VIA PRESS RELEASE | Independent Label Market (ILM) is delighted to announce its flagship London event at Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, will return Saturday, May 11th.

The event showcases the vibrant and enduring community of independent UK labels, including firm favourites such as 4AD, Because, Big Dada, Brainfeeder, Chess Club, Chrysalis, Dead Oceans, Dirty Hit, Fire, Jagjaguwar, Late Night Tales, Matador, Marathon, Ninja Tune, Secretly Canadian, Third Man and many others. It will feature a curated selection of vinyl rarities, test pressings, extended back catalogues, signed merchandise, and advance copies.

Also making an appearance at ILM this Spring is The Craft Makers Corner, bringing together talented artists and craft makers including Babak Ganjei, Donna Harle, This Is Fun Isn’t It, Hand Jazz, Kam Creates, Nicole O’Hara, Sri Mckinnon and East London Printmakers

Of course, Independent Label Market wouldn’t be complete without its favourite drinking partner at the helm, London Brewers’ Market representing the thriving Artisan Beer Scene with a lineup of London’s finest brewers including Five Points, Forest Road, Two Tribes and Gan Yam.

Adding further colour to the Spring Market is the ILM Live Stage, as well as artist and label DJ sets throughout the day on a heavyweight soundsystem courtesy of Audio Gold—London’s premier second hand Hi fi retailer specialising in unique equipment from wind-up gramophones to Wi-fi radios.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of their breakthrough album Set Yourself On Fire (SYOF, 2004 via Arts & Crafts), Montreal’s Stars announce they will embark on a select North American tour this fall and release a special 20th Anniversary vinyl reissue on Arts & Crafts arriving in July, which will feature digital bonus tracks such as “Rollerskate” and “Petit Mort” not widely available on other releases.

The album has been lovingly reimagined on 140g opaque red vinyl, housed in a special die cut jacket with printed inner sleeve, 12″ x 24″ pinup poster, and a temporary tattoo featuring the iconic flame design. New liner notes written by album producer Tom McFall also accompany the re-issue. It is available for pre-order HERE. Signed version available via Stars Patreon HERE.

Stars’ Set Yourself On Fire 20th Anniversary live dates begin September 18 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, ahead of a two-night stand at Brooklyn, NY’s Music Hall of Williamsburg. The tour will then work its way to three Canadian dates in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto; after a two-week break, the dates will resume south of the border in California and traverse throughout the west, including a stop in Vancouver.

Artists of effortlessly accessible complication, on Set Yourself On Fire, Stars took our worst fears—both personal and global—and slayed the anxieties with their perfect pop music. Widely lauded as amongst their most ambitious, accomplished, and affecting works of their storied existence, Stars’ Set Yourself On Fire (20th Anniversary Edition) carries the torch of the magical songs that have set so many hearts alight.

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Celebrating Graham Coxon in advance of his birthday tomorrow.
—Ed.

Today on the Wayback Machine… we return to the Battle of Britpop! In last week’s corner at The Vinyl District: Northern England standard-bearer and contender for the crown, Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?! In today’s corner: Southern England’s pride and glory, Blur’s Parklife! Let the fight begin!

I should state from the outset that this is a battle involving different weight classes. The heavyweight Mancunians in Oasis opted for the knock out; (What’s the Story) is a slow but methodical series of big, telegraphed hooks to the pleasure center of your brain. Blur, on the other hand, is a lightweight and a dancer, and Parklife comes at you like a flurry of lightning quick blows to the thinking part of your cerebral cortex.

While Oasis opted for monolithic, Blur went the eclectic route; stylistically they’re all over the place. And they’re all over the place for a reason; they’re making a statement on the richness and variety of London itself. Samuel Johnson once said, “If you’re tired of London, you’re tired of life,” and Damon Albarn is clearly not tired of London or the multiplicity of genres and influences that have long made it one of the world capitals of rock music.

Unlike Noel Gallagher, who took his cue from Seinfeld and wrote a whole slew of songs about nothing, Blur’s Damon Albarn is a social satirist and details man. From the polymorphous perversity of “Girls and Boys” to the closely observed details of the title track to the working class desperation of the very punk “Bank Holiday” to the industrial dehumanization of “Trouble in the Message Centre,” Albarn is concerned with what it means to be young and English.

