HCTF's best of 2019 (5-1)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
• |
• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. This blog covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: final countdown from number 5 to 1.

Please shop at your local record store, buy directly from the artist, attend live shows. Don't block anyone's view with with your phone (better still, switch it off altogether). Shut the fuck up while the band is playing. Educate your friends. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Phish 2019 NYE run SBD + torrents: New York 2019/12/30

Official MSG 2019 NYE poster by Brian Steely

Phish
2019/12/30
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1:

1. Wilson
2. The Final Hurrah
3. 46 Days
4. The Ballad of Curtis Loew
5. Blaze On, Corinna
6. Mike's Song >
7. Contact >
8. Weekapaug Groove
9. About to Run,
10. More

HCTF's best of 2019 (10-6)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
• |
• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. This blog covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: countdown from number 10 to 6.

Please shop at your local record store, buy directly from the artist, attend live shows. Don't block anyone's view with with your phone (better still, switch it off altogether). Shut the fuck up while the band is playing. Educate your friends. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Phish 2019 NYE run SBD + torrents: New York 2019/12/29

Official MSG 2019 NYE poster by Jessica Seamans/Landland

Phish
2019/12/29
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1:

1. Turtle in the Clouds
2. The Moma Dance >
3. Kill Devil Falls
4. Yarmouth Road
5. The Wedge
6. Beauty of a Broken Heart
7. Fuego >
8. My Friend, My Friend[1] >
9. Birds of a Feather
10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
11. Walls of the Cave

Words about music (515): Annie Golden

I was the illegitimate child of the legitimate theater. I had no training. I came from downtown rock and roll, and when I came in and auditioned for the Broadway revival of 'Hair,' I had no eyebrows - kind of a Bowie-esque glimmer kid. And it was hard representing the flower power era when we were stone cold punks.

Annie Golden

HCTF's best of 2019 (15-11)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
• |
• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. This blog covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: countdown from number 15 to 11.

Please shop at your local record store, buy directly from the artist, attend live shows. Don't block anyone's view with with your phone (better still, switch it off altogether). Shut the fuck up while the band is playing. Educate your friends. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Phish 2019 NYE run SBD + torrents: New York 2019/12/28

Official MSG 2019 NYE poster by Pedro Corrêa

Phish
2019/12/28
Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Set 1:

1. Evening Song[1]
2. No Men In No Man's Land
3. Down with Disease
4. 20-20 Vision[2]
5. Ghost, Gumbo >
6. Rift
7. Weigh
8. Dog Faced Boy
9. Twenty Years Later >
10. Tube >
11. Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.

HCTF's best of 2019 (20-16)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
• |
• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. This blog covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: countdown from number 20 to 16.

Please shop at your local record store, buy directly from the artist, attend live shows. Don't block anyone's view with with your phone (better still, switch it off altogether). Shut the fuck up while the band is playing. Educate your friends. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Joy Cleaner: "Dramatization" video

Watch the new Joy Cleaner video for their Dramatization singl: " a rambling lo-fi track about being stuck, with zero changes of things getting better in the near future".

It's a track from their You're So Jaded album, released via Jigsaw Records

Marbin: Strong Thing

Progressive jazz-rock band quartet Marbin have the rare ability to mix blues, jazz and rock to play fusion without a safety net. Their latest album Strong Thins find them exploring familiar and uncharted territory with the band's two soloist taking turns at leading the way. Guitarist Dani Rabin leans to rock, while sax player Danny Markovitch is more of a jazz cat. Drummer Everette Benton and bass player Jon Nadel don't settle for being just a rhythm section, but weave in and out of the textures they have created have on the spot.

The Chicago based band don't follow the album + promo tour format, but hit the road with a fresh stacs of material that is road tested and perfected along the way. Only then they enter the studio to replicate the live experience. Sharing a love for improvisation Marbin are an outfit that keeps reinventing and experimenting. Strong Thing is an album for musos, jazz buffs and prog fans, a treasure trove of licks and tricks. Recommended if you like The Aristocrats and Frank Zappa.

The Internet Archive: Digitizing & Preserving Over 100,000 Vinyl Records

Open Culture takes a look at the initiative of The Internet Archive to preserve over 100,000 vinyl recordings:

Once cataloged, the LP’s are then digitized. The Internet Archive partners with Innodata Knowledge Services, an organization focused on machine learning and digital data transformation, to complete the digitization process at their facilities in Cebu, Philippines. An Innodata worker digitizes 12 LPs at a time, setting turntables to play and record by hand, then turning each record over to the next side. Since each LP is digitized in real time, it takes a full 20 minutes to record an average LP side. By operating 12 turntables simultaneously, the team expects to be able to digitize ten LPs per hour.

