Discovered In September 2023 Mixed Tape
Released in 2023
The Rolling Stones slowly leaked out a couple of new songs from their upcoming release entitled “Hackney Diamonds”. They even did a single launch in Hackney in the UK with an audience and Jimmy Fallon.
It was certainly weird, but hell, they have not put out a record of new material in 18 years. This could be the last time. We always used to say that with each Rolling Stones tour. This could be the last one!!?
The clock is truly ticking now.
So much music blossoming this Spring and this month brings us many beautiful fruits. Check out my favorites of the month below and all of the tracks on the monthly playlist.
See what you like, see if it fits, no alterations, take it away AS IS.
It is Grand Final Day here in Melbourne and the Brisbane Lions are playing the Collingwood Magpies. I do believe the Pies will win by 13.
We have tickets to go but we are struggling with the tail end of Covid. But we can recover after a few hours in the sun with close to 100,000 people cheering home THE PIES!!!
Next month I will address the new Wilco record which I only heard yesterday and I need to digest a bit before I can let you know how it hits me. With one listen, it sounds like another Wilco record, nothing jumped out as startling, but if you like Jeff and the boys I am sure there will be something to dig on these grooves.
Meanwhile, let’s start with my pick of the month, which is the new Jonathan Wilson album. Give it a few listens in a short period of time and see what happens. It really grew on me like a virus. Oh, the virus…..you will feel better from the Wilson Marzipan, there is no doubt.
Marzipan-Jonathan Wilson-This album will grow on you. The interesting mix of sounds that come and go are like a movie soundtrack and Wilson’s vocals are a lot like Harry Nilsson on this collection.
“This one is a bit of a concept album in respect of I was bound and determined to do something a bit weird, a bit esoteric, and that was a bit off the kilter. I was inspired by the guy Jim Pembroke who was in this band in the ‘70s who were actually based out of Helsinki even though this guy is British, and they were called Wigwam. He passed away during the pandemic and somebody sent me a video of him and I was like, who is this guy he is incredible, and it was him sitting at a piano with his band. It was like solo John Lennon vibes, and I was why haven’t I heard of this guy.
So I did a deep dive on him just for fun, and I came across this album he made in ’72 called ‘Warm Rumours’, and the way he set it up he just shoots himself in the foot as far as any commercial success goes and he talks in these weird little voices between songs, and he tries to portray the album as if it was a talent show. It is so weird, but it is so good. So, I was inspired, this is the kind of stuff that I love, I love to listen to Captain Beefheart and people like Frank Zappa, and I was like, this is what I want to make. So that was the impetus for the project.” -Jonathan Wilson
I think I am going to have to find out more about this Jim Pembroke dude
Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart-Lucinda Williams- Nothing new here and that is what you want. Lu has done remarkably well recovering from her stroke and she sounds as feisty and rough and tough as usual. 44 years since her first record, this is her 15th.
“I’ve got some great guest artists singing background vocals on it: Bruce Springsteen, Margo Price, Angel Olsen. I started cowriting with (New York City–based singer-songwriter) Jesse Malin—and one of my favorite songs on it is called “New York Comeback.” We recorded some stuff at the historic RCA studios in Nashville where legends like Tammy [Wynette] and Dolly [Parton] recorded. -L.W.
And get your eyes or ears around her memoirs, worth your time.
Graham Parker and The Goldtops-Last Chance to Dance
GP: I thought it was a fun name to call the album, which came from the song “Last Stretch of the Road” which we all realize in our lives. It could go on for quite a while or it could end suddenly. We lose friends and people we love in music and art. There is not much you can do about it but maybe try to have a little bit of a laugh about it as medicine in life. I lost two friends of mine and when I hit seventy, I thought maybe I’m not so invincible anymore.
The album features Parker's brand new backing band The Goldtops, which consists of Martin Belmont on guitar, Geraint Watkins on keyboards, Simon Edwards on bass, and Roy Dodds on drums.
