Whaddya mean you don't know Al White & The Hi-Liters

Here are a few classic recordings cut by Al White's New Orleans-based rock 'n' soul crew The Hi-Liters. 

Happy Birthday JJ Rassler!

Celebrating the birthday of Boston guitar ace JJ Rassler with his 90 min. chat about his DMZ days and more with Mike Hoban. 

Watch Cedric Burnside live at the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Fest

Cedric Burnside's new album Hill Country Love is out April 5th. Check out his 54 min. New Orleans performance below. 

You can pre-order a copy of Cedric Burnside's new album Hill Country Love via your favourite platform right here.

Matthew Sweet plays TD Music Hall on April 13 – tickets on sale Thursday!

Tickets for Matthew Sweet's upcoming Toronto show go on sale this Thursday (February 29) at 10 am right here. 

Grey DeLisle releases new Jolie Holland-produced album, Driftless Girl

Grey DeLisle's latest release Driftless Girl is available here. Check out two performances and some recordings from the album. 

April March sings Kelley Stoltz EP due for Record Store Day

The 4-song April March Sings Kelley Stoltz 12" EP is being released by Agitated Records on April 20th. Read all about it!

April March Sings Kelley Stoltz EP

Four special tracks recorded by April March and Kelley Stoltz, whereby April sings Kelley Stotlz songs in french, and vice versa, a one-off meeting of underground pop legends, and overground garage rock royalty. Mixed & masterd by Warren DeFever at Third Man, issued with two different bagette-enhanced sleeves, and two different colour vinyl options. Blue and Red. Ooh La La! C'est Magnifique!

April March: "I was in Nashville with Olivia Jean on a little break from shooting our "Allons Y" video at Third Man. I got in her car and she cranked up her playlist. Out jumped "Double Exposure". I went bananas right there in the passenger seat. "Kelley Stokes!", she smiled wide. It reminded me of something I'd heard in a dream. I went around singing songs from "Double Exposure" for a few weeks zeroing in on "Are You My Love" and "Your Face". I thought to myself cover-wise there's nothing to add here, they're perfect as is but maybe some French versions would be a kick so I asked for an intro. A few months later I was in San Francisco kicking out the Bonne Mamans with Kelley in his studio. Lucky me and thanks to Agitated Records lucky you too." 

Kelley Stoltz: “Like almost everyone in the world I was dazzled by April March's take on "Chick Habit" back in the late 90s. It was such an up feeling and joyful sound in the music and vocals. At odds with the manly wails and bleak outlooks that were standard song fare of those days. You can develop a crush on the voice in your speakers, you know! I did anyway. I was so pleased to hear from her in person and out of the blue, years later, and find out she wanted to do her own versions of my songs. I soon got to re-recording the music bits, and as she asked, stayed pretty true to their original form… maybe even improving on them just a tad. She appeared at my door one day and we instantly hit it off and laughed and sang and climbed on an elliptical machine. We did some recording and then took a walk and ate tacos. She even gave my daughter her first book. We're just friends, but I'll always have that crush when I hear her voice! I hope you enjoy April March Sings Kelley Stoltz as much as I did working on them.”

Tracks: "Es-Tu Mon Amour," "Ton Visage," "Are You My Love," "Your Face"

You can also pre-order a copy of Kelley Stoltz's forthcoming La Fleur album (out June 7th) right here. 

That time The La's played Scotland's T in The Park in 2005

As rumours swirl about a new La's recording in the works, here's nine minutes of Lee Mavers and crew live in 2005. 

PJ Harvey announces North American tour with two Toronto shows in September!

PJ Harvey will be playing History in Toronto on September 25 & 26. Watch the new clip for "Seem An I" starring Ruth Wilson.

Sign up to receive pre-sale access Tuesday February 27th at 10am EST - https://pjharvey.lnk.to/subscribeXX.

Happy Birthday Fats Domino!

Remembering R&B great Fats Domino with a couple of his Imperial label jukebox gems cut with Dave Bartholomew.

John Smith launches his Joe Henry-produced album at The Burdock, Wednesday

John Smith's new album The Living Kind is out March 15th. Check out the title track and "Candle." Get tickets for his show below.

Get tickets for John Smith's show at The Burdock right here. Pre-order The Living Kind here. Watch a Miranada clip below.

Happy Birthday John Doe!

Celebrating the birthday of John Doe with a performance with his X partner Exene Cervenka for the Skyline Sessions.  

Remembering Jim Backus on his birthday

Today we're toasting Jim Backus who voiced Mr. Magoo and famously played Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island.

