Sharon Van Etten released her EP “I Don’t Want To Let You Down” back in 2015. This EP was a follow up to, companion, to her amazing album “Are We There” that was released in 2014. It consisted of 5 songs that didn’t make the album. When the EP came out she released the title track with the B-Side “All Over Again”. That song had never been released digitally before until now.
“My 7” ‘I Don’t Want To Let You Down’ had a b-side that was never digitally released — until today,” Van Etten wrote on Instagram. “‘All Over Again’ is a deeply personal song written during the Are We There sessions. Broken hearted years ago and driven to find true love, it’s hard to believe I was ever there when I look back now from such a fulfilled space. I’m humbled to share yet another vulnerable moment with you.”
*We were fortunate to have seen her live on her “Remind Me Tomorrow” tour and it’s still one of our favorite performances that we have been able to see. Her voice is big and tall enough to fill any hall that she is performing in. Hopefully one day in the not to distant future we can be there again.
Doves have re-emerged after 11 years to release their album “The Universal Want”. In anticipation of the album release they shared a string of videos.
The feel of the album is still that of what we’ve come to know, or even expect, from Doves. Yes, some of the songs have a certain feel of a mix from Lost Souls or even The Last Broadcast and in others you can feel a touch of Kingdom Of Rust, but be sure that this is Doves moving forward. This is Doves in 2020. If you’ve been a fan from the first time you heard the chords of Firesuite or you’re just coming aboard it makes no difference because the journey of the album is still the same.
Track listing for the album:
Carousels
I Will Not Hide
Broken Eyes
For Tomorrow
Cathedrals Of The Mind
Prisoners
Cycle Of Hurt
Mother Silver Lake
Universal Want
Forest House
Here’s the animated video for “Carousels” by Yoni Weisberg.
Thru a statement Andy Williams said: “It’s a reminiscence of the times that we’d go to places like North Wales on holiday as kids. Places where you had your first experience of sound systems and music being played really loud.”
Their last album was 2009 “Kingdom of Rust” before their hiatus that saw Jimi Goodwin release a solo album and bandmates Jez and Andy Williams release an album under Black Rivers.
Their 2nd video was for the gorgeous sounding ‘Prisoners’.
“‘Prisoners’ is about that yearning that Doves have always had,” said Goodwin. “Just over the horizon, there’s always something better. Sometimes we get trapped by our own behaviour. You can be a prisoner of your own thoughts. They can take you to some pretty dark and unexpected places if you let them. It’s a song about checking yourself. It’s not to do with lockdown or the pandemic, it’s just the day to day wellbeing. A lot of Doves lyrics are shot through with that notion of having a word with yourself.”
The 3rd video released in anticipation for the album was for ‘Cathedrals of the Mind’.
“It was important, as it has been and will be for Doves. We’re always looking under rocks to see what’s there,” Jez Williams said. “Can we walk through that door? Does this sound reflect what’s now and who we are? How will it make other people feel, to be made to care?” As for the song’s spoken word middle section — a found recording of a speech by a member of the Black Panthers — Williams said, “We just stumbled upon this beautiful speech that really moved us. The determination and heartfelt cry for justice, especially echoing through the times we’re living through, it resonated.” He continued, “His lyrics connect to our lyrics in the song in a kinda ‘the theory of everything’ way, so we felt it fitted perfectly. A speech can have not just one meaning, but two, three or four meanings. That is, if you listen real close. Much like a song.”
With the actual release of the album came the release of the 4th video for the song ‘Broken Eyes’.
“These songs are a timestamp of where our heads are at at the moment. I think it’s still got that yearning that all Doves songs have got. I was trying to tap into a balearic, summer yearning. I also thought there was a lot of self-help in these lyrics, especially on songs like ‘Cycle Of Hurt’ and ‘Prisoners’. There’s a lot more tapping into mental health issues.” Jez Williams added: “It feels like a bit of healthy therapy. We’ve not had the pleasure of playing it live where people sing it back to you, but I imagine that will be a pretty cool moment – if it ever fucking happens!”
