Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 2008

THE DAMNED 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR HITS LA & NY THIS MONTH / CLASSIC DEBUT SINGLE 'NEW ROSE' BEING RELEASED AS LIMITED EDITION 7"

THE DAMNED 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR COMES TO U.S WITH SOLD OUT SHOWS IN LOS ANGELES (OCTOBER 27TH) AND NEW YORK (OCTOBER 29TH & 30TH) CLASSIC DEBUT SINGLE 'NEW ROSE' BEING RELEASED AS LIMITED EDITION 7" PICTURE DISCNOVEMBER 4TH NEW ALBUM IN 2017 - MORE INFO & PRE-ORDER LINK VIA PLEDGEMUSIC FULL US SPRING TOUR TO BE ANNOUNCED 
Morat Photography 2015 The Damned need no introduction! Formed in 1976, they were the first UK punk rock band to release a single, the mighty ‘New Rose', released October 22nd, 1976, swiftly followed by their debut LP, ‘Damned Damned Damned', and were the first British punk band to tour the US. They quickly gained a reputation as the band that would always deliver an amazing live set, ever since they started playing in tiny punk clubs that same year.     Cited as one of the most influential punk groups of all time, The Damned contributed vastly to gothic rock and influenced an entire generation of future hardcore punk bands such as Black Flag and Bad Brains, with their fast paced energetic playing style and attitude. Along with theSex Pistols and The Clash, they helped spearhead the punk movement in the UK. Now, four decades later and still on the road, the band's hugely influential classic debut single,'New Rose', is being celebrated with a limited edition 7” anniversary release.. Featuring original artwork, picture disc and exclusive fold out poster, it's a must have collectable release of one of the most influential records of all time. Release is set for November 4th via BMG. To cap their incredible 40th Anniversary year, which has already seen the band deliver a blistering three-hour set at a completely sold-out London Royal Albert Hall show this summer, The Damned will play three sold out US shows this month; one at LA's Belasco Theater(27th) and two at New York's Gramercy Theatre (29th and 30th). Earlier this year, the band played a memorable set at Coachella, where LA Times raved; "The Damned's no-future UK punk thrash sounded gritty and immediate" and Rolling Stone claimed their set as one of the "20 Best Things We Saw". Always unforgettable, The Damned continue to wave the flag for originality, stick two fingers up to mediocrity and celebrate a DIY punk ethos in the face of plastic entertainment and scripted reality. Original members Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible never expected to still be doing it 40 years later, but here they are – as their loyal following will attest, all simply because they are still an incredible live band who sound as fresh and exciting as they did way back in 1976. The Damned will be releasing a brand new album in 2017 (details forthcoming), but you can pre-order CD, colored vinyl, exclusive merch and experiences) from PledgeMusic. A full US Spring Tour will be announced soon. See The Damned live – it will be a night out that you will remember for a very long time... US SHOWS 2016:

October 27th - Los Angeles - Belasco Theater SOLD OUT
October 29th - New York - Gramercy Theatre SOLD OUT
October 30th - New York - Gramercy Theatre SOLD OUT  http://www.officialdamned.com/

