MICHAEL STIPE (aged 66), the riveting frontman of R.E.M. (1989-2011), one of the most significant and successful American bands ever, has talked a lot about his debut solo LP lately.
He unveiled a new song that’ll be part of the full-length. It’s named The Rest Of Ever,
a groovy and puissant R.E.M.-esque love musing, performed with the show’s house band. He also confirmed that his solo debut is still on the way and will arrive at the end of the year.
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.
As it goes with these sorts of albums, some are good, but most of them are dud. But
here on this tribute of an (almost) uncoverable band several interpretations actually
sound damn fine. Like Sharon Van Etten turning into a ‘Femme Fatale‘, Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney trashing ‘European Son’, Kurt Vile running, and The National‘s maestro Matt Berninger with ‘I’m Waiting For The Man‘.
My favorite: Michael Stipe doing the LP’s opening
track, the Reed/Cale classic Sunday Morning.
Sunday morning and I’m falling
I’ve got a feeling I don’t want to know
Early dawning, Sunday morning
It’s all the streets you crossed, not so long ago
C’mon, Michael…
The full tribute…
.
(photo Stipe: cover of his single ‘Your Caprious Soul’)
‘Queen Of Swords’ by TYPHOID ROSIE (Brooklyn, New York)
Rousing Riot grrrl Rosie Rebel and her riff-racing rascals go full steam ahead on
the tense title track of their smoking new album. If you want to know more about this lively gang check the recent interview Rosie Rebel did with Turn Up The Volume right here.
With this new standout, ILA reveals a total turnover in resonance. She rocks, raves, and rolls backed by steamy wall-of-towering turbulence. Mind you, the heartfelt fervency, personal turmoil and vocal vehemence are still intact. Can’t wait to find out if this is actually another page in her magical music book.
A highlight of Participation Mystique, the fourth longplayer by this most thrilling duo with Laura Mariposa Williams‘ bewitching voice as the heroine. Her psychedelic, gothic,
far-out, and at times wailing timbre magnetizes and hypnotizes while wandering in an orchestral space. Learn more about these intriguing artists in their recent interview
with Turn Up The Volume.
This Belgian quartet brings Scottish daydreamers Teenage Fanclub to mind. Combine this with the band’s slacker rock sensibility and jingle-jangle jives and what you get is a tingling tune. It’s called pop-ular music.
The alter ego of Texan prize-winning poet and guitarist Harold Whit Williams.
This is a sickly sticky dope tune, one that makes me smile from left to right
and back. One shot of this, and you’ll jump around the room like a kangaroo
on speed.
This has everything a perky pop pearl needs. Play it in the morning, in the evening and every hour in between and at the end of the day you feel so much better and most of all it’s a truly helpful way to process a breakup. So much cheaper than therapy.
Regrets floats on layers of shoegaze guitars and fervid vocals while growing to an engrossing level of electrifying epicness when the glowing chorus kicks in. Trust me,
a couple of spins and you’re addicted. Fact!
The fever of The Verve‘s urban hymns, the sassy swagger of Oasis in slo-mo
with 60s organs and the fervent flair of 90s Britpop. The final result is obvious.
A bittersweet blistering symphony. Touchdown!
The darkwave tandem is on depeche modus with this shadow-dancing single from their brand new, second EP Body Electric. Expect booming beats, doomed drones, eerie vocals, and a repetitive bass synth riff that sticks as first-rate glue. A club cracker!
Put your black leather jacket on and shake your booty…
This riveting ripper starts with a mid-tempo drum-driven intro, gliding quickly into
a swing and sway your hips chorus, followed by a moment of reflection. The whole
process repeats itself and gets slowly but surely under your skin. You’ll love every
second of this electro roller coaster.
‘I Miss It’ by JODIE LANGFORD(Hull / East Yorkshire, UK)
This young, outspoken, and observative artist – a female Mike Skinner – reflects the dreadful freedom-restricting sentiments of the past lockdown times in her new word rap waterfall jam. An intoxicating and groovetastic house stomper making you euphoric now that you can freak out again in nightclubs.
“It’s Fine” examines themes of jealousy and insecurity in open relationships.”
Not an easy issue to write a song about, but embedded in an ebullient earworm like
this, it’s fine. Impossible to resist this tremendously infectious corker spinning around like forever inviting you to pirouette yourself dizzy while duet vocals push the pace. No pause, no breathing space, no interval, always straight on.
Sonically this surreal saga wouldn’t be out of place on a Gary Numan album. Lyrically it’s like an ode to the unknown eternity. In my imagination Wytch Lych resonates like a funeral hymn, celebrating the imperishability of the soul. Stunning vocals, striking synth shadows, and an overall spellbinding impressiveness. Top stuff!
When I listened to this new little pearl on Spotify for the first time, it was followed
by the title track of the upcoming LP of The War On Drugs. I swear I thought that
it was another Lossline song. It was that melancholic guitar glow that confused
my ears. It wasn’t until Adam Granduciel‘s voice came up that I knew it wasn’t
the Manchester duo.
‘Lights In The Expanse Of The Sky’ by DREW FIVE (London)
Close your eyes, relax and imagine you’re floating into space where Spiritualized‘s mastermind Jason Pierce lives while playing this hallucinatory ambient trip on your headphones.
French songstress Héloïse Adélaïde Letissier returns with two new songs,
with this one as my favorite. A slow-burning and emotive humdinger with
a gospel-like choir.
Ex-R.E.M. frontman MICHAEL STIPE is gearing up to release his solo debut LP. So far
he shared two sensitive songs, Capricious Souland Drive To The Ocean.
And here’s another new one featuring BIG RED MACHINE, with The National’s Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Jusin Vernon. NO TIME FOR LOVE LIKE NOW is a melancholic reverie bringing R.E.M. moodiest moments to mind like the brilliant ‘Everybody Hurts‘.
