Monthly Archives: April 2021

PHOTO: ANDREA BOHON | Pete Krebs is a musical chameleon. It was the 1990s when his career began in the band Hazel which was a very popular alternative rock and roll group on Sub Pop Records. In those days, Krebs even formed a friendship and musical partnership with indie rock hero and legend Elliott Smith. Yes, I’ve been trying to track down their split-single for many years, but that’s another story. He’s also been inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

Since then, Krebs has continued experimenting and expanding his musical palate. Catching one of his shows, or listening to one of his records, might find one encountering Western swing, jazz, country, or just straight up, no holds barred rock and roll. While some musicians work hard to stay in their lane, Krebs enjoys grabbing his guitar and exploring wherever his ears lead him.

Krebs’ latest album (with his band The Gossamer Wings) is titled All My Friends are Ghosts and one might say the record is a sort of an amalgam of the many styles and sounds that Krebs can make with his voice and some steel strings in his hand. It’s an excellent recording and deftly showcases his compositional skills.

Krebs isn’t through exploring yet. As you’ll hear in the following conversation, he is still searching out unique sounds to play on his stereo. When he’ll try to figure out how to make those sounds himself is anyone’s guess, but you can be sure he’s thinking about it.

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | When punk rock erupted in Washington, DC it was a mighty convergence of powerful music, friendships, and clear minds. This film is the first to explore the incredible challenges that this subculture faced when it took root in the Nation’s Capital in the late 1970s.

​Punk the Capital situates DC punk within the larger narratives of rock ‘n’ roll, working as a powerful multi-layered story for both fans and non-fans of punk rock. Featuring musicians such as Bad Brains, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, and Jello Biafra, this film dives deep into the ideas and sounds from this transformative music scene which continues to be influential culturally and politically around the world.

Created by James June Schneider (Co-Director, Editor), Paul Bishow (Co-Director), and Sam Lavine (Associate Producer, Co-Editor), Punk the Capital has been on the road since its world premiere weekend in Washington, DC held simultaneously at the American Film Institute and the Hirshhorn Museum (Sound Scene festival). The filmmakers took the film around the USA and Europe to festivals, cinematheques, cinemas, galleries and community spaces. It has been selected for festivals including In-Edit (Barcelona and Brazil) BAFICI, Leeds International Film Festival, and Sound Unseen.

Each screening has been an event, with at least one of the filmmakers present and for the majority of dates, there has been a special guest (Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Cynthia Connolly, HR of Bad Brains and many others.) The goal of the team was to reach 100 consecutive in-person events. They made it to 50 before the pandemic began.

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An extraordinary live document, this. Recorded at London’s Royal Festival Hall and New York City’s Madison Square Garden (hence the LP’s title) in 1974, 1976’s Here and There captures Elton John at the height of his powers, and by design proffers a career retrospective of his work from his 1969 debut Empty Sky through 1974’s Caribou.

And what a career projectory it was–in only five years Elton had gone from the introspective and camera-shy nebbish on the cover of 1970’s Elton John to the glam fabulous cartoon figure on the splashy cover of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. His was a remarkable transformation from wallflower to glitter-bedecked showman, and along the way he became perhaps the premier (and certainly most entertaining) rock artist of the otherwise dour and colorless mid-seventies.

Here and There might have been your average live album. You know–artist performs mostly new material (in Elton’s case Caribou) but tosses in some familiar red meat to satisfy the crowd’s hankering for the hits. Instead Sir Elton chose to offer up an overview of his career–an odd but gutsy move on the part of an artist whose career spanned only five years–and by so doing introduced listeners familiar only with his hits to songs like “Burn Down the Mission,” “You’re So Static,” and “Grey Seal” that may have never crossed their radar.

But Elton’s strategy works, and it works spectacularly. The crowds sound as happy to hear “Take Me to the Pilot” as they are “Your Song” and “Crocodile Rock.” And tossing songs like “Take Me to the Pilot” into the mix wasn’t simply a matter of sheer guts on John’s part; it was a canny way of sending the folks in the seats in England and America straight to his back catalogue.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds today announce details of Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021). Released on 11th June via Sour Mash Records, Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021) is a definitive 18 track greatest hits package, and a timely reminder of the breadth and depth of classic songs from the first decade of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

​The album is also available on limited edition deluxe formats with a bonus disc including previously unreleased acoustic versions, remixes, instrumentals, and an unheard demo. There will also be a limited edition numbered, hand pressed, coloured double LP with exclusive art print released for Record Store Day on the 12th June.

Curated and compiled entirely by Noel, the tracklisting of Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011-2021) encompasses songs from High Flying Birds’ three UK Number One albums (Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Chasing Yesterday, and Who Built The Moon?) and the three acclaimed EPs (‘Black Star Dancing’, ‘This Is The Place,’ and ‘Blue Moon Rising’). Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021) also features two brand new songs produced by Noel Gallagher & Paul ‘Strangeboy’ Stacey, ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ and ‘Flying On The Ground.’ A songwriting masterclass that sits effortlessly in one of the great songbooks, ‘We’re On Our Way Now’ is unveiled today, a taste of the future-fan-favourites to come.

