i think i better follow you around

Cat Power just released her new album, “Covers”, on January 14th via Domino Records.

Tracklist:

Bad Religion – Frank Ocean
Unhate – Cat Power – Chan Marshall
Pa Pa Power – Dead Man’s Bones
White Mustang – Lana Del Rey
A Pair of Brown Eyes – The Pogues
Against the Wind – Bob Seger
Endless Sea – Iggy Pop
These Days – Jackson Browne
It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels – Kitty Wells
I Had a Dream Joe – Nick Cave
Here Comes a Regular – The Replacements
I’ll Be Seeing You – Billie Holiday

Chan Marshall shared a few videos in anticipation of the album’s release. One of them was for “Pa Pa Power”, the video was directed by Greg Hunt, and she said of the song: “I started playing this solo in 2012 (originally more dissonant and trance-y), when the Occupy Wall Street protests were going on. Occupy was bunkering down and saying, ‘This shit’s fucking fucked up.’ And helping citizens be a voice in their local government. They got a lot of good things done, but the American media killed the movement. I felt like this song was relative to that. The American media has always penalized any sort of social progressiveness and is always the first to express conservative rhetoric against something that is beneficial to the nation. I’d open with this song on the 2013 China tour. ‘Burn the streets, burn the cars.’”

The video for “I’ll Be Seeing You” was also directed by Greg Hunt and Chan said of this selection: “When people who you love have been taken from you, there’s always a song that holds their memory in your mind. It’s a conversation with those on the other side, and it’s really important for me to reach out to people that way.”

She announced a tour to support the album and the closest she will be playing would be L.A. at the Orpheum on February 11th.

Escape-Ism, (Ian Svenonius & Alexandra Cabral), have released a video (art) for their new song “Lyp Sync”. This song and video are Rated Z.

The video for the song was directed by Ian Svenonius himself. The song was recorded at Club Blasé and it was mixed by Guy Blakeslee at Orange Audio.

ESCAPE-ISM is the found-sound dream-drama starring Ian Svenonius. First as the vocalist for Washington DC anarcho-punk dandies Nation Of Ulysses, and then with the revolutionary rock and soul of The Make-Up, before going on to Weird War, Chain & The Gang and other projects (including his books The Psychic Soviet and Supernatural Strategies For Making A Rock ‘N’ Roll Group) with Escape-Ism solo means solo with Alexandra Cabral. This is Svenonius and Cabral with just an electric guitar, a microphone, an analogue-sounding drum machine and a tape deck, creating the rawest and most stripped-back manifestation of his singular muse to date.

Andy Bell has released the first single, “Something Like Love”, off his new solo album “Flicker” out February 11th via Sonic Cathedral.

TRACKLIST
1. The Sky Without You
2. It Gets Easier
3. World Of Echo
4. Something Like Love
5. Jenny Holzer B. Goode
6. Way Of The World
7. Riverside
8. We All Fall Down
9. No Getting Out Alive
10. The Looking Glass
11. Love Is The Frequency
12. Gyre And Gimble
13. Lifeline
14. She Calls The Tune
15. Sidewinder
16. When The Lights Go Down
17. This Is Our Year
18. Holiday In The Sun

The video was done by Chris Tomsett at InnerStrings, filmed in SoHo during post-lockdown.

Andy Bell said in a press release: “When I think about ‘Flicker,’ I see it as closure. Most literally, on a half-finished project from over six years ago, but also on a much bigger timescale. Some of these songs date back to the ’90s and the cognitive dissonance of writing brand new lyrics over songs that are 20-plus years old makes it feel like it is, almost literally, me exchanging ideas with my younger self. The ‘flicker’ I’m talking about in the lyrics of ‘Something Like Love’ is that flame that makes a person who they are. I wanted to find that in myself, so I went back to the teenage me, a technique I learned in therapy and have been doing ever since, and got some advice on how to live and be happy in the 2020s. The View From Halfway Down was about turning 50 during a time of introspection; Flicker is about gathering the tools to equip myself mentally for life in 2022 and beyond, post-pandemic, post-Brexit, post-truth.”

