James Baldwin and Marlon Brando at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963.
Stevie Wonder "Can We Fix Our Nations Broken Heart" (2024)
Fontaines D.C. at BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge: "Say Yes To Heaven" (Lana Del Rey cover) & "Favourite"
Cool New Singles
(With Links to YouTube Videos)
Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and Jason Isbell campaign for Kamala Harris
Hurrah For The Riff Raff "Buffalo" (live on the Kelly Clarkson Show)
The Hard Quartet. The Hard Quartet. Fantastic debut from the latest indie supergroup to grace our shores, The Hard Quartet, featuring Stephen Malkmus (from Pavement), as well as Matt Sweeney, Emmett Kelly, and Jim White, who have played with musicians such as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ty Segall, and The Dirty Three. They've released three videos and announced three shows so far: October 10 in L.A. at The Belasco, October 17 at New York's Webster Hall, and October 22 in London at The Electric Ballroom. Candidate for The Best Rock Album Of 2024.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy. "Our Home". One of my favorite artists. New album in January.
Stevie Wonder. "Can We Fix Our Nations Broken Heart"
Sleater-Kinney. "This Time". An out-take feat on Little Rope (Deluxe), out Nov. 1
Waxahatchee. "Much Ado About Nothing". Americana swaying in the summer breeze...
Kaktus Einarsson & Damon Albarn. "Gumbri".
St. Vincent. "Hombre Roto". All Born Screaming now in Spanish as Todos Nacen Gritando.
Suzanne Vega. "Rats". Vincent Vega's cousin returns with a punk rock song about urban rats.
The Pixies. "Motoroller". Return to form.Totally. New bassist Emma Richardson sings here too.
Talking Heads. "Psycho Killer" (previously unreleased 1977 take feat Arthur Russell on cello).
Fontaines D.C. "Let's Get Lost". (Chet Baker) & "Say Yes To Heaven" (Lana Del Rey cover)
Carla Olson & Tall Poppy Syndrome. "Is It True" (Brenda Lee cover)
Justin Townes Earle. "Graceland".
Kim Deal. "Crystal Breath"
Mark Lanegan & Beck. "Union Tombstone". Previously unreleased instant classic. RIP Mark.
Amyl & The Sniffers. "Chewing Gum".
Bright Eyes (feat Conor Oberst). "Bells And Whistles" & "Rainbow Overpass"
Elvin Bishop & Los Lobos. "What The Hell Is Going On" (anti-Trump song)
The Hard Quartet (feat Stephen Malkmus). "Earth Hater" & "Rio's Song"
Elvin Bishop & Los Lobos. "What The Hell Is Going On" (anti-Trump song)
The Hard Quartet (feat Stephen Malkmus). "Earth Hater" & "Rio's Song"
MJ Lenderman. "Joker Lips" & "Wristwatch"
Christopher Owens. "I Think About Heaven" & "No Good" (live) & "No Good" (album)
Adrianne Lenker. "Once A Bunch"
Orville Peck. "Death Valley High" (feat Beck)
Adrianne Lenker. "Once A Bunch"
Orville Peck. "Death Valley High" (feat Beck)
Elias Ronnenfelt. "No One Else" & "Like Lovers Do" & "Worm Grew A Spine". Iceage frontman goes solo.... and you're telling me the singer from that trendy Danish metal band is going solo and playing Americana, or something like that??? Reminds me of Conor Oberst's Mystic Valley Band (who I loved). We saw Iceage was going in this direction (softer acoustic music), as in this Bob Dylan cover, "I'll Keep It with Mine", but it's a little surprising to see Elias go all the way on his solo record... Sounds great.
Elias Rønnenfelt - Tapetown Sessions [SPOT FESTIVAL 2024]
Cool New Albums Out October 25th:
The Pixies. The Night The Zombies Came. Return to form with a new bass player.
Elias Rønnenfelt. Heavy Glory. [Escho]. October 25, 2024. Iceage frontman's cool solo project.
Amyl And The Sniffers. Cartoon Darkness. [B2B/Virgin]. October 25, 2024. Amazing tough love from Australia. Be careful! She might bite your tongue while you're kissing!
Cool New Albums Out Now
Fontaines D.C. Romance. Ireland's best band's fourth album takes them to another level. This could very well be The Best Rock Album Of 2024. It's gonna be huge. Enormous. Going To Be Big.