SLEIGH BELLS Share New Song "I Can Only Stare" + Album Out Nov 11

SLEIGH BELLS: "I CAN ONLY STARE" 
(Photo credit:  Sleigh Bells)Sleigh Bells have released a new song entitled "I Can Only Stare." The song is the latest offering from their forthcoming album,  Jessica Rabbit , set for release on the band's newly-formed label, Torn Clean, on November 11, 2016. "I Can Only Stare" is available as a free download to fans who pre-order the record.  Sleigh Bells spoke with Zane Lowe at Beats 1 earlier today about the new song, which was Beats 1's World Record.   LISTEN TO THE BAND'S INTERVIEW WITH ZANE LOWE AND HEAR "I CAN ONLY STARE": http://apple.co/_ICanOnlyStare
"I Can Only Stare" is a brilliant, head-spinning standout from  Jessica Rabbit , an album that does not sound like anything Sleigh Bells has ever done -- or anyone has ever done, for that matter.  Jessica Rabbit  is the sonic equivalent of firing synapses, with melodies zig-zagging in different directions in a beautiful and ever-modulating controlled chaos. It is playful but darkly so; flirtatious but caustic; ebullient but downright sinister. Singer Alexis Krauss has moved from the baby coo of the band's earlier material into full powerhouse mode, singing with a visceral urgency that was absent from previous releases. Tempo changes stretch the songs in different directions, like an attention span gone haywire. It is a record that is wholly unique in sound and purpose, an unabashed and unafraid statement from a band that has made offending rote conceptions of pop music their signature and greatest strength. Jessica Rabbit  is available for preorder now at the following stores:DIGITAL: iTunes / Amazon / Google PlayPHYSICAL: Limited Edition LP / LP / CD / Tape  Jessica Rabbit  track listing:01 It's Just Us Now02 Torn Clean03 Lightning Turns Sawdust Gold04 I Can't Stand You Anymore05 Crucible06 Loyal For07 I Can Only Stare08 Throw Me Down the Stairs09 Unlimited Dark Paths10 I Know Not to Count on You11 Rule Number One12 Baptism by Fire13 Hyper Dark14 As If Sleigh Bells tour dates:11/11/16                      San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park11/12-13/16                 Los Angeles, CA @ Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival11/15/16                      San Francisco, CA @ The Independent11/16/16                      San Francisco, CA @ The Independent11/18/16                      Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom11/19/16                      Seattle, WA @ Neumos

Matt Costa - 'Orange Sunshine Soundtrack'

Matt Costa - 'Orange Sunshine Soundtrack'Out Friday November 11th, 2016 via Varese Sarabande
Photo Cred: Davin SanchezLISTEN & SHARE: Matt Costa - "Call My Name"

WATCH & SHARE: Orange Sunshine TrailerBrooklyn Vegan has debuted Matt Costa's "Call My Name", the single from his upcoming soundtrack to the film 'Orange Sunshine', which is a documentary about  "a church formed in the early ’60s by a group of surfers/hippies in Orange County who wanted to change the world with psychedelic drugs and became the largest manufacturers of LSD in the United States." The soundtrack is out 11/11 on Varese Sarabande.  Like certain other Southern California songwriters before him, Matt Costa has drifted through a strange and varied life in music, pushed toward pop music at a young age, selling hundreds of thousands of records and touring the world on the strong back of a simple, direct, and freewheeling debut. In the last few years, Costa took heavy stock in his work, and made unexpected turns into more progressive and thoughtful territories. This new direction has found him wandering; an outlier between the worlds of his own development as an artist, modern Orange County, his former label Brushfire Records, and cutting through the center of a now hidden and older California mystique. Prolific at every turn, Matt has taken on the aura of a classic California drifter, spinning records in the midnight hours of his local Laguna Beach radio station, writing by day cataclysmically varied music, from fingerpicked John Fahey-like numbers, to cut up poetry, to howlers harkening back to an other-worldly sound; complete with a range of writing invoking a Kinksian sensibility, early rock & roll- Eric Burdon and the Animals, Van Morrison’s Them, and the guitar playing and arrangements of Brian Jones. The last years have been eventful ones. Born and raised in Laguna Beach, Costa met some filmmakers hard at work on a documentary entitled Orange Sunshine detailing the story of the Brotherhood of Eternal love; a coastal church centered on psychedelics who became the largest manufacturers and distributors of LSD in the United States. Matt composed the entire score, beginning to tap into the underlying myths and secrets of his hometown. The music stands on its own and this year sees the release of the film, to rave reviews at its premier at SXSW, and showings at Festivals in Sedona, Maui, San Francisco, and in October, the illustrious British Film Institute in London, among others. Autumn 2016 will welcome the release of the Orange Sunshine Film Soundtrack on Varèse Sarabande Records, complete with a unique companion tour combining screenings of the film with a special performance by Matt Costa and his band. This soundtrack is a signpost to a new LP already far underway. Orange Sunshine’s music hints at a songwriter cutting through to something greater and stranger; an artist arriving at a new incarnation. “The end picture is yet to be discovered,” says Costa.Matt Costa – Orange Sunshine 2016 Tour dates
15 November – Masonic Lodge @ the Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Los Angeles, CA
17 November – Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
20 November – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
21 November – The Alberta Rose – Portland, OR
22 November Harlow’s – Sacramento, CAMatt Costa – Orange Sunshine tracklist
1. Brotherhood Theme
2. Orange Take Over
3. Oran Jazz Syd
4. Born In My Mind
5. Call My Name
6. Mike and Carol
7. Feds Follow
8. Soul Full of Orange
9. Orange Guru
10. Elucidation
11. The Fuzz
12. Modjeska
13. Twelve Oranges
14. Sit With Timothy
15. Smug Smugglers
16. Melt Orange
17. A Separate PeaceLINKSFacebook - Twitter - Soundcloud - Instagram - Youtube

