Category Archives: Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice

29th May 2023

Anna Tivel – Royal Blue

This is a recent live performance of a track from Anna’s 2022 album ‘Outsiders’. This outstanding Oregan based songwriter first came to my attention about six years ago with a song that already, to my ears, sounds like a seasoned classic called ‘Illinois’. As can be seen and heard in this clip, she has maintained a high standard of music making and continues to illuminate with her tight three piece live set up, who somehow make a big noise out of very hushed dynamics. Music that doesn’t instantly beat you over the head and demand a listen can sometimes fly by unnoticed, but the magic of Anna Tivel is that she tightens her grip on your attention whilst retaining a lightness of touch, a wonderful writer indeed…

Lee Fields – Waiting On The Sidelines

Another beautiful vintage style soul ballad from Lee Fields. Now aged 72, he has been as much of a late blooming star as the sadly departed Tina Turner, whose news coverage following the announcement of her death focused extensively on how her commercially successful years only occurred when she was in her forties and free of that controlling relationship with Ike. Lee has been in the engine room of the music world for decades, working with the likes of Kool and the Gang, Hip Huggers, O.V. Wright, Darrell Banks and Little Royal but it is the 21st century releases on the Daptone label as the headline act that have really seen him establish himself in the pantheon of soul greats and justifiably so. This new track is available as a 45 on the Daptone label…

April March & Staplin – Les Fleurs Invisibles

April March has been something of a free spirit in her career. Perhaps best known for her re-working of the Serge Gainsbourg ‘Laisse Tomber Les Filles’ into the rollicking ‘Chick Habit’ on the 1995 album ‘Gainsbourgsion!’, she has also worked as an illustrator and animator whilst eclectically applying chanson, sixties girl-pop, chamber-pop and glorious French/English retro vibes to her musical output. This song is from her latest album which sees her collaborating with the French duo Staplin who push April into an area of alternative, modern French pop that she has not explored before and the results are predictably sublime…

Nick Waterhouse – Late In The Garden

Nick’s latest album ‘The Fooler’ is available now on Pres Records and it’s a high end piece of gritty, modern Americana dragging us through the dark ends of a US city street to feel all the ghosts in the air and the spirits who have walked those byways before. This is easily one of the essential LP releases of the year so far, I especially love on this particular track how Nick wears his Velvet Underground influence loud and proud. This one absolutely struts a waiting for the man style with conviction, so much so that Nick even offers a “walk it home” aside towards the tracks end…

The Murlocs – Queen Pinky

The Murlocs are from Melbourne, Australia and their core members are Ambrose Kenny-Smith (who formed the band in 2011) on vocals and harmonica, Cal Shortal on guitar, Cook Craig on bass guitar, Tim Karmouche on keyboards and Matt Blach on drums. Their members are also involved with other bands, most notably King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, so it will not surprise you to read that they catch the ear of the garage rock, fuzztone crowd with their sound. This latest track is from their new album ‘Calm Ya Farm’ released on ATO and on this one in particular, their soulful R&B inclinations are watered to stunning effect, especially on that lead vocal which packs a real punch…

Walter Smith III – Shine

I close this weeks half dozen picks with a turn to the dependable Blue Note Records label and a new album release called ‘Return To Casual’ by Walter Smith III. Walter is a tenor saxophonist who has been releasing his own albums as band leader for nearly twenty years but also has a mouth watering discography in collaboration and backing with an arsenal of names in the modern US jazz scene (far too many to list here). His is a fluent playing style but the intensity, as witnessed here in this brand new filmed segment which also features some red-hot piano textures from Taylor Eigsti, is gripping and sometimes that is all you need, players playing it like they mean it, get on this right now people…

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Fresh Juice

22nd May 2023

The Lost Days – For Today

The Lost Days are Sarah Rose Janko and Tony Molina and this little stunner is from the album ‘In The Store’ out now on Speakeasy Studios SF. The two friends were working aside from their own music projects and bonding over a shared love of Bill Fox, The Byrds, Dear Nora and Guided by Voices. The album that has emerged out of these late night private jam sessions owes much to the chiming sound of sixties pop and also shimmers with a delightful no frills DIY aesthetic, with the whole ten songs done and dusted in under fifteen minutes. But this hardly seems to matter, they breeze in, cast their spell and are done in a flash and yet they leave a mark that encourages repeat visits, a wonderful little surprise indeed…

