Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 52
July 16, 2025
FKA twigs shares new single + music video
FKA TWIGS SHARES NEW SINGLE & MUSIC VIDEO "PERFECTLY"
“Perfectly” single artwork
What the press is saying about FKA twigs:
"[FKA twigs] wanted to 'transcend human form' with her new album. She nails it"
Rolling Stone
“Twigs’ third album brings club music into her sensual, supernatural world. It’s a masterful pop-star moment for the artist.”
Pitchfork, Best New Music
“Eusexua” tests how much she can remain herself within pop’s constraints. The answer: quite a bit.
The New York Times, Critic’s Pick
“Perfectly”
LISTEN: https://fkatwigs.lnk.to/perfectly
WATCH: https://fkatwigs.lnk.to/perfectly-MV
(July 16th, 2025) - On the heels of finishing her tour in support of her third studio album EUSEXUA, FKA twigs shares her new single, "Perfectly." The single arrives alongside a Jordan Hemingway-directed music video that celebrates the community built around EUSEXUA as well as the album’s core themes of physicality, vulnerability, and freedom. “Perfectly” was previewed across the EUSEXUA tour, including Primavera in Barcelona and at LadyLand in New York City.
The album’s title is a word of twigs’ own making, which she defined as the “moment before an orgasm: pure nothingness but also pure focus in a state of eusexua. That’s kind of the way I want to live my life right now,” in her April 2024 cover story for British Vogue. A “love letter to how dance music makes [her] feel,” EUSEXUA was executive produced by twigs herself alongside longtime collaborator Koreless and features additional production from Dylan Brady, Eartheater, Ethan P Flynn, G-Dragon, Jeff Bhasker and Nicolas Jaar, among others.
Upon its release mid-January, EUSEXUA received rave reviews from outlets such as Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vulture, Variety, NME, and received a Best New Music stamp from Pitchfork and a Critic’s Pick from The New York Times. It has already been included in several midyear roundups from Consequence, which described EUSEXUA as “a triumph,” Rolling Stone, Variety, NPR, Vulture, Harper’s Bazaar, Stereogum, Paste Magazine, and more.
Listen to and watch "Perfectly" above now, and stay tuned for more from FKA twigs coming soon.
Connect with FKA twigs:
Watch the Official Trailer | IT'S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY
From Academy Award®-nominated director Amy Berg, IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY is in theaters starting August 8
Watch the New Official Trailer:
Directed by Amy Berg
A Topic Studios and Fremantle Film.
Produced by Ryan Heller, Christine Connor, Mandy Chang, Matthew Roozen, Jennie Bedusa and Amy Berg.
Executive Produced by Mary Guibert, Alison Raykovich, Brian A. Kates, Michael Bloom, Jennifer Westin, Maria Zuckerman, Brad Pitt, Ian Stratford.
IT’S NEVER OVER: JEFF BUCKLEY, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg (DELIVER US FROM EVIL, JANIS: LITTLE GIRL BLUE, WEST OF MEMPHIS), covers the life of the rising young star with an otherworldly voice and boundary-pushing artistry, who left the '90s music world reeling when he died suddenly, at age 30, after the release of his critically acclaimed debut album “Grace.” Told through never-before-seen footage from Buckley’s archives and intimate accounts from his mother Mary Guibert, former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, Jeff’s former bandmates, including Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred, and luminaries like Ben Harper and Aimee Mann, IT’S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY illuminates one of modern music’s most influential and enigmatic figures.