Matt Berninger will release his debut album on October 2nd vía Book Records, a new label formed by Berninger and the producer of the album Booker T. Jones under Concord Records.
The first video single released for the album was the self titled track. Berninger had this to say about it: “For a long time, I had been writing songs for movies and musicals and other projects where I needed to get inside someone else’s head and convey another person’s feelings. I liked doing that, but I was ready to dig back into my own garbage and this was the first thing that came out.”
The video was directed by Tom Berninger, Matt’s brother and director of the great documentary about the National “Mistaken For Strangers”, and Chris Sgroi.
The 2nd video that was released was for ‘Distant Axis’, the video was co-directed by Matt Berninger alongside his brother Tom and Chris Sgroi.
About ‘Distant Axis’ Berninger said this: “I met Walter Martin, from the Walkmen, 15 years ago when the National opened for the Walkmen on a tour of shitty clubs in the American Southeast. On that tour, I learned a lot about how to be in a band without ruining your life. I also learned a lot about Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. Walt and I have stayed friends and about three years ago we started passing ideas back and forth. ‘Distant Axis’ started from a sketch Walt sent me named ‘Savannah.’ I think it’s about falling out of touch with someone or something you once thought would be there forever.”
The 3rd and most recent video released is for the song ‘One More Second’. The video was directed by Chris Sgroi and it finds Matt Berninger dancing all by himself. About the song he said this: “I wrote ‘One More Second’ with Matt Sheehy (Lost Lander, EL VY) with the intention for it to be a kind of answer to Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’, or sort of the other side of that conversation. I just wanted to write one of those classic, simple, desperate love songs that sound great in your car.”
The tracklist for the album:
1. My Eyes Are T-Shirts 2. Distant Axis 3. One More Second 4. Loved So Little 5. Silver Springs 6. Oh Dearie 7. Take Me Out of Town 8. Collar Of Your Shirt 9. All For Nothing 10. Serpentine Prison
About the recording and release of his debut album Berninger shared with NME on an interview from December of 2019 that the record is “not the greatest solo album in the world, but it’s in the top five” before elaborating on its sound. “I wasn’t trying to do anything with a genre in mind,” he revealed. “With the covers, which you might never hear, I was singing some country songs, some soul songs and different things. I didn’t think about the style of the songs or even trying to avoid sounding like The National or [side-project] El Vy. There’s cross-pollination, but I wasn’t trying to go after anything. I just wanted to find some good songs. I just wanted to see if I could do something by myself, so I brought in 20 of the most brilliant musicians and some of the coolest people I know.”
Keaton Henson released a video for the song “Prayer” off his new album Monument which will be released on October 23rd vía Play It Again Sam (PIAS).
The video was directed by Geej Ower.
Keaton Henson said about the recording of this album: “I suppose it is, at its heart, much like my first record; a collection of things I wanted to say, just so they’re out of my system, and not necessarily for anyone else to hear. I made it at home, mostly alone, to the sound of birds and rainstorms, at strange hours of day and night. But, once the bones were recorded, I was somewhat unexpectedly joined by an amazing group of people, who came to musically lift me on their shoulders, and take these unsaid feelings to another plain in terms of sound.”
“‘Prayer’ is a meditation on the act of preparing to lose someone, in whatever form that takes,” Henson explained. “It’s about the feeling of helplessness, and the realisation that there are no words you can say to someone before they leave that will make it less painful when they do, as much as we feel like there must be. The orchestral section is a more personal statement; I didn’t know what to say to my dad before he left and I don’t really know what to say now, so it is, for once in the record, just simply goodbye.”
Another video released was for the song Ontario.
About Ontario Keaton shared: “I have found great solace in the icy winds of Canada. Where, upon opening the door in the morning, the instant freezing of your skin takes any lingering sleeplessness and unreason from you, making you move forward, no matter what else is going on. It is an ode to that landscape, and a portrait of a place I find beautiful, albeit strange.”
