Month: May 2018

LO FIDELITY ALLSTARS Released Underated Big Beats Debut ‘HOW TO OPERATE WITH A BLOWN MIND’ Twenty Years Ago…

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Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

25 May 2018

Band: LO FIDELITY ALLSTARS (Brighton, UK)

Album: How To Operate With A Blown Mind

Released: 25 May 1998 – 20 years ago

ALL MUSIC wrote: “With an effortless grace unmatched by even their Skint labelmates,
‘Lo Fidelity Allstars’ segue between acid house, hip-hop, punk, soul, and disco on their debut album, ‘How to Operate With a Blown Mind’. Previous high-energy singles like “Vision Incision” and “Kool Roc Bass” are included, along with new tracks like the surprising Hi-NRG/electro-fusion on “Lazer Sheep Dip Funk” and early-’80s funk reminiscent of Prince or Jamiroquai on “Battle Flag” (with Pigeonhed). On occasion, however, the Allstars’ attempt at a varied sound backfires. “I Used to Fall in Love” and “Vision Incision” are harshly distorted urban ballads
with sub-Liam Gallagher winging in place of vocals.” Score 4/5

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: Underrated album. A striking fusion of big beats, electro firework and punk ‘n’ roll attitude. Charismatic frontman, called ‘Wrekked Train‘ abandoned afterward and with him the band’s edgy spirit left the building. Fortunately, I saw them play live once (in Brussels, 1998) with him still on board and it was top!…

TOP TRACKS: Battleflag (feat. Pigeonhed) / Vision Incision / Kool Roc Bass

* BATTLEFLAG (feat. Pigeonhed) – 24 Karat masterstroke…

* VISION INCISION – psychedelic twist…

* KOOL ROC BASS – electronic sci-fi trip…

Album in full…

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LO FIDELITY ALLSTARS: Biography – Discography

WOODEN SHJIPS – Here’s Clip For Frolicsome Track ‘ALREADY GONE’ From New Album ‘V’ – Out Tomorrow …

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Fresh sonic impulses for your senses’ satisfaction…

San Francisco‘s psychedelic outfit WOODEN SHJIPS, fronted by Ripley Johnson will
launch tomorrow – 25 May – their first album in five years, titled ‘V‘. According to Stereogum “a gorgeous, inviting, blissed-out record, way more relaxed and unashamedly
pretty than many of the band’s past records“. But first, today, the clip for one of the new playful tracks. ALREADY GONE is a feel-good musing moving smoothly in slo-mo. Sunlit, charming and affecting. Here’s the video, directed by Ripley Johnson and his Moon Duo bandmate Sanae Yamada…

WOODEN SHJIPS: Website – Facebook


V – out 25 May – info and order facilities here

TRICKY Released His Third Solo Album ‘ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES’ 20 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

24 May 2018

Artist: TRICKY

Album: ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES – third solo LP

Released: 25 May 1998 – 20 years ago

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY wrote: “It’s Tricky’s best album since his 1995 debut Maxinquaye. An alluring sonic blur. More adventurous, rhythmically and musically, than its predecessors.”

TURN UP THE VOLUME says: “With Tricky it’s like there’s always some darksome
danger around the corner. He always challenges, he always explores and he always
finds unknown sonic area’s…”

TOP TRACKS: Broken Homes / Record Companies

* BROKEN HOMES – ominous and wayward…

* RECORD COMPANIES – “Why the fuck do they keep making those guns?” – they still do!…

Album in full…

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TRICKY: Website – Facebook – Discography

Noise-Machine SMOCK Will Mess Up Your Brains With New Smack ‘WEIRD ONE’…

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Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

24 May 2018

Band: SMOCK (New Jersey, US)

Who: “Sniffling indie kids producing psychedelia
for the deranged and cast out.”

Track: WEIRD ONE – first smoking cut from upcoming
debut EP ‘Interstellar Nobody’ on 8 June

Score: These four far-out desperados claim to make psychedelia for the deranged
and cast out. Suppose you’re rather a sane and stable personality, just have a listen
to this ear-splitting, off-the-wall blast and you’ll end up in a straitjacket too. ‘Weird One‘
is a nasty noise beast fueled by amplified layers of insane guitar eccentricity and crashing drums. Speedy, raging and aiming for your poor brain. Fasten your seatbelts, here’s the crushing sledgehammer…

SMOCK: Facebook – Bandcamp

Three Outstanding Songs To Celebrate Living Legend BOB DYLAN’s 77 Birthday

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24 May 2018

Happy 77 to genial singer/songwriter/storyteller/poet/performer/painter and Nobel prize winner (middle finger to all who taught he didn’t deserve it) BOB DYLAN. He was born as Robert Allen Zimmerman on 24 May 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, U.S. A genuine legend, one of my all time favorite artists. Three outstanding songs to celebrate the icon’s birthday.

