PHOTO: JACKIE LEE YOUNG | I recently sat down with my former bandmate and friend, Jay Mumford. Jay’s career as a session and touring drummer has paired him with artists across multiple genres.

From Hermanos Gutierrez, to Danger Mouse, Lulu Lewis, Adrian Quesada, Vampire Weekend, Just Blaze, Dan Auerbach, Greyhounds, Madlib, Michael Kiwanuka, and many more. He’s also a co-founder and shares producer and songwriter duties with Pablo Martin (my partner) for their funk outfit, The Du-Rites.

Jay is on tour with Adrian Quesada with dates in August and September and played on Quesada’s Boleros Psicodelicos 2, which dropped June 27th on ATO Records.

There’s a new EP, “Tenement,” from The Du-Rites dropping this fall, and he’s back in the studio with Amsterdam-based keyboardist, producer, and arranger, Soul Supreme, working on new material. I recommend heading over to his Instagram to stay in the loop.

Radar features discussions with artists and industry leaders who are creators and devotees of music and is produced by Dylan Hundley and The Vinyl District. Dylan Hundley is an artist and performer, and the co-creator and lead singer of Lulu Lewis and all things at Darling Black. She co-curates and hosts Salon Lulu which is a New York based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

Chris Stamey is a music scene long-hauler if there’s ever been one. He’s been making records for nearly half a century, and his new one, Anything Is Possible, is amongst his best work. Taking inspiration from lush 1960s pop, Stamey avoids the formalist nature of homage while being clearly indebted to the brilliance of Brian Wilson, whose “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)” is covered. Stamey’s originals have an unstrained, timeless quality, and the production basks in classicism without faltering into the overly labored. The guests include the Wild Honey Orchestra, the Lemon Twigs, Marshall Crenshaw, Pat Sansone, and Jennifer Curtis. The record is out July 11 on LP, CD, and digital.

As a member of the guitar pop elite of the Southeastern USA (but with time spent in NYC), Chris Stamey’s peers include the members of R.E.M., Don Dixon, and Mitch Easter, with the latter two contributing to this record. Perhaps most famous as a member of the seminal pop-rock outfit The dB’s alongside Peter Holsapple, Will Rigby, and Gene Holder, Stamey has also played with Jody Stephens and the late Alex Chilton of Big Star. In 1976, Stamey’s band Sneakers, very much under the influence of Big Star, released a 7-inch (since given an expanded reissue) with contributions from Rigby, Easter, and Dixon as producer.

Stamey has helped keep the post-Big Star power pop flame alive while releasing a bunch of solo records with an ever-increasing yet cohesive stylistic reach and working as a producer for a wide range of acts. Anything Is Possible’s opener “I’d Be Lost Without You,” a bold ’60s production pop nugget with clear ties to the Beach Boys and the Wrecking Crew, underscores Stamey’s continued ambition and the steadiness of his ideas.

The title track and “In a Lonely Place” represent the album’s grittier side, with the guitar amps turned up, but with the songwriting maintaining a high pop standard. Stamey might’ve been a young moth drawn to the undying light of hooky simplicity, but like Arthur Lee or Todd Rundgren or his contemporaries in Yo La Tengo, he’s undergone striking compositional development.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Both albums have been half-speed remastered at Abbey Road Studios and mark the first two releases in a series of reissues from their catalogue.

Originally released on 25 October 1974, Crime Of The Century was Supertramp’s era-defining third album, catapulting them to global success, breaking them into the UK top five and U.S. Billboard top 40 for the first time. As the album fast-tracked the band’s global popularity, they would write and record Crisis? What Crisis?, which was released on 28 November 1975, 13 months after Crime Of The Century.

With the band and co-producer Ken Scott overseeing, Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios remastered these 50th anniversary reissues at half speed, giving them greater detail and the best possible clarity. Both are set to release on 29 August and are available for pre-order now from here.

Crime Of The Century followed the release of their self-titled debut in 1970 and 1971’s Indelibly Stamped albums, neither of which had garnered much commercial success, and their record contract had expired.

