Tag Archives: Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice

28th August 2023

The Murlocs – Initiative

I am heading off to the End Of The Road festival later this week for four days of cultural stimulation and so, this weeks Fresh Juice new music recommendations are plucked from the wide pool of musical acts I am looking forward to seeing over the next few days commencing with this band who feel like they’re really starting to happen right now. This is the opening track off of their irresistible ‘Calm Ya Farm’ album, already a strong contender for one of our albums of the year…

Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul – Mantra

This electro duo are so musically captivating and they also share an onstage vitality that totally overwhelms the very basic set up to their performance. Still, it is the dexterity and dynamism of the songs that ultimately makes them stand out and this recent Glastonbury performance is a fine example of the dramatic changes in mood and tempo that make their groove based electronic symphonies a must see…

Allah-Las – Right On Time

Anyone who has heard this bands online DJ shows will be aware that they are crate diggers in the classic sense with a deep well of knowledge in all realms of Garage Rock, Psychedelia, Freak Folk, Rare Groove and Exotica; all the things that keep collectors like myself endlessly fascinated with this whole world basically. Unlike many bands with great taste however, Allah-Las can feed their obsessions into their own original music and authentically capture some of that vintage sound and look in the process without coming across as mere copyists (not as easy as you might think). It is great to have new music from this band and I am thrilled by this impending opportunity to catch them live…

Say She She – Astral Plane

This is the new single from Say She She and it is a tasty preview from their forthcoming album ‘Silver’. With music like this, a song that not only packs a punch with a chorus that will genuinely take up residence inside your head but also taps into a sultry late 70s Disco vibe (thanks to those teasing, beckoning vocal blends and a sweeping arrangement of a type which back in that glitterball era would conjure aliens with silver dreadlocks, ice-cream cone stun guns, robotic body motions and moon boots) it is easy to understand why many are calling them the best all female group breaking through today…

Charley Crockett – The Man From Waco

Should my festival entertainment need some balancing out by the sound of real-deal Country and the sight of an artist truly following his own independent trail I could do a lot worse than check out Charley Crockett, seen here playing the title song of his most recent album released later in 2022. His is a back story that explodes with feature film potential although the stories of his living on the road, dabbling in criminal activity and generally snubbing the conventions of the music industry might be rejected as a little far fetched in the modern climate. He is indeed a throwback in every sense which would matter little to me if not for the fact that his music is clearly the work of a natural talent…

Greentea Peng – Three Eyes Open

And finally for this week, here is another artist who has been on the radar a little while now but remains one I have yet to see live. Readers of this site who have been with us for a while might recall that the album ‘Man Made’ was rated as one of my albums of 2021 and the review I wrote for that one can be seen here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/01/21/greentea-peng-man-made/ Obviously, these six recommendations are only the tip of a very mouth watering line up I have in store for End Of The Road this year and as always with festivals, I am hopeful that some new discoveries will be heading my way too. Naturally, I shall be sharing any essential gems that are uncovered on these pages at some future point…

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Fresh Juice

21st August 2023

Iraina Mancini – What You Doin’

Pulling stylish influences from sixties soul, beat and freakbeat, Iraina is a woman out of time whose love of cool retro sounds goes deep but happily her influences are not so overwhelming that they prevent her from making stonking new sounds of her own. This is no mere pastiche, Mancini is a sought after DJ too and the noise she makes be it as a performer or as a spinner of vinyl nuggets comes from a place that is real. Her debut album ‘Undo the Blue’ is out now on the Needle Mythology label, also purveyors of superior quality vintage finery for discerning 21st century ears; a fine marriage indeed especially for all lovers of brilliant new things that sound and look like old things…

M Ward – Too Young To Die

And further still in the realms of fresh offerings with a pleasing echoes of the past, this is another fine cut from the latest M Ward album ‘Supernatural Thing’, this time a gorgeous floating bubble of a song enhanced by the heavenly vocals of First Aid Kit. Don’t those sisterly harmonies sound like they have been waiting all the while to be layered on the silky, twangy London American sound that Matt has pretty much perfected this past two decades? Absolutely lush…

