VIA PRESS RELEASE | Wolf Eyes’ history with collaboration goes back almost 26 years. From the first Wolf Eyes w/Spykes concert that led to John Olson joining the band, to Smegma, Richard Pinhas, Merzbow, and many more. Wolf Eyes has continued expanding musical ideas through collaboration and Difficult Messages is the first compilation of this practice.

The Wolf Eyes duo of John Olson and Nate Young recorded with friends Alex Moskos, Gretchen Gonzales, Aaron Dilloway, and Raven Chacon over the last few years. The results were originally self-released as a series of super-limited 7” hand painted box sets. Difficult Messages collects the core “hits,” lovingly compiled by Disciples for wider consumption.

Many of the bands on Difficult Messages exist inside an assemblage of a mail art tradition. Most of the music was made remotely and this allowed for deeper exploration into styles that might have been too uncomfortable to attempt face to face. “Short Hands” finds Nate Young, and Alex Moskos exchanging bass and guitar fragments with Olson’s reeds and tones overtop sculpted into odd rock songs. “Wolf Raven” touches on harsh electronics and pushes forward into postmodern ideas of composition.

“Time Designers” is a duo of Alex Moskos and Nate Young using hacked drum machines and a “design” approach to organizing sound. “U Eye” finds Olson and Young alongside longtime collaborators Gretchen Gonzales and Aaron Dilloway for a scrape and tape session recorded by Warren Defever. “Stare Case” is Olson and Young in a non-Wolf duo. Perhaps the only “rules following” project these two have EVER had. The collection of audio tracks could be looked at as an exquisite corpse: a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. With this method over thirty tracks and four hundred paintings were created.

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Muldoon’s Picnic is the recurring music-and-poetry event at the Irish Arts Center in New York. Occurring just about once a month throughout the past year, the Picnic is hosted by legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon. His own rock band, Rogue Oliphant, serves as the house band who perform several of their own original tracks during the evening.

Rogue Oliphant, who released their third studio album Highlights of the Low Life digitally just last year, features an intriguing lineup of talented musicians with varied histories: Chris Harford (guitar and vocals), Ray Kubian (drums and vocals), David Mansfield (guitar), Cáit O’Riordan (bass and vocals), and Warren Zanes (guitar and vocals) are all members. Some of these names may be especially familiar to you; O’Riordan was a member of the Pogues, Mansfield was a part of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue in the ’70s, and Zanes is an author of music books including the successful Tom Petty biography released in 2015.

The group’s new album offers up a generous musical offering, an astounding twenty-six tracks. Given the plethora of unique talents among Rogue Oliphant’s band members and their overall leaning toward the literary, the listening experience of Highlights of the Low Life is multifaceted. The title track is a standout, with a jaunty rock sound, whose lyrics list quite comically a rigmarole of antics and past deeds, that justly qualify the character-narrator as welcome in the lowlife.

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Blending R&B, soul, funk, and jazz, Portland, OR’s Pleasure landed a Top 10 R&B chart hit in 1979 with “Glide,” but were otherwise something of a cult band, produced on four of their albums for the Fantasy label by Crusaders trombonist Wayne Henderson, including their third, Joyous, which hit stores in 1977. As smart and diverse as it is consistently grooving, on January 6 it returns to vinyl for the first time since its initial release courtesy of Craft Recordings’ subsidiary Jazz Dispensary’s Top Shelf series.

The scoop is that when members of two Portland acts, namely The Franchise and The Soul Masters, choose to join forces, Pleasure was born. Cohering in 1972, it took roughly three years for their debut Dust Yourself Off to emerge, but once completed they issued five more LPs for Fantasy (Accept No Substitutes, Joyous, Get to the Feeling, Future Now, Special Things) and one for RCA (Give It Up) before ceasing operations in 1982; a self-released reunion CD Now Is the Time, came out in 2018.

