Margo Guryan's songcraft is the focus of new tribute album from Sub Pop

Better 4 years late than never, Sub Pop just released Like Someone I Know, a multi-artist reimagining of the late Margo Guryan's fab Take A Picture album.

Here's the scoop...

Most of our stories about cult musicians who make an album or two and then seem to vanish are framed by grief, despair, and frayed ambition. Not so with Margo Guryan, an ardent jazz anomaly who disdained pop music until hearing “God Only Knows” in 1966, opening a window onto the wonders that form could contain. 

Only two years later, she released her own set of little pop symphonies, Take a Picture, to great praise and expectation. But, having already divorced the hard-gigging valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, she declined to tour or even talk about it all that much, content even if her reticence meant Take a Picture was soon consigned to discount racks and cutout bins. She wrote and recorded for years to come, even collaborating with Neil Diamond’s band, but mostly she seemed satisfied by her relatively private life. 

As befits music so stunning and subtle, Guryan, who died in 2021, has enjoyed several renaissances during the last six decades. And now, it’s happening again: Soon after her near-whispered and lovelorn hymn “Why Do I Cry” made her a TikTok star in 2021, the same year she passed, Numero Group launched a reissue campaign, resulting in the acclaimed 2024 set, Words and Music. And now, a dozen artists—none of whom were born when Take a Picture was made, most of whom weren’t even born for a crucial early reissue by Franklin Castle—have reinterpreted and reimagined that entire album (plus one bonus track) for Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan. Empress Of, Margo Price, Clairo, June McDoom: They all affirm Guryan’s sharpness as a songwriter and the brilliance of an album that has far outstripped whatever promotional cycle Guryan rejected so long ago. 

Guryan was born to a sprawling family in Far Rockaway, when the place was still mostly framed by trees. While a composition student at Boston University, Guryan stumbled into a gig playing piano between Miles Davis Quintet sets, signed a songwriting deal with Atlantic Records, and botched a session with Nesuhi Ertegun. But she wasn’t looking to be a singing star. In 1959, she headed to the Lenox School of Jazz in the Berkshires to write for Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, earn the attention of instructor Max Roach, and find a longtime mentor and friend in Gunther Schuller. She became an accomplished lyricist, writing not only for Coleman and Nancy Harrow but also for Harry Belafonte and Gary MacFarland. 

But it was that subsequent encounter with the Beach Boys that opened the trap door for Guryan to Take a Picture and scores of other super songs, many of which appear on Words and Music. Take a Picture is a sophisticated survey of mid-20s romance and indecision, from the flirty romp of “Sunday Morning” and falling-for-you affirmation “Can You Tell” to the desperate helplessness of “What Can I Give You.” Her perpetually soft voice, audacious songcraft, and complete candor: Guryan, in 1968 and beyond, was making daring music, no matter how gently those sounds seemed to move. 

With a portion of proceeds being donated to providing and advocating for affordable reproductive health services, Like Someone I Know reinforces the strength of Guryan’s songs by allowing a dozen different artists to take them for trips of their own. The core always remains, unwavering. McDoom stretches static and harmony beneath “Thoughts,” as if they’re spinning on a dub plate beneath her arcing vocals. Rahill lets “Sun” unfurl over harmonium drone and entrancing percussive ticks, digging into Guryan’s interest in the surreal. Frankie Cosmos and Good Morning take a country shuffle through “Take a Picture,” entwined vocals falling over the rhythmic skips with perfect romantic relish. Over the last few decades, it has become increasingly clear just how good Guryan was, how sturdy her songs have been amid varying tides of taste. Like Someone I Know offers absolute validation, a testament to the enduring relevance and brilliance of Guryan's work. 

Get a copy of the new tribute album Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan and check out a few tracks via Bandcamp right here. Watch the animated video for Empress Of's version of the title track along with audio clips of TOPS doing "Sunday Morning" and Margo Price's version of "California Shake" after the tracklisting. 

Like Someone I Know: A Celebration of Margo Guryan

1. TOPS - Sunday Morning 2:26

2. Rahill - Sun 3:34

3. Clairo - Love Songs 2:58

4. June McDoom - Thoughts 2:54

5. MUNYA and Kainalu - Don't Go Away 2:20

6. Frankie Cosmos and Good Morning - Take a Picture 3:02

7. Kate Bollinger - What Can I Give You 2:25

8. Pearl & The Oysters - Think of Rain 2:11

9. Bedouine and Sylvie - Can You Tell 2:20

10. Empress Of - Someone I Know 2:04 

11. Barrie - Love 2:51

12. Margo Price - California Shake 3:37

La Luz, Mia Joy @ Adelaide Hall, October 12

The current La Luz (featuring guitarist Shana Cleveland & Maryam Qudus on keys) hits Toronto Saturday. Get tickets right here.

