In addition to the Record Store Day(s) (29 August, 26 September, 24 October) Fire Records releases a Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition of The Lemonheads
album LOVEY on 23rd October. Pre-order facilities here.
A 2xLP/CD Deluxe Book with expanded liner notes and unseen photos – this is
the definitive document of Evan Dando’s first steps towards the mainstream.
Content in detail…
▪ Remastered 30th Anniversary Edition Double LP & Bookback CD
▪ Both Formats In Perfectly Bound Books Includes Liner Notes
& Exclusive Unseen Photographs
▪ Includes a Legendary 8 Track 1991 session for Triple J.
Available for the first time and re-mixed and re-mastered
from the original tapes
▪ ‘Lovey’ includes the classic cover of Gram Parsons
‘Brass Buttons’
and fan favourites ‘Half The Time’ and ‘Stove’
▪ ‘Live At The Wireless’ includes a cover of Big Star’s ‘Nighttime’
Watch EVAN DANDO and THE LEMONHEADS playing a rousing version of one of their best songs ever ‘IT’S A SHAME ABOUT RAY’ on the American TV show ‘Late Night With David Letterman‘ back in 1992. The title track of their highly acclaimed fifth album with
a captivating mix of jangle pop, blistering mixed emotions melodies, and romantic reveries.
Almost ten years ago EVAN DANDO‘s THE LEMONHEADS released Varshons, their
9th longplayer. An album of covers from artists such as GG Allin, Wire, Leonard Cohen,
and Linda Perry, and with also guest performances from Liv Tyler, model Kate Moss and
guitarist John Perry of post-punk legends The Only Ones.
On 8 February 2019 the follow-up VARSHONS II will be out with versions of songs by famous names such as the Eagles, Lucinda Williams, Florida Georgia Line, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and an earlier revealed Yo La Tengo beauty. Also on the LP will this electrifying rendition of OLD MAN BLANK from British cult rockers The Bevis Frond (1985-present). Check it out right here…
Tracklist: Can’t Forget (Yo La Tengo) / Settled Down Like Rain (Jayhawks) / Old Man Blank (The Bevis Frond) / Things (Paul Westerberg) / Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness (John Prine) / Abandoned (Lucinda Williams) / Now And Then (Natural Child) / Magnet (NRBQ) / Round Here (Florida Georgia Line) / TAQN (The Eyes) / Unfamiliar (The GiveGoods) / Straight To You (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) / Take It Easy (The Eagles)
Almost ten years ago THE LEMONHEADS released their 9th studio album entitled Varshons. A record of covers from artists such as GG Allin, Wire, Leonard Cohen, and Linda Perry with guest performances from actress and Aerosmith frontman’s daughter Liv Tyler and model Kate Moss and guitarist John Perry of legends The Only Ones playing
on five tracks.
On 8 February 2019 the follow-up covers LP VARSHONS II will be launched with versions by Dando and his band of songs by big names such as the Eagles, Lucinda Williams, Florida Georgia Line, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and one beauty from New Jersey veterans Yo La Tengo. Here’s the charming and tender CAN’T FORGET…
Tracklist: Can’t Forget (Yo La Tengo) / Settled Down Like Rain (Jayhawks) / Old Man Blank (The Bevis Frond) / Things (Paul Westerberg) / Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness (John Prine) / Abandoned (Lucinda Williams) / Now And Then (Natural Child) / Magnet (NRBQ) / Round Here (Florida Georgia Line) / TAQN (The Eyes) / Unfamiliar (The GiveGoods) / Straight To You (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) / Take It Easy (The Eagles)
Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…
11 October 2018
Band: THE LEMONHEADS
Album: COME ON FEEL THE LEMONHEADS – sixth longplayer
Released: 12 October 1993 – 25 years ago
ALL MUSIC wrote: “In many ways, it’s the most interesting record that the Lemonheads have released because it finds Dando confused about everything, particularly love, both for girls and drugs, and his burgeoning fame. There are moments of self-indulgence, whether it’s the aimless piano instrumental “The Jello Fund” or two versions of the drug-obsessed “Style,” yet they are as essential to the album’s desperate tone as the heartbreaking acoustic ballad of “Favorite T.” Between those two extremes is some of the finest power pop and country-rock Dando has ever written…” – Full review here – Score: 4/5
TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: Evan Dando‘s songwriting talent was much bigger than his looks. A thing the popular press only valued fully after they consumed the man’s personal persona first. Dando was a musical master in wrapping his troubled-mind-reflections into highly sticky and melodic pop, country & blues earworms. Magnificent album!