Queens Of The Stone Age – Negative Space

From the new album ‘In Times New Roman’, there is something reassuringly punchy in this latest piledriver by Josh Homme and his crew. Everything the band has built their reputation on over twenty years is here; crunching electric riffage, pounding rhythm, sky splitting solos and a melodic top line that never takes a dip, this is why Queens Of The Stone Age are arguably one of the only bands who keep Rock alive and relevant in the modern era. This is out and out beautiful carnage, the musical equivalent of Bazball (cricket reference for the non-sporty types) in that is entertains with the kind of aggressive intent that knocks out windows and forces middle lane drivers into the ditch; get out the way because they mean it…

Brigid Mae Power – I Must Have Been Blind

Another sublime tune from the new album ‘Dream From The Deep Well’ which is out now on Fire Records. Brigid, who is often filed under folk although she barely carries a hint of traditional sound, reminds me a little of the great Sandy Denny. Something in the way her music hangs suspended, wholly untroubled by time as her often heavy ballads are bursting with space and air but nevertheless, when she sings you are hypnotised by her words and her voice, it is both unrushed and simultaneously commanding; just let her music lay you down and lift you up…

Rain Parade – Angel Sister

These are the cultish legends of the eighties jingle-jangle Paisley Underground scene out of Los Angeles, a movement that had a big hand in revitalising the music scene’s acceptance of Byrds-like guitars, fuzz tones and sunny harmonious vocals as legitimate sounds in the pop arena. Without them would we have seen The La’s, Beachwood Sparks or The Coral? Well, yes actually we probably would have but the outsider element of a band like The Rain Parade flying proudly against mainstream trends in the early eighties cannot be ignored, they did it better than most back then and continue to today as a reformed act of over ten years by now. Their new album ‘Last Rays Of A Dying Sun’ is out now on online platforms whilst physical formats are available on September 8th…

Shana Cleveland – A Ghost

In her down time from La Luz Shana has made one of the most consistent sounding and reliably satisfying albums of the year. ‘Manzanita’ was issued a few months ago now with this haunting little spook-fest as the opening track, setting the scene for a collection of songs that gel together fantastically well sounding, as they do, like a broadcast direct from the hazy limbo we occupy in those half aware moments between a deep sleep and properly waking up. I sincerely hope that more and more people wake up to this album, it is a sensual piece of work perfect for the wee small hours…

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Fresh Juice

14th August 2023

Selma French – Listen To The Kids

OK so this is technically not a brand new record but Selma’s 2022 debut LP ‘Changes Like The Weather In The Mountain’ released on Grappa has flown far enough under my radar as to only come to my attention now. This live clip is a recent 2023 one however and when you watch it you will see exactly why this new artist just had to head up the fresh recommendations today. Selma is from Norway but her music has such a rural UK chime to it you would not question me if I told you she emerged from a farm on the outskirts of Canterbury. This song especially, which demands that the opinions of those who will still be living on this planet in fifty years time be heard, gives an often ploughed field of folk music a most welcome shake down and the end produce is very rich indeed, one to watch for sure….

Dan Auerbach – Every Chance I Get (I Want You In The Flesh)

Earlier this year I already featured new material from the Dan Auerbach (among others) side project The Arcs which itself arrived hot on the heals of new Black Keys material in 2022. So it really is quite incredible to already be featuring such classic sounding new solo material from the man, this one newly released on his own Easy Eye Sound label and as you are about to find out, it marries a classic soul hook to the fat seventies thud of Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit In The Sky’… or something quite like it! Enjoy…

Allison Russell – Stay Right Here

Speaking of classic sounding soul hooks, look no further than this funky-as-you-like new single from Allison Russell from the forthcoming album ‘The Returner’ which will be released on September 8th. No newcomer to Fruit Tree Records, her 2021 album ‘Outside Child’ had some fine moments on it too, portraying her as an artist with a range far beyond any spiritual Americana or roots music box people might look to place her in. This one however sounds like a bold forward step, if that first long player sought to catch the attention of any discerning listeners that crossed its path, this one is grabbing us by the ear lobes and refusing to countenance indifference, Allison Russell is kicking down the doors now…

The Breeders – Go Man Go

Not exactly brand new music although certainly never heard before, this is taken from The Breeders forthcoming ‘Last Splash (30th Anniversary Original Analog Edition)’, out 22nd September on 4AD. The song itself has been unexpectedly uncovered during the compiling of this re-release and is notable because it is a rare co-write between Kim Deal and her former Pixies bandmate Black Francis. The video is newly filmed, showing all the original ‘Last Splash’ era band members today as it cooks up some anticipation for live dates later this year…

