Posts

Genre Wander: Greg Graffin - James McArthur - Torgeir Waldemar - Eureka California

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Greg Graffin - Making Time. Background - Greg Graffin, frontman of the iconic Los Angeles punk band Bad Religion as well as a renowned author, will be releasing a brand new solo album entitled Millport this March 10th via Anti- . Millport delivers a stirring though perhaps unexpected reinterpretation of the classic Laurel Canyon country-rock sound alongside Graffin’s insightful lyricism, all propelled by some esteemed colleagues from the LA punk scene including Social Distortion members Jonny ‘Two Bags’ Wickersham, Brent Harding and David Hidalgo Jr., with Bad Religion co-founder Brett Gurewitz producing.  The resulting record is less a reinvention then a creative liberation -  a group of Los Angeles musicians at the peak of their game, playing a brand of music they genuinely love. As Graffin explains, “This feels as exciting to me as when we made the Bad Religion record Suffer. Like everything had been leading up to the songs and they just happened totally organically in this short

Midweek Muse: A Valley Son - Loose Buttons - Jo Harman - Les Bohem

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A Valley Son - In the Low Light of the Late Afternoon. Background - “In The Low Light of the Late Afternoon", is the newest single from A Valley Son’s debut Sunset Park EP that they’re self-releasing on January 27th. The song tells a cautious tale, and perfectly showcases the bands’ harmony-laden, soulful rock & roll, following on the heels of the EP’s previous singles, “Lights In The Sky” and “Dark Places”. As a band that is barely a year old, this collection of songs is simply a starting point for A Valley Son (whose name comes from the title of a deep cut from Grandaddy’s catalog), but it’s a strong one. Much like their home base of New York City, the group is an anomaly, comprised of three Southern transplants that grew up on Stax and Motown, and one Yonkers-born Gospel drummer turned bassist. After seeing a generation of bands seemingly value aesthetics over substance, the four members vowed to make music that strips away all of the unnecessary decoration and puts song

Tuesdays Alternative Take: Klasey Jones - Khodara - The Proper Ornaments - Anna of the North

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Klasey Jones - Cement. Background - Plastician’s Terrorhythm imprint have been breathing plenty of life into the mutated, hybrid club sounds emerging from both UK and US beat-makers over the past two years, crucially spotlighting producers like Ganz, AWE, Patrick Brian and JD Reid for the first time. The latest name to emerge from the camp, Klasey Jones, has been bubbling under for the past year, with his tracks earning heavy rotation on Plastician’s Rinse FM show in particular — itself often a valuable resource for those seeking a link between grime, drill and instrumental, cloud-wave rap. Jones’ debut EP — the widescreen, cinematic ‘Foreign Buyers Club’ — is a profound case in point, linking the above sub-genres with flashes of 80s synth music, anime OSTs and some genuinely one-of-a-kind sound design. At five tracks long, Jones is also able to explore the variants to his sound fully across the EP; see the morbid dystopia of opener ‘Area 55’ for example, or conversely, the hazy, st

The Monday Mix: No Monster Club - Harlea - The Darts

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No Monster Club - French Revolution / Life Is Flashing Before Your Eyes (Aardvark - Blessing). Background from Bobby Aherne of No Monster Club - I'm here to tell you about the 'Encyclopedia Project' that I have planned for the foreseeable future: On the first of each month, I'll be releasing a new single (consisting of two songs) that'll be available for free download - or as 'pay what you like', should one be willing to throw some change into the virtual tips jar. The first instalment arrived on January 1st, containing one new song and a cover of an amazing Vince Collins song from 1984. As I'll be utilising an alphabetical, encyclopedia-based naming scheme, issue #1 is entitled 'Aardvark - Blessing'. My 2015 and 2016 albums ('People Are Weird' and 'I Feel Magic', respectively) were unanimously acclaimed ~ they were released by indie labels based in NYC & Chicago, and each picked up four stars from The Irish Times.  Website

BeeVids: David Bowie

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David Bowie - No Plan Background - No Plan is an EP by English musician David Bowie. It was released posthumously in digital form only on 8 January 2017 through Columbia and Sony, coinciding with what would have been Bowie's 70th birthday. The songs "No Plan", "Killing a Little Time" and "When I Met You" first appeared in the Broadway musical Lazarus and were originally recorded during the Blackstar sessions. All songs on the EP had already been released in physical form on the Lazarus: Original Cast Recording CD and LP in October 2016. The release was accompanied by a music video for "No Plan" . Beautiful. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------