There are only three weeks left of Tipitina’s Foundation Free Fridays series at the uptown club. Friday night is a killer double bill.
Electro-funkateers Gravity A headline and they are presenting a special show. For only the second time (the first was a Lundi Gras show earlier this year), they will be performing Pink Floyd’s classic 1977 album, Animals in its entirety.
Guitarist and vocalist Cliff Hines will be joining the band for this performance. Here’s what he said about the show. Read More »
“My stack of very first records, which I bought at Reckless Records on Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park Chicago was a mix of Velvet Underground classics (White Light White Heat and The Velvet Underground and Nico—the latter suggested by a friend…I have since fallen in love with Nico in her own right), The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow (I might have gotten Oh Inverted World on the second trip), some Neil Young (After the Gold Rush included), and random picks from the dollar box selected based on the merit or weirdness of their cover art.
I had just gotten my first record player: a turntable from the ’80s, bought for 50 bucks off a friend in an old warehouse where he helped out at a magazine and record label. That turntable didn’t last forever—of course. I eventually got a more ‘reliable,’ newer player—unable to find parts for the first one and not being able to live without vinyl for very long. I do still miss the sound and weight of that older turntable and dream of investing in a vintage one again soon.
Going wayy back, I definitely liked The Sound of Music, The Care Bears, and The Chipmunks on vinyl when I was little and had my own little kid record player that also played Sesame Street. My mom, a Suzuki piano teacher, also played Suzuki ear-training pieces for us on vinyl (which I still have).
Goldie Thorn’s latest EP “Canal Life” is an ode to their city, London. Reverend Thorn and Goldie & Chain are winding through East London’s back alleys, fuelled by youth, inspired by ’80s synths and odd samples—and they’re bringing us up and intend to party.
The video for the track “Chrome Night” features snapshots of the city as it follows a young woman, voyeuristically around on a summer’s day. We see her chatting, laughing, and travelling around the capital.
The “Canal Life” EP is a slow burner, but as you reach the end you’ll be itching to get your party pants on—it’s an eclectic mix of ’90s house and dance with Goldie Thorn’s own spin on the genre, giving it an unconventional, retro edge.
It’s a Scottish Special this week on the A Badge of Friendship podcast, and the gang get to chat to some very special guests indeed—James from The Twilight Sad and Halina from Glasgow blog Podcart.
Based in Cleveland amid the peak bleakness of mid-1970’s USA, Pere Ubu has forged a path unlike any other in rock’s history, and through lineup changes, hiatuses, refocused ambitions, and a refusal to assume the predictable, empty role of rock elders, David Thomas and his many collaborators stand as one of recorded music’s unlikeliest wonders. Those suspecting this claim as hyperbole should please investigate Fire Records’ new 4LP set Elitism for the People 1975-1978. It gathers Ubu’s earliest output, an achievement still capable of dropping jaws 40 years after the band’s formation.
Before even spinning a Pere Ubu platter on a turntable I’d read and was excited by the term avant-garage, and while the tag did prove useful, as time wore on it ultimately became shorthand for “oddball punk.” Ubu’s sole constant member David Thomas has since downplayed it as a joke-bone tossed into the salivating maws of the journalistic brigade, but it’s interesting how the title of this collection revisits the meaningfulness of the phrase.
Circa the mid-‘70s rock was still partially a populist undertaking, and garage bands continued to exist in closest proximity to the masses, sometimes playing right on the floor at audience level; these are the ashes from whence Pere Ubu sprang, with guitarist Peter Laughner and singer Thomas forming the group after exiting the storied (and subsequently rekindled) proto-punk unit Rocket from the Tombs.
Their ex-mates went on to the Dead Boys, and selections from the Tombs’ repertoire (notably sprinkled with Stones, Stooges, and Velvets covers) carried over to both outfits; as evidenced by this box’s The Hearpen Singles (1975-1977) Pere Ubu was immediately the darker of the two; “30 Seconds over Tokyo,” their first a-side (the label then called Hearthan) took the first-person viewpoint of a bomber pilot in dealing with the ugly reality that ended World War II.
New Records Store Aims to Create Social Atmosphere for Music Lovers: “Barnacle Records officially opened its doors on Saturday, and the owners are already encouraged by the amount of people that have come through the doors.”
