What a blast. A blast from the past that is. I have been enjoying the music of Steve Stoeckel, founding member of Power Pop Hall Of Famers, The Spongtones.

I have been into New Wave music, from its baby steps to the New New Wave, which remains a force to be reckoned with today. Some of my favourite artists are from that era—like Nick Lowe, who has played with Rockpile and Brinsley Schwarz. Rockpile featured Dave Edmunds on vocal and guitar. Brinsley Schwarz was a band and an artist who both contributed to the musical journey of Nick Lowe. Nick Lowe is a favourite of mine and has a decent resume. Check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Lowe

A few others from that era are Ian Gomm and Elvis Costello. Listening to The Power Of And brings back good memories tied to good music. [insert a happy, contented sigh]

Back to the present moment, we are talking about The Power Of And, an excellent album by Steve Stoeckel. Steve Stoeckel was in the Power Pop Hall Of Fame band, The Spongtones. This album opens by ripping the top off the speakers and letting the music blast into the room. In a single song, Laura Lynn simultaneously harkens back to the best of Mercybeat and New Wave. I love it!

I look forward to what the rest of the album sounds like.

Whoa! Track two shifts gears dramatically. I’m not sure if I like that or not. It seems like a big jump from the boisterous Laura Lynn to the acoustic melodic ballad Birds. It’s not just shifting down; it’s putting the brakes on, too—a good song, just a bit of a surprise after the energy of Laura Lynn.

Let’s see what track three, If/Then, does. It merges with neither of the first two tracks. If/Then sounds like Simon and Garfunkel inspired it. That’s not a bad thing. Simon & Garfunkel get fairly regular airplay in our place. It’s a decent-sounding track; however, we are three tracks in, and we haven’t established what kind of vibe The Power Of And is giving us, the listener.

Diving into track four, Mod Girl, I have great hope just from the title; it caused me to think of The Who and Quadrophenia. Mod Girl fits the era well and reestablishes some rock and roll territories from track one, Laura Lynn.

Strange Cameo. Cool song title. Now, listen here; this is the fifth song, and we have a new rhythm and a fresh feeling to this song. And a damn good feeling. I’m sitting here typing this out and listening to Strange Cameo repeatedly. “No particular place to go.” Good old Chuck Berry snuck in there. 

The Emerald Sea is track six, a rollicking sea shanty with a penny whistle and electric guitar soloing off each other. It works somehow; good stuff. The Emerald Sea leads quickly into track seven, the title track, The Power Of And. Now we have what sounds like a ukelele and lap steel guitar, something new, and some excellent sound stage use during this track, especially at the end. Steve Stoeckel tells us, “The Power of And” is the title song, and as it suggests, it talks about the connective power this little word has. Just two chords, short verses with phrases on each side of “and.” It builds, then falls apart nicely at the end. That’s Keith Shamel on those exquisite electric guitar parts.

Eight, Skippy’s Parade is a happy little ditty instrumentally. Nine, Christine. Boom, Christine blasts us back to Laura Lynn territory. No rollicking or skipping for Christine; she is a rocker and has some excellent guitar work, both bass and electric.

Why? I don’t know. My ears tell me track ten, Why, is an ode to The Everly Brothers with sweet harmony singing. Why is the title, by the way. Why takes us right back to the 60s. Ringing acoustic guitar and that harmonious singing make this a lovely track. Listen closely to the lyrics; why is a breakup song that they make out to sound almost happy. It could also be an apocalyptic song, “we know the end is near.” An apocalyptic breakup song. I just invented a new genre of music.

Eleven is Just One Kiss, and we are back to a happy uke song. I can imagine listening to Just One Kiss at a tiki bar on some Pacific Ocean island. But then they crank the music up and turn it into a rocker all the way home. Have fun and kiss responsibly.

On the twelfth day, my true love sent to me. Stop. Christmas is over. But, if it was a Christmasy type of moment, I am sure my true love would send me a hummingbird. A Jamaican hummingbird. A Doctor Bird. Hummingbird, the song, has a nice acoustic feel to it, with a multitude of stringed instruments weaving around each other while Steve sings an ode to the beauty of the Hummingbird.

 “The Monsters Under My Bed,” is a true anthem for the young at heart. “It’s a tribute to the wonderful Maurice Sendak, who, like me, knew the delightful things that wild things can bring to one’s life,” says Steve Stoeckel. “The song is a promise never to let them go, to keep a child’s view always.”

Heather Gray is a sad story song. It is the third in the trilogy of girl name songs. This song engaged me with its lyrics. For example. “the rage you feel can’t be danced away.”

The album The Power Of And closes with a powerhouse song, chugging electric guitars, and a back story that Steve Stoeckel will tell us.

“Whistling Past Graveyards is a political song. It’s also a very special tune because Chris Garges (the Spongetones drummer who passed away in February of 2022) heard my solo post on Facebook and called me, saying, “I want to play drums on this. I also want to record it.” I was

honoured; this was the first solo song he’d indicated an interest in. So, we dug in, and the result was, sadly, the only thing I got to record with Chris. We’d made noises about doing a new Spongetones song, but alas, it never happened. There’s a video of this tune with Chris playing that I watch from time to time.”

And that, my friends, brings us to the end of an excellent album that I was more than happy to go through track by track. I never did settle into a genre, and I am OK with that. This album brings together a multitude of ways to put a song together. And each of them is good in its unique way.

The Power Of And is releasing February 24 on CD in record stores worldwide and on all digital platforms and is now up for pre-order at  www.bigstirrecords.com. It features the new single “Just One Kiss” as well as Steve’s prior hit Big Stir singles “Why” (featuring IRENE PEÑA) and “Birds,” as well as “Mod Girl,” which reunites Stoeckel with all of his Spongetones bandmates.

I like it when bass players step out from the shadows and have a more invested part in the music. For example, on their eponymous album, the three-piece power trio ON feature the bass front and center. The album rocks with fantastic bass lines augmenting the equally talented electric guitar and whatever pedals he used to get the sound we hear. And we most certainly need to give due credit to the percussionist; he holds everything together, right?

ON is made up of Lucy Di Santo (vocals, bass), Dan Cornelius (drums) and Steve Fall (guitars) – carrying on the legacy of their former 90’s band – the Sire Records-signed Acid Test – with members also having been in other popular Toronto bands Danko Jones and Deliuss.

