Category Archives: Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice

20th March 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Pynch – London

From the bands debut album ‘Howling At a Concrete Moon’ which is due out on April 14th 2023, this is a take on melancholic pop music that lands its punches. As seen in this nostalgia tinted video, the song sets the hopes and aspirations associated with a city like London against the stark reality of trying to penetrate its societal brick walls as the debris of failed endeavour disfigure the landscape. As Pynch sing in this song, “have you ever dreamed of owning your own home? That’s just a bourgeois fantasy, better leave that shit alone”. Welcome to the real world, check this lot out now…

St Vincent & The Roots – Glory Box

As much as this magical pairing refrain from altering the structure of this Portishead classic, it is nevertheless a very welcome cover version. Performed with a live string section, Annie squeezes every last drop of drama and passion out of the lyrics whilst also taking full advantage of the understated guitar shredding opportunity the song offers. I never have a problem with respectful cover versions as a general rule, great music should be kept alive and played; this is as strong an argument for that view point as I can offer today…

https://youtu.be/Pti9Jh1nwRE

Esther Rose – Safe To Run

Esther’s 2021 album ‘How Many Times’ was one of my outstanding albums of the year, I wrote more about that one here https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/05/23/esther-rose-how-many-times/ This is the title track from her forthcoming LP release on New West Records, it shows her music is continuing to show mouth watering hints of future mass recognition (if there’s any justice) and if I need to add any more inducement to listen, this song and video feature an appearance from Hurray For The Riff Raff’s brilliant songwriter Alynda Lee Segarra…

ThirtySeventy – Acceptance

Either written as above or as 30/70, this delectable slice of jazzy soul is the work of a musical collective from Melbourne, Australia. Taken from the newly released Energy Exchange Records album ‘Art Make Love’, this has a truly spiritual, laid back vibe that just seems to reel me in. They describe themselves as a musical family rather than a group and with this, their fifth album, it sounds like their hypnotic communal flight is really beginning to take off, check this out today…

Seth Martin – I Still Love You

In so many ways, folk music remains the true underground music of the people, even in the 21st century. What the people at #gemsonvhs have done, for a few years now, is set themselves up as the modern day version of legendary folk archivist Alan Lomax, collecting field recordings of below-the-radar singer songwriters playing their own original material, building up an online archive of these tunes. They also do a ‘in the rough’ new music contest which is currently running and has received an avalanche of entries. I would suggest you go and lose yourself in a treasure trove of exciting new talent but as a taster, here’s a lovely, rustic selection from Seth Martin, who says of his song that it’s “a ballad about recovery from heartbreak, but maybe more than that it’s a reflection on the idea that nobody’s an island, and how much we need one another even when we don’t know how to ask for help”…

Kokoroko – RAPT

Finally this week, here are Kokoroko with their first-ever official music video, a beautiful short film soundtracked by ‘Ewà Inú,’ ‘Home’, and ‘Age of Ascent’ from the band’s debut album (released August 2022 on Brownswood Recordings). The film is directed by the multi-disciplined filmmaker, writer & video artist, Akinola Davies Jr. It re-imagines the music as a soundtrack to a triptych of interconnected stories set in Makoko (sometimes known as the Venice of Africa), a community originally settled by fishermen, excluded from official census records, and under threat of demotion.

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Fresh Juice

13th March 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

The Faux Faux – Cold Hearted Woman

The Faux Faux is the new solo project of Faith Vern from Manchester trio PINS and this first exposure certainly teases a tantalising sound with strong dramatic echoes of early Portishead. Of the inspirations for this Faith has said  “I’ve always been intrigued by Cindy Sherman, Sylvia Plath, Gregory Crewdson, Virginia Woolf, Nan Goldin to name a few, these writers, poets, photographers, artists, who have shown us the beauty and the desperation in the mundane”.

Feist – Hiding Out In The Open

The music for Leslie Feist’s new album ‘Multitudes’ had been developed and evolved during live shows from late 2021 and through last year. That these songs gestated in such public view may be a surprise when you hear how personal they often are, more so when you realise they were written with both the birth of her daughter and the death of her father in Leslie’s recent past. The end result is a wonderfully intimate and yet eloquently layered affair as heard on ‘Hiding Out In The Open’, which is accompanied by a video that also illustrates the complexity and thought that Feist subtly brings to her work.