Next to Pleasure’s first two records, Joyous offers a bit of refinement without muting the core appeal; that is, heat arising from a sturdy instrumental attack, vocals smoothly rendered but substantial, and seamlessly applied stylistic range. With that said, the opening title track begins with a sax solo, burning and searching atop a lively rhythmic thrust; along with the wailing guitar of Marlon “The Magician” McClain, the whole should bring a smile to the face of any fan of George Clinton’s prime maneuvers.

There are horn charts, but they avoid overwhelming the forward motion with unimaginative vamping, both in “Joyous” and more prominently in the next track, the string section infused (shades of Isaac Hayes) funky groove of “Let Me Be the One.” Next is the vibrant and buoyant “Only You,” which exudes shades of the Five Stairsteps as it kicks into gear, spotlighting the lead vocals of Sherman Davis and lyrics that urge positivity (“only you can start love a burning/only you can stop the hate from spreading”). It’s followed by a funky rebound with the conga-loaded cooker “Can’t Turn You Loose.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | One of the most collectible albums in ‘70s funk/soul led by the godfather of go-go Chuck Brown, with album tracks sampled by Run-D.M.C., Eric B. & Rakim, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy.

Even if you’ve never heard this 1974 album, you’ve heard it. What do we mean? Well, the drum break from the song “Ashley’s Roachclip” is probably the single most sampled track in all of hip hop. Everybody, and we mean everybody, has used it—Run- D.M.C., Eric B. & Rakim, and LL Cool J to name a few (and Public Enemy sampled “Blow Your Whistle” for good measure).

And when you throw in the fact that the DC-based Soul Searchers were led by the soon-to-be “Godfather of Go-Go” himself, Chuck Brown, you can understand why Salt of the Earth—which originally came out on the lightly distributed Sussex label—ranks among the most collectible R&B albums of all time.

For its first-ever American LP reissue, we’ve pressed this puppy up on coke clear vinyl.

The continued intense interest, unprecedented influence, and mythology of The Beatles can sometimes obscure and undervalue the musical contribution of the solo works of the four Beatles. More significantly, the works from the four that came after what is perceived as their solo heyday in the 1970s are given even less fair treatment.

Ringo Starr’s studio work has probably received the least praise, but his live All-Starr bands and his film and television work add more to his creative resume. John Lennon didn’t have a chance to move forward with his music, due to his senseless murder in 1980. One of the joys of the lives of fans of Lennon would have been to see what he would have done musically over the decades. George Harrison had some post-’70s glory with his Cloud Nine album and especially his two albums with the Traveling Wilburys, not to mention his place in cinema with Handmade Films.

Paul McCartney, however, has had a fruitful, if uneven, post-’70s musical life. While he has released some truly classic albums throughout his entire Wings and solo career, some of his albums have been inconsistent. Much of his work during the ’70s was as part of the group Wings with his wife Linda, Denny Laine, and a rotating cast of studio and live members, most notably Denny Seiwell, Henry McCullough, Jimmy McCulloch, Geoff Britton, Joe English, Laurence Juber, and Steve Holley.

His output as a singles artist is more consistent, as is evidenced by the uber 7″ Singles Box. Released in a limited, numbered quantity of 3,000 and including 81 singles (plus a 148-page booklet), the set is housed in a Redwood pine and Birch Ply wooden art crate that was made in the UK, while the actual entire physical package was made in France. This is a wide-ranging collection that covers 50 years. It is a remarkably consistent and listenable experience and McCartney’s uncanny knack for writing catchy, yet quirky and adventurous songs, with charm and wit, is in full display.

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Sheri Corleone is the Bang Bang Band Girl, a one-woman band based on Rotterdam in the Netherlands by way of Chile. Her sound is scuzzy-fuzzy garage punky trash with bursts of rockabilly, surf, and blues, brandishing a guitar-vocals-and rhythm core that’s tricked out with keyboards, oscillators, Theremin, and on her latest, the cover-song heavy 12 Super Duper Extraordinary Girl Trouble Rock​’​n​’​Roll Tracks, even a little saxophone. But along with gusts of noise and a general lo-fi atmosphere, there are currents of classique pop in the Bang Bang Band Girl’s sonic thrust. The new record is out now on LP, CD, and digital through Voodoo Rhythm Records.