108 Minutes
#JeffBuckley
@itsneverovermovie
Ex-Hawkwind Maestro Alan Davey and Gunslinger Amped Up by new album and Ace Lemmy tribute
Los Angeles, California: It’s almost 20 years since Alan “Boomer” Davey departed Hawkwind (for the second time!), the band his tumultuous bass playing guided through some of the most significant albums of their post-Lemmy career. And as much as anyone (and more than most), the music he makes and the atmospheres he alchemizes have remained true to the spirit of that band, while venturing too into areas that even Hawkwind have yet to explore. Bedouin, the Psychedelic Warlords, Djinn, Pre-Med, the Lemmy-approved Motörhead tribute band Ace of Spades and a string of solo projects number among Alan’s post Hawkwind activities, but closest to his heart, perhaps, is Gunslinger - a resurrection of the band he led, alongside his cousin Nigel Potter, in the years before he first joined the Hawks. “He got a guitar about the same time I got a bass, so we got together and started with a band called Stallion. Then it was Chainsaw and then onto Gunslinger. So Nigel and I stuck together from the start until I joined Hawkwind.” Potter, he adds, is also “one of the best songwriters the UK ever produced in my opinion.” Based in East Anglia, Alan continue, “We used to play the local scene, village halls, rock pubs, but we did some big gigs too, like Woodbridge Cinema and the Ipswich Corn Exchange (600 capacity).” Gunslinger made its recording debut in 1981, after spotting a “demos wanted” ad placed by Neat Records. “It came down to two bands, Gunslinger and Raven. Unfortunately our drummer at the time left, and we couldn’t find another drummer in time to carry onto the next level, so Raven got the deal.” Gunslinger’s repertoire would not be lost, however. The original line-up reformed for a one-off reunion show in Ipswich in 1985; and, in 2008, their debut album Earthquake in E Minor included material composed during the band’s original lifespan. Further early material appears on the live set, Unlawful Odds. Gunslinger broke up in 2014.
Alan Davey and original Motörhead drummer Lucas FoxAnd now they’re back, with Amped Up, a new album that digs again into the past to present what Alan describes as “five of…the first songs Nigel and I ever wrote, in 1979-1980. In fact, ’Black Glamdring’ was the first song we ever played together as a band, - luckily we had a boom box recording of it and it’s great to bring it back to life alongside ‘Berlin Wall,’ ‘Stone Scared,’ ‘Smoke Wagon’ (originally titled ‘Draw’) and the classic ‘Living Like a Viking,’ all of which have been given a new lease of life they all deserve.” The remainder of the album comprises new material, while accompanying musicians include original Motörhead drummer Lucas Fox and Deep Purple’s Ian Paice on the title track - written back in 1988, explains Alan, “after Lemmy asked me to write a song for a single we could release as a partnership.” Alan made a quick demo which Lemmy loved. But he was also planning to relocate to the USA at that time and this, coupled with Motörhead’s exhaustive touring regimen saw the project mothballed. It was a thrill, he says, to revisit it and, perhaps, finally invoke the magic that the original collaboration would have cast. For Alan himself, however, perhaps the most significant track - and, appropriately, Gunslinger’s new single - is “The Ace,” a tribute to Lemmy that combines some of Lemmy’s own song titles with Davey’s own experiences “hanging out with Lemmy at his house and out clubbing in London. What fun days they were!” SINGLE: https://orcd.co/gunslinger_theace
Alan also credits Lemmy's influence with the very sound and tone of Amped Up. It was Lemmy, after all, who encouraged the young musician’s own musical ambitions and style, which in turn allows Alan to proclaim, without an ounce of hyperbole, “the Motörhead sound still lives on through Gunslinger, Lem is still with us and always will be. I know 100% that Lemmy would’ve loved this album. “We have that aggressive, high energy sound, but we have our own unique writing style… and that is a quote a long time ago from Lemmy himself!” CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=gunslinger+amped+upDIGITAL: https://orcd.co/gunslinger_ampedup Track listing1. Sun Up2. Berlin Wall
3. Stone Scared
4. Smoke Wagon
5. Living Like A Viking
6. Black Glamdring
7. The Ace
8. Someone’s Got You In The Gunsights
9. Like A Bullet
10. 20 Paces
11. Amped Up
12. Sundown CLEOPATRA RECORDS, INC.Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify | Cleopatra Records Store www.CleopatraRecords.com
Terence Fixmer's 'Magnetic North' EP Is Out Today On Mute / NovaMute
TERENCE FIXMER NEW EP
MAGNETIC NORTH
EXTENDED EDITION OF NEW ALBUM
THE PARADOX IN ME
OUT TODAY ON MUTE / NOVAMUTE
LISTEN TO NEW TRACK “MAGNETIC NORTH”
Photo credit: Rebecca Balas Ombra
Terence Fixmer’s new EP Magnetic North is out now alongside an extended edition of THE PARADOX IN ME, Fixmer’s second album for Mute / NovaMute, which features three new tracks, “In Synthesis (Vocal Mix),” “Razor Sharp (Version Two)” and “Close to You (Live Version).”
