FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Destiny’s Child’s Survivor’s Twentieth Anniversary as a U.K. Number-One

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

 Destiny’s Child’s Survivor’s Twentieth Anniversary as a U.K. Number-One

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IN the latest Lockdown Playlist…

I am marking twenty years since Destiny’s Child went to number-one with the song, Survivor. On 26th April, 2001, the track went to the top of the U.K. chart. Taken from their excellent 2001 album of the same name, Survivor is an absolute classic. The track, unsurprisingly, was a big success:

“Survivor" is a song by American R&B group Destiny's Child. It was written and composed by group member Beyoncé, Anthony Dent, and Mathew Knowles for the band's third studio album of the same name (2001). "Survivor" was inspired by a joke that a radio station had made about the fact that three members had already left the group, comparing the band to the reality game show Survivor. Beyoncé was inspired to take the negative comment and turn it into a positive by writing a song out of it. The song won the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 2002 Grammy Awards.

The video won the 2001 MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video and a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo. The opening track of singer-songwriter Jill Sobule's 2004 album The Folk Years 2003–2003 is a cover of the song, and a pseudo-cover of the song also opens rapper Vanilla Ice's 2005 album Platinum Underground.

Billboard named the song number 40 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time”.

I love the music of 2001. Not only was it very eclectic. One also got to enjoy big Pop songs and R&B anthems - the likes of which we do not really hear twenty years later. As the Official Charts note, it was an interesting musical week when Destiny’s Child scored a number-one with Survivor:

“They weren't going to diss you on the internet, but they were taking over the chart. This week in 2001, Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle – aka the third, final and definitive lineup of Destiny's Child – were celebrating their second chart-topper.

Survivor was Destiny's Child defiant recovery from a tough time. Two original band members had quit the year before, and a replacement member hadn't lived up to the band's high expectations, apparently after a problem with lost luggage caused friction between her and Queen B. They'd all but been written off, but a chart-topping theme song for the new Charlie's Angels movie, followed by this confident classic, let people know they were back in business.

Survivor sold 104,000 in its first week and was the band's last Number 1 together. Not that they're complaining, of course – their mama taught them better than that. It finished on 260,000 sales that year and 2001's 31st best-seller.

Survivor's total figure has grown considerably since then, currently at 760,000, including 40 million streams since records began in 2014.

There were four other new entries in the Top 10 this week in 2001. Ronan Keating scored his fourth solo Top 10 with the breezy Lovin' Each Day, while O-Town, who shot to fame on MTV documentary Making The Band, were new at 3 with the suspiciously-titled Liquid Dreams. Missy Elliott's still-thrilling Get Ur Freak On completed the all-new Top 4”.

To celebrate that huge number-one single’s twentieth anniversary, this Lockdown Playlist is a collection of songs that include the word ‘survivor’, ‘survive’ or ‘survival’ (or variations of those words) – I will also include a cheeky song from the band, Survivor. Here is a playlist dedicated to…

AN iconic track at twenty.

FEATURE: Station to Station: Part Eight: Jamz Supernova (BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 6 Music)

FEATURE:

 

 

Station to Station

PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah R. Harry-Isaacs for DJ Mag 

Part Eight: Jamz Supernova (BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 6 Music)

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I have not done a Station to Station…

PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah R. Harry-Isaacs for DJ Mag

for a little while now. Recently, the nominations for the ARIAS (Audio & Radio Industry Awards) came out. These radio awards recognise the best talent across various mediums and station. In the mix was BBC Radio 6 Music’s and BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Jamz Supernova. On her 1Xtra show, she unearths forward-thinking scenes and sounds from around the world, from alternative R&B and experimental Hip-Hop through to Jazz and leftfield Electronica. On BBC Radio 6 Music, we get a similar music of broad and fascinating sounds. In ARIAS (which happen on 26th May) categories, Jamz Supernova’s Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 1Xtra is up for Best Specialist Music Show. I have followed her on BBC Radio IXtra. She is also at BBC Radio 6 Music and providing a great show each Saturday. A hugely knowledgeable and passionate broadcaster, I think that she is going to go on to become a broadcasting icon. There are some many wonderfully engaging and influential broadcasters out there. I think that Jamz Supernova is among the very best. I want to bring in a couple of different interviews I found that, I think, provide some depth and detail when it comes to the Jamz Supernova story. In 2018, she spoke with CLASH. The MOBOs (Music of Black Origin) that year was not being broadcast and promoted widely – a sign that, perhaps, it was seen unimportant or lesser than the BRITs or Mercury Prize. This was touched on in the interview:

“Part of a growing wave of intersectional tastemakers dismantling and redefining the parameters of black music, you can rely on Jamz Supernova to soundtrack your late nights. Embedded within the fabric of BBC Radio 1Xtra, her own ethos is tantamount to the station’s: “I’ve been working at 1Xtra since I was 19. I’ve been privy to watching, learning and celebrating with them as they champion the alternative.”

Jamz Supernova · Club Jamz Vol 10

From the more sanitised endorsement of crossover American rap and R&B, to the emergence of more localised, grass-roots music, Jamz fuses pirate radio informality with deft commentary. Yet the foundation for it all is rooted deep in her youth. “I’m a true ’90s baby. Growing up, it was about the back catalogues. It was a good time to be empowered, so maybe the strength of TLC and Missy rubbed off on me.”

A fully-fledged DJ in her own right, Jamz’s Future Bounce nights sees her veer further off-track, flexing her love for electronics - think Baltimore house and UK funky. The license is to thrill, but a trickier balancing act ensues: “It’s a risk when you’re repping underground club music; will the audience want you to play Drake all night? Are they here for the line-up? You’re educating the audience on new and old sounds. When you find that happy medium, it’s a sick experience.”

It’s meant she’s been able to cultivate a curatorial formula when cherry-picking artists. “It has to be personal. I have to love the music. I’m such an over-thinker, but it means nothing is done on a whim.” This is coupled with an unerring hunger to resist convention: “You can’t jump the gun. One great record doesn’t make them the next big thing. I want to hear growth, so I can grow with them.”

Jamz bemoans the lack of televised coverage for the R&B/soul category at the 2017 MOBOs, seemingly resonating with viewers, underscoring a desire to protect the integrity of the genre. “I respect what the MOBOs have done for music, but I was confused when it wasn’t a genre worthy of being shown. Sometimes when we think about ‘black music’ we forget to appreciate just how progressive it can be. In not showing the category, it set the illusion that the genre isn’t thriving.”

And according to Jamz it is the antithesis - her own personal forecast for 2018 emulates the forward-thinking trajectory of black music. “I laid a strong foundation in 2017, I’d like to keep building on that. Grow my radio show, more DJ gigs, more festivals, more Future Bounce parties across the UK, start my label, tour Asia and just enjoy the journey”.

I want to source heavily from an interview in DJ Mag from March. We get to learn so much about Jamz Supernova and how she has been spending lockdown. A wonderfully intriguing set-up and synopsis for the interview (“Jamz Supernova is spearheading the next generation of radio DJs with her residencies on BBC Radio 1Xtra and Selector Radio. While equally at home behind the decks in a club, she’s used her time in lockdown to bolster her Future Bounce label and perfect her radio shows, recording podcasts and voiceovers and helming TV docs along the way. It’s a career that Jamz seems born to do, but it hasn’t always been plain sailing for her — or happened overnight. Chal Ravens takes a (socially distanced) stroll in south London with the charming host to discuss her rise through the radio ranks, and finding her place as a club DJ”), it shone the spotlight on a broadcasting great:

“Born Jamilla Walters, raised in south London, and named by a chance encounter with a space encyclopaedia, Jamz Supernova is one of those terminally busy people for whom lockdown has meant a well-earned rest. Previously, on any given week, she might have been recording a voiceover, scouting new talent for Sony RCA or performing in Cape Town or Tbilisi.

As a DJ she moves fluidly between dancefloor riddims like kuduro, dancehall and UK funky, and radio-friendly electronic soul: broken beat, jazzy house and psychedelic hip-hop. Her record label Future Bounce straddles both, home to the nocturnal glow of singer-producer Sola as well as the pounding funk mutations of Bamz.

On 1Xtra, Jamz represents that modern strain of R&B often awkwardly described as “future” or “alternative”, with voices like NoName, Nubya Garcia and serpentwithfeet slotting into an offbeat lineage going back through Odd Future, The Neptunes and Erykah Badu. Her working rhythm is set by the show, which has gone out week after week during one of the hardest years in memory, including a special three-hour show at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in June.

“I always found comfort in the radio,” says Jamz, revealing a voice slightly less mellow and languorous than the one most people know. “Instinctively, I wake up and put the radio on. If I leave my dog alone I’m gonna put on the radio for him.”

At the start of the pandemic, she was sent some mics so she could pre-record the show at home. These days, as so many workplaces adjust to the long-term reality of COVID-19, she gets a cab to the studio once a week, recording in an empty room with her producer on the other side of the glass. She’s not really alone, of course, because out there somewhere are her listeners. Who are they? “I know I have a lot of actual artists listening,” she says. “But I think who I’m talking to is a mirror of me, someone who’s on a quest to find this music”.

Jamz’s work ethic goes bone-deep. She started earning money at 11, first with a paper round and then as an usher and in a health food shop. “My mum wouldn’t let us say ‘Can’t’,” she notes. But her industriousness is just as much a reflection of the entrepreneurial mindset that’s familiar to a generation of young people who’ve lived through two financial crashes and never known job security.

Her latest endeavour speaks to exactly these people: a podcast called DIY Handbook, launching this spring off the back of her DIY Generation series on 1Xtra, where she squeezes advice and motivational tidbits from actors, activists, software developers and other self- made success stories.

The podcast will offer deeper conversations on the “back end” of success — topics like dealing with rejection and how to say no. But does the name reflect a taste for self- reliance over collectivism? “You have to use the word DIY quite loosely,” she laughs, pre-empting the criticism. “I don’t think it’s possible to completely do it on your own, but the DIY ethos is about getting things started yourself. No one is an island.”

She’s noticed this mentality taking shape in certain pockets of music too, with DJ collectives like 6 Figure Gang and Boko Boko leading the way. “That’s how it should be done. It’s lonely to do it alone, and to have it all for yourself. I didn’t really have that when I was coming up, it was more dog-eat-dog.”

Her first clubbing experiences were local, starting with dancehall parties at Le Fez in New Cross — now a Sainsbury’s Local — before graduating to Rinse FM raves and UK funky nights at the O2, back when going out meant dressing up. “You’d get your bodycon out. Guys in sunglasses,” she laughs. “I had all the CDs you’d get outside the raves. You couldn’t find the songs, you didn’t even know who the artists were.”

Radio was the rhythm of her daily life: in the car to school she’d switch between Xfm (her mum and stepdad’s pick) and Choice, the station that took Black British music from pirate radio into the mainstream, and the blueprint for 1Xtra when it launched in 2002. “That was a time when DJs had records that nobody else had. When I was doing my college work I’d listen back to people like G Child and Ronnie Herel, obsessed with trying to find the records — then when they were finally out I’d be on LimeWire trying to get my hands on them.

The music industry has always been a gig economy, with little chance of a job-for-life, but increasingly it feels like every career in the business requires a level of juggling and risk-taking that would make a circus clown turn green. There’s a pressing requirement to sell yourself and become a brand. That means being visible all the time — not only showing off your work, but keeping followers “engaged” with selfies and steady streams of novel content. Jamz is blunt about the effects of social media. “I don’t think it’s good for my mental health. I think so much of what we do has to come from here — your source, your gut, who are you when you’re just being you, without being swayed. And you go on social media and it’s just carbon copies.”

The need to maintain a public image while also making art and paying the bills can feel like an impossible demand. When you invest so much of yourself into your work, it’s hard to cope if things don’t work out; this much is argued in a recent book, ‘Can Music Make You Sick? Measuring the Price of Musical Ambition’. The researchers behind it discovered that solo artists, songwriters and DJs are more anxious and depressed than other musicians, with a staggering 85% of DJs reporting high levels of anxiety.

Jamz nods in recognition. Her dad likes to remind her that she’s more than just her job, “but there is always a tiny voice that’s like, well, I’m not,” she says, laughing over Zoom when DJ Mag calls her a week later. “I’m like, am I really sad? Is this a sad life that I’m living? But this is the life that fulfils me, because everything that I do musically is my personality. I’ve chosen to make that personality a commodity.”

It’s an attitude that puts her at risk of exhaustion, and she knows it. “It's always been in the back of my head, not burning out. With the podcast, even though we’re talking about business and being creative, it always ends up with self-care — taking time for yourself, not being hard on yourself. Therapy’s come up quite a few times”.

I wanted to bring a lot in from that interview, as it is clear that there is much to love and know about Jamz Supernova. Broadcasting tremendous sound across the BBC, she is reaching a huge audience. I also like the fact that there seems to be no end to Jamz Supernova’s talents and energy! I wish her the best of luck at the ARIAS. She is keeping busy with podcasts, voiceovers and the Future Bounce label. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter. I think we have a tremendous talent in Jamz Supernova. She is someone who will continue to push her talent and passion in exciting and fresh ways. Here we truly have…

A legend of the future.

FEATURE: Spotlight: The Lottery Winners

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: MEN UGC 

The Lottery Winners

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I wasn’t sure whether to call them…

‘The Lottery Winners’ or ‘Lottery Winners’ – as they are called either depending on whether one looks at Twitter or Spotify. I will refer to the former. I have been following the Leigh, Greater Manchester band for a while now. Even though they were formed in 2008 by Thom Rylance (vocals/guitar), Robert Lally (guitar/vocals), Katie Lloyd (bass/vocals), and Joe Singleton (drums), I think they are really coming into the spotlight over the past year or so. It seems that they have an important date at The Great Escape Online next month. Some interesting and kick-ass new music is also coming soon. I think the band will reach a lot of new people this year. Their previous studio album,  Sounds of Isolation (a collection of cover versions), was released last year. The band put out the Start Again E.P. this year. Not only do I love the songs and the fact the band are always evolving and staying fresh. They put a lot of effort and detail into their cover art and social media channels. They are a group who consider and care about every asset and facet of what they do – one reason why they have a loyal and growing fanbase and are a band who will catch the eye of the wider world very soon! Whilst many artists were struggling to get into 2021 and find any energy – understandable, really! -, The Lottery Winners put out the title track of the Start Again E.P. They recruited a certain Frank Turner for the track:

“January is a time for looking forward as the bleakest year in living memory fades and now, soaring over the mound of broken resolutions, comes hope! Lottery Winners join with the punk-folk hero, Frank Turner in the first big blast of optimistic, fresh air of 2021 with their single, Start Again. A soundtrack for the vaccine-era, of a new US President, light after the dark, rebirth and new beginnings.

Written about leaving the past behind and embracing new beginnings, the luminescent video for the track features Turner appearing as a remote flight commander, guiding the band as astronauts through space. The I Still Believe singer helps the glass-half-full four-piece find their way to a heart-shaped planet filled with sweeter things as their space rocket lurches away from Armageddon on earth.

Lottery Winners and the HAL-esque Turner power away from raging nuclear war, hate and disease to a new planet engineered in plush velvet and filled with Haribo jelly sweets. Clear in their mission, the band returns to earth and distributes the sugary goodness to all, ushering in the new start to life everyone needs right now. A COVID-Lockdown-busting production, almost every shot of the video was filmed in singer-songwriter, Thom Rylance’s garage using tin foil and a whole heap of imagination.

The sun-bringing track bottles a moment of future-facing good feeling in an instant classic, FM-ready pop song. Bubbling up through fertile writing and recording sessions at Giant Wafer Studios in rural mid-Wales, it was the keen ear of producer, Tristan Ivemy heard the Frank Turner-shaped hole in the track. Kept apart by necessity, Turner sent vocals digitally to leapfrog the tedious blockades caused by the fun-strangling virus and became the final, perfect-fitting piece of the jigsaw”.

The Lottery Winners have gigs listed on their official website, so go and see them if you can (though I suspect tickets might all be sold). They are a wonderfully exciting band who have a genuine love for one another. That connection and loyalty has not only resulted in them being as strong as ever after so long; they seem to get better and better! I feel their best days are still ahead. With every new release, they adopt new layers and brilliance.

I will wrap things up in a bit. I wanted to source a couple of interviews that provide more detail and story behind one of the U.K.’s brightest and most hopeful young bands. I forgot to mention that, prior to Sounds of Isolation, they put out their eponymous debut album in 2020. They were Taylor Swift levels of productive last year! It is amazing to think that they got so much done and released such cracking work at a difficult and stressful time. Maybe a lack of gig opportunities attributed to that, though I just feel like they had a lot to say and wanted to get it out there! Even the Stars spoke with the band when The Lottery Winners arrived. I will not quote everything from the interview (as it is a pretty hefty one!). There were a few questions-and-answers that caught my eye:

“So, your debut album is out today. It's ten years since you became a band. How does it feel actually having it in your hands and out in a record shop?

Katie : I cried

Thom : Probably cried, not like a little tear of relief and happiness. She was like snotting and she was on the floor and lots of people had to come and check she was OK.

Rob : St John's Ambulance had to come over

Katie : Me and Joe were talking before and all this work we've been putting in, sat in rehearsal rooms, having arguments, you're in a band..

Thom : What do you mean arguments?

Katie : I mean, we've all been getting on. But to stand here like before, in an actual HMV and to feel like an actual band for the first time, it just made me cry.

It's been a long journey hasn't it?

Thom (interrupts) : It's only down the Lancs isn't it?

Some things haven't changed (everyone laughs). You recorded it with a different label, and then you got the album back and it's come out with Modern Sky. Was there a point where it felt like it was never going to happen?

Thom : Constantly, it was really really hard on our mental health.

Joe : Thom quit the band every day. One day he'd say "I'm quitting" then the next day he'd be "I'm definitely quitting. 100% I'm out of the band"

Do you have favourite songs on the album. Are there any on there have a particular sentiment?

Thom : The album's like an autobiography for me so I can tap into where I was, what the song's about and how I felt at that time. I've got a favourite song for when I'm feeling sad, a favourite song for when I'm feeling happy, when I'm feeling thankful, when I'm driving through Leigh. I like them all, apart from three.

Rob : My favourite changes every single day. Today it's Headlock, but I think they're all crackers.

Joe : I remember more back to when we were in the studio, different parts that took hours and hours to think about

Thom : We started recording it in 2016, that was our first studio session. That's four years ago, we hate it all now, it's well old (everyone laughs)

Katie : My Only Friend and Young Again

Thom : The last two, you've got a long time to wait for yours

Katie : Just because of what we were going through at the time, it was very frustrating, I think those two songs make me want to cry again.

It's taken four years then for the record to come out. What's happened to songwriting in that time, have you now got a big set of new songs ready to go?

Thom : Of course, because throughout all that time when we were frustrated and nothing was coming out, we had all these feelings to write about. We've got albums in the bank now and it's all happened for a reason. We've been working hard all the time. I really feel that if you want to do this, and we do, and all our eggs are in this basket, we've got no plan Bs, then you've just got to do it every day and you've got to live and breathe it, otherwise what's the point? We don't want to do anything else. We live and breathe this every single day and that's the way it should be if you want to be a successful band and hopefully one day we will be successful”.

