Wednesday 13 had 30 new songs written…but was going it alone.

Words: Dom Lawson

On July 12, 2003, the band that Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison had formed with his friend, vocalist Wednesday 13, as a bit of light relief from the relentless touring and ferocious intensity of his day job, performed to a sold-out Brixton Academy in London. Within a year of releasing their debut album, 2002’s brilliantly snotty Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls, this goofy, sleazy horror-punk side-project had evolved beyond all expectations, like some kind of many-headed Frankenstein, and won the hearts of thousands of fans. In the UK in particular, Murderdolls rocketed from nowhere to the brink of hugeness, accruing a hysterical army of red’n’black-clad admirers who had fallen wholesale for the band’s party-all-night-and-fuck-the-consequences philosophy. What started as a liberating side-project had mutated into something with the potential to conquer the world…all of which makes the fact that Murderdolls left Brixton, buggered off back across the Atlantic and then vanished for seven years somewhat confusing.

But now it’s the summer of 2010 and Murderdolls are back at last. And so, as Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13 settle down on a small leather sofa in the air-conditioned downstairs bar of a swanky Soho hotel to speak with Metal Hammer about their reunion, imminent comeback and brand new studio album, Women and Children Last, it’s finally time to ask the question: Gentleman, where the fuck have you been?

“We don’t bullshit and there’s no reason to lie.” says Joey, shades on and as serious as hell. “After we got done with the tour for Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls, we ended on a high note at Brixton Academy, but then of course I had to go back and start up Slipknot again. Me and Wednesday were still in contact and he had demoed like 30 songs and sent me a CD, but the next thing I know, he’s doing a solo record and he didn’t tell me! I didn’t understand it. I was like, ‘Don’t you wanna do another Murderdolls record?’, but I can’t tell him not to go and do what he wants to do, you know? So I had to go and do my stuff with [Slipknot album] Volume 3 (The Subliminal Verses) and we did the whole tour, and we met up again during that tour. We hadn’t talked in a while, so it was kinda weird, but once we talked and crossed paths…”

“We met in a trailer at Rock Im Park in Germany.” recalls Wednesday. “It was 100° and all the crew people were like, ‘Get in there and work it out!’ and they threw us in there and shut the door! That’s when we sorted everything out.”

Having patched things up after what sounds like a fairly minor falling out, Joey and Wednesday still didn’t exactly rush into a Murderdolls reunion. In fact, another five years have passed since the initial exchange of apologies and explanations. In terms of squandering momentum, this hiatus will take some beating, and yet Women and Children Last oozes a level of intensity that was never even hinted at by Murderdolls first time round. Apparently absence makes the fire blaze harder…

“To other people, eight years [between albums] must seem like a long time.” says Wednesday. “But if you think about fuckin’ everything that Joey’s done and everything that I’ve done in that period, that’s a lot of shit! Combined, we’ve done more than bands do in a 20-year period. Joey did two Slipknot records, a Ministry tour, played with Korn, did Roadrunner United, produced 3 Inches Of Blood and played with Satyricon and I did three solo records, an EP, two country records and started a whole new band…”

“We were never enemies at all.” adds Joey. “We just got confused. After we met up again, we were on speaking terms and having conversations by texting and we were thinking that maybe we’d just let Murderdolls be the band with the cult following that it was and let sleeping dogs lie. But then the moment of clarity came to me about two years ago. I was at home on a break and I was sleeping on my couch and Headbanger’s Ball was on and there was this spark that jolted me awake. The metal scene in America and also in Europe, it’s all the fucking same now. There are some great bands, trust me, but everyone’s the same now. Labels are trying to survive because they’re going down the tubes. It’s all about who can play double bass the fastest. There’s no rock stars anymore. I called Wednesday at that point and I’m still in a sleep haze and I said, ‘Wednesday, I want to make another Murderdolls record!’”

A world apart from the comic book kitsch and pun-filled sloppiness of their debut, the second Murderdolls album might as well be the work of an entirely different band. Although still imbued with the hook-packed sleaze metal sensibilities that made old songs like Dead In Hollywood and Grave Robbing USA so irresistible, the new songs seem to have been beamed in from somewhere much darker and more real than their predecessors. There is no shortage of macabre humour lurking amid the pounding riffs and roar-along rage of Chapel of Blood and My Dark Place Alone but while Beyond The Valley…was all about taking the listener into a grim but ludicrous fantasy world, this record sounds very much like the work of men on a sincere and heartfelt mission. Murderdolls 2.0 mean every last fucking word, and as a result they have become a hundred times more believable. 

“I said, ‘If we’re gonna do this, it has to be full bore and we have to make a real record.’” says Joey. “The first record is great for what it was and I love it, but I consider this to be the first Murderdolls record. This is the first time we actually sat down with a vision and wrote songs together, and it’s been one of the most gratifying records I’ve ever made.”

“We wrote all these songs from scratch, a few feet away from each other in the studio.” grins Wednesday. “The first song we did was Homicide Drive, and the drum take you hear on the record is the first take we did. It all happened that naturally. It was really easy and it was fun. We had a fuckin’ blast making this record.”

Just like their favourite band, Murderdolls fans may well be a little bit older and wiser eight years on from that first flush of anti-hero worship, but the goofy, light-hearted side of the band was always a major part of their appeal. As a result, there may be some who find the idea of a more serious Murderdolls a little alarming, but despite injecting their sound with a little more substance, Joey and Wednesday are still firmly committed to delivering the rock ‘n’ roll goods. It’s just that this time round the fire in their bellies is for real and not just cheap whiskey afterburn.

“It’s still fun but it’s more fun for me because I get to sing about personal stuff now.” explains Wednesday. “I’m not the same guy you saw before. This band has changed - this is a whole new Murderdolls, in terms of what we’re bringing to the table. When I sing My Dark Place Alone, that’s very personal to me. I’m going deep into the lyrics, and that’s something I’ve never been able to do before.”

“The first record, you could say we were a dumb horror punk band or something like that.” adds Joey. “The new one, this is like my other Slipknot, even though they’re like apples and oranges. On this record you go from a song like Chapel Of Blood to Drug Me To Hell, and then songs like Nowhere and Summertime Suicide and it starts getting poppier. It’s kinda like Slipknot, with all that diversity, even though we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band. That’s what’s gratifying to me, having a band that has its own style but is able to inject its own identity into each song. When I used to play in death metal and speed metal bands, it was easy to sit there and write a million riffs. The biggest challenge is to write an actual song, and only then do you know you’re a real songwriter.” 

If everything goes to plan, the new Murderdolls album should swiftly restore the band to the levels of popularity they were enjoying when they took their extended hiatus. But if anyone needs convincing that Women And Children Last is the real deal, they need only acknowledge the presence of no less a figure than Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars, who lends some hair-raising solos to Drug Me To Hell and Blood Stained Valentine, two of the album’s grittiest anthems. Mick doesn’t put on his top hat for any old rubbish, and Joey and Wednesday are visibly thrilled when they talk about his involvement in their new record.

“Mick’s one of the great underdogs and never got the respect he deserved.” says Wednesday. “We see him as one of the great rock ‘n’ roll villains, so what better guy to come out and play for us? It was so natural. He loved it!”

“We didn’t want any guests on this record whatsoever, but this was a little bit different.” smiles Joey. “It was definitely an honour to watch him play on our dumbass songs! I was just sitting there, almost blacking out, thinking about when I had Shout At The Devil on vinyl in my parent’s basement and I was thinking, ‘Man, this is fucked up!’”

Mick Mars aside, Murderdolls remain very much a two-man operation in the studio, but live performance is plainly a major part of what the band stands for and so, with that in mind, Joey and Wednesday have recruited a brand new lineup to assist them in their new crusade. Original members Acey Slade, Eric Griffin and Ben Graves have been usurped by new lead guitarist Roman Surman, bassist Jack Tankersley and drummer Racci Shay, who previously played in Wednesday 13’s solo band. Again, as with the songs themselves, fresh blood seems to have invigorated the whole Murderdolls enterprise. 

“The first lineup and the first everything that we did, it was really thrown together.” admits Wednesday. “We did our first video without ever having played together in a room before. Me and Joey did the record by ourselves and then we found these guys through friends of friends and, of course, it was complete chaos. So this time, we purposefully picked people we knew and that we were friends with, and it’s been great. When we finally got on stage, it was like ‘Holy shit!’”

“What we’ve done now and the people we have now, they’re great players and they’re there for the job.” continues Joey. “They’re not there to fuckin’ party. They believe in the songs and they believe in the project and this is a big chance for all of ‘em. They’re all amazing players. I wouldn’t do this if my heart wasn’t completely in it.”

With a new warcry of “We live, we breathe, we bleed rock ‘n’ roll!” the all-new Murderdolls can hardly be said to have altered the main thrust of their philosophy, but everything about the new lineup, the new album and the intense demeanor of the two men steering the ship suggests that they are in this for the long haul this time, ready to do whatever it takes to bully the world into joining in the fun. Serious men on a serious mission, perhaps, but surely there is still plenty of room for a little chaos, mayhem and debauchery? 

“Before, when we walked off stage, everything else was complete madness too.” Wednesday laughs. “It was a fuckin’ circus, but it was great. But we’ve moved on. We want to take the chaos from backstage and put it on the stage!”

“Now it’s just the most violent, fuckin’ sleazy, hideous, heaviest fuckin’ rock ‘n’ roll you can possibly imagine.” concludes Joey, with a snarl. “It’s a real band now.” 

Women and Children Last is out August 30 via Roadrunner Records. Murderdolls will play Ozzfest in September.

-

Six Stringer Joey Jordison’s Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Which albums inspired you to play the guitar?

“The first record that turned me on was the Stones’ Tattoo You. I remember my dad coming home with the album.”

What was the first guitar you owned?

“A harmony, which was like a Fender Stratocaster. I played it in my first metal band in fifth grade. I started playing drums aged seven and soon ditched the guitar.

How do you achieve your sound?

“I don’t normally tell people how I do it! Ha ha! I used a modified JCM 900 amplifier and a MXR distortion on top of that. I’m always involved with mixing and production and everything, so that has a lot to do with the sound on the record. My amp’s been modified.”

Who’s the most underrated guitarist?

“Probably Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls). He had something about him. Guitar is all about passion and playing with soul and style.”

How often do you practise?

“Right now, three hours a day! I’m going on tour with the Murderdolls so everything has to be up to par. It’s odd talking about guitar instead of drums. Drums always came natural to me. I still practise but I’m pretty much in the groove, but for the guitar I have to work real hard.”

What guitar do you play?

“I recorded with my custom BC Rich Bich. I’ve been using Gibson SGs and a BC Rich Warlock, plus I have my signature guitar coming out.”

[liliththeblackmage]

Sanguivore, some thoughts

I made a post on here about a year ago about seeing Creeper play a headline show at London’s Roundhouse, a show which brought an end to the era of their last album, Sex Death and the Infinite Void, and an end to their time with American creativity devouring label Roadrunner. it also came with a new song Ghost Brigade to set the tone of the new era and hold fans over for a full release at some point in the future.

This show came at a really interesting time for my relationship with the band, I had been falling out of love with them slowly but surely since the end of their first album cycle back in 2018. A combination of a disappointing ending to the album cycle and very disappointing second album cycle, my tastes changing and a several unpleasant experiences with other fans lead to me being very ready to bookend my fandom of this band with a show, something I’ve done with other bands in the past. Luckily the show went some way to revitalizing my appreciation for them.

In the intervening 11 months, I’ve seen them close out a packed stage at an even more packed Slam Dunk festival, heard Ghost Brigade live and followed the announcement of their third album titled Sanguiovore. A darker, heavier project produced by Grammy award winning Tom Dalgety.

I wanted to collect my feelings on the record as I went through it, a sort of first impressions / general thoughts, mostly focused on the writing and production as that's where my interests generally lie in discussing music.

Further than Forever I really felt like this song struggled to justify its length, its 9 minutes purely because Meatloaf and Steinman did 9 minute songs so we should too. I had to listen to this track several times to fully get my thoughts together on it, and it felt exhausting to get to the end of every time. Despite that the track had some really cool musical motifs and despite it being a pastiche of Steinman, a lot of Creepers uniqueness shows through. There are definitely parts of this song that could have done with ADT or actual double tracking.

Cry To Heaven The Production of this track is really is what makes this track work, if the snare was even a tiny bit less punchy, or the synth less full, it would be all the worse for it. in terms of composition it takes a lot of its moves from Floodland era Sisters Of Mercy, its cheesy yes, but the performances really sell it, everything in terms of the performance is on point, and its very much held up by that production, I genuinely think that no other producer they have worked with could have made this song work. They manage to pull of a unironic up a fifth key change with as straight face, which is an achievement in itself.

Sacred Blasphemy Sonicly this is they’ve come so far to anything they’ve released previously, its got the AFI punkyness with a hint of Revenge era My Chem in it, but its still shown through the lens of this project, with its moody goth overtones. Will stays in a lower register for nearly all of the song, which seems to be a trend in this record. its a very short track, but it hits all the right notes despite that, in the same way AFI’s Sacrifice Theory on The Art of Drowning does. This track makes heavy use of double tracking for both vocals and guitar and it really adds to the atmosphere of the track. This the first track where their new drummer gets to flex their chops over the previous drummers much more wooden performances.

The Balled of Spook and Mercy A slower number, which is appreciated after the last one. The first track to really talk about the narrative in detail. Once again pulling from the Steinman playbook in terms of composition, performance and production, though there are elements of Murray Gold in the track composition, reminding me a lot of his early work on Dr Who. Lyrically, I struggle to place it, it reminds me a lot of folk and country songs that are more of a story with a backing track than a song. The guitar solo interlaced with a harpsichord reminds me a lot of Mike Oldfield for some reason.

Lovers Led Astray I got notes of surf rock in the main guitar motif. In a crude way of describing it, its sounds like the B52s decided to try and make a goth project. (have been reliably been informed this is what The Cramps sound like). I wish in terms of production it leaned into it more, the thick marshal amp sound does it a slight disservice. I really enjoy that the band have embraced synthesizers on the latest record. I think this is my favourite track, purely because of how weird it is. If you want a track that sounds like Judas Priest and Andrew Eldritch made a surf song, this is it.

Teenage Sacrifice This song is a perfect love letter to 80s metal, without losing sight of the tone of the rest of the project. It is VERY apparent that the producer worked with Ghost on some of their best work on this track, pulling out some of the same stellar production choices here that he did on Prequelle. I do wish there was a bit more too the verses musically, as their sparseness does leave you to focus on the lyrics, which are passable without being anything special, a common issue of classic metal which is usually overlooked because the tracks dont slow down to let you think about them.

Chapel Gates The Punk influences return with a vengeance, if Teenage sacrifice was Creeper do Judas Priest, this is Creeper do The Damned. it also has small amounts of the surf influence in it again which is a welcome addition to me. This song has one of the catchiest and most enjoyable choruses and I think this one is going to be a lot of fun to hear live. Much like Sacred Blasphemy it really lets their new drummer show off his skills with a set of complicated fills which would have been unheard of in previous tracks

The Abyss The Abyss is a short musical intro for the next track.

Black Heaven A wonderfully moody goth track, lots of 80s goth and post punk influence, from the slightly off kilter disco adjacent drum beat in the verse (again showing off their new drummers skills here), to the reverb drenched subtractive synths in the background and the minimalist motifs in the first 2/3rds of the song, the bridge and ending of the song drift back into something that fits the rest of the record more, with a ripping melodic guitar solo and layer upon layer of vocals gently taking the song to its end point with a ethereal repeated vocal part

More Than Death The final track on the record, in keeping with their previous releases its a piano and vocal lead ballad. Its certainly their most hopeful of their album closers, compared to Eternity In Your Arms’ I choose To Live and Sex Death and the Infinite Void’s All My Friend. This comes at a cost I believe, those two tracks were written from an incredibly genuine place, barely attached to the narrative of the previous tracks, commenting on the state of the band and the health of its main writers. This track, at first glance anyway, feels artificial in comparison, going through the lyrical motions of a Steinman ballad. In spite of this it is a very enjoyable closer and I think will make an appropriate song to end a set with.

I think my biggest criticism of the album is the lyricism, now lyrics have never really been the biggest strong suit of the band, this is album is no different, I think it sticks out a lot more here because the rest of the composition is so good, whereas the quality of lyrics haven’t really developed much since their singers previous bands early releases.

Overall this album represents a return to form not seen since the 2016 EP ‘The Stranger’ (potentially earlier depending on who you ask). Creeper have embraced what worked about their early work while being able to experiment with new sounds and styles on this record, leading to their best Album by a mile. it’s cheesy yes, but they lean into it in a way that makes this the musical equivalent of a hammer horror film.

[jgthirlwell]

2020 Year In Review

This year once again I invited some friends and colleagues to reflect on 2020

JG Thirlwell

Composer

Foetus Xordox Manorexia Steroid Maximus Venture Bros Archer

www.foetus.org

2020 was a troubling and disturbing year. I created a lot of music and experienced a lot of nights waking at 5am in a panic. I deeply missed the sacred experience of being able to see live music. In its absence of that I listened to a lot of music. It was difficult to whittle down this list but here are a lot of albums I enjoyed in 2020, in no particular order.