TOP TRACKS: Into Your Arms / It’s About Time / Style / Big Gay Heart
* INTO YOUR ARMS – affecting romanticism, jangly beauty
* IT’S ABOUT TIME – “It’s about time / Lick my lips / And I won’t hear the end of this”
Band: MONOSCOPES Who: Italian act started by Paolo Mioni, former member of Jennifer Gentle,
spearhead of the Italian psych scene. They released their debut album Painkillers And Wine last year.
Press info: A sequence of tracks that touch on complex themes such as the unbearability of pain (Today Today), the helplessness one feels when faced with a god who sends a flood to destroy the world (The Maker), the feeling of regretting the past (The Green Bed), love as an obsession (You’re Gonna Be Mine). In between there are also glimpses of optimism, such as Hey Atlas, which invites the listener (or the singer?) not to carry all the weight of the world on our shoulders like the titular character, or the jazzy This Silly Night, in which a relationship becomes the only way to escape the ugliness of the outside world.
The album moves from the psychedelic rock with pop overtones of The Electric Muse to the noise ride of You’re Gonna Be Mine, from the nocturnal atmospheres of A Quiet Life to the Velvet Underground-influenced garage pop of It’s A Shame About You. In between there are noise, melody, harmonic and rhythmic experimentation (above all the alternating odd and even times in The Green Bed), and a resurgence of the middle eight, so dear to The Beatles, as an important element of the song form. In Endcyclopedia one hears echoes of the noisy spirituals of Spiritualized, of the more apocalyptic side of PJ Harvey, of the power pop of Big Star, but also of R.E.M. and the melodic quest of the unforgettable LA’s.”
TUTV: What can I add to this accurately detailed press release? I’ll add this. Monoscopes made an ideal record for the midnight hours, for the moments you want to escape from our daily rat race and lose yourself in your thoughts of choice.
Heavy-hearted lullaby pearls such as ‘The Electric Muse (I Wanna Know Why?)’, Hey Atlas and The Things You Want To Hide should be hits in a normal world. Imagine the moody musings of Evan Dando (The Lemonheads) interwoven with the shadowy electricity of NYC’s celebs Interpol.
And when they turn up the temperature and the amps, now and then, like on top-tier tracks ‘It’s A Shame About You’ and ‘Quite Life‘ you feel the mixed emotions coming through your speakers making their way to your heart and to your soul. In my world, this is a grand 2024 album. It should be in yours too.
In order to not miss a beat Turn Up The Volume scans the musical
horizon daily (doing it for years now, actually) to stay in touch with
all new things sonically great and shares the results on a weekly
basis.
Check the 10 new rad cuts just
added to this rad 2024 playlist.
Who: Italian act started by Paolo Mioni, former member of Jennifer Gentle,
spearhead of the Italian psych scene. They released their debut album Painkillers And Wine last year.
“It’s about an antidote to anxiety. Sometimes the complexity of life leads us to feel all
of the weight of the world on our shoulders, like the mythological character that gives
the song its title. But you can drop that weight, or you can at least try.”
Monoscopes draw you into their psychedelic world where surrender and hope are the only options to handle life. Hey Atlas sends shivers down your spine. It’s both a melancholic and harrowing jam bringing the mellow moments of Interpol to mind. It touches and moves heart and soul. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. That comforting given should inspire all of us who are confused and fidgety these days.