Vinyl Pimp to showcase 24,000 records at Oval Space: “Last month, Hackney-based record store, Vinyl Pimp, announced they’d stumbled across a collection containing 24,000 classic house, techno and hip-hop records. After being inundated with requests for private viewings – most of which were refused – they’ve now announced plans to showcase the entire collection at an Oval Space event later this month.
New NoLibs record store Profond Music N Art takes a personal approach: Philadelphia is definitely a historic and important record-digging city, with countless famous record stores serving the needs of local and nationally touring DJs and producers over the years. Funk-O-Mart, Armand’s, The Sound of Market, Tequila Sunrise – the list could go on for quite a bit…So what do the aforementioned stores all have in common besides slinging records? They’re all closed..”
Seeking treasures from simpler times in downtown Crown Point: “One of the most popular antiques younger generations are seeking are old vinyl records, she says. “Companies are even making record players to play the vinyl records again.” (Aw. —Ed.)
Take a Look at this $65,000 JBL Sound System: “If you think you’ve mis-read the title then you’re wrong. A certain seller on eBay is selling what he claims to be the worlds largest JBL sound system for sale on the e-marketplace at the moment. If you’re that bass loving music enthusiast with more than a bit of extra cash lying around, then this might be for you…”
Rise Against has been around for 16 years? Hard to believe that’s the case but it is indeed true. It’s the classic story of a band signing to an independent record label, touring their asses off, getting some miles under their belt, and then moving on to a major for their breakthrough. That’s the way the music industry is supposed to work in my opinion. It’s the way bands can get some experience before being thrust into the limelight and the fast-moving gears of a major.
The problem is that this scenario these days is more of a fairy tale—it just doesn’t really happen anymore. If you are in a band today, you pretty much have the same chance of making it big as going to Vegas and winning a jackpot. But then again, that shouldn’t be a band’s goal any longer. Rise Against paid their dues, took full advantage of their major label shot, and made the most of it.
It’s good to see a band like Rise Against continue to find success. They know who they are, they know what they stand for, and the deliver one hell of a live show. That’s basically the formula that punk rock icons such as the Clash and the Pistols put together during the birth of punk. It’s real, it’s authentic, and if you don’t have it, then fans can see right through your bullshit.
So there I was, listening to Eric Dolphy’s Out to Lunch and being all jazzbo pretentious and shit, when really deep down inside I was miserable when it hit me—what I needed at that moment was not the chill vibraphonic rebop of Bobby Hutcherson, but the atrocious spelling, abominable haircuts, and abysmal glitter gear of those inimitable Black Country lads, Slade. It may be easy to make fun of ‘em, but the quartet ruled the UK charts in the early ’70s, with artists like Roxy Music and David Bowie eating their dust. And vocalist Noddy Holder and the boys have been cited as an influence by everybody from Twisted Sister and Nirvana. Not bad for a couple of skinheads-turned-glamsters from Wolverhampton, whose misspellings, I kid you not, led to protests by an entire nation’s worth of outraged school marms.
The band’s classic line-up (Holder on vocals, guitar, and bass; Dave Hill on guitar, vocals and bass; Jim Lea on bass, vocals, keyboards, violin, and guitar; and Don Powell on drums and percussion) was formed in 1969 as Ambrose Slade. Their first album tanked, and they abandoned their skinhead look due to its negative association with football hooliganism. The “Ambrose” went too, and following the release of some poorly spelled hits and a well-received live album the band blew out the pipes with LP #3, Slayed? Filled with anthemic sing-alongs, Slayed? remains one of glitter rock’s seminal albums, despite the fact that the toughs in Slade looked about as absurd in their Glam clobber as Mott the Hoople looked in theirs. Holder wore a mirror top hat, tartan pants with suspenders, and striped socks, while Hill sported an ungodly Prince Valiant haircut and silver outfits that made him look like an alien with a retarded Venusian hair stylist. But who cares? The kids ate it up.
Slayed? might not have been the high-water mark of Slade’s success, but it’s indisputably Slade’s best LP and the one you want to own. It includes all the songs beloved by American listeners but “Cum on Feel the Noize,” which was never released on a non-compilation LP. It’s included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, but even a fan like me—I owned a copy of Slayed? on 8-track—wouldn’t put it in the top thousand. They must have included that final ‘1’ so they could sneak Slade in there.