The 1st song and video released in anticipation for this album was ‘Career Day’.
About this song and video Henson said: “The video is a collection of often abstracted shots from deeply personal home videos. I just liked the idea of hearing an ageing weary man, singing about his failings over distorted shots of his childhood, and how it colours those captured gleeful moments with the sadness of the passage of time.”
The 4th and most recent video release is for ‘Husk’. About it Henson shared: “Husk is about waking up and realising that you’ve aged. That time, the traitor, has taken from you your best years, the ones where your bones didn’t ache and you could make it through the day without questioning existence.”
The tracklist for Monument, which contains collaborations from Phillip Selway on drums and percussion, Leo Abrahams on guitar and Charlotte Harding on saxophone, is:
1. Ambulance 2. Self Portrait 3. Ontario 4. Career Day 5. Prayer 6. While I Can 7. Bed 8. The Grand Old Reason 9. Husk 10. Thesis 11. Bygones
METZ have announced their upcoming album “Atlas Vending” due in October on Sub Pop.
On limited Loser Edition pearlescent grey and silver colored vinyl.
With the announcement came the release of the video for the closing track “A Boat To Drown In”.
Through a press release Tony Wolski, the director of the video, said: “the song has a beautiful, crushing numbness to it that we wanted to mirror in the visual. So we chose to romanticise our main character’s descent into her delusions of love and togetherness. At a time when everyone’s simultaneously coping with some sort of isolation, a story about loneliness – and the mania that comes with it – seems appropriate to tell.”
This is their first release since “Strange Peace” came out in 2017. Last year they released their rarities compilation titled “Automat”.
The tracklist of ‘Atlas Vending’ is:
1. ‘Pulse’ 2. ‘Blind Youth Industrial Park’ 3. ‘The Mirror’ 4. ‘No Ceiling’ 5. ‘Hail Taxi’ 6. ‘Draw Us In’ 7. ‘Sugar Pill’ 8. ‘Framed by the Comet’s Tail’ 9. ‘Parasite’ 10. ‘A Boat to Drown In’
It goes without saying that this song is ripping, just like almost everything they’ve released so far. Every time we see them live we get the sense, or feel, that that’s what it must’ve felt like to have seen Nirvana live pre-Nevermind.
Death Eyes’ final EP, State of Fear, was released digitally through Three One G Records.
Death Eyes first came to be in January of 2014, a merging of members from San Diego bands Rats Eyes and Death Crisis (hence the name), made up of Alberto Jurado (vocals), Jimmy Armbrust (bass), Jason Blackmore (guitar), and John Cota (drums). More recently, Cole Mears took over as bassist, with plans of more extensive touring. Having played with bands such as The Weirdos, Agent Orange, M.D.C., Nails, and Big Business, it’s evident that what emerged was something brutal, potent, and relevant to hardcore punk.
Tragically, in the midst of working on what was to be their upcoming LP, the band suddenly lost vocalist Alberto Jurado in January 2020, just weeks before they were set to tour with Big Business. This EP is what was completed from these final sessions. The accompanying video for “Management Is Not Your Friend” serves as a mix of brutal, relevant found footage, as well as live performances that celebrate all of the life and swagger that Alberto had, always. “We Miss You, Alberto. Rock’n Roll!!!”
Guitarist Jason Blackmore: “We had been working on new material in 2019 for what would have been our new full length record. The plan was to do ten songs more in the vein of our “AmRep/Jesus Lizard” kinda rock song vibe. No short thirty second hyper hardcore songs. Hell, one of the songs was actually over six minutes long. Anyway, we recorded the music for five new songs in September of 2019 and Alberto started writing lyrics for those soon after. We were set to do a West Coast tour with Big Business in February. So Alberto had been putting the vocals down for the songs that we had already recorded and the plan was to record the music for the other five new songs directly after the Big Biz tour. And then go into the studio and record Alberto’s vocals for those tunes. Turn everything in by early June. Drop the new album by October and hit the road to spread the word. On January 20th Alberto died suddenly after being rushed to the hospital while experiencing chest and stomach pains. He had been super excited about writing, recording and touring. More so than he had been in a long time. It was almost like he knew that he was living on borrowed time. He never talked about his health situation. He never wanted to bore you with conversations about himself. He just wanted to be himself. Play music. Talk about music. Drink beer. Love and laugh. And he had an infectious laugh. And a genuine soul. He was a true one of a kind. We miss him dearly. Rock’n Roll!!!”