Since establishing Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds post the legendary success of Oasis, Gallagher has never sat still creatively. He’s mastered the art of embracing an instinctive sonic evolution and creative freedom whilst never neglecting the songcraft. From the New Orleans brass powered blast of debut single ‘The Death Of You And Me’ to the self produced psych-pop and space bound experimentation of ‘Chasing Yesterday’ and the disco saturated, sonic veer of ‘Who Built The Moon?’ at the hands of renowned producer David Holmes and the subsequent EP releases, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have proven time and time again to be unshackled by genre and expectation.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Chet Baker (1929–1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, actor and vocalist who needs little introduction. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s but his well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety (he was in and out of jail frequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late ‘70s and ’80s). Chet’s career included collaborations with greats such as Elvis Costello, Charlie Parker, and Van Morrison. Mr. Baker was the subject of many books and documentaries throughout the decades and he was even portrayed by Ethan Hawke in the 2015 film Born to Be Blue.

​Chet began his musical career singing in a church choir and his mother said that he had begun to memorize tunes on the radio before he was even given his first instrument. Peers called Baker a natural musician to whom playing came effortlessly. In the early 1950s he was chosen by Charlie Parker for a series of West Coast engagements. Shortly after this, his song “My Funny Valentine” became a hit and would be associated with Baker for the rest of his career. Mr. Baker (with his quartet) was a regular performer at famous Los Angeles jazz clubs such as The Haig.

Chet Baker’s quartet released popular albums between 1953 and 1956 and he won reader’s polls at Metronome and Down Beat magazine, beating trumpeters Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. In 1956, Pacific Jazz Records released Chet Baker Sings, an album that seriously increased his visibility. During most of the 1960s (before heading to Europe more frequently) Chet recorded music that could be classified as “West Coast jazz.” From 1978 until his death in 1988, Chet Baker lived and played almost exclusively in Europe, returning to the U.S. once a year for a few performances. This was Baker’s most prolific era as a recording artist.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Madfish and Snapper Music release a new 8LP deluxe vinyl box set featuring singer-songwriter Laura Nyro’s 7 breathtaking original albums—More Than A New Discovery, Eli And The Thirteenth Confession, New York Tendaberry, Christmas And The Beads Of Sweat, Gonna Take A Miracle, Smile & Nested plus an original LP of rarities and live recordings. The box set arrives 7/30.

​During the singer/songwriter movement in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Laura Nyro was one of the most celebrated tunesmiths of her day. She penned soulful, literate songs that took the folky introspection of her peers and infused it with elements of soul, R&B, jazz, and gospel, giving them an emotional heat that set her apart. Nyro was a hugely respected recording artist, whose confident piano work and rich, expressive vocals made other sonic trailblazers such as Miles Davis and Alice Coltrane navigate towards her. She has influenced the greatest of songwriters—Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Neil Young, Carole King, Kate Bush, and Elvis Costello among them. That influence continues today being heard in the works of Alicia Keys, Tori Amos, Suzanne Vega, Jenny Lewis and more.

Nyro’s wonderfully expressive and poetic songs—of which many became major hits by other artists, most notably The 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night, and Barbra Streisand—remain hallmarks of outstanding quality. “Eli’s Comin,” “Gibson Street,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” “And When I Die,” “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Map To The Treasure,” “Sweet Blindness,” and “Stoney End” are magnificent examples.

Nyro was 18 years old when she signed her first recording contract and wrote the songs for which she is likely to be best remembered. By the time she was 22, she had become one of the most successful composers in American popular music. But at the age of just 24, she drew back from her creativity and fame, battered and drained by the sheer energy and nerve required to sustain her career.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | UB40 Featuring Ali & Astro have announced a very special online concert available to view from June 16, 2021. The band’s very first online concert will see them performing UB40’s seminal 1980 album Signing Off in its entirety. Filmed at Stabal Studios on the outskirts of London, Ali & Astro will be accompanied by their incredible eight-piece touring band.

​“These are the first songs we wrote together as a band,” comments Ali Campbell. “It will be a joy to revisit them 40 years on. Sadly, ‘King’ and ‘Food For Thought’ are still relevant today. We give thanks that Gary Tyler has now been released,” adds Ali, referring to the inspiration behind the album’s opening track ‘Tyler,’ who was finally released from prison in Louisiana in 2016. “After 40 plus years, we can’t wait to play our debut album Signing Off in its entirety to the fans, it’s gonna be a happy trip down memory lane!” comments Astro.

Tickets available now from Stabal.com. The first 100 tickets will cost £4.99, which is the original album price, and the deluxe 30-day ticket will have three extra songs and an interview with Ali and Astro. With any 30-day tickets purchased before May 7 the customer will get their name on the show’s closing credits.

An instant critical success, Signing Off debuted at #2 on the UK album charts and was later certified Platinum by the BPI, with singles “Food For Thought” and “I Think it’s Going To Rain Today” reaching the top ten of the UK singles charts. The album was recently reissued on limited edition double vinyl by UMC. The 2LP (180g) red vinyl reissue features all 10 original tracks, as well as three bonus tracks (“Madam Medusa,” “Strange Fruit,” and “Reefer Madness”).

