Showing posts with label Rhett Miller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rhett Miller. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 October 2025

Palm Ghosts - Rhett Miller - Gwenno - Black Dahlia - White Birches

Photo - Chad Crawford
Palm Ghosts - Content Providers (single).

Nashville-based indie rock trio Palm Ghosts releases its Content Providers album via Sweet Cheetah Records/Steadfast Records/Poptek Records on October 10. Content Providers is not just an album, it's a howl from the neon gulag of 2025, where rock bands aren’t bands anymore, but social media vending machines doling out dopamine and desperation in equal measure.

Palm Ghosts, ever the beautiful b*tards of post-punk gloom and cinematic pop, have cracked the mirror and are pointing to the ugly thing squirming behind it. These eleven songs don’t whisper or plead; they seethe, spiral, and spit in the face of algorithmic servitude. There’s blood under the fingernails of every chorus. You can hear the band clawing for something real in the white noise of followers, filters, and faux vulnerability. This is a world where authenticity has been weaponized, where the artist is just a dancing bear with a ring light and a Patreon account.

So, Content Providers does what any sane record would do—it loses its mind on tape. There are echoes of Gang of Four wielding a synth like a machete, Joy Division driving a burning Tesla into a lake, and sweet, sweet melodies that feel like postcards from a collapsing civilization written in faux-blood and tears. It’s ironic and earnest, brutal and beautiful.


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Photo - Jason Quigley
Rhett Miller - All Over Again.

Rhett Miller releases “All Over Again,” the final single from his tenth solo album A lifetime of riding by night that arrives this Friday, October 10 via ATO Records. Co-written with Nicole Atkins, the tender song of hope and resilience poses the poignant question: What if everybody was there for each other just for a minute? 

About the single, Rhett Miller explains, "Nicole Atkins was the brains and driving force behind ‘All Over Again.’ She challenged me to go with her to a musical place I'd never gone before. We did something that felt big and sweeping and positive in a way we had no idea the world might need a few years later when the song finally found a home on this new record of mine."

Nicole Atkins adds, “I was out on tour with the Old 97’s, it was the first few months of my life being sober on the road and this music and melody came to me. I showed it to Rhett one night and the next day he had all the words and they were so beautiful and positive. Just like Rhett. It’s tough to write a song that’s happy but he always has the perfect lyrical twists that are so natural to him.”

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Photo - Clare Marie Bailey
Gwenno - Utopia (Cornelius Remix).

Gwenno shares a dazzling Cornelius remix of “Utopia”, the title track from her new album that was released to universal acclaim via Heavenly Recordings in July. The Japanese producer / musical genius takes the track from Cardiff via Las Vegas and transports it to a starlit, sky high Tokyo piano bar. The result is pure utopian pop heaven - a sweeping orchestral love song to life itself. .

Commenting on the remix Gwenno says: “Cornelius is such a huge musical figure in anyone's life who came of age in the Naughties, and so I was over the moon when he agreed to remix Utopia. He has not only managed to enhance the musicality of the song, but has also added to the hyper real efflorescence that was in the air at the turn of the 21st century, which is what Utopia is all about. I see it as a perfect musical marriage between Las Vegas and Tokyo in the year 2025.”

Cornelius adds: “A few months ago Gwenno contacted me on social media asking if I’d do a remix. I didn’t know her music at the time, but once I listened I realized it was exactly my taste: psychedelic in feel, with production that hints at Krautrock and at Jean-Claude Vannier - Serge Gainsbourg’s arranger. I was also drawn to her natural, clear voice and her Welsh background. I was genuinely happy that an artist making music like that took an interest in what I’m doing all the way over here in Japan, so I gladly accepted. For my version of ‘Utopia’ I aimed for an elegant sound that updates the 1950s exotica of Esquivel and Martin Denny for today. I hope you enjoy it.”


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Black Dahlia - The Imposter (Album).

Black Dahlia is an experimental musician and performance artist whose work blurs the boundaries between theatre, sound, and surreal spectacle. Her creations exist in dreamlike spaces where masks, characters, and worlds collide—flamboyant, avant-garde expressions that draw as much from performance art, mime, and surrealism as they do from music itself. Whether inhabiting strange personas on stage or building vast sonic landscapes, Black Dahlia conjures universes that feel both alien and intimately human, inviting her audience to step into the unknown.