I will round things off with an interview from RGM. It was quite a fun chat where we learn a few new things about The Lottery Winners:

“I caught you live at Kendal Calling last year, your live shows are so much fun, the energy from the band comes out and you instantly grab the crowd by the bollocks with your whit and storytelling, how organic are those things or are some planned ahead?

Oh god, no, I never have a clue what’s going to happen until it’s happening, sometimes I surprise myself. It’s like it’s not even me up there, it’s someone else. I only ever get to meet him on stages, he’s better than me. I like him. I wish he could be there when I have to get a bus or walk in a pub on my own and it’s scary.

What’s the most fun you have had on stage?

I literally love being on stage for anything at any time. I just love showing off, I always have.

What’s the worst experience you have had on stage?

My full penis fell out once, I felt it on the cold back of my guitar and panicked. I turned around and the drummer at the time got an eyeful. Well, not full.

Tell us something about each member that you think people would be surprised about?

Joe was head boy at school and knows every flag in the world. Rob is really good at football, but in slow motion, it’s like an action replay all the time. Kate used to be a goth and I’ve never even tried a cup of tea or coffee in my life.

While the world goes through difficult times and we all adjust to a different way of living, how are the lottery winners adjusting?

We’re taking some time to process everything that’s happening around and being there for those who need us. We have plans to make an album, and we’re working on pushing LWTV, which I’m excited about. But for now, the priority is staying safe and looking after ourselves and each other.

What would you like to say to your fans at these difficult times?

I’ve seen so many messages and tweets from people that have said our album is helping them get through these grey days. It’s been so touching to think we could have injected even the smallest bit of colour back in. I am so grateful for everybody’s support.

But mainly, wash your hands, stay inside and listen to our record. Love will keep us together.

So once things get back to normal what can we expect to see from the band?

We’ll pick up exactly where we left off. We have a lot of unfinished business”.

Things are looking pretty exciting in The Lottery Winners’ camp right now! Having put out a lot of music last year – plus an E.P. featuring Sleeper, Frank Tuner and The Wonder Stuff -, one could forgive them for resting or taking some time out! A lot of top musicians want to record with The Lottery Winners. The band are establishing themselves as one of this country’s very finest. If you have not followed them on social media and checked out their music, then make sure that…

YOU go and do this now.

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Follow The Lottery Winners

PHOTO CREDIT: MEN UGC 

Official:

https://www.thelotterywinners.co.uk/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thelotterywinners/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/thelotterywinners

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lotterywinners

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE6pK7-0MJTbHOWg48YDeOg

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0LLilNa5TUAaUwJwLyOf2b?si=oZLiKK1vRnCc4yCObjkXFQ&nd=1

FEATURE: Reel Gone Kids: The Coming-of-Age Film Soundtrack

FEATURE:

 

 

Reel Gone Kids

The Coming-of-Age Film Soundtrack

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I was watching an episode…

of Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema where, each week, he dissected a genre of film and the clichés, conventions and complexities that define them. One episode focused on coming-of-age films. Whilst it was interesting learning about the narrative structures, insights and characters that define these films, one quintessential element of a coming-of-age film is the soundtrack – it almost seems to be an integral character in the films itself. 2017’s Lady Bird seems to be one of the most-recent coming-of-age films that has really resonated in terms of its story and performances. It also boasts a pretty good soundtrack. From The Breakfast Club and Footloose in the 1980s to Almost Famous in 2000 and Blinded by the Light in 2019, if done right, there is a big appetite for the coming-of-age tale. It can be heart-warming and nostalgic. We can root for this character/characters as they make their way through a film - and we see them develop and overcome obstacles; bond with friends and learn valuable lessons. Whilst the performance, direction, cinematography and editing are all essential ingredients that need to go into the mix, I think that the soundtrack is not only an interlinked and familial part of a coming-of-age film; the songs that we knew in another context can take on a whole new dimension. We can see them in a different light. There have been polls as to the greatest coming-of-age soundtrack. My favourites are either The Breakfast Club or Stand By Me. Whilst the coming-of-age soundtrack of the 1980s holds a special place, I think there have been some great coming-of-age soundtracks of the 2010s that combine classic songs with something a little more modem.

Last year, PASTE spotlighted the best teen movie soundtracks of the 2010s. One film on there that I would count as a modern-day coming-of-age film is Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart (2019). The soundtrack shows that modern filmmakers can concoct pleasing and rich soundtracks that helps to narrate and augment the story; bring the character and setting to life:

“We’ll start with 2019’s token Oscar-snubbed teen comedy Booksmart, Olivia Wilde’s charming and topical directorial debut. The soundtrack is a 2010s indie fan’s wet dream—there’s Perfume Genius (used in one of the coming-of-age film’s most visceral scenes, in the swimming pool), Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and, most notably, LCD Soundsystem. Another 2019 flick with great music, Someone Great, was actually named after the LCD Soundsystem song of the same name, yet frontman James Murphy denied director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s request to use their music, as she told Rolling Stone. If Murphy is picky with which films use his music, he made the right choice between these two: The use of “oh baby” is perfectly timed and fits wonderfully with the mood of Booksmart. There’s also Lizzo, Alanis Morrissette and one of the year’s most memorable entrances courtesy of Billie Lourd and Leikeli47’s “Money.” Legends on all sides”.

I want to focus on the 1980s first in regards the coming-of-age soundtrack. I was born in the decade, so I do not really have a clear memory of the film and culture at the time. Maybe it was the strength of the music of the 1980s or the compelling stories that accounts for some lauded and long-adored coming-of-age films. As this article outlines, some of the best coming-of-age films of the ‘80s feature some incredible, scene-defining musical moments:

“The 1980s, coming-of-age movies and teen comedies overflowed with hip, contemporary tunes and boasted characters with impeccable musical taste. This curation was by design: The powers that be wanted moviegoers to relate to onscreen teens—or at least aspire to be as cool as they were—and saw music as the best way to create an emotional connection.

The movies John Hughes wrote and directed (including 1984’s Sixteen Candles, 1985’s Weird Science, and 1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) tend to draw special praise for their music supervision, namely because these films placed familiar acts next to underground artists. In fact, coming-of-age films were the tastemakers and influencers of the ’80s where music was concerned.

However, pre-Hughes, the cult 1982 movie The Last American Virgin and 1983’s Valley Girl had already used this formula to expose new groups to a wider audience. Los Angeles power-pop band The Plimsouls especially benefited from the latter, in no small part because they appeared as a bar band in the flick. Little details such as these ensure that coming-of-age films are deeply intertwined with their musical selections.

Many of the biggest ’80s movie hits are inextricably linked to memorable musical moments. In Sixteen Candles, Molly Ringwald’s character finally consummated her crush on hunky Jake Ryan to the gorgeous sound of Thompson Twins’ synth-pop ballad “If You Were Here.” The infamous Phoebe Cates swimsuit-shedding scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was set to The Cars’ lurid “Moving in Stereo.” And, of course, John Cusack single-handedly made Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” a love song for the ages when, in Say Anything, he played the tune for Ione Skye from a boom box hoisted over his head”.

A lot of coming-of-age films feature characters and situations where the lead is undergoing a harsh lesson or is struggling. They then will find clarity, bond with their peers or find satisfying resolution. Not that they all operate in this manner, though there is a distinct arc that many of the best coming-of-age films follow. More than any type of film – apart from a musical or music biopic -, the music in a coming-of-age film is more powerful than pretty much anything else. As most of the films feature teenage characters, this is the age when we discover music and are at our most inquisitive and immersive. One would think that coming-of-age films would only speak to teenage audiences but, as we have seen this type of film released through the decades, the audience demographic is varied. Newer examples such as Lady Bird appeal to younger and older audiences alike. I want to bring in an article that not only underlines a couple of hidden coming-of-age gems. They also explain why the soundtracks are so important and appeal to people:

“If you’ve seen as many coming-of-age movies and series as I have, you’d notice that most of them have one thing in common — our teenage protagonist always loves music. You’ll know this because of the scene where they talk about a specific artist or song. You know, that scene.

Two coming-of-age pictures have slipped onto the radar this year — Oscar nominee Lady Bird and Netflix original Everything Sucks. They are both lovely and I highly recommend them. And while the two aren’t very similar, they do have that one thing in common — they both use music as a storytelling motif.

And really, the list of movies and series that do this goes on. Perks of Being a Wallflower. Submarine. Bandslam. Why do so many screenplay writers feel the need to incorporate music into their coming-of-age narratives?

Nostalgia Factor

Coming-of-age stories always aim to elicit nostalgia. These stories are, of course, about growing up, and there is nothing more nostalgic than remembering what it was like growing up.

Thing is, it’s really easy to elicit nostalgia through music. When a movie is popular, chances are, you’ll see it once in the movie theatre and never again. But when a song is popular, it’s everywhere. Everywhere. You’ll hear it in the mall, the restaurants, the school, and it’ll end up being the number one thing people associate with a certain year.

And coming-of-age writers really like to set their stories in a past year.

Take Lady Bird; set in 2002. We know this because the main character says it in the opening scene, but also, there are numerous references to 2002 pop culture everywhere. When Lady Bird’s dad drives her to school, Hand in My Pocket plays on the radio, and Lady Bird goes, “Did you know that Alanis Morissette wrote this song in only 10 minutes?”

Foundation of Character

In order for a coming-of-age story to work, you have to like the protagonist — or, at the very least, you have to sympathize with them. Fortunately for writers, we’re more keen towards sympathizing with the awkward, out-of-place teenager because most of us felt that way when we were teenagers.

And having a distinct taste in music can make the protagonist seem a.) more odd and nonconformist, and b.) more likable. It’s kind of like the movie is saying “Look, this kid has good taste! Root for him!”

Take the 2009 film Bandslam — a movie that did not get the success it deserved. Our protagonist, Will, is a weirdo for a lot of reasons. But mostly for the fact that he’s in his own world that’s just music. The movie even starts off with him literally writing a letter to David Bowie, and later on, he looks around his classmates and says, “I tend to make snap judgments about people based on what kind of music they like.”

A big part of the movie’s plot is driven by music. Not only because the movie’s main plot is about them forming a band, but also because the turning point of the movie is Will and Charlotte forming a friendship through — you guessed it — music. The two of them find common ground by being both The Velvet Underground fans, and even share a special moment together listening to Femme Fatale.

Coming-of-age films just can’t seem to exist without music — and understandably so. Music is such great shorthand, and a great filmmaker knows how to use shorthand effectively yet subtly.

Heck, even coming-of-age films that don’t talk about music use music as a shorthand. After all, where would Sixteen Candles be without If You Were Here, and The Breakfast Club without Don’t You (Forget About Me)?”

I am going to end by sourcing an article that explores my favourite coming-of-age closing scene – and the incredible song that soundtracks it. Before then, I want to move into the 1990s (I might explore the more modern coming-of-age films in a future feature). In 2009, Entertainment Weekly looked at the coming-of-age soundtracks of the ‘90s. This is a decade that remains very important to me. As a teenager of the 1990s, I not only can connect with many of the films’ characters; the music also resonates inside of me. There are a couple of segments that I want to quote:

“Empire Records— 1995’s episodic day-in-the-life of a ragtag crew of young record-store employees, including Robin Tunney and a pre-Jerry Maguire Renée Zellweger — focused firmly on the present. The movie may have tanked at the box office, but its soundtrack prevailed (remember the irresistible thump and jangle of Edwyn Collin’s “A Girl Like You”?)with its intensely mid-‘90s collection of acts like the Cranberries, the Gin Blossoms, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Did it hurt to have Aerosmith icon Steven Tyler’s daughter Liv, just beginning her acting career, dancing on a rooftop to The The’s “This Is the Day?” It did not!

Hiphop received far fewer mainstream cinematic tributes than rock in the‘90s, but some of the best artists of the era finally got their due in last year’s indie dramedy The Wackness, set in NYC circa 1994. In it, enterprising high schooler (Josh Peck) sells pot out of a Popsicle cart and reveres the sounds of the city’s rap royalty: the Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack, KRS One. Still, some rockers of past generations eek their way in too: Mott the Hoople (“All the Young Dudes”), Donovan (“Season of the Witch”), and the Velvet Underground (“Sister Ray”). But no cultural moment exists in a vacuum, right? Rappers like the late Notorious B.I.G. happily sampled from artists of the past, from Minnie Ripperton to the Isley Brothers; no doubt they would appreciate the presence of a few golden oldsters.

For Reference: Lisa Loeb, “Stay”; Me Phi Me, “Revival”; Elliott Smith, “Between the Bars”; The Wu-Tang Clan, “Tears”; Big Mountain, “Baby I You’re your Way”; Nas,“The World Is Yours”; Edwyn Collins, “A Girl Like You”; Evan Dando, “The Ballad of El Goodo”; The Gin Blossoms, “Til I Hear It From You”.

Although the 1990s was twenty/thirty years or go (plus), I think the films and soundtracks – and for other decades – still stands up today. There is a timelessness to these films that means they will be preserved and discovered afresh by teens who are looking for answers and guidance in the modern age.

Each phase of a coming-of-age film is important and needs to connect with its audience. I think the final scene is important, as the rest of the film has been leading up to this moment. That may sound obvious but, whereas an action film or a thriller can provide catharsis or a twist with its final scene, I think the coming-of-age final reel is more varied and satisfying. Whether our characters have learned an important truth, are walking into the sunshine together or, like Stand By Me, there is a sad twist, the song used to accompany this scene is vital! We all have our favourite but, in terms of pure satisfaction and memorability, the end of John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club is the best. This article discusses why a classic Simple Minds song is so important in the finale of the classic ‘80s film:

“Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” from The Breakfast Club

This is a quintessential end-of-movie song, from a quintessential teen-movie ending-scene, written and directed by quintessential teen-movie auteur John Hughes. I remember watching The Breakfast Club on VHS at age 15, in 1986, and thinking that Hughes had achieved something singular and true to teenage life.

Years later, it feels like the confessional soliloquies (and sudden romantic pairing-off) among the disparate characters of The Breakfast Club were more idealized than realistic. Still, there’s no question it was a groundbreaking movie in terms of how American teenagers — and their fears, hopes, and preoccupations — were portrayed on the screen. “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” underscores the stakes (who are these kids, and what will they mean to each other after today?) during the film’s climactic moment of symbolic rebellion: Brian reading his “you see us as you want to see us” essay in a voice-over as Bender pumps his fist into the air and the credits roll.

 Interestingly, the Scottish rock band Simple Minds were initially resistant to recording the song, which was composed by producer Keith Forsey and guitarist Steve Schiff (Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol had already turned down the opportunity). They eventually relented under pressure from their record label, and the band is now remembered for this song — and the way it evokes the triumphant final image of The Breakfast Club”.

I shall leave things there. I am interested in the relationship between film scores and the impact they have on scenes. I am also curious about film soundtracks across all genres and the importance of the music. I feel there is something special about the coming-of-age soundtrack and the way music is deployed and utilised. It can be powerful or emotional. It can be uplifting or joyous. The songs can impact an individual in a big way, or they speak to an entire demographic. Not only can a coming-of-age film make a splash at the box office at the time. It can be picked up years down the line and make an impression on a new audience. Similarly, a strong and compelling coming-of-age soundtrack can stand…

IN the memory for generations.

FEATURE: Edited for Cinematic Release: The Five Best Reworkings from Kate Bush’s Director's Cut

FEATURE:

 

 

Edited for Cinematic Release

The Five Best Reworkings from Kate Bush’s Director's Cut

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SOME may overlook the anniversary…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 2011’s Director’s Cut/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

but Kate Bush’s Director’s Cut turns ten on 16th May. It was the first release of two in 2011 – the second being 50 Words for Snow -, and few were expecting Bush to release an album where she reworked songs that originally appeared on The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). Before I go on, here is some information regarding an important project for Bush:

“Ninth album by Kate Bush, released by Fish People on 16 May 2011. The album was written, composed and produced by Kate. It is made up of songs from her earlier albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes which have been remixed and restructured, three of which were re-recorded completely. All the lead vocals on the album and some of the backing vocals have been entirely re-recorded, with some of the songs transposed to a lower key to accommodate Bush's matured voice. Additionally, the drum tracks have been reconceived and re-recorded.

For some time I have felt that I wanted to revisit tracks from these two albums and that they could benefit from having new life breathed into them. Lots of work had gone into the two original albums and now these songs have another layer of work woven into their fabric. I think of this as a new album. (Sean Michaels, 'Kate Bush reveals guest lyricist on new album - James Joyce'. The Guardian (UK), 5 April 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2015)”.

To honour the upcoming tenth anniversary of her ninth studio album, I have selected my five favourite reinterpretations/re-recordings off of Director’s Cut. I like most of the tracks from the album, though these are my five selected best. In the run-up to the tenth anniversary of Director’s Cut, I am going to put out another feature or two that explores the album from different angles. In this piece, here are five re-imagined songs that originally appeared on albums years previous. Here are five excellent tracks that deserve to be on the…

HIGHLIGHT reel.

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Flower of the Mountain

Originally Appeared on: The Sensual World (1989; its original title is The Sensual World)

Running Time: 5:14

Background:

“Song written by Kate Bush with text from James Joyce's 'Ulysses', used by kind permission of the Trustrees of James Joyce Estate. Originally released on Kate's 2011 album Director's Cut.

Kate originally asked for permission in the Eighties, when she'd made this song. The Joyce estate refused to release the words. She spent over a year trying to gain permission before accepting defeat. She kept the backing track but 're-approached the words' for a track that would become The Sensual World, released in 1989.

On the 2011 album Director's Cut Kate wanted to include the original version of the song, and so she approached the James Joyce Estate again, and this time, they gave permission” – The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

Credits:

Drums: Steve Gadd

Bass: Del Palmer

Keyboards: Kate Bush

Pipes, whistles: Davey Spillane

Fiddles: John Sheahan

Canes: Paddy Bush

Lily

Originally Appeared on: The Red Shoes (1989)

Running Time: 4:05

Background:

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. The song is devoted to Lily Cornford, a noted spiritual healer in London with whom Bush became close friends in the 1990s. “She was one of those very rare people who are intelligent, intuitive and kind,” Kate has said of Cornford, who believed in mental colour healing—a process whereby patients would be restored to health by seeing various hues. “I was really moved by Lily and impressed with her strength and knowledge, so it led to a song - which she thought was hilarious” – The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

Credits:

Drums: Steve Gadd

Bass: John Giblin

Guitars: Dan McIntosh

Keyboards: Kate Bush

Backing vocals: Mica Paris, Kate Bush

Fujare: Paddy Bush

'The Gayatri' narrated by: Lily Cornford

The Red Shoes

Originally Appeared on: The Red Shoes (1993)

Running Time: 4:58

Background:

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. Also released as a single by EMI Records in the UK on 4 April 1994. Lead track of the movie The Line, The Cross and the Curve, which was presented on film festival at the time of the single's release.