“Growing up in Miami, one of my first experiences listening to music was with my mom’s vinyl collection from Cuba. Music was always playing in our house and I can still vividly remember how excited I would get when she would go to turn on the record player. For some reason, the energy was never like that when the radio turned on or we put on a CD, but the minute that ebony needle lifted, you’d think Christmas came early.”
“One of my all-time favorite vinyl records at the time was The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night. I loved the feel of the old cardboard in my hands, looking at the artwork and of course, singing along, as I knew every song by heart. I also sang my little heart out with frequency to another favorite, Whitney Houston’s self-titled album, which was the record that led me to fall in love with that golden voice. We listened to all kinds of music in our house, anything from Celia & Johnny to Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits, Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
My two sisters and I played violin in a youth orchestra at one point. I will never forget this one conductor we had named Alice Ayala, who undoubtedly changed my life and the way I saw music. All the musicians were gathered for orchestra rehearsal and she took out an old vinyl recording of Smetana’s “The Moldau.” She had us close our eyes, let our imagination run wild and visualize what was happening in the music and then draw what we saw. As a little girl, I was so moved by this experience, as it was my first encounter connecting imagery to sound and emotion.
Greater Manchester’s most in the know radio host Shell Zenner broadcasts the best new music every week on the UK’s Amazing Radio. You can also catch Shell’s broadcast here Wednesdays at TVD.
“While Zenner Towers becomes a mass of boxes and emptier by the day, my new music playlist is abundant as ever with fresh new sounds from Altered Beats, Sonia Stein, Corey Bowen, Gizmo Varillas, Early Hours, Fitness Club Fiasco, MIAMIGO, Pretty City, Lions Of Dissent, Gordi and more!
Oh, and on this week’s show I’ll be catching up with Total Babes on their first UK tour a few weeks ago and hearing all about their new album, Heydays.
Pale Waves are on the bandstand this week too and Charlotte from The Skinny / Hooting And Howling tips for us too!” —SZ
Prior to her untimely death from cancer in 2004, Lizzy Mercier Descloux was involved in all sorts of forward-thinking artistic motion. The smartest place to undertake an investigation into her recorded output is right at the start, and Light in the Attic’s expanded reissue of 1979’s Press Color allows one to do so without scouring the used bins. Its bonus tracks are truly such, enlightening rather than extraneous, and it’s available now on 2LP/CD.
Lizzy Mercier Descloux is noted for her participation in ‘70s punk and to the No Wave convulsion in particular, but her creativity was frankly too voluminous to be pigeonholed into a solitary scene, a circumstance that endures as a major aspect of her cult appeal. Born in France, she and Michel Esteban were at the forefront of the country’s burgeoning punk uprising, managing the boutique Harry Cover and publishing the magazine Rock News.
Descloux befriended Patti Smith and Richard Hell on a visit to New York City in 1975, and they both contributed to her first book Desiderata, printed by Esteban alongside Smith’s Witt and The Night in 1977. Sweet musical heck was breaking loose as Esteban and Descloux packed bags for NYC that year, and getting introduced to Michael Zilkha through John Cale proved a beneficial turn of events.
Zilkha and Esteban left Cale’s SPY Records to form ZE, a label crucial to No Wave history and especially to Descloux’s early stuff; she debuted for ZE as half of Rosa Yemen, a duo with Michel’s brother Didier, both tackling guitar and Descloux providing the voice, their self-titled 12-inch of 1979 documenting a live performance from July of the previous year.
Record Centre is a vinyl guru’s haven for music lovers: “John Thompson is a self-described audiophile and his only tonic is buying more records – he’s at 200,000 and counting. When that wasn’t enough, he decided to make records.”
This Ultra Minimalist Turntable Wants To Show You Its Inner Workings: “It might look like a wooden chopping board, some plastic and a piece of string but this is actually a stripped down turntable. With an emphasis on linear movement, the minimalist concept seeks to reveal the inner workings of a turntable, presenting parts that would normally be shielded from the user.”
Four David Bowie records treated to picture disc and and coloured vinyl reissues: “If there’s anyone who knows how to get the most out of their back catalogue it’s David Bowie. Following the announcement of a massive 13LP vinyl box set earlier this summer, Bowie will mark the next instalment of the hugely popular retrospective exhibition David Bowie Is with releases for both ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Golden Years’ on picture disc 7″, the former marking 40 years since his first UK #1, the latter four decades since Station To Station.”
