Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 1167
July 20, 2020
PAUL McCARTNEY BEAUTIFUL NIGHT EP RELEASED TODAY
PAUL McCARTNEY
BEAUTIFUL NIGHT EP RELEASED TODAY
LISTEN HERE
NEWLY REMASTERED ‘BEAUTIFUL NIGHT’ MUSIC VIDEO
WATCH HERE
SET TO FEATURE ON THE FLAMING PIE ARCHIVE COLLECTION
LIMITED NUMBERED DELUXE EDITIONS TO INCLUDE REMASTERED ORIGINAL ALBUM, BONUS TRACKS, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED MATERIAL, EXCLUSIVE BOOKS, PHOTOS, ARTWORK, & MUCH MORE
TO BE RELEASED JULY 31 VIA MPL/CAPITOL/UMe
Paul McCartney today releases the ‘Beautiful Night’ EP as part of the forthcoming re-release of his acclaimed 1997 album, ‘Flaming Pie’. Due for release on July 31st, ‘Flaming Pie’ marks the thirteenth installment in Paul’s GRAMMY Award-winning Archive Collection.
The EP recreates the original 1997 ‘Beautiful Night’ maxi single, featuring the remastered Flaming Pie single, ‘Beautiful Night’, a 1995 demo of the song, an alternate ‘Run Through’ recording, and ‘Oobu Joobu Part 5’ – a medley of Beautiful Night-themed chat, alternate mixes and interview recordings of Paul and Ringo Starr speaking about the song.A newly remastered music video for Beautiful Night, originally filmed in 1997, is also released today. Watch HERE.
Beautiful Night marks one of the first collaborations between Paul and Ringo Starr since The Beatles. Speaking of his memories of that time, Paul said:
“I’d been saying to Ringo for years that it’d be great to do something, because we’d never really done that much work together outside The Beatles. One night Jeff Lynne suggested, “why don’t you get Ringo in?” and I said, “OK!” It just sort of happened.
I had this song Beautiful Night which I’d written quite a few years ago. I’d always liked it but I felt I didn’t quite have the right version of it.
So I got this song out for when Ringo was coming in, and right away it was just like the old days.”
Originally released May 5, 1997, Flaming Pie ended a four-year gap between McCartney studio albums. Recorded largely in the wake of Paul’s involvement in the curation and release of The Beatles Anthology series, Flaming Pie was shaped and inspired by that experience, with Paul remarking at the time “(The Beatles Anthology) reminded me of The Beatles’ standards and the standards that we reached with the songs. So in a way it was a refresher course that set the framework for this album.”
Produced by Paul, Jeff Lynne and George Martin and featuring a supporting cast of family and friends including Ringo Starr, Steve Miller, Linda McCartney and son James, Flaming Pie is equal parts a masterclass in songcraft and a sustained burst of joyful spontaneity. With highlights ranging from the uplifting and inspirational opener ‘The Song We Were Singing’ to the raucous title track (named for a quote from an early John Lennon interview on the origin of The Beatles’ name: “It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, ‘from this day on you are Beatles with an A.’”) to the pensive ‘Calico Skies,’ and featuring singles ‘Young Boy,’ ‘The World Tonight’ and ‘Beautiful Night,’ Flaming Pie would represent yet another pinnacle in Paul’s solo catalogue: Released to rapturous reviews, the album would be Paul’s most commercially successful release of the ‘90s, achieving his highest chart positions since the ‘80s and would receive gold certifications in the US, UK, Japan and more.
Paul’s critically acclaimed and universally beloved tenth solo album Flaming Pie will be the latest to receive the Archive Collection treatment, released on formats including a 5CD/2DVD/4LP Collector’s Edition, a 5CD/2DVD Deluxe Edition, plus 3LP, 2LP and 2CD editions. Pre-orders are available HERE.