Her new album The Imposter (out this week via her own imprint School of Dahlia) is a theatrical concept record that unfolds like a surreal stage play. Written, produced, arranged and performed by Black Dahlia, it follows a lone wanderer, The Imposter, who chases an enigmatic light away from a distant Paradise, only to find himself lost between realms, drifting through an interstellar limbo of time and strange encounters. The Imposter introduces this cosmic odyssey—an otherworldly tale of displacement and identity as the wanderer grapples with his fall from Paradise and the haunting uncertainty of existing between worlds.

Upon landing on Earth, the story continues with “Amphibian Man,” where The Imposter washes ashore in Germany and confronts the bizarre, dazzling reality of humankind. As he adopts new masks and identities in an attempt to belong, his confusion and frustration reach a breaking point, culminating in an explosive metamorphosis that symbolizes both rebellion and rebirth.



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White Birches - Breathing.

Back in 2017 we first came across White Birches and were struck at the time by their incredible song construction and the atmosphere they create, so it's a big welcome back to Beehive Candy.  "Breathing" is the first single to be taken of the brand new upcoming album "A New Reign" (Release November 21 2025). 

The track sets the tone for the album with its raw pulse, hypnotic synths, deep bass and intense vocals. Written in the aftermath of loss and upheaval, the song captures both pressure and relief. It is about survival — the simple act of breathing, where one wave of sound inhales and the next exhales.

Fans of Chelsea Wolfe, PJ Harvey and Anna von Hausswolff will recognize the haunting balance between fragility and ferocity.

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We are trying out a new Beta feature today with Google search links automatically added. Apologies in advance if they are not all appropriate, as said this is a Beta application we are trialing.

Saturday, 20 August 2022

Rhett Miller - Recitals - The Hooten Hallers - Joselyn and Don

Rhett Miller - Go Through You.

This week, Rhett Miller released a new single “Go Through You” from his forthcoming album The Misfit out September 16 via ATO Records. The 11-song collection was co-written and produced by Miller’s Hudson Valley, NY neighbor Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Sharon Van Etten, Danger Mouse) and continues their musical partnership that began on 2018’s The Messenger.

“Every songwriter has a favorite skin they inhabit, a story they tell over and over again. For decades I’ve been writing from the perspective of a sad sack loser, a ‘broken guy.’ He isn’t who I am in real life, but for whatever reason when I sit down to write a song I often become him, picking at old wounds, bemoaning my perceived victimization. The funny thing is that he’s, well, funny. I wouldn’t want to be the sad clown in real life, but thanks to songs like ‘Go Through You,’  I don’t have to,” explains Miller. “For the production on ‘Go Through You,’ Sam Cohen created a sonic world adjacent to Jeff Lynne’s work with Traveling Wilburys. I’m in love with the sounds he came up with. It’s all the things – hooky, bouncy, bubbly, catchy… Try listening to this song without smiling. Good luck.”

“Go Through You” follows the album’s first single “Follow You Home” that features vocals from Cassandra Jenkins and Annie Nero. The song was praised by American Songwriter, BrooklynVegan and Rolling Stone, who said, “With shades of Fleetwood Mac and dream-pop, the buoyant “Follow You Home” is anchored by its upbeat rhythm and sunny splashes of electric guitar.”

The 11 songs that comprise The Misfit are an elegant blurring of psychedelia, dream pop, and electronic-leaning indie rock, grounded by the vulnerable songwriting and unaffected vocal presence Miller has perfected as the frontman for legendary alt-country band Old 97's for the last three decades.

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Recitals - Gradient.

Recitals have unveiled the third and final single from their upcoming debut album, Orbit I. ‘Gradient’ is a dynamic sentiment that divulges the state of the world’s climate, reflected sonic-ally through the musical tensity and release - from the sparsity in the introduction, with its bare vocals and spidery synth, to the explosive breakdowns capturing the band’s potent energy.

