Watch Patti Smith live on tour in Europe

Here are a few recent Patti Smith performances in Zurich, Mainz and Prague worth checking. 

Bevis Frond releasing Focus On Nature double album in February

The Bevis Frond's much anticipated 19-track Focus On Nature album will be out February 1st. Check out the title track below. 

Here's the scoop from Nick Saloman...

Hi Folks, I should have announced this first thing today, but I spent half the day at EE getting my mobile fixed (new SIM card required). So now, a little belatedly, I can reveal what you probably already know. The estimable Fire Records will be issuing a new studio album by The Bevis Frond early next year. It's a double (of course) called 'Focus On Nature' and it features the full band, plus a couple of guest artistes. I'm really happy with it, and hope that anyone who decides to buy a copy will also think it's pretty good. 

The Bevis Frond – Focus On Nature 

Focus On Nature is the new studio album from celebrated post-psyche singer songwriter Nick Saloman and his band The Bevis Frond. Seventy-five minutes of glorious melodies that span 60s psych, English folk, Seattle art-punks The Wipers, the buzzsaw pop of Dinosaur Jr and Hendrix-esque explorations. There’s always an element of playful Englishness to their music. 

Heavily influencing the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Elliot Smith, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr, the cult icons have produced another off-kilter mix of melodic piano-led melancholy, acoustic ruminations, scratchy garage rock with a punky edge and full-on guitar histrionics. 

Like its much-praised predecessor, ‘Little Eden’, the new record studies the world’s weariness but fills out a bigger canvas; fast food and global warming, broken hearts and long gone nights out, everyday immortality and being God’s gift all share space. It’s like Townshend at his most thematic; Big Star in all their acoustic glory, perfectly balancing the punky garage rock combo who end up running on ‘Empty’ with Gilmour breaks that elevate it all to grandeur. 

You can pre-order a copy of The Bevis Frond's forthcoming album Focus On Nature from your platform of choice right here. Check out the kinder, gentler title track following the fancy trailer. Incidentally,  those who find themselves in Bavaria on this weekend can catch The Bevis Frond at Cairo Jugendkulturhaus in Würzburg, Germany on Saturday, November 25 where the rippin' 2017 performance (below) was captured.  

One For The Weekend: Slander Tongue

Berlin bruisers Slander Tongue just put out their pandemic pounder "Lockdown" on Slovenly Records today. Check it out!

Here's the scoop from Slovenly Records...

Our fave Berlin behemoths of greasy glam junkshop stomp SLANDER TONGUE slither back on the scene with a mighty fine 7-inch of cathartic rock’n’roll groove. It’s unfortunate that "Lockdown," – 2021’s first fist shaking anthem – has to be about screaming at one’s own walls, but here we are: “Now it’s May and I should be faraway, But I do the same thing as yesterday, This shit goes all year long, And I keep playing that song.“ At least they managed to squeeze these two bangers out while stuck at home, and fortunately not stuck in a rut! 

Have a listen to "Lockdown" below. Get a limited-run vinyl copy via Bandcamp right here here.  

Deep digging DJ Nicola Conte excavates MPS spiritual jazz

Nicola Conte's new archival collection Cosmic Forest: The Spiritual Sounds of MPS will be out September 21. 

"Cosmic Forest" takes us on a spiritual journey through the musical universe of Musik Produktion Schwarzwald aka MPS, the most important German jazz label of the 1960's and 70's. Alongside such younger firms as ECM, Enja, and ACT, its catalogue of around 500 albums remains to this day one of the most interesting, comprehensive, multi-textured collections of "jazz made in Germany". German businessman Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer (HGBS), owner of the German electronics company SABA in Villingen/ Schwenningen, founded a record company in 1965 under the same name and equipped it with its own recording studio. Three years later he renamed the company MPS. The exceptional recording equipment and premium-quality record pressings, which were usually made in editions of 500 to 1000 LPs, are to this day regarded as "state of the art". Consequently, SABA/MPS remains one of the most important jazz labels for both vinyl collectors and fans.

There are still little-known gems to discover within the MPS catalogue. For instance, Cosmic Forest curated by DJ deluxe Nicola Conte. Cosmic Forest is a compilation that highlights some of the most compelling "spiritual jazz" recordings from 1965 to 1975. Conte, a world-renowned Italian musician and producer, as well as a passionate DJ and record collector, is a connoisseur of European jazz with an astounding ability to dig a little deeper when it comes to arranging such a compilation. In this case, he concentrated on the spiritual highpoints of the MPS catalogue, highlighting both well-known and obscure musical treasures, while connecting disparate pieces through a personal common thread. The choice of individual titles and the flowing character of their arrangement lend the album a quality of timelessness, while showcasing the breadth of the entire "cosmic jazz collection" within the MPS archives. Watch the preview clip below followed by MPS classics recorded by Michael Naura, Nathan Davis and George Gruntz.

Whaddya mean you don't know Palais Schaumburg

Palais Schaumberg's 1981 video for Kinder der Tod looks like it was made with Sprockets in mind.