Oasis – The Stories Behind Their Cryptic Album And Single Sleeve Art: “What’s the first thing you think of when you think of Oasis? No, apart from drugs and fighting. No, not Knebworth or Britpop or massive ’90s anthems or slagging off other acts or whatever else you’re thinking. Yes, that’s right, classic record sleeves. Oasis covers, often designed by Brian Cannon’s Microdot, were amongst the most striking of the past 20 years, full of clues, red herrings and tributes to a certain Liverpudlian band of yore – and always with a colourful story attached. Here’s 15 of the best.”
“I remember the old record player that my parents had when I was growing up. I can still see us dancing in the living room as the record spun. ‘Don’t touch the needle!’ I can hear my parents scolding us kids to be careful around the turntable.
There’s something truly sacred about vinyl. Maybe it’s because you can damage your favorite record if you don’t treat it with love and care. Or maybe it’s because listening to vinyl is an experience. Some music is just better on vinyl. I am by no means what one would call a ‘vinyl snob,’ but I do know you can’t listen to someone like Frank Sinatra any other way.” —Heather Bond
Heather Bond delivers bold and emotive pop tapestry on new LP, So Long, in stores September 18.
We have the pleasure of premiering Bond’s stripped down single “Tomorrow”—a plaintively sung lullaby that casually cascades over an ear-wormy piano arpeggio. The song is full of innocent beauty and a lovely musicality that straddles the line between authentic singer-songwriter and Top 40 pop.
Bond’s distinct style is one of the many connective currents that runs through So Long. The album contains a variety of cinematic ditties that evoke a feeling of empathy and grace, making her a shoe-in for fans of Yael Naim.
We don’t care what the music sounds like, everyone should enjoy an obscure Jack The Ripper pun in a band name. Luckily for The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing (who will be henceforth known as TMTWNBBFN to save our fingers) manage to back up the name with some serious punk rock spliced with anachronistic lyrics. So, naturally, we chose them as our UK Artist Of The Week.
The four piece have a bit of a thing for Victoriana you see, so their lyrics always have a hint of the UK’s Golden Age about them—when children were encouraged to shut up or sweep a chimney, Gin flowed through society like water, and men wore spectacular moustaches. A bit like modern Dalston, if we’re honest.
They’ve recently announced their third album Not Your Typical Victorians, and if you’re a fan of their previous single, (which we were) then you know what to expect. Dirty guitars, punk beats, and a love letter to ’77, where the ink is so faded you can’t tell if it’s for the 1970s or the 1870s.
Three albums into an expectations-defying return, Boston vets Barrence Whitfield & the Savages have yet to strike a disappointing note. A brand new full-length finds them continuing to escalate the power and rawness in an already potent attack and honing a dozen selections into brisk soul-punk mayhem. Featuring a strapping batch of originals and a few wisely-chosen covers tucked into a spiffy Alfred Hitchcock/Saul Bass-inspired sleeve, Under the Savage Sky is available on LP/CD August 21 through Bloodshot Records.
Way back in the late-‘70s a Florida-born Jersey resident named Barry White moved up to Boston to study journalism and in due time bonded with noteworthy locals over a mutual interest in stripped-down non-sophisto R&R/R&B action. A band was formed, White becoming Barrence Whitfield to avoid unnecessary confusion with a certain high-profile kingpin of the romance jams; soon he and the Savages issued a pair of no-frills long-players providing a roots infusion to an over-polished era.
All that old history would deserve a greater spotlight if the music recorded post-2010 reunion was somehow unimpressive. Guitarist Peter Greenberg and bassist Phil Lenker returned as new drummer Andy Jody and saxophonist Tom Quartulli rounded out the lineup; with each album they’ve brandished a harder edge, spewing forth wild but well-controlled aural aggression in the undisguised mode of Washington State survivors The Sonics and Detroit’s The Dirtbombs, the latter arriving in the long period of dormancy between Whitfield & the Savages’ fruitful bursts of activity.
As said, those influences aren’t the slightest bit hidden; in fact, both are mentioned in Bloodshot’s press kit for Under the Savage Sky, the citations fitting the scenario so well that interchanging them for others feels wrongheaded. To elaborate, Barrence and crew actually covered The Sonics’ garage punk behemoth “Shot Down” on 2011’s Savage Kings, an LP cut for the long-serving Spanish label Munster (there was apparently a US pressing on Shake It!). And solidifying the connection was a recent Sonics/Savages tour.
Greater Manchester’s most in the know radio host 