“I remember going out to stand on the roof of my building in January 2020 to see the moon a violent red, painted that way by the Australian bushfires of the season. I remember thinking that it felt like an undeniably bad omen, the idea that we could/and were, changing the colours of our planet. It seems obvious now, as everything in the world seemed to combust, and spin completely out of control, to a point of uncontrollable dimension after that moon. I didn’t own any guitars at the time so I had to keep stealing one out of my flatmate’s room while he was away for the summer. I wrote the verses for the song and then worked with Christian and Josh to write those cacophonous 7/8 sections and that breakdown section at the end. The song kind of feels premonitory now, or like a prelude to all of this.” - Xanthe Rook.

The band have teamed up once again with director Matilda Boese-Wong, as well as editors Erin Murphy and East Abernethy to bring ‘Gradient’ to life visually. The music video, made with the generous support from NZ On Air and shot masterfully through the brilliant lens of Bill Bycroft (Aldous Harding, Womb, Marlon Williams), follows two lovers’ adventure across the land, where a chest is discovered and an otherworldly power is unlocked within.

“Xanthe Rook and I conjured up this peculiar video late one night in my bedroom. We wanted to take the viewer to a luscious alternate dreamscape, so we spent many evenings painting, cutting and gluing in order to craft this realm. With the contributions of some phenomenal artists we were able to see our vision through.  ‘Gradient’ is packed to the brim with rich instrumentation, so it was important the visuals matched that. It was blissful to collaborate with editor Erin Murphy, in order to play with all of the opulent footage shot by Bill Bycroft and bring it into an otherworldly territory.” - Matilda Boese-Wong.


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The Hooten Hallers - Cat Scrap.

Missouri's The Hooten Hallers have been around a long time and are inveterate road warriors, bringing a hard driving blend of blues, Americana, and old school rock n roll. The video is an animated tale of a scrappy old tomcat that used to live behind them in the alley and had a lot of adventures.

Back In Business Again- September 9, 2022 For the past fifteen years, The Hooten Hallers have been crisscrossing the country as inveterate road warriors, bringing their peculiar vision of Americana–a fiery rock and roll fever dream birthed in Missouri’s fertile musical heartland. 

They’ve put so many miles into the road that they’ve burned through multiple tour vans and left twisted metal and frayed rubber strewn across the road behind them. With their aptly named new album, Back In Business Again, the trio roar back on to the international stage with ten incendiary new original songs drawn from their many travels and inspired by the hardships that all touring musicians have faced throughout a seemingly never-ending pandemic. 

There’s hope in these new songs, but tinges of madness too, driven by the raw drumming of Andy Rehm, the infernal growl and swirling guitars of John Randall, and the low rolling baritone and bass saxophones of Kellie Everett. The Hooten Hallers have always been musical colliders, smashing together everything from pre-war jazz to Chicago blues with jaunts around New Orleans and garage rock explorations with hints of anti-racist punk and Oi!. It’s Morphine meets ZZ Top along St. Louis’ Mississippi waterfront. Produced by bassist Dominic Davis (Jack White, Greensky Bluegrass), Back In Business Again takes a match to The Hooten Hallers’ fuse and explodes the renegade power trio to the edge and back again, one vigorous, swinging, perfectly peculiar song at a time.

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Joselyn and Don - Deep Down.

Montana natives turned Angelenos, Joselyn & Don’s intoxicating music feels like a walk through mountain wildflowers and Southern California Joshua trees. Enter their wild garden – where blues, folk, and jazz form a dark under story illuminated with lyrical truth. 

Joselyn Wilkinson and Don Barrozo forage musical ideas from many sources and plant those seeds in rich Americana soil. These are deeply rooted songs reaching for new light.

Their 2020 debut album Soar was warmly received by critics and independent radio across North America, earning several charting positions and recognition in song contests such as Music City Song Star. The duo’s highly anticipated 2022 EP Seeds & Bones digs deep into modern roots with an urgency born of truth-seeking.

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Celestial Bums - The Brook & The Bluff - KiKi Holli & The Remedy - Cut Flowers - The Legal Matters

Celestial Bums - The Letters. Shoegaze warmth and dream pop elegance converge in Celestial Bums’ “The Letters” Barcelona’s Celestial Bums ...