Being a one-person band is surely not easy, though the ultimate point of the endeavor isn’t to impress by reigning triumphant over difficulty, like juggling and chewing gum while riding a unicycle, but rather the achievement of a sound that’s distinctiveness is directly related to simplicity at it’s most appealingly severe as it transcends any suggestion of gimmickry (those unicycles again). One-person bands can inhabit a shared sound, but it’s important to clarify that the best aren’t confused with anyone else.

For instance, I’ve not heard a one-person band that sounds particularly close to what Sheri Corleone is up to on her previous work, which is consists of the One Foot on Death Road split LP with Trash Calapso and his One Man Truck, the “Girl Friend Stomp” split 45 shared with Mitchy Dead, and the “Lies” 45 that she has all to her lonesome.

What makes her new one and first for Voodoo Rhythm stand out is the gravitation toward cover material, much if it firmly established in the annals of R&R history. Indeed, there are few songs more deeply ensconced in rock’s big book than The Troggs’ “Wild Thing,” which opens the record by wielding a likeably chintzy keyboard line, echo-laden vocals, and the requisite guitar crunch.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | In January 2023, BMG continues their annual celebration of Jazzuary with four new vinyl reissues from the stellar Bethlehem Records jazz catalog. Titles from giants of the genre—Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane—have been pressed to 180 gram vinyl from remastered high-res 96 kHz/24 bit audio, ready for the next generation to discover these incredible recordings. All four of the titles are now available to pre-order here.

Charles Mingus’ East Coasting out on January 13. A lesser-known gem in the Mingus catalog with Bill Evans on piano, it was recorded in New York City in August 1957. East Coasting also features Clarence Shaw, Jimmy Knepper, Shafi Hadi, Bill Evans, and Dannie Richmond.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers’ Hard Drive is due on January 20. A classic album from the hard bop era recorded in New York City in October 1957, the album features Bill Hardman, Johnny Griffin, Junior Mance, Sam Dockery, and Spanky DeBrest. Also due January 20 is Duke Ellington’s Duke Ellington Presents. Duke’s timeless big band sound was recorded for Bethlehem in Chicago in February 1956.

Lastly, on January 27 the all-star jazz session Winners Circle featuring the musicians who came first or second in DownBeat’s critics’ poll of 1957 is slated for release. Recorded in New York in September and October 1957, the album features John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Kenny Burrell, Art Farmer, Philly Joe Jones, and Oscar Pettiford. For this reissue, BMG has reproduced the rare 1961 alternate cover crediting the album to John Coltrane In the Winner’s Circle.

Our full review is here. —Ed.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The jazz world was shocked and profoundly saddened by the news that pianist Frank Kimbrough had passed away in December 2020 at just 64 years of age. Among the many mourning Kimbrough’s loss was producer and guitarist Matt Balitsaris, whose Palmetto Records label had released more than a half dozen albums by the pianist since the turn of the millennium. In honor of Kimbrough’s memory, Palmetto is now releasing Frank Kimbrough 2003–2006, which compiles a pair of gorgeous trio dates from a particularly fruitful period in his career.

The LP version, available January 13, 2023, follows the CD/digital which were released in August 2022. Frank Kimbrough 2003–2006 brings together 2003’s Lullabluebye, featuring longtime collaborators Ben Allison (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums); and the 2005 follow-up, Play, boasting a new trio with the then relatively unknown bassist Masa Kamaguchi alongside legendary drummer Paul Motian. The two albums are brilliant showcases for not only Kimbrough’s deft and subtle pianism, but also his witty and memorable compositions. As Maria Schneider writes in her liner notes, “Every song is a perfect gem—superb writing, beautiful motivic development, utterly captivating improvisation… It’s a joy to listen to each of these recordings made in a period of Frank’s playing and writing that I so love.”

