Killer Mike, Q-Tip, Common, India.Arie join Robert Glasper for Black Radio III

Robert Glasper previewed Black Radio III with appearances on The Late Show and The Daily Show. Watch 'em both below.

Here's the scoop...

This year not only marks the 10th anniversary of Robert Glasper’s era-defining, Grammy-winning album Black Radio but also Glasper’s solo return as he releases the highly anticipated third instalment, Black Radio III. Glasper’s contribution to music and culture spans over two decades, forming an exceptional legacy that permeates throughout contemporary art and advocacy. A project brought together by both new and old friends further proves Glasper to be one of the most respected collaborators of his generation and Black Radio III to be a masterclass in hip-hop, R&B and jazz fusion that will sonically define the next decade.

Like its predecessors, the new studio album celebrates Black joy, love and resilience and features the Grammy-winning single “Better Than I Imagined” with H.E.R and Meshell Ndgeocello. Killer Mike, BJ The Chicago Kid, and Big K.R.I.T. unify in “Black Superhero”, a track that lifts up real-life Black heroes, while Lalah Hathaway and Common update Tears For Fears' “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” Glasper also creates space on BRIII for songs like Q-Tip and Esperanza Spalding’s driving “While We Speak” and “Over”, Yebba’s sweet plea to a fleeting love. Black Radio III’s guests also include De La Soul's Posdnuos, Jennifer Hudson, Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons, India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild and more. 

Glasper was backed by The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a special MLK Day performance of “In Tune” and “Black Superhero” featuring Rapsody, DJ Jazzy Jeff, BJ The Chicago Kid and Amir Sulaiman. Watch it below. 

Glasper has also partnered with Record Store Day and FAMS, the coalition of Black-owned independent US record stores, as an ambassador for A Day of Action, Sunday February 27th. Accounting for less than 2% of all indie owned stores, today an estimated 30 Black-owned independent record stores still exist nationwide. While the industry annually comes together to encourage purchasing physical product to support a struggling sector of music retail, never before has the spotlight been put on the few remaining Black-owned independent stores. As Black History Month comes to a close, A Day of Action is a call to consciousness for consumers to support Black-owned independent record stores- more information can be found at https://blackownedrecordstores.com.

Black Radio lll is available now on all formats - digital, CD, and 2xLP vinyl (exclusive to Glasper’s webstore) via Loma Vista Recordings. Get it right here. Watch Robert Glasper's recent appearance on the Tonight Show and a fan shot performance following the Black Radio III tracklist below. 

ROBERT GLASPER – BLACK RADIO lll 
1. In Tune [featuring Amir Sulaiman]
2. Black Superhero [featuring Killer Mike + BJ The Chicago Kid + Big K.R.I.T.]
3. Shine [featuring D Smoke + Tiffany Gouché]
4. Why We Speak [featuring Q-Tip + Esperanza Spalding]
5. Over [featuring Yebba]
6. Better Than I Imagined [featuring H.E.R. + Meshell Ndegeocello]
7. Everybody Wants To Rule the World [featuring Lalah Hathaway + Common]
8. Everybody Love [featuring Musiq Soulchild + Posdnuos]
9. It Don't Matter [featuring Gregory Porter + Ledisi]
10. Heaven's Here [featuring Ant Clemons]
11. Out of My Hands [featuring Jennifer Hudson]
12. Forever [featuring PJ Morton + India.Arie]
13. Bright Lights [with Ty Dolla $ign]

That time the Wedding Present played Ukrainian songs at Leeds Polytechnic

David Gedge and his Weddos crew performed their own version of some Ukrainian folk classics at Leeds Polytechnic back in 1989

Rick White shares moving tribute to the late Dallas Good

Rick White recorded "Message To Dallas" based on "Rearview Fog" written by the late great Dallas Good of The Sadies. 

Writes Rick White...

"Shortly after the shockingly sad news of his passing on February 17th, I really felt the need to write a song for Dallas. He wrote a beautiful tune about our friendship called RIVERVIEW FOG for the Sadies 2017 album "Northern Passages". It makes me cry every time i hear it. It focused on our close brotherhood always remaining strong even though we hadn't been in touch for quite awhile due mostly to my anxiety issues and hermit like seclusion. 

"Before i came up with anything new, i started strumming his song and altering the words with one's from my perspective. His lyrics were filled with symbolic bits from our past, songs titles and moments, I tried to make my version similar. It all came together quite naturally and i'm pleased with how it turned out. I think (hope) it is a fitting tribute to the loving relationship we shared over the years. Love you brother. 

"I recorded a demo version of the song with just guitar and vocal and have decided to just share it like this to anyone who may be interested. It's free to download if you like, please don't pay for it."

Listen to Rick White's "Message To Dallas" via Bandcamp right here.

Music and melody written by Dallas Good. 

Photo by Amanda Schenk. 