Le Grand Sbam Furvent (Dur Et Doux) John Elmquist’s HardArt Group I Own an Ion (900 Nurses) Roly Porter Kistvaen (Subtext) Liturgy Origin Of The Alimonies (YLYLCYN) Clark Kiri Variations (Throttle) Dai Kaht Dai Kaht I & II (Soleil Zeuhl) Chromb Le livre des merveilles (Dur Et Doux) Horse Lords The Common Task (Northern Spy) Ecker & Meultzer Carbon (Subtext) Insane Warrior Tendrils (RJ’s Electrical Connections) Jeff Parker Suite For Max Brown (International Anthem) Jacob Kirkegaard Opus Mors (Topos) Tristan Perich Drift Multiply (Nonesuch) Bec Plexus Sticklip (New Amsterdam) Vak Budo (Soleil Zeuhl) Merlin Nova BOO! (Bandcamp) The The Muscle OST (Cineola) Zombi 2020 (Relapse) Regis Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss (Downwards) Rival Consoles Articulation (Erased Tapes) Sarah Davachi Cantus, Descant (L.A.T.E.) Sufjan Stevens The Ascension (Asthmatic Kitty) Idles Ultra Mono (Partisan) Daedelus The Bittereindeers (Brainfeeder) Boris No (Bandcamp) Aksak Maboul Figures / Un peu de l’ame des bandits / Onze Danses Pour Cobattre La Migraine (Crammed) Noveller Arrow (Ba Da Bing) Felicia Atkinson Everything Evaporate (Shelter Press) Ital Tek Dream Boundary (Planet Mu) Author and Punisher Beastland (Relapse) Sparks A Steady Drip Drip Drip (BMG) Corima Amatarasu (Soleil Zeuhl) Code Orange Underneath (Roadrunner) Deerhoof Future Teenage Cave Artists /Silly Symphonies / To Be Surrounded../ Love Lore(Joyful Noise) Sote Moscels (Opal Tapes) Run The Jewels RTJ4 (Jewel Runners) Oranssi Pazuzu Mestarin Kynsi (Nuclear Blast) Master Boot Record Floppy Disk Overdrive (Metal Blade) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith The Mosaic Of Transformation (Ghostly International) / Ears (Western Vinyl) Michael Gordon Acquanetta (Cantelope) Neom Arkana Temporis (Soleil Zeuhl) Rian Treanor Ataxia / File Under UK Metaplasm (Planet Mu) Helm Saturnalia (Alter) Ivvvo doG (Halcyon Veil) Robert Normandeau Figures (Empreintes Digitales) Ben Vida Reducing The Tempo To Zero (Shelter Press) Beatrice Dillon Workaround (Pan) Dan Deacon Mystic Familiar (Domino) Sea Oleena Weaving A Basket (Higher Plain Music) Elysian Fields Transience Of Life (Ojet) Rhapsody Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret (Magic Circle) Duma Duma (Nyege Nyege) Ulla Strauss Tumbling Towards a Wall / Seed (Bandcamp)

Honorable mentions Carl Stone Stolen Car (Unseen Worlds)  Nazar Guerilla (Hyperdub) Iwo Zaluski with the Children of Park Lane Primary School, Wembley The Remarkable Earth Making Machine (Trunk) Nahash Flowers Of The Revolution (SVBKVLT) Cindy Lee Whats Tonight To Eternity (Bandcamp) Insect Ark The Vanishing (Profound Lore) 33EMYBW Arthropods (SVBKVLT) Declan McKenna Zeroes (Tomplicated) Layma Azur Zeii (Bandcamp)

FILM TV Succession ZeroZeroZero Escape at Dannemora 1917 Small Axe : Five films by Steve McQueen Pirhanas Monos The Hater Better Call Saul

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Drew Daniel

Matmos, The Soft Pink Truth

an alphabet of 2020 recordings

Arca “KiCk i” BFTT “Intrusive / Obtrusive” clipping. “Visions of Bodies Being Burned” Duma “Duma” Eilbacher, Max “Metabolist Meter (Foster, Cottin, Caetani and a Fly)” Forbidden Colors “La Yeguada” GILA “Energy Demonstration” HiedraH Club de Baile “Bichote-K Bailable Vol. 2” Ian Power “Maintenance Hums” Jeff Carey “Index[off]” Kassel Jaeger “Meith” Laurie Anderson “Songs From the Bardo” Mukqs “Water Levels” Negativland “The World Will Decide” O’Rourke, Jim “Shutting Down Here” Perlesvaus “These Things Below with Those Above” Quicksails “Blue Rise” Rian Treanor “File Under UK Metaplasm” Slikback “///” Terminal Nation “Holocene Extinction” Ulcerate “Stare Into Death and Be Still” Various Artists “HAUS of ALTR” William Tyler “New Vanitas” Xyla “Ways” Y A S H A “Summations” :zoviet-france: “Châsse 2ᵉ”

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Sarah Lipstate  (Noveller)

With all live performances canceled, this was truly the year of demo videos and home studio recording for me. These are 10 pieces of gear that came out in 2020 that helped keep me feeling creative and inspired during lockdown. In no particular order:

EHX Oceans 12 Dual Stereo Reverb - The Oceans 12 ticks all the boxes for what I’m looking for in a great soundscaping reverb. I used the Shimmer and Reverse algorithms in conjunction a lot when I was composing music for a film score.

Chase Bliss Audio Blooper - While I don’t actually own a Blooper, I had the pleasure of borrowing one from Mike of Baranik Guitars after NAMM this year. He made an incredible Blooper-inspired guitar and I was completely charmed by them both. Chase Bliss always delivers pedals that push me creatively and the Blooper truly hits the mark.

Cooper FX Arcades - I love everything Cooper FX has released to-date so the opportunity to access those sounds in one pedal via plug-in cartridges is just awesome.

SolidGoldFX NU-33 - I was asked to do a demo of this pedal for its release and ended up being really charmed by this box’s approach to lo-fi nostalgia. I’ve used it a lot for film scoring and highly recommend adding it to your collection.

Demedash Effects T-120 DLX V2 - I LOVE a good tape echo and the T-120 Deluxe V2 ranks up there with the best I’ve tried. This pedal made its way to me this Christmas and I look forward to making some beautiful sounds with it in the new year.

Hologram Electronics Microcosm - The Microcosm is one of those pedals where you should fully read the manual before diving in but once you put in that initial effort you’ve got a massively powerful tool on your hands. It does glitch like no other. Definitely worth the homework

Azzam Bells MP019 - I discovered this unique instrument through a post on Reverb’s IG page and immediately looked it up and ordered one. These experimental percussion instruments are hand-made in Italy and they’re as beautiful visually as they are sonically. I used it for bowed cymbal and daxophone sounds on a film score and it was absolutely haunting.

Echopark Dual Harmonic Boost 2 - I love the control you have over dialing in the perfect amount of grit with these dual boost circuits. I use it a lot as a textural tool when I’m laying down drones or bringing in big distorted swells. It’s one of the most versatile overdrives in my collection and I love that.

Fender Parallel Universe Series Volume II Maverick Dorado - I was smitten with the Maverick Dorado when I first saw it at NAMM. It has a lot of the specs that I look for in a guitar and the body shape with the Mystic Pine finish just blew me away. I hope that I get to use it live soon.

Polyeffects Beebo - The Beebo is one of those pedals that I genuinely feel is smarter than I am. It’s like an entire computer in one small touchscreen box. I can’t claim to have mastered using it yet but the sounds that I have managed to get out of it so far have been brilliant. I’m looking forward to spending more time with this box in 2021

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HELM 2020 REVIEW

Let's get the bad stuff out the way first, 2020 was undoubtedly an awful year. I'm still not sure how to really respond to seeing a global pandemic bring the capital to its knees and everything I love and hold dear to a grinding halt. Our government fucked it's response, putting profit before people and killing tens of thousands. The Labour Party descended into farce with the newly elected leader Sir Keith revealing himself as a bland centrist with no opposition or ideas. On a personal level it sucked not being able to travel or see my friends in different parts of the world - or even the same country - who I am starting to miss a lot. However, I was fortunate enough to get through the year with my sanity intact. Music, art and culture once again being my main positive. I think I listened to more music than I have in any year ever. I read more books than I have done since I was a teenager probably. I also re-discovered the joys of walking long distances and am extremely thankful for living near a lot of incredible green spaces: Epping Forest, Walthamstow Wetlands, Walthamstow Marshes, Wanstead Park, Wanstead Flats...

Music. My favourite albums of the year.

Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi Wetware - Flail Raspberry Bulbs - Before The Age Of Mirrors Necrot - Mortal Rope Sect - The Great Flood Private World - Aleph Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never Pyrrhon - Abcess Time CS+Kreme - Snoopy Speaker Music - Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry Drew McDowall - Agalma Regis - Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss Nazar - Guerilla Zoviet France - Russian Heterodoxical Songs (and all the ZF reissues!!) Triple Negative - God Bless the Death Drive Permission - Organised People Suffer Actress - Karma & Desire Acolytes - Stress II The Gerogerigegege - >(decrescendo) Chubby & The Gang - Speed Kills Flora Yin-Wong - Holy Palm Eiko Ishibashi - Hyakki Yagyo The The - See Without Being Seen Prurient - Casablanca Flamethrower Henning Christiansen - L’essere Umano Errabando La Voce Errabando Subdued - Over The Hills And Far Away Rian Treanor - File Under UK Metaplasm Komare - The Sense Of Hearing Shredded Nerve - Acts Of Betrayal Jesu - Terminus Autechre - SIGN Hey Colossus - Dances / Curses Sparkle Division - To Feel Embraced Mark Harwood - A Perfect Punctual Paradise Under My Own Name Still House Plants - Fast Edit The Bug & Dis Fig - In Blue Kommand - Terrorscape Haus Arafna - Asche Khthoniik Cerviiks - Æequiizoiikum Worm - Gloomlord Kraus - A Golden Brain Faceless Burial - Speciation

A shout-out to Jon Abby's AMPLIFY series on Bandcamp / Facebook, which I contributed a new piece of music to.

A shout out to the labels where most of the music I listened to seemed to come from:

The Trilogy Tapes Iron Bonehead Penultimate Press Dais La Vida Es Un Mus

Gigs. Despite live music being destroyed in 2020 I still saw a few unforgettable performances at the beginning of the year.

Graham Lambkin @ The ICA, London Puce Mary / JFK @ The Glove That Fits, London Demilich @ Finnfest, The Garage, London Container / PC World / National Unrest @ Venue MOT, London S.H.I.T / Asid / Chubby & The Gang @ Static Shock Festival, ExFed, London

Books I enjoyed. Most not published this year, but all read in 2020.

Joe Kennedy - Authentocrats David Balzer - Curationism Tom Mills - BBC: The Myth Of A Public Service Simon Morris - Consumer Guide: Special Edition Luke Turner - Out Of The Woods Various - Bad News For Labour Mike Wendling - Alt-Right Baited Area issues 1 & 2.

Film. Three good films I saw this year which I hadn't before.

Suspiria (Remake) Midsommar Cannibal Holocaust

Podcasts. I listened to a lot of these whilst walking.

We Don't Talk About The Weather Novara Media Tysky Sour & Novara FM Grounded with Louis Theroux System of Systems Red Scare loveline episodes Suite 212 NOISEXTRA Social Discipline CONTAIN

TV.

Didn't watch a huge amount and what I did was mostly trash. For some reason I rewatched both series' of This Life, a British drama from the late 90's about a group of young professionals house sharing and navigating their careers. Very cringey and has aged terribly, but it was perversely fascinating to revisit something from that time in the age of the pandemic. Following on from this I binge watched the entire series of Industry which was entertaining enough. A programme about a bunch of horny bankers with what felt like a confused ideology behind it. It seemed stuck between trying to criticise and glorify the culture around the industry, but also protect the industry itself from outside criticism by portraying anyone who may oppose as an insufferable wanker. Currently halfway through Succession which is OK. The Murdoch documentaries on the BBC were excellent and a rare respite from their descent into client journalism.

Thanks to anyone who listened to my music this year also. Best wishes to you all for 2021.

Luke Younger

http://hhelmm.com | http://alter.bandcamp.com

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Elliott Sharp

composer

1. My Nr. 1 lesson: patience. Whether it's bouncing through 30 seconds of severe turbulence at 39000 feet or slogging through 30 minutes of a interminable piece of concert music, one attribute I've tried to develop is the ability to see past the discrete and awaited ending, the exact framing of the immediate process, but put it into the context of a larger time frame. I've found that this year more than all others has demanded it. Breathing helps...

2. Books: revisiting old favorites from the realm of Thomas Pynchon and Philip K. Dick (both especially relevant), digging into John Lomax's portrait of Jelly Roll Morton, the works of Colson Whitehead, random things off of the shelf…

3. Composing: with touring off the table, I focused on that which needed to be written, some requested and commissioned, some spontaneously springing forth. Composing requires that one open the windows wide to the world, which at this moment brought in grief, terror, uncertainty, anxiety, visions of plague and pestilence and incipient fascism. Okay, now shut the window and get to work! How to process, translate, transform? The work can be a comfortable and obsessive cocoon once one learns to handle the radioactive materials and put them into the creativity reactor.

4. Beans! We have long been a fan in our house of the wide world of legumes but this year brought two stars to the front: the black bean and the red lentil. The black bean commands the lofty peaks but the seemingly infinite variations of dal surround it. Ginger, garlic, turmeric, smoked paprika, cayenne, onions, and olive oil form the basis then imagination builds.

5. Online teaching substituted for my canceled conduction of workshops in the Pyrenees Mountains of France. Between the participants and myself, we built a temporary but very congenial space online to share concepts and music. In addition, private lessons brought conversation and music with new friends in Germany, Italy, California, Australia, Illinois, Denmark, Pennsylvania, Spain, Florida, Brazil.

6. What started out as "stress baking" (before I even had heard of the term) soon became a frequent practice that yielded very edible results. The twins preferred the sweeter forays into banana bread and chocolate cake. I tried to find a balance between tried-and-true techniques and experiments in texture and taste with yeasted pumpernickels, multi-grains, and seed breads.

7. While not the same as performing 'live ', online gigs proved that it was possible to generate a surprising amount of adrenaline even without the pheromonal handshaking of a room filled with receptive ears. As a corollary, online recording collaborations with friends worldwide proved to be inspiring and a suitable substrate for sonic experimentation, exploration of new instruments, tunings, effects programming, structures. In these realms, shout-outs to Helene Breschand, Mike Cooper, Henry Kaiser, Tracie Morris, Mikel Banks, Dougie Bowne, Payton McDonald, Billy Martin, Colin Stetson, Jim O'Rourke, Scott Amendola, Roberto Zorzi, Jason Hoopes, Eric Mingus, Melanie Dyer, Dave Hofstra, Don McKenzie, Sergio Sorrentino, Veniero Rizzardi, Taylor Ho Bynum, Scott Fields, Bachir Attar, Karl Bruckmaier, Robbie Lee, Matthew Evan Taylor, Matteo Liberatore, Al Kaatz, David Barratt, Jessica Hallock, Kolin Zeinikov, Robbie Lee, Jeremy Nesse, James Ilgenfritz, Sergio Armaroli, Steve Piccolo, Sandy Ewen, David Weinstein, Jim Whittemore, Chris Vine, Werner Puntigam, William Schimmel.

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Daniel O’Sullivan

(Grumbling Fur, Guapo, Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses, Ulver, Sunn O))), Æthenor, Laniakea, Miracle, Mothlite, and This Is Not This Heat.)

Music Richard Youngs - Ein Klein Nein Alabaster DePlume - Instrumentals Hildegard von Bingen - O Nobilissima Viriditas Francisco de Penalosa - Missa Ave Maria Peregrina Carlo Gesualdo - Responsoria 1611 Dirty Projectors - Five EPs Sonic Boom - All Things Being Equal Brother Peter Broderick - Blackberry Richard Horowitz - Eros Of Arabia Duncan Trussell Family Hour Cocteau Twins in the bath

Books/comics Alexander Tucker - Entity Reunion II Derek Jarman - Chroma Stephen Harrod Buhner - Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm The Penguin Book Of Irish Poetry - edited by Patrick Crotty The Gospel Of Ramakrishna - translated by Swami Nikhilananda Lucretius - De Rerum Natura Plotinus - Enneads Ram Dass - Grist For The Mill Lisa Brown - Phantom Twin

Other Fasting / meditation / macrodosing Walks in freshly coppiced woodland (for the smell mainly). Plants / Foraging / Growing Traditional ferments Douglas Sirk movies Mandolorian Writing songs on the piano Rediscovery of Kenneth Graham via my kids

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Karl O’Connor (Regis)

01.Wolfgang Press - Unremembered, Remembered 02. Klara Lewis - Ingrid Live at Fylkingen 03. Jesu - Terminus 04. Dave Ball - Leeds Poly Demos 1979 05. Edwin Pouncey - Rated Sav X (the Savage Pencil Skratchbook) 06. The Bug - In Blue 07. New Order - Power,Corruption and Lies ( Writing Sessions  ) 08. JG Thirlwell and Simon Steensland - Oscillospira 09. FM Einheit and Andreas Ammer - Hammerschlag 10. Thurston Moore - By The Fire 11. Body Stuff - Body Stuff 3 12. Ann M Hogan - Honeysuckle Burials 13. Rob Halford - Confess (Autobiography)

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Caleb Braaten (Sacred Bones Records)

Shirley Collins Hearts Ease Dehd Flowers Of Devotion Duma Duma Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways Green-House Six Songs for Invisible Gardens John Jeffery Passage Drew McDowall Agalma Sweeping Promises Hunger For a Way Out Colter Wall Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs Woods Strange to Explain

My Favorite 90’s Nostalgia Movie Rewatches

Colors Ghost Dog Menace II Society The Player Rounders Safe Starship Troopers Trees Lounge Vampires Waiting For Guffman

Most Culturally Bankrupt Year : 1997

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Charlie Looker

(composer, Psalm Zero, Extra Life, Seaven Teares)

Ten Things That Didn’t Happen in 2020

1.  I didn’t write a ton of new music. Don’t get me wrong, I wrote some. I always do. But mostly I focused on my new YouTube channel, essays, and on getting old recordings released. I haven’t even been working a day-job so I thought I was going to write my next Ring Cycle, but I really didn’t find Covid inspiring.

2.  Trump wasn’t re-elected. Cool.

3. I didn’t lose anyone to Covid. I am, of course, profoundly grateful for this. But I feel pretty embarrassed remembering group-texting ten friends in March, “We are all going to see a loved one die. Every single one of us. Don’t kid yourselves”. I can get hysterical, and that was somewhat irresponsible of me.

4.  No revolution happened. I don’t mean to be smug or cynical, or to belittle anyone’s participation in the protests. But, as far as I can tell, nothing happened in 2020 that promises to reduce police brutality or human suffering of any kind. We’ll see. That burning Minneapolis police station was exciting to watch at the time, if only on an aesthetic level.

5.  I have a stack of unread books I bought this year, just staring at me, with nary a crease among them. These include:

Adorno and Horkheimer, The Dialectic of Enlightenment (looks amazing, but I haven’t touched it) Marx, Grundrisse (it’s 1000 pages for fuck’s sake. Amazon also accidentally sent me two copies, and its double presence in the stack is just comical) Reza Negarestani, Intelligence and Spirit (the first 15 pages blew my mind, then my mind blew it off)

6.  I didn’t settle into living in LA. I moved here six months before Covid and I was just starting to cultivate some friendships and play shows. This was quashed and I still feel like I still live in New York. I still barely know the layout of the city here.