Formats

'The Red Shoes' was released in the UK as a 7" single, a cassette single and two different CD-singles. The 7" single and cassette single feature the B-side track You Want Alchemy. CD-single 1 added 'Cloudbusting (Video Mix)' and This Woman's Work, and CD-single 2, released one week after the other formats, features Shoedance (see below), together with the single remix of The Big Sky and the 12" version of Running Up That Hill” – The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

Credits:

Drums: Steve Gadd

Bass: John Giblin

Guitars: Dan McIntosh

Mandola, mandolin, whistles, musical bow, backing vocals: Paddy Bush

Backing vocals: Colin Lloyd Tucker

Additional vocals: Albert McIntosh, Jacob Thorn

This Woman’s Work

Originally Appeared on: The Sensual World (1989)

Running Time: 6:30

Background:

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on the soundtrack of the movie She's Having A Baby in 1988. A year later, the song was included in Kate's sixth studio album The Sensual World. The lyric is about being forced to confront an unexpected and frightening crisis during the normal event of childbirth. Written for the movie She's Having a Baby, director John Hughes used the song during the film's dramatic climax, when Jake (Kevin Bacon) learns that the lives of his wife (Elizabeth McGovern) and their unborn child are in danger. As the song plays, we see a montage sequence of flashbacks showing the couple in happier times, intercut with shots of him waiting for news of Elizabeth and their baby's condition. Bush wrote the song specifically for the sequence, writing from a man's (Jake's) viewpoint and matching the words to the visuals which had already been filmed.

The song was used in the 21st episode of the third season of Party Of Five. The song was also used in the first episode of the second season of The Handmaid's Tale” – The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

Credits:

Orchestra arrangement: Michael Kamen

Vocals: Albert McIntosch, Jacob Thorn

Top of the City

Originally Appeared on: The Red Shoes (1993)

Running Time: 4:24

Background:

“There are two versions of 'And So Is Love': the album version from 1993, and the version from Bush's album Director's Cut in 2011.

A live version appears on the album Before The Dawn.

Performances

The song was performed live as part of Kate's Before The Dawn shows in London, 2014.” – The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

Credits:

Drums: Steve Gadd

Bass: John Giblin

Guitars: Dan McIntosh

Piano, backing vocals: Kate Bush

Violin, viola: Nigel Kennedy

Toll: Remi Butler

Rook: Albert McIntosh

FEATURE: Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure: Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama

FEATURE:

 

 

Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure

Scissor Sisters – Take Your Mama

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IN this current…

Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure, I am spotlighting a song that has been featured on one or two guilty pleasures lists. I am trying to show that there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure; one should never feel guilty about liking any song – although there is such a thing as good and bad music. Today, I am concentrating on a track that I am a big fan of. 2012’s Magic Hour is the fourth and most-recent album from Scissor Sisters. Their debut of 2004, Scissor Sisters, is one of the best albums from the first half of the ‘00s. Of the amazing songs on that album is the hit single, Take Your Mama. I am not sure why some feel the song is a guilty pleasure. Maybe there is a sense of self-consciousness singing along to it. In terms of its background and origin, Take Your Mama has an interesting history – and it made quite an impression on the charts around the world:

“Take Your Mama" is a song by American band Scissor Sisters and is the second track on their self-titled debut album. The song, written by Babydaddy and Jake Shears at Shears' parents' horse farm in West Virginia, was inspired by Shears' coming out to his mother, whom he is close with. The lyrics feature a homosexual man showing his mother the activities of gay nightlife in order to bond with her following his coming out.

The single was released on March 29, 2004, peaking at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and receiving a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in December 2018. It also saw success in other regions, most notably in New Zealand, where it reached number 11 on the RIANZ Singles Chart. In Australia, where the song peaked at number 40, it was ranked number 23 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004”.

Just over seventeen years old, I wonder whether there are songs like Take Your Mama around today. Maybe L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ music has changed and advanced since 2004 - though I feel there is still assumption that mainstream music should be heteronormative. Do L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists have the chance to be expressive and true?! Not only is Take Your Mama an anthem for so many people around the world; the Scissor Sisters’ eponymous debut remains a classic. This is what Blender had to say about the album:

“They dress in bi-curious thrift-store tat and are named after a lesbian sex position. They’ve got silly names (Baby Daddy, Ana Matronic, Paddy Boom, etc.), four out of five of them are men and — yes, you worked it out — they aren’t sisters. You’d imagine that the Scissor Sisters deal in aggressive performance-installation rock. Instead, this is a world-class disco-pop outfit who resemble the Bee Gees, Supertramp and 10cc, all at their best, all at the same time.

More than anything, Scissor Sisters sound like a science-fiction Elton John from back when he made boogie-ing party records instead of overripe ballads. There’s a rare feel-good accessibility that alchemizes their raw materials — the flotsam and jetsam of half-remembered ’70s and ’80s pop radio — and makes them new. Handled with less love, this could feel like a smug wander through an ironic record collection. Here, it becomes sexy, life-affirming pop.

If they’re a fashion band, they don’t act like one: Scissor Sisters cast aside notions of cool, making this possibly the least uptight album ever made. “Laura” opens with vamping pianos and the return, after two decades’ exile, of the crazed, wind-in-the-hair saxophone solo. “Take Your Mama Out” adds yet more rollicking piano; by track three they’re erecting a swirling glitterball above Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and turning it into a disco workout complete with scrotum-clenching male falsetto in the Gibb Brothers mold.

A combination of invention and humor (singer Jake Shears enlivens “Laura” with a Michael Jackson–ish “Chamone!”) carries them forward irresistibly. The Sisters’ traditional, even comforting songwriting gets to borrow some of the mind-emptying joy of the dance floor, and everyone goes home happy.

Subject-wise, we’re in an updated Warholian demimonde, home to the freak, the transvestite and the “lovey-dovey ghetto princess,” but it’s an upbeat version where dreams can come true. Even on “Return to Oz,” which tots up the damage crystal meth has done to gay men in New York, there’s hope to be found somewhere, even if it’s only over the rainbow. Scissor Sisters are too in love with pop to let the dirt rub off on them, and this spectacular debut might make you feel invincible, too”.

One does hear Take Your Mama played from time to time. It is a song that everyone can appreciate and bond with, yet I have some class it as a guilty pleasure. It has been covered a fair bit since its release. Wolf Alice performed a version at Glastonbury 2015:

“North London’s Wolf Alice have offered up a rendition of Scissor Sisters‘ 2004 hit ‘Take Your Mama’.

The cover was performed in a BBC live session at Glastonbury Festival over the weekend. The group were joined during the performance by Swim Deep‘s Austin Williams, who played piano for the song.

Glastonbury Festival 2015 saw Wolf Alice perform two sets in total, a surprise outing on the Williams Green stage on Thursday night followed by a Friday evening set on the Park Stage.

During the latter set, Wolf Alice battled technical problems and poor weather conditions to pull off a triumpant performance”.

If you have not played Take Your Mama for a while, go and give it a spin. Also, investigate the Scissor Sisters album. It is a gem that has lost none of its charm and spark since 2004. I think Take Your Mama is one of the finest songs from that album. As the weather is getting warmer and restrictions are easing across the U.K. (and other parts of the world), I think that Take Your Mama is a song to play loud…

AND lose yourself in.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Hope Tala

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Rosie Matheson  

Hope Tala

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I am putting out a fair few…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Freddie Stisted

spotlight features, as there are a lot of great artists coming through that deserve some focus. Although Hope Tala has put out a few E.P.s so far, she is still building her foundations and fanbase. I will come to her most recent E.P., Girl Eats Sun, in a bit. That was released in November last year. I really love what the West Londoner is putting out into the world! In 2019, Vogue spoke with Hope Tala about her second E.P., Sensitive Soul (2019). We learn more about a fascinating and hugely talented young artist:

“Most 21-year-olds grapple with the pressures and anxieties of completing a university degree. But West Londoner, Hope Tala, managed to graduate from the University of Bristol with a first class honours in English Literature having spent three years juggling contact hours with professors, attending lectures, adhering to deadlines, all the while travelling to and from London, meeting and working with producers, in an effort to release her first EP Starry Ache and her second EP Sensitive Soul, out today.

Hope speaks fondly and rather nonchalantly about her impressive efforts. “I’m so happy I went to university for academic reasons but also because it enabled me to have the time and space to really develop my music and songwriting,” she told Miss Vogue. “Everything that’s happened with my music – having confidence in myself and putting my music out online all started at university. The timing just worked out really well. Had it had happened a year ago, I think I would have struggled. There were moments that were tough though, especially my single “Lovestained” coming out in April, right at the end of university when I was finishing my dissertation. Having your head in multiple places at once and not being able to concentrate on one thing is really hard. Now I’m glad to concentrate and focus on music”.

“The main reason I ever started making music was to create a sound that I’d never heard before but wanted to listen to – the result is a synthesis between bossa nova and Latin influences, with R&B and soul music too. I’d only ever heard singles like but never a full album. So, I wanted to make music where I consistently use those Latin influenced chord progressions and because it just makes me feel good. I want people to connect to some kind of emotion where my music can be an extension of what they’re feeling or that they can relate to it. I gravitate towards happy music – dancey songs that are fun, like J.Lo, “Get Right”, “Signs” by Snoop Dogg and Justin Timberlake. I want to make music that evokes that same feeling of happiness – just making people dance."

Lovestained” and the Sensitive Soul EP, evokes just that. Her light, soft vocals amidst the breezy, quintessential, bossa nova hand-plucked guitar melodies and chords, with trinkets of R&B and breezy, ambient neo-soul, captures the Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights romantic, sexy, sultry, hot summer moonlit night feels that can only be illustrated as the woman dancing in a red dress emoji, making it the perfect album to listen to of what's left of this summer.

“Through music – expressing myself, using female pronouns and being open about being gay has really contributed to my confidence in myself. Hearing people’s stories about how they can identify with my music, inspires me to continue being open about my sexuality. I was 14 when I thought I was bisexual and felt I was a part of the LGBTQIA+ community through music, books. Now, I want to be a part of that because it’s important for young queer people to be able to identify themselves with various forms of art”.

I want to bring things forward to the extraordinary Girl Eats Sun. I think that Tala was stunning on her earliest recordings, through last year’s E.P. shows new strengths and layers. In this interview with DORK of November last year, we learn about the connection between literature and Tala’s writing:

“Do songs find you, or do you have to go searching for them?

I search for them in that I’ll go through the notes on my phone and scan any little poems or phrases I’ve written for lyrical fodder. But I think there has to be a sort of equilibrium of energy where the song is out in the universe for me to catch on that particular day, and I’m in the right frame of mind to take hold of it.

Does your love of literature inform your music at all?

The more I read, the better I write. I would never be writing music if I wasn’t a big reader. It’s rare that I consciously start writing a song based on a storyline I’ve read or tried to emulate a particular author or anything like that, but I think subconsciously, and indirectly, my lyrical style has been cultivated almost completely by what I’ve read.

Tell us about the creation of your new EP, was it put together during lockdown?

I wrote ‘Drugstore’ in lockdown, but I’d made the other songs previously in the second half of 2019. All of those songs I wrote from scratch in the studio, which marked a big change for my writing process – every song on my first two EPs (other than ‘Valentine’ from ‘Starry Ache’) I had written outside of the studio, then taken to a producer. I wrote ‘Anywhere’ from ‘Sensitive Soul’ in the library at uni.

It feels really assertive. Are you generally a bold person, or is that something music pulls out of you?

I’d say I’m a bold person. Definitely a very assertive person – I’ve always been that way. I don’t see any way of surviving and succeeding as a woman of colour that doesn’t involve being assertive – of course, assertion is often misunderstood as either bossiness or aggression, which has caused very harmful stereotypes for women – Black women in particular. You can’t really win in that respect. But assertion is a particularly useful trait to have in a studio environment, in terms of protecting my sound.

If you have not checked out Girl Eats Sun, then go and stream it and discover six songs (is hat technically a mini-album?!) that are so arresting and interesting. I love the blend of sounds and the clear strength of Tala’s voice throughout. In an interview with EUPHORIA., she was asked about vocal layering and Latin blends that can be heard through several songs on Girl Eats Sun:

“I hear at least three songs from Girl Eats Sun that are very Latin music centered. Was that intentional?

That was just natural. The same two guys produced those three songs and I think they and I really share a love of Latin music. Also, I’ve always loved R&B music that incorporates Latin guitar, and I think that’s the sound I was trying to create. I’m very particular about my chords and I think that’s why my music has its own cohesive sound. Having a great guitar progression makes writing a song so easy.

When you said R&B songs with Latin guitar, the first one that came to my mind was “Señorita” by Justin Timberlake. But what are some others?

That’s the first one that came to my mind too! I think a lot of Justin Timberlake’s early music embodies that sound. “Señorita,” but there’s also one called “Still On My Brain” from that album which is kind of similar. I think Justified is an incredible album. That came out when I was a young kid and I became so obsessed. Who else? Some of Ashanti’s stuff. But definitely that early Justin Timberlake. He’s the best performer I’ve seen live hands down.

Speaking of your sound, I love how you layer your vocals. Is there a specific way you attack that in the studio?

I think honestly my vocals are so much better on this project then they have been, because the guys who produced most of the songs Baca and Brandon are super classically trained, or they studied jazz or something. They’re such perfectionists so I was in the booth way longer than I have been. Some of my first songs I did one take and I’d be like, “yeah, that’s fine,” because I didn’t know anything about vocal delivery. With these guys, it was a lot of repetition, but it was definitely worth it. It’s them that had ideas for where there needed to be a double or triple vocal take, or where there needed to be harmonies.

I have never agreed with anything more. I’ve seen that you said you are inspired by Shakespeare in your writing. But are there any other more modern novelists who inspire you as well?

That’s the thing my friends make fun of me for the most. They’ll read in some article that I’m talking about Shakespeare and rinse me for it! But there’s loads of modern writers that I love. There’s this French writer called Francois Sagan. I’m pretty sure she’s dead, but she wrote in the 20th Century. I don’t speak French but I read her stuff in translation. I love Zadie Smith, who’s a British writer. I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who’s a Nigerian author. Ruth Ozeki who’s a Japanese American-Canadian author. The best book I read this year is Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. Those are the main ones. Maya Angelou…Audre Lorde.

Do any of them also inspire your lyric writing?

They definitely do, but I think it’s kind of indirect and subconscious. I always find that the more that I read the better my lyrics are. I’m not the type of person who hears a lyric in music or hears a chord progression or reads a line of writing and I’m like, “ok let me use that, or adopt that in some way.” Everyone obviously creates art in different ways. But it’s through osmosis that I consume stuff and then expel it. I don’t think it’s a conscious thing. However, I would say that Sylvia Plath is one of my all-time favorite authors and her poetry really inspired me to start writing poetry. So I think a lot of my early writing is really informed by her in a more direct way. I was talking to you before about writing about the body in the way that I do and rib cages and skin. She definitely writes like that. Her poetry collection Ariel particularly informed the fact that I write like that”.

I appreciate so much about Hope Tala’s music. Her lyrics, to me, are her strongest asset. The intelligence and poetic nature of her lyrics are sublime! One can listen to an E.P. like Girl Eats Sun and you will appreciate the vocals and compositions the first listen. You will come back just to experience the strength and depth of the words. In an interview with gal-dem, we discover more about Tala’s lyrical approach:

“Her love of words helps explain her uniquely creative lyrics, which are often vivid, dramatic and almost Shakespearean in nature. In ‘All My Girls Like To Fight’, for example, she sings “I lick their hands clean of bark and bite/so they can sleep deep at night” while in ‘Eden’, she cleverly rhymes “You want me to sing you a song of sixpence/Write you another rhyme/I would open my bones for you but I just don’t have the time/So the stories in my veins will have to do.” Her lyrics strike an impressive balance of feeling both deeply personal and open-ended at the same time. The artist wrote ‘All My Girls Like To Fight’, she says, about being in a relationship with someone who can fight while she feels too timid, but says that she doesn’t want the original meaning of a song to colour a listener’s interpretation.

“It’s important to me to write music that queer people can see themselves in, but I don’t want to force my own narrative onto anyone,” she says. “When I write I’m just doing what feels natural to me, but I’m happy that my lyrics are a bit open ended. I don’t think I can tell someone a song means one thing when they feel completely differently and have shaped it to fit their own experience. Once I’ve released my songs I always say, ‘these have nothing to do with me anymore.’”

‘Cherries’, one of the most popular songs off the Girl Eats Sun EP, is a prime example of how Hope’s words can take on several meanings. True to form, the tune is chalk full of fruit imagery and nature metaphors. The songs opening bars, “The cherries in your mouth spill stars/Scarlet venom to keep in jam jars,” endear and intrigue the listener in equal measure: while the image of cherries in jam jars suggests the song is shaping up to be a sweet love tune, the phrase “scarlet venom” introduces another, darker layer to the narrative. The rapper Aminé, who has supported Hope’s work since she started posting music on Soundcloud, is also featured on this track, and his bars help elevate Hope’s quiet sensuality to overt sexuality.

he fact that Hope can collaborate with both rapper Aminé and sultry singer-songwriter Raveena, is once more a testament to her artistic versatility. The artist has long had an eclectic musical taste. Growing up, she took clarinet and piano lessons and later went on to teach herself guitar. At home, Hope was fed the greats of R&B by her mother – Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, D’Angelo – while her dad, whose music tastes Hope describes as the most “controversial” of the family, would often play rock and funk hits by the Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the like. Her music tastes remain wide ranging today: “I’m listening to Ariana Grade’s new album every moment of the day,” she tells me while scrolling through her Spotify, “I really love the new Fiona Apple album, I’m loving the Skullcrusher EP. I don’t listen by genre at all, I just listen to whatever I think is good.” Her listeners are similarly diverse: Hope has recently garnered the attention of musician Ellie Goulding and even former US president Barack Obama.

Despite all her success, Hope remains steadfastly humble. “I appreciate that,” Hope remarks when I ask her what it’s been like to blow up as an artist, “but I definitely feel like it hasn’t happened yet.” Though her audience is steadily growing, Hope’s “undiscovered gem” status may just be part of her appeal to listeners.

2021 is set to be big for Hope Tala, who hopes to put out an album this year – though, as she says, “I don’t want to put crazy pressure on it.” If covid precautions allow, she also hopes to go on tour across Europe and North America. “I’ve never gone on tour so I’d love to this coming year,” she said. “I’d say releasing more music, going on tour, collaborating, and going to other people’s shows, that would be the dream.”

The future may look uncertain right now but one thing is for sure: now that Hope has chosen to pursue her music for sure, she can take the heat in 2021 and beyond”.

I am going to finish up with a review for the Girl Eats Sun E.P. The past year or two has seen more E.P.s released than any other time by the look of things. I am not sure why there has been such a rise. It is a good way to put material out before an album. I do wonder if we will get an album from Hope Tala this year. With each E.P., we get new colours and stories from a sensational artist. This is what The Tufts Daily wrote when they reviewed Girl Eats Sun:

“In terms of subject, Tala mostly writes about love and breakups. She frequently uses motifs of fruit ripeness, the body and sunlight which span from single songs like “Cherries” to the title of the EP itself. While beautiful, her metaphor-rich lyrics sometimes sound like a slam poetry writer presenting flowery metaphors as overly profound. This is particularly true in this album, where her attempts to comment on female power in relationships come off as less nuanced than in previous songs. For example, her earlier song “Eden” (2018) explores patriarchy and unequal power dynamics, even in her own same-gender relationship, through the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Another previous song, “Lovestained” (2019), looked at both the positive and damaging effects of love with interesting implications for expectations of female purity. By contrast, “All My Girls Like To Fight” defies traditional gender roles by presenting women as aggressive and unapologetic, an undeniably important message but comparatively obvious.