Margo Price feat. Sharon Van Etten – Radio

Another top tune from the album ‘Strays’ released on the Lorna Vista label. The great thing about this stylishly retro clip, in which Sharon Van Etten features on a vintage TV set, is how Margo clearly doesn’t take herself so seriously in these films, she has a laugh with the format. Why not? Her music reaches way beyond the Country pigeonhole and does more than enough talking in itself.

Lael Neale – I Am The River

In reference to the Velvet Underground influence of his track ‘Queen Bitch’, David Bowie wrote about “some white light returned with thanks” on the rear sleeve of the ‘Hunky Dory’ LP. In letting that light break out through the cracks he unleashed a source that filtered into brilliant music for the next fifty years and beyond. It can be heard here too, as there is an irresistible Velvets feel in both look and sound to this brand new Lael Neale track, taken from her forthcoming album ‘Star Eaters Delight’, out April 21, 2023 on Sub Pop Records

Shana Cleveland – Walking Through Morning Dew

Another lush track from the ‘Manzanita’ album which is out now on Hardly Art. Shana is best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist for surf rock band La Luz, she was previously a member of The Curious Mystery but here in 2023, the haunting kaleidoscope of sounds and floating melodies on this solo release make it one that is already bursting with album of the year potential

Lankum – Go Dig My Grave

Lankum seem to have struck a satisfying balance with traditional tunes such as this, whereby they can utilise ancient instruments and songs but invest them with so much real world grit and trauma that they sound nothing at all like museum pieces. As the opening track on their new Rough Trade album ‘False Lankum’ this one packs quite the devastating punch. It is a song that dates back to the 17th century and will be familiar to anyone who has taken a passing interest in folk music as, particularly with the 1960’s generation, it was a mainstay in the repertoire but here, Lankum absolutely syringe every last drop of hurt and pain out of the story before burying you in the most mournful, jarring, unsettling, extended conclusions I have heard in a long time. This is powerful beyond words…

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Fresh Juice

6th March 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Theo Croker ft Ego Ella May & D’LEAU – Slowly

The video to this new track, from Theo Croker’s new EP ‘By The Way’ is said to be a ground breaking movement in music and AI. It does have a head spinning effect for sure although at the core is some tasty trumpet playing and sleepy soulful vocals that are, to these ears, cut from a vintage cloth and very fine indeed…

Waco Brothers – In The Dark

This is the first single from The Waco Brothers latest album ‘The Men That God Forgot’ on Plenty Tuff Records. This video features live footage of the song being worked through with a pounding conviction at Kingsize Soundlabs in Chicago where the album was recorded in 2022 with Mike Hagler…

Robert Forster – Always

This is the Brisbane singer-songwriter and Go-Betweens co-founder Robert Forster playing a live acoustic version of the superb ‘Always’, a song from his new and eighth solo album ‘The Candle and The Flame’, at Lightspace in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. The making of the record became a traumatic affair two thirds of the way through when his wife Karin Baumler received a stage four cancer diagnosis. By his own admission she is his most dependable conspirator in the music creative process and so it is so good to hear that, upon completion of the album, the pair are once again playing together, the healing power of music helping Karin navigate the other side of her ordeal…

Big Thief – Vampire Empire

Big Thief continue to spill over with creativity as heard in this clip of them performing a brand new song on the Stephen Colbert Late Show on TV in the US. There is some acid-folk style flute giving this one a delightfully pastoral wave, something which contrasts rather well with the crunchy electric balladry of front woman Adrianne Lenker…

https://youtu.be/9XCMoPu8TXw

Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra – Hilton

Always a treat to get any new music from Emiliana, this is taken from the album “Racing The Storm” set to be released 17th March 2023 via Bella Union…

Gorillaz – Silent Running

Gorillaz are letting their heart wrenchingly beautiful melancholy side come to the fore on this MTV performance of ’Silent Running’ featuring Adeleye Omotayo, from new album ‘Cracker Island’, out now…

https://youtu.be/LoOJlswfG7E
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Fresh Juice