Dexter Romweber's Celebration of Life set for April in Saxapahaw, NC

Family and friends of the late Dexter Romweber will be gathering at Saxapahaw's Haw River Ballroom on April 7th. 

Dexter Romweber Celebration Of Life

April 7, 2024

Haw River Ballroom

1711 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Rd.

Saxapahaw, NC 27340

www.hawriverballroom.com

'Country Classic' Benefit w/ Jim Cuddy Band & friends @ The Horseshoe, Feb 25

Jim Cuddy and pals Colin Cripps, Lori Yates, Doug Paisley, Andy Maize & others are raising funds for the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Get tickets for the Jim Cuddy Band's "Country Classic" benefit show while you can right here.

Happy Birthday Michel Legrand!

Remembering composer/pianist Michel Legrand on his birthday with a couple of his lesser known mid-60s performances.

Watch the video for "Fauxtography" by Chicago's Ovef Ow

"Fauxtography" is off the album Ovef Ow vs. The Worm out now via Oort Cloud Records. 

Get a copy of Ovef Ow vs. The Worm via Bandcamp right here. 

40th Anniversary deluxe reissue of Young Fresh Fellows' 1984 debut on the way

Young Fresh Fellows' debut album, The Fabulous Sounds Of The Pacific Northwest, is getting remixed and they're going on tour!

Here's the scoop...

It’s 2024, the 40th anniversary of the YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS trendsetting debut -- the record that put soggy Seattle on the map! In celebration, the band will release a deluxe remixed Fabulous Sounds Of The Pacific Northwest on Omnivore Records. 

John Perrin (of NRBQ!) has been handed the sticks by the now-retiring Tad, joining Scott, Jim and Kurt to play a handful of shows culminating at Wilco’s fabled Solid Sound Fest.  Don't be afraid.  LLYFF!!!

Young Fresh Fellows on tour

May 24 - SEATTLE  Tractor Tavern (w/ Tripwires)

May 25 - PORTLAND  Mississippi Studios. (w/ Reverse Cowgirl)

June 21 - MADISON  Kiki’s House Of Righteous Music

June 22 - CHICAGO  The Hideout. (w/ Aunt Kelly)

June 25 - CLEVELAND  Happy Dog (w/ Cheap Clone)

June 26 - PHILADELPHIA  Kung Fu Necktie  (w/ Bret Tobias Set)

June 27 - BROOKLYN  Union Pool

June 29  NORTH ADAMS MA  Solid Sound Fest

One For The Weekend: Melvin Davis

The folks at Kent/Ace have just recirculated the Melvin Davis swinger "Wedding Bells" – check it out. 

Shannon & The Clams preview new album with "Bean Fields" video

"Bean Fields" is off the new Shannon & The Clams album "The Moon Is In The Wrong Place" out May 10 via Easy Eye Sound. 

You can pre-order the new Shannon & The Clams album "The Moon Is In The Wrong Place" right here. 

Happy Birthday Harvey Mason!

Cheers to drumming dynamo Harvey Mason on his birthday. Here's an interview, Donald Byrd's "Think Twice" and more.

Watch The Shakers play Larry's Hideaway & CHCH-TV in 1981

Straight outta The Hammer, here's Tim Gibbons, Dave Rave, Rick Andrew & Claude DesRoches in action at Larry's and CHCH-TV.

Beyoncé vs. Lyle Lovett

Anyone else hear any similarity between Beyoncé's "Texas Hold 'Em" and Lyle Lovett's "L.A. County" off 1987's Pontiac LP?

    

Happy Birthday Steve Wynn!

Celebrating the birthday of Dream Syndicate mainman Steve Wynn with a solo performance in Norderstedt, Germany. 

Whaddya mean you don't know Johnny "Peanuts" Wilson

Check out the rockabilly classic "Cast Iron Arm" that Johnny "Peanuts" Wilson cut at Norman Petty's Studio in Clovis, NM.

Nancy Sinatra's "Something Pretty" issued with a classic Bond theme flip!

Check out Nancy's rare recording of "Something Pretty" along with her classic 1967 James Bond theme "You Only Live Twice."  

Light In The Attic have pressed up 500 white vinyl copies of the single which you can get from their site right here.  

Teenage Fanclub announce North American tour with Toronto date May 3!

Teenage Fanclub are scheduled to play the Concert Hall in Toronto on May 3. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 23. 

Watch a Teenage Fanclub interview on The New Music with footage from their Opera House show in 1992.  

Happy Birthday Poison Ivy Rorschach!

Raising a glass to Poison Ivy – The Cramps guitarist, composer and producer – with some interview & performance footage.

Charles Peterson's Nirvana photo book out today – Kurt's birthday!