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Art Blakey (1919–1990) actually needs little introduction, the American Jazz drummer and bandleader made a name for himself in the 1940s and 1950s playing with contemporaries such as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker. He is often considered to have been Thelonious Monk’s most empathetic drummer (he played on both Monk’s first recording session in 1947 and his final one in 1971). In the decades that followed Blakey recorded for all THE labels that mattered in the field of jazz (Columbia, Blue Note, Atlantic, RCA, Impulse!, Riverside, Prestige, Verve, etc.). His collaborations were numerous and include working with equally legendary artists such as Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Chet Baker, John Coltrane and countless others.

​Art Blakey was a major figure and a pioneer for modern jazz, he assumed an aggressive swing drumming style early on in his career and is known as one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming. His signature polyrhythmic style was amazing, exuding power and originality, creating a dark cymbal sound punctuated by frequent loud snare and bass drum accents in triplets or cross-rhythms. A loud and domineering drummer, but Blakey also listened and responded to the others in the band. He was an original, an important drummer you’d hear and would recognize immediately.

Art Blakey was inducted into the Downbeat Jazz Hall of Fame (1981), the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame (1991), the Grammy Hall of Fame (1998 and 2001) and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 2005. He was sampled and remixed by renowned acts such as Raekwon, Black Eyed Peas, A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, Buscemi, KRS-One and Madlib.

In the mid-1950s he and Horace Silver formed The Jazz Messengers, a group that Blakey would perform and record with for the next 35 years. Originally formed as a collective of contemporaries but over the years the band became known as an incubator for young talent that included artists such as Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, Chuck Mangione, John Hicks…and MANY others. Art Blakey went on to record dozens of albums with a constantly changing group of Jazz Messengers. Blakey’s final performances were in July 1990. He died on October 16 of lung cancer. The legacy of Art Blakey and his band is not only the music they produced, but also the opportunities they provided for several generations of jazz musicians.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Musician, podcaster, and author Marc Wasserman’s debut book Ska Boom! An American Ska & Reggae Oral History is now available for pre-order and will be available on July 4, 2021. Published by DiWulf Publishing House, the 400+ page book is an exhaustive, extensive, entertaining, and action-packed tale about the pioneers of the American ska and reggae music scene.

​Three and a half years in the making, this cinematic story is lovingly told through hundreds of hours of interviews with key musicians, artists, managers, club promoters, writers, and the fans who were there at the dawn of the ‘80s to witness the birth and spread of a uniquely American version of a time-honored subculture.

From the story of The Shakers, the first American reggae band signed to a major label deal by David Geffen, to the spreading wildfire of inspiration that was seeing The Specials on Saturday Night Live in 1980, to the mighty Skavoovee Tour of 1993 that helped give rise to the third wave of ska, Marc collects hundreds of stories, anecdotes, history, gossip, and (most importantly) the feeling of what it was like as groups of young, ska-crazed acolytes spread their passion from Boston to New York and from Chicago to Los Angeles while igniting a fiercely loyal dedication to a burgeoning culture inspired by Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae, and British 2 Tone and mod sounds.

The fashion, the feeling, the exciting days of true, DIY independence… Marc captures it all in this exciting, intimate and informative tome.

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Many ears were hipped to Indigenous folksinger, poet, filmmaker and activist Willie Dunn by the 3LP/2CD set Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985. Issued by Light in the Attic in 2014, that one’s received a recent repress, and in even better news, the next volume in the series is Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies: The Willie Dunn Anthology, which gathers tracks from his four albums and more, with everything remastered by John Baldwin. The icing on the cake for vinyl buyers is the inclusion of Willie Dunn Notes, the 24-pg newsprint insert with exhaustively researched liners assembled by the set’s producer Kevin Howes. Essential for folk fans, it’s out now.

Willie Dunn’s best-known song is “I Pity the Country,” in large part because it was one of two recordings featured on Native North America (Vol. 1). That revelatory compilation, GRAMMY®-nominated and prominent in numerous year’s best lists including the top 10 reissues offered by this very website, smartly placed “I Pity the Country” as track one on side one.

When a musician attains a belated boost in profile, their best-known song often just happens to be their best song period, but that’s not the case with Willie Dunn, as Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies begins with the nearly 10-minute powerhouse “The Ballad of Crowfoot.” Now, that song is arguably the artist’s greatest composition (as it plays it sure feels that way); that the ensuing 21 songs here are unmarred by even a hint of anticlimax is testament to Dunn’s talent.

“The Ballad of Crowfoot” is included on both his debut and its follow-up (both eponymous, released in 1971 and ’72 with an overlap of six tracks), but neither of those shorter versions are the one that’s heard on Creation Never Sleeps. The recording collected here is sourced from the soundtrack of the short film of the same title that was made in 1968 by the National Film Board of Canada’s Indian Film Crew, of which Dunn was a member.

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