‘Beautiful Night’ EP Tracklisting
1. And Now (Jingle)
2. Oobu Joobu Main Theme
3. Beautiful Night Chat
4. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr Chat About ‘Beautiful Night’
5. Ringo Starr Chat
6. Beautiful Night (Flaming Pie Mix)
7. Beautiful Night (Original Version)
8. Goodbyes
9. Oobu Joobu Main Theme
Matthew Shipp Continues 60th Birthday Celebration with New Trio Album with Bassist Michael Bisio & Drummer Newman Taylor Baker
Matthew Shipp Continues 60th Birthday Celebration with New Trio Album with Bassist Michael Bisio & Drummer Newman Taylor Baker
New recording builds on momentum of his recent solo record, The Piano Equation, which received universal critical acclaim from NY Times, New Yorker, The WIRE, New York Review of Books, PopMatters & More
The Unidentifiable is out September 18th via ESP-Disk'
Left to right: Newman Taylor Barker, Matthew Shipp, Michael Bisio
Photo: Anna Yatskevich
Down Beat calls Matthew Shipp “an elder statesman on the free-jazz scene.” Perhaps it is odd in a way to think of someone so energetic and prolific as an “elder,” or so outspoken as “statesman,” yet Downbeat is right. Shipp turns 60 this December. When he speaks, people listen (the old E.F. Hutton commercials come to mind). Expanding further on this thought, AllAboutJazz.com says, "How that happened can be boiled down to two simple elements. One: he has created a unique sound and language for improvised music and two: Shipp has become a doyen of cutting edge music making and opinion."
With Andrew Hill, Mal Waldron, Cecil Taylor, Horace Tapscott, Randy Weston, and McCoy Tyner now gone, who are the elder jazz piano giants now living? Ahmad Jamal, Martial Solal, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, George Cables, Richie Beirach, Dave Burrell, Cooper-Moore, and come to mind among those still active. Jamal, Hancock, Corea and Cables are all "mainstream" for lack of a better word; Beirach more mainstream that he once was; Burrell and Cooper-Moore still mighty forces though not nearly as prolific in terms of recordings. All are older than Shipp, so he stands almost alone in his generation for his stylistic range and dedication to pushing forward the work of his forebears (aside from a few notable peers such as Myra Melford, Marilyn Crispell, Sylvie Courvoisier, Uri Caine, and Anthony Coleman). To look at it from a slightly different angle than Downbeat did, Shipp has established himself as the premier avant-garde jazz pianist of his generation.
As AllAboutJazz.com put it, “I like to think about Matthew Shipp’s music in the same light as that of Eric Dolphy and Charlie Parker. What I am getting at is there are giants that live amongst us. Let's not wait 40 years after they are gone to appreciate their talent. Shipp, like Thelonious Monk, has created a musical vocabulary and language that is idiosyncratic and incomparable in today's improvised jazz.”
Not that Shipp is willing to be put in a stylistic box. And nowhere is that more apparent than in his trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. The Denver Post points out, “Even though Matthew Shipp has released dozens of albums under his own name in the past quarter century, they’re engaging every time out — and my personal favorite are his trios.”
Starting in the bebop era, the piano-bass-drums lineup has been the most important proving ground in which the piano is featured, accumulating the weight of history and critical expectations. In this setting, a non-mainstream player such as Shipp can infiltrate Newport Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and other establishment bastions in a familiar format and then unleash his ideas on audiences that might not normally be exposed to his style.
Thanks to hearing it in the communal language of the piano trio, they can better understand the message the Matthew Shipp Trio has to deliver – “Mr. Shipp’s predilection for finding fertile ground between accessibility and abstraction,” wrote Larry Blumenfeld in The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Shipp says, "The piano trio is such a basic configuration in jazz, and it is an honor to take a well-explored area and apply my imagination to it to see where we can go—it helps that my trio mates are great. My trio is a major part of my universe and creative life. Trio and solo make me who I am, which is why it feels so complete to have albums that show both parts of me this year. My trio brings in Mr. Bisio and Mr. Baker, two distinct and strong individuals who have a wealth of experience and joy in music-making. This is the fourth album with this particular trio. It feels to me that there has been a straight evolution in the sound of the trio – in scope and in depth. I hope that comes across."