Boeckner (aka Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade) @ The Horseshoe, Friday

Check out a couple of interviews with by Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner discussing his Boeckner! album along with some videos.

BOECKNER!

Daniel Boeckner understands the grit and gravel that accumulates in the heart and that it takes an unwavering courage to crack through that clutter and burrow to the other side. And in Boeckner’s hands, that quest comes via postapocalyptic synth and guitar heroism, a rallying cry for those always coming home through the scorched clouds. Throughout his work with Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits, Operators, Atlas Strategic, and more, the iconic Canadian indie rocker recognizes that few feelings are more gratifying—more memorable, more generative, more abundant—than hope. But it takes getting the hell out of your own way. A culmination of that deep library of musical reference, Boeckner is set to release his first album under his own name: Boeckner! “I think in a lot of ways in my mind I’m still playing in a punk band in Vancouver,” Boeckner laughs. “Starting back when I was a teenager, my life in music has been trying to develop my own musical language, and this record is the beginning of presenting that.” 

No matter where his genre exploration has taken him, there’s something about growing up in punk and DIY spaces that puts collaboration in Boeckner’s blood. Composed of a collection of intimately familiar elements, Boeckner! elicits the same thrill of young passion and discovery. It’s a jet-powered chase through a tech-noir cityscape—fueled by a dream and that special someone in the passenger seat. Boeckner introduces this fused language immediately with the thumping opening track and lead single “Lose.” Buoyed by the scorched space-age synths developed across two records with Operators and the fist-pumping guitar push of Wolf Parade, the song charges headlong into a new world. “Now I’m a walking phantom/ Night watch at the radar station,” Boeckner sings, as if in a race against time to keep hope alive. 

That urgency and passion have always been a trademark of Boeckner’s, and writing on his own pushes those feelings further into the center of the scope. But while Boeckner may be the clear driving force behind the album, he’s not without collaborators for his solo debut. After meeting producer Randall Dunn while contributing to the soundtrack to the Nicolas Cage-starring psychedelic horror film Mandy, Boeckner knew he’d found the perfect counterpart for his solo debut. “I’d been a fan of his forever, especially the Sunn0))) records he produced,” Boeckner says. “Working with Randall really unlocked some suppressed musical urges, things that I enjoy in my private life but don’t normally weave into what I’m releasing—like occult synth, pseudo-metal, krautrock, and heavy psych influences.” 

Album highlight “Euphoria” dips into that off-kilter darkness, dashes of vibraphone tossed against woozy waves of synth. “It’s too late/ Time accelerates/ From the cradle to the grave,” Boeckner calls like some nuclear fallout Ziggy Stardust, glitching electronics dripping off the mix. The track’s percussive thrum comes courtesy of Matt Chamberlain—whose credits include work with Bowie and Fiona Apple, not to mention a stint as drummer for Pearl Jam—and serves to bolster Boeckner’s potent guitar throughout the record. 

That solid base allows Boeckner to thoughtfully weave between emotional imagism and more grounded storytelling. Throughout the record, his imagery delves into science fiction, but it’s charged first and foremost by experience. “With the exception of early Wolf Parade, I've always tried to put myself into a fictional mindset, but with this record, I was tapping into something raw and personal,” he explains. As a prime example, the desperate reach of “Euphoria” is felt in every line, pushed to its titular state only through some unhealthy choices, the gloom drawing near. 

The trio of Boeckner, Dunn, and Chamberlain formed a sort of dark engine for the album, and Chamberlain’s ingenious approach of triggering a vintage Arp synthesizer simultaneously with each drum track helped Boeckner shape the record’s atmosphere. That layered shadow colors the acoustic-tinged haze of “Dead Tourists,” a song littered with bad omens—steel-eyed cattle, bodies lined on church pews, overturned luxury cars. That tense futurism was influenced by Boeckner’s time staying in Dunn’s Circular Ruin studio, a dusky, electronic aura singed into every track...He often found himself falling asleep under the synth rack in a sleeping bag, looking up through a tiny skylight at the Brooklyn lights, the faint thump of Daniel Lopatin recording his latest Oneohtrix Point Never record next door coming through the wall. 