* BABY LET ME FOLLOW YOU DOWN ( with The Band / ‘The Last Waltz’ concert 1976)

* SERIES OF DREAMS (On the “Bootleg Series, Vol 1-3: Rare & Unreleased 1961-1991”)

A brilliant video clip, but I have still no idea what this song is about, but I’m hooked on it…

* NOT DARK YET

“I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from”
Goosebumps song about getting older, the Dylan way…

BOB DYLAN: Website – Facebook – All Albums 

Bob Dylan may you stay forever young shirt

(photo on top: Freewheelin’ LP)


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THE BREEDERS – Old And New Stuff On BBC TV Show ‘Later… with Jools Holland’…

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Last night – 22 May – THE BREEDERS featuring the cool Deal sisters appeared and played live on BBC TWO‘s long-running show ‘Later… with Jools Holland’. The band released, last March, their first album in 10 years called ALL NERVE. They performed two songs: WAIT IN THE CAR, the lead single from the new LP and also their steamy 1993 classic CANNONBALL from their best known and most succesful LAST SPLASH longplayer.
Enjoy the ardent crackers right here…

*CANNONBALL

* WAIT IN THE CAR

ALL NERVE in full here…

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THE BREEDERS: Tour Dates – Website – Facebook

Gaze Pop Duo TANGIENTS With Life-Affirming Debut Single ‘WHITE FOAM’…

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Daily fuel to load your sonic batteries…

23 May 2018

Band: TANGIENTS (Los Angeles, CA, US)

Who: “A post-punk, ambient ‘gaze-pop’ duo based in Los Angeles. Chelsea Ray’s intense, yet dream-like vocals can pierce as well as float over Be Hussey’s thick wall of sonics, resulting in
a noisy, aggressive, yet ethereal sound.”

Track: WHITE FOAM
Debut single inspired by singer Chelsea Ray‘s near-death experience. She explains: “In
2012, I underwent something traumatic that forever changed me. My heart stopped and
I was shocked back to life. The sparse, yet intense memories I have from this moment gave
me a completely different perspective. After ‘coming back,’ I felt that I was only a fragment
of the person I was before. Here I am a few years later, writing lyrics about it, and I feel lucky just to be here.”

Score: What a debut. ‘White Foam‘ rushes both nervously and excitingly, pushed by
jittery electronics, twitchy percussion and flashy guitar lines while singer Chelsea Ray’s wailing vox floats mysteriously over the magnetic orchestration. Her mystifying voice
has that haunting Bjôrk timbre which reinforces the supernatural tone of this profound song. Pretty special and compelling. Capture the spooky journey, strikingly translated to
an eye-catching video, right here…

TANGIENTS: Website – Facebook – Instagram

PIXIES – ‘Where Is My Mind? – LONDON – 1988…

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Smashing live performances of smashing knockout songs…

‘Where Is My Mind?’
PIXIES
Town and Country Club
London – 1988

One of the best & most influential bands ever. I saw them two years later, in 1990, for the
first time. Seeing 2500 people losing their minds was quite impressive, so was Kim Deal…

PIXIES: Website – Facebook – Discography

KRISTIN HERSH Reveals New Turbulent Track ‘LAX’ From Upcoming Solo Album…

Posted on by JL

On 5 October KRISTIN HERSH, fab singer/songwriter and ex-frontwoman of guitar
pop legends Throwing Muses will release her new solo album Possible Dust Clouds
Ahead of it she just launched a first track, titled LAX. Wow! It seems like Hersh has
no intention to slow down. Here’s an electrifying groove that will grab your ears’
attention instantly. Burning swagger, flamboyant flow and feverish duet-harmonies.
A most vibrant score! Double wow! Absorb the turbulent firecracker right here…

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KRISTIN HERSH: Website – Facebook – Twitter

Kristin

Sixties Legends THE SMALL FACES Released Their Highly Influential Psychedelic Album ‘ODGEN’S NUT GONE FLAKE’ 50 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

22 May 2018

Band: THE SMALL FACES

Album: ODGEN’S NUT GONE FLAKE – the band’s third LP

Released: 24 May 1968 – 50 years ago

Note: “The title and the design of the distinctive packaging was a parody of Ogden’s Nut-brown Flake, a brand of tobacco that was produced in Liverpool from 1899 onwards by Thomas Ogden.”

THE GUARDIAN said: ” ‘Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake’ caused both delight and confusion with
its simultaneous celebration of a Technicolor flanged trip and old-fashioned knees-up, folk balladry and proto-heavy metal. It influenced Paul Weller, Ocean Colour Scene and Blur, spawned prog-rock, hard rock, heavy metal and punk rock. By then, ‘Happiness Stan’ had
been unmasked as a lunatic and his creators were well and truly gone. – Full review here.

TURN UP THE VOLUME‘s favorite tracks: Lazy Sunday / Happiness Stan

* LAZY SUNDAY

* HAPPINESS STAN

Album in full…
(#1 – #12)

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THE SMALL FACES: Website – Facebook – Remasters