"Message To Dallas" lyrics: 

Hello old friend i hope i didn't disappoint you 

It's been so long since the last time that i saw you 

I thought we would always be the same, but suddenly that changed. 

So many times i thought of younger me and you 

Strumming through a smoky haze, i know you missed it too 

But our lives just simply went off different ways, life is so strange. 

And now you're gone into the great beyond 

While i sit here just tryna write you one more song. 

Though i was far away you'd call each month or two 

Sometimes we'd talk, sometimes i wouldn't get back to you 

I shouldn't have believed that silly rhyme, no curse of time. 

I listened to our old records yesterday 

I wish that we could once again just sing and play 

But i know that's not possible today 

All our favourite colours now are grey, now are grey. 

Long gone are the days, they've all passed away, oh yeah. 

B-Side Wins Again: The Trashmen

The Trashmen buried the Huey Meaux-produced jangly gem "Hanging On Me" on the flip of their "Same Lines" single for Tribe.

R.I.P. Don Craine of Downliners Sect, 1945-2022

Sadly, Downliner Sect's deerstalker-sporting singer/guitarist Don Craine has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Orchestre Manta Lokoka

Here's Orchestre Manta Lokoka performing the Congolese rumba swinger "Nalingi Yo" recorded for Franco's Epanza Makita label.

R.I.P. master percussionist/flautist Derf Reklaw

Remembering the great percussionist/flautist Derf Reklaw of The Pharaohs and numerous other jazz and funk groups.

Writes Derf Reklaw's daughter Amani....

"Good morning everyone. This is Derf’s daughter, Amani. It is with a heavy heart that I announce his passing.  

He appreciated the love and support from his Facebook family. You all inspired him to make his daily positive affirmation posts.

Thank you all for being on this journey called life with him. While he is no longer with us in the physical form, he leaves behind an outstanding musical legacy that will live on forever. He leaves behind a treasure trove of stories, laughter, and love. He knew history inside and out. He was a multi instrumentalist recently recognized by the Duke Ellington Society as a living Jazz Legend, though his skills and unmatched talent crossed over many genres. 

He was a brother, a father, a grandfather, a great grandfather, a friend, a mentor, and an inspiration to so many.

We will miss him dearly."

Happy Birthday John Doe

Raising a glass to X's John Doe and remembering Dallas Good with their performance at Toronto's Sonic Boom on April 30. 2009. 

Expanded version of Bobby Cole's rare A Point Of View album due in April

Bobby Cole's tough-to-find 1967 album is sought after for the club cooker "A Perfect Day" which you can hear below. 

Here's the scoop from Omnivore Recordings:

Bobby Cole's A Point Of View LP on Concentric 

Frank Sinatra walks into a bar...

Well, Frank called it a “bistro,” and Jilly’s on 52nd Street even had matchbooks that when opened read, “My favorite bistro — Frank Sinatra.” Jilly’s also featured Frank’s “favorite saloon singer,” Bobby Cole, who held court there for many years. His other gigs around New York landed him a recording contract with Columbia, but the 1960 release from the Bobby Cole Trio, while well reviewed, failed to gain traction. It featured no original material from Cole, and was essentially a recorded version of his Jilly’s act — one hard to capture on LP.

Judy Garland walks into a bar . . .

In 1964, and after hearing Cole’s performance of one of her favorites, Cy Coleman’s “You Fascinate Me So,” Garland invited the New York jazz singer to become the new musical arranger for CBS’s The Judy Garland Show in Los Angeles. When that show ended, Cole returned to New York and Jilly’s.

Jack Lonshein, whose day job was creating album covers for artists including Sarah Vaughan, Maynard Ferguson, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young (and eventually Big Brother & the Holding Company and The Amboy Dukes!), was a friend of Cole’s. He knew Bobby’s magic, and original songs, were what the jazz world needed. Taking things into his own hands, A Point of View was released on Lonshein’s own Concentric Records, and as can happen, no matter how well received and reviewed a record is, finding a copy was half the battle for fans. A Point of View made waves in the boroughs, was raved about in Billboard and Cash Box, and then disappeared — but became a coveted prize by those who experienced it. Artists including Freddy Cole (Nat’s brother) and Tom Jones all covered material from it.

A Point of View now returns 55 years later, fully authorized by the Estate of Bobby Cole. Produced for release by Grammy®-winner Cheryl Pawelski and lovingly remastered by Grammy®-winner Michael Graves, this new version presents the original release, plus 13 previously unissued bonus tracks drawn from sessions likely intended for a follow-up release that didn’t happen. A fascinating and thorough essay from Grammy®-nominated writer Randy Poe tells the story of Cole, the scene, and the music.

The CD and Digital versions of Omnivore's deluxe reissue of Bobby Cole's A Point Of View are set for April 15, 2022 which you can pre-order here, with a double-LP version slated for Fall of 2022. 