In addition to tapping into his own rock roots, Boeckner brought in one of his personal guitar heroes. “As a teenager, I imported cassettes of Medicine’s flawless shoegaze noise records, and I absolutely loved Brad Laner’s sandblasting, Chernobyl guitar,” he says. And while Boeckner first reached out hoping Laner would contribute to one track, the Medicine guitarist wound up adding guitar layers throughout the album, as well as helping arrange vocal harmonies. The haunted, wordless choir on “Don’t Worry Baby” stand especially tall in that regard, Laner delivering Boeckner’s writing through his trademark Medicine guitar ravage. 

“This record is like an autobiography—Atlas Strategic music concrete synth explosions, lush synth stuff from Operators, the noise guitar from Handsome Furs, drawing influence from everything from Stockhausen to Tom Waits all at the same time,” Boeckner says. And as the record fades away on the low-slung “Holy is the Night,” the mutated skyline fades away, replaced by blue skies “after the plague.” No longer a sci-fi epic, Boeckner! eases into something more akin to a torched VHS copy of a John Cassevetes film, the chemtrails and nuclear fallout fading long in the distance. “How much pain can we deliver before the sunrise, baby/ Holy is the night we can get some peace,” he sighs. “How much blood can this world want from you and me together?” Like all good sci-fi, the emotion and pain hits home for the author and listener alike, and genre flourishes there to bolster the human experience. And in revealing more than ever before, Boeckner! both ratchets up the musical intensity to unforeseen levels and hopes to find some peace at the end of the journey. 

Get a copy of Boeckner! via Bandcamp right here. 

Check out videos for "Dead Tourists" and "Lose" followed by Dan Boeckner performing "Shine A Light" at the Lodge Room in Highland Park followed by his interviews with Vish Khanna for the Kreative Kontrol podcast and Stu Whiffen for the Off the Beat and Track podcast. 

 

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. 

METZ roars back with Up On Gravity Hill album out April 12

METZ enlisted Owen Pallett and Black Mountain's Amber Webber to realize their long awaited new album, Up On Gravity Hill. 

Here's the scoop from Sub Pop HQ...

On April 12th, METZ will release Up On Gravity Hill, their first album in 4 years, on Sub Pop for the world and in Canada on Dine Alone. The album was engineered by Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar, Lingua Ignota, Battles, The Body) and features guest performances from Amber Webber of Black Mountain and composer/string arranger Owen Pallett.

METZ, a band once known for blowing out eardrums with songs of joyous rage, have, over their past few records, begun exploring ways to turn abrasiveness into atmospherics, the evolution of their sound not only a reflection of the maturing of the band themselves but also of a changed world that demands nuance and compassion to comprehend and to survive. This is so on their latest effort, Up On Gravity Hill, which finds the band continuing to bend the raw power of rock music to its most delicate, intricate ends. Delivering a deep, detailed, and unyieldingly personal collection of songs that are fused together to form not only METZ’s most powerful record to date but also their most beautiful.

To spotlight this evolution, the band has shared two new contrasting singles: the stomping motorik “99,” and the charging and deeply melodic, “Entwined (Street Light Buzz)”, that offers a dreamier Swervedriver-esque guitar sheen never before utilized by the Canadian trio. 

 METZ frontman Alex Edkins says, “These two songs couldn’t be more stylistically and thematically dissimilar. ‘Entwined (Street Light Buzz)’ is a song about the deep connection humans can foster with one another and how we carry people with us forever, even after death. ‘99’ is about the scourge of corporate greed and bottom-line thinking that runs rampant in modern society. Anything for a buck is the message being sent to younger generations.”

 METZ is also announcing headlining international tour dates supporting Up On Gravity Hill, with dates in North America from April 17th to May 17th, when they'll play a triumphant Toronto show at the Danforth Music Hall. Then it's off for a run of UK and EU festival performances in August, including stops at The Green Man Festival in the UK, La Route Du Rock and Cabaret Vert Festival in France, and the Canela Party in Spain followed by a UK and EU tour in the fall.  

Pre-order a copy of METZ's Up On Gravity Hill album from Sub Pop right here. Listen to "Entwined (Street Light Buzz)" and "99" below. 

