Modern shoegazers Crumb and Psych’s reigning chanteuse Melody’s Echo Chamber have never come to mind as a collaboration that felt like the world needed. Both bands are fantastic, but their similarities never really gelled to me. And then I heard “Le Temple Volant.” What an airy, breezy groove of a song! I can listen to a song like this endlessly… I speak no French, and it doesn’t matter. This one-off single screams for a full-length collaboration of goodness like this.
You can enjoy “Le Temple Volant” in all the usual places. Both Crumb and Melody’s Echo Chamber are currently on the road, sadly separately. Tour dates after the jump, and maybe enough streams of this track will get a clever booker to put the two bands together for a Spring package run? Please?
Children’s Fairyland is a pretty magical, at times even mythical place. The place that may or may not have inspired Disneyland has certainly inspired the imaginations of many generations of children who have grown up in the Bay Area. Yet, aside from the annual open-bar fundraiser, there haven’t been many opportunities for adults without children to really experience the wonder of this place. Really, it would take a special type of person, an artist who understands what fairies mean to grown-ups, who can bridge the beauty of approaching the world with a childlike curiosity with an adult’s maturity. There are probably three local musicians who are capable of curating an event at Children’s Fairyland and doing it right. It would be either Les Claypool, Tom Waits, or SPELLLING. And, really, we all know SPELLLING is the only person who could really do it right.
Country music is a messy, messy place these days. The narrative seems to always be dominated by the Jason Aldeans and Toby Keiths, and Morgan Wallens, folks that dominate the mainstream not because they make good music but because they speak to the petty grievances of right-wing America. (I’m not putting Oliver Anthony in this boat, and someday I’ll write a real blog post about that song, but I don’t think he’s saying what people think he’s saying with that song.) Anyway, I’ve already said too much about despicable white men who are deathly afraid of losing power and control. I’m much more interested in the people looking to speak the truth, unafraid of losing power. Maren Morris’ new EP, The Bridge, does just that. It’s a direct rebuttal of “Try That In A Small Town,” two singles about the crushing weight of hate in this country and how to navigate it. Neither of the tracks are actually political anthems. She’s managed to hit that specific feeling of being overwhelmed by the hell we are in, and sometimes it feels like we are just doomed, but we’ve gotta take a step out and rest and then get back to work, because we are all humans and need to treat each other as such.
Anyways… I’m also on Day 12 of testing positive for my first ever COVID-19 infection (and hoping hard to test negative tomorrow and finally leave my room) and feeling SUPER angry about how we don’t have any sufficient ways to protect ourselves while still existing and such. So, yeah, I’m feeling raw and Maren Morris is like a nice weighted blanket telling me that I’m not alone, and maybe, just maybe, we will get through this. The Bridgeis out now and is available on all your DSPs. Hopefully, we will see a physical release, too!
I was first introduced to the great Anna Hillburg via her amazing (and educational) Instagram Series “Tootin’ Tuesdays!” where she would cover classic trumpet riffs in well known songs, with a bit of history and well crafted video. BUT! We aren’t here to talk about “One of the few things that gave me hope during the deep pandemic,” because she’s also finished the third portion of her epic music video trilogy that began with “Your Room” and “middled” with “No Fun.” “Girl Girl Girl” finishes off the story, and might be my favorite movie of the year at this point.
“Girl Girl Girl” is a track off Hillburg’s upcoming record Tired Girls, coming your way October 13th! You can do all you need to do to anticipate your listening (by that, I mean Preorder or Presave) of it here! And there’s a record release show at The Make Out Room in SF on October 20th at 7:30pm, so please remember to leave work early that day? Probably in an angry huff? Maybe knock over a water cooler while you are at it?