MJ Lenderman "She's Leaving You" (live feat Waxahatchee)
MJ Lenderman. Manning Fireworks. Anticipation couldn't be higher for this album from this rising Americana star, who has a solo career, plays guitar for Wednesday with his ex-partner Karly Hartzman, and recently was a prominent guest artist on the new Waxahatchee album Tigers Blood. And in his spare time... This guy is going to be a huge star after this. Candidate for The Best Rock Album Of 2024.
Bright Eyes. Five Dice, All Threes. New release from Conor Oberst & Friends sounds good, a return to form. Candidate for The Best Rock Album Of 2024.
The Hard Quartet. The Hard Quartet. Fantastic debut from the latest indie supergroup to grace our shores, The Hard Quartet, featuring Stephen Malkmus (from Pavement), as well as Matt Sweeney, Emmett Kelly, and Jim White, who have played with musicians such as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ty Segall, and The Dirty Three. They've released three videos and announced three shows so far: October 10 in L.A. at The Belasco, October 17 at New York's Webster Hall, and October 22 in London at The Electric Ballroom. Candidate for The Best Rock Album Of 2024.
Christopher Owens. I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair. [True Panther]. Formerly the frontperson of Girls, Owens returns with a solo album. Sounds good.
Jon Spencer. Sick Of Being Sick! The Blues Explosion guy is rocking on. I like it.
The Linda Lindas. No Obligation. We loved "Racist, Sexist Boy" but wondered if they'd grow. They did!
The Chesterfield Kings. We're Still All The Same. Singer/bassist Andy Babiuk has been at it since 1979 with The Kings. They're back with very solid album of 60s retro bliss.
Dawes. Oh Brother. Pretty good.
Geordie Greep. The New Sound. Ex-Black Midi singer solo. Avant jazz at its best.
The Smile. Cutouts. Radiohead side project feat Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood releases their second album of 2024, which are actually more songs from the sessions for the first album Wall of Eyes. I'm not much of a Radiohead fan, but I liked Wall of Eyes, so I'll give this a listen.
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80. Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head). Fela's youngest son. Yes.
Leon Bridges. Leon. Cool 70s style sounds. Check it out.
X. Smoke & Fiction. I'm still mad at Exene and Billy Zoom for being into right-wing bs and conspiracy theories but this does sound a lot the old X, who I loved, and I'm enjoying listening to this.I credit John Doe with keeping this going with dignity and style (and energy!).
Jack White. No Name. Very good.
Ray LaMontagne. Long Way Home. Pretty good. Nice songs. Some of them sound like classics we've already known forever.
Maya de Vitry. The Only Moment.
Serj Tankian. Foundations. Lead singer of System Of A Down excellent solo effort.
The Jesus Lizard. Rack. Good stuff. Aggressive.
Jesse Malin. Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin. With alotta help from his friends...
Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets. Indoor Safari. *Very* strong effort from this iconic rocker.
Mano Chao. Viva Tu. English, Spanish, French, Portuguese... It's all here. Check out the title song "Viva Tu".
David Gilmour. Luck And Strange. Pink Floyd's guitarist/singer has a new album out. It's good.
Robyn Hitchcock. 1967: Vacations In The Past. Robyn's salute to the 60s has a lot of heart.
Jeff Tweedy. Starship Casual: Orbit Two. Wilco frontman steps out to do some solo acoustic demos, covers, etc. Great for fans and pretty good for not-yet-fans too. Nice cover of Paul Simon's "America".
Steve Wynn. Make It Right. Veteran rocker returns with some solid new songs.
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. Woodland. Modern Alternative Country Americana roots twang at its best.
Susanna. Meditations On Love. Powerful.
Toro Y Moi. Hole Erth. Always creative and engaging. But less auto-tune next time, ok?
Justin Townes Earle. ALL IN: Unreleased & Rarities (The New West Years). Very cool. A tragic loss.
Meshell Ndegeocello. No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin. Interesting. Different. Nice tribute to queer Black writer James Baldwin, as we note the anniversary of the March on Washington.
Orville Peck. Stampede. That gay cowboy with the sweet-ass voice...
Mdou Moctar: The Agadez Folders: Live at Sultan’s Palace (2024) (47 minutes)(Tuareg, Niger, The Sahel)
RIP Kris Kristofferson, pictured here with Johnny Cash in 1968: "Sunday Morning Coming Down"
Best Archival
The Faces. Faces At The BBC - Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973.[Rhino]. Boxset comprised of 8 CDs and one Blu-ray Disc of the legendary Faces feat Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Ronnie Laine, Kenney Jones, and Ian McLagan. Perhaps the most under-appreciated of the truly great rock bands.