It may be hard to believe now, but Crime Of The Century was not an instant hit upon its original release. “Bloody Well Right” was the first single released in the US reaching number 35 in the Billboard Hot 100, but it wasn’t until the release of “Dreamer” in February 1975 that the track caught the imagination and momentum truly began to build.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | ZZ Top delivers the fireworks on July 4 with From The Top (1979–1990), a limited-edition collection from Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi) that trails the Texas trio on the road to worldwide fame. Following the first volume’s sellout last year, the sequel features five albums from the height of the band’s mainstream success.

From The Top (1979–1990) includes Degüello (1979), El Loco (1981), Eliminator (1983), Afterburner (1985), and Recycler (1990). Lacquers for each album were AAA cut from the original stereo master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl at Optimal. The albums are housed in a faux-leather slipcase, and the collection is limited to 3,000 individually numbered copies. The collection is available today for pre-order exclusively at Rhino.com and select WMG stores worldwide. Order HERE.

ZZ Top came together in Houston with vocalist and guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard behind the drums. Blending electric blues, boogie, and humor, the trio steadily built a following through relentless touring and a streak of increasingly confident records. From The Top (1979–1990) picks up as the band entered a new decade—one where their sound expanded, their videos took over MTV, and their beards grew right along with their fanbase.

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Remembering Mitch Mitchell in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

Is it me? I repeat, is it me? Am I the only person on the planet who thinks the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Electric Ladyland is grossly overrated? Well, almost. The famously eccentric rock critic Chuck Eddy agrees with me, I think. But otherwise? The two of us are all by our lonesome on this one. Let the critics, all 20 million of them, fawn and gush! Let one Peter Doggett proclaim Electric Ladyland the greatest rock album of all time! Me, I’ve always found the guitar legend’s 1968 double LP to be less a rewarding experience than an overlong and sometimes grueling, listen.

Maybe you had to hear it stoned. Maybe that’s it. I never heard it stoned. I never listened to any Jimi Hendrix LP stoned except 1969’s Smash Hits, which I liked because whomever it was that cherry-picked its tunes made certain they were both (1) catchy and (2) short. Smash Hits coheres, as does 1967’s Are You Experienced, which is more than can be said for the shambolic Electric Ladyland, which one critic called “the fullest realization of Jimi’s far-reaching ambitions,” but which I find both uneven and diffuse—in short, less a case of far-reaching than overreaching, and overreaching at its worst.

Only a fool would write off Electric Ladyland as a complete loss. There’s no denying that “Crosstown Traffic,” the haunting cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” are stone cold brilliant. “All Along the Watchtower” shows remarkable self-restraint; Hendrix plays only those notes that are necessary to frame and accompany the melody, which was rarely the case with the guy. As for “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” it’s musical napalm, and one of the most incendiary songs ever recorded. On it Hendrix renounces subtlety for a sound every bit as brutal as the Tet Offensive, which took place while Hendrix, his bandmates, and an all-star crew of extras were recording Electric Ladyland.

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As the musical platform of San Francisco-based songwriter Glenn Donaldson, The Reds, Pinks & Purples have been prolific over the last six years, enough so that even the most veracious lovers of melancholy and smart indie pop will have experienced difficulty keeping up with the outpouring of the songs. Well, Donaldson and his new label Fire Records have done a favor for fans and newbies alike by collecting a strong batch of tunes from the outfit’s pool of roughly 200 that have never been given a physical release before. Indeed, The Past Is a Garden I Never Fed is a compilation, but one with no filler that gets right to the core of what’s special about The Reds, Pinks & Purples. It’s out now on LP, CD, and digital.

If one commits oneself to the playing of indie pop, either as part of a band or as the creative engine of a project that either enlists the aid of others or comes to fruition all by one’s own devices, getting the sound right is crucial. Or at least that’s so if one is striving to equal the achievements of the great acts in the genre. It can be jangly, dreamy, achy, angular, punky, or some combination of these descriptors, but absorbing the genre’s essence and extending it is essential rather than approximating and, in turn, diluting it.