I have been listening to their new album over and over. I even listened to it at 2:00 this morning because I couldn’t sleep. It didn’t change that status. Their music compels me to listen and seek out subtle nuances on each listen. And the bass of Lucy Di Santo is a huge part of my attraction to the music of ON.

I give a big shout-out to the band for gracing me with the lyrics; much appreciated, I enjoy following along with the cheat sheet.

The album blasts out of the starting blocks with the song Break You. “‘Break You’ soars like a goodbye love letter to a toxic person, place or substance; it’s a decree of emancipation – and breaking away from what dictates and captures the human soul. It is an outcry, a battle cry, and finally a freedom cry of intention – all wrapped up in a hardcore punk-metal riff that end with Sabbath-esque overtones,” says Lucy Di Santo.

I am head over heels in love with the closing of the song and the way Lucy Di Santo works the bass. Good stuff.

Ironically the second song, Underdog, comes out off the blocks with the lyrics:

“On your markers, countdown started

Get set – get right on it.” We have a running/racing theme channelled through some driving and pounding rock and roll/punk/indie.

Written in Toronto and New York, ON guitarist Steve Fall, says the ‘ON‘ album is “a document of friendship navigating explores in pain, and hope. Looking at the world with a collaborative effort to document what we see, witness and feel through songwriting and chemistry as a band.” Following pre-production recording with Drew Howard at Star Sound Studios in Cape Coral, the band worked with sound engineer Darius Szczepaniak (Sum 41, Black Crowes, Big Sugar, Bare Naked Ladies, Jann Arden) out of Phase One Studios.

The third song is Gator, asking us, “How does it feel to be out of the gate?” It feels great. We are now officially out of the gate.

Next up, we have a darker feel in the song Blackmail and an excellent bass opening that soon gets blown away with a classic rock riff. A lyric sample, “No more lies, disguises, gaslighting. I won’t take no more.”

Here After starts with a nostalgic look at last night and hearing a record player spin that song. A nod to Jim Croce’s Time In A Bottle and then the music brings our focus to the Here After and admonishes us not to look back. Here After has a more laid-back feel than the previous tracks, but it is still grooving with that record player. 

Next up, we have the track FLA which has The Raconteurs sound from their 2007-2009 era, Broken Boy Soldiers. I compliment them; they are a tight group, and having FLA sound slightly like Steady As She Goes is OK. I used to play Steady As She Goes, and trust me; ON is way better than I ever was. The other members of the band I played in were quite good.

When you’ve had enough of the west coast L.A. scene, it’s time for a road trip through New England, West Virginia, Georgia, Ohio, and then into Jacksonville, FLA. Miami FLA. Daytona FLA. Take me down to FLA. It sounds like a road trip that our family took, 16,000km and into Titusville, FLA.

Soul Killer takes the band back to their punk-punching raw sound, which I think they are very good at, but they do something different on this track. While Soul Killer opens with grinding guitar distortion, Lucy Di Santo sings in a more melodic voice. This creates tension between the edgy guitar, the cutting lyrics and her singing. It works; this is a great song.

I disagree with only needing one guitar. Here is the t-shirt that I coincidentally am wearing today. I have seven as of today, but I only play one at a time and I don’t practice enough.

There are other things in life I will be content with just one of, like the love of my life, my wife. And I think that is the message of the song. He is a selfish jerk that is more interested in having more guitars when he doesn’t even appreciate the one he has—good music with great lyrics.

More blistering guitar work from Steve Fall usher in the song Take a Shot, which clocks in at just under three minutes of scorching hot music. I love it.

The album closes with two songs, Try and Amends.

The ethos of Try is, “I can’t feel anymore; you say try, try once more

I can’t hear anymore – you say try, try, try…

Try… just try..”

Never give up is what I get. Keep trying. It will be challenging, but keep trying. Try, just try.

And in the song Amends, we get to the end of the album and at the end of the song, we have “New found – life purpose – recovery.” Sweet, I have 33+ years of recovery, and that last line resonated with me. Newfound life. A life with a purpose. A life of recovery.

I am in recovery, and some people try to slow me down and rob me of it.

I am in recovery, and downtown may not be the safest place for me—too many ways to get run down.

Try, try to keep going.

Keep it going even when you haven’t found what you are looking for. Try, and keep trying.

Stabbed in the gut and nearly knocked down. Nearly. I emphasize the word nearly. If I keep trying, I will stay on my feet and not get knocked down. Nearly, but not down.

Try, keep trying.

New found-life purpose-recovery.

Thank you, Lucy Di Santo, Dan Cornelius and Steve Fall, for giving us this message of hope. Thank you for surrounding that message with great music that amplifies the lyrics.

The full ‘ON’ album is out now and available everywhere online, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

It can also be ordered from: https://indiestructablerecords.com. Bandcamp https://onband1.bandcamp.com/album/on

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/5JKgLFwheMImbaLMP4p69K Blackmail“https://youtu.be/aMs3Osl0ouk

Underdog

Link Tree https://linktr.ee/on.music

ON Store (music and merch) http://www.theonstore.com

ON tour info/tickets http://bit.ly/3HkBxkV 

Keep up with ON 

http://www.onmusic.ca

https://linktr.ee/on.music https://onband1.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/onband.ca https://www.instagram.com/o.n.music

https://twitter.com/onbandoffical https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZXJ6s856px8iUat0Y7A7PA/featured https://music.apple.com/us/artist/on/1631187252 https://open.spotify.com/artist/1OkCmjBiZQ1RJcpPN9YtEx 

If you have any questions, contact Shauna from Shameless Promotion PR at contact@shamelesspromotionpr.com 

On January 1, 2022, I started Listening to every vinyl LP in my collection. Aye to Zee. When December 31 rolled around, I had almost finished up to the end of the letter D. In fact, only one artist was remaining, Bob Dylan. I am not a completest; although I have the entire album collection of a few artists, Bob Dylan is not one of those rare birds. I have 18 slabs of vinyl out of his humongous output on vinyl. I decided to do something different in my listening to Bob Dylan; I included the CDs I have, 10 of them, to make a total of 28 recordings. Not a complete discography; I think Dylan has 38 studio albums and then the live and best of’s, but a pretty deep listen, just the same.

Some of Dylan‘s albums were overdue for a listen, while others have been in fairly regular rotation. For example, in 2020, I listened to four of his albums, Dylan, his debut, Nashville Skyline, Live at Budokan and Rough and Rowdy Ways, released that year.