Last Of The Mississippi Jukes coming to DVD on 10/21

Last Of The Mississippi JukesSpecial Edition DVD coming on 10/21Robert Mugge's stunning exploration of fading juke joint traditions at the heart of Mississippi blues culture, with Morgan Freeman

"American roots music at its most soulful and authentic. Excellent." - Boston Phoenix
"This wonderful documentary [is] a definite good buy for blues fans." - Jazz & Blues Report
"One of the most important Mississippi music films ever made." - Planet Weekly (Jackson, MS) 
LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES is Robert Mugge's exploration of Mississippi juke joints, the rustic, often dilapidated music venues where, early in the last century, itinerant blues musicians played for plantation workers and others, creating a powerful new music which soon migrated to Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit, and elsewhere. Of course, even as this music spread around the world, changing as it went, it continued to have a strong presence in the state where it was born, a fact clearly shown by Mugge's 1991 film DEEP BLUES. And yet, in the decade after the release of DEEP BLUES, artists who had appeared in that earlier film began passing away, and the jukes where they and others had played became increasingly scarce. So, Mugge decided to make a new film about what was being lost.
Funded by Starz Entertainment Group and premiered at the Starz Denver International Film Festival in November of 2002, LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES focused primarily on two well-known venues. One was the legendary Subway Lounge in Jackson, Mississippi, and the other was Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a new and more commercial enterprise that drew on virtues of the more modest venues that inspired it. The idea was not that these two music spots were, themselves, the last remaining places where live blues could be heard in Mississippi, but that they embodied important musical traditions which were slipping away.
The Subway Lounge was created by singer Jimmy King and operated by him and his wife Helen in the basement of Jackson Mississippi's historic Summers Hotel. King arrived at the name "Subway," because the entranceway to his basement performance space reminded him of the subway stations he saw on trips to New York City. What makes the hotel itself historic is that it was black-owned during an era of entrenched segregation, and that, when it opened in 1944, it was the first in the region to offer accommodations to African Americans. However, for music fans, its bigger claim to fame was that, in 1966, owner W.J. Summers allowed King to open the Subway Lounge in the hotel's basement, first as a jazz club, and then as a place to hear down-home blues performed late into the night.
By the time Mugge filmed there in the spring of 2002, the hotel had been shuttered for years, and parts of the building had fully collapsed. But the Subway itself was still open every Friday and Saturday night from midnight till approximately 5:00am, with two bands, the House Rockers and the King Edward Blues Band, taking turns as its house band every second weekend. Joining these bands over the course of the night was a diverse group of singers and musicians, some of them stopping by after their paid gigs elsewhere had ended. Together, they played a rich selection of blues standards, including plenty of "soul blues" classics from Jackson-based Malaco Records. As a result, on any given weekend, that dark and dusty room reverberated with joy.
For its part, Ground Zero was started by movie star Morgan Freeman and Clarksdale attorney (now mayor) Bill Luckett, in cooperation with former Blues Foundation executive director Howard Stovall. Together, they took an empty Clarksdale building close by the Delta Blues Museum and decorated it with the standard design elements of jukes - Christmas tree lights, pool tables, catch-as-catch-can furniture, and an overall makeshift sensibility - in order to endow it with the spirit of those traditional, ramshackle performance spaces. Of course, while Ground Zero's well-stocked bar, trendy menus, and sometimes well-heeled patrons sound like the marks of a modern-day music club, their aspirations to make this venue like a juke offered valuable lessons as to what made those earlier venues so distinctive. 
At the time the film was made, Ground Zero was not yet offering as much live musical performance as it soon would. So, Mugge brought in Memphis musician Alvin Youngblood Hart to perform for the evening, accompanied by local musicians Sam Carr and Anthony Sherrod. Mugge and co-producer David Hughes, a Mississippi-based musician and collector, also beefed up the usual Subway Lounge talent with appearances by Vasti Jackson, Bobby Rush, Eddie Cotton, Jesse Robinson, Lucille, Greg "Fingers" Taylor, Casey Phillips, Virgil Brawley, and actor and musician Chris Thomas King, all of whom had played the Subway in the past but, at present, were too busy with their own touring to make more than cursory appearances. Still, the Subway's regular talent (including Patrice Moncell, Abdul Rasheed, Dennis Fountain, Pat Brown, Levon Lindsey, and J.T. Watkins), audience members, and owners represented the heart of the Subway experience, and that was true for the film as well.
LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES includes the following narrative threads: an illustrated introduction to Mississippi jukes, discussions of Ground Zero Blues Club and the Subway Lounge, a history of the Summers Hotel and the Civil Rights struggles that both preceded and accompanied it, and a portrait of the public movement to save the Subway Lounge after the building that housed it was condemned. Like most music documentaries, this film alternates between musical performance and related conversation, and interviewees of note include owners of both venues, Subway patrons, singers and musicians, Jackson politicians, a Jackson newspaper reporter, celebrated blues photographer Dick Waterman, and Mississippi blues author Steve Cheseborough.
LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES was first broadcast over the Black Starz channel (later renamed Starz in Black) in 2003. In addition, a commercial DVD and separate soundtrack CD were released the same year, yet both disappeared in 2007 when the releasing label went out of business. MVD's new Special Edition DVD includes not only the original feature-length Documentary, but also the original Soundtrack Album and a Video Update created by Robert Mugge in 2005 while he was serving as Filmmaker in Residence for Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
The DVD can be ordered at the MVD Shop or on Amazon
Tracklist: https://mvdb2b.com/s/LastOfTheMississippiJukes/MVD7127D 