27th February 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Scott McMicken & THE EVER EXPANDING – What About Now

An irresistible slice of cosmic singer-songwriter fare from McMicken, best known as a founding member of Dr Dog. His solo side projects are generally low key self-releases on cassette or vinyl but for this latest project he has started a band and this mouth watering first taste from the forthcoming ‘Shabang’ album on ANTI suggests an inspired project that may well light up the springtime…

Andrew Bird – Never Fall Apart

Touring this spring, this is a new video offering to accompany another track off of Bird’s ‘Inside Problems’ album, one of our Albums of 2022 and written about here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/12/20/andrew-bird-inside-problems/

Gaidaa – Figures

Soulful songwriter Gaidaa releases her first new music of the year with this infectious tune. Of it she says it is “about the way we as a society can get lost in the sauce of the cyclical and mundane nature of our day-to-day lives. It is a reminder that though we are individuals trying to forge our own path, we will always exist as part of something greater and more meaningful (though we may not realize it)”.

The Arcs – Sunshine

The seeds of The Arcs were first sewn at sessions for what was intended to be a Dan Auerbach solo album sometime in the early 2010’s. By the time Richard Swift was involved they had become an eclectic electric outfit worthy of their own identity to accompany the release of 2015’s acclaimed debut album ‘Yours Dreamily’. Studio work continued whenever schedules from the day-job bands allowed and yet the tragic death of Swift in 2018 threatened to leave this unheard material on the shelf. In 2023 that music has been finished off ready for release on a second album ‘Electrophonic Chronic’ and it certainly shines a light on what a towering talent the music world lost in Richard Swift who, along with the ever inspiring Auerbach, made a full band LP of dizzying variety, a real audio treat far too good to have been left unheard…

Rachel Angel – Baby Can I Come Home To You

Real deal country in action with great song writing at its core, if you like your Americana sounds shot with a dose of Wilco, Neil Young and Bob Dylan by a writer who can also turn her hand to poetry then you would do a lot worse than giving Rachel Angel a listen. The deeper I dive into the musical styles that are typically thought of as traditionally American the more I sense that the US is going through quite a golden period, especially in its roots scenes and yet, you would not always know that if you focus solely on the floaters at the top of the pile, even today it’s underground where the action is…

London Brew – Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church

Miles Davis’s ‘Bitches Brew’ album has stood the test of time for sure, it still sounds futuristic and ground breaking today which is probably why the cutting edge of the modern London jazz scene see it as ripe for interpretation. Calling themselves London Brew, they are Benji B, Raven Bush, Theon Cross, Nubya Garcia, Tom Herbert, Shabaka Hutchings, Nikolaj Torp Larsen, Dave Okumu, Nick Ramm, Dan See, Tom Skinner and Martin Terefe. This promises to be one of the essential jazz releases of 2023…

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Fresh Juice

20th February 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

The Courettes – Talking About My Baby

They’re an electrifying garage rocking duo with an irresistible sixties pop sheen and style who head this way in April for a week of dates, buzzing their way down from Glasgow to Portsmouth also crashing in on London, Manchester and Newcastle. Check out this recent single released on Damaged Goods for a taster…

Jeff & Spencer Tweedy – Venus

A day after the sad passing of Television’s Tom Verlaine, Wilco’s main man and son shared this beautifully played cover of the track from the classic 1977 ‘Marquee Moon’ debut album and as Jeff testifies at the end of this clip, Verlaine “changed a lot of the way I look at writing songs and that’s a perfect song”…

Joanne Shaw Taylor – Just No Getting Over You (Dream Cruise)

By now Joanna is established as the real deal in terms of plugged in blues riffing excitement but her late 2022 album ‘Nobody’s Fool’ positively fizzed with the potential to push on to a far wider audience; happily that did not mean sacrificing two key elements, namely great songs and playing them like you mean it. For a glimpse of undiluted conviction watch this…

James Yorkston, Nina Persson & The Secondhand Orchestra – The Harmony

A track from this collective’s recent album ‘The Great White Sea Eagle’ released on Domino; it is not as if James Yorkston needed a lift, his 21st century folk music has been a dependable place to go for at least two decades that I can recall but listening to this musical pairing it does occur that Nina Persson’s voice can elevate absolutely anything she performs…