In 2021 I played Desire, a favourite of mine and The Best of Bob Dylan. In 2022 I only listened to one of his albums, The Best of Bob Dylan, again. The only surprise is how few of his albums I played over those three years and that I only played Desire once.

Back to the present, I am up to Hard Rain, the 17th album, and Bob Dylan is starting to be a hard listen. I think I have overdosed. Regardless, I will press on with a few diversions for blogs from my friends in PR. I will briefly summarize my listening experience up to this point.

A good chunk of my favourite Dylan recordings is in his early recordings. I enjoyed his eponymous debut, but I gravitate towards Freewheelin’, The Times They Are A Changin’, Bring It All Back Home, and Highway 61 Revisited. By the Time Blonde on Blonde rolled around, I felt he was losing the energy and edge that his early recordings displayed.

I didn’t connect with John Wesley Harding and felt Nashville Skyline was weak despite a couple of solid songs and a duet with Johnny Cash. Self Portrait is the favourite whipping post of many music journalists, which I can only agree with 50/50. It’s not his best work, and I think his ego got the best of him on this album, but it has its moments. Planet Waves isn’t a contender, either.

I like the energy of the live album, Before the Flood; it’s a tough act to follow when Dylan and The Band get their groove going. Blood on the Tracks is an odd duck. He doesn’t use The Band for this studio album which baffles me because they work so well together. Blood On The Tracks would be a great album if he re-recorded it with The Band.

And now we are up to The Basement Tapes. When this album came out, I fell head over heels for it and wore out a needle on my turntable just listening to it repeatedly. It held that emotional connection with me for a long time, and then it got shelved while Bob and I went through our Christian phases. That didn’t last forever for either one of us. I have re-listened to The Basement Tapes several times, and it has kept most of its appeal. I like a good jam session, and this album feels like a real barn burner.

On the heels of The Basement Tapes comes my favourite Dylan album, Desire. I have listened to this consistently since it came out, and it still holds a special place in my listening room. I find myself singing along with it and not realizing I am; it is etched into my brain. That was a sweet listening session, The Basement Tapes and Desire, back to back.

Next up is Hard Rain, which is a live album. Not many artists can pull off a great live album; including Dylan, and Hard Rain isn’t one of them. Hard Rain is a weak effort and feels much like his never-ending tour. It should have ended. I don’t know what it is with so many musicians bombing on live albums. I don’t know what it is with Dylan bombing on live shows. I saw him live; it was just him and some good musicians going through the motions. There was no connection with the crowd. There was no energy. I could barely discern which song he was mumbling because they all sounded the same and just melted together. The other bone I had to pick was his lack of picking; he hid behind a grand piano for the show. Please give it up, Bob; make another gate; your best days as a live performer are behind you. You may have a studio album in you, but it would have to be a Herculean effort. I have held much of your recorded material in high esteem, don’t disappoint me with a half-assed recording session at this stage of the game.

Continuing this conversation, we have another live album from Mr. Dylan. Bob Dylan at Budokan did not sit well with the press when it arrived in 1978. I like this quote lifted from Wikipedia: “In a sarcastic review published in his “Consumer Guide” column, Robert Christgau gave the album a C+ rating, writing “I believe this double LP was made available so our hero could boast of being outclassed by Cheap Trick, who had the self-control to release but a single disc from this location.” I give Bob Dylan at Budokan a mixed review, and I did like some of the reworked arrangements that provide a new gait to some old horses. The recording is of excellent quality, which may give the album some saving grace, plus it is a greatest hits album. I hummed along to the hits, and it’s not all bad. I will probably listen to this again further down the road and see if it can lodge in my earworm.

Slow Train Coming is from Bob Dylan‘s brief Christian phase. I think this is the best from the trilogy of his gospel-infused albums. It isn’t the most potent album in his catalogue; still, a couple of solid songs save it. Gotta Serve Somebody is the best, in my opinion. Slow Train Coming still has the Dylan sound with a strong band and excellent backing singers. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame plays lead guitar and adds something fresh to the Bob Dylan sound pallet.

Beyond Slow Train, Bob Dylan’s creativity derailed. I plowed through Infidels, Knocked Out Loaded, Down In The Groove and Under The Red Sky, which was on cassette, and all of that listening session did nothing other than provide me with Muzak while I worked; it was background noise.

And then, I got to what I will call the revival period in Bob Dylan‘s musical career. He got his groove back on Time Out of Mind, hailed as one of Bob Dylan‘s best albums, winning three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1998. It was also ranked 410 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums list. I won’t go as far as the best, but it is much better than the struggle that came immediately before it. Time Out of Mind is the first of a string of albums that ushered in the twilight of his recording career, much as he started it, standing on solid ground while writing and recording some excellent music. I don’t know what happened to him through the 1980s, but the wheels fell off his recording career. I wish he had put the bus in storage because his live shows suck, but his last five albums are all quite good. Please, Bob, stay in the big pink house and focus on writing music, building gates, and recording with some of the best musicians.

Love and Theft followed Time Out of Mind, and then we have Modern Times, Together Through Life, Tempest and last but not least, Rough and Rowdy Ways. Tempest was a Christmas gift for me, a double album on 180 vinyl, and it was Dylan’s last album to feature original material until his 2020 album Rough and Rowdy Ways. 

As of today, February 2, 2023, Dylan hasn’t recorded any original material since Rough and Rowdy Way, but he has put out a trio of albums that feature him covering other musicians’ songs.

Finished! That was a lot of Dylan. It worked out to 26 albums, a couple of doubles that counted as one and some CDs to supplement the vinyl, along with one cassette. And that just scratched the surface of what he as put out. Bob Dylan has recorded thirty-nine studio albums, 95 singles, 18 notable extended plays, 54 music videos, 15 live albums, 17 volumes comprising The Bootleg Series, 29 compilation albums, 22 box sets, seven soundtracks as main contributor, thirteen music home videos and two non-music home videos. Bob Dylan has enjoyed a long and storied career in music. Not many artists could pull off what he has done. I’m not sure how many people could sit down and listen to 26 Dylan albums in one month. I did. And I still like his music, some of it anyhow.