Haley Bonar Announces West Coast Tour Dates; New Album Impossible Dream Out Now

Haley Bonar Announces West Coast Tour Dates New Album Impossible Dream Out Nowphoto credit: Graham Tolbert "Impossible Dream, finds the underrated Minnesotan in top form, mixing darkness and light with a deft  touch." - NPR"She's gonna be your new indie fave." - Elle Magazine "Haley Bonar’s Impossible Dream is a brisk half-hour of barbed power-pop tunes that sting so sweetly that it’s only after the fact you consider you might need a tetanus shot." - Pitchfork
"Bonar’s voice and lyrics are as pure and potent as ever, and the constantly shifting guitar aesthetics — from a distorted jangle to swampy bass and back — make for a versatile but focused body of work. Listen." - Stereogum 
“Bonar creates a whimsical masterclass of indie-pop songwriting.” - Consequence Of Sound"These songs are so powerfully melodic, it’s difficult not to get swept into the world of an artist who is more than ready for her time in the spotlight." - American Songwriter
"An album that is as catchy and danceable as it is lush and poignant, the perfect soundtrack for an end-of-summer road trip." - BUST Magazine"In the past 10 years, she naturally progressed from stripped-down folk and country music to incorporating various layers of sound ranging from classical piano to sunshine pop.” - Interview"Poetic, Fresh, Vibey." - Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), Time Crisis on Beats 1"I love this ('I Can Change’)." - Sir Elton John, Rocket Hour on Beats 1"My pick for album of of the year” - Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 MusicWatch: "Called You Queen" video via Stereogum or YouTubeWatch: "I Can Change" video at Elle Magazine or YouTubeWatch: "Kismet Kill" official video via  NPR First Watch Haley Bonar has announced West Coast tour dates in support of her highly acclaimed full-length album Impossible Dream out now via GNDwire (US) / Spit Comet (CA) / Memphis Industries (UK + EU). The upcoming tour will make stops in major cities including Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and more. All upcoming shows will be supported by Night Moves. The full list of tour dates is listed below. 
Impossible Dream has received rave reviews from influential publications such as Pitchfork, NPR,MOJO, Q, Uncut, Bust, No Depression and more. The album is available to order now on CD and LP in  Haley Bonar’s Online Store  as well as digitally via  iTunes . Impossible Dream follows up Haley Bonar's acclaimed release Last War and was recorded on analog tape in at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN and was mixed by Chris Coady (Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TVOTR) & Robbie Lackritz (Feist) at Haut Bruun. Haley Bonar has spent a lot of the past few years poring over her past. That has something to do with the sound of her recent recordings, whether it be her recent solo efforts or the throwback funky punky grooves of her side project Gramma’s Boyfriend.

But on her latest album Impossible Dream, this glance in the rearview has also inspired some of the most poignant and pointed work of her long career as songwriter even if you have to dig a little to find Bonar within the tunes.