Embodying and elevating the sound instead of merely imitating; Glenn Donaldson understands. It’s evident in the layered guitar distortion and acoustic strum of “I Only Ever Wanted to See You Fail,” and also in how he opts for a melodica, instead of say, a harmonica, during “Slow Torture of an Hourly Wage.” A harmonica would’ve been fine, but the melodica sets the track apart and readies it for longevity.

But with this album’s opener “The World Doesn’t Need Another Band,” Donaldson also seems to realize that one can get in the neighborhood of noise-pop perfection without creating so much as a minor stir in the grand scheme of things. In the 21st century, creating indie pop is an endeavor undertaken for the love of it.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | In 1982, The Dream Syndicate started their own record company, Down There Records, to release their self-titled 4-song 12-inch EP that included the first versions of “When You Smile” and “That’s What You Always Say.”

They went on to sign with Slash for Days Of Wine & Roses, followed by A&M for the Medicine Show album. After a long, protracted debate with the massive Universal Music Group, the band has earned the right to reissue Medicine Show as a 42-song 4-CD box featuring 29 unreleased recordings from that 1983–’84 era. For this special occasion, The Dream Syndicate is resurrecting their Down There label, which will be distributed by Fire Records.

The Dream Syndicate’s Medicine Show album has always been controversial, even before it was recorded. Indie-rock darlings become the first Paisley Underground band to sign to a major label, hire a mainstream rock producer, change bass players, and spend months recording it after banging out the previous album, Days of Wine and Roses in mere hours.

What this new box set reveals—is that as a live band—between Steve’s (then) new songs and his animated vocal performances, Karl’s expanded guitar playing (taking it to outer space and beyond), various new bassists (Dave, then Mark) holding it down (while pumping it up), and of course Dennis holding it rock steady—The Medicine Show era was the shit!

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Third Man Records is proud to announce the 65th installment in their long-running quarterly vinyl subscription service The Vault, The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy 40th Anniversary Edition.

Included in this set is a 2xLP version of Psychocandy cut at 45rpm, a live recording from St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit from 1987, and a metallic gold 7” featuring “Jesus Fuck” b/w an early (and previously unreleased) demo of “Just Like Honey.” Sign-up is open now through July 31 at midnight CST.

1985: As the last detached murmurs of post-punk slowly crest into the earliest whispers of shoegaze, standing there in a world all their own, cutting a profile both unique and incomparable is The Jesus and Mary Chain. With equal influence gleaned from The Stooges and The Shangri-Las, The Velvet Underground and The Beach Boys, the band released the unassailable godhead album, Psychocandy.

In celebration of this recording, one of the most important and watershed albums of all time, Third Man Records is humbled to announce Psychocandy: 40th Anniversary Edition as the 65th release of their Vault quarterly subscription series.

Anchoring this set is a 2xLP version of Psychocandy cut at 45rpm. It is not hyperbole to say this might be the loudest cut…not only of this record but of any record…you will ever hear. The high-speed treatment here affords the sonics a heretofore-unseen clarity in the band’s utilization of controlled feedback.

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Celebrating Ringo Starr on his 85th birthday. —Ed.

Beatles fans, stop your incessant bickering about who’s the better artist, Paul McCartney or John Lennon! Because let’s face it, Ringo Starr beats the MBEs off both of ‘em! He’s a hit machine, a genius and a true Starr! And to those who would say otherwise I say, well, to HECK with you!

I don’t base my opinion on the fact that Ringo is the humblest and most lovable Beatle. No, all one has to do is compare his best of, 1975’s Blast from Your Past, with those of the other members of the Fab Four. It’s got a higher winner to loser ratio (90%, and that’s only if I call “Beaucoups of Blues” a loser, which it ain’t!) than John Lennon’s Shaved Fish (64%) Wings’ Wings Greatest (50%), and George Harrison’s The Best of George Harrison, which I refuse to even consider seeing as how its first side is composed solely of Beatles’ era songs.