Both have been newly mixed and remastered, allowing Balitsaris to focus the music more on the interplay within the two trios rather than the original, more piano-focused mixes. “Because of the technology I had back in 2003, I was pretty conservative with the mix,” he explains. “The basic approach to mixing a jazz piano trio record would be to approach the group like you’re sitting in the tenth row at the Village Vanguard. That didn’t show the extent of the interaction that was going on throughout every single tune. These guys are responding to each other literally beat by beat. With these new mixes, I really endeavored to bring out the detail in the rhythm section, so if you’re focused on the bass, you’re inside the bass player’s head; if you’re focused on the drums, you’re hearing it as if you’re sitting at the kit.”

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Celebrating Van Dyke Parks on his 80th birthday. —Ed.

It’s been forty-five years since Van Dyke Parks released his amazing debut LP Song Cycle, a record that was the huge first step in the career of one of the USA’s most reliably interesting cult artists. Now he’s back with Songs Cycled, and it just might be the best record Parks has released since his ’72 masterpiece Discover America.

There’s no use beating around the bush, so let me just state it up front. The first two albums from the sui generis American institution Van Dyke Parks form one of the most hallowed nooks in this writer’s entire record collection. His enthralling ’68 debut Song Cycle and its delightful follow-up from ’72 Discover America combine into an ideas-drenched, warmly eccentric combo punch, the first perhaps best (or at least, succinctly) described as Baroque Americana, the second a love-soaked Calypso tribute that also serves as a shrewd, non-didactic commentary on the country of its title.

Two perfect records, in my estimation, and they also sit securely amongst the most individualist of masterpieces. That basically means not everybody digs ‘em, but this guy sure does. I also happen to dig The Clang of the Yankee Reaper, Parks’ third album from ‘75. But while still a masterful statement, it does continue to impact these lobes as a somewhat lesser achievement than its predecessors, mainly because it’s far more grounded than his first and registers as simultaneously less ambitious and tangibly more accessible than his second.

On The Clang of the Yankee Reaper, Parks’ talent was still in total abundance, but an ear could also detect a desire to actually sell a few records; his first was critically acclaimed but stiffed, and his second was largely ignored by writers and listeners in roughly equal measure. In retrospect this shouldn’t be a surprise, for Parks’ uniqueness has never been an easy sell.

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I first caught Poppy Jean Crawford at Meows Moewzs, a revival counterculture and music shop in Pasadena, opening up for Chameleons’ frontman Mark Burgess this past summer during his intimate record store tour. Amid vintage clothing, assorted leather boots, and crates of vinyl, a petite, innocent looking young woman took a stage strewn with candles and quietly strapped her guitar across her shoulder and conjured up a mood I revere—vulnerable sensuality with just the right amount of melancholy.

In the acoustic setting, I was picking up the ethereal planes of Sharon Van Etten, although later at home, digging deeper into her catalogue, traces of PJ Harvey and psych rock rolled down like clouds visiting a mountainside, morphing my room into a dream world. I was sold.

On the cusp of turning twenty-four, I sense that Crawford is precocious beyond her years as we dive into a breakfast together at the iconic 1960s throwback Clark Street Diner in Hollywood. We cross topics on everything from our love of the movie Blonde as a feminist manifesto, Buddhist chanting, and Charles Mansion phoning her landline as a child—just the normal LA chatter.

An unconventional upbringing where creativity resides in her DNA has led Crawford to this preternatural place. It’s her mother, Casey Niccoli (director of Jane’s Addiction’s “Been Caught Stealing” and one time girlfriend of Perry Farrell), and her father, surrealist painter/musician, Shannon Crawford who’d ask her to sing background vocals on his tracks and introduced her to PJ Harvey, who have given rise to her ability to think in terms of art first.

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