Impossible Dream then, like all of Bonar’s work, gains its power from a combination of the personal and universal. Even when she sings about her days hitting up basement punk shows on “Better Than Me” or kicks off this album with an ode to her formative years in the gently chiming “Hometown,” it will surely stir up memories from your own younger days.
And as with her prior albums, Bonar reveals a widescreen look at the world, touching on issues of sexuality, jealousy, and the fragile ties that bind relationships together. If they connect with your circumstance and the cultural conversation at large, that’s just a welcome coincidence.“Those things have always been relevant to me,” Bonar says. “Those conversations have been happening my entire life.”
What is clear right now is the impact this album is looking to have on the world at large. Bonar has already received some excited press notices about the two singles from Impossible Dream that have already been released: “I Can Change” (“a resolute pillar of bold, classic songwriter,” according to The Line of Best Fit) and “Kismet Kill,” which  Stereogum  called “a penetrating rumination on just how transitory love and beauty can be.“). The biggest stamp of approval, though, has come from Elton John. The venerated singer/songwriter chose to play “I Can Change” on his Beats 1 show Rocket Man Radio. “Hearing Elton John say my song is beautiful is pretty awesome,” Bonar admits.
To say that Bonar’s career has been building towards that nod from a rock god, though, is to dismiss all the hard work she has done since she started releasing music in 2001. The 33-year-old singer/songwriter has been building a fanbase slowly and steadily, while remaining in complete control of her art. As with all of her prior albums, Bonar wrote and arranged all the songs onImpossible Dream. She also co-produced the record with Minneapolis mainstay Jacob Hanson. Chances are she’d be making this music even without the support of a label or her many fans around the world. But, just as the title of this new album suggests, she’s living out her wildest and most impossible dream right now.
“If somebody came to me as a teenager and said, ‘In 15 years, you’ll have made nine records and be touring the world,’ I would have been, like, ‘No way,’” she says, laughing. “It’s true that it might not look like a lot to some people, but it’s very special to me.”Haley Bonar Tour Dates10.13 - Hamburg, DE - Kleiner Donner
10.14 - Berlin, DE - Privatclub
10.15 - Munich, DE - Hauskonzerte.com
10.16 - Offenbach, DE - Hafen 2
10.17 - Amsterdam, DE  - Paradiso
10.19 - Paris, FR - Espace B
10.21 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store (SOLD OUT)
10.22 - Gateshead, UK - The Sage ^
10.23 - Glasgow, UK - The Hug & Pint
10.24 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
10.27 - London, UK - Moth Club (SOLD OUT)
10.28 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana (SOLD OUT)
10.29 - Manchester, UK - The Ritz ^
11.29 - Rapid City, SD @ Dahl Arts Center * 
11.30 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge *
12.01 - Santa Fe, NM @ Skylight *
12.02 - Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar *
12.03 - Los Angeles, CA @ Resident * 
12.04 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah * 
12.06 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill * 
12.08 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza *
12.09 - Portland, OR @ Analog *^ with Field Music * with Night Moves 