The new EP launches today with the video for title track “Magnetic North,” which Fixmer explains, “serves as a bridge between THE PARADOX IN ME and the sound of my future album, which will lean towards the club, and be more techno, and hypnotic with raw sounds.”
Watch the video for “Magnetic North” HERE.
Alongside “Magnetic North” sits a brand new remix of “Evolve” by German techno powerhouse Marcel Dettmann plus a remix of “Another End” by German techno producer / DJ, and founder of Recorded Things imprint, Oliver Rosemann.
Listen to the Magnetic North EP HERE.
On THE PARADOX IN ME he confronts this duality, stretching the limits of dance music by interlacing evocative, cinematic electronics with pounding, peak-time 4/4 pulses. "There's always a fight between directions," he says. "This album represents all the sounds I have within me."
Fixmer burst onto the scene in the late ‘90s, establishing the Planete Rouge label in 1998 and releasing a slew of influential 12"s under a pseudonym before Muscle Machine, his acclaimed debut album which pioneered a new genre that merges the sounds of EBM and Techno.
Not long later, he achieved a personal milestone, collaborating with Nitzer Ebb vocalist Douglas McCarthy for two albums as FixmerMcCarthy that bridged the gap between EBM and classic techno. Since then, he's barely stopped for breath, remixing personal heroes like Front 242, Nitzer Ebb and Depeche Mode, as well as respected peers such as Ellen Allien, DJ Hell, Dave Clarke and Sven Väth, simultaneously building up a canon of work on CLR, Electric Deluxe, Ostgut-Ton and of course, Mute and NovaMute.
Fixmer's passion for electronic music hums from every note and carefully engineered beat on the Magnetic North EP, and extended version of THE PARADOX IN ME, which plays almost like an autobiography, and assembles a world that's tactile and strikingly visual, capturing the soul of the synthesizer in all its forms.
Purchase or stream the Magnetic North EP HERE.
Magnetic North Track listing:
1. Another End (Oliver Rosemann Remix)2. Evolve (Marcel Dettmann Remix)
3. Magnetic North
THE PARADOX IN ME (EXTENDED EDITION) Track Listing:
1. Test of the Times
2. In Synthesis
3. Razor Sharp
4. Dark Enough?
5. Another End
6. Paroxysm
7. Shore Break
8. Ephemere
9. Evolve
10. Close to You
11. Void Machinery
12. Glacier
13. In Synthesis (Vocal Mix) – NEW TRACK
14. Razor Sharp (Version Two) – NEW TRACK
15. Close to You (Live Version) – NEW TRACK
CONNECT WITH TERENCE FIXMER
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | WEB
CONNECT WITH MUTE:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | BLUESKY | INSTAGRAM | TIK TOK | WEB
SUDAN ARCHIVES NEW ALBUM OCTOBER 17, DOUBLE SINGLE "MY TYPE" / "YEA YEA YEA" OUT NOW
SUDAN ARCHIVES ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM THE BPM OUT OCTOBER 17 ON STONES THROW
“MY TYPE” / “YEA YEA YEA” OUT NOW
ON TOUR THIS AUTUMN IN UK & EUROPE
Sudan Archives photo credit Yanran Xiong
Sudan Archives has announced that her third album, THE BPM, will be released October 17th on Stones Throw. The double single “MY TYPE” / “YEA YEA YEA” is out now, following on the release of “DEAD” earlier this year. On THE BPM, Sudan Archives – real name Brittney Parks – embodies the concept that following your own muse is the surest route to artistic and personal fulfilment. If her last two albums looked to the past – she was both goddess and muse on 2019’s Athena, and wrote a punky coming-of-age tale for 2022’s Natural Brown Prom Queen – THE BPM imagines a dazzling, chrome-plated future in which we’re all tapped into our own sense of rhythm. As she sings on the album’s title track and thesis: “The BPM is the power.”