Check out the track listing following the album release trailer and the soundclip for "A Perfect Day"

 

Bobby Cole – A Point Of View

1. Status Quo

2. The Name Of The Game Is Trouble

3. Lover Boy

4. You Can’t Build A Life On A Look

5. But It’s Spring

6. Heat

7. You Could Hear A Pin Drop

8. A Change Of Scene

9. A Perfect Day

10. Elegy For Eve

11. No Difference At All

12. I’m Growing Old

13. Checkerboard Life [Bonus Track]

14. Drink This Cup [Bonus Track]

15. How The Lonely Spend Their Time [Bonus Track] 

16. I Never Saw The Shadows [Bonus Track]

17. Tear For Tear [Bonus Track]

18. When She Was In Love With Me [Bonus Track]

19. Get Off Looking Good [Bonus Track]

20. At The Darkest Hour [Bonus Track]

21. A Toast [Bonus Track]

22. The Midnight Flower [Bonus Track]

23. Never Ask The Hour [Bonus Track]

24. A Change Of Scene (Alternate Take) [Bonus Track] 

25. Life Rolls On [Bonus Track]

One For The Weekend: Annette Peacock

Here's Annette Peacock's "I Belong To A World That's Destroying Itself" from 1971 which seems oddly timely today. 

Jazzanova salutes the creative musicians of Detroit's Strata label

Hear a few versions of "Creative Musicians" off Strata Records Reimagined by Jazzanova followed by Lyman Woodard's original.

Here's the scoop...

Announcing new album Strata Records – The Sound of Detroit – Reimagined by Jazzanova, BBE Music, DJ Amir and 180 Proof Records present the first single from the project, "Creative Musicians," featuring remixes by Waajeed and Henrik Schwarz. 

‘Strata Records – The Sound of Detroit – Reimagined by Jazzanova’ is a brand-new celebration of the iconic imprint, as Jazzanova’s take on Lyman Woodard Organization’s musical manifesto "Creative Musicians" makes clear from its Afrobeat-inspired horn arrangements, drum track, and syncopated tempo. 

The vocalist for these sessions is Sean Haefeli, who originally hails from Indianapolis, and brings a relaxed urgency to his contributions, sounding like a young Gil Scott-Heron. 

Leveraging his 20 plus year friendship with legendary Detroit DJ/Producer extraordinaire, Waajeed, Amir enlists him for a special four-to-the-floor mix that not only keeps that organic vibe but also adds a unique contemporary Detroit flavour! 

Henrik Schwarz needs little introduction to fans of eclectic electronic sounds. For over thirty years, his amazing body of work has packed dancefloors worldwide. Henrik takes ‘Creative Musicians’ in a slightly different direction, retaining many of Jazzanova’s original elements while adding his signature sound to the mix, providing another dance floor scorcher! 

And just to give you proper context, we have included the cult-classic, much-loved original version of ‘Creative Musicians’ by the Lyman Woodard Organization. 

Get the tracks from Jazzanova's Bandcamp page right here. Have a listen to the sound clips after the trailer below followed by more information about the album Strata Records – The Sound of Detroit – Reimagined by Jazzanova set for release via 180 Proof/BBE on April 22. Pre-order it right here. 

 

Strata Records – The Sound Of Detroit – Reimagined by Jazzanova

How does the Berlin-based production collective Jazzanova find itself reimagining songs from the iconic, Detroit record label Strata? “I couldn’t think of a more perfect band to do this work,” DJ Amir says about Jazzanova, a combination of DJs, record collectors and musicians, “because they brought passion and love to the project, because they know the music and love the music. And on top of that, they know how to play.” This unlikely, yet ideal pairing is the result of years of work and passion from Amir Abdullah, the crate-digging, DJ and label- head for 180-Proof Records which in 2011 began reissuing the groundbreaking Strata Records back catalog and unreleased gems from the vaults. On Strata Records - The Sound of Detroit - Reimagined by Jazzanova, DJ Amir and Jazzanova breathe new life into eleven hand-picked tracks from the Strata catalog for fans of the label’s historic recordings and new ears alike. 

Strata Records rose from the ashes of Detroit’s tumultuous 1960s decline. Motor City famously burned in 1967 and then again in 1968, leading to mass exodus of those who could afford to relocate out of the city. "The people of Detroit don't call it the riot,” Barbara Cox, the widow of label-founder Kenny Cox says, “they call it the insurrection." From the ashes of the insurrection, Kenny Cox founded Strata as a community organization that initially ran food drives and jazz programs. 

Not unlike the original Strata collective, Jazzanova is a creative musical community in a constant state of evolution. Founded in 1995 in Berlin, the original five members came together as a collaboration between DJs and producers to create future-focused dance music inspired by their shared love for "funk, jazz, disco, Latin... all kinds of things - but mostly old records," founding member Stefan Leisering explains. Never content to stand still, in 2009 Jazzanova also started to play live with their own band, reinterpreting classic sounds and creating new songs, all leading to this latest collaboration with DJ Amir. It only makes sense in today’s bizarre music landscape that the better-known Berlin-based Jazzanova is celebrating the legacy of an obscure jazz label from Detroit. For Leisering, there’s no contradiction, “because we aren’t just musicians and remixers, we are also record collectors, and I love rare records, and I love listening to stuff that isn’t even available, because it’s obscure and lost.” 