Thee Headcoats' Heavens To Murgatroyd reissued sans Daniel Clowes sleeve

Damaged Goods is adding two bonus cuts to the classic Thee Headcoats' LP but ditching the original cover seems unwise.

Here's the scoop from Damaged Goods...

REISSUE OF CLASSIC ALBUM ORIGINALLY RELEASED BY SUB POP RECORDS IN 1990!

NOW WITH NEW ARTWORK + EXTRA TWO TRACKS (‘Girl From ’62’ was originally released as the A-side of a single on Regal Select Records, USA 1991 / ‘Troubled Times’ – was the B-side of a single on Dog Meat Records, Australia 1990). 

THEE HEADCOATS – Heavens To Murgatroyd, Even! It’s Thee Headcoats (already)

1 Troubled Times

2 Mantrap

3 No Way Out

4 Reindeer Are Wild

5 Hand to Hand

6 Headcoat Man

7 Girl of Matches

8 Girl From '62

9 I Don't Like the Man I Am

10 Pocahontas Was Her Name

11 We're Gone

12 Stewball

13 I Ain't About to Give You My Name

14 Rusty Hook

Q&A with Billy Childish (September 2023)

What’s the story behind the album title?

“Heavens to Murgatroyd, even!” is a term of surprise by Snagglepuss, a bright pink lion, who starred in his very own Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The term was famously employed by The Downliners Sect on the intro to their top tune ‘Leader of The Sect’.

This album originally came out on Sub Pop Records in 1990. The label was known for US grunge at the time, how come they ended up working with a Medway garage ‘n’ racket group?

We prefer the term “Maximum Drums and Racket”. It all came about because a young Steve Turner, of Mudhoney fame, when a young lad visiting England with his father, happened across Thee Mighty Caesars playing at The Cricketers Public House at the Oval. Fast forward five years and he is telling the Seattle Grunge mob all about how great we are. We were then invited to play with Mudhoney on their first Sub Pop jaunt in the UK. Bruce Pavitt, the Sub Pop visionary, saw our mass appeal and asked if we’d knock out an LP for Sub Pop. He also asked me to sign a contract. I replied – “what’s a contract, can you eat it?” By this good chance we still owned the LP.

You recorded the album at Red Studios in Wouldham, near Rochester in Kent. What are your memories of recording there?

It was all fine and dandy, I won’t go into details as I don’t want to embarrass Red Rodders, the engineer. Let’s just say there was a lot of marsh gas down Wouldham way.

Some of the tracks were recorded with Ollie Dolot (The Squares) on bass and backing vocals. How long was he in the band and why did he end up leaving?

Ollie was in for a good few months. Ron (Bruce) roped him in. Then whilst helping out The Cramps with their show at the Town and Country Club (formerly the home of British Fascism) we ran into Tub and knowing him from when he was guitarist with Mike Spenser and The Cannibals we asked if he’d like to twang the onion twine. Ron then told Ollie he was out the band sunshine and that it was me who had thrown him out. Which was not the case, it was Ron. I also think Ollie may have been absent due to being nicked for house breaking, or something. Strange but true.

This new edition is expanded with two non-album tracks and has brand new artwork. What made you want to release it with a different cover?

Sub Pop did the cover without asking – a bit of a shocker! This cover is near to what we would have done ourselves. The two extra tracks would have been on the original LP, but they got swiped as 45s by small labels desperate to get a bit of gold.

Are there any songs on the album that you’re particularly proud of?

They are all pretty top notch but ‘We’re Gone’ and ‘Rusty Hook’ sit nicely with ‘Troubled Mind’ and ‘Girl From ‘62’.

Along with the 13 Childish-penned tracks is a cover of ‘Stewball’, a song made famous by Leadbelly and later covered by several artists in the 1960s. What made you want to record your own version?

I just love Leadbelly. I believe we even brought him to the mind of that young fellow-me-lad Kurt Cobain.

Get a copy of Heavens To Murgatroyed, even! It's Thee Headcoats! (Already) from Damaged Goods right here. Have a listen to the original version below. 

 

Pernice Bros' Overcome by Happiness getting deluxe reissue treatment

Joe Pernice and crew are celebrating 25 years of Overcome by Happiness with an expanded 2LP reissue of their 1998 album.

Here's the scoop...