THE BPM looks to Sudan’s mother’s roots in Michigan and her father’s in Illinois; it was partially completed in Chicago and Detroit, embracing the club sounds from those cities while taking in everything from Jersey club to contemporary global dance musics and experimental beatwork. The whole record is a family affair: Parks enlisted her sister, a cousin from Detroit, and one of her best friends to assist; exclusively working with people she knew intimately rather than bringing in producers from outside the fold.
On THE BPM she introduces a new persona: Gadget Girl, a technologically advanced musician who’s exalted by her embrace of technology. “I was never the girl in a band in high school – I could only express myself for the first time when I got my first iPad and started making beats on it, and when I got my first electric violin. I’m all gadget girled out now, but I’ve never felt so free as a human,” she says.
THE BPM explores themes of mental illness, self-love, technology, romance and heartbreak even as it embraces a raucous, party-starting energy. It also introduces a more clarified Sudan – an executive producer and artist moving with grace and gonzo confidence through her most fun, freewheeling record yet.
Sudan describes “MY TYPE” as her first “rap rap song” – a cascading track about sexual liberation that also features some of her most outré production. “The song is kind of flirty and corny and sexy, because I’m hyping up my friends and also saying ‘These are the types of girls I like’,” she says. “It’s also hinting on sexuality – are these just friends, or women I’m in love with?” In the video directed by Luke Orlando, Sudan produces multiple ‘types’ of herself, cycling through personalities before reconciling the person behind the technology and self she’s created.
Previously released track “DEAD” was described by the New York Times as a “shape-shifting, maximalist, ultimately unstoppable track” and by Stereogum as “a full-on dance floor rager”. The song was used by Chanel in their Fall/Winter 2025 show at Paris Fashion Week. Watch the “DEAD” video here, and watch Sudan performing the track in a Bronco with the doors taken off in DTLA.
Sudan Archives has also announced her biggest headline shows in the UK & Europe to date, see below for dates and buy tickets here.
Preorder THE BPM
Watch the “MY TYPE” music video
https://youtu.be/9vhoQJuC7UU?si=Gsp_8VynQksPk8a7
Listen: “MY TYPE” / “YEA YEA YEA”
https://sthrow.com/my-type-yea-yea-yea
SUDAN ARCHIVES ON TOUR
Aug 2 - Idyllwild, CA - FWB Fest
Sep 7 - Durham, NC - Duke University
Sep 13 - Brooklyn, NY - Under The K Bridge w/ TV On the Radio
Sep 26 - Austin, TX - Levitation
Nov 7 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room Festival
Nov 27 - Berlin, DE - Betonhalle
Nov 29 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
Nov 30 - Brussels, BE - Botanique - Orangerie
Dec 1 - Paris, FR - Le Trianon
Dec 3 - London, UK - The Roundhouse
Dec 4 - Manchester, UK - Academy 2
Dec 5 - Leeds, UK - Stylus
Dec 6 - Glasgow, UK - QMU
Dec 8 - Dublin, IE - The Academy
THE BPM cover artwork by Tom Moon
Connect with Sudan Archives:
Instagram | X | Facebook | TikTok | Website
THE ARMED DROP “SHARP TEETH” FROM UPCOMING ALBUM
THE ARMED DROP “SHARP TEETH” FROM UPCOMING ALBUM THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED
TOUR DATES ON SALE NOW
The Armed’s new album THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED comes in two weeks (August 1st), and today they are back with its final single, “Sharp Teeth.” A track that brings in the band’s knack for balancing raucous hardcore with extremely catchy hooks, “Sharp Teeth” sees the return of Dan Greene, paranoid, surveilling, and under surveillance all at once in the accompanying video. The video includes stunning references to Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present, a helicopter, and other easter eggs. The track follows “Kingbreaker” and “Well Made Play.”
“Sharp Teeth” music video: https://youtu.be/7AL3AMdN3bs?si=fQVCw...