Another reason that I enjoy physical copies, especially slabs of vinyl, is the cover art, inserts and occasionally lyrics and bonus information. Vinyl is superior because I don’t need a magnifying glass to read it, such as with CDs. I know that for digital files I could go on Discogs and find the artwork there and zoom it up as far as I need to read it. But it’s not the same as holding the sleeve in my hands and reading it as the album plays. Digital will never replace physical copies, they do supplement them and fill in gaps in my collection when I don’t have the physical copies. Nothing wrong there.

I was tempted to add notes about the covers of each album featured above. That isn’t going to happen in this blog, I would encourage you to research them for yourself on Wikipedia. Some of the covers are stories in and of themselves. The album artwork for Bringing It All Back Home fills up a page of type on it’s own.

Yeah, go check them out for yourself if you are inclined to listen to any of these albums on Apple Music or elsewhere, the artwork is part of the mystic of many albums and many of Dylan’s covers have stories to tell that extend beyond the music. Some day in the future I may expand on this and explore some of the albums including the stories of the cover art.

The name of the band is Elk City. The football club in the town I live in is called The Elks, The Edmonton Elks. That means I live in Elk City.

The name of the album from Elk City is Above The Water. Speaking metaphorically, I am generally keeping my head above the water. I do tread water sometimes, but for the most part, I am standing on solid ground. Elk City is skipping over water in the song Your Time Doesn’t Exist or Floating Above The Water in the song of the same name.

Elk City pulled me into their music from the shimmering opening chords of the opening song, That Someone. That Someone is at Someone’s Party in track two, a nifty bit of writing that had me smiling and thinking of the Peter Sellers movie, The Party.

Who writes songs about apologizing for “who knows what anymore”? That comes to fruition in the “Apology Song.” I like the bass line that seems to weave through this track and hold it all together, and this is good stuff; no apology is needed.

Next, we get into some philosophical pragmatism. The song in question is Your Time Doesn’t Exist. I am not sure what the message is. I got lost on existentialist pragmatic rabbit trails that felt realistic but ended up being idealism in disguise. Please don’t take my word for it. I suggest listening for yourself and seeing which school of philosophy Your Time Doesn’t Exist fits into the best.

“Being alone is the best drug – It is the best way to be.”

“Oh, we can take the best moments we had 

Make our mistakes and make each other glad 

That we were a family”

And being together is the best way to be”

Being alone and being together are both from the golden nugget of this album, as far as I can hear it. The song is called A Family and has a more laid-back feel with an acoustic guitar that gives it a smooth feel than the electric sound of the other songs. There is still a bit of electric magic in the background that grows more audacious later in the song.

The grunge of Elk City comes out at night in the track Don’t You Wanna Try. The music takes on a gritty soundscape, but the lyrics offer a vision of being a better person.

Don’t you wanna try to make a little light

 Shine a little way

 And maybe you change or maybe you could get some

 Don’t you wanna try to make a little light on everybody’s life On everybody’s time 

The all-too-short EP ends with a smooth and shimmering ode. I am not sure what it is an ode to, but I like the sound, a smooth and shimmering ode. A bit of lyrical poetry. A graceful exit. Thank you Elk City for keeping me entranced for a dozen or more listens to your EP, Above The Water.

‘Floating Above the Water’ https://youtu.be/fGvgZMmwuvQ
Order the album https://linktr.ee/elkcity
Bandcamp https://elkcity.bandcamp.com/album/above-the-water
Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/album/above-the-water/1648069921 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4JfwZg4wHtAL05zAI8bNKA ‘Apology Song’ https://youtu.be/Vt5Ba0CIUgA
‘Your Time Doesn’t Exist’ https://youtu.be/nzP8N7aG3-c
‘That Someone’ https://youtu.be/bEyhHv9Y4eE
Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/user-168836748

Keep up with Elk City

https://www.facebook.com/elkcityband https://elkcity.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/elkcityband/ https://twitter.com/ElkCityMusic https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw000Y-Q86FvREYEAU2kZ3A https://music.apple.com/us/artist/elk-city/5421978 https://tidal.com/browse/artist/3610647 https://open.qobuz.com/artist/27846 https://open.spotify.com/artist/3fP1b6MT31lrhF7Xzf4KSA

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Pop can put on dozens of hats to cover each nuance of what constitutes the meaning of pop. I will attempt to intertwine some of those definitions with an EP I am listening to as I write this, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop by the disco pop debutants VOIB. It is easily the fifth time I’ve listened to this release trying to find an angle to approach it.

And there we go; our first use of the word pop, associated with disco in this instance. From my trusty Oxford English Dictionary, we learn that, in this usage, pop is “relating to commercial popular music.” Commercials and popular music are usually anathemas in my world. I will, however, attempt to soldier on. Disco, from the OED, is “a style of pop music intended mainly for dancing to, typically soul-influenced and melodic with a regular bass beat, popular particularly in the late 1970s.” Unfortunately, disco was never more than a historical footnote for me. I used to have a t-shirt that said, “Support you local musicians, burn down a disco.” This was by no means an endorsement of violence against the disco movement. It was just me making my dislike of disco music public knowledge. I have mellowed over time and are more tolerant of different music styles, including pop music.

Pop can also be a light explosive sound, hopefully not from a disco burning down! I suppose there are some light pop sounds to be heard in Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. Pop is also the popping sound when air is equalized in our ears, such as in an airplane ride. Speaking of equalizing air in our ears, I have noticed a trend in popular music to use excessively loud volumes at live shows and more bass than needed. This comes from the house soundboard, so it may or may not be what the band wanted. It can leave our ears ringing more than popping. I use tuned ear buds at live shows and I restrained the volume while I listened to Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, and I have good hearing.

Pop can also be used in writing as an activity, such as popping to the store for a few items or popping Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop into my playlist.

Photo credit to Miranda Fredriksson

The colour in the above press photo for VOIB pops. The muted tones of the photo below are not as striking but tell a different story through different colours.

Photo credit to Miranda Fredriksson

Pop also refers to a large number of beverages. My sweet fizzy drink of choice is Coke Zero. However, I am drinking coffee while I write this blog.

I don’t follow the sport of baseball, but I do know what a pop fly is. A pop fly is a ball hit high in the air but not far from the home plate that usually provides an easy catch to put the batter out. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop is no doubt hoping to go high in the charts, and this easy-listening pop EP may be able to do that. It is an easy catch; enjoy it while you can. Most pop music has a relatively short shelf life. But, who knows, maybe Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop will be the next Stayin’ Alive.

