Imagine hearing a style of music that has become very popular; a genre you might hear on a TV commercial, or maybe on your favorite streaming program, or perhaps coming from a car window as it passes you by the street. Now, try to pretend that the style of music you’re hearing was popularized by your dad.

Seun Kuti goes through this process often and—along with his siblings—have become the next wave of afrobeat music makers who have followed in the footsteps of their famous father, Fela Kuti. Fela was the architect of the afrobeat sound. Its infectious rhythms lifted African sounds to another level, but also redirected those influences as heard in American music back to the homeland. Seun, with Egypt 80, have released a brand new album titled, Heavier Yet. The project finds Lenny Kravitz acting as executive producer and also features Fela’s original engineer Sodi Marciszewer; he is behind the board on this album in the role of artistic producer.

But, wait, there’s more: the son of an Afrobeat pioneer joins together with the son of a reggae pioneer. Damian Marley and Seun collaborate on one of the album’s penultimate tracks, “Dey.”

Seun and I were both a little excited to be having our international chat between New Jersey and Lagos, Nigeria. We both hope you’ll find the technology as enthralling as we did. We discussed his new album, of course, but as you’ll find, Seun is up for talking about anything. Settle in to hear about some history, a few surprises, and some really exciting music.

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.

Some souls just weren’t made for this world. You can hear it in their voice, see it in their eyes—their shoulders simply aren’t strong enough to bear the weight of gravity, and their hearts are simply too tender, and they come and go from this our mortal coil leaving behind the sense, no matter how much they accomplished, that they were never here at all.

Such is the feeling I get from listening to guitarist/vocalist Rowland S. Howard, who obviously found life on this planet one long and painful trial. His 2009 masterpiece Pop Crimes makes reference to “this planet of perpetual sorrows,” on not one but two songs, which he must have felt was necessary to get his point—that living is a nightmare from which we cannot escape—across. But if Howard, who passed away very shortly after the release of Pop Crimes at age 50, harbored a bleak and Baudelairian view of existence, he didn’t let it stand in the way of making lots of great music with lots of different people.

His list of accomplishments is remarkably long, especially for someone who battled drug addiction for as long as he did. He began his career with Nick Cave in Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party, went on to become a member of Crime & The City Solution, and finally founded Thee Immortal Souls before launching a solo career. Over the course of his too-short life he also worked with artists as diverse as Lydia Lunch, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Henry Rollins, not to mention numerous others.

His voice is fraught with pain and his unique reverb-drenched guitar sound was responsible, as his friend Kid Congo Powers told me, “for launching a gazillion bands.” The combination has a hypnotic effect, as demonstrated on his cover of Talk Talk’s propulsive “Life’s What You Make It,” which is basically one mesmeric groove, free of choruses and bridges and all that nonsense.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Erasure, the award-winning songwriting duo of Andy Bell & Vince Clarke, will release limited vinyl editions of Tomorrow’s World (2011), Snow Globe (2013), and the long out-of-print The Violet Flame (2014), via Mute on December 13, 2024.

Tomorrow’s World (available on limited edition clear vinyl) is a collection of classic Erasure tracks that finds the duo in their fourth decade together sounding simultaneously contemporary and classic. Consequence wrote of the release, “if you want an example of the first wave of synthpop and excellently crafted, catchy dance music, there aren’t many better than Erasure, and this is another album that affirms their reputation.”

The album, featuring the singles “When I Start To (Break It All Down),” “Be With You,” “A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot,” and “Fill Us With Fire” was recorded in Maine, London, and Los Angeles. It was produced by Frankmusic (Lady Gaga, Pet Shop Boys, Ellie Goulding) following a four year break between albums (during that time Andy Bell released his solo album Don’t Stop and Vince Clarke reunited with Alison Moyet for a Yazoo tour).

Snow Globe (available on limited edition pink vinyl) is the duo’s first festive album release and sees Erasure eschew the hackneyed bells, whistles, glitter, and tinsel often associated with Christmas, instead presenting a leftfield take on the genre.

Purposefully stripped-down and often eerie tracks emphasize some of the less glitzy and more melancholic aspects of the season, while singles like “Make It Wonderful” point to the universal hope that this time can bring. Described by The Quietus as “…a fantastic bloody record full stop,” it was produced by Erasure, Gareth Jones, and Richard X, and features their modern take on the traditional Latin carol, “Gaudete,” as well renditions of “White Christmas” and “Silent Night.”

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Celebrating David Lee Roth, born on this day in 1954. —Ed.