Photographer Charles Peterson documented Nirvana from the moment they hit Seattle so his new book promises to be epic.

Writes Charles Peterson...

I’ve known Michelle Dunn Marsh, the co-founder of Minor Matters, in the Seattle art photo world for many years, and she was always a great friend and champion of my work. I knew that she could help edit a book that would be beautiful, dynamic and most of all artistic. I also love the idea of keeping things local and in the family (Jeff Kleinsmith of Sub Pop fame is doing the design). Michelle is committed to releasing books by a diverse array of artists, and if I can help in that vs letting Random Bucks f*ck up my book, I’m all for it.

The book: Let’s just say it’s been a process to get this far, with some major psychological hurdles to overcome in order to figure out how to say, in the words of Kurt, something that hasn’t been said before, and not just merely serve the servants, both real and imagined. 

So I went to the meat of the material, and nevermind the posed shit that I was never really that good at, I cranked up the music. It was the beautiful chaos, anger, joy and sheer relentlessness of the band’s music and performance that inspired me to choose the photos and order them in the way I did (with a heap of tough love and intellect from Michelle’s studied and impartial eye). So it’s what I consider a tight, practiced book, visceral, exciting and to the point. 

There are very few posed or candid photos of the band in the book. We tried, but it veered into becoming yet another 'band book' of which there are plenty already. Rather, it's a relentless, 'dive' into experiencing the music of Nirvana via my visionary take on live performance photography. It certainly contains all of the greatest hits and many new ones uncovered from the archives, sequenced in a way that makes the music come alive again. I think it is poised to be unique in straddling art and music culture. 

 

 

Charles Peterson's Nirvana will be published by Minor Matters on February 20th.

Sub Pop (2130 7th Ave, Seattle) is hosting a Charles Peterson book signing with slide show and Q&A on Feb. 20 from 6pm to 8pm. 

Nippon Psychedelic Soul collects trippy 70s workouts from Japan

Kay Suzuki's Nippon Psychedelic Soul comp featuring Haroumi Hosono's Happy End is out via Time Capsule on March 15th. 

Here's the scoop...

The follow-up to Time Capsule’s Nippon Acid Folk compilation, Nippon Psychedelic Soul takes myriad pathways into the tripped-out undergrowth of 1970s Japan. Finding their feet at home and looking for inspiration abroad, the musicians featured here were engaged in the communal soul-searching that followed the breakdown of the 1960s protest movements. Some made it big, others drifted into oblivion. The music they left behind shimmers with intensity. 

At the core was Happy End, the first project of YMO’s Haroumi Hosono, whose distortion-heavy guitar and crisp back-beat laid the foundations for Japanese lyrics that flipped the paradigm of Japanese rock music on its head. With it came a new found sonic ambition, such as in the bold Philly-soul style arrangements of producer Yuji Ohno, whose work with occult wandered Yoshiko Sai shares some of the bittersweet grandeur of Rotary Connection or David Axelrod. 

Then there was Jun Fukamachi, a pioneer of Japanese synthesis, whose debut album was a carnival of orchestral funk, euphoric horn lines and rich production, complete with soaring guitar solos, psychedelic organ and a truly cinematic finale. The first and only time Fukamachi would sing on record, ‘Omae’ rips like the ultimate end-of-nighter. 

Influenced by giants of the US soul scene, maverick composer Hiroshi “Monsieur” Kamayatsu (otherwise known as ‘the Brian Wilson of Japan’) went one step further, enlisting Tower of Power to play on ‘Have You Smoked Gauloises?’ The B-side to Monsieur’s biggest-selling single, it coasts with sophisticated cool - a liquid bassline and suave keys comping under a roaring trademark ToP sax solo. No surprise it found favour once more on the Acid Jazz dance floors of ‘90s London. 

Such was the spirit of experimentation that big studio productions and private press releases sat side-by-side, with the likes of Momotaro Pink and Kazushi Inamura, taking their hopes of success into their own hands with the resources available to them. More reflective but no less robust, theirs was a heavy, fat-backed drum sound, soaked in dramatic, soulful psychedelia. 

If some were dreamers and others space cadets, none were further out than sci-fi writer, musician, activist and self-made scientist Tadashi Goino, who transformed his own fantasy novel Messenger from the Seventh Dimension into an operatic prog odyssey with few discernible musical reference points – a majestic and completely bonkers outlier even among company as strange and brilliant as that which is collected here. 

Less a compilation of a scene, as a compilation of a sentiment, Nippon Psychedelic Soul is a wild ride from start to finish, shattering the narratives of the Japanese folk and rock tradition into a million tiny pieces. 