The Pernice Brothers will release Overcome by Happiness: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition on May 19th via New West Records. The original mixes were remastered by John Golden and will be available on vinyl for the first time, 25 years to the day of its original Sub Pop issue on May 19, 1998. 

The 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes a 13-track bonus LP featuring 8 unreleased home demos (often recorded minutes after the songs were written by Joe Pernice). The 2 LPs will be pressed on orange-and-white splatter vinyl and packaged in a hardbound, full-color, 52-page book featuring extensive liner notes written by Stephen Deusner, an introduction and track-by-track written by Joe Pernice, the Overcome by Happiness lyrics printed for the first time, and countless unpublished photographs. A 5x7 print autographed by Joe Pernice is also included in every copy. Check the pre-release trailer below. 

The story of Overcome by Happiness is one of great risk and greater payoff. It’s the story of a songwriter just finding his voice, an artist so desperate to express himself that he scrapped one band (the alt-country-adjacent Scud Mountain Boys) to form another, a frontman who jeopardized his contract with Sub Pop Records so that he could put what he heard in his head onto tape. It’s the story of a musician embracing the sounds of his childhood: AM easy listening, sophisticated chamber pop, baroque lounge music, Bread, the Carpenters, Bacharach, Manilow. The album was widely praised upon its release. The New York Times said of the debut, “Overcome taps an all-American yearning that recalls neon-lighted fairgrounds and lovers’ cars parked at the edge of a Great Lake… Beneath the beauty, each song is haunted by bitterness, but its fatalism is characteristic, too, of a land — and a season — in which dreams can be won or dashed at a sideshow roulette wheel.” AllMusic called Overcome by Happiness “...a near-perfect modern songsmith swoon album” while The Sunday Times in London exclaimed, “Let the Pernice Brothers overcome you.” 

As Joe Pernice explains, “Pouring over the demos and song sketches, photos, notebooks and of course the album itself triggered some profound memories for me: Those involving the making of the album were all good. Memories of the songs’ geneses—as one who has heard the album might imagine—ran the gamut. I’m very grateful to the people at New West Records for both involving me so completely in compiling the material for this deluxe vinyl issue, and for the stunning edition they’re releasing. To have my songs and the stories behind them treated with such care and out of a sense of love is something I neither expect or take for granted. I’m so happy about how this turned out. I honestly don’t think a more complete Overcome by Happiness ‘experience’ could have been put together.” 

The Pernice Brothers also announced two special engagements where they will perform Overcome by Happiness in its entirety with a string quartet on May 18 at the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville, MA, and May 19th at Racket NYC in New York City. Tickets for each performance go on sale this Friday, February 3, at 10:00 am Eastern.  

Joe Pernice has kept the Pernice Brothers going for twenty-five years now, weathering almost constant lineup changes and releasing seven studio albums that have sharpened, expanded, commented on, and elaborated upon the elegant orchestral pop sounds of Overcome by Happiness. But his catalog extends well beyond that band. In addition to recording a handful of solo albums (including a Barry Manilow tribute), he reconvened his first band, the Scud Mountain Boys, in the early 2010s for a new album and tour, and in 2014 he released Into the Lime with the New Mendicants, a supergroup featuring Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake. He also writes frequently for television, most notably as a staff writer for the Canadian crime drama The Detail. Joe has published a book of poetry and several works of fiction, including a novella about the Smiths for the 33 1/3 book series. And in 2009, he released a 7-inch single under the alias the Young Accuser via his first label Sub Pop Records—a tie-in with his novel It Feels So Good When I Stop. 2019 saw the release of the Pernice Brothers’ acclaimed album Spread The Feeling. 

The Pernice Brothers Overcome by Happiness: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is available for pre-order  via New West Records right here. Check the track list followed by clips of the Pernice Brothers rippin' through "Monkey Suit" in 2019, Joe Pernice performing a solo acoustic version of "Chicken Wire" at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto and the Sub Pop single B-side "Jimmy Coma". 