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The ghost of Amelia Earhart haunts us. That’s what happens when you’re history’s greatest vanishing act, and the most famous face to ever appear on a milk carton. When Earhart and navigator Frank Noonan took off from an airfield in Lae, New Guinea on July 2, 1937 everyone expected them to come back down, on tiny Howland Island to be precise. Instead they disappeared forever into the realms of myth, legend, obsession and theory—the quarry of sleuths, both amateur and professional, many willing to spend fortunes in her pursuit.

Did her plane, having run out of fuel, land in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean? Was she captured, and die at the hands of, the Japanese Army? Was she devoured, as some say, by coconut crabs, a lonely castaway on a desert island? Or did she end up on another island? Or is she up there still, the wings of her silver twin-engine Lockheed 10-E Electra sending phantom refractions from the rising sun, eternally searching for that final landing strip?

It surprises me how few songs have been written about Earhart’s mysterious fate. The best of them are the Handsome Family’s “Amelia Earhart vs. The Dancing Bear” from their 1996 release Milk and Scissors, Joni Mitchell’s “Amelia” from her 1976 album Hejira, and “Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight,” which was written by topical songwriter Red River Dave McEnery in 1939 and has been covered by the likes of Kinky Friedman, Ronnie Lane, the Greenbriar Boys, and the British country-rock band Plainsong, whose members of note were vocalist and guitarist Iain Matthew (a founding member of Fairport Convention and later of Matthews Southern Comfort) and guitarist and vocalist Andy Roberts, a Liverpudlian and former member of Everyone.

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OAKLAND, CA | It feels like it’s been a while, but Grouplove is finally back with new material (2023’s I Want It All Right Now) as well as their “Rock And Roll You Won’t Save Me” headlining tour which paid a visit to Oakland’s historic Fox Theater.

Bully kicked things off promptly at 8 PM with a solo set that started on the electric guitar and moved to the keyboard. Looking a bit nervous but quickly getting past her admitted jitters, she delivered a jaw-dropping performance that had those that recognized the voice but not the necessarily name quickly perking up.

The house lights dropped, and the familiar intro of The Beatles’ “Come Together” blasted through the house speakers, prompting a crowd sing-along that lasted through the 4+ minute song though admittedly most only knew the words to the chorus—the perfect group mind-meld as the band stormed the stage.

Having played support on P!nk’s “Trustfall” Tour, Grouplove was clearly pumped to give the fans a full headlining set in support of their latest release. So, it was no surprise that the setlist dove deeply into the new material but not at the expense of the rest of the catalog, launching right into “Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten” from their breakthrough debut.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Rock legend Billy Idol is set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his landmark album Rebel Yell with a deluxe expanded edition due April 26 via Capitol/UMe.

Available for pre-order on Friday, March 8, the reissue includes a selection of previously unreleased songs and demos, the Poolside remix of Idol’s smash hit “Eyes Without A Face” and the never-before-heard Billy Idol/Steve Stevens original “Best Way Out of Here” from the original sessions. Idol’s never-before-released cover of the Rose Royce single “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” from the album’s original recording sessions will be available to download/stream on March 8 as well; pre-order the album and stream the new single on March 8 HERE.

Originally released in November 1983, Rebel Yell is the twice-platinum follow-up to Idol’s self-titled debut. The album features the iconic singles “Eyes Without a Face,” Flesh for Fantasy,” “Rebel Yell,” and “Catch My Fall.” The reissue is available in 2xLP, 2xCD, and digital formats.

Idol recently released the concert film Billy Idol: State Line, a Vertigo Live concert film documenting his April 2023 show at the famed Hoover Dam—the first-ever concert performed at the location—on DVD and Blu-ray following a successful limited theatrical run.

The film highlights the history and significance of Hoover Dam and includes performances from two unique sets of Billy Idol’s iconic hits: a full band concert at sunset with special guests that electrified and illuminated the surrounding Black Canyon, and an acoustic duo set on the roof of the powerhouse at the foot of Hoover Dam straddling the Colorado River, directly on the Nevada/Arizona state line.

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Celebrating Gary Numan, born on this day in 1958. —Ed.

I’ve never warmed up to synthesizers, and isn’t that the point? They’re supposed to sound steely cold and inhuman–they’re machines, for christ’s sake, and utterly incapable of that friendly human touch one associates with, say, Eddie Vedder or your local insurance agent.

But even that familiar, reassuring nod from an insurance agent only goes so far if you walk in without a clue about what you actually need. Policies can look the same on the surface while hiding all sorts of quirks underneath, and nobody wants to discover those surprises when it’s already too late.

That’s why taking a beat to sort through an insurance comparison beforehand belongs right up there with tuning a guitar or checking the mic—basic prep work that saves you from regrettable noise later.