M Ward – Supernatural Thing

New music from M Ward is always something to get excited about and here we have the incredible title track from an album due to be released on June 23rd on Anti Records. The cast list on the record alone looks impressive, including names like First Aid Kit, Shovels & Rope, Scott McMicken, Neko Case and Jim James (great artists all) but as always it is the sound of M Ward himself that truly wets the appetite. He somehow manages to sound so authentically vintage, so naturally analogue whilst not sounding for a single moment like a copyist or mere revivalist. His music is so beautifully crafted it always stands proud as a relevant work in a modern context so yes, 2023 just got a little better…

Naima Bock – Lines

This is a superb live version recorded at Rough Trade East of new 2023 material following on from last years well received ‘Giant Palm’ album. Many likened Bock’s sound to that English acid-folk grain sewn by the likes of Fairport Convention and Fotheringay over fifty years ago but I’d argue there’s a closer connection to the famous Canterbury scene of the same era. Certainly there are jazz and prog echoes in Naima’s sound but crucially there is a lightness of touch and fluidity that orbits whatever style the music demands, it feels like the writing is free to land wherever it needs which can only be a good news for the ongoing development of this fine artist…

Thee Marloes – Midnight Hotline

These sweet soul sounds are to be found on a new 7″ 45 released on the Big Crown record label. The band are from Surabaya, Indonesia and consist of Natassya Sianturi on vocals, Sinatrya Dharaka on guitar, and Tommy Satwick on drums. The music is the creative work of guitarist Sinatrya, who would take his inspiration from the classic sounds of Motown, Funk and Reggae to cook up these retro grooves with no grand plan after a long working day. It was when the two other members of Thee Marloes came on board that the music started moulding itself into songs, especially when the voice and style of singer Natassya added a focal point and classy presentation to take this music to the world. With a New York based label part of the picture now too, let’s hope that is exactly the way it unfolds, great music deserves to be heard and we need it today more than ever…

Grace Potter – Mother Earth

This chugging country-rocker is the first single off of Grace Potter’s new album ‘Mother Road’ which will be out on August 18th. In addition to a music career that is now entering its third decade, Grace has also made a notable impression as an actress which presumably helps when making an epic, slightly deranged, bumper fun jamboree of a music video like that presented here. It is a roadside diner stand-off that absolutely revels in its Dukes of Hazard clichés whilst simultaneously taking the piss (literally in one shot, I mean I never saw no good ol’ boys taking a dump by the roadside). On this evidence, 2023’s new Grace Potter music will sure be a thrilling, rootin’-tootin’ ride so look out…

Gitkin – East Middle Dub

This spacey collage of instrumental psych pulls in elements of Peruvian chicha, Saharan tuareg and Cuban son montuno. Gitkin is a multi-instrumentalist artist from Brooklyn, NY and this is the opening track from his latest album ‘Nowhere To Go But Everywhere’. I have to say this gives me a warm glow, I can almost feel the heat of the summer arriving with these dubby laid back vibes, the time feels right to bathe in the joy of the brilliant music that never ceases to rise up around us, enjoy…

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Fresh Juice

15th May 2023

Lael Neale – Must Be Tears

From the album ‘Star Eaters Delight’ which is out now on Sub Pop Records. A few of this weeks half dozen recommendations have had tracks featured on earlier Monday editions of ‘Fresh Juice’ this year and Lael Neale is one such repeat name; but I am picking tunes on merit here, so if an artist is constantly dropping great songs that catch the Fruit Tree Records ear, then in they go and this is another winner in my opinion…

CMAT – Whatever’s Inconvenient

Been exposed to Eurovision and fearing for the state of new music? Fear not, there are plenty out there who can present with flair, style, humour and zest whilst remembering the importance of wrapping it around a well written song, as the wonderful CMAT proves once more with this new offering…

Juan Wauters (Ft. Frankie Cosmos) – Modus Operandi

Pushing up the anticipation for a new album from Juan Wauters is this achingly lovely piece of weightlessly elegant acoustic melancholia accompanied here by appropriately disorientating city scenes in the video. This is short but sweet and definitely leaves us wanting more…