All Bad-Nick Shoulders-Head down the surreal country highway of Nick Shoulders and you will be whistling, yodelling and humming along with him. His take on the genre is definitely more real than most of the mainstream country coming out of Nashville. This dude from Arkansas has some serious thoughts about the history of country music.
“I want to think that what we’re doing is part of what people call real country music. I would like to think that considering I’m embodying a singing tradition that I’ve pulled from my family. They homesteaded on the Arkansas-Louisiana border in 1849, and they had been continuing this practice probably since they emigrated from Scotland and Ireland.
The fact that these traditions were preserved by rurality is one thing. But that rurality only hung on because of the Civil War, because of enslavement, and because of the removal of native Southerners. So the idea that country music is authentic because it’s connected to the country is a real problem for me because you have to be a private landowner for that to make any sense. It’s as though you need to have inherited your great-great-grandparent’s ranch. But I was divorced from that, like many people are. I have roots back there, but the ghost hollow — the haunted piece of woods I grew up on — we lost that to the financial crisis of 2008.
Every tangible connection through my family, back to the land, has been severed at one point or another. And that’s also true of many people who resonate with this music. I may have been raised in the woods where I gained all these skills. But I was taken from that and put in the position that in order to have economic and physical security, I had to live in town. So, growing up, I had access to perspectives given and gained from both the rural South and small-town South. After all, Arkansas’s biggest city is only 150,000 people.
But my most country friends don’t sing country music. They work demanding jobs, they raise families, and they’re hostage to an economic system that belittles them. That’s many people’s reality and it’s also part of the history of country music. Jimmy Rogers wasn’t born in the most remote hollow on the planet — he was a railroad worker in Meridian, Mississippi.”-Nick Shoulders
Songs For Freedom-The Freedom Collective-This collection of original songs was created by Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi artists in the Pilbara town of Roebourne WA. This collection of country-tinged beauties will enter your heart and soul. Songs for Freedom has its foundations in workshops involving the family of John Pat, who died in custody in 1983 and triggered the Royal Commission into deaths in custody.
Having caught this collective on tour in Naarm just this past month was a remarkable experience. 7 shows were done around the country, and they finished up where they started in Roebourne. Explore, learn, donate.
The Silversound-The Silversound-This is a debut album by a collective of well-known musicians in the Melbourne music scene. With the germination of this record coming up out of our fucked up lockdown period (remember that?), this is one of my favorite psychedelic records to hit my ears in some time. This record just got pipped by Jonathan Wilson of the month. Just so you know….
The Silversound are: Shane O'Mara: guitars, and vocals Andrew Tanner: vocals, Jim Dandy
Leroy Cope: drums Stu Thomas: bass
Change Of Scene -The Matinee-We all need a change of scene. Life is like that. This record is about this band of musicians doing just that. Hailing from Canada, they took off on the road together, not on a tour, but a chance to explore the Pacific Northwest of North America.
"As soon as we crossed the border and realized we didn't have a schedule, no real destination, we just started bonding in a way that I think we had forgotten about," recalls Rose. "There was no pressure to be anywhere at any particular time, and I think that allowed us to soak in the experience a little more deeply and remember what it's like to be four lifelong friends."-From The Matinee
It’s a beautiful Americana record that deserves many spins.
In The Throes-Buddy And Julie Miller-We may always be in the throes of something or the other. Maybe sometimes we can find us some peace. Only been 4 years since their last record, which is working fast for this couple. Buddy is always working somewhere so it must be hard for them to get their own stuff recorded.
Julie wrote every song on the album except for ‘Don’t Make Her Cry,’ which is a rare co-write between Bob Dylan, Regina McCrary, and Julie. McCrary started the song several years ago, then met with Dylan, who wrote and rewrote more lyrics. When it came time to write the music, Bob said to Regina to “give it to Buddy Miller.” Buddy then passed it to Julie, who added more lyrics, moved others around, and set it to music. Imagine being given a song by Dylan.
And one final reminder: VOTE WITH YOUR HEART. If it is beating, you know that YES is the only way to Vote.