I popped the question to my wife after we had dated for three weeks. It was 31 years ago, so that worked out well.

There are a few other variations of definitions of the word pop, but I think that is enough for the time being. I will pop this up on my blog page for your perusal, and I hope you enjoy listening to the easy-going pop music on the EP Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop from the young lads who go by the moniker VOIB.

Photo credits to Miranda Fredriksson

Time to dust off my platform shoes and dig the sequinned vest out of the closet along with the bell bottom jeans with the wide cuff and the satin shirt with the ruffled sleeves; we are listening to some new music that could easily pass for vintage psychedelia.

I’m talking about the new album, Friends In Noise, from the London psychedelic music artist Black Market Karma. Friends In Noise is Black Market Karma‘s eleventh full-length album. How could I have missed this up until now? ‘Friends In Noise,’ is an international collaboration rooted in friendship and spontaneity, released via the London boutique label Flower Power Records and the PR of Shameless Promotions. Revolving around songwriter Stanley Belton, Black Market Karma features music heavy with fuzz pedals and a 12-string guitar jingle jangle. Music that takes me back to another era. I love it.

Stanley Belton tells us, “I didn’t really get the idea of an album in my head too much. It’s something that gradually came together over the years through playing and becoming friends with so many good musicians. Collaborations naturally occur when you’re spending time with people who are musically minded, especially when we would hang at my studio. The songs started to build up over time and I thought man, these should all be gathered together on one release so here we are.”

“The last pieces came via two good friends – Craig Dyer of The Underground Youth and Butchy Davy of The Confederate Dead. Craig and I had wanted to make music together in the past but it never came to be – he lives in Berlin, but we managed to make ‘Wonky’ happen. Lastly Butchy came to the BMK studio with an unfinished, instrumental demo and we worked on it together. The result was ‘Ageing Boy'”.

Earlier, Black Market Karma released the singles’ The Sky Was All Diseased’ with iconic vocalist Tess Parks and ‘Aping Flair’ with Ruari Meehan (Tess Parks, Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe and Belakiss with Ringo Starr’s granddaughter Tatia Starkey).

Featuring recordings captured over nine years, ‘Friends In Noise’ is a series of collaborations between Black Market Karma and friends. Apart from Tess Parks, this album also involves The Underground Youth, Les Big Byrd / Joakim Ahlund, The Confederate Dead and Ruari Meehan. More recently, Stan has also collaborated with Pete Kember (a.k.a. Sonic Boom) of Spacemen 3 fame on a forthcoming release. I happen to dig the grooves of Spacemen 3, so it is no surprise that I also dig the tunes of Friends In Noise.

Friends In Noise features some sharp lyrics to accompany the psychedelic music. Here are a few examples that I notice.

“I got love but I don’t deserve it

I got time but all I do is blow it.”

–Wonky

YouTube is a friend of my wasted time.

–Norman

“Went walking in the sun

Felt all the rainfall.”

‘The Sky Was All Diseased‘

“The sun was shining on the sea,

Shining with all his might:

He did his very best to make

The billows smooth and bright–

And this was odd, because it was

The middle of the night.”

-Lewis Carroll from Through The Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

Friends In Noise is an excellent example of reimagined music. It sounds familiar, like a flashback to an old friend remembered. And it sounds fresh, like making a new friend that reminds you of an old friend. At the end of the day, I have found Friends In Noise to be a delightful visitor to my home. I hope you invite Friends In Noise into your home and make friends with Black Market Karma.

As of January 13, the ‘Friends In Noise’ album will be available everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp. ‘Friends In Noise on 180-gram coloured vinyl from the label, as well as their latest’ Aped Flair & Hijacked Ideas’ LP. Tickets for upcoming tour dates can be ordered here: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/261797-black-market-karma

‘Friends In Noise’ trailer https://youtu.be/m6TzBr1YOW8

Order the ‘Friends In Noise’ LP https://bit.ly/3CtLgn0

Bandcamp https://flowerpowerrecords.bandcamp.com

‘Aping Flair’ https://youtu.be/S4eFJeCaTjA

‘The Sky Was All Diseased’ https://youtu.be/4274oQhCmZw

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/1lbkSAoynPSO7OQOFSOdon

Order tour tickets at   http://bit.ly/3XbLOVQ

I’ll start 2023 with a blog about the band The Yets and their eponymous debut EP. I will dive right in and look at the first track, Waterline. This track starts with shimmering guitar hooks from Craig Anderson Snook built around smooth synths and a bass that leads the drums that lead to the soaring vocals of Robin Wilson. The remainder of Waterline is about keeping our heads above the water, even in our turbulent times. I’ll sneak in a brown M&M shout-out to my brother, Terry, who works on the waterline of the Fraser River.

The Yets are the combined musical musings of Robin Wilson on vocals and guitarist-producer Craig Anderson Snook. I have to tip my hat to the production of this EP. Much of the lack of quality in today’s top ten music stems from the lack of quality production; much of it sounds like a mono sludge. Not so on The Yets EP. Craig Anderson Snook uses the two channels well, and the songs dance between the speakers.

Track two should be the rallying cry of the baby boomer generation. Remember. Well, actually, no, I do not remember. I do not remember much short-term, but I can spin yarns about the good old days till the cows come home. A great song about entering “the twilight of our days,” “Who will remember?” This song conveys a lot of what I have been living through recently. A cousin of mine recently passed away, but before he went, he carefully journaled and wrote extensively about his life and those around him. He remembered so that others could keep those memories alive for a while longer. Remember? And please do not keep asking those of us with fading memories if we remember. No, I do not remember. But, I too have done extensive writing to try and push the envelope further when the question is asked, “Who will remember?”

I remember that The Yets are based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,”Somewhere at the intersection of sound and emotion lies the description of those things we all treasure the most, ‘Letter To A Boy’ is about that special feeling a mother has for her son. It’s unique and difficult to express. It’s extremely hard to put so much feeling into so few words. Lyrically, it’s the most challenging I’ve ever done. It’s also the most rewarding,” says Robin Wilson.

“In a very general sense, this album is about life: the passage of time, relationships and the consequences of the choices we make along the way. I’ve always wanted to bare my musical soul, but never had the right vehicle. That musical soul has always wanted to speak to the world, but never had the right voice. The Yets is that vehicle, and Robin is that voice,” says Craig Anderson Snook, who has performed semi-professionally since he was 13. His musical passion led him beyond cover bands into composition, arrangement, audio engineering, production and ultimately to running his own Royal Terns Records label and studio, where he recorded, mixed and produced the new EP.