Their versatility and breadth of knowledge is also what makes Jazzanova the perfect partner to reintroduce Strata to a contemporary audience who may not have ever heard the original records. “I would say there’s definitely a ‘Strata sound,’” Leisering says, pointing to the use of a Mellotron (which was gifted to the label by John Lennon & Yoko Ono) that graces many of the label’s releases, adding ambient string and flute arrangements. “But at the same time,” Leisering continues, “musically it has a small output, but it also has a wide range . . . some records have an avant-garde, modern-jazz twist, others have Latin jazz, or even a soul vibe.” To remix a single song by a single artist is one thing, but to capture the diversity of styles and vibes across a family of creative musicians is another, requiring versatility, sensitivity and superb chops. “In the past we were working more like producers,” Leisering says, but with help from unofficial bandleader Stefan Ulrich, they’re now “recording layer by layer with the live band. It’s a new experience and we can also let our experience of making remixes enter that process.” 

This is no covers album, as Jazzanova’s take on Lyman Woodard Organization’s musical manifesto ‘Creative Musicians’ makes clear from its Afrobeat inspired horn arrangements, drum track and syncopated tempo. The vocalist for these sessions is Sean Haefeli, who originally hails from Indianapolis, and brings a relaxed urgency to his contributions, sounding like a young Gil Scott-Heron. 

On the Malauwi tune, ‘Root in 7/4 Plus’, Jazzanova stretches out for ten minutes, transforming the original into a deep, dense meditation. The rhythm section extends the original’s outro vamp with pulsing horns and Haefeli’s urgent vocals, making the listener feel the mantra: “the blues are all around me.” 

“I really tried to combine my knowledge of club music and electronic music with a soundtracky and funky vibe,” Leisering says about their reimaginations. For ‘Saturday Night Special’, Jazzanova’s take on The Lyman Woodard Organization’s lo-fi jazz funk classic sounds more like it’s soundtracking the excited strut into the club on a Saturday night, than the original’s moody, afterhours vibe. “When I was working on it I approached it like I was doing a remix,” Leisering explains. “I started at my computer, thinking about a rhythmic structure, bassline and everything, then I gave this to the band, to develop organically”. 

Opening with a circular guitar pattern and electric keyboards before a polyrhythmic groove lays the rhythmic foundation, Sphere’s ‘Inside Ourselves’ is transformed into a searching jazz gem. On this beautiful interpretation, Jazzanova finds a sweet spot melding elements of African highlife, Latin jazz and spiritual jazz for this reimagination of the original. 

The album’s closing track ‘Loser’ is a “seventies street blues with a soul-jazz vibe to it,” Leisering explains, “and we thought we could give it a nice modern twist.” Sam Sanders’ original is a melancholy jazz dirge, an unlikely inclusion for this album, but, “Stefan [Ulrich] and I were considering the song because we thought it offered a lot of space to make the song happen in the studio” Leisering insists. The reverb-drenched opening guitar chords combined with Haefeli’s off-center vocals create a woozy vibe, somewhere between gloomy and dreamy. 

Re-emerging, reimagined in Berlin fifty years later, DJ Amir and Jazzanova translate the diverse sounds and styles of the Strata Records legacy into a soulful and cohesive musical statement that honors the label’s community of creative musicians. 

Reigning Sound releasing live album for Record Store Day

Reigning Sound's limited-run RSD album cleverly titled Memphis In June is out Saturday, April 23. 

Here's the scoop...

Greg Cartwright and his rock 'n' roll holdouts in Reigning Sound are putting out the limited-edition Memphis In June album recorded at Harbor Town Amphitheatre in their hometown back in June of 2021. Merge is said to have pressed 2.970 copies of the 12-song LP on neon orange vinyl for release on Saturday April 23. 

Check out the track listing below followed by a live clip of Reigning Sound performing "Make It Up." 

Reigning Sound – Memphis In June

Let's Do It Again / Make It Up / Never Coming Home / Drowning / On and On / She's Bored With You / Time Bomb High School / Funny Thing / Reptile Style / Just Say When / I'll Be Your Man / Moving & Shaking

Synth-tweaked 80s recordings of Majid Soula reissued by Habibi Funk

Habibi Funk's well-chosen Majid Soula collection Chant Amazigh focuses on his discoid fusions.

Here's the scoop...

Habibi Funk is happy to present Chant Amazigh – a selection of works by Algerian-born, Amazigh artist Majid Soula. With synths, driving drums, prominent repetitive guitar lines, Majid’s music blends the best of Kabyle sounds, disco, highlife and groovy funk into something wholly unique. At the same time for Majid Soula music is a vessel for his political message. 