New single: PEACE SIGN
Their 7th LP, named Interplay, their first since 2019,
is set to be released on March 29.
Potent drums/bass determine the upbeat pace and whirling vibe of the track all the way. Peace Sign is a sickly sticky pop earworm with an orgasmic chorus. Welcome back.
A breakup song that searches for hope in separation. The song narrates the difficult journey
of deciding to end a relationship, from the initial realization to the actual conversation.”
This heart-rending, glowing pop piece confirms once again the cathartic power of music.
It’s a story of relationship problems embedded in a titillating tune. Enchanting.
Who: Noir Deux Peace, Jon Othello and Elle Flores,
from the Scilly Isles, England
The duo is inspired by Mary Shelley, Whitby Abbey, Pipe Organs, Flowers, Polka Dot Cats,
Dark Punk, Gothic Novels and Rock n Roll Autobiographies, Castles, Abstract Painting,
Euphoria, Mist, Autumn, Halloween, Optical Illusions, Edgar Allan Poe and Andy Warhol.
Expect a darkwavish, drum/bass carried meditation with glinstening Curesque guitar
play and Television echoes, and the gloomy vocals creating a chilling atmosphere.
Magnetic stuff. I’m Sparking Cyanide is an intoxicating psych feat.
“The song is a case in point, a would-be moving ballad if it were stripped of its dancey drum-plus-drum machine beat. It’s pre-chorus reminiscent of a 90s sitcom opening tune
or romcom closing credits song (in the best possible way), with the chorus’ bright synth chords and electric guitar notes giving a summer vibe, albeit a slightly poignant one, with Kim’s lyrics a confession to longing to be wanted in someone’s life.”
This bouncy and breey, uplifting pop piece transfers your thoughts to a utopian world where love, peace and friendship rule. Kim Janssen‘s longing and crystalline vocals have a mesmeric impact. This kind of wishing well tunes are always welcome on my headphones in these times of intolerance, war and bigotry.
Who: A coven of humanoid meat sacks forged in the Vats of Creation by Dr. Gorp. Their mission: to Rock. However, they are also permitted to Roll. Human terminology might define them as a “band,” however they would be more accurately described as Biological Property of M’Graskorp Unlimited Enterprises and Subsidiaries of the GlanGlan Group. I have no clue what this all means.
“An amorous and trippy song that pays homage to the twin pillars of human joy: a kiss,
the sweet interlocking of souls, and the goij, the herb that unravels the mind’s knotty woes. Imagine the harmonic convergence of lips meeting ‘twixt loving gazes and the effervescent dance of goij smoke waltzing through the air. Its intoxicating groove offers a kaleidoscopic sound, accompanied by a phantasmagoria of color and love.”
Freak Le Chic disco dynamics, Bee Gees like vocals and Saturday Nigh Fever vibrations combine for a get high experience. Effervescent tune that triggers your best dance moves.
Who: An artist whose melodious tales paint vivid landscapes of raw emotions and unconventional perspectives. She weaves a mesmerizing tapestry of sound, drawing listeners into her realm of introspection and self-discovery.
“White Glove” is an invitation to set aside the rational world and enter a space where emotions are raw and unfiltered, offering a rare opportunity to engage with music on a profoundly personal level and allowing it to become a part of your own emotional and sensory tapestry.”
The heroine of this rapturous ballad is Noanne‘s stirring voice that draws your aural attention all the way through. White Glove is a bittersweet symphony colored with subtle piano touches, soothing strings and some spooky backing vocals. Grand composition.
TUTV: Another striking stroke from this Belgian up-and-coming songsmith.
Back In December is a jangly power pop ripper. Playing around somewhere
between the electrifying muse of Evan Dando & The Lemonheads and the
melancholic slacker resonance of J Mascis.
Also the early days of Scottish harmony experts Teenage Fanclub are floating
in there. Souvagie‘s vivid voice is spot-on. Captivating and soul-stirring. After being
back in December, Beech will be back in February with a brand-new EP (including
this track) and a new band to hit the road. Stay tuned.