7.  No brand-new buzzy musical artists burst onto the scene, that I can recall. No new hyped micro-genre of the moment. There was just no way for there to be a hot new trend. I’d say that was refreshing, but it wasn’t.

8.  Tyson’s return was not awesome. Two minute rounds, ended in a draw. I’ve been getting way into boxing this past year. This fight was a bummer. I’m looking forward to Mayweather vs Logan Paul (LOL) because we know it’s comedy ahead of time.

9.  For three weeks in July, I didn’t do a single thing other than watch street fight compilations on YouTube and Worldstar. That’s just grim.

10.  There were no school shootings in March. Apparently, this was the first March with no school shootings since 2002. Not a single 7th grader got a hand job in March either. I cannot begin to imagine what it’s like to be a kid now.

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Chuck Bettis

https://chuckbettis.com

Other People's Music released this year:

Coil "Musick to Play in the Dark" (Dais)

Duma "s/t" (Nyege Nyege Tapes) Twig Harper "External Boundless Prison/ in 4 parts EP" (self-release) I.P.Y. (Ikue Mori, Phew, YoshimiO) "I.P.Y." (Tzadik) Kill Alters "A2B2 Live Stream 11/13/2020" (self-release) Krallice "Mass Cathexis" (self-release) Lust$ickPuppy "Cosmic Brownie" (self-release) Doug McKechnie "San Francisco Moog: 1968-72" (VG+ Records) Merlin Nova "Boo!" (self-release) Omrb "Milandthriust, The Graths of Mersh" (self-release) Akio Suzuki & Aki Onda "gi n ga" (self-release) Yoth Iria "Under His Sway" (Repulsive Echo) Wetware "Flail" (Dais)

My own music released this year:

collaborations

Chatter Blip "Microcosmopolitan" (Contour Editions) Matmos "The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form" (Thrill Jockey) Reverse Bullets  "Dreampop Dsyphoria" (self-release) Snake Union "live at Roulette" (self-release) Snake Union w/ Hisham Bharoocha, Bonnie Jones, Heejin Jang, Matthew Regula "Three Arrows" (Rat Route) Thomas Dimuzio "Balance" (Gench Music) YoshimiO & Chuck Bettis  "Live at the Stone" (Living Myth)

solo Chuck Bettis "Arc of Enlghtenment"  (Living Myth) Chuck Bettis "Motion Parallax"  (Living Myth)

compilation Various Artist "Polished Turds Vol.1" (Granpa)

Music Books read this year

"Intermediary Spaces" by Eliane Radigue/Julia Eckhardt (Umland) "Ennio Morricone In His Own Words" by Ennio Morricone/Alessandro De Rosa (Oxford University Press) "Free Jazz In Japan: A Personal History" by Soejima Teruto (Public Bath Press) "Rumors of Noizu: Hijokaidan and the Road to 2nd Damascus" by Kato David Hopkins (Public Bath Press)

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Maya Hardinge

(musician / artist)

list of things i liked this year

first ever solo road trip through new mexico and Texas right before lockdown experiencing manhattan with no cars on the road . having a car to escape in to nature. (which i craved so much) walks and bike rides with friends… FRIENDS! The web site ‘workaway’ that helped me feel that there were options for escape. playing games weekly on zoom during lock down teaching yoga weekly on zoom. Witnessing and being part of the BLM protests. witnessing and being part of the demise of T sitting on my couch at 6am drinking a cup of tea, appreciating my apt. making time to meditate. halloween without tourists .

some music I’ve bought and/or enjoyed this year Elvis Perkins-Black Coat Daughter Patricia Kokett -Soi soi Henning Christiansen - OP201 Bryce Hackford- Safe Svitlana Nianio and Oleksander - Snayesh yak? rozkazhy Brannten schnure - Sommer im Pfirsichhain Killing Joke - Nighttime David Shea - Tower of mirrors Shakey - Shakey Woodford halse tapes Coil - Musick to play in the dark

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BJ Nilsen

sound artist / composer

Work 2020

Despite Covid 19 lots of things actually did happen.

In Feburary I visited the only active nuclear plant in The Nederlands as part of my "Expanded Field Recording” project together with SML. In March revisited the Acousmonium at the Elevate Festival in Graz with an additional trip deep inside the Schlossberg recording old mining trains. In March and April I did two daily recording projects “Pending and Auditory Scenes” - both of Amsterdam during lockdown. In May did my first Zoom field recording workshop with the CAMP project. In June & July  two research trips in Waldviertel, Austria with Franz Pomassl. In August recorded bells and organs in 10 different churches around Amsterdam for Jacob Lekkerkerker. In September recorded Kali Malone at the Orgelpark in Amsterdam. Performed at Heart of Noise Festival in Innsbruck and A4 in Bratislava. Also went ice-skating for first time in 20? Years. In November and December I travelled to Jeju island to record field recordings for a project by Femke Herregraven for the Gwangju Biennale, commissioned for 2021. Did lots of gardening, released two tapes “Call it Philips, Eindoven” and “Zomer 2020” with Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson. NOW! Looking forward to 2021.

http://bjnilsen.info https://soundcloud.com/bjnilsen/sets/auditory-scenes-amsterdam

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Vicki Bennett

(People Like Us)

Negativland - True False https://negativland.com/products/truefalse-cd (this came out last year but is so THIS year) Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways https://www.bobdylan.com/albums/rough-and-rowdy-ways/ The Soft Pink Truth - We from Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase https://thesoftpinktruth.bandcamp.com/album/shall-we-go-on-sinning-so-that-grace-may-increase Carl Stone - Stolen Car https://unseenworlds.bandcamp.com/album/stolen-car Porest - Sedimental Gurney https://porest.bandcamp.com/album/sedimental-gurney Matmos - The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form https://matmos.bandcamp.com/album/the-consuming-flame-open-exercises-in-group-form Domenique Dumont - Miniatures De Auto Rhythm https://antinoterecordings.bandcamp.com/album/atn044-domenique-dumont-miniatures-de-auto-rhythm The The - See Without Being Seen https://www.thethe.com/product/see-without-being-seen-cd/ Ciggy de la Noche - Hold Tight HMRC https://soundcloud.com/ciggydelanoche/hold-tight-hmrc Neil Cicierega - Mouth Dreams http://www.neilcic.com/mouthdreams/

and my details: http://peoplelikeus.org/ https://peoplelikeus-vickibennett.bandcamp.com/ pic: http://peoplelikeus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Welcome-Abroad-promo3-2-scaled.jpg

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DJ Food

Music - Type 303 - Sticky Disco / Analogue Acidbath 7" (45 Live) The British Space Group - The Ley of the Land CD (Wyrd Britain) Squarepusher - Be Up A Hello LP / Warp 10 NTS mix (Warp) dgoHn - Undesignated Proximate (Modern Love) LF58 - Alterazione LP (Astral Industries) Robert Fripp - Music For Quiet Moments series (DGM) Run The Jewels - RTJ4 (BMG) Simf Onyx - Magenta Skyline / The Unresolved 7" (Delights) Luke Vibert - Modern Rave LP (Hypercolour) JG Thirlwell & Simon Steensland - Oscillospira (Ipecac) Aural Design - Looking & Seeing 7" / DL (Russian Library) Luke Vibert - Rave Hop (Hypercolour) Clipping. with Christopher Fleeger - Double Live (Sub Pop) APAT - Terry Riley's 'In C' performed on Modular Synthesizer (YouTube) Field Lines Cartographer - The Spectral Isle LP (Castles In Space) Jane Weaver - The Revolution of Super Visions single (Fire Records) King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G. LP (Flightless) Humanoid - Hed-Set - forthcoming on (De:tuned)

Film / TV - Inside No.9 (BBC) What We Do In The Shadows Season 2 (Netflix) Tales From The Loop (Amazon) Keith Haring - Street Art Boy (BBC) John Was Trying To Contact Aliens (Netflix) The Social Dilemma (Netflix) The Mandalorian (Season 2) (Disney+) Long Hot Summers - The Style Council documentary (Sky Arts) Zappa (Alex Winter)

Books / Comics / Magazines Confessions of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell (Profile books) The Often Wrong - Farel Dalrymple (Image Comics) Edwin Pouncey - Rated SavX (Strange Attractor Press) Jeffrey Lewis - Fuff (all issues - really late to the party on this one) Rian Hughes - XX - A Novel, Graphic (Picador) Cosey Fanni Tutti - Art, Sex, Music (Faber) Caza - Kris Kool (Passenger Press) Dan Lish - Egostrip Vol.1 Electronic Sound magazine Decorum - Jonathan Hickman & Mike Huddleston (Image) John Higgs - Stranger Than We Can Imagine Simon Halfon - Cover To Cover (Nemperor)

Very few exhibitions or shows this year for obvious reasons

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[rocknrollarticles]

The Artwoods Story

The Artwoods’ 100 Oxford Street is a UK compilation album released in 1983 that features a four-page booklet (pictured above) that tells the band’s story, written by guitarist Derek Griffiths.

Since there's a limit on the number of photos that can be added to one post, I'll be reblogging this a couple times until I have all the info up. To see this post with all the info added in reblogs, click here.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy Derek’s words as much as I do!

Transcript under the cut (main text + Record Mirror article from page three's rightmost side)

“  It's difficult to pinpoint exactly when the Artwoods came into being because everything just seemed to evolve naturally. The one date however that does stick in my mind is the 1st October 1964 which is the date I turned professional, thus depriving the accountancy profession of a valuable addition to its ranks! But seriously, one must go back to previous events in order to trace the history of the group.

I first met Jon Lord at a party in West Hampstead when he was a drama student at The Central School of Speech & Drama. He was introduced to me by Don Wilson whose claim to fame was his membership of the famous skiffle group Dickie Bishop & His Sidekicks. They had had a hit years previously with "No Other Baby But You", and Don now ran a band on a semi-pro basis called Red Bludd's Bluesicians in which I played guitar. Well, I say we were called this, but only when we were fortunate enough to cop an R&B gig. We used to play The Flamingo Allnighter and lots of U.S. air bases. The rest of the time we played weddings and tennis club dances as The Don Wilson Quartet! Jon Lord was brought in on piano and was a very valuable addition especially as he could get his hands around a little jazz and all the old standards. Jon used to ring me at work and interrupt my vouching of sales ledger invoices in order to discuss the coming weekends gigs. We would bubble with excitement at the approach of an R&B gig as we really hated all the weddings and barmitzvahs.

Around this time Don made a very important policy decision and we suddenly became the proud owners of a Lowrey Holiday organ for Jon to play. Shortly after this Don contrived to drive the band-wagon into the back of a lorry on the North Circular, doing himself considerable mischief in the process. This brought about the unfortunate end of Don's career with us, but not before he had masterminded an important merger of two local bands.

For some time we had been aware, and not a little envious, of The Art Wood Combo led by none other than Art Wood himself. His band underwent a split at that time and Red Bludd's Bluesicians, alias The Don Wilson Quartet, were neatly grafted on. We really felt we were moving into the big league by doing this as Art not only had more work than us but, wait for it, used to sing with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated with Charlie Watts on drums and Cyril Davies on harmonica! The next problem was a replacement for Don, and this was solved by stealing the bass player from another local group The Roadrunners, a good looking cove who went by the name of Malcolm Pool. The offer and acceptance of the gig were transacted in a pub car park somewhere in West Drayton staring into the murky waters of the Grand Union Canal clutching pints of local bitter (Fullers?). (Authors note: drugs had not been invented at this stage, as far as most groups were concerned, apart from the odd pill to keep one awake on an all nighter!)

~

The next personnel change took place some time in 1964 and this involved the retirement of drummer Reg Dunnage, who did not want to turn pro. Auditions were held in London and lots of drummers attended. However it was more or less a foregone conclusion that Keef Hartley would get the job. You see we'd already decided that what The Artwoods needed above all else was a Liverpool drummer! Unfortunately none came to the audition, but Keef hailed from Preston which was near enough for us. Keef had previously played with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, replacing Ringo Starr in the process (heady stuff this), and Freddy Starr & The Midnighters. Both were such influential bands of their time that these credentials combined with Keef's quasi Liverpool accent (at least to our ears) provided him with a faultless pedigree.

~

So that was it, the line-up that would take us through to 1967 when Colin Martin eventually replaced Keef Hartley on drums.

For a while we worked as The Art Wood Combo but then decided it was hipper to drop the Combo and become The Artwoods.

The period when The Artwoods were operating was one of musical change when groups went from recording and performing other writers' material to writing their own. In fact the last year of the group's existence was 1967 which heralded the arrival of "Hendrix", "Flower-Power". "Festivals" and experimental use of mind expanding drugs! 1966/67 were particularly exciting years to be based in London and every night would be spent in one of the many clubs which had recently sprung up. The Ad Lib, The Scotch of St. James, The Cromwellian, Blaises and of course The Speakeasy to mention a few. Many of these we played in and the trick was to be well known enough not to have to pay the entrance fee on nights off. Any night you could be sure to meet your mates "down The Speak" and it became the unofficial market place for rock musicians.

It was also the days before huge amounts of equipment took over. Equipment meant road-crew and trucks and in turn financial hardship. This simple equation has been the downfall of many bands over the years. We used to travel in a 15 cwt van together with all the gear-no roadies, just us. It's amusing to recall but after recording the TV show "Ready, Steady, Go" (in Kingsway in those days?) one would be besieged by autograph hunters on the way to the van with the gear. Even really 'big groups of the day like The Zombies would hump their own equipment and apologetically place an amp on the ground in order to sign an autograph! Because it was financially viable to travel to small clubs in this way, we would often average 6 or 7 nights a week, every week, on the road. A bad month would probably mean less than twenty gigs. This meant we were living, sleeping and eating in close, and I mean close, proximity. You really found out who your friends were.

The subject of equipment is an interesting one as it really distinguishes the bands then from those of today. The average pub band of today would carry more equipment than we did. As I've already mentioned we were quick to realise that we could elevate ourselves musically by investing in a proper electric organ as opposed to a Vox Continental or Farfisa that many groups used. Consequently the group purchased a Lowrey Holiday and we thought this alone would provide us with the Booker T and Jimmy Smith sound.

What we failed to realize was that we also needed a Leslie cabinet with a special built-in rotor to get that "wobbly" sound. Our friend and mentor Graham Bond, the legendary organist/saxophonist, was quick to point out the error of our ways one night when we were gigging at Klooks Kleek in West Hampstead. We groaned inwardly when we discovered the extra cost and humping involved, but it had to be bought. We were fortunate very early on to score a deal with Selmers, who provided us with free amps and P.A., but we had to make the trek to Theobalds Road once a week to get it all serviced as they were not as reliable in those days. I used a Selmer Zodiac 50 watt amp and Malcolm had Goliath bass cabinets with a stereo amp.

The P.A. comprised two 4 x 12 cabinets and a 100 watt amp! When we toured Poland we played in vast auditoria and linked our system with the Vox system being used on tour by Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas. This meant we were pumping out no more than 300 watts which is laughable by today's standards. Although it would never have compared in quality, I can remember standing at the back of extremely large halls and being able to hear clearly all the words Billy J sang. One day in 1963 Alexis Korner sent me off foraging in and around Charing Cross Road for a new guitar, with instructions to mention his name whereupon I would receive a discount of 10%. Previously I played a Burns Trisonic (collectors will appreciate this model did not have "Wild Dog" treble) but fancied owning a Gibson ES335 as favoured by many blues players. Sure enough one was hanging invitingly in the window of Lew Davis's shop.

I ended up paying £135 and still use it regularly today although its value has multiplied five fold. Malcolm came with me that day and bought an Epiphone bass, the same colour and shape as my guitar. For years we looked like matching book-ends on either end of the group! Keef started off using a Rodgers drum kit, but somewhere along the line changed to, I think, Ludwig. There was no out-front mixing as is common today, just the P.A. amp on stage with the vocalist. Primitive I know, but everything revolved around bands being able to travel economically with their gear and perform at small clubs anywhere in Britain. The college circuit was much sought after and provided the icing on the cake while package tours were not necessarily well paid. We did our first with P. J. Proby and got £25 per night (for the lot of us) and we had to pay for our own accommodation!

~

I have already mentioned "Ready, Steady, Go" a show on which we appeared on more than one occasion. The original format called for groups to mime to their records but after a time it was decided that it would become "live" and that the show would be re-titled "Ready Steady Goes Live". We were proud to be picked for the first "live" show and learnt the news via a telephone call to our agent in London from a phone box high in the Pennines. We managed a drunken war-dance of celebration round the phone box believing that this meant we'd really cracked it. As I remember the first show we did featured Tom Jones (complete with lucky rabbits foot) miming to "It's Not Unusual", The Kinks, Donovan and Adam Faith's Roulettes playing live (without Adam). We were promoting our first single "Sweet Mary" and I would put the date at around late 1964.

~

Our first recording deal was with a subsidiary of Southern Music Publishing called Iver Productions and I reckon that would have been mid 1964. Southern had a four track studio in the basement of their offices in Denmark Street ("The Street") and getting the gear downstairs, especially the organ, was "murder". Our first producer was Terry Kennedy and we recorded several tracks with him. Without going too deeply into all the details of recording techniques of the period, one tended to compensate for the lack of tracking facilities available, by attempting to duplicate the live excitement. In many ways it was a frustrating experience particularly for ambitious guitar-players. I was a Steve Cropper freak and I knew as a musician that a lot of his sound on record resulted from him working his amplifier hard in the studio— thus the speaker would emit the sound he was used to on stage. In Britain however, engineers would say "You don't need to play loud man, we can turn you up on the desk". The result was a weedy, thin guitar sound. From way back I'd been experimenting with "feed back" on stage and I really had to dig my heels in about the guitar sound in the studio. Once when I turned my amp up to give it a bit of "wellie" on a solo the engineer bounded out of the control room screaming that the level would bust his microphones!