Lady Apple Tree – Lady Apple Tree

The amount of instantly classic sounding Country music coming out of the US right now is quite staggering, it almost makes me think that we are witnessing a golden age for the genre just as Jazz is currently enjoying one of its most fertile ages thanks largely to the UK London scene. Lady Apple Tree is the performing identity of songwriter Haylie Hostetter from Northern California and she is releasing her self-titled debut EP on 15th September. If this is anything to go by, another serious contender is about to enter the stage…

Matthew Halsall – Water Street

Always seeming to be such a chilled Jazz player, this new Halsall music is typically tranquil as it slowly smokes you out of your slumber and wraps its charms around your senses. There is a new album entitled ‘An Ever Changing View’ on the horizon as well as live dates to look out for but in this present moment, simply stretch out and drift away as we enter the final few weeks of an intense summer, give yourself a minute and breathe this one in…

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Fresh Juice

7th August 2023

Spellling – Under The Sun

Back in 2021 I chanced upon the stunning third album by Spellling, the current performing identity of Chrystia Cabral, and it was a record that endured so much that year that I ended up writing about ‘The Turning Wheel’ and rating it as one of my albums of the year (you can read the full piece here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/01/07/spellling-the-turning-wheel/) The thing I loved about her music was its boundless disregard for any conventional formular, Chrystia rarely takes the obvious melodic path and yet her vocal acrobatics and natural exuberance make everything she creates sound so right and vital. What a delight it is then to point you in the direction of some new Spellling music for 2023, this is from ‘The Mystery School’ released on August 25th by Sacred Bones Records…

Cut Worms – I’ll Never Make It

The new eponymous Cut Worms album is out now on Jagjaguwar, it is the third album from New York singer-songwriter Max Clarke and as this tune clearly shows, his ear for a classic vintage sound and talent for conjuring an achingly beautiful song remain on an upward trajectory. It is a wonderful video too, packed with images of loneliness, loss, insecurity, fear and warm love within the simple storyline, this one will melt your heart…

Sierra Ferrell – Making My Way

Performing a brand new track live for the camera at Railbird Festival 2023 in Lexington, Kentucky, this Sierra Ferrell giving us the purest possible example of her mouth watering potential as a performer within the traditional Americana sphere. No wonder Rounder Records wanted to offer her a three album deal back in 2018, her grasp of the basics are nailed on and that is all too rare; she knows how to pluck a melodic structure out of the air and when she sings it is done with conviction, no fakery… sometimes that is all you need to cut through, I hope that proves to be the case here…

Rio 18 feat. Young Gun Silver Fox – She’s In LA

This is a frighteningly insistent slice of summer pop with welcome echoes of disco and soulful electro, exactly as depicted in the video this is the optimum kind of music you want pumping out when driving around a city on a summer day. It is the work of Wales maestro Carwyn Ellis who may be known to some as the main man in Colorama, it is Carwyn’s vocal that gives this synth laden track that all important human touch, the beating heart of the uplifting groove. ‘She’s In LA’ is out now on Légère Recordings…

Emma Tricca – King Blixa

Emma Tricca has been on my radar as a captivating purveyor of bohemian, explorative Folk for around fifteen years now. Her sound and overall look recall that exotic late sixties, early seventies period when acoustic songwriters allowing their freak flag to fly was almost an obligatory prerequisite. But Emma is the real deal, her music does not pose or posture, it almost feels like she found Vashti’s gypsy wagon abandoned by the roadside two decades ago and vowed to reignite its musical journey into the 21st century, caressing out some sumptuous albums along the way, of which ‘Aspirin Sun’ released earlier this year on Bella Union is surely another…

Malphino – Octopus

And finally for this week, some exotic live sounds from Malphino, playing a track that features on their brand new ‘Sueno’ EP released as a 10″ 4-track disc on Lex Records in the UK. They are described rather mysteriously as an outer-national band hailing from an imaginative island which kind of says enough really doesn’t it? Just dig into these glowing sounds that fuse Brazilian and Colombian tropical, rhythmic vibes across a vintage cinema canvass. All good for my money…

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Fresh Juice

31st July 2023

Jorja Smith – Little Things

This is a teaser track from Jorja Smith’s new album ‘Falling Or Flying’ which is set to be released in September. It is obvious she remains one of the most important voices in the current R&B, Jazz & Hip-Hop crossover zone primarily thanks to her natural melodic instincts as a pure, soulful vocalist and also because her head seems to be pleasingly un-turned by the fame landed on her doorstep these past five years; rather appropriately that doorstep is nowadays back in Walsall rather than the sleepless streets of London. Granting herself that headspace has paid off musically as Jorja Smith keeps it real in the truest sense; watch out for UK album launch shows in September and October…