For Majid Soula music is more than just entertainment. He considers himself an activist through music, and foremost a “chanteur engagé”, as he says of himself: 

“I am not a politician. If I can deal with art and culture it’s already a lot. Above all, I am an artist whose first concern is to present a quality artistic work in order to contribute, however modestly, to the development and enrichment of our cultural heritage. When I fight, for example, for the defense of the Berber culture, it is not by political spirit. It is a natural act. I am against violence wherever it comes from and I do not support injustice. If the essential freedoms were granted, the Algerian artists would have no reason to take on this burden and this mission. They could, like all other artists of the world, devote their talent to making people dream. 

"I take my inspiration from the daily life of my people and I share all their aspirations, mainly the official recognition of Tamazight as a language, culture and identity.”

Majid Soula's Chant Amazigh collection is available via Bandcamp right here. Listen to a few tracks starting with the 1982 whumper "Win Tarram (L'Espoir)" featuring keyboardist Dominique Sucetti.  

90s Nostalgia: The Leather Uppers

Watch The Leather Uppers feat. Classy Craig Daniels on guitar (and drums) rock Toronto's HMV Superstore back in April 1993.  

Happy Birthday Dave Bailey!

Celebrating the birthday of drummer Dave Bailey with the original 1961 version of Ben Tucker's "Comin' Home Baby."

Ben Stiller spills on Bob Dylan's secret synagogue boxing gym

Evidently Ben Stiller sparred with Boom Boom Mancini and Gary Shandling traded jabs with Dylan at his Santa Monica gym.

R.I.P. Mark Lanegan, 1964-2022

Sadly, singer/songwriter Mark Lanegan has passed away at his home in Ireland at the age of 57. He'll be greatly missed. 

LINKS
The Guardian Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees singer, dies at 57
New York Times Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees and Queens Of The Stoneage singer, Dies at 57

B-Side Wins Again: The Couriers

Lancaster, PA's Couriers hid the garage pounder "Feelings" on the flipside of the corny "Stomping Time Again" on C.V.

Happy Birthday Mark Arm!

Celebrating Mark Arm's birthday with a WTF podcast chat with Marc Maron along with a few non-Mudhoney recordings. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Chelique Sarabia

Some of the electronically-enhanced 70s recordings of Venezuela's Chelique Sarabia sound oddly ahead of their time. 

Chelique Sarabia – Revolucion Electronica En Musica Venezolana 

In the early 70s, well-known composer and arranger Chelique Sarabia (who penned the famous “Ansiedad” when he was just a kid) decided to register an album of traditional & folkloric songs from Venezuela but giving them a modern touch, using especially developed equipment (M.R.A.A.), based off of the principles of the Moog.

Chelique, helped by a team of gifted musicians, employed traditional instruments like the cuatro and the bandola llanera, filtering them through oscillators, playing with feedback, tape delay, synthesized frequencies, echoing sounds… The result was “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana”, an album with a truly exotic, psychedelic, and ahead of its time sound.

Originally, the album was sponsored by the Shell Company in Venezuela, given away to customers, employees and friends of the company as a Christmas gift in 1973. It was titled “4 Fases del Cuatro - Música Venezolana desarrollada Electrónicamente por Chelique Sarabia” (“4 Phases of Four – Venezuelan Music Electronically Developed by Chelique Sarabia”). Once the exclusivity period with the petrol company was over, Chelique did a commercial release, this time under the name of “Revolución Electrónica en Música Venezolana” (“Electronic Revolution in Venezuelan Music”). Thanks to this, Chelique and his team were considered electronic music pioneers in Latin America.

“In the past five decades, there have been many attempts at modernizing the vast folkloric tradition of Venezuela, but nobody has reached the level of depth that CHELIQUE SARABIA did when he put his impeccable reputation as a composer and arranger at risk with this out-of-the-blue revolutionary musical manifesto in 1971. Now 47 years later, the music remains ahead of its time.” - Alex Figueira (Fumaça Preta)

Mary Lou Lord rarities compilation She'd Be A Diamond due in April

Like many RSD releases, the 26-track Mary Lou Lord anthology is drawn from previously issued material. 

Here's the scoop...

She'd Be A Diamond (out April 23rd via Fire Recordings) is a career spanning double album delve into the street corner soul of Mary Lou Lord – the Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith-approved crooner. This new collection includes her Kill Rock Star singles, compilation rarities, covers of The Bevis Frond, Pink Floyd, Dylan, Daniel Johnston, and East River Pipe among others. A chunky power pop jangle, meets unravelling indie punk rawk as the lights change on Times Square.