Overcome By Happiness - Pernice Brothers

1. Crestfallen 

2. Overcome by Happiness 

3. Sick of You 

4. Clear Spot 

5. Dimmest Star 

6. Monkey Suit 

7. Chicken Wire 

8. Wait to Stop 

9. All I Know 

10. Shoes and Clothes 

11. Wherein Obscurely 

12. Ferris Wheel 

 

13-Track Bonus LP 

1. Jimmy Coma (1997 Sub Pop Single) 

2. Monkey Suit (1997 Sub Pop Single) 

3. Square World (1997 Summershine Single) 

4. In Plain Sight (1997 Summershine Single)

5. Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs Cover / Clear Spot UK CD Single B-Side) 

6. Sick of You (Earliest Sketch Demo) 1:48 *

7. Cut You Free (Demo) 4:00 *

8. Overcome by Happiness (Earliest Sketch Demo) *

9. Clear Spot (Earliest Sketch Demo) *

10. Dimmest Star (Earliest Sketch Demo) *

11. Song #2 (The Queen of NYC) (earliest demo) *

12. Courage Up (Demo) 2:40 *

13. Let That Show (Demo) 4:00 *

* Previously Unreleased 

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

Happy Birthday Gary Floyd!

Here's a cherubic Gary Floyd singing "Wheels A Spinning" with Sister Double Happiness for a Sub Pop single from 1990. 

Bria vs. Karen Dalton

Karen Dalton's "Green Rocky Road" was covered by FRIGS' Bria Salmena & Duncan Hay Jennings for their new Sub Pop EP. 

LINKS 

Sub Pop Sub Pop introduces Bria

Sudan Archives, Cartel Madras @ Longboat Hall, Friday

Brittney Parks aka Sudan Archives is joined by Calgary's goonda trap lordz Cartel Madras for a sold out show at Longboat Hall tonight. 

Mudhoney vs. The Leather Nun

Mudhoney rip through an English language version of the early Leather Nun gem "Ensam I Natt" in fine style. 

Here's the scoop on Mudhoney's cover of The Leather Nun's "Ensam I Natt"
"I’d never given it a thought. Honestly. One of the very first Leather Nun-songs I wrote was ’Ensam i natt’, recorded and always performed in swedish. From the very start, Leather Nun was an international adventure, because it was an adventure rather than a career. But it never ever crossed our minds to do ’Ensam i natt’ in english. Untill a few weeks ago…
"A few weeks ago there is an e-mail from Mark Arm of Sub Pop/grunge pioneers Mudhoney. They intend to cover ’Ensam i natt’, but for obvious reasons in english as Mark is not very good with lyrics in swedish. Can't blame him. And not only that – Mudhoney had already translated the lyrics. A very straight and stiff translation but still a translation.
"Mark wants me to supervise the translation. Not only check the translation but also assist him in reworking the translation from a singing point of view. Translating can be quite tricky. Straight translations may be correct as for content, but translated lyrics also needs to work vocally as for meter and syllables. And quite often, you’ve to rework and mould the translation to find a working balance between translation and meter. That’s where it’s at, right now. This weekend, I emailed a reworked translation of ’Ensam i natt’ to Mark Arm. We’ll continue to bounce the translation back and forth.
"If it will finally end up in the Mudhoney Live-repertoire or on record, only future will tell. But considering Mudhoney going to lenghts to translate the song and then incoporate Leather Nun in the translating process, accounts for it being more than just a whim. Like, there are more simple ways to cover a fellow artist, right? My hunch is that Mudhoney intends to record the cover version if they can pull off a decent version in english.
"’Ensam i natt’ is probably the Leather Nun song that suits the furious grunge almost pop sound of Mudhoney, the best. It’s punk-pop rather than punk-rock. And it’s a song that lyricwise is even more current in the US and the western world today, than 35 years ago. Nevertheless, we’re all truly flattered and will curiously and supportive follow the whereabouts of the Mudhoney/’Ensam i natt’-project." – Jonas Almquist @theleathernun November 13,  2016

Hear "What Heaven's Left" off Calexico's new Iron & Wine collaboration

Sam Beam's song "What Heaven's Left" is the lead track on the new Years To Burn album out now on Sub Pop. 

METZ previews rarities collection with animated clip for "Pure Auto"

Here's Scopion Dagger's view of METZ jamming in their rehearsal space. Their new rarities comp Automat is out July 12th on Sub Pop.

Sub Pop rolls out deluxe Green River reissues

Remastered double LP versions of Green River's Dry As A Bone and Rehab Doll are due January 25. 