Locate S,1 – Go Back To Disnee

This has such a laid back bossa kind of feeling to it, just one of many pop styles that are thrown into the tasty slow cooker in which Christina Schneider simmers her unique take on deceptively light sounding art-pop. This is the second outing for her Locate S,1 guise and new album ‘Wicked Jaw’ offers the kind of sonic forward motions on which cities are built, an irresistible soundscape of an album. So it is with ‘Go Back To Disnee’, which floats past easily as its impression lingers on…

Teenage Fanclub – Tired Of Being Alone

Now I bet they actually could do a belting cover version of the Al Green classic but this is not it. Some bands do not need reinvention because they have crafted their own niche to such a degree that all we need is for them to produce their goods as they harvest their own field. The line up may not be quite the same but doesn’t Euros Childs look and feel like he always had a place in waiting here? Such a good fit as is this new Teenage Fanclub music, from the forthcoming ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ album, out 22nd September 2023 on PeMa and Merge…

The Hives – Countdown To Shutdown

While I am toasting satisfying fresh and familiar produce from an older beloved act, here are some more near-veterans who continue to thrive doing the thing they do best. The Hives were always an exciting combination of carefully curated theatrical thrills alongside out-and-out garage rock energy and they plug straight back into that mainline on this new song and video. The latest album ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ is out on August 11th…

Lanterns On The Lake – Thumb Of War

This is a superb live session version filmed in The Old Church, Northumberland from a band whose music exudes a kind of warm aching universal heartbeat so emblematic of their native North East. This tune is taken from their 2023 fifth studio album ‘Versions Of Us’ released on Bella Union…

The Circling Sun – Kohan

There in an unmistakable air of the Pharoah Saunders spiritual Jazz vibe to this graceful wave of essential new music. I say new but in reality this collective of musical space cadets have been boiling up a reputation as a live act, paying homage to the sounds of Afro-American Jazz, for over two decades now and so this debut album is a labour of love in a very real sense. That they have finally landed this motherlode of originals though is a cause for celebration when the sounds are as good as this; ‘Spirits’ was released in May on Soundway Records…

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Fresh Juice

24th July 2023

Kassi Valazza – Smile

From the new album ‘Knows Nothing’ released on Fluff And Gravy Records. The best country sounds always see a darkness and Kassi plugs into that mood with utter conviction. I am loving her latest release not merely for the ever present ache in the songs, but also for the way it has no time for barriers. If a song needs a guitar part that stamps on the distortion pedal and stretches out in a frenzy of fuzz then that’s what it gets, an approach resulting in an album that digs out everything these superb songs require sonically to brilliant effect…

Bella White – Break My Heart

Taken from the album ‘Among Other Things’ released on Rounder Records. About this track Bella confessed it is “probably the most explicitly about getting dumped. I wrote it with no intention of ever sharing it. I didn’t even feel any particular emotional attachment to it like I do with my other songs, because it was such an isolated experience, zooming in on one specific moment in time. That said, bringing it to life by turning a valley into a peak felt deeply cathartic. It’s a heartbreaker that I hope will at least get you moving.” That it does and much like this weeks opener, it offers further evidence that Country music in 2023 can still kick it…

The Natvral – A Glass Of Laughter

Taken from the forthcoming ‘Summer Of No Light’ album released on Dirty Bingo Records. The Natvral are the new music vehicle of Kip Berman who previously fronted The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. This is a great Folk-Rock style song wherein the lyric seems to force open the door leading to positive outcomes at that moment where a relationship loses the thrill of the new, when things that once seemed ragged and romantic now carry the weather worn sheen of the battered and perilously careless…

En Attendant Ana – Wonder

This is taken from the album ‘Principia’ which was released in February on Trouble In Mind Records. This exotic Parisian quintet are returning for a tour of the UK in October and they are taking their individualistic variant of classic French pop with tasteful nods to indie trailblazers like Stereolab in exciting, ever mature directions on their latest long player, as can be heard on this little wonder of a tune…

