i think i better follow you around

Annette is a magical, glorious and delirious musical tragedy.

Annette comes from a concept album idea from the band Sparks, who are having a mainstream moment thanks to this and a documentary that was directed by Edgar Wright. The band met Carax in Cannes when the director was premiering “Holy Motors” and he had used a Sparks song for that movie and their collaboration began.

(There are some spoilers in the review below.)

Leos Carax directs a wonderful Marion Cotillard (Ann). She’s a revered opera actress. The audience loves her as much as her accompanist. She’s accomplished and always gives more on each subsequent performance. Her audience is captivated and in awe, at one point her boyfriend, Adam Driver (Henry) gets to see her the finale of one of her performances and you bear witness to him realizing (confirming?) that she’s the better part of the relationship.

Adam Driver plays Henry. Henry is a stand up comedian. He’s the opposite of Ann. His onstage persona is a robe wearing always smoking angry, confrontational smart eloquent and hostile comedian. Basically he’s Bill Hicks with a robe and a great body. Now, there is no way to confirm this but the basis for this assumption comes from the fact that he goes after the audience a couple of times, the self deprecating humor, the constant questioning of why is he funny and why would.anyone find him attractive. The dick jokes. He gets shot onstage.

They get engaged. They get married. They get pregnant. The baby comes along. The stress fractures the fragile relationship. They go away from the spotlight to rekindle their love. Tragedy strikes. A return from the ashes looks possible. Magic and wonder ensues. Self inflicted tragedy strikes again.

It’s in the third act that the movie gets surreal. And magical. And tender. Almost dreamlike before human nature and it’s shortcomings take over and replaces those tender feelings with a hopeless self inflicted tragedy.

The more I think of the movie the more I remember things and the more I find moments that stayed with me permanently.

Obviously the music is the most fundamental aspect of the movie and it doesn’t let down from the start with the aptly titled “So May We Start” at the beginning of the movie that, literally, sets you up for what’s to come. To the voyeuristic romance of “We Love Each Other” to the sociopathic “I’m an Accompanist” to the loving “True Love Always Finds A Way” and “Aria” to the personal favorite “You Used To Laugh” to the tragic “Let’s Waltz in the Storm” and lastly all of the Annette songs “We’ve Washed Ashore” and the “Premiere Songs”. There isn’t a bad song in the whole movie. The performances are impecable. It’s a musical and a tragedy and a comedy and a drama and an opus all into one.

Go watch the movie and let it live within you. Give it the space it needs to breathe and grow.

Caleb Landry Jones has announced the release of his new album “Gadzooks Vol. 1”, out September 24th via Sacred Bones Records.

TRACKLIST:
1. Never Wet
2. Yesterday Will Come
3. The Loon (A Gate Away)
4. Bogie
5. Gloria
6. California
7. For A Short Time (There Was Loving)
8. A Slice Of Dream
9. This Won’t Come Back

The first single off the album is ‘Bogie’. The video was created by Jacqueline Castel.

Caleb Landry Jones just won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his role in the movie “Nitram”. Some of the previous acting roles he’s had have been Banshee in X-Men First Class, Get Out, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a few episodes in Twin Peaks and the Dead Don’t Die. These last 2, the one’s with David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch, were done with directors that are part of Sacred Bones Records roster. And it was Jim Jarmusch himself that made the introduction between the actor/musician and the label.

Caleb said this of his album: “I stole from what was around me, what fell out of the television, what passed below my windows, relationships, old and new. My frustrations, desires, day dreams and fears scattered themselves throughout my writing. It is a direct response to the album before it. I felt whatever I wrote next needed to be more consistent. I knew that I wanted to put everything down on tape. I wanted the same players as before but to go further. The perspectives from which I write, jump erratically and can turn on a dime. Others grow and burn, only to sometimes vanish on the spot, just before the hat drops… My intention is to not rob the listener of their own fantasies by describing the annals of purpose which in turn, only unearth a fragile magic. I am interested only in the album’s response by its audience. The album is there to be digested, not by the front of your brain, but by the back. It is for the lover of labyrinths and quagmires.”

