Yes, I do it again. I feature Lindsay Jordan aka Snail Mail again. A few weeks ago I featured her with Dead End, an appetizer of her upcoming album Ricochet. Now it was released and more of her indie-rock song are available. It seems that since her last album, she has developed a fondness for string instruments that complement her distorted guitar. After an extensive tour, she had to undergo vocal cord surgery. Otherwise, that would have been it. As you can hear, the surgery went well, because her voice is clearer and softer than before.
Yes, as the headline suggests, I’m going to say a few words today about Paul Simon’s album Graceland. In 1986 he had clearly passed his musical peak and had already recorded another successful live album with Art Garfunkel. So it was all the more surprising when, 40 years ago, he took everyone by surprise with an album. He completely turned his style on its head. Inspired by street music from Johannesburg, he set out to record an album with South African musicians.
With this album, he pioneered world music before the term even existed. It’s a complete album that blends pop/rock with African rhythms. Even decades later, the African tribal beats, strummed guitar chords, and harmonized vocals are still well worth listening to. If Simon managed to get even a few listeners to explore African music, such as King Sunny Ade, he achieved more than many others before and after him.
Paisley Dark Records from Leeds is always a good place for electronic music in all variations. Today they released a new song by Krabberz, a British producer whose name I hadn't heard of until then. The song operates within the broad scope of ALFOS, featuring a laid-back, rolling groove that flows warmly and hypnotically throughout the entire track. The highlights of this song are the remixes by 10:40 and Jay-Son.
Dear Mister Fantasy is a song by Traffic and released 1967. Traffic was in tIn hese days very successful with their psychedelia blues rock. This song is not my favorite of this album but shows how great Steve Winwood's voice was and Dave Mason played a fine guitar.
The Pretenders were always a band I could listen to and this song is from their third album Learning To Crawl. Another example for their sound when Chrissie Hynde's vocals meet classic rock music.
In 793, the Vikings raided Lindisfarne Monastery in northeastern England, looting it and murdering the monks. I can’t say for certain whether Newcastle’s Lindisfarne took their name from this event. What I can say is that in the late 1960's, they played some very good and successful folk rock.
In 1980, while browsing through the box of new punk and new wave releases at my favorite record store, I noticed an album whose cover I didn’t associate with that kind of music. Four students in neat collared shirts, some wearing plastic-framed glasses, look shyly into the camera, and I couldn’t imagine that they were actually influenced by punk.
Still, I gave it a chance and listened to the album, and I haven't regretted it. Still, I gave them a chance and listened to the album Crazy Rhythms and I didn’t regret it. The Feelies were influenced by punk in their early days, but on their debut album they left it far behind and replaced the distorted guitars with pure rhythm.
Million and Mercer didn’t plug their guitars into amplifiers, but directly into the mixing console. The melodies burrow straight into your ears without any detours. Many songs consist of just one or two chords and yet last over five minutes. Drummer Anton Fier almost completely forgoes cymbals and sticks to the heartbeat: bass drum, tom, snare. To balance this out, the band laid a polyrhythmic web of percussion over the songs—dozens of cowbells, claves, sticks, and shakers. An album that set new standards and, with its jangly guitars, has inspired generations.
The Feelies have broken up several times, but have always gotten back together, and in 2023 they paid a magnificent tribute to their idols, The Velvet Underground, with a live album.
Six Years ago Autotelia, a British musical project by Demian Castellanos and Tom Relleen, released their debut album I. It was an album I didn't expected at this time, because their a combination of A free-spirited psychedelic sound that consistently blends guitar with krautrock and ambient wasn't exactly in vogue.
The five songs are structured like suites and, depending on the track, feature a dubby bassline. Thinking Makes It uses swirling psychedelic guitar patterns before becoming heavier and more menacing toward the end.
The title is taken from a quote in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which is quite rare in modern music. Take 13 minutes for a psychedelic journey through space and enjoy it.
Last week, I came across Pina Palau in an article about new Swiss music. The 33-year-old singer-songwriter lives in Zurich, works full-time as a resident physician in a psychiatric ward, rides a road bike, and has just released her third album, You Better Get Used To It.
Musically, there’s nothing that reminds me of Switzerland; it’s more like indie-folk. Somewhere between Waxahatchee, Courtney Barnett, and the dreamy sound of Bon Iver. Even though her voice sounds a bit thin, her song, backed by delicate guitar and steel guitar, has the potential to stick in your head.