Wednesday – Quarry

Already featured once this year with the incredible ‘Chosen To Deserve’, here another stand out track from the album ‘Rat Saw God’, released on Dead Oceans, proves that the abrasive Wednesday sound is absolutely on an upward trajectory with some essential songs punching their way through the fuzz…

Nighttime – Curtain Is Closing

The album ‘Keeper Is The Heart’ was released on Ba Da Bing in January of this year; here this fantastically tranquil tune with an undercurrent of impending doom is accompanied by a suitably gothic film which has been shot with a very effective hazy, vintage shimmer, lovely stuff…

Norah Jones & Anoushka Shankar – Traces Of You

The original studio version of this can be heard on Anoushka’s 2013 album of the same name and it is actually quite a rare treat to see and hear the sisters playing it together. Their individual careers are radically different in style but equally essential in their own right; somehow this collaboration captures the essence of both, this is really lovely indeed…

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Fresh Juice

8th May 2023

The River’s Edge – You Can Change

This is a rousing folk-rock tune with a spiritual glow, a song that in the words of the band speaks of “a tongue-in-cheek story of personal development and taking control of your mind to escape the constant stresses of everyday life”. They are a five piece from the banks of the Shenandoah river in the US and on this evidence, they could give us all a shot of va-va-voom with their feel good vibes and positive outlook. It’s not good to be complaining all the time you know and if you are inclined to do so don’t forget, you can change…

https://youtu.be/exzdJouuOrQ

Natalie Merchant – Tower Of Babel

This is from her new album ‘Keep Your Courage,’ out now on Nonesuch Records and a sparkling return from the former 10,000 Maniacs singer it is too. Instantly locking the listener into a southern soul style groove, what I love about this video clip is how it reminds us what a captivating front woman Natalie always was and remains. It is nothing more than her performing the vocal alone to camera but somehow, you cannot look away, this is wonderful…

Terry – Centuries

‘Centuries’ is taken from Terry’s new album ‘Call Me Terry’, out June 14th on Upset The Rhythm and Anti Fade Records. These abrasively melodic post-punkers from Melbourne, Australia are Amy Hill, Al Montfort, Xanthe Waite & Zephyr Pavey who formed in Mexico City in 2015 after seeing Trotsky’s deathbed. After four albums and four 7″s Terry has kept busy with writing and recording this new album and alternating side projects, including Constant Mongrel, The UV Race, Primo!, Sleeper & Snake, Chateau and Rocky…

Fruit Bats – Sick Of This Feeling

The Fruit Bats new album ‘A River Running to Your Heart’ is out now on Merge Records and main man Eric Johnson is putting not just his lush songwriting ability on show in this clip but also a creditable acting talent. For the first time in the bands twenty-plus year life, Eric has self produced the new record and it is a continuation of the heartening upward trajectory they have found themselves on in recent years, making music that is increasingly rich and realised to its fullest sonic potential…

Anna St. Louis – Phone

Anna’s debut LP in 2018 was a far more grainy affair, wearing her country and folk influences on her sleeve and benefiting from her close proximity to and collaborative help from Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee. From the new album ‘In The Air’ out June 9th on Woodsist, this has much more of a glossy sheen to the production but the core elements of her kneading voice and gently hovering melodies remain intact, making for a promising release to come…

GoGo Penguin – Everything Is Going To Be OK

This is a classic looking, uncluttered performance video of the title track from the new GoGo Penguin album ‘Everything Is Going to Be OK.’ When you have musicians as talented as those in this band, you do not need any more than to just sit back and listen/watch them do their thing. This makes me hungry to hear the new album, which is the response I am hoping to inspire with all the artists and songs I give a heads up to in these pages, go go for it readers…

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Fresh Juice

1st May 2023

Cat Clyde – Everywhere I Go

Brilliant opening track from the new ‘Down Rounder’ album released on her own Second Prize Records label. It is a record that has to be one of the most immediately enjoyable, familiar yet fresh records in a folky / country vein that I have come across in recent times. As this live version shows, Cat has a street wise edge to her delivery, a laid back nonchalance with a cutting edge and I strongly recommend checking out ‘Down Rounder’ for the highlights are many…