Katie von Schleicher – Overjoyed

Well the accompanying video may take the concept of low budget to new ‘that will do’ depths but the song itself is a joyous slice of rousing pop pulled from the pile of songs Katie has been building since 2020. She has given a direct nod to Kirsty MacColl’s ‘They Don’t Know’ as an inspiration, saying that she merely wanted ‘Overjoyed’ to recreate how that song used to make her feel. I say if you’re going to take a direct influence you might as well make it one of the best and this artist has certainly made new music that captures that essence of weathered elation. The song is out now on Sipsman…

Meshell Ndegeocello – Clear Water

This one is taken from the new album ‘The Omnichord Real Book’ released on the Blue Note label. Meshell is a ten times Grammy award nominated bass player and vocalist who has a happy knack, as heard on this song in particular, of making music that is at first instantly accessible but opens up many levels of subtle splendour with each repeated listen…

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Fresh Juice

17th July 2023

Jaime Branch – Take Over The World

You somehow know instantly when someone truly special has been taken from us too soon. I recall the same feeling hitting me when news of Jaimie Branch’s horribly young passing arrived last summer as I felt when first reading of Elliott Smith’s death on the front page of the NME. Over the preceding years Jaimie had kind of burrowed into the back of my mind as one of the essential players in the modern Jazz world and so the relatively small back catalogue she left behind will forever seem prematurely curtailed, all the available evidence I hear suggests a peak not yet reached. That said, pretty much all she did put out, whether as the lead player or as a accompanying or guest musician, is pounding with raw talent and a sonic brain absolutely overflowing with ideas and expression. This previously unreleased track is a taster from the posthumous album ‘Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die ((World War))’ and as with the other albums in her ‘Fly Or Die’ series, this sounds fundamentally plugged into the turbulent, ridiculous world around us today, a dissonant soundtrack for our times…

This Is The Kit – Stuck In A Room

This is a stunning piece of live film performance from the dramatic natural open air performance setting known as the Minack Theatre, built into the coastline in the South West of England. The new This Is The Kit album ‘Careful of You Keepers’ was released in June on Rough Trade…

Jason Isbell – Cast Iron Skillet

New music from a supreme US songwriter, played live here with guitarist Sadler Vaden from Jason Isbell & 400 Unit’s latest release ‘Weathervanes’ which came out in June on the Southeastern Records label. As is so often the way with the best writers, Isbell’s songs can sound deceptively simple to start with, but the genius is in the details; the framework may be basic as that’s all it needs, lock into those lyrics and the finer brushstrokes of the playing and it is clear Jason always puts the craft into his music…

Laura Cantrell – Just Like A Rose

The anniversary referenced in this new albums title was in fact due to be the twentieth since Laura’s essential 2000 debut record ‘Not The Tremblin’ Kind’, an album that I recall John Peel getting very, understandably, excited about at the time. Well the pandemic derailed that intention but the music captured in these sessions has been well worth the wait all the same. ‘Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions’ was released in June on the Propeller Sound Recordings label and includes contributions from Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Rosie Flores and Paul Burch…

Smoke Fairies – There Was A Hope

New music from the Smoke Fairies is always worth a listen, they are a duo that have consistently produced lush panoramic pop for more than a decade now. This tune, a beautiful ballad with the piano as lead instrument adorned with graceful strings and shadowed by sonic tensions from the still of the night, is to be found on Year Seven Records…

Durand Jones – Lord Have Mercy

The sizzling soul sound of Durand Jones really catches a fire on the brand new album ‘Wait Til I Get Over’, released on the Dead Oceans label. Get into the whole vibe with this short film, the pay off realised in the music is worth your attention for real in a gospel inspired cut that positively roars with a distorted cutting edge…

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Fresh Juice

10th July 2023

Margaret Glaspy – Act Natural

This is the first single from the New York City based singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy’s new album ‘Echo The Diamond’ which will be released on August 18th. Now into her second decade of solo music releases, Margaret has delightful echoes of the greats in her field that previously walked her home turf; especially in the sage ruminations that recall Suzanne Vega and the electricity driven streetwise edge harking back to Lou Reed; Glaspy’s excursions down the same path enchant because her eyes and ears are plugged into the core elements of the real life surrounding her, this is great stuff…