The passing of time is measured out colourfully in the song Fades To Gray.

Hansa

Hansa is a beautiful, brilliant shade of yellow

Veridian …

Fades to gray

(Viridian is a blue-green pigment)

Cadmium …

Fades to gray

(Cadmium is a silvery-white metal )

Alizurin…

Fades to gray

(Alizarin is a prominent red dye)

And the hairs on our heads fade to grey, even the blue-green ones; they may even be silvery-white or bright red. And the beautiful, brilliant yellow sun goes down and another life goes with it.

Fades To Gray

After being immersed in the music scene in high school, Robin found her way to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where she fronted the goth-rock band Bachelors of Art (B.O.A.). Upon relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, she fronted the female alt-rock group Skirt, touring the USA extensively and supporting numerous high-profile acts.

“My previous musical endeavors were always hard rock-based. I wasn’t involved with the actual songwriting except for my vocal melodies and lyrics. With The Yets, I’ve broken that mold, helping to compose and produce a whole new sound. I’ve combined my artwork and media arts degree into the whole creative package. We recorded and produced our own CD in our own studio. We created our own videos and designed and built our own website,” says Robin Wilson.

The EP closes with what sounds like a personal rant, Happy Now. Are you happy now? I’ve done all that I could!

Craig Anderson Snook and Robin Wilson have done all they could to make a lovely recording for us, and I am happy now. My ears are delighted. I love this recording. It carries me through a gamut of quick emotional sound bites, happy, sad, struggling, remembering, giving in, and love. “Faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these is love.”

‘The Yets’ EP is out now, streamable via Spotify and available to order, digitally or on CD, directly from the band via Bandcamp.

Keep up with The Yets

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Apple Music | Spotify | Amazon | Press contact

Keep up with Shameless Promotion PR

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Instagram | LinkedIn | Email

‘Letter To A Boy’ https://youtu.be/NFGQ-JUm0d0

‘The Yets’ EP  https://theyets1.bandcamp.com/album/the-yets

Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/album/352OEZQ4saJkEesQqCSxRH

‘Remember’ https://youtu.be/es7JmFTOXdk

‘Lesser Evil’  https://youtu.be/fgP5ZGg0vVw

Soundcloud  https://soundcloud.com/the-yets

Another year is almost gone as I write my annual look back at what graced my real and imagined turntables in the past year. As anyone who follows me probably knows, I do not do top ten lists or any other ranking system of what I have been listening to recently. I compile statistics and highlights, so if your album isn’t on this list, do not despair; it has been listened to and will still be in my library, waiting to be heard again.

So, diving right in, what has vibrated the air in my listening space in 2022? So. It is a damn good album that should be listened to at least once every year. Breaking from his string of four self-titled albums, Peter Gabriel released So in 1986 to generally good reviews and tremendous commercial success. Another instance of the people voting with their wallets and not according to the pundits’ jabs. Rising above the pack in 1986 was no easy task. It was a year that, in hindsight, was loaded with significant and lasting music; however, So was still able to sell like hotcakes and make tons of best-of lists and awards nominations. I still enjoy listening to the album, and the video for Sledgehammer is one of the rare videos I will watch from start to finish and more than once.

I have to slip Elysian Fields in here with their album Once Beautiful, Twice Removed. They deserve a spot on the list because they make good music and also because their album cover has a review mirror.

Andy Zipf released an album in 2022 that garnered traction on my playlist, and you can read more about this outstanding album, How to Make a Paper Airplane, here.

How to Make a Paper Airplane

Aside from having a name that instantly got my attention, Paris Music Corp. made a standout eponymous album. It flew under the radar and didn’t get a blog, but it still got multiple replays throughout the year.

Here’s an interesting one. The band Black Rose Burning released a new album in 2021,  The Wheel, and I listened to it so much this year that it got a blog in April. It has maintained that momentum and made my end-of-2022 listening list.

Black Rose Burning

Tracy Chpman released an album in 1988 that I relistened to three times this year. Her self-titled release has the top ten track Fast Car, but it is not an album defined by top ten songs. Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution is the lead track, and it sets a pretty high bar for the remainder of the pieces to follow. But follow it they do, with Fast Car being the next song. The rest of the album gets pulled along in the Fast Car draft and fills out a darn good slab of vinyl.

Othered is a musical collaboration that created a nine-song album called Vol.1, and I can’t wait for Vol. 2. This album garnered a blog in April of this year and has held that momentum and pushed it onto this list. Othered Vol. 1 is an easy choice, full of good music with some a bit on the heavier side of musical offerings, which adds to my contention that good music is good music no matter the genre or label that gets slapped on it. And this is good music.

Othered Vol. 1

Switching into some electronica/alternative, we have the band Vonamor and their self-titled album. Just listen to it. It deserves more airtime.

VONAMOR

The musical adventure known as Telifis has been very busy recently. Check this out for a sample of what they do.

Archbishop Beardmouth At The ChemOlympics

I can’t go a year without mentioning some close-to-home musical offerings. St. Arnaud was already a favourite live band and this year found them with a new album, Love and the Front Lawn, and a catchy radio-friendly single, Catching Flies. Extensive touring included a stop in Edmonton at The Starlite Room, where I scored a signature from Ian St. Arnaud himself on a pre-release CD. Thanks, Ian; I hope to see you on the stage in 2023.

St. Arnaud/Catching Flies

Another show in Edmonton, this time at The Station on Jasper, and another home-grown artist, Vic Wayne. Vic spearheads a top-notch band, Star Collector, who now works out of the wet coast, and they gave us an energetic and entertaining show. The tour was in support of their new album, Game Day.

Star Collectors Game Day

Star Collector Live at The Station on Jasper

Dmitry Wild. Electric Souls is an energetic album that I am not sure why I like it, but I do.

Electric Souls

The album title of the year goes to Ollie for his album Even When I’m Happy I Listen To Sad Music. Even without the title, this album is a winner. Another Canadian entry, I got to support the home team.