Marlon Williams – Easy Does It

Not all audience shot live clips posted on the internet are worth bothering with but occasionally you get one like this, captured with a clear picture and passable sound from the front and it gives a nice little taste of a live tour maybe you were unable to catch, in this case Marlon from late 2022 playing a tune off his latest ‘My Boy’ album…

Jonah Yano – Always

Beautiful imagery to match a gorgeous, soul soothing new Jazz tune from Jonah Yano as heard on his new album ‘Portrait Of A Dog’…

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Fresh Juice

13th February 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Macho Macho – New Inbetween

Fresh out of New Zealand, this four piece of melodically charged, fuzzy guitar rocking warriors sound like the perfect tonic for a music industry too focused on the carpet crawling, box ticking, soulless middle management wet dream that is the Brit Awards over the past week (good to read about Wet Leg winning though); forget all that poncing and posing, this is the kind of purest attitude that keeps music exciting going forward and who knows, maybe the next wave really is going to rise out of Australasia…

Kevin Morby – Like A Flower

From Morby’s new soundtrack album ‘Music From Montana Story’ is this new video to accompany the release. The film is described as “a neo-western that tells the story of two estranged siblings who return home to the family ranch they once knew and loved, confronting deep and bitter secrets in the process”. Needless to say, new music from this artist never disappoints and Kevin’s writing is predictably superb within a soundtrack context. He has also released new tour dates which include a visit to the UK in June…

Jack White – Icky Thump

2022’s two album releases, ‘Fear Of The Dawn’ and ‘Entering Heaven Alive’, were both stonking, glossy slabs of new music from White (the second of the two was my favourite, it just had a little more of that old time variety that Jack excels in) but still, as this recent live film proves, it remains a thrill whenever he rips into the White Stripes back catalogue…

Sunny War – No Reason

From Nashville and nicknamed Sunny as a child, she removed the final letter of her Ward surname and dived straight into the world of punk and outsider music before arriving at folky/Americana via her capacity for acoustic fingerpicking and a song writing facility harvested from real life, lived experience. Her fifth solo album is called ‘Anarchist Gospel’ and was written after a relationship ended as Sunny was alone in a dark place, marking time until the end of the pairs accommodation lease was expired. If you think that has resulted in a bleak album though you are way off, as heard in this recent live performance, the music composed is both soulful and rich in nuanced writing…

https://youtu.be/oUnk18tFl6I

Sophiethehomie – Home Demo

My final pair of selections this week may stretch the term ‘new’ a bit but they fully deserve a share. This track by Florida artist Sophiethehomie has been around for a couple of years, originally available on the ‘Cabin Fever’ EP but it came to my attention last week on a radio show that said it is coming up for a re-release. Either way this is once-heard, forever hooked soul music with some intriguing little production quirks but above all, a pounding funk-drenched heartbeat of a sultry pulse that really grabs you by the ear lobes and holds on tight…

Ezra Collective – Where I’m Meant To Be (LP)

It happens every year, I have a list of my albums of the year then I play a record that I missed during those twelve months and it is instantly apparent that this should also have been in the running. And it is not as if I did not know how brilliant the Ezra Collective are, their jazz based melting pot of grooves and styles has thrilled aplenty in these current glory days of London jazz excitement but there you go, there are only so many hours in the day and this week was the first time I had listened to their most recent album. On this live session for Tiny Desk they played tracks from the record and yes, the rest of it really is as equally wonderous as this mouth watering taster suggests…

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Fresh Juice

6th February 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Cvc – Sophie

Around the release of their debut LP ‘Get Real’ on CVC Recordings, this Welsh psych-rocking church village collective ham it up in their video for the infectious ‘Sophie’…

Sleaford Mods – UK Grim

Given the dire state of the times you would imagine that biting social commentary and music with a political protest edge to be bursting forth all over but as things are, it is to a band like Sleaford Mods we must turn for a devastating state of the nation address. The depressing aspect is of course, they really are telling it as it is…