Because once you know what you’re walking into, the whole conversation shifts. Instead of feeling like you’re deciphering some mechanical hum with no warmth behind it, you step in with clarity, ready to talk options like a human being who actually knows their own needs.

For this reason and many others having to do with angular haircuts and architectural clothing I’ve always abhorred English synthpop. But that was before I finally managed to overcome my atavistic aversion to the stuff long enough to listen to one of the grandaddies of them all–Gary Numan’s 1979 LP The Pleasure Principle.

Nothing succeeds like excess, and on his first post-Tubeway Army outing Numan dispensed with the electric guitars and went full robot. What’s more, not only do the synthesizers sound like machines–he does too. As a result this fancy piece of state-of-the-art electronics with its telegraphic one-word song titles is as cold as Antarctica–colder even because Gary got rid off all the penguins!

The Pleasure Principle–which is all about the pleasures and perils of alienation, and the myriad disadvantages of being sentient–may be as frigid as a meat locker, but it’s as hook-filled as a meat locker too. But not always–Numan also tosses in some frosty and atmospheric instrumentals (“Airlane,” “Asylum”) along the lines of David Bowie’s ambient work with Brian Eno. (As for the non-instrumentals, some bring to mind Eno’s early solo work, sans quirks.)

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How do you feel about karma? Do you think what goes around comes around? Is that really the way of the world, or does it just seem that way? Perhaps we’re getting a start that’s a bit too deep, but the natural order of things has a way of following a mysterious pattern. You might see some of these things in your day-to-day activities, but sometimes a story invites you to consider how the design of our lives can be investigated, every so often, it arrives musically.

Avram Brown is the key composer and performer in a project titled The Wheel which focuses on his musical and personal journey and how he’s come—yes, you guessed it—“full circle” with many aspects of his life. You can call it a psychedelic project, but it’s more than that: it’s introspective, but it also makes some attempts at looking outward, somewhere into the great beyond. If that’s too much for you, then just know that the music is darned good! We’ll also explore the friends who helped Avi complete this project which include Blitzen Trapper’s Eric Earley, violist/arranger Kyleen King (Brandi Carlile, The Decemberists), and recording engineer Larry Crane (Elliott Smith).

So, sit down with Avram and me and take the interdimensional journey, if you choose, or just go along for the ride. You’ll find that there’s a lot of preparation—productionwise, and personally—that goes into growing a body of work that explores our existential complexities. How does the wheel spin in your life, does it move forward, or backward? If you had to set it to music, how would it sound? Avram Brown’s wheel sounds like this.

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.

The Stray Cats were the Sha Na Na of the MTV era. A rockabilly nostalgia act, and like most nostalgia acts they offered up a tame version of the music produced by the folks they were paying tribute to—Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Wanda Jackson, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Burnette—and the list goes on. They carried the torch. But they forget to light the damn thing.

The Stray Cats hued to the original sound, but they were far too polite—the early rockabilly crowd was composed of berserkers, and the Stray Cats were more Apollonian than Dionysian. The early folks were out to burn the cornfield. The Stray Cats were out to pay their respects. They had sound and image down pat but they weren’t into arson.

They left that to rockabilly’s other modern day practitioners—bands like the Cramps, the Reverend Horton Heat, the Hillbilly Hellcats, Flat Duo Jets and Southern Culture on the Skids, to name just a few. Bands that injected their rockabilly with a healthy dose of run-amok dementia. Guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer had the right haircut and he sure could play, and the same went for drummer Slim Jim Phantom and bassist Lee Rocker. But what I never heard from them was the barbaric yawp that made their models menaces to the social mores of their day. They weren’t dangerous—tribute bands never are.

I’m certainly not the first person to question the Stray Cats’ overly respectful and ultimately weak-kneed take on one of rock’s most primal genres. Rolling Stone’s David Fricke bandied about the word “spiritless,” while Robert Christgau went for the jugular, writing that Seltzer’s “mild vocals just ain’t rockabilly. You know how it is when white boys strive for authenticity—’57 V-8 my ass.” Later he would get even surlier, writing, “Brian Setzer is the snazziest guitarist to mine the style since James Burton. But he’s also a preening panderer, mythologizing his rockin’ ’50s with all the ignorant cynicism of a punk poser. He’s no singer, no actor, no master of persona. And if he can write songs he didn’t bother.” Ouch.