Even When I’m Happy I Listen To Sad Music

You need to watch the video below from a Swedish band I love, Hands Down. Sweden is sort of my homeland that I have never set foot in.

https://weatheredmusic.ca/2022/10/14/hands-down/

I tasked myself with going through our record collection A to Zed. Below are a few standout albums that don’t get played as much as they deserve. And a few albums that get played yearly and often more than once.

Riding a wave that started in 2018 is the album, Your Queen Is A Reptile by Sons of Kemet. In 2019 I purchased the album at Rough Trade Records in London, England. In 2021 it made my end-of-year list, and Your Queen Is A Reptile is getting bumped onto the 2022 list.

Jackson Browne, Running on Empty. A good friend gave us tickets to see Jackson Browne perform live with James Taylor. Wow, that was a good show and Running on Empty is still a good album.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet gives us Time Out and Time Further Out.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and their fantastic album No More Shall We Part. This is an album that I keep repeating repeatedly. It is deep listening territory.

mewithoutYou was captured live in Vancouver on their farewell tour. I am so glad we saw them live since their records are never far from the turntable. We listened to two of them tonight—[A→B] Life and [untitled].

The Clash. I listened to all of The Clash’s albums in my continuing journey through the alphabet of albums. I enjoyed all of those listens but on this go-round, Sandinista! seemed to connect the most.

The Clash

Bim. A Kid Full Of Dreams is for acquired tastes, but Bim is a master storyteller, collector of music (78’s primarily) and an all-around good entertainer. I saw him live, and this album is a yearly player.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The catalogue for CSN&Y is profound, and picking one album is impossible, so I will pick two, which is barely possible. Déjà Vu and 4 Way Street.

Daniel Amos is another band with an extensive catalogue, but I am sticking to one entry for them, Darn Floor, Big Bite from 1987.

Deep Purple, Shades of Deep Purple

Miles Davis, Bitches Brew

Okafur Arnalds, Some kind of peace-piano reworks

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon

Ten Years After, A Space In Time

The Beatles,  Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Call, Let The Day Begin

The Carter Family

This is starting to evolve into a long boring list of everything I listened to in 2022, and I do not want this to be that, so that will evolve into this—time for some fun with numbers. I listened to about 500 albums this year. I only keep tabs on full album listens, no singles.

206 LPs

49 CDs

16 EPs

1 Cassette

227 albums streamed from various sources

It came down to a tight race between the physical slabs of vinyl and streaming albums. Streaming narrowly came out on top due to my blogging for various music promotions. A big shout out to Mystic Sons, Big Stir Records and Shameless Promotions for feeding me a steady stream of new music to inform you, the reader, about. I won’t list them all, but I also want to thank the musicians and bands that tossed CDs or MP3 files my way. They are all appreciated.

The year with the most listens was, no surprise, 2022, with 219 albums.

The oldest record played was from 1956.

The remainder was a shotgun blast at the barn door this year, with the 70s and 80s having a slight edge numerically. No surprise since those were my formative listening years, and I gravitate to them naturally.

I don’t track genres; it is just too messy.

I seemed to gravitate to music featuring females in 2022, an interesting demographic shift from the traditionally male-dominated field.

Apple Music has this thing called Apple Replay that gives a snapshot of my yearly listening, but it is weird to use, mainly because it focuses on singles, and I focus on albums. Just for fun, here are a few things from Apple. 

2305 songs played

The top two songs are ones that I enjoy listening to as I fall asleep, The Ultimate Sleep System. The Ambient Music Therapy amassed 549 minutes of playtime as I nodded off to sleep.

Othered, a band that made my list above and were featured in a blog, came in at number three in Apple. Good on them; they deserve it.

I listened to 671 different artists this year; gotta spread that love around. The top five, according to Apple, remember that I don’t make top ten lists: Ambient Music Therapy, Daniel Amos, Star Collector, David Bowie, and Víkingur Ólafsson.

Apple says I listened to 399 albums on their streaming platform, with Víkingur Ólafsson nabbing the number one spot with a whopping 78 plays. I am not sure how Apple arrived at that number, but I know that as much as I like that album, I did not listen to it 78 times.

I don’t listen to a lot of curated playlists on Apple, but there are a few that I drop in on. Modernism and Postmodernism, Essentials of Roots Reggae and Classic Rock featured strongly.

So, we started on that note and are finishing there as well. It was a good year for new music with some solid players, and there were the usual suspects that get played every year and are still loved and appreciated. Good art never grows old—happy listening in 2023.

The EP Win Fight Dream Lose is not the first time I have listened to music created by Tanzos. The first time was in 2020, the year the wheels fell off the wagon, via three singles which garnered good critical responses. I posted my thoughts on that here.

https://weatheredmusic.ca/?s=Tanzos&submit=Search

Win Fight Dream Lose is the first extended-time release from Tanzos, aka Mik Tanzos. The EP contains two previously released singles,  Good Intentions and Mood Swings, and an unreleased piano version of his 2021 hit Nevermind. That covers three out of five tracks on the EP, which is why I don’t particularly appreciate doing singles. By the time the EP comes out, most of the songs on a short-form record, aka EP, have already been reviewed. Nevermind my rant. Nevermind, the song, has the feel of Nick Cave on the piano bits, but the similarity stops there. The original Nevermind and the reworked piano version are different but equally good.

Good music needs good lyrics, and there are a few shining examples. The title track states, “We learn to like the things we choose.” I can relate to this on several levels of understanding, but I’m unsure if they are the same as Tanzos’. Here is one example. In 1994 I received a gift certificate for my birthday and bought a CD with the money. The CD was from a band I was acquainted with, but when I played it, what came out of the speakers was not what I expected. The band had veered off the road into new territory and new sounds, and on first listen, I wouldn’t say I liked it. I couldn’t take it back because it was opened and used, so it got filed away. Sometime later, I listened to it again and started warming up to what was happening on this CD. And after many more trips around whatever goes on inside a CD player, I have learned to like this CD that I had chosen. “We learn to like the things we choose.”

“I’m trapped in my head” is a line from the track Mood Swings. Tanzos tells us, “The song tries to capture the difficult emotions of someone already used to internal conflict. But sometimes it’s just too much, you get overwhelmed and lose control “

“I’m trapped in my head” stirred a memory for me. In recovery groups, there is a saying, “My head is a dangerous place to visit alone.” It is even worse to comprehend when we are trapped there, bouncing off the walls and into thoughts we want to bury and never remember again.