Caitlin Rose – Only Lies

Caitlin Rose released a brace of stunning Americana albums to launch her career at the start of the 2010’s, the debut ‘Own Side Now’ especially was an absolute must hear. But then she disappeared from view for nearly ten years, the only clue I could detect that she was still involved in music was once spotting her as a backing singer for Margo Price. But then in late 2022 a new album ‘Cazimi’ suddenly arrived and happily Caitlin is continuing her resurrection into 2023 with numerous live dates, a very welcome return indeed…

LIUN & The Science Fiction Band – F***in Comp

A recent live track from one of the Fruit Tree Records albums of the year in 2022, you can read my full review of the album here https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/12/29/liun-the-science-fiction-band-lily-of-the-nile/

Kathryn Williams – Foyboatmen

Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe has always been a different class and a sincere champion of folk music. His Radio 2 folk show has recently embarked on a project in which artists have interacted with local people with an ambition to produce brand new folk tunes that, in the tradition of the form, sing of the lives of working folk today. The pedigree of artists working on the project was from the top drawer and predictably, Kathryn Williams (heard here performing a tune in collaboration with Chris Difford) was one of the best.

Brad Mehldau – I Am The Walrus

Brad Mehldau has always had an ear and appreciation for the music of the Beatles and whichever way he interprets their music, you can be sure he will tap into every nuance of melodic magic, uncover tones and textures of his own without ever dismantling the magic of the original composition. This clip is a taster of an albums worth of Mehldau Beatles recordings set to arrive this spring…

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Fresh Juice

30th January 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Shana Cleveland – Faces In The Firelight

This is a delightfully twilight tinged droplet of soothing psych pop from the La Luz songwriter who happily has successfully come through treatment for breast cancer in 2022. It is the first taste of her forthcoming solo album ‘Manzanita’ on the Hardly Art label.

Spoon – Wild

Still one of the best bands to come out of America this past thirty years, here is a recent TV appearance by Spoon apparently in tandem with their Grammy nomination in the best rock album category for their 2022 LP ‘Lucifer On The Sofa’

https://youtu.be/0DeR525D8WM

Nick Waterhouse – Hide And Seek

Nick Waterhouse is now arguably the premier exponent of that vintage, mid-century modern production sound. It is there in the spacey echoes of the recordings, the surf-like twang of the guitars or the proper production touches added like strings or sweetly sung backing vocals. In this video featuring new 2023 music from Nick he even has the period visual touches down but all of that would count for nothing if he were not writing great songs to wrap his stylings around and happily, he continues to do just that

Melissa Carper – From What I Recall

From the late 2022 album ‘Ramblin’ Soul’ released on Mae Music, this is an authentic dose of real-deal country that is so classic sounding, especially for something so new, that you have to double check it is not actually an old Hank Williams standard or such like. But this is all Melissa Carper and well worth seeking out

First Aid Kit – Out Of My Head

A recent live TV appearance following the welcome return of these singing siblings, taken from latest album ‘Palomino’. As before, they still retain that natural heavenly sound not to mention the happy knack of writing songs that take up residency in your head.

Norah Jones & Marc Rebillet – Everybody Say Goodbye

Norah Jones ‘Playing Along’ podcast involves her chatting and jamming with a musical guest. She is not the most natural conversationalist but she can communicate with pretty much anyone on a musical level. You cannot help but be on Norah’s side, she comes across as refreshingly ego-lite for someone so famous. This particular episode with Marc Rebillet took her the furthest out of her comfort zone, what with him being a master of improvisational funk, layered loops and electronic wizardry. The fascinating thing about the episode was heard in a moment where, much like Paul McCartney composing ‘Get Back’ on the spot in the Peter Jackson movie, the pair stumbled upon something that instantly, for a few golden moments at least, sounded like it had the potential to be a classic. As the jam ended Marc spotted it and seemed suitably blown away by what they had possibly just created, Norah was less interested merely asking with a touch of incredulity “do you want to finish it?” It makes you suspect this kind of thing must happen to her all the time when improvising with fellow musicians, like this is in her DNA and not an especially big deal. Anyway, the two of them quickly moved on and maybe that is where their classic co-write will remain forever? That clip has not been put up on YouTube but from the same episode we do have their slightly unhinged closing, funky jam…