“Kingbreaker” music video – https://youtu.be/RU5z-l7SSTw
“Well Made Play” video – https://youtu.be/Smiq2FP9Mos
The Armed THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED pre-order/pre-save - https://lnk.thearmed.com/TFIHAENTBD
After completing a trilogy of albums laser-focused on dissecting artistic authenticity in the Information Age, The Armed began work on new material with no premeditated rules or concepts—favoring only raw expression and urgency to herald a new era for the project. What emerged is a furious and confrontational new album—THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED. Still genre-defying, yet overtly pissed, it's an unfiltered expression of Weltschmerz, the German term describing the anguish of the world’s reality versus our idealized visions of what it should be. “It’s music for a statistically wealthy population that somehow can’t afford food or medicine—endlessly scrolling past vacation photos, gym selfies, and images of child amputees in the same feed. It reflects the dissociation required just to exist in that reality,” Wolski explains.
Tickets for the bands 9 headline shows are on sale now. Spanning from summer to winter, cities include Boston, New York City, DC, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit. Support on the tour will include fellow Detroit area brutalists Prostitute.
The album includes performances by Ken Szymanski, Patrick Shiroishi, Urian Hackney, Kurt Ballou, Troy Van Leeuwen, Meghan O’Neil, Cara Drolshagen, Tony Wolski, Brian Wolski, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Ben Chisholm, Prostitute, Zach Weeks, Mark Guiliana, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, and Derek Coburn.
Photo Credit: Aaron Jones
THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED
Well Made Play
Purity Drag
Kingbreaker
Grace Obscure
Broken Mirror ft. Prostitute
Sharp Teeth
I Steal What I Want
Local Millionaire
Gave up
Heathen
A More Perfect Design
The Armed Tour Dates
8.14 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair
8.15 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
8.16 - Washington DC - The Atlantis
9.16 - Seattle, WA - SUBSTATION
9.17 - Portland - Mississippi Studios
9.19 - San Francisco - Rickshaw Stop
9.20 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy Theatre
12.12 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
12.13 - Detroit, El Club
All Dates to feature Prostitute
FOR MORE ON THE ARMED
Tortoise announce series of special concerts across this fall
TORTOISE ANNOUNCE SERIES OF SPECIAL CONCERTS ACROSS FALL 2025
INCLUDING A PERFORMANCE W/ CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC AT THE AUDITORIUM, TWO-NIGHT STAND AT BOWERY BALLROOM IN NYC, & BARBICAN CENTRE IN LONDON
Photo by Heather CantrellToday Tortoise announce a series of special concerts to take place across October and November 2025. The announcement follows the March release of digital single “Oganesson,” the band’s first new music in 9 years, and the subsequent Oganesson Remixes, an EP containing reworks of the single by Saul Williams, Makaya McCraven, Heba Kadry, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, and Broken Social Scene, all of which previews a new album to be released by International Anthem and Nonesuch Records this fall.
The run begins with a performance at Los Angeles contemporary art museum The Broad on October 18th, and is followed by two shows in Texas the next week. The band then return to Chicago for a special performance with the Chicago Philharmonic, before a show at University of Kentucky, and a rare two-night stand at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. The run culminates with a performance at the legendary Barbican Centre in London. Full list of dates, venues, and ticket links below. For most shows, tickets go on sale this Friday, July 18th, at 10am local time.
Los Angeles CA - Saturday October 18th - The Broad - tickets
Austin TX - Thursday October 23rd - Radio/East - tickets
Marfa TX - Saturday October 25th - Flying Island - tickets
Chicago IL - Tuesday November 11th - The Auditorium w/ Chicago Philharmonic - tickets
Lexington KY - Wednesday November 12th - Singleton Center for the Arts - tickets
New York NY - Friday November 14th - Bowery Ballroom - tickets
New York NY - Saturday November 15th - Bowery Ballroom - tickets
London UK - Saturday November 22nd - Barbican Centre - SOLD OUT
November 11th will be particularly special, as the band plays a unique hometown show with the Chicago Philharmonic at The Auditorium. Tortoise will debut new music and perform classic material from their influential catalog, accompanied by a live orchestra in a first-of-its-kind performance for the band at the historic landmarked venue in downtown Chicago. The concert promises to be an immersive experience — one that reflects both the experimental and iconic spirit of Tortoise and the classical prowess of the Chicago Philharmonic, held in the acoustically rich setting of The Auditorium. Tickets here.