Miss Grit – Follow The Cyborg

Performing a new arrangement of the title track of their debut album, here New York based musician Margaret Sohn is incorporating strings and a strong visual aesthetic. The album is entirely self produced and the favourable influence of an artist like St Vincent is hard to ignore, particularly in the presentation style, the arch fusion of the melodic and electronic not to mention the fuzzy disturbance caused by the excellent guitar solo played here. Miss Grit is taking an already modernist sound and shaping it to their own vision with panache…

https://youtu.be/LbkQr6Ll5uo

Night Beats – Hot Ghee

This band, the grungy kaleidoscopic vision of singer and songwriter Danny Lee Blackwell, are clearly not letting go of any momentum. It was in 2021 that I rated their ‘Outlaw R&B’ LP as one of my albums of the year, you can read my piece on that record here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/09/28/night-beats-outlaw-rb/ ‘Hot Ghee’ is a heady psych storm taken from Night Beats’ new album ‘Rajan’ set to be released on July 14 2023 on Fuzz Club and Suicide Squeeze Records…

Mirna Bogdanovic – Wish I Didn’t Miss You

This is the superb official video for ‘Wish I Didn’t Miss You’ by Mirna Bogdanović from album ‘Awake’ set to be released on Berthold Records on May 12th. The song is probably best known in its original recording by Angie Stone but this version adds a delightful layer of menace and anguish. That is especially captured in this video where Mirna is portrayed torturing herself relentlessly observing the object of her emptiness as they move on to new beginnings in life whilst she remains weighed down with hurt and obsession. Powerful stuff amid a tasty new arrangement…

Sam Shackleton – Pretty Saro

Folk ballads are made to be sung and passed through generations but it takes a special kind of talent to inhabit them and make them breathe in the authentic way that Scottish singer Sam Shackleton does. He says of this busked performance from earlier in the year, “this was filmed in the courtyard of the Old College of the University of Edinburgh which dates back to the 1700’s. This place is very familiar to me and I was here many times during my 5 years studying ethnomusicology and folklore at this lovely university – I even took exams here! But now I’m back here playing my own Scottish version of this beautiful English folk ballad which also dates to the 1700’s. This song disappeared in England and Scotland but was later re-discovered in the musical folk tradition of the Appalachian mountains – carried there by early English and Scottish immigrants”…

Meshall Ndegeocello – Vuma

I will conclude this edition of Fresh Juice with a giddy, groovy slice of Africana that feels so right to welcome in the sunnier days ahead (weather wise at least). This is from Meshell’s new album, ‘The Omnichord Real Book’, which is released on Blue Note Records. That is a tantalising combination for the German born, American singer and songwriter once credited with helping to start the neo-soul movement and the legendary label famed for its quality releases and for remaining the first port of call for anyone investigating Jazz music now or any time over the past sixty or seventy years…

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Fresh Juice

24th April 2023

The Routes – No Good

For my money the most vital and punchy sounding pop music still sounds like it was made in a garage in the sixties, that template and energy are a design classic. There is a reason why fresh young bands are still making that sound today whilst Freddie & The Dreamers or Herman’s Hermits soundalikes are nowhere to be found. Stylistically the idea of ‘popular’ music has evolved into something different, it is only in my head unfortunately that records like this are troubling the ‘top ten’ but who really cares about that stuff nowadays anyway? The Routes are Japanese renegades based a long way south of Tokyo in the mountains of Oita who actually first formed twenty years ago as The Facials, so maybe my use of the word ‘young’ is stretching it a little. Their journey may have been a bit off/on in those years, with some inevitable line-up changes along the way, but their recently released ‘Lead Lined Clouds’ album on Soundflat Records demonstrates that none of the raw power that first ignited them into action has been lost, quite the opposite in fact, this is pure primitive pop excellence…

Josienne Clarke – Anyone But Me

Josienne Clarke’s musical journey has seen a massive gear change after busting out of an acclaimed folk duo set-up which appears to have collapsed for her both creatively and personally. The way she is fighting back from that deserves attention as her solo music of recent times feels so honest and committed. Part of that regeneration is on display with latest album ‘Onliness’, released on Corduroy Punk Records, as Josienne revisits songs from throughout her back pages offering them up for reinterpretation and some spectacular relighting. That is especially true of this song; the accompanying video is a black and white, tense and vintage style delight. I love the humour buried in the details, just look at the headlines on the back of the newspaper relating to football and cricket. As a fan of both I probably shouldn’t find such a blatant dig at my two favourite sports so funny, but when an artist is expressing themselves as eloquently as Josienne Clarke today, then you just sit back and give them the floor…

