NEW.MUSIC.FRIDAY with a host of enticing new artists
some of whom you enjoy so much that you ebulliently share them with your friends!
EL PETIT DE CAL ERIL - N.S.C.A.L.H. [LP](Pickpocket ESP)
Several months ago, we stumbled upon this enchanting Spanish group that construct these minimal Synth Pop songs that are always more complex than they let on. Since the “Com Quan Dormim” 7” (reviewed here on 2.11.21 and in Heavy rotation for months,) El Petit De Cal Eril has encountered quite the growth spurt. “E.N.S.C.A.L.H.” is packed with unassuming tracks that build beautifully around the most elemental synth parts (“Non tornerai,”) twist around their trademarked phased guitar (“Les hores,”) and even concoct a jangly love song (“Cada dia surt el sol” with a stunning chorus.) This time out their Catalan Pop has so much going on that it defies categorization. So heavenly songs that pull your heartstrings and hook you with melody, just gets to be Pop.
SWEET TEETH - Acid Rain EP (Lovely SWE)
Sweden has a long tradition of great uptempo RAWK bands. Most of them combine that garage aesthetic with a stadium-sized swing at the fences. Sweet Teeth goes for the Husker Du buzz AND the Power Pop structure of Nineties Rock. “Acid Rain” could easily be a Dinosaur Jr. with its chug/jangle. While “My Heart Is Big And Broken” is the right combination of guitar thrust and ringing chords. However, the promising quartet only needs 48 seconds to sell you on their importance. “Shattered Glass Face” is Amerindie, Nineties swollen Rock, and modern screech all in one sonic shot that you can listen to 25 times while reading this page. Look out for Sweet Teeth!
KOKOROKO - Baba Ayoola [12”](Brownswood UK)
At the intersection of Fela Kuti and London Jazz, you will find Kokoroko. This collection of musicians really knows how to summon and build emotion. On “Baba Ayoola,” they do a masterful job of layering their parts and bringing in new melodies that entice you to listen more fervently. It’s so funky, it’s hard to believe it is in 5/4. However, that is the draw of “Baba Ayoola,” these melodies and countermelodies rarely hit the same places twice.
ELSA HEWITT - LUPA [LP/CD](Tompkins Square)
Another Brownswood London sound artist, Elsa Hewitt comes at Electronic music with an organic focus. Her beats massage her tracks almost as much as her multi-tracked voice. Guitars, keys, and more instrumentation are here to create a sort of wash for Hewitt. One would imagine Hewitt wants to be one of those improvisers with a battery of keyboards, effects, and a microphone for emphasis. However, “LUPA” is not another looping showcase. Hewitt is making dance music (“Higher Bear” finds some wild skittering beats, while “Car In The Sun” could be Eighties Synth Pop with modern rhythms) that doubles as R&B-ish Dream Pop.
PLAYGROUP - Epic Sound Battles Chapter 1 [LP](Lantern ITA)
The On-U crew defines 80’s Dub. The digital play of hearing artificial chorus taken to unnatural limits, sounds doubled over each other, and above all that hard beat. Playgroup was an On-U side project led by Bruce Smith from the Slits, African Head Charge, and The Pop Group. Where the bass anchors most Dub, Playgroup tends to use it a more Post-Punk manner (check “Crunch”.) “Epic Sound Battle” throws a lot of sounds at you (many at once) but never loses its groove (even as tones are literally bouncing and synths are tweaked to sound like UFO’s panning between your ears.” “The Slither” twirls the saxophone in and out of effects until the unnatural sounds natural. In the end, that may be what this 1982 release still has to offer - a world that feels familiar but leaves you in a completely new place.
POSTCARDS - After The Fire, Before The End [LP](t3 GER)
The Lebanese trio Postcards have always had music that was harmonious and etched with optimism. Since the awful explosion in their hometown of Beirut last year, Postcards seem to be mending in the comforting wash of Shoegaze. “Home Is So Sad” is heartbreaking. The shot-like percussion, funereal organ, and the distant whisper of Julia Sabra. “After The Fire” is powerful in its evocation of losing power. “Bruises” recalls the haunted grace of Broadcast with its percussive chorus. While “Sea Change” is a lengthy Lush-ian opaque song about their world feeling ripped open by gunshots. “After The Fire” is Dream-is-over Pop.
HTRK - Rhinestones [CD](N&J Blueberries)
To listen to HTRK’s latest is to carefully tune in on their wavelength and wait (in thrall) for the big finish. Their Mazzy Star-ish breeziness can feel more lightweight than the gauzy drama of Beach House. Where those tracks are generally out to envelope you, HTRK is casting its spell but eschewing predictability. “Fast Friend” is a wave you ride out as guitars twang and the electronic beat hits you right upfront. “Real Headf&$k” is their closest song to a single with a driving chorus. However, the lightness of “Sunlight Feels Like Bee Stings” and the woozy groove of “Valentina” could go on forever and ever.