So I was listening to the masterful and spiritually uplifting guitar artistry of John McLaughlin and thought, “You know what? I’d rather listen to Van Halen.” That’s the kind of spiritually evolved being I am. There is the cosmos, with its songs of devotion and birds of fire, and then there is the shirtless David Lee Roth. The fact that I prefer the latter is proof that I exist upon a lower class astral plane, in a double-wide trailer whose front yard is littered with empty beer cans.

Let me say this just to start: When it comes to Van Halen, I’m a 1984 guy. Hardcore fans call 1984 a sell-out. I deny they sold out. I would argue they sold up. But the fact is I’ve already written about 1984, so I’m writing about Van Halen’s kick-ass 1978 self-titled debut. It’s not 1/10th as funny as 1984–the biggest laugh riot of a metal LP this side of Kix’s first–but it rocks much harder and is a lot meaner to boot. Van Halen was the opening salvo of a band that was clearly hungry and just as clearly had something to prove.

It’s evident in every note Eddie Van Halen plays; you can hear it in David Lee Roth’s straight-from-the-crotch vocal swagger. Not all of its songs are winners–I might even go far as to say its B side sags–but the winners win big. Why, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love” is so wonderful The Minutemen saw fit to cover it on Double Nickels on the Dime. When you’re the kind of band punk rockers love to hate but punk rockers still love your songs, you must be doing something right.

Van Halen was not universally beloved upon its release. The critics in particular were mean. Rolling Stone’s Charles M. Young opined, “In three years, Van Halen is going to be fat and self-indulgent and disgusting … follow[ing] Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin right into the toilet. In the meantime, they are likely to be a big deal.” Meanwhile, the Village Voice’s Robert Christgau, commenting about Van Halen’s status as a bar band, wrote, “The term becomes honorific when the music belongs in a bar. This music belongs on an aircraft carrier.” And you know what? He’s right. This music does belong on an aircraft carrier, provided everybody on said aircraft carrier is drunk, said aircraft carrier is driving erratically and well over the posted speed limit, and there’s a wet t-shirt contest being held on the flag bridge.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings and Bluesville Records proudly announce two essential blues titles from a pair of the genre’s most influential artists: Jimmy Reed’s genre-defining 1958 debut LP, I’m Jimmy Reed, and Reverend Gary Davis’ 1960 masterpiece, Harlem Street Singer.

Arriving November 15th, both albums will be issued on vinyl in partnership with audiophile leader Acoustic Sounds and feature all-analog mastering by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer Matthew Lutthans (the Mastering Lab). Both LPs are pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings (QRP) with faithfully reproduced tip-on jackets. Rounding out the package are OBIs that offer insightful reflections by GRAMMY®-winning producer, writer, musician and record executive Scott Billington. Additionally, both albums will be reissued on CD, while the stunningly remastered hi-res audio is available today.

Launched in February, Bluesville Recordings celebrates America’s bedrock music genre, as well as the trailblazing musicians that contributed to its rich traditions, through handpicked titles—all culled from the catalogs of such legendary labels as Stax, Prestige, Vee-Jay, Vanguard, Rounder, and Riverside.

Since its inception, the imprint has garnered high marks from the press, including such esteemed outlets as Record Collector, Glide magazine, and No Depression—the latter of which praised that the releases “sound fabulous. . . . The blues revival is real and we are extremely fortunate to have these cornerstones available again.” Speaking to a recent reissue of Skip James’ Today!, Tracking Angle raved, “This record lives and breathes almost sixty years after it was put to tape . . . I have multiple copies . . . and this Bluesville reissue is by far the best sounding. It puts you in the room with the artist.”

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Dog Jaw Woman by The Guy Hamper Trio is amongst the latest worthwhile offerings from the indefatigable Damaged Goods Records of the United Kingdom. Featuring organist James Taylor as a returning guest, the trio’s deep ties to a particularly steadfast branch of the British R&R tradition are sturdy but not overemphasized, as the sounds tap into classic modes while avoiding the merely retro in a manner befitting said tradition (more on the specifics below). The 10-track set is out October 18 on vinyl and digital.

The Guy Hamper Trio consists of Julie Hamper on bass, Wolf Howard on drums, and Guy Hamper, aka Billy Childish, on guitar. The involvement of Childish might lead those who know him primarily through the copious combined output of Thee Headcoats and Thee Mighty Caesars (plus numerous other bands) to certain assumptions as to the sound that Dog Jaw Woman holds in store.

In short, the expectation would be raw and tough ’60s UK Beat Rock-Maximum R&B with nods to Link Wray and a ’77 punk edge. Doing it sans vocals, the Trio does lay down a punky Freakbeat-ish foundation, although distinct from the general Headcoats-Caesars thrust, and expands upon this curve with the contributions of Hammond organ ace James Taylor, formerly of ’80s outfit The Prisoners and the long-running James Taylor Quartet (where Wolf Howard was a contributor).