Shipp, Bisio, and Baker convened at Shipp's favorite recording studio last year, looking to pursue a new direction. The result is both distinctively Shippian yet a further evolution of the group’s sound.
Inara George chats with PopMatters, which calls “The Youth of Angst,” a “brand of songwriting that elevated Cole Porter
Stream The Bird and The Bee vocalist’s new bundle – “Sex In Cars,” “1973,” plus KCRW “Todays Top Tune” sibling tribute “Brother” – at FLOOD Magazine.
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“Inara George is unafraid to explore life’s more difficult and tender moments,” says PopMatters in its recent interview. “Discussion of her latest music, ‘The Youth of Angst,’ leads to stories of working with Van Dyke Parks and getting David Lee Roth’s musical approval. It’s exemplary of George’s musical diversity and unique brand of songwriting. Though the music is decidedly contemporary, one can find various strands of the American songwriting tradition throughout, whether blues, radio pop or the brand of songwriting that elevated Cole Porter to a pillar of the form.”FLOOD Magazine’s premiere coverage of “The Youth of Angst” states, “With ‘Brother’ already out in the world, she’s previewing that track’s two complementary numbers: the preceding ‘1973’ and succeeding ‘Sex in Cars.’ They match the sweet poppiness of their predecessor, and nicely complementing the work George has accomplished thus far as a solo artist and among the many other projects she’s been involved with.”
“Brother” also had the distinction of being named “Today’s Top Tune” by internationally recognized Los Angeles based community radio station KCRW, which says, “The Bird and The Bee’s Inara George and producer Wendy Wang have sporadically snuck away during the last few years to work on a handful of songs. ‘Brother’ speaks to their familial bond and is the first song we hear from their collaboration.”
[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/InaraGeorge-TheYouthOfAngst
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Inara George
“The Youth of Angst”
Out Now
(Release Me Records)
Track Listing:01. 1973
02. Brother
03. Sex In Cars
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About | Inara George
Inara George has been getting together with producer Wendy Wang for a couple of hours, here and there, off and on over the past few years, working on a handful of songs that has now been released as the three-song bundle “The Youth of Angst” via Release Me Records.
“Wendy started playing with The Bird and The Bee when we released our second album,” George says. “I remember being impressed with her right away. That was about 12 years ago, and since then she’s become an in-demand producer and songwriter, as well as a dear friend and collaborator. I’m equally proud of her and in awe of her.”
George continues, “There was no rush on my side, and Wendy’s been super busy with her own career, so it took a few years to finish by getting together for a few hours every so often. Maybe I had it in mind to make a full album? Or maybe a traditional EP?”
As it turns out, George got the word “bundle” stuck in her head after a conversation with a friend.
“Maybe I just thought she said ‘bundle?’”
No matter, it stuck, and in fact “The Youth of Angst” feels like a bundle. Fresh, even considering its long development, and innocent, even with a song called “Sex In Cars”.
“I wrote ‘Sex In Cars’ after the artist Terry Allen asked if I’d be a part of an art installation he was creating for The Contemporary Austin. When he asked me to write the song, I immediately thought of a photograph by RJ Shaughnessy that I had bought as a gift for my husband.” The cover of “The Youth of Angst” features that Shaughnessy shot and the song itself is as bare as the subject matter.
“Wendy and I recorded several different versions of this song,” George explains. “But there was something about more production that seemed to make it slip away from its initial intention.” The version that made it to the final recording is actually the original voice memo that George sent to Allen. “I still haven’t had a chance to see that installation, I hope I can someday... soon,” George says.
Innocence isn’t just for “Sex In Cars” here. Youth… memories of... loss of… is at the core of this group of songs that, although just a bundle, plays with a moving, dramatic arc.
“‘1973’ is a song I wrote for a friend,” George explains. “She lost a child almost ten years ago and to mark his birthday every year, I write a song. The songs end up being about him, but also but her and ‘1973’ is really a love song about our friendship. As for “Brother,” it’s pretty simple: “I wrote this song for my brother, haha. No one will ever know you better than your brother can.”
