The Blue Dancers, a post-punk / indie rock band from Mexico, made their debut at the end of last year with the great track So Far. Now they have released their fourth (digital) single: Call Me Back is jangly guitar / synth pop as we hear too little lately. Hopefully those first songs will be pressed together onto vinyl soon. RIYL Real Estate, DIIV, Beach Fossils.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp
With ‘Gimme 5!’ we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like share 5 records THEY love.
I started reading Twilight Of The Gods this week, a book in which Steven Hyden explores the past, present and future of classic rock. Early in the book, Hyden calls classic rock a finite resource: “One day, it will disappear. Bands break up. Albums go unplayed and are eventually forgotten. Legends die.” Hyden has a point of course. Time does not stand still, albums are losing out to playlists, fewer and fewer bands sell out stadiums and it’s unlikely that current and future rock bands will come anywhere close to the lasting cultural impact of the classic bands from the ’60s and ’70s. But is that necessarily a bad thing? They’ve been saying that punk is dead since the late seventies, but to agree with that statement you essentially admit that you haven’t been paying attention. Ultimately, there will always be musicians that will carry the torch of guitar music into familiar and unfamiliar territory. Which brings us to this week’s Gimme 5! which features an artist whose music celebrates the power of classic rock and soul.
Marc Ribler is a musician and producer who in recent years has been Steven Van Zandt’s right hand man in The Disciples Of Soul. Ribler also shared the stage with many Hall-Of-famers including Carole King, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Darlene Love, and Paul McCartney. On July 9th, Ribler will release a new solo record called The Whole World Awaits You (pre-order here). Busy as Ribler is with producing, performing and writing songs and jingles for others, it is a record that’s been long in the making – some of the songs were written as early as 2005. Little Steven became excited after hearing some of the early mixes and offered to co-produce the record and release it on his label Wicked Cool Records. Based on the early singles, it’s easy to see why: Shattered and Who Could Ask For More (watch the video here) are excellent throwbacks to the heyday of rock and soul, and both songs were picked as ‘coolest song in the world’ at the Underground Garage radio station. Not only that, these songs make my speakers sound better than ever – this is some well produced, mixed and mastered music. Below Marc Ribler shares five classic albums that he drew influence from in writing the songs for The Whole World Awaits You. Enjoy reading and listening! [post continues below]
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Handful Of Hits, the latest album of The Cry! frontman Tommy Ray, has been online for a couple of months, but for some reason I haven’t posted about it yet. Now’s as good a time as ever, because Beluga Records has picked it up for a vinyl release with updated album art. A subtitle for the record would be: ‘the home lockdown recordings,’ since it’s primarily a solo performance recorded at home during the lockdowns. If you are familiar with Tommy Ray’s previous output, you should know what to expect. If not, his music will push just the right buttons if you like your powerpop drenched in late ’70s punk & glamrock and ’60s rock-n-roll. Handful Of Hits is the follow up to First Hits Free (2020). That record contained several leftovers from the yet to be released (if ever?) third record from The Cry! I liked that one quite a lot, but overall, I think Handful Of Hits beats that record in terms of songwriting and consistency. Despite the (false) modesty in the album title, the number of hits on this one exceed the fingers on my hand. In Love Again and Feel The Pain are instant classics, and songs like One Step Closer and Runnin’ will make you want to test the maximum volume of your sound system. Handful Of Hits will be out June 4th. Pre-order the vinyl now and stream the full album here.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Beluga Records || Discogs
The Pine Hill Haints perform “ghost music”, songs they consider to be “dead” in the modern world. With this premise they do themselves short, because on their new (11th!) full-length album The Song Companion of a Lone Star Cowboy they sound very much alive. These 15 roots tracks are honest and authentic (“prayers and simple meditations, cool shadows to ease the mind in the turbulent times”), a mix of originals, traditionals with new arrangements and two covers (Bo Diddley’s Pretty Thing and Hasil Adkins’ Louise). This is punk oriented country blues from and for skateboarders. The instruments, including washboard, accordion, harmonica, fiddle, mandolin, singing saw (and of course Jamie Barrier’s great voice), are treated in such a way that they provide a swampy and raucous sound. In any case, when good songs are played (and recorded) with so much effort and power by experienced musicians, they will always live on.
