Month: April 2024

Heartbreaker In Sound And Vision – ‘I PROMISE’ By RADIOHEAD

Posted on by JL

29 April 2024

Eight years ago standout album OK COMPUTER turned 20.
To celebrate the occasion, RADIOHEAD released a special anniversary
edition of their masterpiece called OKNOTOK featuring three previously
unreleased tracks recorded during the OK sessions.

One of them is the supreme ballad titled I PROMISE
(more than 25 million streams on Spotify).

A heartbreaker that sends shivers
down your spine, in sound and vision.

I won’t run away no more, I promise
Even when I get bored, I promise
Even when you lock me out, I promise
I say my prayers every night, I promise

I don’t wish that I’m strict, I promise
The tantrums and the chilling chats, I promise
Even when the ship is wrecked, I promise
Tie me to the rotten deck, I promise

I won’t run away no more, I promise
Even when I get bored, I promise
Even when the ship is wrecked, I promise
Tie me to the rotten deck, I promise

I won’t fool around no more, I promise
Even when I get bored, I promise
Even when you lock me out, I promise
I say my prayers every night, I promise
I won’t fool around no more, I promise

I won’t run away no more, I promise

Listen/watch.

Radiohead: Instagram

BEST DEBUT SINGLE OF THE MONTH – April 2024

Posted on by JL

29 April 2024

Artist: LEAH MARTEL
Who: Singer-songwriter from Ontario (Canada) who spent her formative
years hard at work training to be a prolific writer, musician, performer, actor,
dancer, activist and cycling through various superpowers via extensive
maladaptive daydreaming.

Debut single: EVERYBODY OUT

Martel: “I wrote Everybody Out at a point in my life when my social anxiety was really at its peak. The thing is, I figured it would have been its worst as a kid in elementary school getting picked on and not, embarrassingly, as a 20something just trying to attend a party of some very nice seeming people from my college program. I had already been out in the working world for a while and thought I was over it and had gained a bit more confidence and social skills but I realized I really just hadn’t been in a group of new people in a while and once that happened I may as well have been 13 again. If I said something I felt like an alien trying to pretend to have a human conversation.

The funny thing is, I really wanted to be friends with these people and there was nothing actually standing in my way except me just not knowing how to be normal in any capacity. So when I finally sat down to write out all the lyrics I wanted to really emphasize the contradictory nature of this kind of anxiety where it has you running for the hills to get away from everyone but only because you so desperately want to connect with people and care far too much about every minor interaction just hoping it will be good.”

TUTV: Social anxiety in motion, uncontrollable emotion, mind-disturbing commotion.
Martel translates all these turbulent sensitivities in a blistering power pop tune
energized by a pounding, one-note piano beat, her raging voice and the exploding
chorus. Wham bam, bloody wham bam. Showtime.

Resistance is futile, there’s only thing you want to do, is hit the street and go berserk
while screaming at the top of your lungs, everybody out, everybody get the fuck out to
loose their marbles until all demons are crushed. Absolute cry out top debut!

WATCH/LISTEN

STREAMµ


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LM: Instagram

29 April 2024- A Blue Monday With ‘PULP’

Posted on by JL

29 April 2024

Back in 1995 Sheffield‘s heroes released their magnum opus with
Different Class featuring two fabulous singles, Common People and
Disco, but also this whimsical pop song MONDAY MORNING.

“There’s nothing to do, so you just stay in bed
Oh, poor thing
Why live in the world when you can live in your head?
Mm, and you can go out late from Monday
Till Saturday turns into Sunday
And now we’re back here at Monday
So you can do it all over again”

STUDIO VERSION

LIVE

83-Year-Old RINGO STARR And Stroke NICK VALENSI Rock Out On ‘GONNA NEED SOMEONE’

Posted on by JL

New striking Strokes

28 April 2024

83-year-old legend RINGO STARR made far more solo
LPs (20 so far) than Beatles ones. And no retirement yet
for the notorious drummer.

For Record Store Day he recorded a new 4 track EP, named Crooked Boy
that came out as an exclusive vinyl. All songs were written and produced
by songstress Linda Perry and features The Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi.

The EP is now streamable on different platforms and can be bought on CD.
For its, yes, Strokes-esque track GONNA NEED SOMEONE a video was fabricated
and put online.

Starr: “I love what Linda did and I think all the songs are all great but one thing
I did ask her was to write me a rocker. And that’s ‘Gonna Need Someone’ and I
love it! Nick Valensi plays guitars on it — and on all of the EP — and he is great.”