Bob Dylan. The 1974 Live Recordings. Massive 27-CD boxset documenting each iteration of the infamous 1974 national tour of Dylan and The Band. Classic.
Talking Heads. Stop Making Sense. They've never sounded better. There's a couple of live albums out there too that are worth checking out, such as Falling Upwards (Live '79) and Live at WCOZ 77.
Neil Young. Archives Vol. 3 Takes. Worth checking out if only for the Devo collaboration on "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into The Black).
Linda Ronstadt. Sausalito, Nov '73.
Simon & Garfunkel. Manchester, England, May '67.
Stevie Wonder. The Wonder Of Stevie. From Audible.com. Any excuse to listen to Stevie classics from the 70s is a good excuse.
Thin Lizzy. 1976. Love Phil.
Warren Zevon. Have Mercy (Live Chicago '78).
The Velvet Underground. 1969 Velvet Underground Live With Lou Reed. Need a good excuse to listen to Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground? Ok, I'll give you one.
Various Artists. The Concert for Bangladesh. Many are giving this a fresh listen as it is now available on streaming services for the first time. The historic concert (later an album and a film) took place at Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971, with an afternoon show, followed by another in the evening. Featured artists included: George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jesse Ed Davis, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Badfinger, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, and Ravi Shankar. It was the first of the big rock benefit shows for a cause.
Van Morrison. Marin, San Francisco, Sept '71. He was still good. Very, very good. Also been listening a lot to his live 1973 cover of Fred Neil's classic "Everybody's Talking". Circa 1964 - 1972, Van Morrison was on a roll, churning out classics. Since then, it's been hit or miss. I'll never quite forget the spectacle of seeing him at Glastonbury in 1982, putting on a listless, lackluster performance. He even made "Gloria" boring (compared to The Doors and Patti Smith) and he wrote it! Afterwards I saw him sitting in the back of a Mercedes being driven off the festival grounds, smirking smugly. I was struck by the old comments by manager Jerry Heller, who worked with several troublesome clients, including NWA and Easy E, who said Van was the biggest prick he ever worked with in show business. Then there's Van's COVID bullshit. I've really completely written him off at this point. I did enjoy seeing him do Astral Weeks in Berkeley in 2009, and I did like his skiffle album with Lonnie Donegan (1998's The Shuffle Sessions) but c'mon, COVID denial? And as a public figure that people listen to, all the worse to be advocating dangerous and unhealthy positions. Plus his attitude. Smugness and mediocrity make bad bedfellows and his releases since 1972 are extremely hit or miss. I am essentially boycotting Van at this point, although I might make an exception for his 1964 - 1972 period. And I guess I'd throw this song in there too, from a small club performance in Northern California (The Lion's Share, San Anselmo, California, February 15, 1973). I've always loved this song. Love Fred Neil. Love Harry Nilsson. Love Midnight Cowboy. Don't love what Jon Voight and Van Morrison have both become similar, as Ezra Pound said of Winston Churchill, to "a sputtering tank of nicotine and stake whiskey".
Gram Parsons & The Fallen Angels. The Last Roundup: Live From The Bijou Cafe In Philadelphia, March 16, 1973. Been waiting for this to come out on CD or digital for a while now. Finally found a copy. Priceless.
"Early Roman Kings" Bob Dylan feat Elvin Bishop, live August 3, 2024, Mountain View, California.
MLK, "I Have A Dream", March on Washington
Highly Anticipated New Releases
St. Vincent. Todos Nacen Gritando. [Total Pleasure]. November 15, 2024. A re-make of All Born Screaming (2024) with Spanish lyrics.
George Harrison. Living In The Material World (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe). [Dark Horse]. November 15, 2024. 2 CDs, 2 LPs, 1 Blu-Ray, and more, including a cool alternate version of “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (Take 18)”.
Kim Deal. Nobody Love You More. [4AD]. November 22, 2024. Says here that this singer//songwriter/bass player, best known as one of the co-founders of that seminal band, The Pixies and, with her twin sister Kelley Deal, a member of the equally seminal band, The Breeders, is coming out with her DEBUT solo album this year... Intriguing...
Friko. Where We've Been, Where We Go From Here (Expanded Edition). [ATO Records]. November 22, 2024. New version has 11 bonus tracks.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The Purple Bird. [Drag City]. January 31, 2025.
Bob Dylan, "Only A Pawn In Their Game", March on Washington
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