~

Sometime during the career of The Artwoods it was decided that we should graduate to a better studio. This was arranged by Mike Vernon who also became our producer. Our records had all been released through the Decca Record Co. and Mike was a staff producer with them. Mike w also an authority on "The Blues" and the relationship led to our only single chart record "I Take What I Want" a cover of a Sam & Dave U.S. R&B hit. Mike was also producing John Mayall at the time and it seemed only natural that Mike and The Artwoods should team up. From this point on we recorded at the Decca studio in Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, but I can't honestly say it did any more for us than our previous efforts in the Southern Music basement, although we could now indulge ourselves in the comparative luxury of the eight track studio. Later on, towards the end of the groups life we were signed by Jack Baverstock at Philips Records who was looking for a group to cash in on the thirties-style gangster craze which had been triggered off by the film "Bonnie & Clyde". As a result we changed our name to "St. Valentines Day Massacre" and released a single of the old Bing Crosby hit "Brother Can You Spare A Dime?" It was an ill- fated venture, which I would prefer not to dwell on, virtually signalling the end of the band apart from a few heavy-hearted gigs with a changed line-up.

~

Before that though, there were many great times to remember, and a fair number of gigs that were memorable in one way or another.

One of our favourite gigs was Eel Pie Island which we regularly played once a month; in fact we held the attendance record there for a while until the ageing blues artist Jesse Fuller took it from us. Eel Pie Island is literally an island in the middle of the River Thames at Twickenham and there's never been a gig like it since. It was an Edwardian ballroom originally I believe, that achieved notoriety in the 50's with the Trad Jazz boom. At that time, an overloaded chain ferry was used to convey the crowd across the river, but during the 60's a small bridge was in existence although it was only wide enough to take the promoter Art Chisnall's mini van. He had to make three separate trips across with the gear strapped to the roof and hanging out the back doors.

The audiences were exceptional for those times and I don't know where they all came from... very much like art students and very much more like the 70's than 60's. Long hair predominated and this was before 'hippies' had officially been invented! If you can imagine a ramshackle wooden ballroom, bursting at the seams, condensation pouring from the walls, the audience on each others shoulders leaping up and down, the sprung dance floor bending alarmingly in the middle, in the summer couples strolling outside and lounging on the river bank ... all this and not a disc jockey in sight! One other bonus was that it was a “free” house and therefore sold many different types of beer— we always favoured Newcastle Brown. Back on the 'mainland' afterwards it was always riotous packing the gear into the truck. I don't know how he managed it but one night Malcolm drove our truck over the support band's guitar which happened to be lying about, thus breaking the neck. I'll never forget the shocked look on that poor guitarist's face as Malcolm smoothly slipped the van into gear, apologised and drove off in that order!

~

No trip up north was complete without stopping at the famed Blue Boar on the M1 for a "grease-up" on the way home. I do not refer to truck lubrication but to a particular rock'n'roll delicacy known as “full-house”. This comprised double egg, sausage, chips, beans, tomatoes, fried slice, tea, and (if you were man enough) toast. It was considered a Herculean task to break successfully the 10 bob' (50p) barrier-all served on wobbly cardboard plates that doubled as items to sign autographs on for the self service waitresses.

Waitress: What band are you?

Me: You won't have heard of us.

Waitress: Oh go on, tell us.

Me: OK. The Artwoods.

Waitress: Never 'eard of you!

It was everybody’s dream to walk into the Blue Boar just as their hit of the moment was playing on the Juke Box.

~

One time we were chosen to represent the twentieth century at the centenary celebrations of the State of Monte Carlo— a most lavish affair which the aristocracy and dignatories of Europe attended. Princess Grace and Prince Ranier were the hosts and people like Gina Lollobrigida and the like were there. The ball was held in the famous Casino at Monte Carlo and we stayed in an opulent hotel called The Hermitage, I think. All I can remember is that we all had single rooms (a rare luxury) which were massive, and you could have pitched a tent under one of the bath towels, they were so big. After this we jetted off up to Paris where we played next door to the Moulin Rouge at a club called The Locomotive.

Whilst we were there we were taken out by our friend Mae Mercer, the American lady blues singer who we backed in England. She lived in Paris and took us out to Memphis Slim's club where we all set about drinking like it was going out of style. At the end there was an embarrassing scene concerning the bill with the result that Mae ended up in tears. Whilst we were bumbling about in an alcoholic stupor, an upright looking gentleman put his arm round Mae to comfort her and a wallet appeared magically from his inside pocket. Without further ado the bill was despatched and we later learned that our anonymous benefactor was none other than Peter O'Toole who was busy in the street outside filming 'Night Of The Generals' and was an old buddy of Mae's.

~

One Boxing Day we loaded up with turkey sandwiches and Xmas pudding and headed off for a gig down in Devon or Cornwall somewhere. We arrived to find the club closed and boarded up, and as usual we were broke. Naturally we were livid, checked into an hotel and located the promoter who lived with his mum. Next morning we drove round to where he lived and burst our way past his confused mum. We found him in his bedroom nervously cowering against some fruit machines which he collected. He had no money so we forced him to empty his damned machines with the result that we drove back to London with 50 quids' worth of 'tanners' (approx 22p for the younger reader!)

Whilst on the subject of disasters I suppose I am duty bound to mention Denmark. The first time we went there we caught the ferry to the continent, drove up through Germany, then caught another ferry to Denmark. There was no promoter to meet us when we arrived so all we could do was drive to Copenhagen and check in at the Grand Hotel. It cost us an arm and a leg but at least we got a good nights sleep after being awake for nearly two days travelling. The next day we made a few phone calls and finally tracked down the promoter. He said: "Didn't you get my telegram cancelling the tour?" We politely said no we hadn't and what did he intend doing with us? He checked us into another hotel (cheaper of course) and set about booking us at places that were similar to English coffee bars and youth clubs. We made enough to survive on and paved the way to more successful tours of that country. In fact by now we had Colin Martin on drums and were pursuing a much more adventurous musical policy and writing our own material. It was just right for Denmark who had taken Hendrix to their hearts to name but one, and we subsequently became quite big there in 1967.

The Artwoods achieved modest success-a minor hit single in "I Take What I Want", but we worked constantly, travelled abroad, had fantastic fun and made a living doing so. We had seven single releases, one album, and one EP, and we broadcast both on radio and TV many times. We did stage tours such as the P. J. Proby tour and covered most aspects of "show-biz" apart from actually making a movie. It was the era when bands still had to prove themselves as a live act before being offered a recording contract. now frequently happens of course that an act can become huge record sellers without so much as venturing to do a live gig.

~

So what happened to everyone? Well Art returned to his former occupation as a commercial artist and finds some time to fit in free-lance work between accompanying brother Ron Wood on raving excursions between Rolling Stones gigs. Malcolm moved into the same field as Art and they now work in the same building. Both of them gig occasionally on a semi-pro basis although Malcolm spent some time playing with Jon Hiseman's Colosseum and Don Partridge in the early 70's. Jon Lord became famous with Deep Purple and Whitesnake as did Keef Hartley with John Mayall and various bands of his own. Colin Martin is now a BBC Radio producer of repute. I played in various bands such as Lucas and The Mike Cotton Sound, Colin Blunstone's band, Dog Soldier (with Keef again), before I somehow drifted into studio and theatre work. Recently I formed an R'n'B band called the G.B. Blues Company, and it's great to be back on the road again.   ”

Derek Griffiths.

Clipping from Record Mirror on June 5, 1965, by Norman Jopling.

“We aim to excite!” … say the Art Woods

Just for the record, the Art Woods aren't a part of Epping Forest. In fact they're a group of five interesting young men, named after the group's leader Art Wood. They also happen to be one of the most realistic groups on the scene.

For a start, they are the awkward position of having a large following, a club residency but no hit record. Secondly. they don't mind pandering to commercial tastes, even though they have been hailed as one of the most authentic R & B groups in the land.

NO PULL

“But authentic R&B just isn't pulling the crowds any more,” says Art. “The audiences want to be excited, not to be lectured on what is 'good' and what is 'bad'. Although there was a time when you could spend half an hour on one number with long solos by everybody, it didn't last long. And although there are some clubs like that still, most of them want something fresh and new.

“And we try to cater for them. We like authentic R&B, but we also like playing everything and anything else. So far, our two discs haven't meant a light. Of course we'd love a hit. But we're lucky enough to make a good living without one.”

DISCS

The Art Woods latest disc is "Oh My Love" and the one before that “Sweet Mary”. Of them Little Walter has said that he couldn't believe any white group could sing and play the blues like they do.

Line-up of the group is Art Wood, leader. vocalist and harmonica. Derek Griffiths, lead guitar, Jon Lord, organ and piano. Malcolm Pool— base guitar, and Keef Hartley on drums. The boys use a specially adapted Lowrie organ, and get a sound that's really different.

But even if the boys sometimes become depressed about no hits records, they should remember groups like Cliff Bennett, the Barron-Knights, the Rockin' Berries and the Yardbirds, and how long THEY waited before they had a hit!

N.J.

[abstractanalogue]

The Wormholes interview (1997)

In June 1997 I interviewed Dave Carroll (1970-2019) of The Wormholes for a a one-off mail-order zine I produced for the band (cover above). I thought I’d transcribe the interview and publish it here as it hasn’t been online before. At this time they had released Scorpio:The Album (1997) so I asked Dave about recording it with Stano, other recent recordings with Stan Erraught (these would later be included on Parijuana in 1999), playing with The Fall in London (March ‘95) and their experience of touring in the UK (’95-’97). 

Q: Tell me about recording Scorpio:The Album.

A: We originally met Stano in town and went to Graham’s house that night with Shane and Francis (of Chunkin’ Bronchii). We didn’t know Stano or even really know him when he was leaving that day. He said nothing and just sat there at a four track. It was him who suggested to get us into a studio. He was good to work with, we’d record anything and everything we wanted and he wouldn’t say a word about it. He had maybe three or four mixes for each song. All the music was recorded in one day. The whole Pulse thing was two days and then the day we spent in Graham’s house. I mean I’m sure people will listen to it and go, ‘Yeah, I can gather it was done in 3 days.’ (laughs). It’s just the way we were heading, we knew we didn’t want to do another Chicks. Whether people like it or not, it is our second album. When you pick it up it may look like a mini album because there’s only so many songs, but when you think of it, ‘Kontinental Kop’ is 18 minutes long, ‘Bee Mee’ is 10 and ‘Freak Franco’ is almost 11 and that’s just three songs. We were surprised when we actually played ‘Kontinental Kop’ on the Play Station, it was like, wow, there’s a track on our CD almost 20 minutes long, I thought we’d knocked all that shit on the head. But then even on Parijuana, if that tape didn’t run out, I don’t know how long ‘Drive Dead Slow’ would have been. We were going at it full ahead from this sort of build up and Mark Carolan had to tell us the tape ran out.

Q: What about working with Stan Erraught (ex The Stars of Heaven and The Sewing Room)? These recordings with Stan at Sun Studios, plus other recordings would be used for Parijuana in 1999.

A:  When we heard Stan wanted to work with us we were blown away, we couldn’t get over it. This guy had done so much, I mean he was releasing records in the 80s. It must have been a really weird and difficult time to release anything, but this guy was doing it then when we were all still in school dreaming about what it would be like to own a guitar, let alone put out a poxy single. Same with Stano, he could have fobbed us off like, ‘Oh these little shits they think their doing something different, making a bit of a noise’ (laughs), but he just thought the way we done out stuff was right up his street.  

It was strange going into the same studio and the same desk as well but with totally different vibes. I hadn’t even talked to Stan or Mark (Carolan), I’d just walked in off the street and we did ‘Turkish Prison Dance’. We were just buzzin, the DAT was there, used just the one mic, Stan played the saz, Mark played guitar, Graham played drums, Anto just stood there and shook the maracas and I played the bongos. Everyone was jammed into this one room and we just banged it out there and then. None of us even realised when we were doing it, it was only after we thought, you know we didn’t play anything really, we just picked up some stuff and rattled it alongside what was being played and it was the first time we’d ever done that. When we heard it back none of us could even talk to each other, we were so chuffed with it. 

After that Mark finished putting up the mics and left. So we’d go in, start recording, Stan would be getting levels say and then he’d run in with his guitar and jump in with us, it was brilliant. We’d definitely work with him again. Stan just totally changed our whole outlook on what it’s like to work in the studio. He was giving us records by Faust and Can. I mean, these are records he’d bought 15, 16 years earlier when he was only a nipper. He told us a story about when he bought The Faust Tapes, it was on sale for 49p. He brought that particular record home when he was about 15 years old and he was eating his dinner with his Mum and Dad playing The Faust Tapes and them wondering what the hell he was listening to, they couldn’t get their head around this record that was chopped to bits.

Q: How has your experience of touring the UK been? First 1995 tour dates above (there was at least one that is not listed, Bristol’s Loco on 30th April with TW).

A: The first UK tour with Trumans Water was amazing, we only had to turn up and play, there was no pressure on us and any time we played with Cornershop it was the same deal. Even if there wasn’t many people we didn’t get so downhearted seeing as weren't the headline band.

On the second UK tour we tried to say to Roadrunner, it’s like this, putting us on a headliner is madness, try and get us on with not even a big band, just a band that 50 or 60 people will turn up to see. There were offers there to play with The Supreme Dicks but Roadrunner wouldn’t front us the money, they said it was pointless bringing us to London for 2 or 3 shows, but then they funded the British tour where we played to no-one for two weeks, apart from the Cornershop gigs. Cornershop were saying it was a bad time of year to tour as students were on holidays. 

We went to Hull and played with Trumans and it was amazing, the audience were animals, just wrecking the place. We go there two months later and its dead, drive into town and it’s a ghost-town. I’m not making that as an excuse because even if the town was all hustle and bustle we still would have only got about 20 people cause no-one knew us. 

At least when we went back the second time, even to have three new songs to bring back to England, we had ‘Marshmallow’, we had ‘Riotman’ and ‘Hotel Cash’. To us that was like bringing gold in your pocket, these aren't off Chicks, these are just new songs. 

The second 1995 UK tour dates.

Q: Tell me more about playing with The Fall in London.

A: In March 1995 we played a beautiful little gig (The Forum) supporting Mr. Mark E. Smith and The Fall on his request or so we were led to believe and we were honoured. That was like the icing on the cake for us and when they came to Dublin (Mean Fiddler) in December they asked for us again. I mean what can we say. We were all too chicken to speak to him. We all had this idea that he was the most arrogant, most unbelievably difficult person to even get two words out of and that’s what scared us off.  We were like we wanted to say hello and I wanted to tell him I though This Nation is one of the best records I’ve heard from any British band. That’s the sort of stuff I wanted to say to the guy but when I approached him I think I mumbled, ‘How-a-yi’ in my worst Dublin accent and scurried up the stairs, hoping he wouldn’t say something sarcastic. When I caught up with Anto and Graham I was hanging out of them saying I’d just met Jesus Christ, like I’d had tea with John Lennon or something. Mark E. Smith said hello to me was my claim to fame for the rest of the day. The gig was great. We were real nervous before. If there’s any band you need as role models it’s The Fall, keep their ethics.

Q: Talk about your UK dates with Scotland’s Pilotcan in Jan/Feb 1997. Pic from Scotland above, by Kieron Mellotte.

We played 6 gigs in 11 days. The better shows were in Edinburgh and London (Camden Falcon). We’ve never really been able to get it together in Scotland, the gigs we played there in ‘95 were bad, both tours. We played with Pilotcan, we knew them from the first tour when we slept on Keiron, from the bands, floor. He puts on gigs, we slept on the same floor as Jon Spencer. He was telling us that Deus had stayed in his flat before us and that they were mad. They were all real quiet, if they weren’t out drinking they’d just be sitting around or you’d find them reading a book. They all kept talking their own language and then laughing. Kieron and all his mates would  be sitting there freaked, up the wall, he’s got  a bunch of Belgians having their own private jokes in his flat (laughs).

Stuart from Mogwai got up at the Attic in Edinburgh and played a Smog track, ‘I Break Horses’. He did it amazing, just him and guitar, he did one or two Mogwai tracks as well, the best thing that happened that night. That was the Pilotcan single launch, it was a mad night. We were all on magic mushrooms and we were going back the next day. We fell asleep listening to the Modern Lovers, amazing album, like the Velvets.

Live review from Melody Maker for first UK tour

A: Any more thoughts?

We never thought in a million years that Cornershop would work with us or even Lo Recordings wanting to put our stuff out on compilations and that. It’s staggering to us, it mightn't mean a great deal to a lot of people but it’s what we always wanted to do. Our aim is to bombard the planet with as much stuff as we can.

A few more live adverts

Wormhole and a few other Irish bands played at the 1995 Phoenix festival (get your glasses out to find them all!)

I travelled to see them play at The Garage and then joined them on the road for the next show the following night at Bristol’s Loco supporting Trumans Water. We travelled back the same night to the comforts of The Florence aka Hotel Cash in London’s King Cross.

Stephen Rennicks

[sneek-m]

Monthly Listening: March 2020

It’s been a rough time, but we got through another month. Here’s what I checked out in March. Here’s also a playlist for the month. 306 songs!