The first Guy Hamper Trio record, All the Poisons in the Mud (2022, Damaged Goods), was a mostly instrumental affair, the set offering one track with vocals by Childish. When he wasn’t singing, the band’s groove, raw but lithe, often suggested a bunch of mods turning their amps way up while under the influence of organ trio soul jazz and the brilliance of Booker T. Jones.

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BRIDGEPORT, CT | Come Sunday morning the whirlwind of day one at Soundside Music Festival felt like a dream. Memories had been made from a full day packed with impressive live performances, but there wasn’t much time to reminisce as gates opened today before noon. Knowing more of what to expect from day one, concertgoers were prepared to handle today’s test of eleven hours of outdoor music and giving their energy right back to the artists.

Day one may have had higher highs, but day two was consistently exceptional and each artist was one you did not want to miss. With Soundside’s unique rotating stage, fans were able to be present for every moment and not have to choose between performances across multiple stages. The atmosphere in the audience was considerably more relaxed with warmer and dry weather, and a reconfiguration of the general admission pit to allow fans the chance to get even closer to the artists. Fans were representing merch of the artists they were most excited to see, service dogs were getting all the love, and the party was ready to begin.

Southern soul, rock, and gospel husband and wife duo The War and Treaty immediately lifted the spirits of attendees and took them to the church of music on this Sunday morning. Backed by a thunderous bass and drum filled live band, Michael and Tanya Trotter displayed heartfelt and talented vocal deliveries both as individuals and as a harmonizing couple. A setlist blended with original songs and soulful renditions of hits like “Proud Mary,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “Tennessee Whiskey” kept the audience locked in and wanting more.

Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors took to the stage next delivering a warm blend of Americana and folk rock. Starting their set with the welcoming track “Family,” the crowd embraced the appeal to kids and adults as this act came at the perfect time in the day where most children were running around with noise canceling headphones and excited dancing feet. Veterans to the stage, Holcomb was the perfect act that may be the first live musical performance on a stage of this magnitude for many—assuring to make lasting memories. This set was highlighted with a spirited rendition of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 501(c)3 non-profit organization Noise for Now in partnership with the Artist Rights Alliance announce Songs for Sex, out October 18th via their recently launched label which is distributed worldwide through ADA. Benefitting The National Women’s Health Network, the compilation features 16 exclusive tracks from Andrew Bird, Ella Vos, Erin McKeown, CAKE, Katie Malco, Kev Decor, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, My Brightest Diamond, Rett Madison, Robert Ellis, sym fera, Tanner Porter, Thao, The Album Leaf, Tift Merritt, and Trousdale. It will be available on all platforms to stream and purchase.

Songs for Sex is the brainchild of GRAMMY® nominated artist Tift Merritt—a response to the dangerous policies outlined in The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. Executive Producers, Merritt and manager Victoria Roe enlisted the support of musicians to meet the moment, gathering songs that counter Project 2025’s shame and stigma around sex with songs of tenderness, anger, and defiant joy. “We all have stories about how these regressive steps backwards play out in our lives, and in the lives of people we love,” notes Tift. “I hope these songs open your heart to how important it is to stand up for bodily autonomy, reproductive freedoms, privacy and more love in the world no matter what it looks like.”

Trousdale notes, “‘How To Be 18’ tells the story of a young woman who has made the incredibly difficult decision to seek an abortion in a state where it is illegal to do so. While the political conversation around abortion in this country often centers on life-threatening circumstances, we wanted to focus on the more common reason women seek it: simply not being ready to bring a child into the world.” They add, “In addition to reproductive rights, Project 2025 targets the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and undermines protections for marginalized communities. We’re proud to be part of the fight for the basic human dignity that every person deserves.”

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John Lennon would have been 84 years old on October 9th. It’s hard to believe that the Mind Games album from John Lennon was only his fourth proper solo album at the time of its release in 1973 and he would only release two more studio albums of original music in his lifetime. Rock ‘n’ Roll was a cover album of oldies released in 1975 and Milk and Honey was a posthumous follow-up to Double Fantasy released in 1984. His last solo album, Double Fantasy, released in 1980, and Milk and Honey were actually collaboration albums with his wife Yoko Ono. Taking the point even further, the double-album Some Time in New York City, released in 1972, contains one album of original songs and one album of live material recorded with, among others, Ono, George Harrison, and Frank Zappa.

Mind Games was written and recorded very much in reaction to the poor reception the heavily political Some Time in New York City album received. That album was a ragged political broadside that read and looked like a newspaper. This was Lennon, and also Ono, at their most political. While Plastic Ono Band was more about the personal, Some Time in New York City was more outward looking, although it did have its personal moments.