GRIZZLOR - Hammer of Life [LP](HEX)
Connecticut’s Grizzlor sounds like they want to combine the lumbering Godzilla riffing of Jesus Lizard with the abstract yet adenoidal storytelling of Les Claypool and Primus. The band is fierce as the rhythm section locks into a groove and bashes it out. There in the atmospheric room-mic vocals of Vic Dowgiallo and his guitar is where the real fight happens. If his band is the stilts that let him stumble around like a drunken circus clown, “Hammer of Life” is the perfect separation of lockstep and chaos. Take the “Here Comes Dudley” whack of “Paralyzed.” Here is a fodderstompf- style riff, all together it is crushing you like Godzilla. Separated, Dowgiallo howls in the distance like a raging madman - then, closely mic’ed zooms through some stinging, string-skipping lead before demolishing his guitar for the final 30 seconds. With Albini-style production, their live sound would like feel like a howitzer and Grizzlor can be the monster band it looks to be.
IRON LIZARDS - Hungry For Action [LP](The Sign Records SWE)
This French power trio bears down and puts the pedal to the Metal like classic early Motorhead. Every song is blistering speed demon Rock. Guitars squelch and riffs are wielded like swords. “The Way You Play The Game” never gets quiet. In fact, it shows Iron Lizards at their best with each player threatening to topple the towering song even when they slow it down for a little metallic grind. “Obey/Annihilate” is their three-minute epic. When it redlines, the guitar just hangs on a chord until the amp feeds back. Then, the RPMs zoom back up yet again. Twelve out-and-out rockers that never break the three-minute barrier and always bring the high-octane old school Metallic RAWK.
JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD - Garbage Man [7”](Infinity Cat)
Jeff The Brotherhood has never been one for predictability. Their years of vaulting between Power Pop, Garage, Psychedelic, and Punk Rock have not produced an all-out screaming, sludgy, distortion-drenched stomp like “Garbage Man.” Still cannot decide if this is a new JTB crawling from the primordial ooze or the last barbaric primal scream of the band. Farewell to Infinity Cat, these 500 singles mark the final physical release from their label.
Perhaps the deepest dive yet…
NEIL YOUNG - Carnegie Hall 1970 Primer
The career of Neil Young continues to be mined like the treasure trove it is. In recent years, Young has added live albums, abandoned studio sessions, and a continuing series of him revamping his tracks almost from year to year in places. As the "Carnegie Hall 1970" 2LP/2CD kicks off his Bootleg Series, these spartan live recordings make a great nexus to reassemble his Archives, Official Series, and Live Series records into a true "Journey Into The Past."
The seminal Neil Young acoustic song would have to be "Sugar Mountain." On Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972, his 1965 studio demo encapsulates the true loneliness he was experiencing when he wrote it on his 19th birthday in 1964. Never officially released until 1977's indispensable "Decade," Young had been playing this for years with fans like Joni Mitchell talking about it and its relegation to a B-side.
"Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" sounds dramatically different from his 1965 demo to its 1966 single release with Buffalo Springfield. Young handles all of the tempo changes on acoustic without missing a beat. As it turns out, Richie Furay was visiting Young's apartment and loved the version he played for him. As the debut single for Buffalo Springfield, Young let Furay sing it. When it was stylized into the Folk/Rock of its day - it earned the band radio airplay in their new home of Los Angeles and almost charted.
One of the great mysteries of Sixties Rock is the formation/coalescence/dissolution of Buffalo Springfield. The common reason is the "too many egos in the same room" theory. From 1966's debut to 1967's "Buffalo Springfield Again," the band went from working together to recording apart. Young's "Down Down Down" was recorded toward the end of the debut album's sessions in September. One can hear from listening to the demo how the "jingle-jangle" Folk feeling and Young's more languid vocals may not fit (or were already represented on the longing of "Out of My Mind.") Still as a demo, there is some quicksilver lightning here - which will be employed in the collage-style pieces of Young's "Broken Arrow" on 1967's "Buffalo Springfield Again."
The Dylanesque "Sell Out" from the "Again" sessions features some great Young lyrics placed in a call-and-response with Stills' searing lead. But, the "Archives" version is excised down to a slim 1:40. Apparently, the cut did not meet Buffalo Springfield's standards and was offered to other bands and put out to pasture. In addition, the solo 12-string ballad "One More Sign" shows some Dylanesque majesty. That song was not played live again by Young until 2018 when he performed it along with the Buffalo Springfield-era arrangement of "Birds" on piano (which kind of appears as "Birds (1968)" with Jim Messina on bass and George Grantham on drums.