2020 albums

Anna Takeuchi -- Matousic (Teichiku)

Arca -- @@@@@ (XL)

Aseul -- Slow Dance (Astro Kidz)

Ayami Muto -- Mirrors (Tsubasa Plus)

Bad Bunny -- YHLQMDLG (Rimas)

Bed In -- Rock (Space Shower Music)

Bktherula -- Love Santana (Shop FMM)

Blanck Mass -- Calm with Horses OST (Invada)

Brandy Clark -- Your Life Is a Record (Warner)

Cardo -- Game Related (EI$G / TFM / BYLUG)

Caribou -- Suddenly (Merge)

Cidergirl -- Soda Pop Fanclub 3 (Universal Music Japan)

Christine and the Queens -- La Vita Nuova EP (Because)

Cloque. -- Naked Blue (VAP)

Code Orange -- Underneath (Roadrunner)

Coremagazine -- Titbit EP (self-released)

Dokkoise House -- Floating House (Ohagi)

DPR Live -- Is Anybody Out There? (Dream Perfect Regime)

Eunki -- Undefinable: Love

Foodman -- Dokutsu EP (Highball)

Four Tet -- Sixteen Oceans (Text)

Gigi Masin -- Calypso (Apollo)

Haru Nemuri -- Lovetheism (TO3S)

Hilary Woods -- Birthmarks (Sacred Bones)

Hook -- Crashed My Car (GC)

Irreversible Entanglements -- Who Sent You? (International Anthem)

Itzy -- IT’z ME (JYP)

J Balvin -- Colores (Universal Music Latino)

KALMA -- Teen Teen Teen (Jvckenwood)

Kamisama Club -- Jura (Kanikani)

Kaela Kimura -- Zig Zag (Jvckenwood)

Kelsea Ballerini -- Kelsea (Black River)

King Krule -- Man Alive! (True Panther)

Knxwledge -- 1988 (Stones Throw)

Lil Uzi Vert -- Eternal Atake (Atlantic)

Loathe -- I Let It In and It Took Everything (Sharptone)

Los -- NO Love (WhiteHouse / Empire)

Lucky Kilimanjaro -- !magination (Dreamusic)

Lucy Gooch -- Rushing EP (Past in the Present)

M!LK -- Juvenilizm Seishun Shugi (SDR)

Magical Punchline -- Magical Supermarket (Dreamusic)

Mariana Montenegro -- La Mar (self-released)

Mashinomi -- Tsuranatte Odoriva EP (Pony Canyon)

Metome, Uratomoe, Speedometer -- Dark, Tropical. (P-Vine)

NCT 127 -- NCT #127 Neo Zone (SM)

Nicolas Jaar -- Cenizas (Other People)

Omar S -- You Want (FXHE)

Peder Mannerfelt -- Like We Never Existed (Voam)

Pantha du Prince -- Conference of Trees (self-released)

R.A.P. Ferreira -- Purple Moonlight Pages (Ruby Yacht)

Raspberry Bulbs -- Before the Age of Mirrors (Relapse)

Sadness -- Atna EP (self-released)

Sejeong -- Plant (Jellyfish)

Sightless Pit -- Grave of a Dog (Thrill Jockey)

Sik-K -- Officially OG (H1GHER)

Soccer Mommy -- Color Theory (Loma Vista)

Suso Sais -- MFM Mix 012 (Music from Memory)

Triangulo de Amor Bizarro -- Triangulo de Amor Bizarro (Mushroom Pillow)

Ulla -- Tumbling Towards a Wall (Experiences)

Violet Cold -- Noir Kid (Emin Guliyev)

Vladislav Delay -- Rakka (Cosmo Rhythmatic)

Waxahatchee -- Saint Cloud (Merge)

The Weeknd -- After Hours (The Weeknd XO / Republic)

Windy & Carl -- Allegiance & Conviction (Kranky)

WNC WhopBezzy -- WW3 (WNC Da Label)

Xydo -- X (groovl1n)

YeYe -- 30 (Rallye)

You’ll Melt More! -- Surpriser (You’ll)

Young Nudy -- Anyways (self-released)

Yuka Ueno -- Konya Atashi Ga Naitemo (King)

Yumi Zouma -- Truth or Consequences (Polyvinyl)

Non-2020 albums

Aiko -- Akatsuki No Love Letter (Pony Canyon)

The Future Sounds of London -- Dead Cities (Astralwerks)

Kinki Kids -- F Album (Johnny’s)

Mac Dre -- Thizzelle Washington (Sumo / Thizz Entertainment)

Richie Rich -- Seasoned Veteran (UMG)

Tokyo Shoki Shodo -- Sweet 17 Monsters (Cherry Virgin Records)

Tomomi Kahara -- Storytelling (Orumok)

The Treacherous Three -- The Treacherous Three (Sugar Hill)

[6505-blog1]

The Greatest Rock/Metal Albums of the 21st Century.

21st century marks the most diverse decade for rock and metal continuation. Absorbing, if not radiated by the long progenitors from Led Zeppelin who cranked up their amps and Black Sabbath that turn it out murky and sinister grim, to the dazzling theatrical persona of KISS and Motley Crue, to the new level heavy metal confronter of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, to the head crusher of Motorhead and Metallica, to the destructo maniac of Slayer and Kreator, to the prog menu offerer of King Crimson and Tool, and finally aligned to have some peculiar layers and brooding tendency of Korn. We have come a long way. Yet our engine keeps raging.

I have cumulated the finest, the most influential, and the most prominent albums released in the new millenium by the descendents that took their predecessors to a whole different level, sustain the genre, and move myriads of people to mosh.

In a particular order:

10. Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil (Warner Bros, 2005).

Rolling Stones magazine has named the sonically-punk with the flames of Iron Maiden, City of Evil on the last number of their 100 Greatest Album of All Time list. That should be a fair consideration since the extravagants like Beast and the Harlot, Bat Country, and Seize the Day altogether with the rest of the setlist ultimately transced the whole level and the destiny of the band as a leading force of eliticians in not so distant future. The 11 tracks have also successfully resurrected the triumph of classic guitar virtuosso portrait demonstrated on 80's as the talisman, Synyster Gates embarked over tons of appealing riffages and dueling solos which was buried after Nirvana and grunge breaktrough on the early 90's. Veteran and Ozzy Osbourne/Black Label Society guitarist, Zakk Wylde acknowledged him as a "Torchbearer" for arguably giving a birth and cultivating the guitar culture to the next generation.

9. Behemoth - The Satanist (Nuclear Blast, 2014).

The tenth album of Polish most profound extreme metal giant after Adam "Nergal"s battle with leukemia. Unlike the speed and precision exhibited over prior releases, the coagulated dense and horified cultish doom are found intensely throughout the setlist as to explicit the heretic messages. The result is astonishing and stronger than ever. More to add, The Satanist is pure, cathartic, flawlessly emotional, carefully-savage, and conquering by its complexity of repertoire within vivid and cinematical gradation as multi-dimensional tracks Messe Noire, In the Absence ov Light, Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer, and the leadoff Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel ravage in none but diabolical fervor. This album expansive flair has comprehensively unfolded the darkest caverns and creates the new standard of underground craftmanship.

8. Bring Me the Horizon - Sempiternal (RCA/Epitaph, 2013).

I wouldn't believe that i need to make Sempiternal in the cut. Who would have guessed? But i will beat every negation towards it. It is the album that eventually transforms Bring Me the Horizon from bunch of hipsters to one of the most important unit in the 21st century modern rock landscape. A year and a half after the release, Oliver Sykes and co. took over the world attention of rocking Wembley Arena, the same monumental venue where Queen — one of the biggest rock band in the history — was there doing the same story. It was approximately 12.000 attendees which made Sykes stated: "So this is our biggest show ever". The soaring Can You Feel My Heart, the furious The House of Wolves, the euphoric Shadow Moses, and the melodic of Sleepwalking are undeniably the new testament of rock music.

7. Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake (Epic, 2004).

Count how many metal bands on the planet started after invented Laid to Rest or Now You've Got Something to Die For! It was countless. Lamb of God has became the crowned icon of "New Wave American Heavy Metal" and one of the most distinctive band in the scene. Their ferocious riffs, blistering drum works, lyrical contents, sound, even how to sing like Randy Blythe are largely imitated and seem to be the ideal menifesto of modern metal anatomy with obviously Ashes of the Wake as the highest pedestal. It contains tremendous chaos of 11 front-to-back blazing tracks immensely portrayed after Mark Morton - Willie Adler's virtuosity and of course, Chris Adler's voraciousity. Implying both abundance and how well they grasp the roots that will less likely be outnumbered.

6. Mastodon - Leviathan (Relapse, 2004).

We are now talking (and unravelling) the true genius minds of Atlanta-based extraordinary quartet. The newborn Metallica, Mastodon — the group that always exceed anyone's expectation — has seamlessly ranged their pinaccle from sludge to prog to avant-garde to even folk with staggering exponents of highly sophisticated masterpiece. With any fruition that comes in, the sheer Leviathan is believed as the opener tap. Written after Herman Merville's 1851 novel entitled "Moby Dick", the 46-minutes concept album is nothing but endless breathtaking experience of capturing bizarre Ode to the sea soundtrack. Blood and Thunder, I Am Ahab, and Aqua Dementia are torrent of forceful yet fascinating guttural power chords with Brann Dailor's tracherous drum tempo reflecting the theme while Iron Tusk sets sail upon muscular stoner riff and Naked Burn for menacing-tactical intro and flaunted visceral jarring chorus are hulking the imagery of the beast. Until the epic Hearts Alive with a glimpse of Metallica's The Call of Ktulu patiently reigns and all the greatness rendered.

5. Evanescence - Fallen (Wind-up, 2003).

The album that made Evanescence — a small town band from Arkansas — a megastar in the blink of an eye. It was the second semester of 2003 where the breakthrough hit single, Bring Me to Life played million times on the radio around the globe (and MTV as well) picturing the female face lead singer and her gleaming voice, Amy Lee who started the band with the co-founder guitarist, Ben Moody (though the relationship didn't survive and separation happened in the midst of suporting Fallen tour). The fame that nowhere expected begun when the terrific duo met on a camp and cliche of having the same musical taste brought them to finally sign the major label Wind-up and dominated the world stages in a brief. Fallen with the added values of enchanting piano, symphonical strings livery, and haunting soundscape that most nu-metal groups didn't have at that time effortlessly stood-out and arised in comparison to even Linkin Park. Other songs served like the down-tuned goth Going Under and the everlasting ballad My Immortal are only legitimating their popularity.

4. Ghost - Prequelle (Loma Vista, 2018).

In our nearly five decades of heavy music, such names as Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Van Halen with their fantastic works and spirits have became a catalyst that will be remembered greatly in the faraway future for causing an enourmous impact to our community. Those that have bloomed and paved the way many artists to follow. And if there is a chance for this millenium bands to extend the list, Ghost will be the first to step up the grace.

This year, their most recent release Prequelle has been nominated for The Best Rock Album and its single Rats for Best Rock Song of 61st Grammy. An award that should be familiar since they have been winning it two times with Infestissumam (2013) — their second major label album — as The Best Hard Rock/Metal Album and Cirice — the single taken from previous album Meliora (2015) — as Best Metal Performance. A peak of a decade existence for one superior man behind the wheel, Tobias Forge. Appear himself as a satanic pope, Papa Emeritus I, II, III, Zero, and now with the newest fully renowned ascencion clergy Cardinal Copia has completely shaped the band's identity. But the latest Prequelle has more than to be attained to an award. Forge's admiration to film makes no surprise if any substance on the record is prone to get visualized and draw medieval realms so alive and real. He could blend joyous disco with scattered shock rock backbone for Dance Macabre, provide brilliant exotic pop-esque instrumental opus for Miasma, and close all the novelty and intellegiousness by a soothing grand finale of Life Eternal. That is the last strike.

3. Greenday - American Idiot (Reprise, 2004).

With the overwhelmed mainstream-breaking punk rock hit single American Idiot, it was an album (a concept album, for specific) everyone knew which handfully restored a big disappointment both sales and critical of their previous release. Taking the power back after four years gap with anti-Bush vitriol narration over long and merged tracks was everything we could expect from an ambition. Performing sarkastic American-post 9/11 political singable outcry and dragging down to emotionally-related suburban decline on Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams, followed by californian sunset accoustic staccato and straighforward revv Give Me Novacaine/She's A Rebel, a love story of Whatsername where a street punk main actor St. Jimmy fell and how it all ended on Homecoming.

The grandiose worths 16 millions selling CD is the anthem of this generation where a generation ago pridefully have The Clash with the classic London Calling.

2. Slipknot - Iowa (Roadrunner, 2001).

The most brutal and confrontational album of 21st century nothing to this day can bear. That is the deal. A remorseless turmoil just from the first second of welcoming to the house of pain intro, (515) to the last 15 minutes epilogue of magnificent unrelenting drama title track, Iowa. Please recognize the insolent hate mantra "Here we go again motherfuckers" as Corey Taylor opens up and rips off anything with hammer to the face misanthropic followed track, People = Shit that seems a vulgar warning to extend the torture of their 1999 debut phenomenal self titled album. But things got tenfold. They were all damaged animals, making it excuriatingly worst instead, and wanted any living to hear them. That they fuck what trend you live up on bludgeoning bestial Heretic Anthem, that they are adamant bastards you can't bleach their darkness out on atmospherical assault New Abortion, that killing is their primal instinct on grinding jaw-breaker scorn Disasterpieces, that they are fucking obsolete machines on the scorching psychosis Everything Ends. There lies Neurosis-ian dressed Gently and never eschew Grammy nominated singles, Left Behind and My Plague.

All the violent rampage should be addressed to Ross Robinson (producer) for being able to wrap up the devastating times the band encountered in the studio and that was how its ruthless resonated the world where many people are pissed-off to everything. An absolute impossible album to be re-recorded due to its hell of organic material. Yet apart of any malevolence, Iowa is sadly, a gift to liberate your heart and soul.

Honourable mentions:

System of a Down - Toxicity (American/Columbia, 2001).

Converge - Jane Doe (Equal Vision, 2001).

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (Reprise, 2006).

1. Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory (Warner Bros, 2000).

The world seriously gives us no chance to break. After Lemmy, Bowie, now we have lost the most beautiful voice that represents our generation.

May rest in peace and honour, Chester Bennington.

We miss you everyday, and we do care if someone whose time runs out is you.

The album that took nu-metal to a whole different level forever and highly contributed to shape the sound that outbursted the 21st century. For two decades, Linkin Park has became the most iconic group on the planet. Breeding the bands like Bring Me the Horizon, Asking Alexandria, and Bullet For My Valentine (with their recent 2018 album, Gravity).

Hybrid Theory (which was the actual name of the band before settling to Linkin Park) is the sublime fusion of heavy metal, alternative rock, hip-hop, pop, and electronica desired only to make a lifetime change. It is truly no derivative. Yet recalling back, it was multiple rejections of label after label before it took off with Don Gillmore (previously worked with Eve 6, Lit, Pearl Jam) to produce the album and pushed the band excessively. It was the part that would not have regretted where all they saw afterwards and going on was all miracle. 28 millions copy sold should be a very serious sensastion everyone must have a seat to talk about. A rock n roll revival after Guns N' Roses's Appetite For Destruction (1987) so to speak. With angst to fuel, Hybrid Theory yielded the catchy single opener One Step Closer, the drug abuse easer Crawling, the unhinged paranoia Papercut, and the most well-known last single sung by anyone In the End. Not to mention its cohesive supplementaries A Place For My Head, Runaway, and My December that blur the foursome due to their equivalent prowess. Admit it, Linkin Park and Hybrid Theory are the gateway to rock and heavy metal empire.

[doomedandstoned]

Your Band & Bonus Content

~Bacon's Blog~

  Photographs by Mo Nemo  

Most of the time when I talk to bands, I frequently find myself discussing content strategy, release plans, and all of that good stuff. Essentially, the questions that so many bands have boil down to variants of ‘how do we get the most bang for our buck out of our album?’ This is troubling, especially given that most bands can only put out a record once every two years or so, and often only think about promotion after the damn thing is already out. I want to let you in on some of the tactics that I use with my bands in order to help push their music in a crowded market. Some of these ideas will make you more money, while others will simply direct attention to what you’re doing. Content strategy is an absolute motherfucker to understand, but by internalising the easy concepts I’m about to talk about, you should be able to help push your next release quite a bit further into the public eye, even after your record has been released.

The inspiration behind this article, and something on which I have been very bullish lately, is commentary tracks. Commentary tracks are a super easy way to get in peoples faces with your content and show them exactly what you’re on about. It honestly bothers me that most people don’t put out commentary tracks as often as they could. Why? Because they’re so easy to do! You can literally put them together on your phone with the right apps — low-hanging fruit in 2019. Just record yourself talking about the song, layer the song underneath, and bada bing, bada boom — you have yourself a commentary track. People want to hear this sort of content because they like this kind of input from the bands they love. It’s valuable, it’s interesting and it almost always pays off in the long run. After all... if it boosts those sweet sweet streams, why deny yourself any potential cash flow?

In my experience, the other type of audio content that tends to do really well is demos. Roadrunner Records used to continually put out re-releases with demo tracks and B-sides that never got a proper studio polish. Sometimes those demos would be rough versions of tracks on the album, other times they’d be the embryos of tracks to come – but regardless, they sold very well. Music fans are always on the hunt for more audio content. This approach is how you get that content, which is a major help when it comes to driving this whole thing forward. I think that so many bands want to hide their demos, without taking into account that in reality, demos are actually a hugely profitable opportunity. If Radiohead is willing to toss their demos up on Bandcamp rather than be held hostage by the guy who stole them, you too can throw up the demos for your dungeon-synth-meets-black-metal band. If you take this thing too seriously, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot.

Tied into the idea of putting out demos is another strategy that I’ve become fond of over the years — sharing the unmixed tracks from your recording session. In recent years, even acts as big as Lamb of God have done this. Why do they do it? So that fans could create their own mixes of the record. This is also a fairly common approach in the electronic music world. It adds a layer of interactivity and makes people want to engage with your creative output on a deeper level. The more you pull back the curtain, the more you enable people to respond. It’s part of why my Bacon’s Bits video series is so DIY, and why I often dissect it. I want people to understand it, and even mimic it. This is really the secret here: if you let people toy with your tracks and give them the chance to create something new out of the raw material you put out there, then at least some folks are going to try it out, even only for their own amusement. On top of that, it gives the press another thing to pick up on, which is objectively always a good thing.

The final tactic, which requires some advance thought, involves filming everything that goes on in the studio, and then using that footage as content. So often, people don’t take advantage of the potential of the studio atmosphere. You’re in a room creating something that you’re going to be pushing for the next several years with your friends. Already, the fact that you’re in a studio acts as a visual cue identifying you as a legit musician. Why not try to document every aspect of that process and atmosphere? The more you share and show that you are able to produce and give to fans, the more folks will respond. It’s about capturing superfans and getting people excited to sink their teeth into what your band is all about. If you’re not investing time into sharing a 360-degree insight into your band, why would people invest theirs in engaging with it? Why even bother to begin with? At this point, we’re all just trying to crank out content to get people’s attention. That’s all you’re doing -- trying to get attention, and the more you share, the more likely you are to get it.

Long story short, just because your record is out or you didn’t write any bonus tracks, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have any bonus content to share. There’s a ton of content that any band can mine – it just takes a little bit of extra effort on your part. However, with a bit of creativity (and a slightly unorthodox approach), it’s likely that you’ll find yourself sitting on much more content than you might’ve imagined. It’s just a question of being willing to document your hard work, and then share your passion with the people who are interested in what you have to say.

☀

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Matt also co-hosts the Dumb & Dumbest podcast with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.

[anothersievefistedfind]

Fugazi, Theaterfabrik, Munich, Germany 6/16/92 (FLS #0468)

The city of Munich welcomed Fugazi 5 times between 1989-1999, this 1992 concert being the third stopover. It played out at the Theaterfabrik, as did the two previous concerts in 1989 and 1990 respectively. It turned out to be the last time as well, since the venue got torn down after getting shut down in 1992.