Get a copy of Nippon Psychedelic Soul 1970-1979 via Bandcamp right here. Check out a few tracks following the tracklisting below. 

Nippon Psychedelic Soul 1970-1979

Hiroshi Kamayatsu - Have you smoked Gauloise?

Happy End - Haruyo Koi (Oh Spring, Come!)

Yoshiko Sai - Aoi Galasu Dama (Blue Glass Ball)

Tadashi Goino Group - Jikan Wo Koero (Go Beyond Time)

Jun Fukamachi - Omae (You)

Momotaro Pink with Original PINKS - Hachigatsu No Inshow (August’s impression)

Vol.1 Chap.100 - Heya No Naka (In The Room)

Previously unissued Sun Ra Arkestra Live in Chicago 1976-77 due for RSD

Zev Feldman's Jazz Detective label is releasing the limited-run Sun Ra At The Showcase 2LP set on April 20th. 

Here's the scoop...

Sun Ra At The Showcase: Live In Chicago 1976-1977 contains previously unreleased live recordings of the legendary intergalactic composer/pianist Sun Ra captured live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago. This is an official release on producer Zev Feldman's Jazz Detective record label, in partnership with Elemental Music, and in cooperation with the Sun Ra Trust. Researched and compiled by longtime Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson, and transferred from the original tape reels, this limited-edition 180-gram 2-LP set includes an extensive insert with rare photographs; liner notes by GRAMMY-winning author and historian Ashley Kahn; and interviews and statements from a who's who of music icons. Vinyl pressing of 3,000 copies available on Record Store Day, April 20, 2024. Check out the Jazz Detective site for the 2CD version and more info. 

Sun Ra At The Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-77

SIDE A:

1. A NEW BEGINNING

2. VIEW FROM THE OTHER DIMENSION

3. VISITOR'S APPROACH

4. ANHK NATION (aka ANHKNATON)

SIDE B:

5. MOONSHIP JOURNEY

6. CALLING PLANET EARTH

7. VELVET

SIDE C:

8. HALLOWEEN IN HARLEM

9. KING PORTER STOMP

10. COCKTAILS FOR TWO

11. TAKE THE "A" TRAIN

SIDE D:

12. STOMPIN' AT THE SAVOY

SIDE E:

13. OUTER SPACEWAYS INCORPORATED

14. ENLIGHTENMENT

SIDE F:

15. MEDLEY: A MEMBER OF THE ANGEL RACE (aka SOMEWHERE THERE)

16. END OF CONCERT / JOE SEGAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Happy Birthday Irma Thomas!

Celebrating the birthday of Irma Thomas – The Soul Queen of New Orleans – with her stellar appearance on WWOZ.

Now you can hear Dan Penn's demos for Bobby Purify's Better To Have It album

Here's the scoop...

The Inside Track on Bobby Purify traces the journey of one of Dan Penn's recording projects from its original conception to final commercial release, offering listeners a unique behind-the-scenes look at the entire process of songwriting and production from Dan's side of the desk.  The CD package, released by The Last Music Company, includes a sixteen-page booklet with photos and interviews with Dan about the recording process.

Inspired by Solomon Burke's profound rendition of Don't Give Up On Me in 2002, Dan Penn reunited with his co-writers of the Grammy-winning song for a new project.  He instinctively knew the team had more great songs in the same vein just waiting to be unearthed, but to dig them up, they needed to take some time to go south and write ... and eat just as well.  

The demos he recorded during these songwriting sessions with collaborators Carson Whitsett and Bucky Lindsey are a joy to behold, showcasing Dan's voice at its absolute, soulful best.  Normally these private tapes would not be released, but when heard alongside the final versions he produced with Bobby Purify, Dan Penn's vision as a producer becomes clear.  Dan had identified Bobby as the ideal singer for this next production after getting to know him again after a break of some twenty years.  

At home in his Nashville studio in 2004, Penn recorded ten new tracks based on the demos, which Jerry Wexler described as "Bobby Purify's glorious, God-given voice".  Dan called on other Southern soul session stars like Carson Whitsett, Spooner Oldham, Reggie Young, Jimmie Johnson, David Hood and Wayne Jackson to create the perfect foundation for Bobby Purify's 2005 album Better To Have It.  

Bobby had gone completely blind in Nashville a few years before these recordings and unfortunately didn't have the confidence to tour with this great studio band as planned. As a result, the album was deleted and unavailable until this re-release.  The twenty tracks on this release consist of the ten original demo versions of the songs sung by Dan Penn, followed by the same ten that appeared on Bobby Purify's original album. 

Get a copy of Dan Penn's The Inside Track On Bobby Purify via Bear Family right here.  Listen to a few tracks below.