And not only does Ringo have a better batting average–he’s also a lot more fun. Sure Lennon’s “Cold Turkey” (to pick just one song) is a harrowing depiction of heroin withdrawal blah blah blah, but do I ever listen to it? Of course not! It’s a stone bummer! And yes, Paul the Frivolous has written some lovably lightweight songs over the years, but he’s also the spitwit responsible for “Silly Love Songs,” “Let ‘em In,” and “Ebony and Ivory,” which makes him a horrible person in my book! And don’t even get me started on that nebbish George Harrison. No, Ringo’s the King, and I say that not as a fan but as a completely objective party who Ringo just paid me to say that!

Look, I would call Ringo the Greatest but I don’t have too since he comes right out and says he is in “I’m the Greatest,” just one of the delicious trifles that make Blasts from Your Past as indispensable an album as, well, pick an album, any album! And just in case you think Ringo’s only good for producing trifles, I give you “Photograph” (as touching a song as you’ll ever run across) and “It Don’t Come Easy,” which has George Harrison’s fingerprints all over it but who gives a shit!

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Oasis has today announced details of deluxe formats of (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? to celebrate the era-defining album’s landmark 30-year anniversary. It will feature new unplugged versions of five classic recordings “Cast No Shadow,” “Morning Glory,” ” Wonderwall,” “Acquiesce,” and “Champagne Supernova.”

Released on the 3rd October on Big Brother Recordings, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) is available for pre-order here on limited edition 2CD and 3LP formats as well as digital formats to pre-save. This special anniversary format follows last summer’s release of the 30th Anniversary Edition of Definitely Maybe which reached number 1 in the Official UK Album Chart for the second time in that album’s history.

The new unplugged versions were produced and mixed by Noel Gallagher and Callum Marinho from the original master recordings at Noel’s studio, Lone Star Sound, in London. The new interpretation of ‘”Acquiesce” is revealed today.

The deluxe album features new artwork shot by original sleeve designer Brian Cannon and new sleeve notes. Exclusive coloured vinyl formats will be available, including indie record store exclusive “Cast No Shadow” inspired Crystal Clear 3LP, HMV “Morning Glory” inspired blue marble 3LP, Amazon Exclusive “Wonderwall” inspired sepia marble 3LP, and official store exclusive “Acquiesce” inspired neon orange 3LP. All formats will include the 2014 remastered version of the album alongside the new bonus versions.

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I love Sleaford Mods. I love everything about them. If you were to ask me which I love more, Sleaford Mods or my mom, I would say Sleaford Mods. Sorry Mom. I love you, I really do. But you’re no Sleaford Mods.

I love that singer-talker (they call that Sprechgesang in Deutsch). Kevin Williamson, a rough and angular-looking working-class fellow, is the kind of fucking cunt who likes to say fucking cunt, and in a wonderful East Midlands accent no less. I love that the duo (Andrew Fearn programs their tracks and stands around in their videos looking cool) originally called themselves That’s Shit, Try Harder. I love that Williamson specializes in diatribes, against this, against that, against everything, it seems, British. I love that both men are in their forties. Success hasn’t come easy for them. Williamson, in particular, took the long and winding road to where he is now, obscenitying away.

I also love that “Mods.” It’s a tribute to Williamson’s early love for bands like The Jam. But what I love more is that Williamson has nothing good to say about The Jams’ Paul Weller, and he’s more than happy to say it in public. He basically thinks the old geezer should hang it up, that he’s just going through the motions and beating a dead Mod horse for the filthy lucre.

But what I love most are their songs. Utterly addictive and stripped to the basics songs like “Bang Someone Out,” “Mork n Mindy,” “Jolly Fucker,” “TCR,” “B.H.S.,” “UK Grim,” “Force 10 from Navarone,” and “Tweet Tweet Tweet.” They’re all poetic prole blasts of pure stream-of-consciousness invective, reminiscent of a less arcane Mark E. Smith.

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