No tour dates have been announced yet for the USofA (or Tijuana).

Small Isles released their debut album “The Valley, The Mountains, The Sea” on June 25th via AKP Recordings, an imprint of Dangerbird Records.

Tracklist: 1 – The Concept
2 – Walked From Ruin
3 – I Came as a Faux
4 – Life at One
5 – Fort Wayne
6 – Lake Superior
7 – Maybe We Will
8 – The Plot to Take Clover

The video for the single ‘Life at One’ was done Riley Anderson. About the video Jim Fairchild said: “I had this vague concept of a person facing down their mortality and then finding redemption and purpose. Where Riley took the song was beyond what I’d hoped for. It is heartbreaking in the best possible way, without becoming didactic. He is also making a chopped and screwed version of the video which will serve as a chaptered visual accompaniment for the whole album. Riley’s work brought the whole album to life in a way I’d hoped for but couldn’t have imagined.”

Small Isles is the new instrumental project of guitarist Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy / Modest Mouse / All Smiles) and songwriter/composer Jacob Snider, Small Isles inhabits a rare hypnotic twilight between motion picture music and incandescent cosmic folk. At once a love letter to film soundtracks and a meditative balm for our troubled times, The Valley, The Mountains, The Sea was recorded by Fairchild on a bare-bones mobile rig while on tour with Modest Mouse, in the cracks of time between soundchecks and performances, from city to city, in darkened hotel rooms and over-lit backstage dressing rooms, giving the album a sense of intimacy, of stolen time and weary after show solitude.

This is what Jim Fairchild had to say about Small Isles: “I began writing this album with a vague prompt. I wanted to conceive music that would inspire Ang Lee and Rick Moody to come together and use my work as a mood board for creating a spiritual sequel to The Ice Storm. And then use the album as cues for the score to the movie. I worked on it backstage almost every day during a tour with Modest Mouse. It was a dark time and it was healing to set up my rig and make music as a ritual. I was feeling good about the results, but it wasn’t until Jacob Snider started adding to the songs that they felt as beautiful and evocative as I’d imagined they could. Once Mike Cresswell sent me back the mixes, my favorite songs were the ones Jacob was on. So Small Isles the band was born. Now we have this album and another five-song EP that we’ll start mixing in the next couple of weeks with live strings and a fully formed collaboration between Jacob and me.”

There are no tour dates as of yet for the USofA (or Tijuana).

Clinic have officially announced the release of their new album “Fantasy Island” to be released October 22nd via Domino Records. With the announcement they’ve also shared their new single ‘Fantasy Island’.

TRACKLIST:
01 “The Lamplighter”
02 “Fine Dining”
03 “Take A Chance”
04 “Refractions (In The Rain)”
05 “Dreams Can Come True”
06 “Miracles”
07 “On The Other Side…”
08 “Fantasy Island”
09 “I Can’t Stand The Rain”
10 “Feelings”
11 “Hocus Pocus”
12 “Grand Finale”

The video was directed by Emily Evans. The band say about the single: “Get out of your tree tonight with Clinic’s new electro-rockabilly shebang.”

The band revealed in a soundbite that: “Clinic look to a brighter future. This time they are embracing the idea of looking at the future and the different ways it can unfold. It’s a tin of fruit cocktail.”

Referencing H.G. Wells’ Things to Come, Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage and Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan, the themes Clinic explore on this album are time, music and entertainment. In a (coco) nutshell, Clinic have gone funky disco, broadening their sonic palette with the addition of several new gadgets including an electronic acid bass machine, a 1970s cocktail rhythm unit, a Casio digital horn and space drum.

They are also heading out on their first live tour since 2012 later this year. No dates have been announced for the USofA (or Tijuana) yet.