Track listing: Lights are Changing, The Inhibition Twist, Martian Saints, Metal Firecracker, Hard Road, He'd Be a Diamond, Camden Town Rain, Speeding Motorcycle, I Figured You Out, Half Right, Aim Low, Eternal Circle, Some Jingle Jangle Morning, Western Union Acoustic, His Indie World (Live), You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, Sunspot Stopwatch, She had you, My Buddy Valentine, Times Square Go-Go Boy, Driven Away, The Wind Blew All Around Me, Fearless, Cold Kilburn Rain, Wasting My Time, You Can Count On Me, His Lamest Flame.

Watch a few of Mary Lou Lord's performances below. 

Happy Birthday Oscar Alemán!

Remembering swing-era guitar great Oscar Alemán on his birthday with Hernán Gaffet's 2002 documentary Vida Con Swing. 

Happy Birthday David Murray

Celebrating the birthday of saxophonist David Murray with an interview about his Oakland days and a couple performance clips. 

R.I.P. Dallas Good of The Sadies, 1973-2022

Sadly, Toronto guitarist Dallas Good of The Sadies passed away yesterday at the age of 48. He'll be greatly missed. 

From The Sadies Facebook page...

"It’s with unfathomable sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Dallas on Thursday, February 17th.  Forty eight years old, he died of natural causes while under doctor’s care for a coronary illness discovered earlier this week.  A son, a brother,  a husband, a friend, a bandmate, a leader, a force to be reckoned with, we have no words for the shock we are all feeling.  We join the rest our music community and fans in grief.  The stage is dark today with the all too soon passing of one of music’s brightest lights.  We love you Dallas."

Writes Robyn Hitchcock...

"There’s something numbing and anodyne about tributes - perhaps this helps to mute the pain we feel when a really great person goes. Dallas Good from The Sadies was such a person, and he passed on suddenly this week. He and his brother Travis were the 6’4” rangy multi-instrumentalists that bookended the stage when The Sadies unleashed their dazzling psychedelic twang on audiences around the world. The Sadies are the true Canadian heirs to the Band - inhaling life and exhaling music wherever they go. They live to play and play to live like no other band I know.

  

"They’ve also always been happy to pitch their musical tent somewhere between “Sweethearts Of The Rodeo” and “Piper At The Gates of Dawn”, which drew me right in when I met them in 2002 at Calgary Folk Festival. Dallas taped a message to the door of my hotel room inviting me to join them for some Syd Barrett songs onstage the next day, and we went on from there; I’ve joined them in Winnipeg, Oslo, San Francisco, London and Switzerland to name just a few…

"Dallas was a kindly man - he had high musical standards but he liked to welcome strayfarers into the warm embrace of Sadie, as he always called the band. My heart goes out to his family, band mates and friends - to all who loved him - but I also harbour a terrible selfish grief that I’ll never get to play music with him again in this lifetime. I’m sure many of us feel that way. It’s just an awful shock, for which words are no consolation. So long Dallas, I hope to see you out there some day…

Stars return with new album From Capelton Hill out May 27th

Amy Millan and her Stars crew have just shared the songs "Snowy Owl" and "Pretenders" off their long-awaited new album, From Capelton Hill. Have a listen below.

Here's the scoop...

Montreal’s Stars today return with the announcement of their first new album in five years, From Capelton Hill, set for release on May 27th, via Last Gang Records/MNRK. The album’s two lead singles showcase the band of Torquil Campbell, Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Chris McCarron, Patty McGee, and Chris Seligman, at their very best. Triumphant and romantic, “Pretenders” embraces a Thelma and Louise-level commitment to seeing things through, and was written by Millan as a “love letter” to Campbell and her memories of the band’s origins. “Snowy Owl,” the album’s tender, acoustic closer, finds Millan and Campbell swapping verses and once again taking the role of two characters that try to stay together but instead keep destroying one another. Campbell says the track is the epilogue to their stories: “I don’t know what comes after,” he says. “I just make records about other people and in the end, they turn out to be about me.”

The band also announced a headlining West Coast summer tour in support of the record that kicks off with a show in Vancouver, Canada on June 4th. So far, Toronto dates have yet to be announced. From Capelton Hill is now available for pre-order right here.

Stars – From Capelton Hill

From Capelton Hill, Stars’ ninth album and follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light, was composed between Seligman and Cranley over the first half of 2020. After a first attempt to assemble the record remotely with mixed results, the band convened in Montreal to record with Marcus Paquin and Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes) at Studio MixArts, Lasek’s Breakglass Studio, and the band’s own space, Zoomer. McGee says once they finally gathered in a room together, everything clicked—first as friends, then as a working band. From Capelton Hill is ultimately about a group of people who have spent more than 20 years together, and who have now started to face the awful, necessary calculus each human eventually must do: when will all of this end? 