“The Youth of Angst” is the first in a planned series of collaborative releases “with a little theme and not the huge pressure of a full album,” George says about how she plans to make this long experiment into something more frequent. For this release “I wanted to write from the perspective of my younger self, but also with the idea that I could never actually have that perspective again. I suppose this bundle is nostalgic for a time and feeling that isn’t really possible to recreate, or only possible to recreate in my imagination.”
Understanding what once was and what will be is especially important now, in the new reality of 2020.
“I think we are all kind of grappling with this reality right now. We can only move forward from here. Life won’t be the same for a while, or maybe ever. But it’s nice to dream about the past while reimagining the future, and I like the idea of doing these little collaborations, especially in these times of isolation.”
I Am Boleyn Returns with summer tinged disco pop jam 'In Between'
I Am Boleyn
Returns with summer tinged disco pop jam 'In Between' out now
https://soundcloud.com/lydiabaylis/in-between
Following the success of her singles ‘Too Much’ (the F9 remix charted number 12 in the UK Club Charts) and ‘Just Friends’, I Am Boleyn's next single ‘In Between’ is a Dream-Pop summer disco homage.
She says: “'In Between', is a fun, summer song that encapsulates the feeling of being free and unattached and that feeling of invincibility you have when you're out with your friends. Along with that invincibility, there’s the irony of being at your most attractive when you’re not trying to attract anyone. Finally feeling happy alone in your own confidence makes you irresistible to those around you."
Dubbed V Magazines ‘New Favourite Artist’, I Am Boleyn spends her time between London and Stockholm, working with renowned Swedish collective FMLY STHLM. Influenced by Robyn, Mo, Goldfrapp and MS MR, her take on electro-pop brims with hints of neon lit Berlin bars with a futuristic twist of Blade Runner.
I Am Boleyn grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, went to Oxford University to study history and has been writing songs since she was young.
After the release of her first single ‘Too Much’ she played sold out ‘Dazzling’ (Daily Mail) shows at the Peppermint Club in Los Angeles, Laylow in London and Art Basel Miami. Her video for ‘Limit of Love’ was officially selected for the London Music Video Awards in 2020.
In Between will be followed by an EP in September 2020.
instagram: @iamboleyn
website: www.iamboleyn.com
KAYA STEWART New Single “California” Is Out Now
New Single “California” Is Out NowListen / WatchLyric Video Featured Exclusively on Blackbook
July 20, 2020 - Indie pop artist, Kaya Stewart is thrilled to share her new single “California” that is out now and featured on Blackbook.
Kaya says, “The best advice I ever got about writing songs was to be as honest as possible and I don’t think I’ve ever been as honest as I am in 'California'. This song felt like therapy to me.”
The single is an authentic coming-of-age anthem speaking to the universal trials and tribulations synonymous with growing up and dealing with relationships - and adulthood in general - in an often fake and fractured world.
Born in London but raised in Los Angeles, Kaya Stewart grew up surrounded by music and began writing songs at the age of 6. By her early teens, Stewart had found her place in Los Angeles’ live music scene, sneaking into shows and establishing herself as a performer in her own right. Stewart emerged on the scene with her song, “In Love With A Boy,” in 2014. The candid yet relatable track solidified Stewart as one of pop music’s most promising up-and-coming young artists. After releasing her self-titled debut album in 2016, Stewart toured non-stop across the U.S., including performing dates on the Warped Tour where she was the youngest female artist to participate in the iconic touring festival.
Stewart is constantly exploring and redefining what it means to be a pop artist in today’s world - especially one which is currently filled with so much uncertainty. “There was never a moment of ‘oh this is what I want to do’. It’s always just been a part of who I am.