Oganesson Remixes is out now, listen to it here. 
cover art for Oganesson Remixes by John Herndon
TRACKLIST
Oganesson (original version)
Oganesson (Saul Williams Remix)
Oganesson (Heba Kadry Remix)
Oganesson (Patrick Carney Remix)
Oganesson (Broken Social Scene Remix)
Oganesson (Makaya McCraven Remix)
Stay connected with Tortoise:
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Announcing 'L7’s 40th Anniversary Bash' | Headliners: Lunachicks + CSS, Oct. 3
L7
Announces L7’s 40th Anniversary Bash
at The Belasco Theater in Downtown LA
on Friday, October 3
Presale : Thurs, July 17 @ 10amPST / 1pmEST
General On-Sale : Fri, July 18 @ 10amPST / 1pmEST
Headliners Announced Today:
L7 ★ Lunachicks ★ CSS
In 2024, rock icons L7 threw their inaugural hometown Fast and Frightening Takeover of the Belasco Theater, a menacing night of music and art to much acclaim spanning The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, BrooklynVegan, FLOOD Magazine, 95.5 KLOS, KCRW and more. Today they announce they will bring their bombastic vision to LA audiences again this fall as L7’s 40th Anniversary Bash on Friday, October 3. The band is thrilled to celebrate this career milestone with fellow headliners Lunachicks, and CSS announced today. Additional performers coming soon.
Presented by L7 and curated by frontwoman Donita Sparks, the event will again be held at the historic Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Similar to last year, the evening will have five bars, two stages, and be all ages! Presale begins today and general on-sale begins Friday, July 18 @ 10amPST / 1pmEST.
Legendary frontwoman Donita Sparks shares,
“This will mark the second year of our annual takeover of The Belasco Theater in Los Angeles which coincides with L7’s 40th anniversary, so we are making it a big party!
Suzi and I started the band way back in 1985 withstanding many trials and tribulations, band members, and misogynist rock dinosaurs. Gratefully, we survived, even thrived at times, and we want to celebrate with some of our very special friends who joined us along the way.
Enter our sisters-in-arms, Lunachicks, whom we haven’t played a show with since 1990, at CBGBs in New York City. This will truly be a momentous event of insanity and rock and roll.
Adding to this rowdiness are our pals CSS, who will get the electro-fun party going. We go back with those maniacs as well.
I think all three of our bands share a certain sense of humor, political right-on-ness and bombastic energy so look out mellow ones… you will be rocking! Come on out and join our celebration.”
Photo Credit: Robert Fagan
L7 and Lunachicks outside CBGBs in New York City, May 25, 1990
Instagram | Website | Facebook | X
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube
The Telephone Numbers announce new LP on Slumberland, share first single "Be Right Down"
STREAM: "Be Right Down" -
Streaming Services
Today SF janglepop band The Telephone Numbers has announced its sophomore LP, Scarecrow II, due Oct. 10 on Slumberland Records. It's been four long years since the band released its debut LP, The Ballad Of Doug.
The Telephone Numbers have established themselves (without the help of algorithms or social media) as a crucial part of San Francisco's fertile indie music scene, sharing members with The Reds, Pinks & Purples and The Umbrellas and sporting a musical palette that takes in everything from the rootsier end of Byrds jangle to Lemonheads-tinged power-pop to the pop sophistication of bands like The Go-Betweens and The Church.
Scarecrow II is their second album and a massive step forward for the band. Recorded by Alicia Vanden Heuvel at SF's Speakeasy Studios, this set of songs is deeper and richer, foregrounding their crafty tunes and lovely melodies, adding just-right bits of trumpet, violin and organ to the mix. With Scarecrow II, The Telephone Numbers have created a record overflowing with warmth, an earnest exploration of traditionalist pop that feels fresh, vital, and essential.
***
San Francisco’s Telephone Numbers are making music inspired by mid 80-90s American college rock, a sonically sunny detour from seemingly endless 90s shoegaze and alt-rock revivals. Thomas Rubenstein’s signature bright jangle is tempered by heady literary lyrics and surrounded by harmonica, violin, and mandolin arrangements. Songs on their forthcoming record, Scarecrow II, harken deep
Minneapolis and Athens vibes from a time when you found your favorite bands by taping late night college rock stations, sent a S.A.S.E. for a catalog, and listened to one song over and over again until the mail came.