BAILEN – Call It Like It Is

Here are a band of siblings out of New York with a genuinely infectious tune built around a simple clubby bass and drum groove, brought to life by a gritty lead vocal married to a melody that leaves its insistent imprint in your head. BAILEN are Julia Bailen on vocals and guitar, David Bailen on vocals and drums and Daniel Bailen on vocals and bass. They describe ‘Call It like It Is’ from the new album ‘Tired Hearts’ as “an anthem for anyone who refuses to be taken advantage of. It unmasks the ugly truth behind shiny veneers.” Sometimes simplicity exposes a lack of ideas, other times it is a strength when a song is so good it blossoms on the core elements alone, ‘Call It Like It Is’ is definitely the latter…

The Nude Party – Cherry Red Boots

This North Carolina sextet are releasing their third album, ‘Rides On’, on New West Records and the great news is that none of the rollicking good-time Americana vibes they are noted for have fallen away. If anything they are even more loaded with the good stuff today. Listening to The Nude Party for the first time in 2018 was a joyous experience as it felt like I should be marking every single song as an album highlight. The same thing happened with ‘Rides On’, their secret seems to be that in addition to bottling satisfying echoes of The Rolling Stones and The Byrds, they overload us with fantastic new songs just as they are overwhelming us with denim in this new video. The songwriting is where so many bands with reference points to the past fall short, but The Nude Party are shining bright today with good reason…

Gramercy Arms – Yesterday’s Girl

This is a stripped back acoustic performance from Gramercy Arms of a song featuring as the opening track on the collective’s new third album ‘Deleted Scenes’, released on the Magic Door Record Label. The bittersweet sound of Big Star is unmistakable on this duet between Dave Derby and Renee Lo Bue, which should come as no surprise as the modus operandi of Gramercy Arms is all about the hazy sunset sounds of America’s greatest sunshine pop mixed with gorgeous, happy/sad acoustic melancholy. The project leaves plenty of space for collaboration too, in fact this song was a co-write with Lloyd Cole, so with an abundance of influences and influencers thrown into the melting pot, the Gramercy Arms project remains a subtle little indiepop delight smoking out of the cracks in the US music scene…

Lakecia Benjamin – New Mornings

The New York alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin is working a look with more than a casual nod to the futuristic cutting edge worn by Miles Davis at the onset of the 1970s in this live performance clip. With her band she plays one of the stand out pieces from new album ‘Phoenix’, released on Whirlwind Recordings, a stunning follow up to 2020’s ‘Pursuance: The Coltranes’ and a very welcome return after a serious 2021 car accident left her with a broken jaw, broken ribs, a perforated ear drum, concussion and presumably multiple concerns for her music career. Not only that but the Covid pandemic left a devastatingly tragic toll on Lakecia’s family. But as the album title suggests, it was music fuelling her momentum on the road to recovery as, in tandem with a striking visual presentation, she continues to make some of the most vital sounding Jazz on the scene today which ‘Phoenix’ testifies so stylishly…

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Fresh Juice

17th April 2023

Alison Goldfrapp – So Hard So Hot

New solo release in which Alison lets her love of house and dance grooves out of the bag, with a video vignette by Alison & Mat Maitland at Big Active. The first in a series of visual accompaniments to tracks from the upcoming album ‘The Love Invention’ (out 12 May). These video vignettes (looped into the full length visualizer you see here) have been treated with a range of AI techniques to create extreme fluctuations on a spectrum that glides towards radical fantasy…

The Deslondes – South Dakota Wild One

These gritty country rockers are made up of members who each have very credible musical projects of their own, they are; Dan Cutler (vocals/stand-up bass), Sam Doores (vocals/guitar), Riley Downing (vocals/guitar), Cameron Snyder (vocals/percussion), and John James Tourville (fiddle/pedal steel). This love film from a remote garage location is part of the GemsonVHS movement previously mentioned on these pages…