James Blake has announced his new album “Friends That Break Your Heart” to be released September 10th. With the album announcement came the release also of the first single ‘Say What You Will’.

TRACKLIST:
01: FAMOUS LAST WORDS
02: LIFE IS NOT THE SAME
03: COMING BACK (FEAT. SZA)
04: FUNERAL
05: FROZEN (FEAT. JID & SWAVAY)
06: I’M SO BLESSED YOU’RE MINE
07: FOOT FORWARD
08: SHOW ME (FEAT. MONICA MARTIN)
09: SAY WHAT YOU WILL
10: LOST ANGEL NIGHTS
11: FRIENDS THAT BREAK YOUR HEART
12: IF I’M INSECURE

The video stars James Blake and Finneas. Blake said this of the song: “The song is about finding peace with who you are and where you’re at regardless of how well other people seem to be doing. Comparison really is the thief of joy.”

He’s announce some tour dates kicking off in San Diego, CA.
September 16 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
September 19 – San Francisco, CA @ Greek Theatre
September 21 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
September 22 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
September 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
September 28 – Denver, CO @ The Fillmore
September 30 – Minneapolis, MN @ The State Theatre
October 2 – Detroit, MI @ Fillmore Auditorium
October 3 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
October 6 – Boston, MA @ Boch Center Wang Theatre
October 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia
October 9 – New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
October 12 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
October 13 – Charlotte, NC @ Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
October 15 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Matt Sweeney have finally gotten around, 16 years later, in making the follow to their album Superwolf aptly titled “Superwolves” which was released via Drag City.

Tracklist:

01 Make Worry for Me
02 Good to My Girls
03 God Is Waiting
04 Hall of Death
05 Shorty’s Ark
06 I Am a Youth Inclined to Ramble
07 My Popsicle
08 Watch What Happens
09 Resist the Urge
10 There Must Be a Someone
11 My Blue Suit
12 My Body Is My Own
13 You Can Regret What You Have Done
14 Not Fooling

The duo released a few videos in anticipation of the album’s release. This one is for “My Body Is My Own” and it was recorded at the Apex Protection Project wolf rescue and sanctuary in L.A.

Another one was for “Resist The Urge”. This one was directed by Atiba and Kevin “Spanky’ Long.

The video for “My Blue Suit” was directed by Geoff McFetridge.

Sai Selvarajan & Jeff Bednarz directed the video for “Hall Of Death”.

Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe directed what was the first offering from the album “Make Worry For Me”.

They started the process for this album 5 years ago sending sketches and demos and ideas back and forth. There were instances were Will Oldham would send the lyrics over to Matt Sweeney so he could put music to the words. There’s a delicate nature on how Sweeney knows Oldham’s voice so well that he can put music to the lyrics. “I love the challenge to write melodies for Will to sing,” Sweeney said. “Struggle with that challenge, too. Knowing that Will’s voice will elevate the melody makes me reach higher and dig deeper for the tune. Makes me want to match it with a guitar part that holds his voice like a chalice holds wine (or blood, or whatever is needed to live the best life). I also love singing harmonies and responses to this voice of his.”

Will said this about the record: “Even if it’s only for the two and a half minutes or four minutes that the song is on…. You don’t want people to just sit back and hear it and say, ‘That’s awesome,’ you want people to sit with it for, you know…if you’ve done your job right, sit with it for days or weeks or months or years.”

Go and immerse yourself in this album and once you’re done go and chase the rabbit hole that is both of their discographies.

Ministry have announced the release of their 15th album “Moral Hygiene” out October 1st via Nuclear Blast. The second single is ‘Good Trouble’.

Tracklisting:
1. Alert Level
2. Good Trouble
3. Sabotage Is Sex
4. Disinformation
5. Search and Destroy
6. Believe Me
7. Broken System
8. We Shall Resist
9. Death Toll
10. TV Song #6 (Right Around the Corner Mix)

Below is the video which contains footage from the BLM demonstrations in L.A. that were shot by Al Jourgensen and Liz Walton.