This is surprising considering Tala’s love of analyzing traditional English texts and modern music alike. Tala received a degree in English literature from the University of Bristol and turned down the opportunity to get her master’s at the University of Cambridge to focus on music. She even wrote her dissertation on Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” (2015), and in a VICE article she admired his complicated political messages.

However, she commented that she doesn’t see herself as equally capable of writing music about politics. It’s perfectly understandable if she prefers to write about other topics, but the fact that her new EP continues the same musical and content-related themes without adding anything new makes it seem like she is not stretching herself to evolve. Clearly, she has much room to grow if she hopes to achieve her ambitious goals, reported by Refinery29, to “win a Grammy [and] be a professor.”

That said, her career is still relatively young and she is off to a strong start. We can still appreciate the pleasant simplicity of “Girl Eats Sun” while we wait to see what Tala does next. In fact, a Dork article quotes her saying that the lightheartedness of the love song “Crazy” is intentional; with such serious matters like COVID-19 threatening the world right now, Tala knows that listeners hardly need anything more serious weighing on their minds. As we anticipate both Tala’s next release and the end of the pandemic, “Girl Eats Sun” is well worth a listen, even if just for the romantic daydream of a post-COVID-19, care-free summer day on the beach that it provides”.

Go and follow Hope Tala and listen to her fantastic music. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next. I think that she is going to be a big artist of the future. In a packed music industry, it can be hard to determine which artists are worth backing. I feel Hope Tala is someone everyone needs to get behind. She has started her career with very strong releases and hugely original music. I think, as she continues to release new music, she will get…

EVEN better!

______________

Follow Hope Tala

PHOTO CREDIT: Rosie Matheson 

Official:

https://www.hopetala.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/hopetala/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/hope_tala

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/hopetalamusic/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/74CcYmmNeHKe5PrZaISk8e

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGmtPsAQjmhNRaIwOz7nfdg

FEATURE: The April Playlist: Vol. 4: The Introvert

FEATURE:

 

 

The April Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Little Simz 

Vol. 4: The Introvert

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IT is a busy week…

 IN THIS PHOTO: CHVRCHES

where we have new tracks from Little Simz, CHVRCHES, Wolf Alice, Azealia Banks, Jorja Smith, Eliza Shaddad, and John Grant. Throw into the mix some Villagers, Gruff Rhys, Liz Lawrence, The Chemical Brothers, PJ Harvey, Sports Team, Field Music, Sufjan Stevens, Angel Olsen, Yola, and Weezer, and this is a packed and excellent Playlist! If you need some motivation and energy to get you into this weekend, then I would recommend that you check out the tracks below. This year has seen some terrific music releases. In terms of strength, I think that this week’s selection of new tracks is as strong as ever. I hope that this trend continues…

 IN THIS PHOTO: John Grant

THROUGH 2021.   

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

__________

Little Simz – Introvert

PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Clinch

CHVRCHES - He Said She Said

Wolf Alice – Smile

Jorja Smith – Gone

Azealia Banks – Nirvana

PHOTO CREDIT: Flore Diamant

Eliza Shaddad - Heaven

John Grant - Rhetorical Figure

Gruff Rhys - Can’t Carry On

The Chemical Brothers - The Darkness You Fear

Martha Hill – Change

Villagers - The First Day

PJ Harvey – The Letter – Demo

Sports Team - Happy (God's Own Country)

Field Music – When You Last Heard from Linda

Sufjan Stevens - Revelation II – Convocations

PHOTO CREDIT: George Chinsee/WWD

H.E.R. (ft. Chris Brown) - Come Through

Liz Lawrence – Where the Bodies Are Buried

FEET - PEACE AND QUIET

Angel Olsen - Alive and Dying (Waving, Smiling)

Yola - Diamond Studded Shoes

Eaves Wilder - Mother in Your Mind

The Weeknd & Ariana Grande - Save Your Tears (Remix)

Weezer - I Need Some of That

Wyldest – Beggar

PHOTO CREDIT: George Antoni

The Veronicas (ft. Allday) - The Life of the Party

Zoe Wees – Ghost

Kero Kero Bonito – Well Rested

Mysie - In My Mind

Matilda Cole - Afternoon Haze

Holly Macve - Eye of the Storm

Lauren Aquilina - The Knife

Sasha Sloan (ft. Sam Hunt) - when was it over?

illuminati hotties – MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA

Ashe - When I’m Older

Bugzy Malone - Salvador

Rachel Chinouriri – Plain Jane

Amber Mark – Worth It

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Marcovecchio

Sukie - Honey Puff

Charlotte Cardin - Anyone Who Loves Me

PHOTO CREDIT: Liam Noonan

OhEm - Impatient

Shaybo (ft. DreamDoll) - Broke Boyz

Veps - Ecstasy

Kele - Nineveh

Lissy Taylor - Quiet Rage

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Forty-Three: Hayley Williams

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes 

Part Forty-Three: Hayley Williams

___________

RATHER than concentrate on her work…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

with Paramore, I am going to be including Hayley Williams’ solo music for fonder consideration – the songs in the playlist at the end will be hers. I guess one can not really discuss the solo work of Williams without nodding to her band. Paramore’s most-recent album, 2017’s After Laughter, is hopefully not going to be their last. The band (Hayley Williams, Zac Farro, Taylor York) are phenomenal. I think their main weapon is Hayley Williams. In terms of her songwriting and vocals, she is one of the most expressive, memorable and accomplished leads in music. Before coming to her debut solo album, it is worth bringing in some background information regarding the exceptional Hayley Williams:

“Hayley Nichole Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and keyboardist of the rock band Paramore.

Born and raised in Mississippi, Williams moved to Franklin, Tennessee at the age of 13 just after her parents divorced in 2002. In 2004, she formed Paramore alongside Josh Farro, Zac Farro, and Jeremy Davis. The band currently consists of Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York. The band has released five studio albums: All We Know Is Falling (2005), Riot! (2007), Brand New Eyes (2009), Paramore (2013), and After Laughter (2017).

Williams released her debut solo single "Simmer" on January 22, 2020, and announced on the same day that her debut studio album, Petals for Armor, would be released on May 8, 2020. The album was preceded by two EPs entitled Petals for Armor I and II that make up the first two thirds of the album. Her second solo record, Flowers for Vases / Descansos, was released less than a year later on February 5, 2021.

Aside from Paramore and preceding her solo career, Williams recorded the song "Teenagers" for the soundtrack of Jennifer's Body (2009) and has collaborated with artists such as October Fall, The Chariot, Set Your Goals, Zedd and New Found Glory. In 2010, she was featured on the single "Airplanes" by B.o.B. It peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. A sequel to the song, "Airplanes, Part II", features new verses from B.o.B. and a verse from Eminem, while Williams' vocals remain the same. This collaboration led to a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

Released on 8th May, 2020, there were a lot of eyes on Williams when she released Petals for Armor. Many thought it was the end of Paramore. Whilst Williams is taking a break from the band, I think her solo album is less a voyage for freedom; it is a chance for her to go out alone and doing something different. I will get to her second studio album (released in 2021) in a bit. I want to bring in an interview that was conducted by i-D. We learn more about Williams being singled out by the press as part of Paramore, in addition to the transition to her debut solo release:

“When Zane Lowe interviewed Paramore for Gonzo, the cultish British MTV Music show, he expected the firecracker frontwoman he’d learned about. Instead he found someone thoughtful. “I have this memory of Hayley really trying to defer to the other members of the band, to be inclusive when I’d ask questions,” he says. “I’m always wary of environments like that, when you see someone who’s fronting a band and very deliberately trying to step into the background, I’m like, what’s causing that? Is it a shyness? This wasn’t that, this was: there’s something going on here with the dynamic of the band and we’re not going to get the bottom of it with this interview.”

That democratic nature is seconded by Hayley's Paramore bandmate, HalfNoise musician and childhood friend, Zac Farro. “She’s always done that since the very first interview,” he says. “There’d be times where it’d be blatantly obvious questions aimed at Hayley but she’d sit there quietly until someone else would talk. She’d even make it awkward to force the involvement from all the band. It’s a powerful way to run a business and a band and to lead people.”

Hayley remembers being very sensitive about being singled out: “Being female and fronting an all-male band was like throwing your soul to the wolves. People didn’t know how to take you -- if your supposed power meant that they should be intimidated or inspired. In the midst of all of that there’s just a tension. Sometimes I didn’t want that.” What she did want was for the band to be recognised as a pack: for their connection to each other, or at least for their songwriting abilities. “All these reviews would come out that would paint me as some sort of dictator in a band setting, or as a brat -- it’s because I was a female, really,” she says, calmly, adding that she learnt a lot from the experience. “I’m not bitter about it but I grew up understanding that I was a little kid wearing a demon costume that I couldn’t see but everyone else could”.

The triumph -- and beauty -- of the record is how specifically Hayley translates her psychological and emotional growth. When writer-producer Steph Marziano flew to Nashville in July 2019 to co-write “Creepin”, “Over Yet” and “Taken” with Hayley and Joey Howard, it was for a “really homely time”; an environment at Hayley's house where intense, meaningful conversations between the three of them were internalised by the singer and later revealed as lyrics and melody. During a session, Steph was taken aback by a question Hayley asked: If you’re always facilitating the artist, what about yourself? How do you mentally cope with that? “As a producer, a lot of times I’m the therapist for the artist. Whenever they’re telling their story I’m supposed to help them get to the emotion of it,” Steph says. “With Hayley, we were all sharing, which shows her emotional intelligence.”

Petals For Armor is ready for release but Hayley still attends therapy sessions (“I try not to overdo it because you can always have too much of a good thing”) and reflects that the counsel offered in that self-shot teenage video would be different today. Now she allows herself to feel deeply without judgement. “I go through some of the heaviest depression that will hit in a single day, followed up by a real feeling of peace and gratitude that I never experienced until quite recently,” she explains. “Being able to juggle both of those extremes, to be able to say, ‘it’s OK that I don’t feel good’ and ‘I don’t understand how to put words to this feeling’ or that ‘actually now I feel so hopeful and grateful’ has been very important to me, and that’s more the message I wish I’d have known sooner”.

I love her debut album and I am eager to bring in a positive review for it soon. There is another interview that I want to source from before I do that. Williams spoke with Ben Barna for Interview Magazine. She was asked about lockdown and going out solo:

“Hayley Williams towers over an empty Times Square. Last week, the singer posted a photo of a Spotify billboard promoting her new album, Petals for Armor, and asked her followers to consider it for “Album of the Apocalypse.” In a pre-pandemic world, countless swaths of passersby would have been tipped off that the frontwoman of the pop-punk group Paramore was releasing her solo debut, but now, there’s an eerie if-a-tree-falls-in-a-forest mood to the whole affair. For Williams, that’s not even the strangest part. “The weirder part was seeing myself up there without Zac and Taylor’s faces next to me,” she says, referring to the drummer Zac Farro and the guitarist Taylor York, the other two members of the band Williams founded in 2004, when she was 15 years old. Since then, Paramore became a global rock act that fought through public drama and a rotating lineup (Farro rejoined the band in 2017 after a falling out) to release 2018’s After Laughter, a deeply personal, ‘80s-inflected album many consider to be the band’s creative peak.

With Petals for Armor, Williams, now 31, has picked up where the last Paramore album left off, digging even deeper into her struggles with mental health, exacerbated by her recent divorce and tamed by therapy and a return to her hometown of Nashville. Williams, who spent her early years as a staple of the Vans Warped Tour, emerges here as a genre-agnostic artist, as comfortable with the electro-pop of “Sugar on the Rim” as she is with the art rock of “Sudden Desire.” Last week, we spoke to Williams from her home in Nashville about adjusting to life in one place after spending so much of it on the road, the disconnect between professional success and personal failure, and why she decided to finally come home.

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes for Interview Magazine 

BEN BARNA: A lot of musicians talk about the comedown that happens after a tour, and how difficult it is to adjust to the rhythms of a normal day. Now that you’re in quarantine, every day is normal. How are you adjusting to that?

HAYLEY WILLIAMS: I get this intense emotional whiplash after any tour we come home from because I love to be on the road and play songs for people. There’s no greater high than that. But my body has been put through the ringer for so long. This is the longest I’ve been home since I was 16. Some days I fucking hate it, but other days I’m trying to remember gratitude.

BARNA: The forecasts for when large crowds will be able to gather again are grim. Are you having trouble visualizing playing shows in the near future?

BARNA: You’re used to speaking about your music alongside your bandmates. What’s it been like to be the only person representing the music?

WILLIAMS: On the one hand, I fucking talk so much. The guys always laugh at me because before an encore, we take shots of tequila. It was a little tradition for us during the After Laughter tour. And you always knew when I took part, because when I take a shot, I talk even more. But this whole process is just me puking it up. I’m pretty unfiltered these days, and I feel okay about that. If this were a Paramore project, you’re absolutely right. It’s not because I feel ashamed of the work, or because the guys don’t want me to talk, it’s just that it’s not only me, and I love just as much for them to have the light on them. If anything, I love that more. Right now, I’m just letting my fucking mouth flap around, and I’m saying too much. But I don’t ever regret it. There’s no point”.

I feel that Hayley Williams is going to be an icon of the future. She is a tremendous band leader and solo artist, but I feel the next few years will see Williams release more solo material and, hopefully, some new work with Paramore. I think that Petals for Armor is an exceptional debut album. This is what AllMusic observed in their review:

“Hayley Williams' artful and deeply personal solo debut, 2020's Petals for Armor, reportedly comes on the heels of a period of deep self-reflection for the longtime Paramore vocalist, and it shows. Along with Paramore's breakthrough chart success with their 2013 self-titled album and 2017's After Laughter, Williams and the band endured three frought lineup changes. It was also during these years that Williams married, divorced, and saw her beloved grandmother endure a life-altering injury. She brings all of these experiences to bear on Petals for Armor, digging with poetic intensity into the depression and self-doubt that have often clouded her success. Joining Williams is Paramore guitarist Taylor York who also takes the helm as producer. A fluidly inventive instrumentalist and songwriter, York brings the same level of empathetic creativity to Williams' work here as he does with Paramore. Also on board are Paramore touring bassist Joey Howard (who shares at least half of the co-writing credits), drummer Aaron Steele (Ghost Beach, Fences, Ximena Sarinana), and cellist/violinist Benjamin Kaufman. Together, they've crafted a series of intimate mood pieces that pair Williams' candid lyrics (she also plays guitar and keyboards) with arty post-rock arrangements and evocative adult-contemporary flourishes.

There's a palpable sense of exploration on Petals for Armor, as Williams includes nods to the progressive Baroque pop and funky dance music of artists like Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and David Byrne. Cuts like the opening "Simmer" and "Leave It Alone" have a narcotic dream energy, punctuated by menacing bass grooves and icy string accents. They also showcase Williams' continued growth as a singer, her resonant voice pulled down to a hushed lilt one minute and a soaring, mellifluous shimmer the next. While there's a sculpted precision to many of these songs, they are balanced with a frank emotionality. On the dancey, Latin-inflected "Dead Horse," Williams details a toxic relationship, singing "Every morning I wake up/From a dream of you/Holding me underwater/Is that a dream or a memory?/Held my breath for a decade/Dyed my hair blue to match my lips/Cool of me to try/Pretty cool I'm still alive." Also helping to illuminate Williams' softly cathartic sound are singer/songwriter's Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker who sing back-up on the flowing, downtempo orchestral track "Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris." It's a textured, nuanced song, rife with an empowered and explicitly feminine eye for detail. Williams sings, "I think of all the wilted women/Who crane their necks to reach a window/Ripping all their petals off just cause 'He loves me now, he loves me not.' 'While there's certainly an audible sense of collaboration on Petals for Armor, it's Williams' ability to turn her dark, personal moments into anthems of survival that stick with you. As she sings on "Watch Me While I Bloom," "I'm alive in spite of me/And I'm on my move/So come and look inside of me/Watch me while I bloom”.

Before closing things, I want to source from a review of Hayley Williams’ second album, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. Released ion February, it came very soon after her debut. I love the sound of both albums, though there is definite shift and difference between them. After the surprise of a solo Hayley Williams album, nobody was expecting another so soon! This is what NME wrote in their review:

“And on ‘Flowers for Vases/descansos’ Hayley Williams revisits her own personal descansos with plain-speaking candour. Though ‘Petals for Armor’ referenced autobiographical details too, they are cloaked in fewer metaphors here. On ‘Inordinary’ she sings directly about starting over in Tennessee aged 14 when she and her mother escaped Williams’ stepfather. “Came home from school one afternoon, she was waiting in the car for me,” she sings over spare, arpeggiated guitar, “she said ‘don’t worry.”

Many other songs are bittersweet, broken expressions of a love that won’t fade despite the instinct to bury it in a deep, secret place. In a meta moment on ‘Trigger’, Williams wonders aloud if she’s capable of making art from a place of peaceful contentment: “What do people sing about once they finally found it?” she asks. The reverberating strums of opener ‘First Thing to Go’ accompany Williams’ attempts to remember the past in vivid detail, and the strange sensation of somebody who once represented everything fading into a fainter memory with missing fragments. “First thing to go was the sound of his voice, it echoes still, I’m sure, but I can’t hear it,” she sings “…Heard what I wanted, until I couldn’t.”

Perhaps partly as a result of how it was created, ‘Flowers for Vases / descansos’ is less spiny and biting than her debut solo album. While that record brought to mind the intricacies of Thom Yorke and Warpaint, and burned with a simmering anger, this comes from a softer, more exposed place with Williams’ voice as its centrepiece. As if tugging up grubby fistfuls of dead weeds to make room for living things to flourish, ‘Flowers for Vases/descansos’ rakes back the debris and leaves Hayley Williams exposed. Sowing new seeds, it’s an approach that reaps rewards”.

I have only really scratched the surface of a remarkable artist. Whether leading Paramore or going solo, Hayley Williams is a tremendous songwriter and performer. I feel we will see a lot more work from one of modern music’s finest artists. Maybe it is a bit rash to say Williams will be an icon in the future, though I think that she has the combination of talent and a quality that many other artists do not possess. If you have not really checked out the music of Hayley Williams then listen to her debut solo albums and go back and hear her work with Paramore. No matter what guise and line-up she is in – part of the band or doing it solo -, the incredible and hugely interesting Hayley Williams is…

>

A remarkable talent.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Seven: Jeff Buckley

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

PHOTO CREDIT: Michel Linssen/Redferns 

Part Seven: Jeff Buckley

___________

FOR the seventh edition…

of Inspired By…, I wanted to bring in an artist who I mention quite a bit on this site. Jeff Buckley is one of my favourite musicians ever. I know Apple Music do their own series where they collate songs from artists influenced by a legend; they have done one for Jeff Buckley - I was eager to do my own series of some of the artists that I really love. He would have been fifty-five later this year (17th November). Since his untimely death in 1997, his legacy and remarkable music has inspired a new generation of artists. The playlist at the end of this feature is a selection of artists who have either cited Buckley as influential or have been compared to him. I want to bring in a big chunk of biography to give you a flavour of a musician who, in a short life, achieved so much – and left an indelible mark on the music world:

“Jeff Buckley was born in California’s Orange County in 1966 and died in a tragic drowning accident in Memphis on May 29, 1997. He had emerged in New York City’s avant-garde club scene in the 1990’s as one of the most remarkable musical artists of his generation, acclaimed by audiences, critics, and fellow musicians alike. His first commercial recording, the four-song EP Live At Sin-é, was released in December 1993 on Columbia Records. The EP captured Buckley, accompanying himself on electric guitar, in a tiny coffeehouse in New York’s East Village, the neighborhood he’d made his home.