Rodney Crowell – Loving You Is The Only Way To Fly

This is a gorgeous ballad from the forthcoming new Rodney Crowell album, ‘The Chicago Sessions’, released on New West Records on May 5th. This one also features a beautiful vocal contribution from Audrey Spillman who also appears in the video, lovely stuff…

Lisa O’Neill – The Globe

From an album ‘All Of This Is Chance’ which is already holding up as one of my strongest records of 2023, this is a stunning live performance filmed on location on the coast of Kerry in Ireland and directed by Myles O’Reilly…

Ben Folds – Exhausting Lover

The new Ben Folds album ‘What Matters Most’ is arriving on June 2nd on New West Records. He is set to spend 2023 touring extensively, reaching the UK and Ireland in November…

London Brew – Raven Flies Low

London Brew is a crème de la crème collection of 12 UK jazz luminaries. Comprised of a veritable who’s who of some of the most important and innovative musicians of the 21st century, London Brew features contributions from Benji B, Theon Cross, Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, Dave Okumu, Tom Skinner and more, brought together by Producer and guitarist Martin Terefe and Executive Producer Bruce Lampcov…

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Fresh Juice

10th April 2023

Wednesday – Chosen To Deserve

From North Carolina, Wednesday are an abrasive Americana band comprising Karly Hartzman on vocals, Jake Lenderman on guitar, Xandy Chelmis on lap steel and Alan Miller on drums. They are signed to the Dead Oceans label and forthcoming album ‘Rat Saw God’ is their fifth in as many years but one listen to this taster track, ‘Chosen To Deserve’, I think shows there is something definitely stirring in the Wednesday camp. This is such a great song, one of those ones where you can’t believe someone hasn’t painted this particular picture before; “I’m the one that you have chosen to deserve” hints at multitudes of destructive tendencies within the central relationship of the lyric, which just happen to be built around a thwacking great country-rock tune. Check out these opening lines; “we always started by telling all our best stories first, so now that it’s been a while I’ll get around to telling you all my worst”. This is just such great song writing, a song I was breathless with excitement about when I heard it…

Ron Gallo – I Love Someone Buried Deep Inside Of You

This version of a track from Ron Gallo’s new album ‘Foreground Music’ was recorded live at Tournament Studios in Nashville. The former Toy Soldiers front man is now releasing music on the Kill Rock Stars label and, as heard in this brilliant piece of film, he is channelling the same garage-punk energy that first brought him attention as a solo act nearly ten years ago, without sacrificing any of the sweet melodic instinct he brings to his best music. It is all as good as this, powerful, crunching and sugar sweet, all elements that seem to hit the listener in unison…

Brigid Mae Power – Dream From The Deep Well

This is set to be the title track from Brigid’s new album, released on 30th June on Fire Records. She is a stately singer-songwriter performer whose songs are often hymn-like meditations and by now, with what is about to be her fourth album, there is a track record of dependable excellence starting to build. In fact the previous album, ‘Head Above The Water’, was one of my favourite records in 2020 (one that seemed to really glow with warmth and texture on the vinyl pressing) so this is eagerly anticipated. This song, wherein the lyric seems beaten down by people falling short of the idealised testimonies they bestow upon themselves as Brigid pools her resources to continue aiming high, even as others go low, suggests another must-have LP is on its way…

Ron Sexsmith – Former Glory

The Canadian singer is seen here in a recent live clip performing a song from his latest album, ‘The Vivian Line’, released on Cooking Vinyl. Somehow Ron still feels like one of the exciting fresh talents on the scene despite the fact that he is into his fourth decade as a well-known performer and is now actually 59 years of age. That might have something to do with the fact that with every new album, Sexsmith continues to find some gorgeous low hanging fruit from the great song tree all musicians reach to pick from, causing a situation where every Sexsmith album has at least three or four songs that sound like immediate classics and a supporting cast that hardly let the side down. There is a simplicity to what he does, a craftsman-like ability to carve out exactly what the song needs without any superfluous decoration, he is always a delight…