The album’s title reflects this ephemeralness. Located in the rolling green foothills around North Hatley, Quebec, Capelton Hill is a place that somehow still exists outside the grasp of algorithms and internet surveillance. But even its inhabitants and those who know about it won’t know it forever; their times will end, and their knowledge of and relationship to Capelton Hill will end as well. This includes the members of Stars, whose connections to North Hatley trace back to when Campbell’s grandfather built homes in the area in the late 1800’s. “I guess what From Capelton Hill means to me is from memory, from the past, from a place that seems permanent but isn’t, and I think that that sense of impermanence is a big part of what’s in the record: realizing that things don’t last forever, and that even the things that I thought would be there forever aren’t going to be,” Campbell explains. “Capelton Hill is a place where things in my mind, in my life, they’ve never changed. And yet it will go.”

Musically, From Capelton Hill feels like walking into Stars’ familiar teenage bedroom. Campbell says it cuts to the band’s founding principles: it is brimming with gothic, dazzling ‘80s and ‘90s Britpop arrangements, but rendered with intimacy and warmth rather than with cold, digital remove. A wealth of horn and string arrangements unfold across the record in true Stars fashion, dreamy and macabre. More than ever, From Capelton Hill feels like a direct channeling of Stars’ decades-long pursuit: “This band has always been us trying to navigate what it means to be inside a life that is going to end,” says Millan. “And we’re getting closer.”

These hard-won revelations aren’t solely the stuff of creeping dread; whether by nature or necessity, they’re also coloured on the record with a peaceful acceptance, like watching a world-ending tidal wave cresting and marveling at its magnitude. “What I love about the album,” Millan reflects, “is that we’re chasing the truth of the matter rather than chasing a hook. We’re just telling the truth.”

Check out "Snowy Owl" and "Pretenders" below. 

Happy Birthday Klaus Weiss!

Remembering jazz drummer Klaus Weiss with a few of his inventive sound library gems.  

Release of Joyce's "lost" Natureza album announced with "Feminina" RSD single

Joyce Moreno's previously unissued 11+ minute version of "Feminina" was cut in NYC with producer Claus Ogerman in 1977.  

Here's the scoop....

This fabled 11 minute+ version of Brazilian icon Joyce's groundbreaking "Feminina" was recorded at Columbia Studios, New York in 1977, for the as yet unreleased Natureza album. Produced, arranged and conducted by the great Claus Ogerman (Frank Sinatra, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Billie Holiday... the list goes on), Natureza would have ostensibly been Joyce's big break to international stardom, but mysteriously, it was never released. With Joyce came fellow Brazilian icon Mauricio Maestro, while Nana Vasconcelos and Tutty Moreno were already living in New York, and Ogerman employed North American jazz legends Joe Farrell, Michael Brecker, Buster Williams, Mike Manieri and a full orchestra for the sessions.

In anticipation of the monumental forthcoming Natureza album release via Far Out Recordings, this astonishing version of a true classic gets its first proper 12" vinyl release for Record Store Day 2022. In the spirit of making the release special for Record Store Day, rather than leave it as a single sided 12", Far Out boss called up Joyce to talk about the recording, recorded the conversation, and got it pressed onto the B-side. Listen to "Feminina" below. 

Writes Joyce: 

"This version of "Feminina" is part of Natureza, an album I recorded with the legendary Claus Ogerman in 1977 and it's still unreleased. This first single will be released on a 12' vinyl, on the A side with the full version of the music (with more than 11 minutes) and on the B side with an interview Joe Davis did with me in November 2011. The album was recorded at Columbia Studios, New York, featuring Brazilian and American musicians, and since then it has become a legend of my discography."

Credits: 

Joyce Moreno - lead vocals, lead guitar

Mauricio Maestro - background guitar and backing vocals

Buster Williams - acoustic bass

João Palma - drums

Naná Vasconcelos - percussion

Tutty Moreno - percussion

Mike Manieri - vibes

Warren Bernhardt - keyboards

Joe Farrell - flute solo

Phil Bodner, Romeo Penque, George Marge, Don Hammond, Ray Beckstein - bass flutes

Produced, arranged and conducted by Claus Ogerman

Recorded by Frank Laico at Columbia Studios, NYC, 1977

Mixed by Al Schmitt

Mastered by Pete Norman @ Finyl Tweek

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R.I.P. Sandy Nelson, 1938-2022

Sadly, legendary rock and roll drummer Sandy Nelson has passed away at the age of 83. He'll be greatly missed. 

Austin's Jana Horn announces Toronto show at Baby G, May 17

Austin singer/songwriter Jana Horn with be splitting the bill with Tomberlin on tour in support of her new Optimism album.

Here's the scoop...

Jana Horn will embark on her first US tour late this spring in support of her debut album Optimism. She'll be opening for Tomberlin on all dates. Horn, from Austin, Texas, recorded Optimism in 2018. After a small self-released vinyl run during the thick of the pandemic it was given a wide release this past January via No Quarter Records. 