“California” is out everywhere at https://smarturl.it/CaliforniaKS
KAYA STEWART SOCIALS
Kacy Hill shares video for "Just To Say," second album out now
photo credit: Chuck Grant“The album acts as a therapy session, filled with bits of advice that suggest countering times of pain or heightened worry with patience and trust...It’s comforting to hear a pop record embrace life’s in-betweens… Is It Selfish is bright and open, built with sounds that move and breathe with the artist… There is now real momentum to her work, a feeling that you’re self-discovering alongside her.”—Pitchfork“Hill cites Peter Gabriel as an influence, but you’ll also hear Prince seeping through the delicately gorgeous ‘I Believe in You and Unkind,’ a sultry ballad that is the perfect showcase for Hill’s captivating voice. She’s a serious talent.”—The Sunday Times“…a dazzling, heartbreaking, and endlessly listenable parable of an artist searching for her new relationship with fame and herself.”—Office Magazine“Hill's growth emotionally and musically is palpable…this project shifts between emotions smoothly like a river flows.”—HotNewHipHop
photo credit: Lauren DunnJuly 20, 2020—Kacy Hill shares the video for “Just To Say” today—watch here. The song is from her second album
Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again
, out now—listen here.Directed by Lauren Dunn, the “Just To Say” video follows “
Everybody’s Mother
,” “
Unkind
,” “
Porsche
,” “
I Believe In You
” featuring Francis and the Lights—which EW called a “soothing balm”—and previously unveiled tracks “
Dinner
,” “
Much Higher
” and “
To Someone Else
.” In addition, Hill collaborated with Bon Iver on his latest track “
PDLIF
,” which was made in quarantine by piecing together contributions sent in from artists in self-isolation and benefitted the humanitarian aid organization Direct Relief.In December 2017, Hill connected with Francis and the Lights and producer BJ Burton (Bon Iver, The Japanese House) in Minneapolis, where they started laying the foundations of Hill’s forthcoming record, Is It Selfish If We Talk About Me Again. In the following years, the remainder of the record was completed between L.A. and Minneapolis, with the help of another of Hill’s collaborators, the producer Jim-E Stack (HAIM, Caroline Polachek). Between Hill’s revitalized approach to making music, recently parting ways with G.O.O.D. Music—the label she initially signed to in 2014—and the Olympic-style competitive weightlifting she picked up a couple years ago, her forthcoming album marks an exciting new era in her career.The Phoenix-born, Los Angeles-based artist got her start in 2014 when her self-released single “Experience,” the second song Hill had ever recorded, went viral. After being on the road with Kanye West and Vanessa Beecroft for the YEEZUS tour, she signed to G.O.O.D. Music. Her EP Bloo came shortly thereafter, showcasing the range of her voice on tracks like “
Foreign Fields
” and the anthemic “
Arm’s Length
.” She was featured on Travis Scott’s “
90210
” and Kid Cudi’s “
Releaser
,” she covered
V Magazine
,
GQ
wrote she was “barreling toward the big time” and
New York Magazine
named her “one to watch.” In 2017, Hill released her official debut album, the R&B-hinged, synth-laden ode to all the shapes femininity can take,
Like A Woman
, to critical acclaim.KACY HILL—
IS IT SELFISH IF WE TALK ABOUT ME AGAIN
1. To Someone Else2. Much Higher3. Just To Say4. Porsche5. I Believe In You feat. Francis and the Lights6. Everybody’s Mother7. Told Me8. Unkind9. Six10. Palladium11. DinnerJuly 19, 2020
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard @ Greek Theatre Tuesday, August 13, 2019
All photos taken in Los Angeles by Bradley Dupray.
HENNESSEY SHARE "WE WILL NOT BE LOVERS" VIA PASTE PLAY LIVE PREMIERE SESSION PRESENTED BY THE BOWERY ELECTRIC
PLAY LIVE PREMIERE SESSION PRESENTED BY THE BOWERY ELECTRIC TONIGHT — INFO / TIX
EP OUT THIS YEAR ON VELVET ELK RECORDS
Photo Cred: Max LaknerWATCH & SHARE: Hennessey - "We Will Not Be Lovers"
Stream / Watch
WATCH & SHARE: Hennessey - "Let's Pretend (It's the 80s)"
Stream / Watch"Hennessey’s version adds a layer of surreal, sensual mystique. With gothic post-punk sneers, Leah Hennessey’s performance is commanding and urgent."- Paste
"Hennessey is refreshingly, unabashedly intellectual, with that same zeal for cultural regurgitation that their artistic idols employed."