Springtime Carnivore Streams New Album "Midnight Room" on Stereogum

SPRINGTIME CARNIVORE STREAMS NEW ALBUM ON STEREOGUM 

FALL TOUR KICKS OFF THIS WEEK
MIDNIGHT ROOM OUT THIS FRIDAY  ON AUTUMN TONE RECORDSPhoto credit: Julia Brokaw
"A dignified and mystically verbose articulation of failed love." - Stereogum
STREAM SPRINGTIME CARNIVORE'S MIDNIGHT ROOM
Springtime Carnivore's stunning new album Midnight Room is out this Friday, October 7 on Autumn Tone Records and is now advance streaming in full on Stereogum.
Stereogum praises the record as "a brew of spectral vocals, shadowy piano riffs, wind chimes, wildflowers, and cattails... The album feels like an hour's worth of lucid dreaming with images of crushed flowers and shimmering sea glass."
Springtime Carnivore's tour with La Sera kicks off this Friday in Pomona, California and will continue through 20+ dates across North America.
10/07: Glasshouse - Pomona, CA10/08: The Hideout - San Diego, CA10/09: Valley Bar - Phoenix, AZ10/10: Meow Wolf - Santa Fe, NM10/12: Sidewinder - Austin, TX10/13: Club Dada - Dallas, TX10/15: Firebird - St. Louis, MO10/16: High Watt - Nashville, TN10/18: Masquerade - Atlanta, GA10/19: Pinhook - Chapel Hill, NC10/20: Song Byrd - Washington, DC10/21: Goldilocks Gallery - Philadelphia, PA10/22: Mercury Lounge - New York, NY10/23: Baby's All Right - Brooklyn, NY10/25: Brookline Teen Center - Boston, MA10/26: Mohawk - Buffalo, NY10/28: Silver Dollar - Toronto, ON10/29: El Club - Detroit, MI10/30: Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL11/01: Lost Lake - Denver, CO11/02: Kilby Court - Salt Lake City, UT11/03: Holland Project - Reno, NV11/04: Swedish American Hall - San Francisco, CA11/05: Bootleg Theater - Los Angeles, CA
Springtime Carnivore - Midnight RoomOut October 7 on Autumn Tone Records Pre-order     1. Midnight Room2. Face In The Moon3. Into The Avalanche4. Double Infinity5. Raised By Wolves6. Nude Polaroids7. Under The Spell8. Wires Crossing9. Bad Dream Baby10. Rough Magic
springtimecarnivore.comfacebook.com/springtimecarnivore@springtimecarnivore

Crocodiles Premiere "Not Even In Your Dreams" Via CLRVYNT

Crocodiles Premiere "Not Even In Your Dreams" via CLRVYNT 

'Dreamless' Out October 21st Via Zoo Music LISTEN & SHARE: Crocodiles - "Not Even In Your Dreams"["Telepathic Lover"] finds Crocodiles tapping into a sound far more lush than their tradition of noisy reverb-rockers would suggest. - StereogumToday CLRVYNT premiered the second single "Not Even In Your Dreams" from Crocodiles upcoming album 'Dreamless'. "Not Even..." is the finale on 'Dreamless' which is do out 10/21 on Zoo Music.
 
Comprised of best friends Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell, Crocodiles have earned their place as one of the United States’ most engaging, hardworking and consistent rock and roll bands of the past few years.  Dreamless  is the pair’s sixth LP, and is, at once, their most exploratory and focused release.