If you were lucky enough to have met and known Beto then chances are you have a sweet story to tell. He was a great performer and a good human being. He is missed.
Ultraista released the follow up to their self titled debut album on March 13th, 2020 our on Partisan Records.
For those that choose not to remember, Ultraísta are drummer extraordinaire Joey Waronker (Atoms For Peace, Beck, R.E.M.), the incomparable voice of Laura Bettinson and producer Nigel Godrich.
The first single/video released was the beat heavy and hypnotic “Tin King”.
It was followed by “Anybody”.
The last one released was “Harmony”.
What does the album sound like? It sounds like a Nigel Godrich produced album. If you’re familiar with his work with Radiohead, Thom Yorke solo albums, Beck, Air and more, then you know what a song or album of his sounds like. It’s the sound of 21st century synthpop. Impeccable sounding and produced wall of sound synthpop.
The standout of the album is Laura Bettinson’s voice, as mesmerizing the work from Joey Waronker can be and Nigel’s bass lines are it’s Laura’s voice that makes the album and it makes it glow.
Here’s to hoping that the cancelled shows happen sometime in the not too distant future.
Every few years the feeling that the times they’re a changin lingers. This time around is palpable. This time around it rings true. This time around you can feel it surrounding you. And with every change art leads the way. Either in painting or film or graffiti or writing or music; the arts help us navigate the turbulent and fucked up times that unravel around us.
That being said Dead Cross have released a video for the song “Rise Above” a cover from Black Flag. The video was created by Displaced/Replaced.
Dead Cross recorded the cover “in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and staunchly opposing police brutality and systemic racism,” they said in a joint statement. “As such, the track opens with a recording of a Los Angeles resident voicing his displeasure with the LAPD during a public comment period from a regularly scheduled LA police commission meeting; which he finishes by stating: Suck my dick and choke on it. I yield my time.
As always remember if it’s within your means support your local non-profit charities. Volunteer within your community. Help those in need. Stand in solidarity. Be fucking kind.
Psychic Graveyard released their new album “A Bluebird Vacation” on May 22nd on Fat Beat Records.
Track listing
1 I Wanted Anything
2 Is There a Hotline?
3 Backyard Full of Laughter
4 I Know That Woman
5 No
6 A Bluebird Vacation
7 Weapon
8 People Dislike Me
9 Animal I Can’t Avoid
10 Never Get Clean
Their single “Is There a Hotline” was accompanied by a video done by First Church Of The Void (Eric Livingstone).
The noiserock punk band released an album that sounds urgent. It screams to be heard. Once you start playing it you need to make sure to play it loud, as close to 11 as possible. Eric Paul’s lyrics/poetry is as open to interpretation as it is reflective of you. This is an album that feels that it was written with a crisis in mind. Charles Ovett drum work is nothing short of a masterclass in drum punishment. And Nathan Joyner & Paul Vieira work include very few guitars at all. The results work hand in hand with the lyrics addressing very personal experiences with mental illness, anti-depressants and benzodiazepines, and the difficulty of helping family going through their own challenges. These sounds don’t blindly spin into despair nor foolishly claim that overcoming just requires finding the right vocal melody. These songs are as messy as life itself, in all its stupid beauty.
Psychic Graveyard’s members previously played in the bands Arab on Radar, Some Girls, All Leather, Chinese Stars, Hot Nerds, Doomsday Student and more. This is their second album and was impeccably produced with Seth Manchester (Lingua Ignota, Lightning Bolt, Daughters).
i think i better follow you around 