By the time of the EP’s release during the fall of 1993, Buckley had already entered the studio with Mick Grondahl (bass), Matt Johnson (drummer), and producer Andy Wallace and recorded seven original songs (including “Grace” and “Last Goodbye”) and three covers (among them Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, Benjamin Britten’s “Corpus Christi Carol”) that comprised his debut album Grace. Guitarist Michael Tighe became a permanent member of Jeff Buckley’s ensemble and went on to co-write and perform on Grace’s “So Real” just prior to the release of the album.

In early 1994, not long after Live At Sin-é appeared in stores, Jeff Buckley toured clubs, lounges, and coffeehouses in North America as a solo artist from January 15-March 5 as well as in Europe from March 11-22. Following extensive rehearsals in April-May 1994, Buckley’s “Peyote Radio Theatre Tour” found him on the road with his band from June 2-August 16. His full-length full-band album, Grace, was released in the United States on August 23, 1994, the same day Buckley and band kicked off a European tour in Dublin, Ireland; the 1994 European Tour ran through September 22, with Buckley and Ensemble performing at the CMJ convention at New York’s Supper Club on September 24. The group headed back into America’s clublands for a Fall Tour lasting from October 19-December 18.

On New Year’s Eve 1994-95, Buckley returned to Sin-é to perform a solo set; on New Year’s Day, he read an original poem at the annual St. Mark’s Church Marathon Poetry Reading. Two weeks later, he and his band were back in Europe for gigs in Dublin, Bristol, and London before launching an extensive tour of Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, and the United Kingdom which lasted from January 29-March 5. On April 13 1995, it was announced that Jeff Buckley’s Grace had earned him France’s prestigious “Gran Prix International Du Disque — Academie Charles CROS — 1995”; an award given by a jury of producers, journalists, the president of France Culture, and music industry professionals, it had previously been given to Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Yves Montand, Georges Brassens, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell, among other musical luminaries. France also awarded Buckley a gold record certification for Grace.

From March 5 through April 20, Buckley and his band rehearsed for an American spring tour with gigs running from April 22-June 2. From June through August, Jeff and company toured the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland. The band took off for Down Under to play six Australian shows between August 28-September 6, 1995. In November 1995, Buckley played two unannounced solo shows at Sin-é.He performed songs including the new “Woke Up In A Strange Place” on Vin Scelsa’s “Idiot’s Delight” show on WXRK-FM on December 17 and celebrated New Year’s Eve 1995-96 with performances at New York’s Mercury Lounge and Sin-é.

Jeff Buckley and his touring ensemble went back to Australia, where Grace had earned a gold record certification, for the “Hard Luck Tour,” which ran from February 9-March 1 of 1996. Drummer Matt Johnson left the group after the final Australian show. The posthumous album Jeff Buckley-Mystery White Boy brings together some of the high points from Jeff’s 1995-1996 live performances. The DVD/home video release Jeff Buckley-Live In Chicago documents, in its entirety, Jeff’s concert at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago on May 13, 1995.

In May of ’96, Jeff played four gigs as a bass player with Mind Science of the Mind, a side-project of Buckley’s friend, Nathan Larson of Shudder To Think. In September ’96, Buckley played another unannounced solo gig at his old favorite haunt Sin-é. December of 1996 found Jeff Buckley embarking on his “phantom solo tour”; designed to experiment with new songs in a live setting (as in his Sin-é days), these unannounced solo gigs throughout the Northeast U.S. were played under a succession of aliases: the Crackrobats, Possessed By Elves, Father Demo, Smackrobiotic, the Halfspeeds, Crit Club, Topless America, Martha & the Nicotines, and A Puppet Show Named Julio.

At midnight on February 9, 1997, Jeff Buckley debuted his new drummer, Parker Kindred, in a show at Arlene Grocery on New York’s Lower East Side. He also played a couple of solo gigs in New York during the first months of 1997: a gig at the Daydream Cafe (featuring band members Mick Grondahl and Michael Tighe as “special guests”) and a solo performance February 4 as part of the Knitting Factory’s 10-Year Birthday Party.

Buckley and his band had recorded intermittently — with Tom Verlaine as producer — during Summer/Fall 1996 and early winter 1997 in New York and in February 1997 in Memphis. After the conclusion of those sessions, Jeff sent the band back to New York while, during March and April 1997, he remained in Memphis and continued to craft his work-in-progress, making various four-track home recordings of songs to present to his bandmates. Some of these were revisions of the songs recorded with Verlaine, some were brand new compositions, and some were surprising cover versions. The new lineup debuted Buckley’s new songs at Barrister’s in Memphis on February 12 and 13. Beginning March 31, Jeff began a series of regularly scheduled Monday night solo performances at Barrister’s. His last show there was on Monday, May 26, 1997. The night Buckley died, he was on his way to meet his band to begin three weeks of rehearsals for my sweetheart, the drunk; producer Andy Wallace, who’d helmed the boards on Grace, was to join them in Memphis in late June to record his new album.

In addition to his Columbia Records releases, Live At Sin-é and Grace, Jeff Buckley has appeared as a guest artist on several other recordings. He can be heard singing “Jolly Street,” a track on the Jazz Passengers 1994 album In Love. He contributed tenor vocals to “Taipan” and “D. Popylepis,” two recordings on John Zorn’s Cobra Live At The Knitting Factory (1995). On Rebecca Moore’s Admiral Charcoal’s Song, Buckley plays electric six-string bass on “If You Please Me,” “Outdoor Elevator,” and “Needle Men” (on which he also plays drums). He both plays guitar and sings backup vocals on Brenda Kahn’s “Faith Salons,” a key track on her Destination Anywhere album (released 1996). Patti Smith’s critically acclaimed Gone Again album features Buckley adding “voice” to the song “Beneath the Southern Cross” and “essrage” (a small fretless Indian stringed instrument) to “Fireflies.” On kicks joy darkness, a various artists’ spoken word tribute to beat poet Jack Kerouac, Jeff Buckley performed on “Angel Mine”; Jeff plays guitar, sitar, and mouth sax (adding words at the poem’s conclusion) on the track. Buckley can be heard reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “Ulallume – A Ballad,” on Closed On Account Of Rabies (Poems & Tales by Edgar Allan Poe) on Mouth Almighty/Mercury Records. He sang “I Want Someone Badly” (Epic) for Shudder To Think’s soundtrack to First Love, Last Rites. Sandy Bell, a friend of Buckl ey’s during his L.A. days, released the resurrected track “Hollywould” in 2000, which she co-wrote and recorded with Buckley.

An ardent enthusiast for a myriad of musical forms, Jeff Buckley was an early champion among young American musicians for the work of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the world’s foremost Qawwali (the music of the Sufis) singer. Buckley conducted an extensive interview with Nusrat in Interview magazine (January 1996) and wrote the liner notes Nusrat’s The Supreme Collection album, released on Mercator/Caroline records in August 1997. On May 9, 2000, Columbia Records released Jeff Buckley-Mystery White Boy, an album of live performances, and Jeff Buckley-Live In Chicago, a full-length concert (available on DVD or VHS) recorded live at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago on May 13, 1995, in the midst of Jeff’s “Mystery White Boy” tour.

As stated, following the release of Grace on August 23, 1994, Jeff and his group spent much of 1994-1996 performing around the world on the Unknown, Mystery White Boy, and Hard Luck tours. The May 2000 release of Jeff Buckley – Mystery White Boy brought together, for the first time, some of the high points of those shows. Produced by Michael Tighe (guitarist for Jeff’s band throughout their international touring and the recording of Grace) and Mary Guibert (Jeff’s mother) and Jeff Buckley-Mystery White Boy provides an evocative cross-section of Jeff’s repertoire: previously-unreleased Buckley compositions, electrifying live interpretations of songs from Grace, and obscure and marvelous cover choices. The recordings heard on Jeff Buckley-Mystery White Boy have been hand-picked from scores of concert tapes by Mary Guibert and the members of Jeff’s band who played such a large role in helping Jeff realize his musical vision.

According to Mary, the tracks on Jeff Buckley-Mystery White Boy are “the individual performances that represented transcendent moments from each of the concerts we’d identified as being in the ‘overall outstanding’ category.”

“It was obvious which performances were contenders for the record,” concurs Michael Tighe, “and in some cases a performance would be so supreme and unpredictable that I knew it had to be brought to the public.”

In the years since Buckley’s death, his legacy continues to grow. His fan base include rock legends, new artists, loyal followers, and an entirely new generation of music lovers. Jeff’s only studio album in his lifetime, Grace, endures”.

To honour a much-missed and legendary artist, this Inspired By… unites artists who are moved and influenced by the unforgettable Jeff Buckley. It is clear that, so many years after his death, his music and memory continues to reverberate and move people…

AROUND the world.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Ben E. King – Stand By Me

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Ben E. King – Stand By Me

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THIS is a song…

that has been covered quite extensively through the years. Recorded back in October 1960, Ben E. King’s Stand By Me is one of those songs that has bene taken to heart by so many people. I am mentioning the track, as it was recently Bob Harris’ seventy-fifth birthday. He united a special group to perform a cover of Stand By Me back in 2020. Here is some further information and explanation:

“A huge array of artists have come together under the banner ‘Whispering Bob’s Allstars’ to perform the song remotely, including: Paul Rogers, Mark Knopfler, PP Arnold Peter Frampton, Rick Wakeman, Richard Thompson, Beth Nielsen Chapman, The Shires and Ward Thomas plus many more – see below for full list.

This new recording of the Ben E King classic is spearheaded by the legendary Bob Harris OBE, who celebrates 50 years in broadcasting this year. What better way to mark the occasion than inviting some of his favourite artists to come together to perform his favourite song, 60 years to the day it was originally recorded (27 October 1960) and raise money for a wonderful cause – Help Musicians”.

At such a difficult time, I think Stand By Me has taken on a new life. It is a wonderful song that will continue to be explored by various different artists in the form of cover versions. I am looing at the original recording which, to me, is the very best. Ben E. King’s performance carries so much passion and emotion! It still sound so moving and powerful six decades after its release. Released on 24th April, 1961, I wanted to mark sixty years of a phenomenal song.

Before moving on, here are some more details about an all-time gem of a track that continues to inspire and impact people all around the world:

“Stand by Me" is a song originally performed in 1961 by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King and written by King, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller. According to King, the title is derived from, and was inspired by, a spiritual written by Sam Cooke and J. W. Alexander called "Stand by Me Father," recorded by the Soul Stirrers with Johnnie Taylor singing lead. The third line of the second verse of the former work derives from Psalm 46:2c/3c.

It was featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Stand by Me, and a corresponding music video, featuring King along with actors River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton, was released to promote the film. It was also featured in a 1987 European commercial of Levi's 501 jeans, contributing to greater success in Europe. In 2012, the song's royalties was estimated to have topped $22.8 million (£17 million), making it the sixth highest-earning song as of its era. 50% of the royalties were paid to King.[4] In 2015, King's original version was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", just under five weeks before his death. Later in the year, the 2015 line up of the Drifters recorded it in tribute.

There have been over 400 recorded versions of the song, performed by many artists, notably John Lennon, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), 4 the Cause, Tracy Chapman, musicians of the Playing for Change project, Florence and the Machine, and the Kingdom Choir. A-League club Melbourne Victory FC play this song before home matches, while fans raise their scarves above their heads and sing the lyrics”.

There have been some great covers of Stand By Me through the decades. I want to finish off by brining in an article from The Guardian. They published a piece in 2015 to mark fifty-five years since Stand By Me was written. As they explore, one can easily identify the song. It is one of those tracks that resonates after so many years:

“As is the case with all the great pop songs, you can identify Stand By Me by its opening few notes. Mike Stoller’s simple bassline, built around a 50s doo-wop chord progression, is decorated with little more than the faint ting of a triangle and the scrape of a gourd guiro – yet the effect is instant. King’s gospel-infused vocals followed this approach: the strength of his feelings imparted with no need for histrionics.

Fifty-five years after it was written, King’s original version still wields the kind of emotional heft that can reduce people to tears, and get others on their feet at weddings. Yet not everyone saw its magic at first. King had originally intended the song for his band the Drifters, before he left that group in 1960 – it was only after a songwriting session with Stoller and Jerry Lieber had come to an end, and they asked if he had any other songs in the locker, that he put it forward. “I wasn’t trying to make a hit,” he told the Guardian in 2013. According to King, legendary producer Jerry Wexler was even less aware of its magic: “He hated it because we’d gone into overtime in the studio with an expensive orchestra.”

King’s novella The Body inspired Rob Reiner’s 1986 film Stand By Me, and the inclusion of the original version of the song on the soundtrack helped make it an even bigger hit in 1987, when it topped the UK singles chart. The renaissance continued shortly afterwards when Stand By Me was one of several soul classics to appear on adverts for Levi’s 501 jeans. Such ongoing success thrilled King, who vowed to keep performing the song “as long as I’m breathing”.

On paper, Stand By Me seems a simple song, and certainly King wrote it with simple intentions: a love song to his partner at the time, Betty Nelson. Pop songs are seldom expected to mirror the lives of the artists who created them, but it certainly adds a sparkle to the song to know that Nelson would go on to celebrate five decades of marriage with the man who sang to her: “If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall / All the mountains should crumble to the sea / I won’t cry, I won’t cry / No, I won’t shed a tear / Just as long as you stand, stand by me.”

It’s especially fitting that a song about enduring love – a love able to survive, no matter what trials and traumas it encounters – was built equally strongly to stand the test of time”.

Perhaps one of the most memorable and loved songs ever released, Stand By Me has acquired fresh relevance and potency during the pandemic. Bob Harris’ assembled tribute has done a lot of good and, in the process, brought Ben E. King’s version to new people. It is truly…

ONE of the all-time classics.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Roy Orbison at Eighty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: David Redfern/Redferns

Roy Orbison at Eighty-Five

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OTHERWISE known as…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Moore, Hulton Archive/Getty Images

‘The Caruso of Rock" and ‘The Big O’, Rob Orbison would have been eighty-five today (23rd April). He sadly died on 6th April, 1988 aged just fifty-two. I want to remember him on his eighty-fifth birthday, as I think he is one of the greatest vocalists who ever lived. Whether performing during his solo career of with The Traveling Wilburys (a supergroup he performed in alongside Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty), his voice was unlike anyone else’s! Not to mangle his biography, but here are some details and background:

“A few things contributed to Roy Orbison’s success. The songs, the production, and the performance were key factors. The songs were completely original in structure, sound and style. Totally innovative compositions, that didn’t exist until then. It became a style. Fred Foster really went for quality instead of quantity. He was willing to splash money on a session without any guarantee of payback. He was also willing to take a chance on a sound that did not conform to accepted market norms.

After that came “Crying”, “Candy Man”, “Dream Baby”, “Working for the Man”, “Leah”, “In Dreams”, “Pretty Paper”, “Blue Bayou”, “Mean Woman Blues “, “It’s Over”. This became an unbroken string of Top 40 hits that lasted for four years. Roy became the top selling American artist and one of the world’s biggest names .

In May 1963, and with the success of “In Dreams”, Wesley Rose eventually accepted an invitation for Roy to tour England on a bill with The Beatles, who meant nothing in the United States at that time. The tour was sold-out in one afternoon. On the first night, Roy did fourteen encores before The Beatles could get on stage.

Roy Orbison was one of the few hit-makers to hold his ground, and even to increase his popularity in the wake of the so-called British Invasion. He did it by maintaining a matchless quality of releases, with an original variety of content, structure, tempo and rhythm. He was also an extremely subtle song craftsman, making changes during the course of a session, or between sessions, adding the final commercial gloss to a song.

“Oh Pretty Woman” was recorded on August 1st, 1964. It was written by Roy together with his new writing partner Bill Dees and it became Roy’s biggest hit, and in fact the most popular song of all time. Released in August in the US and in September in the UK, it went to number one in every country of the World. By most estimates, the song sold about seven million copies that same year.

As his MGM contract came to an end in 1973, Roy signed a one-year contract with Mercury Records in 1974 without major acclaim, but as he would say, he always had a record in the charts in some part of the World. For example “Penny Arcade” was number 1 in Australia for weeks on end and “Too Soon to Know” was number 3 in England. After that brief stay with Mercury Records, Roy re-signed with Monument in January 1976 in an attempt to recharge his career in the midst of heavy touring on the Far East, Australia, Asia and Europe. Roy paid the price of heavy smoking, heavy touring and life on the road when he underwent open-heart surgery at the St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville in January 18, 1978, but he was back on the road three weeks later just to prove he could do it.

But about this time things started to look a bit brighter in the US. Roy was always out of the shadow in Europe, mainly in England and everybody over there knew who he was, he was still popular and doing more shows overseas than at home, but when Linda Ronstadt had a huge hit with Roy’s “Blue Bayou” which sold about 7 or 8 million copies, Van Halen had an enormous success with “Oh Pretty Woman” and Don McClean did the same with “Crying”, a rejuvenation process started.

Key factors contributed to the rebirth of Roy’s career in the USA. A Grammy with Emmylou Harris in 1980 for “That Lovin’ You Feelin’ Again”, “Wild Hearts Run out of Time” being in the film Insignificance, the Class of ’55 LP with fellow Sun record mates, his move to Malibu, California in late 1985, he re-recorded his greatest hits for an upcoming LP for Silver Eagle from Canada, and the use of the song “In Dreams” in the film Blue Velvet, but for sure helped a big deal to put Roy’s music back in the map. Blue Velvet is considered a cult film and it helped Roy to become very contemporary again, as he always wanted to be.

It was announced that Roy would be inducted into the 2nd annual Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in New York in January 21, 1987. He was inducted by Bruce Springsteen who said, “In 1975, when I went into the studio to make Born to Run, I wanted to make a record with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector. But most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison.” Right after this, Roy signs with Virgin Records who immediately re-releases the greatest hits tapes on an LP called In Dreams-Greatest Hits. There are a few new songwriting collaborators, among them Jeff Lynne. New material is being recorded for the upcoming Virgin LP in Los Angeles and the expectations start to grow.

Posthumously released in 1989, Mystery Girl became the biggest selling album of his career. Two cuts from the album became hits: “You Got It” made it in the U.S. Top 10 and Bono’s “She’s A Mystery To Me” climbed to the Top 30 in the U.K. In 1992, Virgin released King of Hearts, a collection of previously unreleased songs, and The Very Best of Roy Orbison in 1996, which documented his career from its beginning through the last years of his life.

Roy’s legacy continues to grow as his wife; Barbara devotes her time to managing his estate and releasing Orbison products on her label, Orbison Records. In January 1998, she issued Combo Concert, which is a collection of previously unreleased live recordings from Holland and France made in 1965. A companion video of the same name features a black and white film of the original Dutch television broadcast. In 1998, nearly ten years after his death, Barbara accepted the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award bestowed upon Roy for his unparalleled contribution to the recording industry”.