By May 1968, the classic incarnation of Buffalo Springfield was over, Young retreated to Topanga to begin working on his solo debut. By the end of the summer, he had a single version of "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" that contains a wispy flute solo. In opposition to the beautifully arranged album version of "I've Been Waiting For You" from his debut, the Canterbury House solo rendition is a beauty. Young's phrasing on the verses, the way he builds up the chorus and then pulls off for the "such a long time now" descent is well worth the effort.
One of the lesser early tracks "The Last Trip To Tulsa" from the debut appears slightly abbreviated (by two minutes) in an acoustic set from The Riverboat in Toronto from February 1969. "Tulsa" in this stark, intimate setting gives Young a great opportunity to spell it out like a Folk song and just give in to the narrative. This new confidence and the discovery of Crazy Horse lead to the seven classic tracks that comprise the second album "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" in May 1969. At the exact same time that record was released, Crosby, Stills, and Nash sprang their debut on the world. By August, they were ..and Young. "Dance, Dance, Dance" with Crazy Horse would have easily fit into "Nowhere." Turning up the twang and the harmonies, it sounds like a barnburner. Months later, at Woodstock, CSNY debuted "Sea of Madness" and those four-part harmonies aided by Stills' fiery guitar.
Speaking of live cuts, the Fillmore East show with Crazy Horse in March 1970 is a highlight for Neil and the band as they gel onstage. The late Danny Whitten duets with Young on "Come On Baby (Let's Go Downtown)" years before its historic appearance on "Tonight's The Night." The track marks the appearance of that wild doubled guitar sound that Neil will make famous, and their ability to pack a song about sordid dealing with that boogie that you could hear all night long.
The sessions for "After The Gold Rush" reflected change and a mixture of ambition and anxiety for Young. Whitten's health leads to Crazy Horse appearing on a pair of cuts. Young's new band consisting of CSNY bassist Greg Reeves, Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina and Grin's Nils Lofgren give more color to the intimate songs. When Young with CSN and his new band play shows in 1970, Young tells the audience "we are not here to play our greatest hits." So, they wield a few new songs including the waltz "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" which sounds angelic as Young reaches for those high notes aided by their harmonies. "Tell Me Why" manages to soar even higher.
By the end of 1970, Young is back on the road on his own. His performances, while always consistent, are starting to give each song a slightly different shade and tone than before. Six shows from November 30-December 2, 1970 in Washington DC were culled for the thirteen songs on "Live at the Cellar Door." Upon release, this marked the first time many listeners heard Neil playing those Buffalo Springfield songs ("Flying On The Ground Is Wrong" with a lonely piano as a cautionary tale) and the often bootlegged "Bad Fog of Loneliness" which hints at Young edging toward "Harvest." When it shakes off its nightclub-ish start, "Expecting To Fly" floats along like a hymn. While "Down By The River" on his detuned guitar chimes even when Young bangs it out of tune. Two days later, he is achieving that dream of playing Carnegie Hall.
Just beyond the triumph of Carnegie Hall in December 1970, the first months of 1971 see Young at Toronto's Massey Hall. The January 19th show is more relaxed (perhaps Young feels more at home.) Much like "Carnegie Hall," Young is running through of mixture of songs old and new. He opens with a bright, hopeful version of the last Buffalo Springfield single "On The Way Home" and the version of the new song "The Needle and The Damage Done" will appear on 1972's "Harvest" (with four other tracks here.) The real thrill is the nascent version of "A Man Needs A Maid" paired with what will be his biggest single ever "Heart of Gold." In this universe, it sounds as cinematic as his opening description. As it cascades from the more complex chords of "Maid," it peaks, and Young slips in a lyrical piano-based "Heart of Gold." Three days later, Young plays it on its own in Connecticut ("Young Shakespeare" - also filmed) By the end of January at Royce Hall at UCLA, "Heart of Gold" becomes its own song on guitar.
Singer-songwriters always develop songs. However, being able to listen to their changes and alterations in front of crowds or with different musicians in studios is invaluable in evaluating an artist. Before the release of "Archive," "Massey Hall," "Fillmore East," and "Young Shakespeare," the dots were far harder to connect. With "Carnegie Hall," it is starting to appear as if Neil Young was shaping his songs for all those years - but finally became the songwriter he wanted to be on those solo shows in 1970/1971.
Well, another week, another list of several different styles and pursuits in music for you. Enjoy. Listen again. Share as you wish.
NEW RELEASES lovingly compiled for you from this very week!
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