Although the audience are rather low in the mix which makes it difficult to discern part of the “dialogue”, it appears this is a bit of a confrontational gig, as several altercations between band and a handful of patrons (hurling insults or urging the band what to play) arise and the patience of both Ian and Guy wears thin because of it.

In this regard, it is interesting to note that in the December 1, 2011 NPR article Steady Diet Of Everything: The Fugazi Live Vault, Ian fervently recalls this specific show, as it portrays one of his favorite Fugazi live moments:

“There’s a really great show from Munich, in I think the early ‘90s, '93,“ MacKaye says. "At that time, it was pretty typical for the audience to say things like, 'Get on with it!’ and 'Play the music! Just play!’ I remember we had come back on stage for an encore, and somebody was lost or confused, or I don’t know; something had happened and somebody needed help. So we were trying to say, 'Hey, there’s a woman back here, she’s lost and she’s looking for her friends.’ And some guy was just yelling, 'Get on with it! Just play!’ And at that moment, I understood the dynamic, what was going on in this relationship, where he was a consumer and wanted to consume. He wanted sound. So at that moment, we just all turned on our guitars and started feedback, and it was a wall of feedback. And it was like, 'Okay, here’s sound. You just want sound.’ There was no actual engagement with the music; it was just sound they wanted."So it’s maybe five minutes of just feedback. It was a totally surreal moment, and when I hear that, I can smell that moment. It’s so visceral to me, but it’s one of my favorites, because we go right into a song from that.”

The overall audio quality of the recording is not the best, the vocals and drums slightly distant or “hollow” if that makes sense. But it is still quite good or enjoyable and the somewhat bellicose mood (Ian refers to it as “a curious relationship” every time they come to Munich) definitely adds to the merit of the recorded document.

The selection of 22 songs draws on the yet to be released (at the time) In on the Kill Taker album (4; note the different “Morse” on Facet Squared as well as a handful of different lines in the lyrics of Rend It), Steady Diet of Nothing (7), Repeater (5), 3 Songs seven-inch (1), Margin Walker EP (1) and debut 7 Songs EP (3).

The set presents a rarish 1992 live rendering of Burning (performed only 9 times, out of which 2 times in the US and 7 times in Europe) (the intro is cut slightly short here, probably because of the cassette getting turned). Bangers include Sieve-Fisted Find, which lights the show up for me, as well as Turnover, Two Beats Off (Guy is up to some more song referencing in his lyrics, but I can’t figure this one out), or Promises.

The band also performs a bit of rockabilly while they “trace the entire history of rock and roll, from, I don’t know, say the birth of Christ” to taunt some people demanding the band play Minor Threat songs, with Guy and Ian alternately singing “Jesus was born, son of [...] Mary” and “Jesus was a guy hanging on a cross.”

While the live archive contains numerous incredible Reprovisional improvs, this recording arguably presents the most outlandish, free-form, outright stellar live version of the staple (w/ extensive Roadrunner tag) I have heard so far, clocking in at no less than 8 mins 18 secs (for your reference, the album version is merely 2 mins 18 secs). If you listen closely, you can hear the guitars pick up the rockabilly theme again as well at one point, pure genius!

Right after Ian thanks the audience, someone announces “the police are outside, so this has to be it, so please exit quietly, thanks a lot.” This wraps it up.

The set list:

1. Merchandise 2. Nice New Outfit 3. Greed 4. Latin Roots 5. Intro 6. Reclamation 7. Sieve-Fisted Find 8. Facet Squared 9. Rend It 10. Interlude 1 11. Stacks 12. Turnover 13. Interlude 2 14. Song #1 15. Give Me The Cure 16. Waiting Room 17. Burning 18. Interlude 3 19. Long Division 20. Runaway Return 21. Great Cop 22. Two Beats Off 23. Promises 24. Encore 1 25. Sweet and Low 26. Repeater 27. Interlude 4 28. Reprovisional 29. Outro

[sagehaleyofficial]

HERE’S WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEK (3.9-3.15.22):

NEW MUSIC:

Max Bemis, the former frontman of Say Anything, launched his new solo project called Maxim Mental. The vocalist debuted his first solo single “Evermore (and the Grammy Goes to)” last Tuesday.

Alexisonfire confirmed that they are releasing a brand new full-length album titled Otherness. The long-awaited album will be dropping on June 24 via Dine Alone Records.

Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows announced their new album, their first in 11 years. The new album Destroy Rebuild will be arriving on June 17 via Equal Vision Records/Velocity Records.

YUNGBLUD released the music video for his latest single “The Funeral.” The video notably features a cameo from rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, as well as his wife Sharon and daughter Kelly.

Movements returned with their first new music since 2020 with the song “Barbed Wire Body.” The band have been drip-feeding tracks from their recent live session at Will Yip's Studio 4 over the last few months.

Meet Me @ the Altar released a new EP, playing all of the songs from their recent EP Model Citizen acoustically. The EP features their previously released acoustic version of “Feel a Thing” featuring The Wonder Years’ Dan Campbell.

Motionless in White revealed their brand new album titled Scoring the End of the World. The new album will be dropping on June 10 via Roadrunner Records and features their new single “Cyberhex.”

Cancer Bats shared a new track and music video titled “Lonely Bong.” It's taken from the band's upcoming album Psychic Jailbreak, which will be released on April 15 via Bat Skull Records/New Damage Records.

Mod Sun shared his latest track titled “Rich Kids Ruin Everything.” It follows on from the release of a two-hour documentary called Remember Me Just Like This.

Following a six-year hiatus, Fearless Vampire Killers announced their reunion and that they will be releasing two tracks early next month. The band played their first show back this past Friday in Camden, England under the pseudonym Under the Flames.

Yours Truly returned with another new track titled “Lights On.” It follows on from “Walk Over My Grave,” which was released eight months ago.

Flogging Molly released their first new music in four years in time for St. Patrick’s Day. The song, “'These Times Have Got Me Drinking/Tripping Up the Stairs,” came with the announcement that they’ll be in Los Angeles for their annual Paddy's Day celebration.

Machine Gun Kelly revealed the track listing and album art for his upcoming album Mainstream Sellout. The album contains guest features from Bring Me the Horizon, Lil Wayne, Pete Davidson, Blackbear, WILLOW, Iann Dior, Gunna and Young Thug.

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Don Broco and YUNGBLUD announced the supporting acts for their shows at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust. The former will be joined by Deaf Havana while the latter will be accompanied by Nova Twins and Daisy Brain.

My Chemical Romance revealed 14 new United States dates to their upcoming tour later this year. They also announced who will be supporting them including Badflower, Midtown, Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, Turnstile, Waterparks and more.

Reading and Leeds Festival added a whole load of new acts to their lineup. The new acts include As It Is, Sueco, Static Dress, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, WILLOW, Cleopatrick, Tigercub, Kid Kapachi and Witch Fever.

Pierce the Veil revealed that they are going to be heading back to the United Kingdom this coming Winter for a tour. The tour kicks off in Cardiff on December 1 and ends in Leeds on December 10.

OTHER NEWS:

Deftones bassist Sergio Vega released a video sharing that he has parted ways with the band. Sergio first started touring with the band back in 1998 before becoming a session musician/songwriter in 2009.

___

Check in next Tuesday for more “Posi Talk with Sage Haley”!

[dearly]

does anyone remember the speculated 6 album deal? 

despite this being talked about a whole bunch ages ago i had completely forgotten about the 6 album deal. this is very much a pre-solo 1d discussion point as people thought the 6th album 1d owed syco was a “best of” album that was forthcoming and due to be announced any second. there was also widespread speculation that zayn’s album fulfilled the 6th album clause.

but what if louis’ album is the one that fulfills the clause?

let’s preface this by saying this is highly speculative and could be fully debunked in like, 6 months. it’s just a thought that i had that could make sense and it’s not like there’s any promo keeping us busy so why not share?

a couple days ago i went reading about artist/label disputes i knew about and i stumbled into the amanda palmer vs roadrunner records drama. i was following her when this stuff happened but i didn’t remember everything. she’d written a post about her standing with the label before they dropped her:

this rang a few bells for two reasons: 1, she signed a contract with her band for 3 albums and her solo record counted as one of those albums. her bandmate went on to record albums with other bands without being beholden to this ‘3rd album contract’. 2, the compilation album ‘no virginia’ didn’t count towards the 3 album deal even though it was with the band. she says it’s a long story but the ‘compilation’ aspect of the album makes me wonder if that’s why it didn’t count towards the record deal.

now, i don’t know how much stock i put into the idea that a best of 1d album would fulfill a last album in a deal because sony already owns the rights to all those songs, so compiling them together may not really count as a *new* album. same goes for any anniversary releases etc. 

why would louis’ album be the 6th album? well, he’s the only one still with syco. i know we’ve discussed that him signing with syco could’ve been the result of a matching clause, but what if they just exercised the demand for a sixth album, using him? it would certainly explain why they’re just letting him flounder because they haven’t had to invest in signing him. it would also explain why they’re not trying to maintain his brand or improve it or grow his fanbase; they have no incentive to do so. it would also explain the half-assed work. it also explains why his budget seems to be limited, and since he’s signed a distribution deal it’s possible the expenses associated with the record are his to bear (also just like AP had to pour in her own money into her album). 

anyway, like i said this is all highly speculative. we don’t now for sure that 1d owed syco a 6th album, but it’s a thought that hit me and i had to write it down. i don’t think it affects us as fans directly in any way other than it might be another explanation as to why syco doesn’t seem to care about retaining his business. they never really got his business in the first place, and they didn’t have to outbid anyone to get keep him under their thumb.

or i’m wrong about all of it. also possible.

Eta: I've seen people say sony wouldn't pass up the opportunity to make money off of a best of album but the point is that would fall outside the record deal. Any songs 1D recorded under them they have the rights to and they can do what they want with. They can't force the boys to promo it but they wouldn't need to. So that's why I think the best of /compilation album doesn't count.

[secretradiobrooklyn]

SECRET RADIO | 10.3.20 & 10.10.20 Combo

Secret Radio | 10.3 & 10.10 | Hear it here.

Liner notes by Evan except *, artwork by Paige

1. The Modern Lovers - “Roadrunner”

Can there be, can there ever be, a better hittin’ the road song than this? Not to me, not to us. “I’m in love with modern moonlight… I’m in love with the radio on” This song brings everything that makes rock so fundamentally exciting: the straightforward beat, electric guitars, electric keys, that sense of complete freedom with your gang in the backseat singing the chorus. 

2. Swell Maps - “Full Moon In My Pocket”

It pains me to admit that I cannot remember the name of the pasteup guy at the Rocket who used to tell me about the bands he loved, and that he thought I’d dig. I was so, SO into Pavement at the time, head over heels, and he did a great job of acquainting me with some of their precedents, handing off tape comps with songs from Young Marble Giants, Au Pairs, Swell Maps, and so much more. One of the tapes had this song, in two versions actually: this one, and an a cappella version, which sounds very poncey except it was the same take as this, bouncing with reverb and attitude. On our long drive from the woods to the city, a full moon hung in front of us like a carrot on a stick, and I started singing this song before I even realized it. Whatever the name of that super-awesome pasteup guy (Tom? I feel like it was Tom), I just want to tell him: I’m sorry, I’ve always been bad at remembering names, but I’ve never forgotten those tapes. Thank you.

3. Assa Cica - “Yokpo Wa Non Kpo Hami” 

When we were first getting into Beninese rock, it was Antoine Dougbé who pulled us down the rabbit hole. I figured we couldn’t be alone — his songs are the standouts on “Legends of Benin.” But there’s practically nothing to be found. I eventually found myself at Discogs, marveling at the sheer number of names that T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo went by and sifting through music looking for signs of Dougbé. I eventually found this album, and not just the voice but the whole style of the band convinced me that Assa-Cica was somehow another name Dougbé went by. After some discussion, Paige and I bought our first Beninese record. In the weeks that it took to arrive, we learned a lot more about Dougbé, including the fact that he’s not actually the singer on those songs! But also I don’t think Assa-Cica is the singer on this song either! We did turn out to love every song on this record, but this one is my personal favorite, just a barnburner with disco roots. Every time I listen to it I try to imagine the cultural and personal forces that brought it into being, and it only gets more absorbing.

4. Eko Roosevelt - “Me To A De Try My Own”

T.P. Orchestre research also brought me to an album they did with Betti-Betti (or Beti-Beti), a Cameroonian singer whose tracks eventually led to Eko Roosevelt. I don’t get down with all of the music of his that I’ve heard, but this one just brings a smile to my face every time. I love the patois he sings in, where recognizable words rise suddenly out of the bubbling disco bass and the good-natured horn sections. I would never have guessed that hunting for African voodoo funk would eventually reveal a path to appreciating disco… but I’m glad that it has. I mean, I spent whole years of my life thinking that horns had no place in rock music, so what the hell do I know? 

5. Jacqueline Taïeb - “Le coeur au bout des doigts”

6. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo - “Non Gbeto Do Mahu Tche”

This 7” is from that rich early period of T.P. Orchestre (this one is I think from ’72) where the arrangements are hand-drum heavy but the organ and guitar are funk. The vocal is — I don’t know what it is, it’s a genre I hadn’t heard until I heard this band in this period. 

7. Los Wembler’s de Iquitos - “Llanto en la Selva”

8.  Iggy Pop “The Passenger”*

I’ve always thought this was one of Iggy Pop’s finest outside of his work with Stooges. I think I also always liked it because I am most often the passenger. I really really don’t like driving. I really avoid it. I have a driver’s license but boy do I not like to use it. There aren’t really a lot of songs about riding in the passenger seat that are positive or cool that I can think of besides this one and Art Brut’s “I Love Public Transportation”.

This album also makes me think of Shena’s old place on Damen Ave. in Wicker Park Chicago. This record and of course Bowie’s “Let’s Dance”.

 Hope you had a great birthday Shena!

9. Jacques Dutronc - “Les Gens Sont Flous”

The things that gets me about the song are: that single bass note that plunges every time in the verse, the shaker in the chorus, and that freakin triangle hit that happens on the coolest possible beat throughout the entire song. I fully intend to lift that idea into another song if I can find the right spot for it.

10. Jimi Hendrix - “Third Stone From The Sun”

This goes down as one of the greatest rock recordings in history. Every time I swoon at the guitar phrases, the bass line, the drums, the weird low chaos of his slowed down vocals. Truly a masterpiece, capped off by the final minute of beautiful noise that sounds like planets in motion.

11. Björk Gu∂mundsdóttir and tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar - Gling-Gló - “Bella Simamaer”

12. Ayalew Mesfin - “Gedawo (The Hero)”

The first 20 seconds of this song are crucial, because it establishes the 4/4 rhythm that’s coursing under the 3/4 handclap. That is such a killer rhythmic feel I can hardly stand it. I only wish they’d pull out the handclap in the middle, just for a handful of measures, and then bring em in again. Meanwhile, Mesfin’s vocal approach is so intense! 

Entr’Acte - “Phantom of the Opera Entr’Acte”*

We figured we needed an Entr’Acte to denote the change in vibe from trying to stay alert and amped on the turnpike to being back home in Brooklyn. Half of this broadcast was made in the front seat of the van on our drive back to NY after our recent visit to the Midwest where we stayed in the woods the majority of the time with a couple of runs to St. Louis to pick up Banh Mi So and tofu Laap. 

Evan and I have this thing we call “Disney Reptile Brain” but before that I should explain, Evan and I have this other thing we call “different high schools.” We have an age difference that we mostly don’t notice but every now and then there will be some cultural touchstone and one of us is like “What!? You don’t remember that!?” and we’re like “Ahh, different high schools!” So something like, the year 1994, Evan might remember it as when Kurt Cobain died, and I’ll remember it as the year “The Lion King” came out.

So, Evan missed all the of the major releases by Disney from that time – Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, etc. – and thus he can see how ridiculously bad these remakes are in a way that I can’t. He says that you have to “Disney Reptile brain” to fully see the movie, that you have to have the animated version playing in your mind’s eye at the same time you're watching these “live action” remakes or they don’t make any sense. And it’s true, for me and lots of other people I know born between 1984 and 1990 we experience this when watching these films, like you already know it so well and know what’s going to happen it’s more like some sort of ritual, incantation, or reenactment of a feeling.

So, that’s Disney Reptile Brain. And if you’re like, wait, but this is Phantom of the Opera and that’s not Disney. You’re right, but it turns out Reptile Brain is a thing that can happen with musicals and ALW stuff is perfect for it. (Evita! Evita!) I am helpless when I hear this music which I got into around the same time that I was devouring Disney VHS, even though I hear it now and it’s SO. SILLY. But when I hear this melody, I’m like right there, on the boat with Christine and the Phantom. I’m like a cat picked up by the scruff and I’m just completely engrossed and I can’t unlearn that feeling. If you’ve seen Phantom at all recently, it is straight up hilarious kid stuff, like how it starts with an auction of lot #666, and the phantom is like this super moody broody guy who writes passive aggressive notes to everyone. I now can hear it as so funny and so square, but what you’re hearing on this track is my reptile brain in full effect. 

Next time this music comes around, we’ll get into how Christine is Professor X and Magnito is the Phantom...

14. Sunny Blacks Band - “Holonon Die”

Ha! I said plenty about this song on air. Suffice it to say I’ve been getting obsessed with Meloclém and his performances. It’s really hard to find out anything about him, so this early track makes me really happy. I think this is sung in Fon.

15. Yo La Tengo - “False Alarm”

Alongside “Third Stone from the Sun,” another of my all-time favorite recordings ever. Yo La Tengo was a key protein in learning about rock music, starting with the album  “Painful” and hitting a peak not just on this album but specifically this song. Alongside a vivid memory of Sean N., I helplessly air-keyboard to it, air-drum to it, dance my face off. By that final phrase I’m all worn out.

16. Meas Samon & So Savoeun - Hits Collection

We don’t really know anything about this song, including its title. It’s from a cassette called “Hits Collection.” We know Meas Samon from other sources, but I have no idea what they’re talking about and what is happening in this song, though I will say the tape warping on the entire fabric of the track is absolutely delicious.

17. Syna So Pro - “Fengyang Song”

I feel so proud of Syna So Pro and St. Louis introducing this track. The first time we saw her perform this song was live at El Leñador, and it was a knockout. She (they?) used a looping pedal situation to build this huge harmonic structure in real time. I believe she may be studying Chinese, but I know she’s studying Chinese music. There’s this and one other amazing Chinese song in addition to her many songs in English on her album “Vox.”