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TEMPE, AZ | The inaugural Extra Innings Festival hit Tempe Beach Park for day two to celebrate the combination of music and the start of MLB spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona. The sister fest to the Innings Festival, the combination of events gave tourists a reason to extend their stays in Arizona. While Innings Festival has been around since 2018, the success has expanded into an extra celebration of warm weather activities into a second weekend.

Although following the same stage alignment, Extra Innings Festival took on a completely unique look from the first weekend. While seemingly a country music festival, the event offered everything there is under the country music umbrella. Featuring acts in folk, blue-grass, outlaw country, and more, the specific talents created a unique lineup to remember.

2:00 PM: We started our coverage on one of the dedicated music stages, Right Field. 2:00 PM featured Josiah and the Bonnevilles—albeit no Bonnevilles this time—just Josiah. The Tennessee native set the bar high for the day delivering an extremely intimate, raw set. One of the more humble artists I have seen, Josiah knows what it means to work for his music, explaining failed record deals and having not lost hope. Josiah is an incredibly talented artist and as he grows on social media, I believe he will have a big year.

2:50 PM: The crowd made their way back through the food and vendor entertainment to the Home Plate stage near the main entrance featuring Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners. Another band who grew on social media in the past year, the group is young and promising. They Seattle natives are just entering the scene for what could be a huge stage for them, literally and figuratively.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings announces the latest reissues in the Original Jazz Classics series: The Red Garland Trio’s Groovy, Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane’s Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane, The John Wright Trio’s South Side Soul, and The New Miles Davis Quintet’s Miles.

Available for pre-order today, these reissues, which roll out from April to July 2024, feature lacquers cut from the original tapes (AAA) by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio (Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane and Groovy titles cut by Matthew Lutthans at Cohearent Audio), 180-gram vinyl pressed at RTI and tip-on jackets, replicating the original artwork. All titles will also be released digitally in 192/24 HD audio.

Original Jazz Classics was created in 1982 (under Fantasy Records) and relaunched last year, with jazz fans and critics alike praising the series’ devotion to vividly preserving and restoring seminal jazz albums, paying mind to everything from cover art to liner notes to the audio recordings themselves.

Since its inception, the series has reissued 850+ hard-to-find jazz albums, among them acclaimed titles from Prestige, Galaxy, Milestone, Riverside, Debut, Contemporary, Jazzland, and Pablo. Craft Recordings will continue to grow its Original Jazz Classics series this year, with audiophile vinyl and digital reissues of even more out-of-print titles.

Speaking to the OJC reissue of Bill Evans’ Sunday at the Village Vanguard, PopMatters raved, “The bright, inventive performances are captured perfectly in these new vinyl releases, and listening to them is an exciting, riveting, and perhaps bittersweet experience, as they caught a unique, influential group of musicians at their peak,” and Clash declared the reissue to be “a must-have.”

On Mal Waldron’s Mal/2, Analog Planet notes that the pressing is “even better than those hard-to-find originals from the 1950s. . . . trust me, you’ll want this.” And for Bill Evans’ Waltz for Debby, Tracking Angle shared in a perfect score review, “The best-sounding of all the pressings . . . the whole line will be worth watching and buying quickly before they sell out,” while All About Jazz echoed, “Without hyperbole, it can be stated that this is the best sounding version yet of a beloved album.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Yep Roc Records announces the long overdue vinyl reissue of Rockpile’s Seconds of Pleasure pressed on yellow color vinyl, a first since its original 1980 release. Available June 7 and limited to 1,000 copies worldwide, the reissue was pressed at Citizen Vinyl’s state-of-the-art facilities in Asheville, NC, and the lacquer was cut by renowned mastering engineer Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. The album is now available for pre-order.

A short-lived yet highly influential quartet, composed of Dave Edmunds (vocals, guitar), Nick Lowe (vocals, bass guitar), Billy Bremner (vocals, guitar), and Terry Williams (drums), Rockpile played together throughout the 1970s, and the original 1980 release of Seconds of Pleasure was the only time the band was able to capture their magic on tape.

Recorded at Eden Studios Chiswick, UK, Seconds of Pleasure features classics like Lowe’s pop-perfect “When I Write the Book” and “Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)” and Rockpile’s only Billboard hit, “Teacher Teacher.” Over four decades since its release, Seconds of Pleasure remains a cult classic sought after by music collectors worldwide.

Meshing the sounds of pub rock, power pop, and rockabilly all through a new wave lens, Rockpile were renowned for their blistering live performances, which were brought to national attention on tours supporting Blondie, Bad Company, Van Morrison, and Elvis Costello.

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