- Post-Punk
"Led by the daughter of a New York Doll, Hennessey's "Let's Pretend (It's the 80s)" begs you to dance."
- V Magazine
Tonight, Bowery Electric presents Live Premiere Sessions #5: featuring Hennessey; "We Will Not Be Lovers" Record Release Show — see here for more information on the Live Sessions series and tonight's release show.
The video, directed by band member E.J. O'Hara, was created in quarantine as an exploration of Virtual Romanticism. It reimagines the imagery of English landscapes, Greek statues, haunted portraits, and memento mori in an alienated virtual reality.
Written by Mike Scott of the Waterboys
Vocals: Leah Hennessey
Synthesizer and drum machine: E.J. O'Hara
Guitars: Malachy O'Neil
Produced by Jesse Malin and Diane Gentile
Mixed by Geoff Sanoff
Hennessey - We Will Not Be Lovers [Official Video]
HENNESSEY EP - TRACKLISTING
01. Let's Pretend (It's the 80s)
02. No Transformation
03. Use
04. We Will Not Be Lovers
HENNESSEY LINKS
Website / Facebook / Instagram / Youtube
July 17, 2020
SWERVEDRIVER RELEASE PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE ORIGINAL RECORDING OF DEBUT EP FOR 30TH ANNIVERSARY
Photo: Martyn Goodacre 
In 1989 there was much change in the air - the Polish "Solidarność" Solidarity movement won that country’s first free election which triggered transformation all across Europe and the world but it occurred on the very same day that Chinese combat troops crushed the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. Within months Czechoslovakia had its Velvet Revolution, the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had been overthrown and of course the Berlin Wall fell - remarkably the future Swervedriver bass player Steve George had been in Berlin on that day playing a show with his band Eight Storey Window and they had walked to the Wall where someone handed him a hammer and he got to take his very own chunk out of it. Meanwhile back in Oxford - 'England's Dreaming' personified, where the future Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his cronies in the 'Bullingdon Club' would occasionally be spotted "rah-rahing" it up in pubs in town before being driven to restaurants in the Oxfordshire countryside where they would swill champagne and taunt "the plebs", finally smashing the place up and pulling out their chequebooks to ask what the damage was - the band Swervedriver had barely formed. We had grown bored of our musical style as Shake Appeal and had decided to split up after a forgettable opening slot for World Domination Enterprises at the Poly followed by a special guest-strewn farewell shindig at the Zodiac playing a set of our favourite covers, only to then get back together when Adi Vines heard a couple of songs coming through my bedroom wall and enquired as to what they were. I told him these were new songs I’d written and he announced “we’re getting the band back together to play these songs and you’re the singer now.” It was an open secret in Oxford that local young whippersnappers Ride had been signed to Creation Records but that the label was going to wait until January 1990 to release their debut record: the first month of the last decade of the 20th century. We decided we needed to get our skates on and get a record deal and the clock was already counting down. Creation was actually the last label to whom we had handed a tape of our demo - Blast First being the first because they had released Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr records; Glass Records second because they had put out Spacemen 3 - but we had one tape left over and thought 'what the hell?' and so Mark Gardener took it and he gave it to Alan McGee. McGee was in Los Angeles in the back of a car with Guy Chadwick from the House of Love when he finally got round to listening to it and putting the tape into the vehicle’s tape machine and blasting it loud, he decided there and then to sign us and on the 21st March 1990 we found ourselves playing our first show with new drummer Graham Bonnar, surrounded by crib sheets, opening for the House of Love at Liverpool Royal Court - Liverpool Football Club were about to be crowned English Champions for a record 18th time. At the beginning of April we were in the House in the Woods studio in deepest, darkest Surrey recording our debut EP for Creation Records with recording engineer and good mate Tim Turan who had not only recorded the demo that got us signed but had also recorded Shake Appeal. Taking a dinner break on the Thursday night we received a call from our manager “check out Top of the Pops tonight - Ride have made the Top 40!” This was insane. We finished the recording