Meredith Moon – House Full Of Sparrows

A home recording uploaded by the artist Meredith Moon, one of the daughters of Canadian folk legend Gordon Lightfoot, she has a new album out called ‘Constellations’ on True North Records. This is quite a haunting piece, the imagery is dark and a little claustrophobic and the lyric has a nice apocalyptic edge, it is undoubtedly a great little song. What I like about the video clip is that you sense it captures an artist in the early days of their relationship with a song, it is still quite raw as Meredith is feeling her way around the lyrics and the chord progressions, pulling out the nuances and threads, this holds your attention…

Abbie Finn Trio – A Real Job

This County Durham based trio are made up of Abbie Finn leading everything on drums and percussion, Harry Keeble on tenor sax and Paul Grainger on double bass. So much is spoken of the exciting Jazz scene coming out of London these past few years, it should be noted that way up north there are also young folk breaking out with classic Jazz templates and vigorously searching, as the form demands, to unlock new directions for the music to travel in. And as this is a unit that leads from the rhythm section up, there is plenty of punch to the way they take a charge at their own interpretation of the classic Bebop sound…

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Fresh Juice

3rd April 2023

Richard Gavril – Say Nothing At All

Another selection from the #gemsintherough competition on YouTube right now, this is a singer and a song that just stood out a mile. Fantastic writing alongside dexterous guitar playing, beautifully sung, an original number in the style of the classic sixties Tom Paxton or Paul Simon style of personal leaning folk ballad and I mean the comparison as a massive compliment. I dug a little deeper with Richard Gavril and he has good form in this mode, not only that but he is consistent with the hi-vis locker room thing as well, although it is unclear whether he actually does post his music during down time at work or if it’s an image he projects, like Neil Young and his farm hand look. I could go on a little rant about the music industry and how too much talent is hidden below the radar but why tarnish such a lovely song with negativity? With music as good as this, just listen and enjoy…

https://youtu.be/Ms8dvgOlu-o

Temples – Afterlife

Of all the psychedelic bandits to emerge during the last decade, it was always Temples who threatened to orbit the mainstream with their rich sound wrapping songs that are packed in melody adorned by ever changing tones and colours. Temples continue to make this kind of music and surely many more people will board their spaceship this time around, especially as forthcoming album ‘Exotico’ has Sean Ono Lennon in the producers chair. Anyone following his eclectic music career should know by now, he is not one to lend his name to anything less than musically resplendent and so we continue…

Lavinia Blackwall – The Damage We Have Done

Similarly psych infused but wholly of her own grain, this is an exquisite new tune from the former Trembling Bells multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Soon to appear on her second solo album, it is hard not to think of the climate emergency within the lyrics, singing of our fast passing moment as “kings for a day”, the parasites that we are living off the planet whilst wilfully ignoring how we damage it. It is also all too easy to miss, amongst the vintage acid-folk stylings which seem second nature to Lavinia, that her songs naturally form ear-worms of the most delightful and welcome kind…

Oracle Sisters – Tramp Like You

If the previous song sounded like a crisp spring morning (to my ears at least) then this one is more of a hazy desert sunset, literally as it goes in the accompanying video. The Oracle Sisters are a trio whose seeds can be found in Belgium, then later scattered between New York and Edinburgh. Lewis Lazar and Christopher Willatt had played in rival bands, soon enough the same band thus forming a songwriting partnership. They were later joined in Paris by Julia Johansen, a Finnish songwriter who not only had a voice and style that blended seamlessly with theirs, but she also a handy ability on the drums. Check out their sound, it is free of unwanted clutter, drawing the listeners attention to the melodic piano and guitar frameworks that their alluring songs are built around. ‘Tramp Like You’ is taken from the album ‘Hydranism’, due out on April 7th…

Unloved – I Did It

Formed in 2015, the trio Unloved just released their third album ‘Polychrome’ and, as heard in this grinding groove driven song, have lost none of the dramatic tension that led to TV producers using much of their music on the soundtrack to ‘Killing Eve’. Originally from Los Angeles, the band are made up of Jade Vincent, Keefus Ciancia and the well known DJ, curator and soundtrack producer David Holmes, no wonder they get it so right so often. Like all great mixologists, this song has an echo of Peggy Lee singing ‘Fever’ hanging over it, but if that was in the creative minds of Unloved it matters little for they mould it into a new song, indisputably their own wonderful creation, side-saddling a playful nod to the past…