GONNA NEED SOMEONE

EP


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Ringo: Instagram

BLONDIE Topped The US Charts With Their Disco Hit ‘HEART OF GLASS’ 45 Years Ago Today

Posted on by JL

Top singles from the past

28 April 2024

45 years ago today, on 28 April 1979, pop icons BLONDIE topped
the US Single Charts with their disco stomper HEART OF GLASS.

The song was written by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. It was #1
in multiple countries. The song featured on their outstanding
no fillers, all killers LP Parallel Lines (1978).

Here’s the original clip, almost 500 million views on YouTube.

Blondie: Instagram

KRISTIN HERSH Shone In The Darkness With Her Entrancing Solo Set In Brugge, Belgium

Posted on by JL

KRISTIN HERSH
Brugge, Belgium.
25 April 2024

Although I was sitting on the first row in the middle, just in front of Hersh‘s sheeny eyes shining in the dark, I closed my eyes for at least half of the set. It felt then as if Kristin was actually playing/singing inside my head, really. Her singular, slightly hoarse voice and her elegant and exquisite acoustic guitar play were even closer than they already were.

Solo, without any visual or electrically charged distractions on the podium, the audience was totally focused on Hersh. I’ve been to countless concerts, big and small, in my life but
I never experienced such a trance-like silence.

Hersh‘s setlist was a mix of Throwing Muses songs and solo ones, including a couple
of last year’s arresting Clear Pond Road album. Except for that magic pearl Your Ghost (feat. REM’s Michael Stipe) from her 1994 solo debut LP Hips And Makers the setlist wasn’t a ‘best of’ whatsoever. I guess her heart and soul picked the songs.

In between magnific musical moments, Hersh showed her talent for being a deadpan sit-down comedian. Her stories about a goldfish with a mustache named Freddie Mercury, about getting crazy over flies and mice in the house instead of searching for a home in nature, and about the rude songs her parents sung to her as a kid were actually hilarious and fitted in perfectly in the whole performance.

A special artist, a special night in a special town.

CLEAR POND ROAD


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Kristin Hersh: Story – Solo Albums – Instagram

PET SHOP BOYS – Synth Pop Experts Have Their 15th LP ‘NONETHELESS’ Out

Posted on by JL

28 April 2024


Album artwork

After 4 decades, British synth-pop experts THE PET SHOP BOYS,
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe still transfer their fans to a Utopian
place where you can dance and dream carelessly.

Their 15th LP, titled NONETHELESS is out now.

Clash Magazine (London): “Taken as a whole, this is an utterly brilliant,
dependably polished listen, and one that is unquestionably up there with
the best moments in this duo’s storied career.” Full review here: here.

TUTV: I’m not as enthusiastic as most of the critics are on this one. Yes, PSB
still are starry-eyed synth-pop experts and know all it takes to write titillating
tunes, upbeat as well as downbeat.

But after more than 40 years and 15 LPs, you can’t surprise anymore like you
used to do when you operate in this musical genre. Mind you they still shine
brightly but the déja vu and déjà entendu feel is unavoidable.

Then again, Tennant‘s stories are always compelling and drawn from life experiences as well as from daydreaming. Songs about Oscar Wilde, homophobic thugs, useless tyrants, fighting loneliness and isolation by dancing on and on aren’t your average pop content. And Tennant silky voice still is an important key to the duo’s satiny sound. PSB fans are aurally pleased once again, no doubt about that. Key tracks: Nonetheless, Why Am I Dancing?, New London Boy, and The Schlager Hit Parade.

Singles/clips: Nonetheless / Dancing Star

– NONETHELESS –

– DANCING STAR –

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ALBUM


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PSB: Instagram – Facebook

CHRIS STAPLETON Covers TOM PETTY’s Badass Cracker ‘I SHOULD HAVE KNOW IT’ With His Own Badass Version

Posted on by JL

27 April 2024

A TOM PETTY tribute album PETTY COUNTRY: A COUNTRY MUSIC CELEBRATION
will be released on June 21. More info here .

It’ll feature 20 covers by a star-studded cast of country artists such as George Strait, Steve Earle, Willie and Lukas Nelson, Marty Stuart, Luke Combs, Wynonna Judd, and Carly Pearce.

We already enjoyed Dolly Parton‘s take on Petty‘s
1984 romantic ballad Southern Accents.

And here comes emotive singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton with a badass blues-rock rendition of the late legend’s badass ripper I Should Have Know It from his 2010 album Mojo.


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Tom Petty: Story – All Albums