Out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Single Lock Records. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs
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New album: The Pine Hill Haints || The Song Companion of a Lonestar CowboyRead More »
Canadian psych rocker Patrick Lefler, who makes music under the moniker ROY, declares “I’m not afraid to be a freak” and “it’s time to love myself”, and in doing so his new full-length album Roy’s Garage acts as a statement. Last year’s conceptual LP Peace, Love and Outer Space was filled with stories of alien enlightenment, its successor contains tales of personal vision. This is exciting and varied 60’s inspired ambient psychedelic pop that will leave you confused: Where Did My Mind Go?. Out now digitally and on 12″ Vinyl LP via Idée Fixe Records. RIYL Brian Wilson, 13th Floor Elevators, The Doors, Cool Ghouls.
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Add to wantlist: Bandcamp
Shiny Times is a solo side gig of Kim Hart-Weldin (Tape Waves). Hart-Weldin’s spine tingling voice is on full display on this new EP. Backed by jangly guitars and classic indie pop beats, Let’s Get Shiny! offers a mix of dreamy indie pop and twee that I find hard to resist. Out now on CD at Thessaloniki (Greece) label Melotron Recordings.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp
Mitch Ryder! Little Steven! The Sonics! If you’re looking to update your rock’n’roll dance party collection, give The Fabulous Heydays a chance. It’s all there in the bandname: This is throwback garage/rock’n’soul that aims to celebrate the genre, not reinvent it. The band, with members from Australia, the Netherlands and Greece, does so with complete conviction and it makes for an exciting and much fun record. It also makes me curious to see this band live. Out now on Soundflat Records.
Add to bandcamp: Bandcamp || Soundflat Records
Here’s the “difficult” second full-length album from UK four-piece Fightmilk. It’s called Contender, which is also the title of the opening “song”, one of the three interludes on the record – the other two are called Tender and Bartender, which immediately illustrates that the UK indie rockers are good at the language game. According to Lily (vocals / guitar), Alex (guitar), Healey (bass) and Nick (drums), the new songs are louder & quieter, stupider & more serious – those things go together – than their previous work, but expect radio-friendly pop punk with entertaining lyrics and enthusiastic vocals. Out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Reckless Yes. Listen to stand-out track Hey Annabelle! below.
RIYL Martha, Nervous Twitch, Dream Wife, Dude York, Fresh. Add to wantlist: Bandcamp
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Refrigerator’s beautiful previous album High Desert Lows made it to the top of my Music Year-End List of 2018, so you’ll understand that expectations were high for successor So Long to Farewell, just released on vinyl LP – cover art by Jean Smith – through Shrimper Records. The new (12th!) album of the American lo-fi indie rock combo, formed in 1990 by Shrimper founder Dennis Callaci and his brother Allen, is strong again, but not an easy one. The fourteen songs have a richer band sound, more improvisational and experimental, more varied also. And then of course there are the dark lyrics. Anyway, an album worth giving it the time it deserves (Time Well Wasted, as the title of one of the tracks goes). So much respect for these guys. You won’t get it more indie than this.
Add to wantlist: Revolver USA || Grapefruit Distribution
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Summer Inside is a collection of stuck-at-home basement recordings from The Smashing Times. The band members used to live in Seattle, but currently reside in Baltimore – affordable living for musicians and an influx of tech workers do not mix. The band draws their influence from The Pastels, Television Personalities and The Times, and the band’s name is a tip of the hat to the latter two bands (remember this Television Personalities song?). The band sounds completely different than some of the previous bands the members played in, like hardcorepunk acts Shook Ones, Ripped To Shreds, and postpunk art collective The New Love Syndicate. Summer Inside is a perfect album for jangle pop and C86 fanatics. It is absolutely unpolished, and mixes instantly likeable underground pop hit singles (sample three of these below), with some weirder more experimental tracks. To be honest, when we started our blog, I expected to write more often about this type of music, but for some reason, few records have clicked with me in what undeniably already is a niche genre. Summer Inside is a welcome exception, and hopefully a starting point for a solid indie pop summer, one that we can preferably spend outside. Summer Inside is out now on cassette on Painter Man Records, with more Smashing Times (“The lockdown has driven us mad”) in the works: look for a new single this summer.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Painter Man Records