The song has a Ride, Nowhere era essence to it, not necessarily a B-Side quality to it but it does carry it’s DNA in it, and that in itself is not a bad thing. As much as we don’t indulge in the nostalgia pool this is a good example of a song somehow moving forward and being better for it. No tour dates for the USofA (nor Tijuana) have been announced yet.

Author & Punisher unveiled a second track from the highly-anticipated new album, Krüller, out February 11th via Relapse Records, with today’s release of the drone-drenched love song, “Maiden Star”.

Tristan Shone offered insight into the track, where Phil Sgrosso contributed guitar, and its place on the album: “’Maiden Star’ continues the trudge of escape and survival from ‘Drone Carrying Dread,’ but with a focus on the vital interpersonal conflicts and triumphs that exist in times of war and peace. This track, my personal favorite from the balance of the heavy and the melodic, is deeply personal and painful at the same time. The first note both lifts me up and beats the shit out of me.”

Author & Punisher has announced two rounds of 2022 European tour dates with a pair (so far) of North American performances slated for March: March 6 Los Angeles, CA Resident
March 10 Oakland, CA Elbo Room Jack London

Spoon have shared their new single, “Wild”, off their upcoming album ‘Lucifer On The Sofa’s out February 11th via Matador Records.

Tracklist:

1. Held
2. The Hardest Cut
3. The Devil & Mister Jones
4. Wild
5. My Babe
6. Feels Alright
7. On The Radio
8. Astral Jacket
9. Satellite
10. Lucifer On The Sofa

The video for “Wild” was co-directed by Ben Chappel and Brook Linder. Linder said in a press release: “We were mid putting this video together and my friend Ben asked ‘Is Spoon the best band?’ Yes. Yep. Probably. There’s always something unexpected in the familiar with Spoon. They are mythic to me somehow, and ‘WILD’ needed to feel like a myth, or at least illustrate the myth-making process in some odd way. We used the old ways—crude in-camera techniques—to hit this uncanny western film note. Britt is the quintessential western hero. Had a blast 10/10 would do again.”

Britt Daniel in a press release said this about the new album: “It’s the sound of classic rock as written by a guy who never did get Eric Clapton”. If there was ever a tagline to purchase an album that is it. No need to look any further.

Spoon have also just announced their North American tour and they will playing the Belly Up in Sans Beach on May 31st with Geese supporting that date.

Boy Harsher have announced the premiere of their upcoming horror film “The Runner” out January 16th via Shudder.

The press release for the film says: “A strange woman as she travels to a secluded, rural town where her violent compulsions are slowly revealed. The story intertwines with Boy Harsher performing on a public access channel. Their music scores the strange woman’s descent deeper into the unknown.”

The film features performances by musician Kristina Esfandiari (King Woman / Miserable), Cooper B. Handy (Lucy), artist Sigrid Lauren. The film’s score was done by Boy Harsher and that will be released January 21st via City Slang/Nude Club.

About the song “Tower” the band said: “We wrote ‘Tower’ several years ago and although it’s evolved over the years, its initial intent remains the same—that feeling of being enveloped, suffocated, entrapped in a relationship, which in turn manifests into reckless attack. What you love the most can make you into a monster. And that’s what this song is about, being a paralyzed fiend.”

About “Give Me A Reason”, the band said: “We wanted to write something that encapsulates that feeling of yearning—the way we feel when we catch eyes from across the room. Our music can be flirty and crushable, and it’s fun to play with that.”

Spiritualized have released the 2nd single, “Crazy”, off their upcoming album “Everything Was Beautiful” out February 25th via Fat Possum Records.

Tracklist:
1. “Always Together With You”
2. “Best Thing You Never Had (The D Song)”
3. “Let It Bleed (For Iggy)”
4. “Crazy”
5. “The Mainline Song”
6. “The A Song (Laid In Your Arms)”
7. “I’m Coming Home Again”

The video for “Crazy” was directed by Jason Pierce himself and is a kaleidoscopic collage, much like the song itself.

Jason Pierce said in his press release: “There was so much information on it that the slightest move would unbalance it, but going around in circles is important to me. Not like you’re spiraling out of control but you’re going around and around and on each revolution you hold onto the good each time. Sure, you get mistakes as well, but you hold on to some of those too and that’s how you kind of… achieve. Well, you get there.”