Nino Rota

18. Fela Kuti - “Open & Close”

I would listen to this whole song just for the Tony Allen solo in the early middle — but I also love how the song is so long that even a solo as particular as that one gets swallowed back up into the totality of the track (though he has many amazing passages throughout). The emotional equilibrium of the horns is cautiously optimistic. And I find myself thinking about the passage that goes “Let me tell you a story: open and close,” and how “open and close” is a narrative in action right there in three words. What was open has closed. It’s clearly a big change, a serious shift. Once open, now closed. Why? What changes as a result? Did anyone get hurt in the closing?

19. France Gall - “Celui Que J’aime”*

In the theme of “songs that got away” (see “Muxima”) this is one that I was thrilled to find again! I heard it on Jeff Hess’s show on KDHX many years ago. It set me on a France Gall odyssey. I bought albums and collections, and none of them had this song. I think her tone is probably my favorite female vocal tone, and she’s also one of my favorite singers in her delivery. This one is very different than some of the other stuff I associate with her but I think it’s still my favorite of hers.

20. Ely - “As Turbinas Estao Ligadas”

Now Again Records put out a collection called “Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas” and it’s got as much tone as the title boasts. Credit due to “vinyl archaeologist” Joel Stones for tracking down songs like these and putting them within reach. This is one among several favorites and a true hit.

21. Tulia - “Pali się (Fire of Love)”

Speaking of true hits: welcome to the world of EuroVision, where music is a medium for international competition. This song is Poland’s entry for 2019. We spent an amazing week with our friends Phil and Archie driving between Cambridgeshire and London singing along with all of the finalists of that year’s competition. It’s a fascinating idea, this vote-based international struggle turning into a final victor that somehow expresses the zeitgeist of ALL OF THOSE COUNTRIES TOGETHER — because it’s not just Europe, it’s Israel and Australia. Also amazing is that this isn’t just some scheme cooked up in the reality TV era: this has been going on for decades. In fact, France Gall was the EuroVision winner in 1965 — for Luxembourg!

22. Luigi Tenco - “Ciao Amore Ciao”

Likewise, this song was in international competition. It was sung by Egyptian-born French superstar Dalida. We saw an eponymous movie about her at the St. Louis International Film Festival in 2017 and she was a completely engrossing character. I’m not totally sold on this song as she sings it — but I love Luigi Tenco’s version. And man what a looker! He died young by his own hand, and she died too young by her own hand, and that is about as French as it gets.

23. Marijata - “I Walk Alone”

“This Is Marijata” is the sound of Ghana in 1976. I was talking about Marijata with Josh Weinstein recently, and he reminded me of this song and how much I dig it. It’s got that slow burn organ in the background, the slightly clumsy percussion in the foreground, those freighted vocals — but when it gets to the chorus, as the organ hook gives way to the horn hook, that’s when it truly hits its stride. And by the time we disappear into the fadeout, it has become fully epic. 

24. Lijadu Sisters - “Life’s Gone Down Low” 

To my ears it really feels like this song could have been released this year, rather than in 1976. What the hell was going on in West Africa that year? I feel like we could put together a great mix of songs just from that single year from Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast. The Lijadu Sisters (Taiwo and Kehinde, actual identical twins) put out their first album in 1969; by their third album, “Danger,” the source of this song, they were huge stars in Nigeria and played with Ginger Baker, Art Blakey, and so on. They eventually moved to Harlem and lived together their whole lives, until Kehinde passed a little less than a year ago. 

25. Os Kiezos - “Muxima”*

As mentioned, I heard this song in a video work by Alfredo Jaar at the Art Institute of Chicago. You can read about the piece here. I learned that “Muxima” is an Angolan folk song and in the video of the same title there are, I believe, 5 different versions of the song. One particular one – the one that pulled me into the room where the video was playing on loop – was a gorgeous vocal arrangement.  I even tried shazaming it. No dice. So I wrote it down and started looking for the song, the particular arrangement. I bought a collection of Angolan music because I saw the song on it. That’s the one you heard on this broadcast and it is a recording that I now really love. I periodically keep looking for other versions of the song, hoping I’ll come across that missing version though. I thought I got close this week when I found Duo Ouro Negro’s version. (Worth checking out!) That one from the video though, still haunts me! It’s been 9 years now, I wonder if I would recognize it but I think I would. I guess the next thing I can try is a shot in the dark email to Alfredo Jaar. This is and one other song share the top spot of “songs that got away” the other one is some beautiful song that was coming from a small radio from a group of old Puerto Rican guys who were playing cards on the sidewalk on South 3rd street in Williamsburg. We were touring through and staying with our friend in that neighborhood and as we were moving the van I heard this beautiful song coming off the sidewalk. Those guys had great taste. 

[thefeedpost]

All The New Albums Emerging In March 2019

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Keeping track of all the new albums coming out in a given month is a big job, but we’re up for it: Below is a comprehensive list of the major releases you can look forward to in March. If you’re not trying to potentially miss out on anything, it might be a good idea to keep reading.

Friday, March 1

2 Chainz — Rap Or Go To The League (Def Jam) Absolutely Not — Problematic (No Trend Records) Andreya Triana — Life In Colour (Hi-Tea Records) Andrew Leahey — Airwaves (Skyline Music) Angel-Ho — Death Becomes Her (Hyperdub) Ari & Mia — Sew The City (self-released) Austin Meade — Waves (7013 Records) Bobby Long — Sultans (Compass Records) Browbeat — Remove The Control (Indelirium Records) Bryan Adams — Shine A Light (Polydor Records) Bus — Never Decide (Bus — Never Decide) The Cactus Blossoms — Easy Way (Walkie Talkie Records) CFCF — Liquid Colours (self-released) Charles X — EID2 (Ambiguous Music Group) Chrome Waves — A Grief Observed (Disorder Records) Citizen Cope — Heroin And Helicopters (RainWater Recordings) Criminal Hygiene — Run It Again (Dangerbird Records) Cube — Decoy Street (Superior Viaduct) Darkwater — Human (Ulterium Records) Dear Boy — The Strawberry EP (Easy Hell) Della Mae — The Butcher Shoppe EP (Rounder Records) Delicate Steve — ‘Till I Burn Up (ANTI‐) Desert Ships — Eastern Flow (Desert Ships) DJ Plead — Pleats Plead EP (Nervous Horizon) Durand Jones & The Indications — American Love Call (Dead Oceans) Fate McAfee — Diesel Palomino (Slough Water Records) Fews — Into Red (PIAS Group) Frankie And The Witch Fingers — ZAM (Greenway Records) Gang Of Four — Happy Now (PledgeMusic) Gold Connections — Like A Shadow EP (EggHunt Records) Hand Habits — Placeholder (Saddle Creek) Hawksley Workman — Median Age Wasteland (Isadora Records) Heretical Sect — Heretical Sect EP (Caligari Records) Hozier — Wasteland, Baby! (Island) The Japanese House — Good At Falling (Dirty Hit) JD Simo — Off At 11 (Crows Feet Records) Jon And Roy — Here (Blue Heron Music) Jonathan — To Hold (LAA) Jonny Kosmo — Jonny Kosmo (Slimehouse) Kerchief — Fluke (Mint 400 Records) Ian Brown (of The Stone Roses) — Ripples (Black Koi) In Flames — I, The Mask (Nuclear Blast) Laurice — Bad Boy (Mighty Mouth Music) Lemaitre — Fast Lovers EP (Astralwerks) Little Simz — GREY Area (AGE 101) Living Hour — Softer Faces (Kanine Records) Lonesome Shack — Desert Dreams (Alive Naturalsound Records) Lost Leaders — Promises Promises (PledgeMusic) Mansionair — Shadowboxer (Glassnote Records) Mary Bragg — Violets As Camouflage (Tone Tree Music) Masked Intruder — III (Pure Noise Records) Maxïmo Park — As Long As We Keep Moving (Cooking Vinyl Limited) Mike Edel — Thresholds (PENNANT) Mike Tramp — Stray From The Flock (Mighty Music) Mint Field — Mientras Esperas EP (Innovative Leisure) Motherhood — Dear Bongo (Forward Music Group) Nude Shoes — Suburban Ceremonies EP (Know Hope Records LLC) Octo Octa — For Lovers EP (Technicolour) Pink Mexico — Dump (Little Dickman Records) Pinty — City Limits EP (Rhythm Section International) Pond — Tasmania (Marathon Artists) Pool Kids — Music To Practice Safe Sex To (Skeletal Lightning) Potty Mouth — Snafu (Get Better Records) Primer — Novelty (YHS Records) Quaker City Night Hawks — QCNH (Lightning Rod Rec.) Queensrÿche — The Verdict (Century Media) Reese Wynans — Sweet Release (J&R Adventures) Rock Goddess — This Time (PledgeMusic) Royal Trux — White Stuff (Fat Possum Records) Scott Gilmore — Two Roomed Motel (Crammed Discs) Shy Girls — Bird On The Wing (Keep Cool Projects/RCA Records) Sigrid — Sucker Punch (Island) Sisters Of Suffocation — Humans Are Broken (Napalm Records) Skinny Lister — The Story Is… (Xtra Mile Recordings) Statement — Force Of Life (Target/Mighty Music) Steve Poltz — Shine On (Red House Records) Stillhound — Strangers Will Not Thank You (self-released) Swan’s Chamber — Swan’s Chamber EP (Leaving Records) Swazi Gold — Jehovah’s Whispers (Research Records) Tanya Tagaq — Toothsayer EP (Six Shooter Records) Teen — Good Fruit (Carpark Records) Tics — Agnostic Funk (Tomatenplatten) Tim Bowness — Flowers At The Scene (InsideOut Records) Tom Walker — What A Time To Be Alive (Relentless Records) Ulysses Owens Jr. — Songs Of Freedom (Resilience Music) Upsahl — Hindsight 20/20 EP (WHIPPIN) Vesper Wood — Instar (Otta Viktoria Records) Wearemarvin — Wearemarvin EP (La Pochette Surprise Records) Weezer — The Black Album (Atlantic While She Sleeps — So What? (Spinefarm Records UK) Yves Jarvis (formerly Un Blonde) — The Same But By Different Means (ANTI‐)

Friday, March 8

Adam French — The Back Foot And The Rapture (Virgin EMI Records) Alice Phoebe Lou — Paper Castles (self-released) Amanda Palmer — There Will Be No Intermission (Cooking Vinyl Limited) Astralingua — Safe Passage (Midnight Lamp Records) Babybird — Happy Stupid Nothing (Psycho Mafia Recordings) Bencoolen — Daydream (self-released) Black Lung — Ancients (Ripple Music) Buckcherry — Warpaint (RED MUSIC) Caleb Elliott — Forever To Fade (Single Lock Records) The Coathangers — The Devil You Know (Suicide Squeeze Records) Crypt Trip — Haze County (Heavy Psych Sounds) Dave — Psychodrama (Neighbourhood Recordings) David Gray — Gold In a Brass Age (IHT Records) Dead Swords (feat. Alex Rosamilia of The Gaslight Anthem) — Enders (Human Blood Records) Dido — Still On My Mind (BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd) Drinking Boys And Girls Choir — Keep Drinking (Damnably) Dwilly — Crayola EP (CloudKid) E.B. The Younger (Eric Pulido of Midlake) — To Each His Own (Bella Union) Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine — 8:47 EP (Big Machine) Flight Of The Conchords — Live In London (Sub Pop) Foals — Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1 (Warner Bros. Records) Gesaffelstein — Hyperion (Columbia Records) Helado Negro — This Is How You Smile (RVNG Intl.) High Tides — Paradise Daze (Rad Cult) Hobby Club — Video Days EP (Heist Or Hit) I Was A King — Slow Century (Coastal Town) Indoor Pets — Be Content (Wichita Recordings) Jim Jones And The Righteous Minds — Collectiv (MaSonic) Jnr. Williams — Where We Start EP (Arista / Insanity Records) Juice Wrld — Goodbye & Good Riddance (Interscope) Justus Proffit — L.A.’s Got Me Down (Bar None Records) Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe — Gnomes & Badgers (Seven Spheres Records) Kyle Dion — SUGA (self-released) KOKOROKO — KOKOROKO EP (Brownswood) Leggy — Let Me Know Your Moon (Sheer Luck Records) Leo “Bud” Welch — The Angels In Heaven Have Done Signed My Name (Easy Eye Sound) Liily — I Can Fool Anybody In This Town EP (Flush Records) Love Trap — Rosie (Wild Honey Records) Manics — Binary EP (Dim Mak) Maren Morris — Girl (Columbia Nashville) Matt Shapiro — Fade In EP (self-released) MDD — Reverse The Contrast (HANDS) Meat Puppets — Dusty Notes (Megaforce Records) Meadows End — The Grand Antiquation (Black Lion Records) Minke — The Tearoom EP (Chess Club/RCA Records) Misery Index — Rituals Of Power (Season of Mist) Munya — Blue Pine EP (Luminelle Recordings) Nick Waterhouse — Nick Waterhouse (Innovative Leisure Records) Patty Griffin — Patty Griffin (Thirty Tigers) Rosie Tucker — Never Not Never Not Never Not (New Professor) The Royal — Deathwatch (Long Branch Records) Sasami — Sasami (Domino Recording Company) Savage After Midnight — 11:59 EP (RED MUSIC) Shady Bug — Lemon Lime (Exploding In Sound Records) Stella Donnelly — Beware Of The Dogs (Secretly Canadian) Ten Fé — Future Perfect, Present Tense (Some Kinda Love) Tredici Bacci — La Fine Del Futuro (NNA Tapes) The Wild Reeds — Cheers (Dualtone Records) Vasco — Tender Luv EP (Big Beat Records) William Basinki — On Time Out Of Time (Temporary Residence Limited) Xeno & Oaklander — Hypnos (Dais Records) Youth Fountain — Letters To Our Former Selves (Pure Noise Records)

Friday, March 15

Amongst The Pigeons — Begging Your Pardon (Marowak Records) Angel Dust — Pretty Buff (Roadrunner Records) Arre! Arre! — Tell Me About Them (PNKSLM Recordings) Beach Slang — MPLS EP (Bridge Nine Records) Benjamin Francis Leftwich — Gratitude (Dirty Hit) BESTA — Eterno Rancor (Lifeforce Records) Black Therapy — Echoes Of Dying Memories (Black Lion Records) Bouncing Souls — Crucial Moments EP (Rise Records) Brian Jonestown Massacre — Brian Jonestown Massacre (A Records) Buvette — Life EP (A+LSO) Chai — Punk (Burger) The Cinematic Orchestra — To Believe (Ninja Tune) Clever Austin (Perrin Moss of Hiatus Kaiyote) — Pareidolia (Touching Bass) David Leonard — The Wait ()Integrity Media Deafkids — Metaprogramação (Neurot Recordings) Dexter Story — Bahir (Soundway Records) Elizabeth Colour Wheel — Nocebo (The Flenser) The Faint — Egowerk (Saddle Creek) The Fall — Bend Sinister/The ‘Domesday’ Pay-Off Triad-Plus (Beggars Banquet Music Ltd) Fallujah — Undying Light (Nuclear Blast) Gary Hoey — Neon Highway Blues (Provogue Records) Hearing Things — Here’s Hearing Things (Yeggs Records) Huntly — Low Grade Buzz (Barely Dressed Records) Hvob — Rocco ([PIAS]) Iota — Tales (Small Stone Records) Julia Rakel — indie fEElz EP (Rama Lama Records) Just Friends — Nothing But Love (Pure Noise Records) Karen O and Danger Mouse — Lux Prima (BMG) Lauren Jenkins — No Saint (Big Machine Records) Louise Lemón — A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart (Icons Creating Evil Art) Low Life — Downer Edn (Goner Records) Matmos — Plastic Anniversary (Thrill Jockey) Merely — Hatching The Egg (YEAR0001) Nanami Ozone — NO (Tiny Engines) Never Loved — Never Loved EP (Equal Vision Records) Nick Sanders — Playtime 2050 (Sunnyside Records) Noncoonah — Dead Roses, Digged Up Zombies, Broken Pieces Of Diamonds, Live Cats (Ernest Jenning Record Co.) Over The Rhine — Love & Revelation (Great Speckled Dog) Redwolves — Future Becomes Past (Argonauta Records) Seahawks — Eyes Of The Moon (Cascine) Shy FX — Raggamuffin SoundTape (Digital Soundboy) Skylephant — Songs For The Fragile Collective (Musical Bear) Snarky Puppy — Immigrance (roundUP Music) Sontalk — Stay Wild (Sony Classical Records) Sowflo — New Shoes (Space Duck Records) Stephen Malkmus — Groove Denied (Domino Recording Company) Ted Russell Kamp — Walkin’ Shoes (PoMo) Their Throats Are Open Tombs — Of Psalters And Snakes (The Fear and the Void Recordings) Todd Snider — Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3 (Aimless Records) Turning Jewels Into Water — Map Of Absences (FPE Records) Wyclef Jean — Wyclef Goes Back To School (Heads Music)