On this episode, we had Annie Hart, formerly of Au Revoir Simone, one of Spinning Platters’ all-time favorite bands. We talked about the importance of Pee-Wee Herman, Heavy D & The Boys, Funkmaster Flex, David Lynch, Christmas Presents, and even Okuda Hiroko, the woman who wrote all of your favorite Casiotone beats! Her new record, The Weight Of A Wave, is available now, and fall tour dates are below:
Bumbershoot is one of the oldest and longest-running music festivals in America. Sure, it took a bit of a hiatus after the 2019 edition to regroup (and that pesky pandemic had a bit of a part in it, too), it returned in 2023 with a heavy focus on the talent of the Pacific Northwest, including sets from such luminaires as Sleater-Kinney (who played 1/2 of Dig Me Out as well as a cover of Sinead O’Connor’s “Emporer’s New Clothes,”) Sunny Day Real Estate, and The Dandy Warhols. We got to take our camera around and enjoy the sights and sounds of this event, and we even got to take a turn behind the mic for queer/bar staple Burleskaraoke (but, sadly, only the folks at the event got to experience that magic). It was a delightful weekend of both sunshine and rain, and it was such a joy to see Seattle having fun.
I’ll be frank- I’m feeling super under the weather this week, and I had two other “single of the week” nods in the queue… Then I found this perfect encapsulation of my teenage years as an angsty gen-xer, crushing relentlessly and telling nobody. The sound- Hannah Marks is a jazz musician and she’s basically assembled an amazing jazz band and has told them to play punk rock, giving us the best Sonic Youth song since, well, since Sonic Youth broke up. And that video? <chef’s kiss>
“(I Wanna Be Ur) 90s Dreamgirl” is the most recent single off Marks’ upcoming record Outside, Outlier, coming your way on October 20th!
I get a little bit of Hollywood Bowl / LA FOMO. SF is certainly a world-class city with one of the finest symphonies in the US. Yet, we seem to rarely get big-name pop and rock acts coming through to perform with the SF Symphony. Well, Ellie Goulding is only doing this in three cities, and ONE OF THEM IS OURS!!!! On sale Friday, September 8th at 10 am, Ellie Goulding is bringing beautiful symphonic arrangements of her catalog to Davies Symphony Hall for one night only on Monday, November 20th.
My lucky, loyal readers… I’ve got a second single for you this week, mostly because I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! News of Lauren Mayberry putting out a solo album came about a month ago, around the same time CHVRCHES announced the 10th Anniversary editions of their smashing debut record, The Bones Of What You Believe. However, not a note of music has seen the light of day until now. And when it does? It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking break up song that’s primarily just Mayberry’s voice and piano. And two lines keep repeating in my head:
Hometown hero is a poisoned chalice choice
If they don’t love you you’re just destined to disappoint
I can’t help but speculate wildly. IS THIS SONG ABOUT THE BAND?!?! HAS THE WEIGHT OF BEING CHVRCHES IMPLIED A NEED FOR A BREAK?!?! And is Mayberry unhappy about it? I HAVE NO IDEA!!! But I will keep listening and studying this song until I know for sure. As you should, too! She’s also hitting the road, and I have no idea what to expect, but I’m sure it’s gonna be good.
I’ve had two doctors recently tell me that I need to cut back on my caffeine intake dramatically. And, although Matcha doesn’t seem to be cutting it, Marnie Stern seems to have felt my pain and struggle and released her first single in about ten years, and it’s the perfect substitute! “Plain Speak” is classic Marnie- as frantic and furious as a panic attack (which is the main reason I need to cut back on my caffeine and increase my time spent actually sleeping), combined with the tethering of lyrics that are optimistic without being cloying. Stern has perfected empathic composition, and, really, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Guitar master Marnie Stern’s new record, The Comeback Kid, is coming your way on November 3rd, which is exactly one week after my birthday, which is PERFECT! Preorders have already kicked off! And if you become a VIP member of Joyful Noise Recordings, you can get the fancy version with a bonus 7″, in addition to all the other perks of membership like random access to free tickets, the ability to download the full catalog, and fancy other stuff!