Whereas Crocodiles’ first two albums made their home amongst a stew of fuzzed-out psychedelia, and the following three albums explored Welchez and Rowell’s penchant for placing pop sensibilities against whirring guitars and barbed production,  Dreamless  sees the duo endeavoring on an artistic departure that positions their guitars in the backseat in favor of a more spacious, synthesizer and piano-driven sound.

“We’ve always been a guitar band and I think we just wanted to challenge ourselves and our aesthetic,” says Welchez. “It didn’t start as a conscious decision but within the first week Charlie’s mantra became ‘fuck guitars’. Only one song has zero guitar but in general we tried to find alternatives to fill that space.”

The title of the album works on both a literal and metaphorical level: “I suffered insomnia throughout the whole session. I was literally dreamless,” explains Welchez. “The past two years had been fraught with difficulty for us - relationship troubles, career woes, financial catastrophe, health issues,” he continues. “In that pessimistic mindset it was easy to feel as if the dream was over.” 

The pair recorded the 10-track  Dreamless  in Mexico City over the course of 6 weeks. Having become something of a spiritual (and in the case of Welchez, literal) home to the duo, choosing D.F. as the location for recording allowed them to again hook-up with friend and occasional bandmate Martin Thulin (also a member of post-punks  Exploded View ). Between them, the trio shared instrument duties, with Welchez and Rowell handling the lion’s share of guitar and bass, Thulin and Welchez the live drum work, and Thulin focusing largely on keys.

“Our relationship with Martin will serve as a pivotal point in our band’s history,” comments Rowell. “On this album Martin continued his efforts to help us take our songwriting and aesthetics to further reaches.”

Thulin’s work on Dreamless is in keeping with the exemplary production found on Crocodiles previous releases and reconciles the band’s realigned focus on keys with their experiments of often pairing down the instrumentation to allow lyrical sentiments and themes to cut through to the fore. It’s an approach that has paid off, enabling the band to take more risks, both artistically and emotionally.

“And you’ll burn and weep and suffer,” says the chilling spoken-word sample that opens  Dreamless . “The sample is from a Christian preacher that we found over 15 years ago and used on the first 7” we ever did together when we were still teenagers” explains Brandon Welchez.  “Back then we used it with a sense of humor, laughing at the whole ridiculous guilt trip vibe. But hearing it again in our apartment in Mexico City, within the context of the words we were singing, it took on a different air. It lost the humorous aspect and just seemed like a commentary on life.” 

An unsettling insight certainly, but if Crocodiles did indeed have to burn, weep and suffer in order to write and record  Dreamless , then it was damn well worth it. DREAMLESS - TRACKLISTING
01. Telepathic Lover
02. Maximum Penetration
03. Welcome To Hell
04. I'm Sick
05. Go Now
06. Alita
07. Jumping On Angels
08. Time To Kill
09. Jailbird
10. Not Even In Your Dreams

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ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN @ Observatory

Nick Waterhouse - 'Never Twice' - Out Today!

NICK WATERHOUSE   NEVER TWICE
OUT TODAY ON INNOVATIVE LEISURE

Today, Nick Waterhouse returns with his third full-length studio album Never Twice. Never Twice is out via Innovative Leisure digitally, on CD and 180 gram vinyl.

He's currently out on tour and highlights include Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on October 8th, The Bottom Lounge in Chicago on October 4th and The Rock and Roll Hotel in Washington DC on October 12th. More tour dates to be announced soon. Never Twice features the lead single "Katchi," a duet with Leon Bridges. "Leon and I were in Fort Worth hanging out at a friend's place getting massages. He was laying on the table while I strummed the chords, bare chested, he shouted out "she give me KATCHI!"... His mother's old Louisiana Indian term for 'loving touch'. We rode it out and next thing we know we had a straight cruiser," Waterhouse told The Fader. 



WATCH THE VIDEO FOR "OLD PLACE" HERE!