To mark what would have been the eighty-fifth birthday of an iconic singer, this Lockdown Playlist is all about that stunning and rich voice. I have selected a few of his choice tracks that showcase what a talent he was. Although he has been gone for quite a few years, I think that his legacy and hugely important music will live on forever. This is a Lockdown Playlist salute…

TO The Big O.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis

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EVEN though I featured Prefab Sprout…

in Vinyl Corner this time last year (when I included 1985’s Steve McQueen), I think it is about time I highlight them once more. Today, I am focusing on the follow-up of Steve McQueen, From Langley Park to Memphis. I would urge people to buy From Langley Park to Memphis on vinyl. The third studio album from the Durham band, it is one where they became more commercial. Although some critics felt that the songs on From Langley Park to Memphis are not as deep and consistent as on their previous album or their debut, Swoon, I feel it is a magnificent album. Before moving on, here is some background regarding From Langley Park to Memphis:  

“From Langley Park to Memphis is the third studio album by English pop band Prefab Sprout. It was released by Kitchenware Records on 14 March 1988. It peaked at number 5 on the UK Albums Chart, the highest position for any studio album released by the band. Recorded in Newcastle, London and Los Angeles, it has a more polished and commercial sound than their earlier releases, and features several guest stars including Stevie Wonder and Pete Townshend. The album's simpler songs, big productions and straight-forward cover photo reflect frontman Paddy McAloon's wish for it to be a more universal work than their more cerebral earlier albums”.

Many people know the album because of the two hits songs, The King of Rock 'n' Roll and Cars and Girls. Before wrapping things up, I want to bring in a couple of reviews that show what a great record From Langley Park to Memphis is. In 2014, Sound on Sound spoke with Prefab Sprout’s songwriter and leader, Paddy McAloon (alongside Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout consisted Neil Conti, Martin McAloon and Wendy Smith; today, they are more of a Paddy McAloon solo venture) about the catalogue of the band. There are some interesting points regarding From Langley Park to Memphis:

“Whatever the circumstances of its creation, From Langley Park To Memphis was Prefab Sprout’s most polished offering and their best–selling record, reaching number five in the UK album chart, not least due to the naggingly catchy and knowingly daft Top Ten hit ‘The King Of Rock & Roll’. There were many memorable moments for McAloon during the album’s making, not least hiring an orchestra for ‘Hey Manhattan!’; the parts were committed to tape at CTS Studios in Wembley, a favourite of John Barry’s when recording the scores for the James Bond films. Elsewhere, Prefab Sprout’s growing mainstream status was spotlit by the appearances on the record of Pete Townshend, who played acoustic guitar on ‘Hey Manhattan!’, and Stevie Wonder, who contributed his trademark melodious harmonica to ‘Nightingales’.

Both of these cameo performances came about simply because Prefab Sprout happened to be using the same studios as the legendary musicians. McAloon remembers being ill with flu and absent from the sessions on the day he encouraged his bassist brother Martin to ask the Who guitarist to play on ‘Hey Manhattan!’. “Our Martin said he walked past this room and Pete Townshend had this Ovation acoustic and he was shaking it over his head violently,” he says. “Martin thought, ‘God he even does it in private!’ But then it turned out he’d lost his plectrum inside it, like a mere mortal, and he was trying to shake it out. So he did the part as a favour and it’s just a straightforward, but beautiful, rhythm guitar with strange chords going on.”

There was a tenser atmosphere, however, in Westside Studios on the day Wonder arrived to make his contribution to ‘Nightingales’. “The young engineer on the session, Richard Moakes, looked at me just before he did it and said, ‘Oh God I’m a bit worried I won’t know how to get his sound’. I said, ‘Well, look, we’ll just see what happens’. And of course you put the microphone on him and you turn the fader up and he sounds like Stevie Wonder. You don’t do anything.”

It was an enlightening moment for McAloon. “For a long time, you have this chimera of a notion that someone can get you a great sound,” he says. “But it starts with you, y’know. I thought, OK, you’ve seen how that works with someone like Stevie Wonder — he has his skills and you put a microphone in front of him and you will capture him. Unless you’re doing something really silly, you’ll get it and it will be identifiable. So I thought, OK, when you play a guitar, don’t blame an engineer if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’ve heard people tell stories about Jeff Beck, that he can pick up any bent, out–of–shape guitar and he will make it sound like Jeff Beck, ‘cause he knows what he’s doing”.

I love the mix of styles that stand alongside one another on the album. McAloon draws inspiration a lot from America through From Langley Park to Memphis - he felt that the country was full of myths and extremes.  Of the album's ten tracks, Thomas Dolby produced The King of Rock 'n' Roll, I Remember That, Knock on Wood and The Venus of the Soup Kitchen. I love Dolby’s production sound. He was sole producer (apart from one track) on Steve McQueen; he co-produced Swoon with David Brewis. The fact there are several producers on From Langley Park to Memphis (Thomas Dolby, Jon Kelly, Paddy McAloon, Andy Richards) makes it a little muddled. In spite of a few critics being a little mixed regarding From Langley Park to Memphis – some felt From Langley Park to Memphis was inferior to Steve McQueen and a little pale -, I think it is an album that is definitely worth exploring further and getting on vinyl. In their assessment, this is what Pitchfork stated:

“After Swoon and the critical acclaim that followed Steve McQueen, the band recorded and shelved a quieter follow-up (Protest Songs, eventually released in 1989) before setting off to make something that capitalized on their newfound momentum. At the time of its release, the cinematic From Langley Park to Memphis was largely overshadowed by its first two tracks: the semi-novelty hit “The King of Rock and Roll” (which arrived with a fittingly absurd music video) and the Springsteen-referencing “Cars and Girls.” As a one-two punch, they rightfully stand among Prefab Sprout’s most recognizable songs, and the rest of the record is just as catchy and complex.

McAloon was now penning his own version of standards (“Nightingales”), reverb-coated alt-rock anthems (“The Golden Calf”), and dramatic singalongs that could find a second life on Broadway (“Hey Manhattan”). His writing favored narrators in sad, autumnal stages: “All my lazy teenage boasts are now high precision ghosts/And they’re coming ‘round the tracks to haunt me,” go the opening lyrics to “The King of Rock and Roll,” imagining the life of an older touring musician, every night singing the same meaningless words that he wrote decades ago. And yet the music sounds colorful and hopeful and alive—everything seems to sparkle, right down to the glossy band photo on the album cover.

With that photo, lovingly filtered here to look slightly more artful, the band signaled that they were pivoting away from their underground beginnings. Released at a time when American indie bands like R.E.M. and the Replacements were beginning to make bids for larger audiences, McAloon was making a similar leap, even if he still preferred staying out of the spotlight. While his songs were newly poised for radio and MTV, he remained wary of fame, setting on a reclusive path that would span the rest of his career. “This isn’t meant to sound snobbish,” he told Melody Maker at the time, “but I’ve never felt a part of any community… I don’t go out and look for like-minded people and I’ve never found anyone on the planet who fits the bill.” From Langley Park remains the band’s closest brush to stardom, but McAloon kept finding new ways to push himself”.

I will end things in a second. Before I do, there is a great review from Sproutology that almost defends an album that did not pick up the same raft of great reviews as other albums in their catalogue:

“The thing is that the words are every bit as deft and clever as, say, Swoon. But they swim over you in the most delicious music, as glassy surfaced and glossy as the cover art, designed to distance you from anything grungy. This is Paddy celebrating the purest pop, but with an elegance of expression that makes you catch your breath from the instant you pierce the surface and understand what he is doing.

Let me try to explain in another way. I scan Twitter for snippets most days. One aspect of that is the recurrent theme of supposed music fans posting about Prefab Sprout as a novelty band based on only having heard “King of Rock N Roll”. And thereby neatly demonstrating they know nothing about music. Most Sprout fans dismiss it as an aberration “Sad, so sad, to be known for something that so misrepresents what you are!” Even McCartney called it “your dingaling”.

But no, “King of Roll N Roll” is a great song. It was written, quickly, at a period where Paddy has explicitly stated he wanted to get away from the “clever clever student bedsit” image. He went on record (as a joke) as saying that Prefab Sprout would never write songs called “King of Rock N Roll” or “Rebel Land”.  While in fact he had written both. And they’re essentially both the same subject: songs about the broken promises youth hands to you in middle age. Rebel Land: “I saw her young face on that picture/ She really had the horniest eyes/ Now they are blunted/ Blunted with living/ Living with compromise”. King of Rock ‘N’ Roll: “When she looks at me and laughs/ I remind her of the facts/ I’m the king of rock ‘n’ roll/ completely”.

Same him. Same her. Same eyes laughing at him. A mixture of pity and contempt.

And the music and chorus is as jaunty as a pre-teen dance craze, but the sentiments are in a minor key. All you remember – all the tweeters remember – is the cheesy synths. The façade masks the depth of feeling. I mean, what novelty hit starts with a vision as sweeping as “All my lazy teenage boasts/ are now high precision ghosts”? The whole song, Abba reference included, drips regret: “I am not what I was. I was never who you thought I was. This is not what I wanted to be. I am some old hippy playing music I can’t even dance to.”

That’s what “Cars and Girls” is about too, if you forget Brucie and listen to the words: “What we once thought was important, really isn’t. Everything gets complicated, the vividness diminishes, the colours fade.”. And if the point hadn’t quite got through by that point, “I Remember That” just says it out loud, unvarnished: “Cos that’s all we can have, yes it’s all we can trust. It’s a hell of a ride, but a journey to dust.” I’d be willing to bet most people just let these songs wash over them. It’s the glassy surface. It doesn’t let you in unless you scratch it.

I don’t think it’s an accident that the production duties are shared. Paddy has suggested he thinks “Steve McQueen” became Dolby’s album, however great the songs were, he’d moved past them himself. But he’d watched and learned and wanted to do a little of the next one himself, to remove himself from the shadow of the master, to not let it become some else’s piece. Who knows? But anyway”Enchanted” is for me like one of those apprentice made model locomotives you sometimes find in engineering museums: elaborately and joyously wrought, an expression of the delight of mastering a new skill. Try and fathom the baseline if you can (the bass note, deliciously, is sampled from the bass intro to “Wichita Lineman”. The key change in the middle of “Here’s something to dwell upon/Now we’re living next we’re gone/If you’ve loved please pass it on”. That theme again, and a gloss finish to rival Scritti Politti. Ain’t no Purple Rain quite like it. The past passing into the future, the changes that brings.

Side One ends with “Nightingales”. When I first had the album, that was the song that made me go back and play the side again, endlessly. Because at that point I’d discovered how great my parents’ record collection was, and I was listening to a lot of standards. “Nightingales” sounds like a standard. When sung by a really great singer, it essentially is a great standard. What I would say now is that the last verse “we are cartoon cats” sits ill with the rest of it. It sounds like it was an afterthought, and Paddy dropped the verse in some performances later. But anyway, the song is a somewhat optimistic close to the side. What keeps us busy day to day distracts us from our true nature, we are what we love, what is true to us, whatever happens, and we must never forget that, we must remind each other of it: “Tell me: ‘Do something true, true of you and me…'”.  Thinking of it simply as a sweet song that evokes a standard masks the poignancy of the sentiment. Living is our song”.

I really love From Langley Park to Memphis, as it is an album I grew up listening to. The King of Rock 'n' Roll was the first song from Prefab Sprout I heard. I was instantly hooked. In Paddy McAloon – as I have said in features before – they have one of the greatest songwriters ever. If you have not got a copy of From Langley Park to Memphis already, go and get a copy and…

GIVE it a spin.

FEATURE: Karma Chameleon: Looking Ahead to the Boy George Biopic

FEATURE:

 

 

Karma Chameleon

Looking Ahead to the Boy George Biopic

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I do like a good music biopic…

and one I am surprised hasn’t happened before concerns Boy George. The Culture Club lead is a legendary songwriter and singer. To me, he is an inspiring figure and someone who commands a huge amount of respect. From his iconic looks and soulful voice, there is a lot to focus on when it comes to a biopic. I am not aware of his background and upbringings so, when news broke earlier this week that Boy George (George O’Dowd) is looking for an actor to play him, it pricked my ears:

“The film will share the story of Boy George’s beginnings in an Irish working-class family through to his rise to stardom in the 1980s with Culture Club alongside original members Jon Moss, Roy Hay and Mikey Craig.

As for casting, the singer also said Danny Mays (1917, Line Of Duty) would play his father – and also teased that “there are rumours of Keanu Reeves popping in”.

Boy George also said that they were looking to cast an actor to play him. “We’re looking for a brave young actor anywhere in the globe to take on the role of his life, and it will be brilliant,” he said. “I wanna be impressed! So see you on set this summer”.

Boy George turns sixty in June. I am a bit too young to remember the earliest Culture Club material. Their huge single, Karma Chameleon, came out in the U.K. on 5th  September, 1983 (four months after I was born). I really love the band’s second album, Colour by Numbers. Arriving a year after their acclaimed debut, Kissing to Be Clever, I think that Colour by Numbers is one of the best albums of the 1980s. I think that the band at that time - Boy George – lead and backing vocals, Roy Hay – guitars, piano, electric sitar and backing vocals, Mike Craig – bass guitar and backing vocals, Jon Moss – drums and backing vocals – are so harmonious and wonderful together. To me, Boy George’s charisma, incredible vocals and style is the hallmark and standout of the band.

Hey! pic.twitter.com/5JVyggaFiK

— Boy George (the truth is in your breath) (@BoyGeorge) April 20, 2021

I am looking forward to the biopic and what angles it approaches. This article from Deadline provides some details and locations for a biopic that is shaping up to be fascinating and a must-watch:

“EXCLUSIVE: The Boy George movie biopic, which is to be called Karma Chameleon, has moved from MGM to Millennium Media and is eyeing a summer 2021 start in London and Bulgaria, we can reveal.

In a new video that we can debut on Deadline, the Culture Club frontman says a casting search is underway for the actor to play him. The singer also teases the casting of 1917 and Line Of Duty actor Danny Mays in the role of his father and claims “there are rumours of Keanu Reeves popping in.” The production declined to confirm either actor’s involvement.

As previously announced, the project is written and will be directed by Hitchcock and Anvil: The Story of Anvil director Sacha Gervasi, and it will be produced by Kevin King Templeton (Creed I & II) and Paul Kemsley. George and Jessica de Rothschild will executive produce. Newly aboard is casting director Kate Ringsell (Wonder Woman).

The film will explore George’s humble beginnings in an Irish working-class family, through his rise to the top of the international charts with the ’80s band Culture Club alongside original band members Jon Moss, Roy Hay, and Mikey Craig.

The larger-than-life singer rose to fame during the New Romantic era of pop in London, aided and dressed by Malcolm McLaren. Culture Club sold more than 100 million singles and 50 million albums, and is well known for hits including “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” and “Karma Chameleon.” George became famous for his sense of style and androgyny, but there have also been bumps along the way, including substance addiction, arrest for drug possession and a four-month stint in prison for the assault of a male escort.

The production tells us the musical drama will have full access to the singer’s library of music and the band’s biggest hits.

The casting search for the film’s lead initially began back in 2019 after we first announced the package. Boy George had previously speculated that a well known pop singer could take on the role, but so far no one has been announced and the project now has a new home and new impetus with The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Expendables outfit Millennium.

Jonathan Yunger, Co-President of Millennium Media, explained: “We’re elated to bring this amazing story to life. Boy George and Culture Club have been an inspiration to so many people. Specifically, George’s unapologetic way of being true to himself. He has paved the way for people to live their truth as fearless individuals. This is more relevant today than ever and we are so proud to have Sacha lead the charge on this musical journey”.

I am a big fan of Boy George, and he is one of those artists that I am surprised hasn’t be brought to the big screen before now. I am not sure when the biopic is being released but, as restrictions are relaxing in the U.K., a lot of filming can be done in the summer. Hopefully the film will be out not too long after that. For Culture Club fans and non-fans alike, I think that Karma Chameleon is going to be essential viewing! It will be a fascinating look at…

A music icon.

FEATURE: Just Being Alive It Can Really Hurt: Kate Bush’s Moments of Pleasure

FEATURE:

 

 

Just Being Alive It Can Really Hurt

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari 

Kate Bush’s Moments of Pleasure

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THERE are a couple of reasons…

why I wanted to throw the spotlight on Kate Bush’s track, Moments of Pleasure. So far as I can determine, it is one that I have not yet explored in real depth. The second U.K. single from her 1993 album, The Red Shoes, the album as a whole is one that is underrated and largely under-appreciated. With a song like Moments of Pleasure coming before the side one closers, The Song of Solomon and Lily, the track also boasts one of Bush’s finest videos. Not only that. Moments of Pleasure appeared on Bush’s 2011 album, Director’s Cut – similar to a few of her tracks that I have covered recently. On 16th May, Director’s Cut turns ten. Whilst I prefer the version on The Red Shoes, the newer version is very interesting. I think that Moments of Pleasure is one of Kate Bush’s absolute best songs. If you need some more information, this article from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia:

“Song written by Kate Bush. Premiered on television (see below) and officially released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. The song was subsequently also released as a single on 15 November 1993. Bush wrote the chorus "to those we love, to those who will survive" for her mother, who was sick at the time of recording. She died a short time later.

“I think the problem is that during [the recording of] that album there were a lot of unhappy things going on in my life, but when the songs were written none of that had really happened yet. I think a lot of people presume that particularly that song was written after my mother had died for instance, which wasn't so at all. There's a line in there that mentions a phrase that she used to say, 'every old sock meets an old shoe', and when I recorded it and played it to her she just thought it was hilarious! She couldn't stop laughing, she just thought it was so funny that I'd put it into this song. So I don't see it as a sad song. I think there's a sort of reflective quality, but I guess I think of it more as a celebration of life. (Interview with Ken Bruce, BBC Radio 2, 9 May 2011).

I wasn't really quite sure how "Moments of Pleasure" was going to come together, so I just sat down and tried to play it again-- I hadn't played it for about 20 years. I immediately wanted to get a sense of the fact that it was more of a narrative now than the original version; getting rid of the chorus sections somehow made it more of a narrative than a straightforward song. (Ryan Dombai, 'Kate Bush: The elusive art-rock originator on her time-travelling new LP, Director's Cut'. Pitchfork, May 16, 2011)”.

I think that Moments of Pleasure also contains some of Bush’s best lyrics. The imagery that she summons throughout the song is fantastic. One cannot help but follow Bush and her imagination when she sings “I think about us lying/Lying on a beach somewhere/I think about us diving/Diving off a rock, into another moment”. Aside from evocative imagery are lines that switch between conversational and romantic: “The case of George the Wipe/Oh God I can't stop laughing/This sense of humour of mine/It isn't funny at all/Oh but we sit up all night/Talking about it”. Alongside moments of pleasure and love are lines and images that are very personal and pained: “Just being alive/It can really hurt/And these moments given/Are a gift from time”. The lines that Bush writes about ailing mother are particular heart-aching and striking “To those we love/To those who will survive”/”And I can hear my mother saying/"Every old sock meets an old shoe"/Isn't that a great saying?”.