After an LP and a few singles on the Meritorio, Fruits and Flowers, and Paisley Shirt labels, their sophomore effort is out October 10 on Slumberland Records. Scarecrow II shines with tape-off-the-radio gems that echo back to a time before gentrification took our favorite spots and when making indie music didn’t demand constant self- promotion and branding. “Battle of Blythe Road” is a slow jangler that maps the claustrophobic competition of a music scene onto the infamous-among-Literature-majors mystical showdown between Aleister Crowley and William Butler Yeats. “Be Right Down” features Rubenstein’s earnest lyrics boosted by Morgan Stanley’s heavenly backing vocals and guitar jangle on repeat. Mid-tempo “Ebb Tide” works in a similar fashion, with ghostly slide guitars and organ supporting a pleading chorus that harkens a bit to early Gin Blossoms on “Alison Road.”
On this record, core band members include Morgan Stanley (The Umbrellas), Phil Lantz (Neutrals, Chime School), and Charlie Ertola. Mixed by Chris Cohen and recorded with Alicia Vanden Heuvel (The Aislers Set) at her Speakeasy Studios space, the band is supported with a best of the SF bay roster, including Anna Hillburg (trumpet), Andy Pastalaniec (organ), K. Dylan Erdich (violin and mellotron), Tony
Molina (guitar), Vanden Heuvel (bells) and Lewis Gallardo (slide guitar).
The magic of the full bay crew is cemented on “Pulling Punchlines,” a rocking jammer that swirls with anxious nostalgia and is lightened by Hillburg’s trumpet bursts and Stanley’s and Rubenstein’s singsong back-and-forth vocals. A listen to the album’s ten tracks might conjure a similar effect to the world weary– an important pop music intervention that doesn’t seek to escape what worries us–but wraps us in the
honest admission that we’re all feeling it and maybe we can get through it together.
Press photos by Arvel Hernandez
The Telephone Numbers
Scarecrow II
(Slumberland)
Street Date: Oct. 10
Formats: digital / lp / cd
Pre-order HERE
Track List:
01 Goodbye Rock n Roll
02 Be Right Down
03 Ebb Tide
04 Falling Dream
05 Pulling Punchlines
06 This Job Is Killing Me
07 Battle of Blythe Road
08 Hemlock
09 Telephone Numbers Theme
10 Scarecrow
THE TELEPHONE NUMBERS LINKS:
Bandcamp
Slumberland Records
Jamie Lidell Shares New Single + Video "Capture The Moon" | 'Places of Unknowing' LP Out July 18th via TODO
"Capture The Moon" Out Now
Places of Unknowing LP Out July 18th via TODO
LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Jamie Lidell - "Capture The Moon"YouTube | Stream
LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Jamie Lidell - "How Do I Land"
YouTube | Stream
LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Jamie Lidell - "The Center"
YouTube | Stream
Jamie Lidell today has released his new single "Capture The Moon" from his upcoming LP Places of Unknowing, out this Friday, July 18th via TODO. With a magnificent vocal performance bolstered by atmospheric piano and striking soundscapes, the new track is a fantastic preview of the album. Places of Unknowing is a complete departure from everything he's done before–working with esteemed classical (Grammy Winning) musicians Rob Berger & Pascal LeBoef, Jamie's new sound verges on neoclassical with various parts of his history shining through. Jamie explains: "The piano explores the world afterwards. Before is a story of love that was always transactional. The voice, rather than cowering to the realization, stands in defiance with a little hope for those that can relate." Album singles "How Do I Land" and "The Center," have earned praise and support from Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Under The Radar, Our Culture, and more.
Lidell has had both a mainstream pop / soul career where he has opened for artists such as Prince, James Brown and Bjork to that of a nameless, faceless techno producer in his Super_Collider days. This album is Jamie reflecting on his past, drawing inspiration from various stages of his career and the results are a reflective, grown up Jamie wrapped up in a full orchestral piece.