The Guardian newspaper selected her as one of six Artists to Watch for 2022 describing the album as "a skeletal marvel that evokes Yo La Tengo and soft country shuffles" while both Uncut and MOJO gave the album 4 stars, with the latter saying the "deceptively gentle songs... unfold like melodic dreams." 

Jana Horn on tour with Tomberlin

Fri May 13 - Crystal Ballroom - Boston, MA 

Sat May 14 - PhilaMOCA - Philadelphia, PA 

Mon May 16 - Bar le Ritz - Montreal, QC 

Tue May 17 - The Baby G - Toronto, ON 

Wed May 18 - Beachland Tavern - Cleveland, OH 

Fri May 20 - Sleeping Village - Chicago, IL 

Sat May 21 - 7th St Entry - Minneapolis, MN 

Sun May 22 - xbk - Des Moines, IA

Wed May 25 - The Shredder - Boise, ID 

Thu May 26 - Mississippi Studios - Portland OR 

Fri May 27 - Wise Hall - Vancouver, BC 

Sat May 28 - Crocodile - Madame Lou's - Seattle, WA

Wed Jun 1 - Lodge Room - Los Angeles, CA 

Thu Jun 2 - Valley Bar - Phoenix, AZ 

Sat Jun 4 - Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT 

Sun Jun 5 - Larimer Lounge - Denver, CO 

Tue Jun 7 - Zanzabar - Louisville, KY 

Wed Jun 8 - Natalie's Grandview - Columbus, OH 

Thu Jun 9 - Songbyrd - Washington, DC 

Fri Jun 10 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY 

Yoko Ono tribute album Ocean Child curated by Ben Gibbard out Friday

Flaming Lips, David Byrne, Yo La Tengo, Sharon Van Etten and Death Cab contribute covers of Yoko Ono's much-maligned tunes. 

Here's the scoop...

Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard, frustrated with the way Yoko Ono's music has been unfairly assailed over the decades – largely out of ignorance – has decided it was time for a rethink of Yoko's songwriting accomplishments. So he called up a few celebrated pals who also happen to be Yoko fans,  including David Byrne, Sharon Van Etten, Stephin Merritt, along with the members of Yo La Tengo,  Flaming Lips, Deehoof and US Girls, to revisit a few of Yoko Ono's compositions and perhaps offer a fresh perspective. 

The result is the 14-track Ocean Child: Songs Of Yoko Ono tribute album set for release by Canvasback Music/Atlantic on Friday, February 18th which happens to be Yoko's 89th birthday. Looking over the tracklist, it appears that Gibbard missed an opportunity to have the members of Redd Kross resurrect  their Tater Totz alter ego to reprise their raucous version of "Don't Worry Kyoko" which got them booed off the stage by angry Beatles fans at BeatleFest 1988 in Los Angeles (watch the entertaining footage after the track listing below).  

To coincide with Ocean Child's release, there will also be a podcast hosted by Gibbard and Rolling Stone contributing editor & Sirius XM personality Jenny Eliscu who will speak enthusiastically about why Yoko Ono's songs are so darn wonderful with the artists who chose to cover them. 

Check out the preview trailer, David Byrne & Yo La Tengo's lullabye-style update "Who Has Seen The Wind?" and Death Cab's jaunty run at "Waiting For The Sun Rise" followed by the track listing and the vintage Tater Totz performance footage from L.A.'s Bonaventure Hotel. 

Various Artists – Ocean Child: Songs Of Yoko Ono

Toyboat - Sharon Van Etten

Who Has Seen The Wind? - David Byrne And Yo La Tengo

Dogtown - Sudan Archives

Waiting For The Sunrise - Death Cab For Cutie

Yellow Girl (Stand For Life) - Thao

Born In A Prison - US Girls

Growing Pain - Jay Som

Listen, The Snow Is Falling - Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields)

No No No - Deerhoof

Don't Be Scared - We Are KING

Mrs Lennon - The Flaming Lips

No One Sees Me Like You Do - Japanese Breakfast

There Is No Goodbye Between Us - Yo La Tengo

Run Run Run - Amber Coffman

Midweek Mixdown: Rupert Orton's Pink Lemonade w/ Billy Childish

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Here's the scoop...

Rupert's special guest on his latest Pink Lemonade show for Totally Wired Radio is the one and only Billy Childish (Wild Billy Chyldish & CTMF ) - Legendary hero to Jack White, Andrew Weatherall and countless others... Billy picks a bunch of blues & country tunes which had a big influence on him and we chat about how he developed his unique sound with a Revox G36 Tape Recorder, the broken wheel Medway Delta rhythm, drinking green tea with Bianca Jagger; his latest project The William Loveday Intention and lots more... There’s also a special Red Rooster Festival live preview plus new music from Joshua Hedley, Nick Waterhouse, Daemönik Fonce, The Hanging Stars and Sister Cookie. 

Listen right here. 

Watch Billy Childish and crew tear it up at the BBmix Festival in Boulogne-Billancourt, France back on November 23, 2019 below.