The Flowers Of Hell – Foray Through Keshakhtaran

If I tell you that this collective were once Lou Reed endorsed, their music was featured on what turned out to be his final radio show, then that should encourage you to check out The Flowers Of Hell in the expectation of bold, expansive music that unfolds its multi-dimensional structures the more you immerse yourself in it. This is the single mix of the trans-Atlantic experimental group’s 2023 album ‘Keshakhtaran’, which is an Urban Dictionary term for, “seeking nirvana through meditation to sound, especially when you’re stoned.” Release date of full album is May 12th…

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Fresh Juice

27th March 2023

The Burning Hell – All I Need

I think I came to The Burning Hell around ten years ago thanks to the recommendation of Paul Heaton (Beautiful South & Housemartins) in a magazine interview. He said he’d been listening to them and another band called Ages And Ages and they turned out to be two of the best heads up a music magazine has given me in recent years. Admittedly the latter band have fallen off my radar a little lately but The Burning Hell, who are the outlet for musical outpourings of Mathias Kom and multi-instrumentalists Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll, regularly embellished by friends and fellow collaborators, have maintained an impressive schedule of record releases and live performance. Within their emphasis towards story telling and playing live, often in locations way off the regular tour schedule pathways, there is something of the folk music persuasion to this unit. That said, the Burning Hell sound is something else altogether; a rhyming and rapping and self-effacing groove monster with an eye and ear for the absurd married to the keenest of everyday detail, a band that are hard to resist…

Dungen – Hostens Farger

These Swedish psychedelic rockers are soon to be celebrating their 25th anniversary which is a noteworthy landmark when you hear how their European take on melodic UK freakbeat and cosmic sounds sewn in the sixties still sounds so vital. This is the suitably trippy video to a track from their most recent album ‘En Är För Mycket och Tusen Aldrig Nog’ released on Mexican Summer, obviously I cannot understand a word of what is being sung here but somehow, when the music is as eloquent an vivid as this, it matters little, you get the picture anyway…

Withered Hand – Waking Up

Back in the Noughties I, from my far away locale of Southern England, could be heard to wax enviously about the Scottish Fence Collective scene of artists up in Scotland. Catching artists like Pictish Trail and King Creosote at folk gigs near me then learning that they were all tied up in some way to this conglomeration of creative energy seemed fascinating. Withered Hand, the artistic identity of Edinburgh songwriter Dan Willson, are plucked from the same well, releasing a debut album back in 2009. This latest piece was filmed live at a Duddingston Kirk session and the song ‘Waking Up’ will be available on the forthcoming Reveal Records album ‘How To Love’…

Cinder Well – Two Heads Grey Mare

Not only does the music on this track stir up a dusk-time darkening of the spirits, but somehow this accompanying video summons up those dimming of the day sensations as well. Of the song, taken from the new album ‘Cadence’, Cinder Well says “this song is about a human spending a night with a selkie-like vision who comes out of the water. The selkie disappears in the morning, and the human is left with an experience that they can’t put their finger on, questioning reality and experiencing a huge sense of loss. I acted as both the human and the selkie in the music video, which to me portrays that we often look for an escape from ourselves, and we search for that in our external reality. In this case, the human finds this briefly and ecstatically, and then loses it again.”…

The Altons – Float

For my money, the fusion between vintage psychedelics and retro soul sounds has not been tapped to the full. When it works, as it does so well on this dreamy number, it really smashes it out of the park. This is a silky song called ‘Float’ but just listen to the spellbinding way it elevates us into the clouds towards the end, an effect that is captured pretty effectively in this video animation too. Released via Penrose Records, although the YouTube video is posted by Daptone, which is as surefire a guarantee of excellence in soul as you could hope to find today…

Kendrick Scott – Threshold

While I am on the subject of dependable record labels, has there ever been one with such a reliable reputation as Blue Note? To this day, here is a brand that appears to uphold the, now almost quaint, ideal that a label should be run by music people who are emotionally invested in everything aspect of an album release, from the recording of the music to the presentation of the sleeve art. Here drummer Kendrick Scott, who on new Blue Note album ‘Corridors’ is presenting his first compositional treatment in a trio context, proves that there is a place where adventurous classy modern Jazz can be found and it is pretty much the same place we could turn to for over eighty years now…

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