Bitches Brewin': a monthly forum mix-tape

  • That shxcxchcx link is my kind of album review. COLOR ME INTRIGUED.
  • Nice find, charm! Took your advice last night and loved it.
  • And, of course, I’m adding the latest from my fave band, The Amazing.

From Western Mass, Kindling drop their first full length Everywhere Else on No Idea records. Formed with members of the screamo band Ampere this is something fairly different. What we have here is some heavily MBV inspired wall of guitar style shoegaze, with generally a bit more drive to it specifically in the area of drums. A critique could be made that they don’t fully escape the MBV influence and there perhaps isn’t quite enough sonic diversity across the twelve songs, but on the whole a worthwhile listen IMO.

I’d like to have a vinyl copy of that, just for the cover. If the music is good that’s a bonus.

They do the cool blue platter too

Argh! I went to see Kindling in Boston for their record release show and it was a good time, but man I should have gone to their show in Amherst last night instead even if it would have been an extra thirty minute drive. They had a surprise guest, check out who it was.

Bah.

Oh wow. Laughing Dog Bikes. That would’ve been cool.

I read a review of D.Jr’s latest album where the reviewer described J. Mascis as a “grunge Dumbledore”.

Just wanted to share that.

SO LAST MONTH IS FINISHED YEAH AND HERE IT IS>

STILL THIS MONTH FOR A BIT YEAH>>

SO>>>

THE LIGHTHOUSE BECKONS>>>>

Morphine were sort of an alternative jazz rock band that came out of Boston in the 90s. Outside of of New England they were probably bigger overseas than nationally, but they did get play on 120 Minutes and college stations across the country. They sported an atypical lineup, no guitars, just vocals, drums, a sax and a 2 string bass. Of frontman and bassist Mark Sandman, Les Claypool has said “Mark Sandman was probably one of the most creative and fabulous bass players I’ve stumbled across in the last decade or so.”

Morphine disbanded in 1999 after Mark Sandman died tragically of a heart attack on stage while performing with his band at 46.

Oh yeah - they had some songs on the Get Shorty soundtrack, too.

My current jam is Pye Corner Audio’s “Stasis”, which dropped a week or so ago. He’s been working the synth nostalgia/library music angle for a number of years now and he’s gotten pretty excellent at it. If you dug the Stranger Things soundtrack, this will probably stir something in you as well.

Love me that Morphine album and I’m long overdue for a revisit.

Also psyched for a new Pye Corner Audio release. I wonder if the popularity of Stranger Things will give those niche artists a profile boost. Which would be a tad ironic given how closely that would coincide with John Carpenter’s segue away from film and into music.

The Lighthouse by Paul Mosley is sounding really promising. This Quietus review has me intrigued.

I was listening to Mosley, trying to think of a September album I could add when suddenly Space Flower by The Wild Swans popped into my head. Looked it up on AllMusic where it has 4.5 stars so maybe this isn’t a horribly dated artifact of my youth. Then I was reading the review and realized why it came to mind… track 7, I’m A Lighthouse! Brains are weird.

http://www.woundedbird.com/wild_swans/6154.jpg

So I’m revisiting this one and remembering why it rarely left my hand-me-down Oldsmobile’s cassette deck. The title track is killing me, it’s so good.

Added! Happy back-to-school, everybody!

Wild Swans are so so great. Pick an era and go with it, and they’re tremendous.

Ah, great pick! I never get tired of these wonderful Swans records.

It’s hard to figure out why they never found much success. They were maybe a little too fey for U2 and Echo fans to get behind, but they certainly had a knack for the sing-along chorus.

I’ve added the debut solo record from Kate Jackson. She is not a Charlie’s Angel. She’s actually formerly the lead singer of a group called the Long Blondes, who were a bit of a thing in the UK 10 years ago or so.

When that band split up, she discovered that Bernard Butler of Suede/everything pretty much was a fan, and so they began to write songs together. But…apparently a label deal for the record fell apart and so in 2010 Kate decided to say “Hell with it.” She moved to Rome to continue her first love, painting.

Eventually she found her way back in the UK. Friends encouraged her to get back into music. There were finished and unfinished songs on her laptop from working for months with Butler. She gave him a call. Wouldn’t you know it: Butler told her he’d had the previous week off, and had found the songs the two had worked on and gave them a listen and decided they were really good and it was a shame they’d never been released. Absolutely he was interested in getting together, writing more material and recording proper finished versions and released. That was 2014. Bernard’s a busy lad. But they finally got this record done and put it out in 2016. And it is fan-damn-tastic.

Dunno much about Kate, but her voice is tremendous, and really well suited to this material. And Bernard Butler knows how to produce and how to arrange and when he plays guitar it is as if a god has decided to grace the proceedings with his presence.

End of Reason showed up in my Discover Weekly playlist about a month or so ago and it caught my ear, something a bit 80s to it.

Yeah, it has that “could be 80s, could be retro aughts” electro new wave thing to it. It fits with the rest of the record while also being a bit singular too.

This morning in the car, Kate requested Lie to Me. I didn’t recognize the song title but then I found it and learned she had taken a liking to KJ. Guess she appeals to the 7 year-old demographic. My favorite track is Wonder Feeling. Works like gangbusters with the car windows rolled down!

Quality Kates recognize Quality Kates.

I just added Pink Elephant by Gracie Folds. She’s Ben Folds’ 17-yr (?) old daughter and seems pretty talented.