Shangri-Lass – Father’s Daughter

How about this for some superb marrying up of vintage sixties / seventies imagery with the sounds they play against? I especially like the split screen shots of what I assume to be early seventies Top Of The Pops audience dancers alongside the glam-rock stomp of the back beat. These energizing new sounds arising out off Sheffield using classic retro girl-group pop as the launch pad for an eruption of technicolour melodic sonic adventure, taken from the Shangri-Lass debut EP, ‘Over & Over’, released digitally and on pink cassette back in April of this year on Redundant Span Records…

The Studio 68! – Slow Boat To China

This one is also out now as well, as part of the ‘Back With The Boys’ EP released on Detour Records and as with the previous video clip, pulls in an imaginative use of vintage film excerpts to enhance the organ heavy mod sound of the track itself. The Studio 68! were trailblazers back in the late eighties, pioneering the authentic vintage sound that saw mod thriving into the modern era and they even won credit for tumbling down walls that opened up the UK scene for Britpop. This new release sees the original four members from the classic line up still pile-driving that irresistible sound with utter conviction…

P J Harvey – I Inside The Old I Dying

This brief and solemn, mildly disturbing, dark and gothic piece, accompanied by a suitably haunting animation directed by Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña, was released last week on an album of the same name by Partisan Records. Once again working with her long term musical companion John Parish who was joined on production duties by Flood, P J Harvey continues to make music wholly out-of-time and yet indisputably right for the moment in which it arrives…

Gregory Alan Isakov – The Fall

This is the first single from the new album, ‘Appaloosa Bones’, due to be released on August 18th and as with the previous selection it features a superb animation accompaniment, this time by Ruth Lingford. This will be Gregory’s eighth album in a career now spanning twenty years during which he has earned well deserved plaudits and indeed a Grammy nomination for his thoughtful, musically eloquent, folk-inflected Americana song writing. He seems to tap into something universal on ‘The Fall’ with a line like “we all break a little” making this gorgeous track a timely audio balm for the testing, anxious times in which we live…

Alfa Mist – Variables

This is the title track of the latest Alfa Mist album released on Anti Records. Alfa Sekitoleko comes from Newham in London and his early passions of football and hip-hop were atypical of the area. However, the sampling culture unlocked the door to jazz music which would push Alfa to developing his keyboard playing and it is the textured, tonal and soulful sounds he conjures out of the electric keys that are the backbone of his solo music, now linked indelibly to the still explosive London jazz scene. His playing never seems too showy, he is far more about the improvisation and the vibes but still somehow the Alfa Mist sound locks you in, gives the listener something firm to hang on to. On occasion loose experimental jazz can be hard work but Alfa Mist arrives in anything but a haze, his work is focused and rising out of a human beating heart, it is vital and it’s genius is clear to see and hear, this is one of the greatest music creating talents these battered, divided isles currently offer…

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Fresh Juice

3rd July 2023

Paul Simon – Seven Psalms

I believe there is are fascinating appreciations waiting to be written about artists who are loved and acclaimed for work famous in the twentieth century that have continued to create and release top-drawer music over the most recent twenty years. Top of that list would be Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney but without a doubt Paul Simon has been quietly building his catalogue with some essential, if less heralded, work in this period too. In fact, if you look at his solo releases, there were just nine albums in the twentieth century whilst this new album ‘Seven Psalms’ will be the seventh in our current century, that represents quite a significant proportion of his output. And if recent interviews are to be believed, he has no desire to stop creating either, regardless of the fact that the world touring years are now over. The most significant factor however remains the music and with this album, Simon has produced a beautiful, hymn-like meditative and continuous piece of music, like nothing he has previously played, with acoustic guitar textures as the centre point and Simon’s ethereal, subliminal thoughts and words caressing this remarkable work into existence…

Peter Gabriel – Road To Joy (Bright-Side Mix)

At the other end of the scale output wise (he admits he works at a snails pace) is Peter Gabriel although the important point again here is, the music stands up creditably alongside his older material. I reflect on my experience of seeing Gabriel live for the first time in twenty years alongside this months Fruit Tree Records playlist and here is one of the latest ‘i/o’ tracks that landed, as all others have thus far, on the occasion of a full moon…

Rick Astley & Blossoms – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

This weeks half dozen recommendations are centred around a theme of either older artists or older material. I cannot tell you what my opinion is of Rick Astley in general other than, seeing him doing this at Glastonbury 2023 as part of a set consisting entirely of Smiths songs, it is obvious he has a good deal more credibility as a performer and lead vocalist than former SAW dissing snobs (like myself regrettably) have ever acknowledged. Furthermore, I would far rather watch Rick sing these songs in 2023 than Morrissey…