Friday, March 22

American Football — American Football (LP3) (Polyvinyl Record Co.) Andrew Bird — My Finest Work Yet (Loma Vista Recordings) Anteros — When We Land (Distiller Records) Apparat — LP5 (Mute Records) Aubrey Logan — Where The Sunshine Is Expensive (Resonance Records) Avey Tare (of Animal Collective) — Cows On Hourglass Pond (Domino Recording Company) Bad Suns — Mystic Truth (Epitaph Records) Bill MacKay — Fountain Fire (Drag City) Blue Angels — Sue EP (UNO NYC) Bonnie Tyler — Between The Earth And The Stars (earMUSIC) Brian Carpenter’s Beat Circus — These Wicked Things (Innova Recordings) Brim Liski — Duels (Latenight Weeknight Records) Burning Rain — Face The Music (Frontiers Records) Casey Cavanagh — Old Souls EP (Old Souls Music) Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah — Ancestral Recall (Ropeadope) Crows — Silver Tongues (Balley Records) Dean Lewis — A Place We Knew (Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd.) Delta Heavy — Only In Dreams (Ram Records) Dominanz — Let The Death Enter (Mighty Music) Donna Grantis (of 3rdEyeGirl) — Diamonds & Dynamite (eOne Music Canada) Emily Wells — This World Is Too ____ For You (Thesis & Instinct) Ex Hex — It’s Real (Merge Records) Fred Everything — Long Way Home (Lazy Days Recordings) Ghost Light — Best Kept Secrets (self-released) Guest Singer — I’m Irrelevant Now EP (Heist or Hit Records) Ian Daniel Kehoe — Secret Republic (Tin Angel Records) Ibibio Sound Machine — Doko Mien (Merge Records) Jack Savoretti — Singing To Strangers (BMG) Jayda G — Significant Changes (Ninja Tune) Jenny Lewis — On The Line (Warner Bros. Records) La Dispute — Panorama (Epitaph Records) Lafawndah — Ancestor Boy (Concordia) Lambchop — This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You) (Merge Records) Laurel Halo — DJ-Kicks (!K7 Records) Lil Yee — Live 4 It, Die 4 It EP (G-Affair/EMPIRE) Lucy Rose — No Words Left (Arts & Crafts) Luther Dickinson And Sisters Of The Strawberry Moon — Solstice (New West Records) Mary Lattimore And Mac McCaughan (of Superchunk) — New Rain Duets (Three Lobed Recordings) Matt Anderson — Halfway Home By Morning (True North) Matthew Logan Vasquez (of Delta Spirit) — LIGHT’N UP (Dine Alone Records) Niggght — Violent Delicacy EP (Kozmik Artifactz) Nilüfer Yanya — Miss Universe (ATO Records) No Win — Downey (Dangerbird Records) Obsidian Sea — Strangers (Ripple Music) Orville Peck — Pony (Sub Pop) Parting Gift — Ensom (Fearless Records) Problem Daughter — Grow Up Trash (Wiretap Records) Rachael Sage — PseudoMyopia (MPress Records) Red Sun Rising — Peel EP (Razor & Tie Recordings) Ritual Howls — Rendered Armor (Felte) Robin Trower — Coming Closer To Day (Provogue/Mascot Label Group) RPWL — Tales From Outer Space (Gentle Art Of Music) Shawn James — The Dark & The Light (Parts + Labor Records) Shlohmo — The End (WEDIDIT) Sleep In. — The Stars On Your Ceiling (Know Hope Records) Sleeper — The Modern Age (Gorsky Records) Slow Caves — Falling (Old Flame Records) Spiral Stairs (Pavement’s Scott Kannberg) — We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized (Coolin’ By Sound) Stillhound — Stillhound (Lost Oscillation) Strand Of Oaks — Eraserland (Dead Oceans) Substancia — Ancestor Boy (Concordia) Taali — I Am Here (Rainbow Blonde Records) Tamaryn — Dreaming The Dark (DERO Arcade) Terry Allen And The Panhandle Mystery Band — Pedal Steal + Four Corners (Paradise Of Bachelors) These New Puritans — Inside The Rose (Infectious Music) Tyson Meade — Robbing The Nuclear Family (Shaking Shanghai) Wallows — Nothing Happens (Atlantic Records) We Show Up On Radar — Zanzibar Whip Coral (Fika Recordings) Wild Belle — Everybody One Of A Kind (Love Tone) Yawners — Just Calm Down (La Castanya Records)

Friday, March 29

A Brilliant Lie — Threads: Weaver (A Brilliant Lie) American Pleasure Club — Fucking Bliss (Run For Cover Records) Ben Folds — Live At Myspace (Sony/MySpace) Betty Carter — The Music Never Stops (Blue Engine Records) Billie Eilish — When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (Interscope) The Bobbleheads — Myths And Fables (PopPop Records) Brutus — Nest (Sargent House) C Duncan — Health (FatCat Records) Chris Cohen — Chris Cohen (Captured Tracks) Clint Alphin — Straight To Marrow () Coughy (feat. members of Speedy Ortiz and Ava Luna) — Ocean Hug (Joyful Noise Recordings) Facs — Lifelike (Trouble In Mind) Fennesz — Agora (Touch) Garcia Peoples — Natural Facts (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) Ian Simmonds — All That���s Left (Pussyfoot Records) Jo Schornikow (of Phosphorescent) — Secret Weapon (Keeled Scales) K Á R Y Y N — The Quanta Series (Mute Records) L.A. Guns — The Devil You Know (Frontiers Records) La Bouquet — Sad People Dancing (ANTI-) Laura Stevenson — The Big Freeze (Don Giovanni Records) M. Lockwood — Communion In The Ashes (Black Mesa Records) Magic Circle — Departed Souls (20 Buck Spin) Mahawam — Is An Island EP (Molly House Records) The Maine — You Are OK (8123) Matthew Herbert Big Band — The State Between Us (Accidental Records Ltd) Mechanical God Creation — The New Chapter (Argonauta Records) Mekons — Deserted (Bloodshot Records) Mdou Moctar — Ilana (The Creator) (Sahel Sounds) Musket Hawk — Upside Of Sick (Unholy Anarchy) Nightmarathons — Missing Parts (A-F Records) O.A.R. — The Mighty (Black Rock Recorded Music, LLC) Ohtis — Curve Of Earth (Full Time Hobby) Okey Dokey — Tell All Your Friend (self-released) Oshiego — The Book Of Wonders (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions) Quelle Chris — Guns (Mello Music Group) Randy Randall (of No Age) — Sound Field Volume One (Dangerbird Records) Reaches — Wherever The Internet Goes, Sorrow Follows (We Be Friends) Rita Wilson — Halfway Home (Sing It Loud, LLC) Section H8 — Phase One EP (Flatspot Records) Show Me The Body — Dog Whistle (Loma Vista Recordings) Simple Creatures (Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth) — Strange Love EP (BMG) Small Feet — With Psychic Powers (Barsuk Records) Son Volt — Union (Transmit Sound) Stella Parton — Survivor (Raptor Records) Steve Earle & The Dukes — GUY (New West Records) The Strumbellas — Rattlesnake (Glassnote Records) Suzi Quatro — No Control (Steamhammer) Tom Williams — What Did You Want To Be? (Wire Boat Recordings) The Underground Youth — Lust & Fear (Fuzz Club) Unkle — The Road: Part II / Lost Highway (Songs For The Def) White Denim — Side Effects (City Slang) Whitechapel — The Valley (Metal Blade Records) Yngwie Malmsteen — Blue Lightning (Mascot Records)

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[theplaguezine]

HEATHEN

Interview with David White by Daniel Hinds

(conducted July 2010)

When it comes to the Bay Area thrash scene in the 1980s, Heathen may not have had the high profile that bands like Exodus and Testament enjoyed, but they still managed to release two of the most powerful and technically brilliant albums of the era. My first encounter with the band was the classic track “Goblin’s Blade” and once that trademark riff kicks in, Heathen had a special place in my heart forever. With their reunion at Thrash of the Titans in 2001 and the recently unleashed The Evolution of Chaos, they were back in classic form, with David White’s unique vocals as piercing as ever and Lee Altus still the master of the fretboard. David took a few moments not long ago to answer some questions to bring the Heathen story up to date… The new album is quite impressive in all aspects: songs, performances, production, and artwork. Were you pretty happy with how it came out and did it evolve much over the course of putting it together? We’re very happy with the way that the album came out. We worked on it for over a year making sure it was exactly the way we wanted it to be. I think the band’s sound has evolved over time naturally but we basically picked up where we left off with “Victims of Deception.” It has been several years since Recovered. Why the long wait for Evolution of Chaos to finally emerge? Well, we did a demo of some new songs in 2005 and then toured Europe with Nuclear Assault. Following that, it took a while to get the recording deal finalized and then solidify the lineup. We didn’t want to rush anything out and took our time with writing and recording everything as well. How has the songwriting dynamic changed in the band from the early days? Lee still writes the majority of the music and I write almost all of the lyrics. Kragen also contributed 3 songs and a set of lyrics to the new album and Jon contributed 1 song. In general, we all know what Heathen should sound like and really try hard to make sure that the music is killer so nothing’s really changed in that regard. How much work goes into creating the vocal melody lines and do those tend to come before the lyrics or after? The riffs and overall song usually come first, then the vocal melodies and then the lyrics. I wanted to ask about the inspiration for a couple of the lyrics on the album, starting with “Red Tears of Disgrace.” “Red Tears” is really about how humans are destroying the earth with pollution, over-consumption and landfills. It’s really a caution to people to think about the environment and to do everything that we can to save it. Another one that stands out is “A Hero’s Welcome.” Can you say a bit about how that came together and what inspired it? Lee really wanted to have a song dedicated to the troops and this song sounded like the perfect one for that concept. This song is really an ode to all soldiers from countries around the world that are fighting in wars past and present to show appreciation for their sacrifice. You did some great covers on the first two albums (and obviously on Recovered), but none on the new one. Was that a conscious decision, to have this one be 100% Heathen material? Yes. We had 1 cover on each of the first 2 albums and then put out a CD with a bunch of covers. We really wanted to focus on our own original material this time and had a ton of great material to work with. The artwork for Evolution of Chaos is killer. Can you tell me a bit about how the concept came together and how you hooked up with Travis Smith? Travis is actually a friend of Kragen’s and has done all of the artwork for his band Prototype’s CDs. Kragen contacted him, gave him the song titles and lyrics and the overall theme of the album sort of came together. We’re all really happy with the way that it came out. Has Evolution of Chaos been released on vinyl or will it be? Yes, “The Evolution of Chaos” was released on vinyl in Europe and is available online through the Mascot Records website and some online retailers. Going back a little, what happened in the wake of Victims of Deception that caused Heathen to break up? That was such a great record, it should have been huge! It was a killer album and we were all more than pleased with it. Roadrunner loved it as well but had a hard time promoting it as Grunge became more and more popular. I think we could have kept things rolling if we had done more touring for the album but who knows. Now that everyone is older and has families and whatnot, how difficult is it to get together to write, rehearse, record and tour? It can be difficult to schedule things. We all have families and live in different areas of California. We manage to find a way to make it work though even if things move a little more slowly than we’d like sometimes. It seems like the Thrash of the Titans show back in 2001 was the impetus that really revitalized the Bay Area thrash scene and got several of the bands back in action. Was that a big part of why Heathen is here today or do you think you would have come back together anyway? That’s really what kick-started the band’s reunion. We got such a great response from Thrash of the Titans and then got the offer to play Wacken. That’s the moment when we really started to think about doing this again. The past few years have seen an explosion of new bands coming out that play in the style of classic thrash metal. What is your take on this movement and have you heard any bands that really stood out as being exceptionally good to you? I think it’s great that there’s a resurgence of thrash metal music. We’re definitely thankful that it has kind of synced up with our return to the scene. At this point a lot of the younger bands are really starting to find their own direction and sound. It will be really interesting to hear some of the bands in a couple of years as they evolve. In this age of declining music sales, does Heathen survive more from touring and merchandise sales or has that really changed much for you guys? When we go on tour we definitely survive based on money made at shows, mostly from merchandise. I think we’re in the same boat as most bands at this level where we don’t really see anything from the record companies and the album sales. I think Heathen is the only one of the original big Bay Area thrash bands that I never got to see live. Do you have any tour plans that might bring you through Washington or Oregon this year? We’re working to try and get a US tour together right now. It’s hard to make a US tour work financially without some support from the labels these days. With some luck we’ll be up in Washington or Oregon later this year. Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, it is much appreciated! Thank to you for the great interview and for your support of Heathen!

www.heathenthrash.com

[whitegirl-woes]

Remembering Sunday

*disclaimer: I wrote this when I was 16*

Pairing: Michael + Luke

Rating: Universal

Summary: Luke sees Michael after their breakup

Warning/s: None? Maybe swearing

“Luke? Are you listening?” Jack asked from the drivers seat of his black pickup. Truth be told, Luke wasn’t really listening to anyone anymore; he hadn’t been for months. He’d just stopped listening to people, to anyone, to anything. His arm was leaning on the passenger side door under the window, his hand propped under his chin to hold his head up. His eyes were just blank, staring out the window and watching everything go by. Occasionally he’d see a couple and automatically look away or shut his eyes until they were out of view. Most of the music he liked was now unbearable to listen to, even the new albums he’d spent months obsessing over to be released: he’d avoided listening to any part of them altogether. He was heart broken, even eight months down the line.

“No” Luke mumbled, sighing slightly as Jack continued to drive down the dark street, the only light sources from stores and street lamps as well as other cars’ headlights, “sorry”. The entire family had given up getting mad with Luke a while ago. They were completely fed up of his moping and sitting in the dark of his bedroom all hours for the past eight months, but what else was he to do when his heart had been completely shattered?

“It’s fine, Luke” Jack fake smiled, but Luke didn’t even attempt to look over. “How are you doing?” Jack asked honestly. Luke didn’t even answer. He was asked how he was doing almost every day, usually by his mum or dad or other relatives that were just told “he’s in a bad place right now”. Luke didn’t know how to explain the feeling of heartbreak to people that had never experienced it, or hadn’t felt it for years. If relatives came over he’d make an effort to get up and go say hi, but if the smallest thing reminded him of Michael, he’d be out the door and back to his room faster than a roadrunner. So Luke didn’t answer his brother, incase he himself said something that reminded him of his lost lover

“I was gonna go out tomorrow night to a pub with Ben if you wanna come” Jack offered, half listening to the song playing on the radio station as he stopped at a red light, “it’ll just be us, so you know. Just us three”. Luke thought for a millisecond about forming a microscopic smile, appreciative of his brothers’ efforts to cheer him up but not even thinking of accepting as he spotted something out of the window, or rather someone. He felt his heart rise in his chest and start beating hysterically, as if his heart had been still and in the pit of his stomach for months.

“Jack” Luke muttered as the street light turned from red to green and Jack began to slowly drive down the now busy street

“Yeah?” Jack asked, a little taken aback by his brother’s willingness to have a conversation

“Did you see that?” Luke gasped, rolling down the window and leaning out to catch another glimpse. He could only see the edges of the frayed shirt before it disappeared around the corner, out of view

“See what?” “Michael” “Oh, Luke-” “I did! I saw him!” Luke protested as he leant back in the car “Are you sure? You’ve been imagining him for months. I don’t want you to get disappointed again” “Turn around!” Luke suddenly shouted at his startled brother

“Luke, calm down-” “Turn around! Go back! Turn around!” Luke screamed. He’d never been this hysterical before, especially not when he thought he’d seen the only boy he’d ever loved

“Luke, I can’t!” Jack shouted back, referring to the one way system of the street. Luke sat in silence for a moment, until he couldn’t bear it anymore: he unclipped his seatbelt and opened the door, jumping out of the pickup and bolting down the street. He could hear his brother shouting behind him after a moment or two, most likely chasing him in order to make sure he didn’t make a fool of himself “Luke! Luke!” Jack chanted from down the street, racing after his baby brother. Luke was racing down the otherwise empty pavement, looking in every shop window he passed, just incase he hadn’t seen where he’d gone properly. He was about to believe Jack was right, that he hadn’t really seen Michael at all, until he stopped dead at the corner of the street and saw Michael a few stores down, just walking past them and humming to himself, until he disappeared into the sixth store. Luke just stood in place as he knew that Michael was maybe thirty feet from him right now. It was now or never; Michael could leave out another door- if they even had one-, he could walk out and get into one of the many cars parked on the pavement, he could walk out and see Luke ogling him- the possibilities were endless. So Luke ran the short distance and halted directly in front of the window, but soon moved to the side so that Michael wouldn’t see him. Why was Michael in a flower shop anyway? Luke racked his brain but surprisingly came up with nothing. The flower store had a few people in, but Luke could spot his boy a mile away. His heart accelerated in his chest, his eyes locked on the fiery red hair mostly hidden beneath the SnapBack of his once lost lover, a drastic change from the bleached blonde he’d been sporting the last time Luke saw him. Luke could hear Jack again, closer this time, sounding as if he was quite literally bubbling over with anxiety as he clearly had no idea of the whereabouts of his little brother. Suddenly a bell chimed, and Luke’s head snapped back to the door of the flower shop, praying for his life that his boy would appear out of it. And he did. He waltzed out of the flower shop empty handed, and began walking in the opposite direction of which Luke was standing. But Luke refused to lose his lover again- one time was brutal enough.

“Michael?” Luke asked, his voice sounding choked as he prepared himself for disappointment. Michael probably didn’t want to see him, probably didn’t care about him anymore: he’d been travelling the world with his band and played a million shows. He wouldn’t care about little old Luke, but the look on Michael’s face when he turned around said it all

“Luke” Michael whispered almost breathless, staring at Luke’s baby blues. Luke felt his eyes starting to well up with joyful tears- eight months and finally, he finally finds his boy in a flower shop, of all places. But before the tears could spill out, Michael had rushed forwards and wrapped his arms around Luke’s shoulders, holding him tight against his chest. Luke’s arms were shaky and felt weak, but they locked around Michael’s back with a great amount of strength, Michael’s familiar scent of musk and, well, just Michael, invading his senses. Luke buried his crying face into Michael’s shoulder, as Michael buried his smiling face into Luke’s neck A moment later, a panting Jack came round the corner and to a halt, ready to yell at Luke for jumping out of his truck. But the second his eyes fell on Luke and Michael’s hugging bodies, he let out a sigh of relief that he felt like he’d been holding for almost an entire year

“I’m so sorry, Luke. I am so, so, sorry” Michael mumbled, as Luke realised that he was trying not to cry- that’s the person Michael was, he didn’t opt for showing much emotion- but Luke felt the tears gently splashing onto his shirt and soaking through in to his skin. Suddenly, Michael’s hands moved to Luke’s cheeks, staring into each other’s all too familiar eyes as Luke decided to keep his hands to Michael’s waist as he watched tears stream down Michael’s face. “I tried to come back for you baby, I promise I did, but it all got so busy so fast and we only ever had a few days off at a time and that wasn’t enough to come back and get you and I wanted to call but I never knew what time it was here and I never had the guts anyways so after a few months of being away I figured you wouldn’t want me to, that you’d gotten over me, so I left you alone and it killed me inside and we finally got a few months off so I came right back to find you. I never wanted to leave you behind and that’s exactly what I fucking did, I’m sorry, Lew, I love you, I’m so sorry, I’m never gonna leave you again” and with that, Michael briefly smashed his lips into Luke’s before burying his head back in his chest, Luke immediately beginning to run his hands through Michael’s hair as they both cried, and Jack stood talking on his phone a few steps away. God, Luke was holding his boy, his sobbing, beautiful boy.

“It’s okay, Mike. I love you. I love you. I love you”