and I took a copy with me to Seville in Spain where I was having a week's holiday with my girlfriend. There was strong weed and oranges everywhere and I remember sitting by the ocean listening to these songs while looking across the water at the haze in the distance that was Morocco - I was looking at Africa while listening to our first record! I wasn’t sure about the recording. Certain passages were sublime, other parts I wasn’t totally convinced by but perhaps I was just a bit blown away by ..the oranges and everything? When I arrived back in London a week later there were messages flashing on my Ansaphone to say that McGee wasn’t knocked out by it either and we were to re-record it, this time in London - to keep us lean and mean - which we did and on July 15th 1990 the debut Swervedriver EP would be unleashed upon the world. However that original House of the Woods recording still resonated with us and we decided to put it away to one side and vowed to 'probably' release it one of these days. Ten thousand, nine hundred and fifty days later - a full 30 years to the day - and here it is. In truth those bits that were good were really good - the guitars on Volcano Trash; the slower, more thoughtful Juggernaut Rides with Graham’s hypnotic closing drum pattern; the weightless denouément to Kill the Superheroes is still as good as Swervedriver has ever sounded. And then Son of Mustang Ford itself, with the guitars of Adi, Jim and myself crunching gears all over the shop. This was the only song of the four that has seen the light of day before now, appearing on a circa 1991 NME/Creation cassette. What I realise now listening back to this is that it’s almost like Shake Appeal playing Swervedriver songs.The sound is dry and clear but tentative, particularly with the vocals where I hadn’t yet found a singing style of my own and was caught between my natural voice and the more rock’n’roll stylings that had come so naturally to my brother Graham Franklin as singer of Shake Appeal. Furthermore Graham had appeared on the recording of the original Son of Mustang Ford demo, singing the “petroleum spirit daze” call-and-response lines which were inexplicably left off of this version but reinstated for the eventual Creation release. We were actually never that enamoured with the sound of the final re-recorded EP that came out on Creation but McGee had made the correct call and the record that came out did have the required zingy ‘x factor’ that led us towards the first recording we were truly happy with - the Rave Down EP that followed in November of 1991 - and everything else that came after that. But the spirit of Swervedriver was in there. We weren't overly angry young men - we're arguably angrier old men - and we didn’t write so much about the things that riled us up, preferring to conjure up a sense of magic, excitement and escape - to other places, other planes, even other planets - and we mixed up guitar experimentalism with our own peculiar brand of power pop and songs about cars, love and UFOs. So thirty years later, what has changed? A populist government has this week been installed in Poland which is looking to curb freedoms and particularly LGBT rights while China and Russia are both eyed suspiciously by the West as spies and colluders against western democracy and Hong Kong is beaten down. The reunited Germany is now leading the way in Europe, its government easily outstripping all the other European countries in its response to the Coronavirus pandemic while the floundering British government - led by that same privileged, prostitute procuring, pathological liar Boris Johnson from the Oxford days - deceives its citizens into jumping off a Brexit cliff and the USA is run by a racist, many times bankrupted former Reality TV star and narcissist who can’t spell or read and certainly not lead, abdicating its role as world leader in the process. And Liverpool FC have finally just won their 19th English Championship. It’s been the longest and shortest thirty years and it flew by in a heartbeat. Adam Franklin, July 2020 WebsiteBandcampInstagramFacebookTwitterYouTube
Monograms Share "How To Sleep With Your Eyes Open" Single, New LP 'Only A Ceiling Can Stay Inside Forever' Out July 31st
NEW LP OUT 7/31 VIA PAPERCUP MUSIC
LEAD SINGLE "AMERICAN DREAMZ" AND "HOW TO SLEEP WITH YOUR EYES OPEN" OUT NOW
Photo Cred: Michelle LoBiancoLISTEN & SHARE: Monograms - "American Dreamz" [Official Single]
Stream
LISTEN & SHARE: Monograms - "How To Sleep With Your Eyes Open"
Stream"There’s a mix of dark electropop and a sound reminiscent of Joy Division. It all sounds apocalyptic, very fitting with today’s time."