Royal Blood – Figure It Out

I cannot defend Royal Blood’s petulant outburst the other week when they were sandwiched between pop acts whose fans lacked the kind of effusive rock reaction that Royal Blood seem to believe is their entitlement. As they walked on stage during the live feed of Glastonbury my expectation was that I would switch over imminently. Actually, I stayed glued to the whole set because, rather annoyingly given their slightly tarnished reputation, they are pretty damn good at what they do. ‘Figure It Out’ has always been my favourite song of theirs and as they were tearing it up the festival crowd seemed suitably ‘rocked’, so no one got a telling off this time around…. phew…

Elton John – Rocket Man

Included simply because I love Elton John and his music has been a part of my life from my earliest memory. If this is indeed his last ever performance on UK soil (and you cannot ignore the way his onstage announcement left room for a row back) he left us with the kind of set that becomes a legend most; zero filler, all killer, largest crowd I’ve ever seen at the festival, voice sounding fantastic and piano playing still consummate. Never forget, Elton may have fame that puts him on other planets, as unreachable as a royal or a world leader, but in his heart he is one of us, a music obsessive and record collector (albeit with a far more enviable budget!)…

Kieran Hebden & William Tyler – Darkness Darkness

And finally something new in the shape of a reworking by the Four Tet main man of a song written by Jesse Colin Young of the band The Youngbloods in 1969. It is available now on Psychic Hotline…

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Fresh Juice

26th June 2023

Eilen Jewell – Lethal Love

Eilen has for a couple of decades now been one of the essential artists on the country scene who remains frustratingly outside of the mainstream. That might have something to do with the uncompromising purity in her rockabilly sound, she never sounds anything other than wholly true to who she is musically and that is expressed to the full on newly released album ‘Get Behind the Wheel’ on Signature Sounds Recordings…

The Coral – Wild Bird

This band of scouse psychedelic warriors show no sign of letting up even as they enter a third decade of music making. This is taken from the band’s forthcoming album ‘Sea Of Mirrors’ released on 8th September 2023 which is a speedy follow up to the former Fruit Tree Records album of 2021 ‘Coral Island’ covered by us here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/01/03/the-coral-coral-island/

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway – Next Rodeo

Here is another artist responsible for a previous Fruit Tree Records album of the year, this time as recently as 2022 with the ‘Crooked Tree’ record which was written about here: https://fruit-tree-records.com/2022/12/22/molly-tuttle-the-golden-highway-crooked-tree/ This new tune is from their upcoming album, ‘City of Gold,’ due July 21 on Nonesuch Records…

Picture Parlour – Norwegian Wood

First of all this is related in no way to the Beatles classic, but if a title is designed to catch your attention this certainly works. When casting your net, as I do every week, for new music to excite and stimulate you will inevitably encounter some names repeatedly getting mentioned and you suspect, because more often than not it turns out to be true, that this is hype generated by an act well connected within the industry. I had read the name Picture Parlour a few times lately and gave this clip a try out for that reason primarily (although the title had me curious too). Whilst I wouldn’t want to go overboard in my praise, the buzz around Picture Parlour is clearly based on musical merit and va-va-voom far more than it is knowing the right PR people, which is always something to celebrate, watch this four piece…

Blur – The Narcissist

This is the by now probably quite familiar lead single from the reformed Blur’s forthcoming new album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’. As great as it is to have them back and playing both large and small gigs again this summer, that they remain inspired to turn a reformation into a creative process highlights the musical seed within their DNA that always elevated Blur above their closest Britpop peers in my opinion. That Damon and Graham have maintained a relevant presence in the mainstream music scene over thirty years since their bands debut album is further evidence of their justifiable stature. I am reserving critical appraisal of the new album until I get to experience it as a whole, but this song does promise a firm hold in the bands catalogue with absolutely no suggestion of covering terrains already well walked…

Melissa Aldana – Los Ojos de Chile

This is a captivating live recording from earlier this year courtesy of The Soraya at Cal State Northridge. Sometimes the visual spectacle of seeing an artist connect with their music both physically and instinctively can open up doors and I believe that to be the case here with Melissa. The moment she locks into this piece at the outset she is no longer on stage before an audience, she is sailing in another dimension. The album ’12 Stars’ was released in 2022 on the Blue Note label…

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