Beirut has released “Fyodor Dormant” off his new album “Artifacts” out January 28th via Pompeii.

Tracklist:

SIDE A – Lon Gisland, Transatlantique, O Leãozinho

1. Elephant Gun
2. My Family’s Role In The World Revolution
3. Scenic World
4. The Long Island Sound
5. Carousels
6. Transatantique
7. O Leãozinho

SIDE B – The Misfits

8. Autumn Tall Tales
9. Fyodor Dormant
10. Poisoning Claude
11. Bercy
12. Your Sails
13. Irrlichter

SIDE C – New Directions and Early Works

14. Sicily
15. Now I’m Gone
16. Napoleon On The Bellerophon
17. Interior of a Dutch House
18. Fountains and Tramways
19. Hot Air Balloon

SIDE D – The B-Sides

20. Fisher Island Sound
21. So Slowly
22. Die Treue zum Ursprung
23. The Crossing
24. Zagora
25. Le Phare Du Cap Bon
26. Babylon

“Artifacts” is a compilation album of sorts. Old EP’s and never before heard songs. Zach Condon said: “When the decision came to re-release this collection, I found myself digging through hard drives looking for something extra to add to the compilation. What started as a few extra unreleased tracks from my formative recording years quickly grew into an entire extra records’ worth of music from my past, and a larger project of remixing and remastering everything I found for good measure.”

Beirut said in a press release: “I don’t know if people who hear most of my music would know immediately how much I loved synthesizers as a teenager. I saw them as a welcome escape from the then electric-guitar-dominated music of the States and the U.K., before I was exposed to the broader spectrum of music outside of these narrow walls. I still sneak synths in around the corners of most albums, sometimes heavily, sometimes subtly. I now have access to some beautiful and unique analog systems, but back then, I had a barely functioning, shared-by-the-whole-house PC with a pirated copy of Fruity Loops, and I wanted to make music that could make me get off the wall and move a little, at least in my imagination. I was an often lonely and isolated teenager and rarely if ever found friends as obsessive and similar-minded about music as myself, so starting a band always ended up seeming more or less out of the question. This was my first experience being able to arrange for all parts with ease, and starting to craft sounds from simple wave shapes into something with character was an exciting endeavor that I still enjoy. It was on songs like this one that I started adding the acoustic instruments back into the mix, using a piano that was moved into the house that I fell in love with, and my dear companion the trumpet. It was from about this time at 16 years of age and on that I slowly began to shed the training wheels of the computer program and wander deeper and deeper into the unknown sonic territory of Farfisa organs, accordions and ukuleles.”

Subjective have release new single “Lost” (feat. Tom Misch and Frida Touray) off the new album “The Start Of No Regret” out via Three Six Zero Recordings.

TRACKLIST:
01. The Start of No Regret
02. Lost feat. Tom Misch and Frida Touray
03. Brushstrokes feat. Cleveland Watkiss
04. Dassai Menace
05. American Gods feat. Natalie Duncan
06. Azimuth
07. Crazy feat. Natalie Williams
08. Breakout feat. LaMeduza
09. Paradise feat. LaMeduza
10. Dark feat. Greentea Peng
11. Reflection
12. Sunlight feat. Lady Blackbird
13. Dollis Hill Rufige
14. Yoshi’s Highway feat. Lady Blackbird

Frida Tourey said: “It was an amazing experience getting to record this track with Goldie. There’s a real passion in the track and lyrics that Goldie wrote that spoke to me and I’m so happy I was asked to sing and interpret that sentiment freely.”

Tom Misch said: “Goldie hit me up and asked if I wanted to make some music together. I was up for trying something, curious to what we would make! He sent me some drums and I started messing around with some pad sounds on my prophet 5. I added some more layers, a bit of guitar and sent it back to him and he digged it!”

Goldie shared: “I really love the way that this album time travels through so many poignant aspects of mine and James’ life through rave culture, jungle, drum & bass and indie influences over the last 20 years. I’m super happy with it and I hope that you will be too.”