With Never Twice, Nick Waterhouse returned to his original collaborator, producer Michael McHugh (Black Lips, Ty Segall, Allah-Las). McHugh was a local legend in the oft-underrated Orange County music scene that Nick grew up in. McHugh was the first person to ever put Nick on tape and in an effort to re-capture the vibrancy of the Huntington Beach scene of Nick's youth, he invited McHugh up to his current home of San Francisco to work the boards once again. Once he had McHugh on board, Nick began cold-calling his favorite players, all of whom miraculously said yes. Jazz musician Bob Kenmotsu's contributed flute, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello collaborator Ralph Carney on sax, Dr. Lonnie Smith protege Will Blades on Organ and a virtual whose who of muso legends on horns, bass and guitar. The result is an exuberant and impeccably recorded album of songs, showcasing Waterhouse's prowess as a musician and a band-leader.
PRAISE FOR NICK WATERHOUSE

"The verses are built on the feet-shuffling groove of jazzy drums and keys as Waterhouse bewails his life's stagnation ... He refuses to sit still for long, however, as the funky refrain kicks everything into fifth gear with driving guitar riffs that bring to mind classic rhythm and blues bandstands, all decked in golds and blacks and blues." 
- Consequence of Sound
"Swoony vocals that recall
jazz singers like Cab Calloway and Jack Jones, Waterhouse has been hailed as the second coming of soul, infusing a distinctly California surf-rock spin to the genre.'- VOGUE"Waterhouse's show of intensity arrived through an incendiary combo of momentum-building saxophones...riding a grand, Spector-esque wave, punctuated with start-and-stop pacing, a love of musical space and Waterhouse's utilitarian voice singing structured three-minute rockers." - Los Angeles Times
"Waterhouse straddles the line between rock grit and smooth, sultry R&B. It's sexy, it's smart, and it's definitely worth another round in a bar in the middle of a dark and stormy night."- Esquire

TRACK LISTING - NICK WATERHOUSE - NEVER TWICE
1) Its Time2) I Had Some3) Straight Love4) Stanyan Street5) Old Place6) Katchi7) Baby I'm In8) Tracy9) Lucky Once10) L.A. Turnaround
TOUR DATES
10/4 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge LINK10/5 - Detroit, MI - Magic Bag LINK10/6 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern LINK           10/8 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg LINK10/10 - Boston, MA - The Sinclair LINK10/11 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry at The Fillmore LINK10/12 - Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel LINK

The Raveonettes Share "This Is Where It Ends" Track Via BlackBook | Ninth Track In Monthly RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH Series

 Photo Credit: Amber and Ashlie ChavezTHE RAVEONETTES SHARE "THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS" TRACK VIA BLACKBOOK

THE NINTH TRACK OF THEIR
RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH SERIESWATCH & SHARE: The Raveonettes - "This Is Where It Ends"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbpS-45vHAIThe Raveonettes have premiered the new track "This Is Where It Ends" on BlackBook who describes it as "a paradigm of autumn melancholy, pensive, wistful, yet august and opulent just the same. Echoes of the Cocteau Twins abound." You can listen to it here.

"This Is Where It Ends" is the ninth track release from the band's official RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH playlist where the duo will continue to upload a freshly recorded track on the last Friday of every month until December.  The 'anti-album' will feature a collection of new tracks that aren't bound by the constraints of the format.  Join the RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH and subscribe to the playlist here.SUBSCRIBE TO THE
RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH
PLAYLIST AT 
http://radi.al/RaveSoundOfTheMonth
The Raveonettes also continue their new Pledge Music Campaign where fans can pledge for the CD and vinyl of the forthcoming new album. Sign up for the Pledge Music Campaign at http://radi.al/TheRaveonettesPledge.RAVE-SOUND-OF-THE-MONTH Playlist
01. The World Is Empty (Without You)
02. Run Mascara Run
03. Excuses
04. Junko Ozawa
05. Scout
06. Won't You Leave Me Alone
07. Where Are You Wild Horses?
08. A Good Fight
09. This Is Where It EndsTOUR DATES10.14 - Institute of Mentalphysics - Joshua Tree, CA

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