The Mind Games album is more in the vein of Imagine, but without Phil Spector producing, and with Lennon primarily producing himself, it doesn’t quite have the weight or majesty of Imagine. It does, however, still have its political moments, is an album where Lennon was clearly enjoying himself, and contains songs of Lennon’s love for Ono that were filled with a sweet, often understated charm. While the key songs are the title track “Nutopian International Anthem” and even “Meat City,” which on the outtakes disc is presented as a long take, the love songs on the album offer another side of Lennon in this post-political period.

Previous boxes of the Plastic Ono Band and Imagine albums have already been released. The Lennon estate has chosen to skip over what was the next album in Lennon’s catalog—Some Time in New York City—and instead release at this time the more accessible Mind Games. While it is understandable from various perspectives to release Mind Games now, let’s hope Some Time In New York City at some point does receive a full deluxe-edition release.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | WAR have announced two new boxsets, each capturing SoCal’s legendary street band at the height of their most dynamic era. Arriving for Black Friday on November 29th, The Vinyl 1977–1994 and The CD Collection 1977–1994 both feature five definitive albums that further show why WAR has been hailed as “a sophisticated pop machine, slicker than Sly and the Family Stone and more down to earth than Funkadelic” (Pitchfork).

With newly remastered audio by award-winning engineer Bernie Grundman, Platinum Funk (1977), Galaxy (1977), The Music Band (1979), Outlaw (1982) and Peace Sign (1994) all come together in one beautiful package, right as WAR prepare to celebrate their 55th Anniversary next year. Purchase WAR’s limited-edition The Vinyl 1977-1994, available exclusively via Record Store Day Black Friday. Pre-order The CD Collection 1977-1994, available worldwide via Rhino on November 29th 2024.

The Vinyl: 1977–1994 is the first time since their original pressings that these five albums are being released on vinyl, and each LP has been pressed in a rainbow of spinning colours—Platinum Funk in silver, Galaxy in yellow, The Music Band in red, Outlaw in purple, Peace Sign in orange, nestled in a boss slipcase illustrated by Grammy-winning artist Dave Van Patten.

WAR’s The Vinyl: 1977–1994 and The CD Collection 1977–1994 are the next installments in a series of special edition releases. Building on the band’s previous five-LP, decade-spanning compilation, The Vinyl: 1971–1975, this next compendium arrives on the heels of 2023’s The World Is a Ghetto: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition. Named one of the year’s best boxsets by The New York Times and Variety, with rave reviews by Pitchfork, Uncut, Classic Rock, Record Collector, Paste, SPIN and more, the project honoured the No.1 Billboard top-selling album of 1973, and cemented WAR’s legacy as “one of the most seminal bands in music” (Billboard).

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Ludicrously prolific as a session mainstay for a slew of indispensable figures in the grand scheme of 20th century Jamaican music, saxophonist “Deadly” Headley Bennett only cut one solo record, 35 Years From Alpha, which was released in 1982 on the fledgling enterprise of Adrian Sherwood, On-U Sound enterprise. Flash forward to right now, and the same label is giving the album its first vinyl reissue, with compact discs and digital downloads also available. According to Bandcamp, the LPs and CDs ship out on or around October 11. Loaded with guests, the ten selections flow with roots warmth and dub edge. Two previously unreleased bonus tracks intensify the already considerable value.

Deadly Headley began recording as a teenager in the 1950s, with his skills on saxophone landing him in studios with numerous outfits, including Lynn Tiatt & The Jets, Sly & The Revolutionaries, The Aggrovators, The Arabs, The Mighty Vikings, Sound Dimension, The Abyssinians, The Professionals, The Roots Radics, and the Studio One house band, and backing such major artists as Alton Ellis, Bob Marley (on his first recording “Judge Not”), Derrick Morgan, Prince Far I, Horace Andy, Mikey Dread, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo, Gregory Isaacs, and Dennis Brown.

And then, most relevant to this review, there was Bennett’s work in connection with Sherwood, playing on records by Creation Rebel, Singers and Players, Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, and Bim Sherman. That a man as passionate about Jamaican music as Sherwood would give Bennett the opportunity to record his first solo release is no surprise, and neither is the number of contributors he lined up to secure the album’s success.

Too many big names has spoiled many a well-intentioned recording, but fortunately not here, in part because of a low-key feel that avoids a parade of personalities and taking any big masterpiece swings. Instead, the set registers as an extended appreciation of the utility player, and with plenty of room for Bennett to get his licks in, particularly in the opening title track. Jumpy and fast paced, the cut spreads out, with Nick Plytas on keyboards, Style Scott on drums, Lizard Logan on bass, and Rico Rodriguez on trombone.

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