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Fresh Juice

23rd January 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

The WAEVE – Kill Me Again

The WAEVE are Graham Coxon (from Blur) and Rose Elinor Dougall (previously of the Pipettes and various solo guises) together in life and in this, potentially ongoing, musical liaison. They have an eponymous debut album on the way and if this taster is anything to go by, it promises to be a corker…

Dave Rowntree – Devil’s Island

I often think I did well getting into Blur, they are indisputably one of the all time great British bands and since their splintering (although they do reconfigure occasionally, such as for live shows later this year) the solo releases and new projects frequently produce work to match the sounds they made together. And so it is that drummer Dave finally makes his singing debut in 2023 and rather delightfully, he is demonstrating far more than just superb drumming…

Fatoumata Diawara featuring Damon Albarn – Nsera

That this weeks fresh juice can offer a trio of top selections all with Blur connections proves they are still very much forward thinking, creative entities (and you can’t say that about many bands or band members 35 years into their careers). The way Damon Albarn picked up the world music baton this century reminds me of the always ground breaking work my next artist did in the previous one…

Peter Gabriel – Panopticom

It may have taken him twenty years but at least when Gabriel releases an albums worth of new music, which he is due to do in 2023 as well as undertake an arena tour, it is always something worth hearing. There is a value in taking your time although it’s hard to make a strong case for two decades, that’s barely a song a year, but then this is an artist who has always doggedly done things his own way and you have to take your hat off to those individualists, they are a rare breed…

Yazmin Lacey – Late Night People

Yazmin Lacey makes soul music with feeling and a razor sharp, adventurous cutting edge. She has a new album called ‘Voice Notes’ arriving in March and it is one that I have great expectations for, this is an artist that has been producing the goods for a while now and is worth your time and attention…

Lisa O’Neill – Silver Seed

One of the most resonant voices in folk music is releasing a new album called ‘All Of This Is Chance’ in February and it promises to be one of the must hear LP’s of 2023 if the early signs are anything to go by…

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Fresh Juice

16th January 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Quasi – Nowheresville

The first welcome return of 2023 is US melodic fuzz maestros Quasi who have a new album, ‘Breaking the Balls Of History,’ arriving on Sub Pop in February preceded in the past week by this typically crunchy taster…

Nicole Cassandra Smit – Wolves

The opening weeks of a new year are often spent soaking up those late discoveries of the previous year lacking the extensive attention they deserved due to December’s prioritising yearly retrospective lists and the like. Nicole Cassandra Smit was one such late find and although her ‘Third In Line’ LP did get immediate album of the year list status with me, it is only now that I am properly catching up with an appreciation of her superb voice, as witnessed here on a live recording from later in 2022…

https://youtu.be/zjEc7bwL_-w

Beach Bugs – Santa Olala

Why such a deliciously summery sound should be so pleasing in midst of cold wet January I cannot explain, but the sunshine pop and surf guitar echoes of Beach Bugs do indeed make you feel warmer inside, no matter what the reality outside the window…

Wilco – A Lifetime To Find

Only Wilco could tackle the subject of mortality and still manage to put a smile on the face of the listener, even this video from late 2022 has something of the feelgood factor about it. Last years ‘Cruel Country’ album stands as yet another fine release by a band who have never really gone off the boil and this time they sounded out-and-out country, a genre they have forever been associated with but rarely embraced quite so directly before as here…

Nataly Dawn – Over The Moon

Nataly Dawn operates her musical creations with the Pomplamoose duo as a seemingly thriving cottage industry of independent releases on YouTube but for me, where she really excels is on her singer-songwriter solo albums where the combination of a lush voice and her rich melodically driven writing frequently makes for essential listening. This latest offering is taken from the new album ‘Gardenview’ which I strongly recommend…

Camilla George – Journey Across The Sea

From her ‘Ibio-Ibio’ album released later in 2022, this live clip recorded at the Jazz Cafe in London on the album launch night shows just why this superb saxophonist, composer, bandleader and innovator is such an integral part of the current London jazz scene…

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