- Earmilk
"Jacobs’ songwriting is at the heart of the project, with cynical, pointillist lyrics, lucid beats and angular riffs. The music of Monograms explores moody and introspective ambient pop."
- Post-Punk Earlier this month, Brooklyn "nuke wave" project Monograms announced their upcoming 14-track LP Only A Ceiling Can Stay Inside Forever. Earlier this year, POND premiered album track "How To Sleep With Your Eyes Open," the first to be released from the upcoming record. Listen to lead single "American Dreamz" and album track "How To Sleep With Your Eyes Open" on all streaming platforms now. Only A Ceiling Can Stay Inside Forever LP is due out July 31st via PaperCup Music.
Only A Ceiling Can Stay Inside Forever is now available on Bandcamp for presale. Monograms is donating 50% of all sales to Know Your Rights Camp, an organization whose "mission is to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders." PaperCup Music will also be matching every donation.
The album was recorded and written almost entirely in isolation at Jacobs' home studio during the Covid-19 quarantine, and amongst all the recent protests and social injustices that have taken place over the past 3+ months.
"Everyone I know just feels really frustrated about the situation. The politics, the sacrifices everyone is making, and the reality has been a very twilight zone-like kind of time for the entire world and the country. The title of the album was a phrase I kept thinking about within that thought process. When is it going to be ok to go outside again? And also how you can’t keep things hidden and locked up forever… these checkered pasts have to get drawn out. These last few months just felt kind of surreal, a true 'how did we get here?' kinda moment. And I think personally, I just needed to do something creative to bob and weave with all these things, so I just started writing some words down and recording some ideas and experimenting. Some songs were more electronic and pulsing through the frustration of the time, and some are more down-tempo and introspective. After a few weeks, it all started to spiral into what felt like a cohesive thought, so it became an album in my mind."
ONLY A CEILING CAN STAY INSIDE FOREVER - TRACKLISTING01. Advocate
02. How to Sleep With Your Eyes Open
03. Shape Up
04. Still Vision
05. The Great Bazaar
06. Lines (featuring Kat E)
07. American Dreams
08. Super Duper Seatbelt Survivor
09. Me and You
10. You and Me
11. Wide Eyed Earth
12. Walking Down A Spy Glass
13. Quarantine Maps
14. Tire TreadMONOGRAMS LINKS
Website - Facebook - InstagramMONOGRAMS BIO
Monograms is the alias of front-man and multi-instrumentalist Ian Jacobs. Over the past few years, the project quickly expanded from a Brooklyn, NYC bedroom recording experiment to a full band endeavor; current lineup includes Ali Yildiz (drums), Michelle Feliciano (synth) and Devan Davies-Wood (bass). Since its conception, Monograms has supported some well known international indie regulars such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Goggs (Ty Segall/Ex Cult) Sunflower Bean, Ezra Furman, Man or Astro-Man?, Buscabulla, Caveman, A Place To Bury Strangers, Girl Band, Be Forest, Vertical Scratchers (Merge Records), Dreamers, Gang Of Youths, Quilt and more; as well as notable press, streams and premieres from all over the U.S. and Europe (Brooklyn Vegan, the 405, Alt Citizen, CMJ, Northern Transmissions, Adhoc and more). The music of Monograms puts listeners in moody and introspective pop song structures that are driven and melodic, but also ambient at the same time. Jacobs’ songwriting is at the heart of the project, capable of crafting a range of landscapes and cynical, pointillism lyrics. Lucid beats and angular riffs, often point Monograms' approach to sonic structures within the heyday of DIY, new wave or alternative college radio, as well as the abundance of contemporary vibes that pull from similar genres. Monograms is Brooklyn's "Nuke Wave".