“Good Trouble” was inspired by the late congressman John Lewis and the Black Lives Matter protests around the country in 2020. Jourgensen said: “I was watching the coverage last July around Lewis’ death and was in awe the next day when this entire letter from him was published in the New York Times. How suss was that to want to keep making progress after his death by thinking about the legacy he left. I was struck by the reflectiveness of his speech, knowing he was dying and making sure it was released because he saw trouble ahead. That is the moral hygiene of this album, we have to do something to change and I really hope we continue to act and live up to the idea of getting into good trouble for the benefit of society.”

About the album Jourgensen said this: “The good thing about literally taking a year off from any social activity or touring is that you really get to sit back and get an overview of things as they are happening, as opposed to being caught up in the moment. And what I saw with how we handled several public crises, from the pandemic to racial injustice to who we vote in to lead our country, is that times are changing, and society needed to change to get away from the idea that has permeated us of take care of yourself, fuck everything else. Now more than ever we need moral hygiene. It consumed me as I wrote this album. It’s not some pious term. It’s what we have to return to in order to function as the human species on this planet. And I’m proud to have had such great guests on this album to help cement that message like Billy Morrison, Jello Biafra and Arabian Prince.”

They will be on a full fall tour, “Industrial Strength Tour”, with Helmet and Front Line Assembly.

Black Dice have (finally) announced a new album “Mod Prig Sic” out in October via FourFour Records. With the announcement comes the first single ‘White Sugar’.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Bad Bet”
02 “Tuned Out”
03 “Swinging”
04 “Scramblehead”
04 “White Sugar”
05 “Plasma”
06 “Big Chip”
07 “All The Way
08 “Scramblehead II”
09 “Jocko”
10 “Downward Arrow”
11 “Scramblehead III”

The video for “White Sugar” was directed by Aaron Anderson.

Jonathan Galkin, who is the co-founder of DFA Records, is the founder of FourFour Records and said this: “I started this label to seamlessly continue on with the artistic, creative work I did for the past 20 years, plus sign artists who I have been eager to work and collaborate with. Black Dice’s Beaches & Canyons (2003) was the first full length album released on DFA, and there could be no more appropriate band in which to launch my new label.”.

Black Dice will kick off their tour in San Diego on October 26th with a show at the Soda Bar.

Spencer., has announced the details of his debut album ‘Are U Down’ and shares his first single, “Lonely As I Ever Was”, the album will be released on September 10th via 4AD.

TRACKLIST:
1. byyyte
2. Lonely As I Ever Was
3. U Around?
4. MyLuv
5. After the Show (ft. Becky and the Birds)
6. Luvs Me Not
7. RocStar
8. staywmecassette
9. No Direction
10. Heart Freestyle
11. Drop

The video for “Lonely As I Ever Was” was directed by Rooftop. Spencer said this about the song: “’Lonely As I Ever Was’ was the last song I wrote for my record, I even made the outro the same day.  The theme of this one is basically from the song ‘Next Lifetime’ by Erykah Badu, and I even reference it in the lyrics.  Kinda like being on the other side of her situation, begging someone in a relationship to consider a relationship with you.”

Born and raised in Rochester, NY, to chemist parents who presciently gifted him the middle name Miles (for Miles Davis), a career in music beckoned from an early age with 4-year-old Spencer. lobbying his Jamaican mother and British father for trumpet lessons in tribute to his namesake.  Rochester’s rich and underappreciated creative scene nurtured his musical skills, and he won a place on a summer jazz programme at the city’s prestigious Eastman School of Music in his teens.  A self-taught producer who has always recorded in isolation, he started self-releasing home recordings in 2018, and eventually dropped out of college when his EP Want U Back became a word-of-mouth hit.