Win Fight Dream Lose is driven in equal parts by crisp piano parts and undercurrents of guitar that shimmer when they rise to the surface. All in all, Tanzos has crafted a delightful EP.

https://on.soundcloud.com/m36Vz

D I S C O V E R

http://www.tanzos.com

https://www.facebook.com/tanzosmusic/

https://www.instagram.com/tanzos_music/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGLsdpn77d1yoy31-R0MDXA

https://www.facebook.com/tanzosmusic/

https://www.instagram.com/tanzos_music/

For Press enquiries, please contact johan@mysticsons.com

James Barker | Mystic Sons | Director

Tel: +44 (0) 2075 804 257

Mob: +44 (0) 7956 241 508

Strongroom Studios | 120-124 Curtain Road | Hackney | London | EC2A 3SQ

Press | Radio | Events

http://www.mysticsons.com 

I have started my end-of-year blog, and I think Crying Day Care Choir might sneak in as a late addition.

The time arc of me doing a blog goes something like this. I listen to the album to decide whether I like the sounds. If I don’t get a groove on, the blog never gets off the ground; it stops there. Occasionally all I need to hear is one song or a quick sample by skipping across all the songs. If I don’t get it, the email hits the trash bin.

However, I listen to the entire album if I like what I hear. After that first listen, I will see if the band or artist has previous material or a back story in music. I like to hear where they are coming from, and as I listen, I will start reading whatever I can find about the artist/s. And then, I go to the new material and listen to it again with a lyric sheet, if there is one, and follow the story arc or the ebb and flow of the album. Then I start copying and pasting bits and pieces from the source material, including lyrics when available. And then, I start writing my blog.

There is an exception to this method. Sometimes the music will grab my ears and pull me in without mercy. I can’t stop listening to the album, and after a half dozen or so trips through the entire album, I will start the “if I like what I hear” pattern as above. I frequently get highjacked by repeated listens to a previous album if one, or more, impacts me as much as the new one does.

The exception happened this week with the Swedish band Crying Day Care Choir’s album Give Me Something Vol. 1.

I listened to this album repeatedly and then skipped back to their previous album Wilting Rooting Blooming, which is a horse of a different colour. And then back to Give Me Something Vol. 1. I am listening to Give Me Something Vol. 1 again. It hasn’t grown old yet, and I’m unsure if it ever will. We will check in on December 31st to see if the shine has lost its lustre.

This album explodes in your face when it starts playing the opening powerhouse track, Make A New Fucking World. With a title like that, you know that something will happen. And it does happen. I listened to this song easily a half dozen times and then listened to their previous album, Wilting Rooting Blooming, with its opening track, Fuck It I’m A Flower. That album and that song have an indie folk-flavoured pop feel that is super easy listening. And then I go back to Make A New Fucking World, and it is a new f*****g album with a fresh f*****g sound. The mandolin and acoustic guitars are gone, replaced by synths opening the song and exploding with distorted guitars and a thumping bass drum/guitar. And then they have the audacity of segueing that into a classic piano interlude. Which then transitions back to heavy riffs and the driving beat. And it works. All these pieces sound like a bad idea when I try to explain them with words. You can trust me on this one. Crying Day Care Choir makes it happen. It all works together seamlessly.

I feel this four-track EP is shorter than it could have been. All the tracks give me the feeling that they are good songs to jam on. I’m Looking At You and Don’t Waste Your Time are strong pieces in the middle, and then we get to my second favourite song on this EP, The Dreams Of Alice. A great closing track.

CDCC is Jack, Sara and Bill Elz. Hailing from Malmö in southern Sweden. Sweden is a hot spot for great new music, and this album and band add to that. Crying Day Care Choir is a family trio of the married couple, Jack and Sara, with Jack’s brother, Bill. They are all talented multi-instrumentalists that they use to great advantage, moving effortlessly from indie folk to grunge.

I encourage you to listen to Wilting Rooting Blooming first. And then turn the volume up a notch and play Give Me Something Vol. 1. From my point of view, these albums complement each other and Give Me Something Vol. 1 builds on the foundation of Wilting Rooting Blooming. A good example that I hope most people would be familiar with is Pink Floyd. I recommend listening to Meddle and Obscured by Clouds to better appreciate The Dark Side of the Moon. It gives the listener an expanded understanding and appreciation of the new music if we know where the band is coming from.

Enough of me ranting on about this music. Go now and listen to Crying Day Care Choir. In any order that you like, it is all good music.

The cover art is a story in itself.

After a successful summer performing at festivals such Sziget Festival, Malmöfestivalen, Be Alternative and many more, Swedish alt-follk trio Crying Day Care Choir recently formed their own label ELZ Productions, with their first release an internationally groundbreaking EP with cover art by Damien Hirst and the art itself as source of inspiration.  

CDCC’s new EP ‘Give Me Something Vol.1’, the first of three new collections released in the coming months, explores the relationship between art and music and challenges the idea of how music is created. The full album acts as a continuation of Damien Hirst‘s project ‘The Currency’, where he explores the concept of value through art and money. The Currency contains 10.000 unique pieces, with different titles produced by an AI generator that’s been fed with some of the artist’s favourite music. The buyers of these different art pieces were left with the decision during the summer of 2022, to either keep their physical piece or to keep the NFT version of it and let the physical painting burn.  

This project led to new artistic ideas for the musicians in CDCC, and the concept for the record ‘Give Me Something’ took shape. The idea is to take the titles from the burnt artworks and put them together as lyrics, thus giving them new life in a new art form -“Reborn, as songs”.

With Damien Hirst’s permission the work began in September. Damien Hirst’s artwork ‘Give Me Something’ will act as album cover for the release. The world famous artist however is no stranger to the concept of making album art with his latest involvement being in Drake’s ‘Certified Loverboy’ from 2021.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2wA059Agr6FoUUJTD23KLl?si=4naJtrUKQRC2uIX_bYilzQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cryingdaycarechoir/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cryingdaycarechoir/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_hzYBib_UAgAGT0DuwmOTA

Webpage: https://www.cdccmusic.com/

https://on.soundcloud.com/oJmfJ

James Barker | Mystic Sons | Director

Tel: +44 (0) 2075 804 257

Mob: +44 (0) 7956 241 508

Strongroom Studios | 120-124 Curtain Road | Hackney | London | EC2A 3SQ

Press | Radio | Events

http://www.mysticsons.com