The Red Shoes is an album that has been criticised by some because of its lyrics. Those who feel laziness creeps in on a few songs. One cannot say that about Moments of Pleasure! It is full of life, emotion and incredible lines. One verse sounds like it could have been included during a song from 2011’s 50 Words for Snow: “On a balcony in New York/It's just started to snow/He meets us at the lift/Like Douglas Fairbanks/Waving his walking stick/But he isn't well at all/The buildings of New York
Look just like mountains through the snow”. I wonder whether there was any inspiration and overlap when Bush recorded a new version of Moments of Pleasure and began work for 50 Words for Snow. I have covered most songs from The Red Shoes, not only to reappraise songs that have been overlooked; I also wanted to highlight that it is a strong album that only has a few weak moments. It is a lot more solid and rewarding than many critics have given it credit for (when Bush’s albums are ranked, The Red Shoes and Lionheart often spar it out for the bottom position). I listen to Moments of Pleasure now and it keeps offering up something new. Together with its dazzling video through to its incredible vocal performance, it is a song that stands proud and high in Bush’s cannon! Whether on 1993’s The Red Shoes or 2011’s Director’s Cut, Moments of Pleasure is…

A transfixing song.

FEATURE: New Future Sounds: BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac and Clara Amfo

FEATURE:

 

 

New Future Sounds

IN THIS PHOTO: Clara Amfo will replace Annie Mac on her iconic and much-loved Future Sounds show (Mac’s final broadcast is on 30th July)/PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images 

BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac and Clara Amfo

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EARLIER today…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Annie Mac/PHOTO CREDIT: JM Enternational/Rex/Shutterstock

new spread on social media that Annie Mac was leaving BBC Radio 1. Her show, Future Sounds (Mac also presents Radio 1’s Dance Party), is an institution and a reason why so many people tune into the station. The show will be taken over by Clara Amfo (make sure you check out her Live Lounge show on BBC Radio 1). Music Week provide more details:

“Annie Mac has announced that she is to leave BBC Radio 1, as the station reveals details of a shake-up that will see Clara Amfo take over the Future Sounds show.

Daytime star Amfo is now in the hotseat for Radio 1’s flagship new music show, home to Hottest Record In The World. Rickie, Melvin and Charlie will host Amfo’s Live Lounge, while Danny Howard is taking over from Annie Mac on Radio 1’s Dance Party.

The station has also revealed that Diplo, host of Diplo And Friends on Saturday nights from 11pm-1am, will be departing.

Annie Mac, a previous winner at the Music Week Women In Music Awards and renowned tastemaker and champion of new music, said: “After 17 wonderful years I have decided it’s time to leave Radio 1. This second home has been the thread that has run through nearly my whole adult life; I have grown up, fallen in and out of love, moved homes, climbed up the career ladder, got married and become a mother twice over.”

The DJ has not revealed any plans to move to another station, and Music Week can reveal that her next move is not yet confirmed. The DJ paid tribute to her listeners.

Working at Radio 1 has been like being at the best party ever

Annie Mac

“I have done this alongside you, my listeners, who have done your own versions of the same,” she said. “I will be forever grateful to you all for welcoming me into your days. I have never not walked out of the studio feeling lighter and happier than when I walked in and that is all down to you. Working at Radio 1 has been like being at the best party ever and it is a wonderful feeling to be leaving with a huge smile on my face. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!”

Head of Radio 1 Aled Haydn Jones described Mac as “quite simply, a legend”.

“She has been a hugely important part of the station for the past 17 years,” Haydn Jones added. “Diplo has brought some of the biggest names in dance to our listeners on Diplo and Friends, showcasing some now iconic mixes during the show’s run. I’d like to thank both Annie and Diplo for all they’ve done for the station, and I wish them all the very best for the future.”

Haydn Jones said that Music Week Award winner Clara Amfo “has long been one of the most influential voices in the music industry”.

“Clara has an incredible affinity for discovering new music, which makes her perfect to be the face of it for the industry and for Radio 1,” he added. “We know our listeners will love what she brings to the show. I’m delighted that we’ll have Rickie, Melvin and Charlie taking on the late morning slot: their energy, knowledge and passion is going to make for an exciting new sound for the Live Lounge.”

Receiving the baton from Annie who I love and respect makes it extra special

Clara Amfo

Clara Amfo said: “Presenting mid mornings and The Live Lounge on Radio 1 has been one of the most edifying and special times of my career and personal life. As a nation of music lovers, the experience of it live is nothing short of magical and to have had the honour of welcoming some of the world’s most beloved and emerging artists in to The Live Lounge has created unifying moments that I and the listeners will never forget! I am beyond honoured and ready to start this exciting new chapter on Radio 1. I’m such a fan of this show, the artists that is has championed and to be receiving the baton from Annie who I love and respect makes it extra special for me. Massive big up to every single one of my daytime producers and The Live Lounge/smug life listener crew, I have loved hearing your stories and enjoying keeping you company with tunes in daytime and look forward to continuing that in September, so see you a few hours later!”.

I really love Annie Mac and Clara Amfo. Mac, like her fellow BBC Radio 1 Annie, Nightingale, is a pioneering female broadcaster who has compelled so many other women to go into broadcasting. I have listened to her BBC Radio 1 show a lot. Not only have I been guided to new acts to check out and some seriously hot sounds! The affection and knowledge that she has is infectious!

Mac will be deeply missed. Not only be her fans and colleagues, but the music industry as a whole. It is impossible to say how many artists have Annie Mac to thank for getting their music heard and brining in new fans. She has created heaps of opportunities for an array of musicians through the years. I think that Clara Amfo is going to do a remarkable job! I am not sure whether Mac will go to Apple, Virgin or another station - or, after such unwavering loyalty and hard work, she will take some time off to reflect and rest. Amfo is a phenomenal broadcaster who knows she is stepping into big shoes, but she will do an awesome job. It is good that another inspirational female broadcaster is taking the role. Not only has there been an outpouring of respect for Annie Mac and sadness that she is leaving. Many people are excited that one of our finest broadcaster is being replaced by a hugely admired broadcaster in Clara Amfo. If you have never tuned into Future Sounds, do so now and hear Annie Mac’s upcoming shows. I wonder whether there will be an archive of her shows because, I believe, most are on BBC Sounds and disappear pretty soon. Also keep tuned to hear Clara Amfo take over the baton. Though the exit of a broadcasting legend is very sad, the Future Sounds show is…

IN very good and safe hands!

FEATURE: Spotlight: For Those I Love

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Faolán Carey 

For Those I Love

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I was going to include…

For Those I Love in my Spotlight feature a couple of weeks back. His eponymous album was released on 26th March and has received huge acclaim. I will bring in a couple of reviews at the end. For Those I Love is the moniker of David Balfe. He is one of the finest songwriters and performers in Ireland right now. The album is quite a personal thing, yet everyone can feel something from it and connect in their own way. There is so much beauty, energy and hugely memorable performances that lace the nine tracks together. I am going to pull in a few interviews first - simply because there has been a lot of press regarding For Those I Love. It is clear that there is a lot of excitement and interest in Balfe and his amazing music. In this feature, we learn about an incredible talent. It is also interesting that For Those I Love was out in the world quite a while ago but did not get that much fanfare – and it disappeared from his Bandcamp page:

“Last November, a Dublin musician called David Balfe, who goes by the name of For Those I Love, appeared on the Later TV show on the Beeb. The show has been going for donkey's years and has slowly calibrated and finetuned its appeal over time. At a time when there are less and less standalone music shows on TV, Later has stood the test of time (albeit, as is the norm for any kind of specialist arts show, at later and later times on the schedule, excuse the pun).

Later is known for several things. It’s known for its annual New Year’s Eve show, a show pre-recorded a month earlier which old, bored and tired people stay in to watch and give out about. It’s a show where Jools Holland plays boogie-woogie piano with guests who put up with Jools Holland playing boogie-woogie piano. And it’s where you go to see new acts take big steps.

In the case of Balfe, this was indeed a big step. It was the artist’s first TV appearance and first-ever live performance as For Those I Love, as far as I can make out. That’s one hell of a step. That’s like doing 10k steps in 10 minutes.

Balfe would appear to know about timing. Last year, he promo’d an album which kind of came along with little fanfare and disappeared just as quick. I think it might have stuck around for a while on Bandcamp, but disappeared all the same. There were some interviews, some pieces on it, but that was largely it and that album existed in a weird 'did that really happen?' bubble.

The nine songs on the album were striking in their richness, vividness and energy. Here was a musician who was working through the big themes, the big emotions, and the big ideas. It swung from upbeat big room rave euphoria to rough and tough spoken word splashes which painted a picture of a world you knew was out there but never quite knew that well. It was an album lashed with twists and turns from Burial’s 3.22am symphonies, the giddy pulse of a great hardcore band, the sense of mischief you get when you’re with your buddies you know a lifetime, the ecstatic high of great art, the buzz of seeing how the local is part of the global.

Whilst For Those I Love has a certain swagger and there are genuine moments of club-like intensity, it is interesting reading about the rather tragic origins. I want to bring in an interview from NME. Balfe discusses his native Dublin; we learn about how his best friend, Paul Curran’s, suicide in February 2018 changed everything:

“If you ask David Balfe how he’s feeling today, he will stop to think about it. The Irish producer and songwriter, who records under the name For Those I Love, takes the serious things in life seriously and it shows in his work.

When NME asks how important it was for him to depict Dublin in an authentic fashion on his outstanding self-titled debut album, he pauses for 12 entire seconds, eyes focused, formulating a considered and meaningful response. “I just don’t know any other way to do it,” he says, finally. “I don’t know that I’m a skilled enough writer to write fictitiously.”

“Dublin is actually tiny, it’s such a small place,” he continues. “Within a 20 minute window of driving, you can cover such different backdrops, socially and economically.” And with that, Balfe is off, his mind pinballing around between an astonishing number of clear-minded reflections on a tranche of sociopolitical issues that currently afflict his hometown and in particular Coolock, the predominantly working class area of Dublin’s Northside where he grew up.

“That side of the city is probably more violent now than it ever was. I don’t know whether things have got better or whether people have got better at hiding where the problems lie. Housing has not improved, work seems more precarious now than ever. We talk so much more now about our mental health and the subject of depression and how much suicide haunts our communities, but there’s still no major changes made at a state level to provide more support for people struggling in working class communities and there’s still a massive financial barrier to being able to access immediate care and counselling.”

The album’s origins date back to the summer of 2017, the night-times of which Balfe spent driving around his “little shit” Renault Clio with friends. They would share playlists of Omar Souleyman and DJ Rashad tunes, but every now and then Balfe would slip in a track of his own that he had been working on. If anyone had a positive comment or found that they couldn’t find it on Shazam, Balfe knew that he was onto something.

“It was a way to trick people into giving me the approval on those tracks before continuing on with them,” he admits.

And then, tragedy struck. Paul Curran, Balfe’s best friend of 13 years and closest musical partner, took his own life in February 2018. Balfe holed himself away in his parents’ shed, the place of salvation in which the teenage Balfe and Curran had formed their hardcore bands Plagues, The Branch Becomes and Burnt Out. He experienced the periods of numbness that are associated with grief, but after encouragement from loved ones, decided to continue with the album project, its trajectory now refocused.

“It ended up being this merge of archive and thank you letter to the love that I had for my friends and my family and specifically for Paul and the thanks that I had for what had been given to us and the sacrifices that had been made and the collective survival that came after it,” he says. “But it’s also this ode to Paul and Paul’s life and our love as a creative coupling.”

Balfe’s own spoke-sung poetry is often the driving force of the tracks, littered with hyper-specific anecdotal references to places, times and memories. On ‘You Live/No One Like You’, Balfe enshrines his friends among the Irish masters: “You live in A Lazarus Soul/In The Dubliners songs of old, and The Pogues/The art that never grows old.”

The Streets, one of Balfe’s first musical passions (“I had never heard anything like it, I didn’t know whether I liked it or hated it, all I knew was that it took over all of my thoughts”) are a recurring reference point, a keystone in the early moments of this friendship group’s formation”.

Not to repeat things by bringing in different interviews, but I am interested about what David Balfe says about Ireland and how it has fared through the years. The Guardian published an interview in January where Balfe discussed the 2008 recession. The interview also touched on how Paul Curran’s suicide impacted the songwriter:

“When the Irish recession of 2008 shattered the country’s economy, communities from Dublin’s inner city neighbourhoods of Coolock and Donaghmede were struck hard. The frank lyrics of David Balfe, under the pseudonym For Those I Love, illuminate a generation who emerged from the wreckage.

“I’ve been with people whose families had lost their livelihoods because of the recession,” says the 29-year-old. “At that younger age you don’t have the vocabulary, but you see that displacement, and you think: ‘Why are we suffering? Why has this happened to us?’”

His superb self-titled debut album, out later this year, rumbles into this core of working-class Dublin. The near-biographical account carries his deepest sorrows and depressions, as well as the accompanying memories of a childhood now laced with nostalgia’s golden glow. Across nine songs Balfe lays his life bare, penning Streets-esque passages over electronic productions that recall James Blake or Mount Kimbie. “Red eyes and red credit, searching for a way to get out of the estate on Reddit,” runs a typical lyric.

With these narratives, Balfe moves through the community he has built his life around while also mourning his best friend and fellow artist, Paul Curran, who died in 2018. “I didn’t have counselling at the time, I didn’t have medication, I didn’t have any other way,” he says. “I didn’t know any other way than to make things.”

When Curran killed himself, a deep grief settled over Balfe and seeped into his solo work. The Myth / I Don’t confronts grief’s lasting echo: the PTSD panic that consumes him whenever his phone pings, “terrified of what’s on the other end”, the possibility of more tragedy.

The bond that held the two friends is now woven through the record: WhatsApp messages and voice notes knit the nine songs together, digital residue from years of documenting their days, “just recording everything, archiving everything”.

For Those I Love is a curious moniker for someone who has definitely lost someone dear to him. His music has elements of tragedy, though I think it is written to give us all strength. I listened to his album and I took so much away from it! I am not surprised that critics have been eager to expend many positive words about one of the best albums from this year. In their review, this is what The Line of Best Fit had to say:

“Delivered with a fine Irish brogue, Balfe’s open-hearted reflections conjure tender memories of working-class youth culture. With tales of all-night raves, football terraces, and driving recklessly down backstreets all producing a weighty slab of nostalgia, Balfe also navigates personal trauma. The whole album comes stricken with a sense grief as the narrative, steered by his best friend, Paul Curran’s death in 2018. WhatsApp voice messages, sound recordings, and Balfe’s recollections interweave the 9-track duration into a cathartic tribute and contribute to an immense feeling of loss on the album.

The musical backbone to these stories is provided with imposing electronic brushstrokes, as Balfe establishes impressive credentials as a producer as he evokes sonic comparisons with Nicolas Jaar, Mount Kimbie, and James Blake. The product of his spoken-word delivery, tinged with a Celtic inflection, and magnetic dancefloor-ready beats produces an undeniably charismatic cocktail, which last time it was seen to this effect, spurred an era-defining sound with The Streets.

Balfe makes time to explore his process of grief, but also make important examinations of socio-political subjects. "I Have A Love" is an incendiary avowal of adoration and friendship, and the experience of loss and heartache. It's tender piano sample creates a sombre tone in tribute, which ultimately acclimatises into a more celebratory homage of colliding synthesisers and candid declarations of love, in which you can audibly hear his grieving process. While "Top Scheme" is a spikey assault on institutional inequality, the exploitation of the working classes, and the people that perpetuate it. On it, Balfe oversees his most outspoken and steadfast arrangement both lyrically and sonically, as barbed beats clash with assertive aural depositions.

The comparisons with For Those I Love’s cultural and sonic origins are clear. However, there’s much more to this project than that. His creation of such an overt sense of nostalgia, grief, loss and mourning, whilst also making time to make statements on social justice issues is impressive. Balfe also simultaneously oversees the renovation of a particular rave-like sound and clatters it with an alluring and forceful poetic delivery. Is there room for improvement? Sure. But amongst its overwhelming successes, it’s easy to forget that this is a debut record”.

I am going to wrap up in a bit. I want to bring in one last review for a truly exquisite album. What Loud and Quiet wrote in their review echoed the feelings and thoughts of many listeners:

“Written over the course of several years, including after the death of his best friend and musical co-conspirator/soulmate Paul Curran, with this album Balfe manages to make me feel the life-sapping and destroying depression and sorrow of loving and losing someone so close. Then, rolling up and down on emotional highs and lows that feel somewhat like being at the mercy of an expanding and raging ocean tide, Balfe’s record resuscitates listeners. He injects life and hope back into me with his own memories. This intimate record uses old WhatsApp voice notes, lines of Curran’s poetry and dance samples intertwined and tangled up with Balfe’s spoken-word storytelling to bring listeners into the heart of his past, from his sometimes dark childhood in a suburb north of Dublin to the highs of knowing real love and brotherhood with Curran and the young men’s other friends.

Each track is unique and there’s not a bad song here. Conversations between mates, exclamations about the demise of punk and unique beats wind themselves around the listener’s mind until it is completely claimed, fertile ground for an outpouring of pain and love and the unfairness and bittersweetness of history. The standout track is ‘To Have You’.

 It’s a reminder that even in sadness the memories of loved ones and better times are something to be cherished instead of pushed away. The song’s energy is rolling and sparkling, bringing to mind the catharsis found on a dancefloor – not a distraction from everyday life but a time to let your more abstract, primal feelings have their moment in the sun. Feel first, think second. Otherwise the darkness will ruin you from the inside out”.

I think that For Those I Love is going to be a huge artist of the future. There is so much talent coming out of Ireland right now. The music from artists there seems to speak louder and dig deeper than that of anywhere else in the world. Keep abreast of the social media channels of For Those I Love to see if there are tour dates near where you live. I was intending to publish this a few weeks back but, with one thing or another, it got held back. I am glad I now get the chance to shine a light on one of those year’s most incredible artist. You only need to listen to the For Those I Love album for a few minutes to realise what a talent David Balfe is! I am excited to see what comes next for an incredible young talent. When it comes to highlighting artists this year who have the potential to endure and inspire for years to come then For Those I Love needs to be right…

NEAR the top of your list.

______________

Follow For Those I Love

Official:

http://forthosei.love/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/forthoseilove1/

Twitter:

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Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/forthoseilove/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3X4mDEa1fff0zpbBp8wiOZ?si=pFMzXvAaTbWmQ3oFCQwh_w

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8kCbkD66s5nlI6Dr0hFwAA

FEATURE: Prince: Five Years Gone: My Favourite Album from the Master: 1991’s Diamonds and Pearls

FEATURE:

 

 

Prince: Five Years Gone

My Favourite Album from the Master: 1991’s Diamonds and Pearls

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IT is a sad day tomorrow (21st April)…

because we mark five years since we lost the amazing Prince. I have written a few features about him already that covered a number of themes – from his essential albums through to his undeniable guitar genius. To round off, ahead of the anniversary on Wednesday, I want to spend a bit of time with an album that is my favourite of his. Many people would not agree with my choice because, when we think of the ‘ultimate’ Prince album, naturally, we think of 1999 (1982), Purple Rain (1984), Sign o’ the Times (1987) - or maybe Parade (1986). I think truly great artists have a purple patch. Bowie’s way very much through the 1970s, whereas The Rolling Stones’ was from the late-1960s to the early/mid-1970s. For Prince, this was between 1980’s Dirty Mind and 1988’s Lovesexy. He created brilliant music right through his career, though there was this golden spell where The Purple One was truly inspired and unstoppable! Debatably, Diamond and Pearls was near the start of a patchy period. The 1989 Batman soundtrack was not great. 1990’s Graffiti Bridge had its moments, as did 1994’s The Black Album. The same cannot be said of 1994’s Come. It seemed like, for every solid album, there followed one that was a little light on genius. Diamonds and Pearls is my favourite because it is an underdog. It has moments of sensuality and tenderness together with absolute monster tracks that recall Prince at his greatest.