As an artist and performer, Jamie Lidell has had a hell of a life. Ping-ponging from the avant-garde to clubland hedonism to the mega-mainstream and all points in between, he's adopted personae from techno/electronic producer to flamboyant showman. He’s made monstrous noise and sweet soul music. He’s performed in art spaces, rave dungeons and the biggest stages in the world in a whirlwind of creativity. But since relocating to Nashville and starting a family, he’s experienced isolation, introspection, being brought face-to-face with his own neurodivergence, and has had to completely reassess his relationship to himself, his history, his music and creative processes. And now all of that is expressed in Places of Unknowing, his first album in nearly a decade.
Places of Unknowing is Lidell’s first full-length release since 2016’s Building a Beginning and marks a striking evolution in both sound and spirit. During COVID lockdown, Jamie took it on himself to learn piano for the first time, and began recording some lyrics written by his wife, Lindsey. Singing some else’s words – albeit someone he felt a deep responsibility to – and having an entirely new musical palette to draw from was immensely refreshing. The results are gripping: heavily inspired by David Sylvian and Bowie, on Places of Unknowing Jamie explores dark places, revisiting some of the shadows he cavorted through with Super_Collider, but with new confidence and clarity.
Places of Unknowing is out today via TODO.
Jamie Lidell - "Capture The Moon"
Places of Unknowing - Tracklisting
Inner WorldReturn of the RepressedHow Do I LandChoralemeUnmaskingLast Day of MourningThe CenterThe Night I Went CrazyCapture The MoonNever Agreed To PlayOrdinary DrynessJAMIE LIDELL BIO:
Jamie Lidell is unmasking. As an artist and performer he’s had a hell of a life, ping-ponging from the avant-garde to clubland hedonism to the mega-mainstream and all points in between, adopting personae from faceless, nameless techno producer to flamboyant showman. He’s made monstrous noise and sweet soul music, he’s performed in art spaces, rave dungeons and the biggest stages in the world in a whirlwind of creativity. But since relocating to Nashville and starting a family, he’s experienced isolation, introspection, being brought face-to-face with his own neurodivergence, and has had to completely reassess his relationship to himself, his history, his music and creative processes. And now all of that is expressed in Places of Unknowing, his first album in nearly a decade and a stark and beautiful departure from anything he’s ever done before.
It was only when he met his wife Lindsey that he “had to really unpack a lot of who I'd become through those years, hardening myself to deal with people and to perform on a regular basis.” As they settled into domestic life in New York, and then Nashville, Jamie slowly, slowly began to shake off the need for relentless stimulation and approval. You can hear some of that process of unwinding and fierce self-examination through 2016’s Building a Beginning, his first self-released album.
In the decade since Jamie's first self-released album, 2016s Building a Beginning, his focus has been on family life, and his creative outlet has been the Hanging Out With Audiophiles podcast – which has been a haven for him, a place to enjoy musical process and sound entirely for their own sakes, as well as great conversation with a striking array of talents. He continued accumulating studio tech expertise, and singing every day (“I understand now, it’s basic nervous regulation for me!”), but – as he says with typically unflinching attitude – “I often feel semi-retired. Like in a slightly nihilistic way, there’s a sense of ‘What’s it all for?’”
Things changed for Jamie in COVID lockdown. The introspection stepped up yet another notch, and a strange need for new expression took hold. Discovering his family's neighbours were esteemed classical musicians – they never met outside the lockdown times as they were always on tour – Jamie took it on himself to learn piano for the first time, and began recording some lyrics written by his wife, Lindsey. Singing some else’s words – albeit someone he felt a deep responsibility to – and having an entirely new musical palette to draw from was immensely refreshing. The results are gripping: heavily inspired by David Sylvian and Bowie, on Places of Unknowing Jamie explores dark places, revisiting some of the shadows he cavorted through with Super_Collider, but with new confidence and clarity.
Where he goes next from here is unwritten. That sense of semi-retirement lingers, having little to prove and being several steps removed from the music industry itself. But at the same time, the ever-present need to tinker and explore the process is drawing him more into the world of post-classical composition and arrangement, starting with a one-off orchestrated performance of the album. And most importantly of all, there’s a powerful motive to continue: “If I'm gonna teach my son anything, it's: follow that passion because especially as an autistic person, you need those special interests to guide you in life. That will be your saving grace when people are mocking you for being different. Having that and knowing the power of that is huge. And not to be all ‘life lesson’ about it, I know I should take a little bit of my own advice!”
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