Here's the scoop...
The story of Seattle’s rise to global rock supremacy in the late ’80s and early ’90s begins with Green River. Made up of Jeff Ament (bass), Mark Arm (guitar/vocals), Bruce Fairweather (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), and Alex Shumway (drums), the quintet put out three 12”s and a 7” single during its brief existence. But Green River’s influence on Seattle’s music scene spread far and wide—thanks to the members’ dispersion into bands including Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, and Love Battery, as well as the punk-glam-sludge-rock songs they left behind.

“By ‘83, ‘84, there was definitely a movement that was happening within hardcore, like Black Flag slowing down for My War,” says Arm. “The Replacements and Butthole Surfers were rearing their heads, and they’re very different bands, but they’re not hardcore—the Replacements are pretty much straight-up rock, and Butthole Surfers were God knows what. Sonic Youth’s Bad Moon Rising was around, and a lot of really interesting post-hardcore things were happening, Big Black, Scratch Acid.”

Pre-order Dry As A Bone from Sub Pop.

Green River, which formed in 1984, was part of that evolution, with a sound that straddled a lot of different genres—blues, punk, boozy straight-ahead rock. The mini-LP Dry As A Bone, which came out in 1987, and the band’s lone full-length Rehab Doll, which came out in 1988, were released as a single CD with a few bonus cuts, including their sneering cover of David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch” and their marauding version of Dead Boys’ “Ain’t Nothin’ to Do,” in 1990—but they’ve been unavailable on vinyl for years. Now, these slices of Seattle music history are not only back in print, they’re accompanied by items from the from the vaults that had been forgotten about for decades.

Dry As A Bone, originally released as a mini-LP, was recorded at Jack Endino’s Reciprocal Recording in 1986, and it shows the band in furious form, with Arm’s yowl battling Fairweather and Gossard’s ferocious guitar playing on “This Town” and “Unwind” opening as a slow bluesy grind then jump-starting itself into a hyperactive chase. The deluxe edition includes Green River’s cuts from the crucial Seattle-scene compilation Deep Six, as well as long-lost songs that were recorded to the now-archaic format Betamax.

“Jack actually got his hands on one of those old players and was able to revive and mix them,” says Arm. Check out "This Town" below.

Pre-order Rehab Doll right here.

Rehab Doll was released around the time the band split up in 1988. The album, recorded largely at Seattle’s Steve Lawson Studios, bridges the gap between the taut, punky energy of Dry As a Bone and the bigger drums and thicker riffs that were coming to dominate rock in the late ’80s.

“None of us had been in a 24-track studio at that point,” says Arm. “There were a lot of weird things that we did in the recording of Rehab Doll that we had never done in any other studio. I remember doing the vocals for ‘One More Stitch’ underneath a piano that had its strings mic’d—so I was singing and that was being recorded, but the reverberation from the strings was being recorded at the same time.”

Rehab Doll includes the menacing “Forever Means,” which front-loads Arm’s yelp amidst waterspouts of guitar and a swaggering rhythm section, the cavernous “One More Stitch,” and a new version of the Come On Down cut “Swallow My Pride,” which would go on to be covered by fellow Sub Pop outfits Soundgarden and The Fastbacks. This new edition of Rehab Doll includes a version recorded to 8-track at Endino’s Reciprocal Recording, which features a more accurate depiction of how the band sounded when they played live. “We generally didn’t have a gated snare sound,” notes Arm.

“When I listen to these mixes, I think, ‘This is how we actually sounded—this is the kind of energy we had,’” says Shumway. “It’s much more raw, and it’s much more real.” Listen to "Forever Means" below.

Hot Snakes @ The Phoenix, Thursday

Watch John Reis and company knock out "Six Wave Hold-Down" and "I Need A Doctor" at The Troubadour in L.A.

King Tuff, Cut Worms, Orville Peck @ The Horseshoe, Wednesday

Don't miss Kyle Thomas performing songs from his new King Tuff album The Other tonight with Cut Worms opening.  

Kyle Craft, Deanna Petcoff, Lovers Touch @ The Horseshoe, Monday

Here's "Belmont" off Kyle Craft's new album Full Circle Nightmare which should've used this image as sleeve art.

One For The Weekend: Goat

"Hide From The Sun" is off the Commune album from Sweden's mysterious Gothenburg-based Goat.

Happy Birthday Gary Floyd!

Celebrating Gary Floyd's birthday with two stellar vocal performances you may have missed.

LINKS
Please Bee Nice: A Gary Floyd Memoir
The Dicks 1980-1986
Rank and Revue An Interview with Gary Floyd