Songs like Diamonds and Pearls, Thunder, Gett Off, Money Don't Matter 2 Night and Cream are among his greatest cuts. There is a nice balance so that we open with the thrill and rush of Thunder. Whilst Diamonds and Pearls fades a little in the final few tracks, there is a nice mix of tracks so that one is invested for the majority of the album. I will bring in a couple of positive reviews towards the end. The first album with his backing band, The New Power Generation, I think that Diamonds and Pearls is a lot stronger than its hit singles – though others will disagree with that assertion. The thirteenth studio album from the Minnesota-born maestro, there are so many terrific songs across Diamonds and Pearls. Whilst many will celebrate other Prince albums over the next few days (as we mark his sad loss), I wanted to spend some time extolling the virtues of one of his more overlooked albums. In their review, despite some muted acclaim, Pitchfork found some positives:

“Thunder” stitches evangelic lyrics to sub-continental sitars, slashing guitars, and chord progressions that Max Martin has swiped for the last two decades. It’s basically a proto-Backstreet Boys anthem for born-agains. There are the classic Prince deep cuts usually only cited by the apostles (“Willing and Able”) and sunny day guitar benedictions to individualism (“Walk Don’t Walk”). “Strollin” pairs George Benson jazz guitars to New Edition adolescent pop, and a story about two teens roller skating, eating ice cream, and buying porn. It’s weird. It’s Prince.

If you’ve heard OutKast’s “2 Dope Boyz (In a Cadillac),” you’ll recognize the extraterrestrial intro of “Live 4 Love (Last Words From the Cockpit”—an anti-gang space-rap exploration about what happened after he got kicked out of his house at 17. Even the afterthoughts betray a brilliant guitar riff, organ lick, or drum coda.

There is, of course, the title song—the twinkling locket-pop ballad that both Cam’ron and Lil Wayne eventually rapped over. One of those songs they’ll play at weddings until we stop using diamond engagement rings and the ocean runs out of pearls. It’s Prince at his best, blending dizzying romance with an undercurrent of danger. He opens up: “This will be the day/That you will hear me say/That I will never run away.” It’s a utopian promise he knows he can’t keep, an incantation he hopes will become true if he utters it out loud. “Love must be the master plan,” he says, echoing a clichéd sentiment that so many before him have uttered. But Prince had the gift of making you believe whatever he said.

As with all the greatest pop stars, Prince was a master at simplifying life’s most complicated emotions into catchphrases. He encompassed lust, jealousy, fear, spirituality, avarice, the impulse to run away, and the need to strip everything to its core—sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively.  The man who believed in everlasting love died alone and childless, adored by almost the entire world. A song like “Diamonds and Pearls” illustrates why. For all the flamboyance and idiosyncrasy, Prince just wanted the same things as everyone else”.

In another review, the BBC noted how Diamonds and Pearls was a turning point that had more than its share of gems and jewels:

“Thankfully, Diamonds and Pearls reversed this decline. While it’s the first Prince LP to officially feature The New Power Generation, this has the feel of a solo record – the singer’s fantastic band would impress more significantly on 1992’s Love Symbol album. But if assessed as a solo affair, it’s absolutely Prince’s best since 1987’s double-LP masterpiece Sign O’ the Times (albeit not close to being in the same league). Diamonds and Pearls is equally scattershot of style, moving from bombastic rap to sultry funk via slick RnB and low-slung grooves. It’s probably best taken as a collection of standalone tracks rather than a conceived-as-a-whole experience, immediately distancing it from Lovesexy’s suite-style sequencing. And some of these standalones are double-thumbs-up winners.

Although it’s not the most immediate of those standouts, there’s no doubting Money Don’t Matter 2 Night is the heart and soul of this album. A slow-paced strut, the track’s a celebration of realising that hard cash isn’t the be all and end all of one’s existence – which might seem rich coming from a millionaire, but it’s delivered with such sincerity, the vocals imperfect but pure, that one can imagine Prince himself as the man one card away from 22, about to blow everything with a smile. At the other end of the spectrum, far away from real-world concerns, is Cream: quite simply a song about getting it on, and a brilliant one at that (apparently written by Prince while admiring himself in the mirror). More explicit is Gett Off, which borrows a line or two from James Brown but is undeniably Prince through and through, the aural equivalent of a sex pest you can’t help but take home.

Elsewhere, Daddy Pop updates the boisterous Partyman from the Batman soundtrack to fine effect; the title-track is a brilliant ballad recently sampled by Lil Wayne; and anthemic opener Thunder apparently refers, in its lyrics, to withdrawn 1987 LP The Black Album, a funk-fuelled disc eventually released to critical approval in 1994. The by-numbers rap efforts, Push and Jughead, are unmemorable (to be kind), but cut the fashion-following rather than trend-setting filler from Diamonds and Pearls and you’re left with a still-satisfying set of songs that stand up well to Prince’s very best. It’s no classic, but this album marked the vital revival of an artist who continues to fascinate”.

It is amazing to think it has been five years already since we received the shock news that Prince died. I think everyone in the music world was rocked. Whether you were a casual fan or considered yourself a diehard, it was a bolt from the blue that is still being felt! Among the many tribute articles and shows that we will read and hear this week, so many people will talk about a once-in-a-lifetime talent. From his staggering work-rate to his guitar brilliance to his amazingly varied voice, there is so much to love about Prince. He left us with so many terrific albums. Thanks to his famous Vault, we will get ‘new’ recordings from him for years. I wanted to talk about my favourite Prince album, as it really doesn’t get the love it deserves! We all have our choice Prince album, and I have reasons for loving Diamonds and Pearls. It may have some flaws, but I can spend a lot of time listening to the album over and over. Whilst some of his albums were not up to his classics, like Diamonds and Pearls, Prince’s albums were…

VERY rarely ordinary.

FEATURE: Spotlight: L'Rain

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

L'Rain

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BECAUSE she has a new song out…

I wanted to spend a bit of time spotlighting the amazing L’Rain. Under the mononym L'Rain, Brooklyn native Taja Cheek has quickly become an acclaimed and sought-after figure in New York Experimental music. I am going to bring in some interviews and a review for her eponymous debut album of 2017. Before then, make sure you check out the awesome new track, Two Face. With a highly-anticipated second album due, Pitchfork reported the news:

“L’Rain is the musical project of Brooklyn experimentalist and multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek. Today, L’Rain announces her sophomore album Fatigue, out June 25 via her new label Mexican Summer. She has also shared the track “Two Face,” which arrives with a visual created by Reese Donohue of Tempo Studio. Watch that below and scroll down for Fatigue’s artwork and tracklist.

L’Rain’s self-titled debut came out back in 2017. Find out where it landed on Pitchfork’s “The 20 Best Experimental Albums of 2017”.

Before bringing in a review for that debut, there are a few interviews that provide some more depth and detail about Taja Cheek and her band. In this interview, we learn more about Cheek, her band and musical direction:

“In 2017, Brooklyn-raised multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and tape manipulator Taja Cheek used the moniker L’Rain to release her first eponymous album on Astro Nautico Records. Though this project was dedicated in name and spirit to Cheek’s mother Lorraine, who passed away shortly before its release, the material on the album has gone on the take many forms and now takes shape through live performance as a three-piece band. Alongside her bandmates, Long Island-native Ben Chapoteau-Katz and Buz Donald, who moved to New York from LA five years ago, Cheek constantly breathes new meaning into the compositions.

Individually, the members of L’Rain have been a part of Kitchen programming in various ways over the past year, in performances and L.A.B. programs. Now, on November 21 L’Rain will take the stage as part of a double bill with Roland P. Young at Public Records. The Kitchen’s Rayna Holmes sat down with the band ahead of their show to discuss new music, their band’s history, and the ways explorations of identity unfold within their performances.

The name “L’Rain” for many people has so many different iterations: it’s a reference to your mom, a moniker for Taja for the people who don’t know your name, the name of an album, and also the name of the band. How do you navigate all of those different meanings? Buz and Ben, what does the name mean to you?

Taja Cheek: I feel like that’s kind of evolving. It started out being very tied to my mom, but I didn't really realize the consequence of calling the band L’Rain would mean that people would think that’s my name too, so it became an alternate name for me. It also refers to a very specific part of me physically–my forearm tattoo that reads “L’Rain.” Some people don’t even know that it has anything to do with a person that existed, [and it’s kind of true that it doesn’t] because that wasn’t her name. So it’s kind of like a fictionalized version of my mom and also of me, combined to be a version of us. I am always really insistent that it’s not [entirely] a solo project. I don’t really think it exists that way. The group, I hope, is collaborative in many ways in which it wouldn’t be what it is without the people that are in it, so the project also is a band. It evolves and it kind of has to. They are compositions that I wrote, but then they become something else.

Ben Chapoteau-Katz: It’s true that we’ve become a band and we’re collaborative, but it is all of Taja’s art and all of her music. I’m trying to support what she’s doing. So as far as the naming goes, that’s a part of her vision, to me.

Buz Donald: I mean, it looks like a band, but I think it’s more of a situation. My interpretation is that someone had a vision, someone had an experience, and I’m listening. I’m just there to listen.

How did the band come together?

TC: I’d already made the record and was at a large institution in New York where another musician was rehearsing, and Ben was a part of the band. He asked me if was a bass player, and I said, “how do you even know who I am, I have no idea who you are!” It turned out that we had a friend in common. [Later], I was looking for someone to play saxophone and was talking to our mutual friend, who suggested I talk to Ben. We started playing together, and then Ben recommended Buz.

BCK: Me and Buz had a jam session two years prior, [but] probably hadn’t played since. Then I played a couple rehearsals with Taja and thought, “I know a guy that I feel would get into this.”

TC: Ben lied at first: he said “I really only play sax” because that was what I was looking for. But I was [also] looking for someone who was a synthesist or who knew how to play keyboards. So Ben later said, “yeah I can do that too!” And then he went out and bought a synth and taught himself how to do it.

BCK: I mean, I heard the music and wasn’t just not going to be a part of the project. You only get so many opportunities to do this in your life—to do something that really resonates with you. I was like, “I’ll learn how to do whatever you need me to do.” So yeah, sorry I lied.

BD: Before L’Rain, I was trying to figure out what I was doing in New York. I [was] going to jazz jams trying to figure out how to play jazz, [because] those were the only open forums around here for people trying to get [into the scene]. And then [Ben] recommended me for [this group] and when I got there the music was super hard but super heartfelt. And I was like, “man this is something I could get into.” 

When re-composing the album into a multi-person performance, was the combination of “synthetic” and “traditional” instruments a part of that?

TC: For me, that’s just a continuation of the sounds on the record. I like using archaic, ineffective modes of recording, because I feel like they have a certain kind of urgency or immediacy. I record vocals on iPhone earbuds. People think about electronic music being [just] keyboards and synths, but [for example] guitars—that signal ends up being electronic and digital at the end of the chain. Mostly everything we’re listening to at the end of the day is electronic, actually. [Laughs] It’s just not really thought about that way. All the things we think of as electronic and digital and future [also] have counterparts that are very analog. There’s always a real world component for all of these things that are thought of as completely digital”.

Even though the L’Rain album was released four years ago now, I have been looking back as the story behind it is fascinating. It was a particularly tough time for Cheek during the recording. One can feel urgency, passion and experimentation through a wonderful debut. In this interview with Fly Paper we learn more about a personal tragedy that occurred during the production, in addition to how Cheek got into music:

“Brooklyn’s L’Rain (a.k.a., Taja Cheek) is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist whose self-titled full-length is an exploration of liminal space: those magic, shimmering thresholds between trained musicianship and intuitive gesture, between tape loop and neurological loop, between religious and secular, and even between grief and celebration.

Cheek’s mother died during the production of the record, and the loss casts the work with this urgent energy that sharpens and dulls depending on which of the in-between spaces she’s occupying at any given moment. Field recordings reprise into thick psych-soul vocal stacks, skittering jazz-inflected percussion phrases settle into heavy half-time grooves, synths wash out under Cheek’s perfect, arpeggiated Johnny Greenwood-esque electric guitar iterations.

“I used to spend hours practicing cello and piano as a kid,” says Cheek, “turning my mistakes into songs. I think that planted the seed for L’Rain — an economy of ideas, organic processes, starting from a place of modesty, banality, and turmoil.” Here at Soundfly, we lovingly call that “Incorrect Music.”

How did you get into music, and what was the path you followed to get to where you are?

I used to spend hours practicing cello and piano as a kid, turning my mistakes into songs. I think that planted the seed for L’Rain — an economy of ideas, organic processes, starting from a place of modesty, banality, and turmoil.

What does music truly “mean” to you?

In high school, I used to describe my relationship to music as a dead marriage. Pretty ‘tween of me, but I’m still not entirely convinced it isn’t true. Not that music isn’t intimate or fun or beautiful or new, even decades later. It is! But it can also be paralyzing and isolating, especially for anyone who is the least bit self-conscious.

How would you describe your sound?

I’m still trying to figure that out. But lately I’ve been telling people that it’s “not jazz,” and that feels cheeky enough to be right.

How did you choose the players on your self-titled album and how did they come together on the record?

I played the vast majority of the parts on the record myself, either in the studio or in my bed, where I record all of my demos. But there were some others who contributed:

Alex Goldberg, who plays drums on the record, was my best friend and arch nemesis; I trust him infinitely. Nearly every record I’ve ever played on I’ve made with Andrew Lappin, who is a co-producer and engineer on L’Rain; he plays one or two guitar parts, too. Jeremy Powell plays saxophone, and he came highly recommended from Lappin”.

In the studio, I’d give Jeremy references, and like a chameleon he would play in the style of any soloist I’d mention: Brecker playing Chaka Khan, Pharoah Sanders, etc.

I am going to repeat a little bit of what was said in the interview above. Taja Cheek is an incredible songwriter and artist, so I wanted to bring together several interviews so one can get a fuller sense of her who she is and what her music represents. In a 2018 interview with Tom Tom Mag the subject of her mother’s passing was raised:

“TTM: You’ve talked openly about your mother becoming ill while working on the album, and how grief manifests in different ways throughout it. How do you incorporate vulnerability into your music? Your everyday life?

Vulnerability is something I think about a lot. To be honest, I find it increasingly difficult to figure out the boundaries of my personal and private life. Even more so when my art is so tied to my lived experience. I haven’t figured it out; I assume it will be a process, not a fixed state at which I’ll ever arrive.

There is a part of me that feels equal parts guilty and thankful for being able to share a glimpse of my grieving process with strangers. I love building opportunities into my life for me to think about my mom. It’s overwhelming but it also brings me so much joy. That dichotomy is something I’m super interested in: grief and joy, emotional uncertainty. Anyone who has dealt with adversity in their life understands this as a normal part of life. It is a survival mechanism for those of us that live in societies that systematically exclude and abuse us. We learn to find joy when it’s almost certain that there is none. We’re light scavengers. All of this said, my record documents many tumultuous elements of my life, and I’m only prepared to talk about some of them.

TTM: What atmospheres do you try to foster in your shows, and through your music more broadly?

Right now, I mostly play in bars and clubs, but I’m disinterested in the vibe that these venues nurture. I like the idea of turning these spaces upside down: making them quiet, vulnerable, and reflective, instead of loud and irreverent. Or, maybe I’m illuminating the ways in which these two modes of being are more related than separate. It’s an interesting production dilemma for me to think through ways of disorienting a bar space with limited time, resources and money. Instead of production pyrotechnics, I have to search within myself for small sincere gestures. It’s a valuable exercise in exploring the limits of performance if nothing else. How do you create a lot with a little?”.

Before wrapping things up, I want to bring in a review for the L’Rain album. Not all critics were kind. It is an album with its own sound; very different to anything else you will experience. This review highlights, whilst the 2017 album can be disorientating, the rewards are huge:

“At times, the result can be disorienting. The songs on the album have unconventional structures propelled by changes in mood, sonic breakdowns, or complete relocations into new soundscapes. One moment, you might be in the warm swirl of synth and cascading guitar in “Heavy (But Not in Wait),” and the next, at the beginning of “Stay, Go (Go, Stay),” you will find yourself exiting a car as a raw and beautiful voice sings softly; you will start in a psych-pop jam on “A Toes (Shelf Inside Your Head),” and end in the same song in glitchy art-pop; and “Go, Stay (Stay, Go),” the mirror of the second song, completely turns you around with its backwards audio. Also disrupting the listener’s sense of bearings are the clever ways in which L’Rain transitions from song to song, bleeding endings into beginnings, as in the sinister child sample and carnival synth at the close of “Bat” and start of “Alive and a Wake.”

In an album marked by the exuberance of noise, the clearer, quieter moments carry particular weight. Those grow even heavier in the context of the album’s creation; the artist was in the middle of recording when her mother, Lorraine, died, and Cheek’s album title and stage name are a tribute to her. Though L’Rain contains no dominant sentiment, it offers up glimpses of grief and reflection—in the meditative flutter at the end of “Which Fork / I’ll Be,” in the wailing horn on “Heavy (But Not in Wait)”, and, most achingly, in the birthday voicemail, completely untouched, called, “July 14th, 2015.” If you’re looking for sadness in the album, odds are you will find it. L’Rain leaves room, though, for the many other insane and incongruous parts of grief. It’s possible that there’s even a place for joy and transcendence in it, too.

If you’re looking for anything in L’Rain, it’s likely you will find it. By embracing deliberate but unfettered experimentalism in her debut, the artist opens up her strange and rich world, in turn allowing the listener the same freedom to explore. The ride can be unnerving, but the rewards are great”.

If you are unfamiliar with L’Rain, get involved and follow her social media. With a Fatigue out on 25th June, it is a perfect time to explore and bond with a rising talent. I think that we will see L’Rain on the scene for many years to come - such is the strength and depth of the music! The songs are so extraordinary and unique. Just play them loud and…

LET them take you away.

_______________

Follow L’Rain

PHOTO CREDIT: Billy Zules 

Official:

https://www.lrain.info/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/LRain000/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lrain0000

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/turrelljames/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/68BVYIej5jGdIh8au5qELn?si=7RGeUebuSgiC7q_IzAlQ6w

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6uHGuv2IeMZ5-0HovMiNdw

Bandcamp:

https://lrain.bandcamp.com/

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Brilliant Song Lyrics

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: @jusdevoyage/Unsplash 

Brilliant Song Lyrics

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FOR has this Lockdown Playlist…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @dillonjshook/Unsplash

I am marking a fifteenth anniversary that not many people would have known about. On 17th April, 2006, VH1 voted U2’s hit, One, the U.K.’s best song lyric. 13,000 people were polled by the music channel. To mark that huge song being crowned the best song lyrics, I am compiling a playlist that contains that track and the other twenty-nine in the top-thirty. I admire a phenomenal song lyric and whilst, since 2006, there have been other songs that could challenge the VH1 poll, I think the ones that were picked all have pretty memorable lyrics. Enjoy some classic songs that contain lyrics…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @austindistel/Unsplash

OF the highest order.