ORBI: "Hey You" video

Dutch quartet ORBI made a video for their rendition of the Pink Floyd classic Hey You, a track from their debut album The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments: "(...) consisting of three renowned classical musicians and Hollands finest blues rock Hammond player. Bram van Sambeek (bassoon), Sven Figee (Hammond Organ), Rick Stotijn (double bass) and Marijn Korff de Gidts (drums, percussion) bonded over a shared love of progressive hard rock and metal. Their instruments of choice are not in the spotlights that often, hence the title of their album".

Gaffa Tape Sandy: My Desperate House

English garage rock tbrio Gaffa Tape Sandy have unveiled a video for their latest single My Desperate House. A touch if punk, a grunge dressing, and lots, lots of energy. The clip was made by Catherine Lindley-Neilson.

Bad Elephant Music: free 2019 sampler

The folks at English indie label Bad Elephant Music have made a 2019 sampler, showcasing the artists from their eclectic roster: folk, prog, post-rock and much, much more. The key word for all their releases is adventurous. Download it from their website (pay-what-you-want).

Yuval Ron: "I Believe in Astronauts" video

German progressive guitarist Yuval Ron made a video for I Believe in Astronauts, a track from this latest album Somewhere in This Universe, Somebody Hits a Drum: "Ron is fluid, but not smooth. His compositions are filled with just enough unexpected twists and turns to keep the listeners full attention".

» yuvalron.com

HCTF review of Somewhere in This Universe, Somebody Hits a Drum.

Gov't Mule: "Abbey Road" on NYE in NYC

Don't be suprised when Gov't Mule plays a lot of (or maybe all) the songs from Abbey Road at their NYE show @ The Beacon Theatre in New York City. They posted a hint in Instagram, a not so great reworking the Beatles album cover. The blues improv band already have played I Want You (She’s So Heavy), She Came In Through The Bathroom Window and The End in the past.

» mule.net

Cover Me: Superbug

Watch doom rock trio Cybernetic Witch Cult tackle the King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard song Superbug. Filmed at their Absurdum ad Nauseam album launch show @ The Junction in Plymouth, UK on December 20th, 2019.

» cyberneticwitchcult.com
» kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com

Johnny Dowd: "Dream On" free download

photo: Kat Dalton

Johnny Dowd is offering a free download of Dream On, a track from his Family Picnic album: "At seventy Dowd shows no signs of aging gracefully. He is without peers in his field, but his friends and fans are willing to put up with whatever he comes up with. Luckily enough, putting out a shit album is beyond his grasp. Family Picnic caters to the converted and there is nothing wrong with that. He is an incurable maverick, who is just too weird for the MOR Americana crowd to appreciate".

Rudy VanderLans: Walls of Sound photos

Font designer and photographer Rudy VanderLans: drove around California to take pictures of classic recording studios for his Walls of Sound project. TapeOp Magazine has a PDF of the result:

In 1971, when I was 16, I used to work as a grounds keeper at a tennis court complex just outside The Hague in the Netherlands. It was a summer vacation job, and my goal was to save enough money to purchase my first two LPs. I had my sight set on Boomer’s Story by Ry Cooder and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere by Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Tracks from the albums were often played late at night on Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station floating off the coast of Holland. I was mesmerized by the power of the music, and its ability to transpose me to another world, a sun-kissed Southern California.

The Rev: Mashed Potatoes

Outlaw country rockers The Rev come out swinging with their single, the funky Mashed Potatoes, a song that has good time music written all over it in capital letters. all the bases are covered: sweet pedal steel, a fiddle and luscious background vocals as band leader Eric Meyers leads the way with om point lead vocals.

Phish: webcasts of New Year's Run @ Madison Square Garden, NYC

The four Phish shows at New York City's Madison Square Garden (December 28-31) are offered as pay-per-view webcasts, in HD or UltraHD 4K.

» livephish.com

Elephant Stone: Land Of Dead

photo: Bowen Stead

Canadian psychedelic raga rockers Elephant Stone offer another part of the Dystopian story that makes up the tracks of heir Hollow album. The space ship Harmonia has made it safe to the another planet, but upon arrival it becomes clear that is lifeless and not suited for humankind's survival. The video was made by Rui Moura.

Words about music (514): Steve Howe

I think it is a need that I have, a need to invent music in order to feel that I am a guitarist.

Steve Howe

Yuval Ron: Somewhere in This Universe, Somebody Hits a Drum

German progressive guitarist Yuval Ron reaches for the sky on his new album Somewhere in This Universe, Somebody Hits a Drum. And that somebody is none other than fellow German, drumming maestro Marco Minnemann. Ron is fluid, but not smooth. His compositions are filled with just enough unexpected twists and turns to keep the listeners full attention.

With a tone that harks back to the Eighties he has constructed a concept album that touches base with hard rock (WiFi in Emerald City) and Red-era King Crimson (Gravitational Lensing). He has been looking up to the skies and his captured wonder in six lengthy movements, including the superb The Discovery of Phoebe, a tribute to Allan Holdsworth.

It's Karma It's Cool: "Wooden Buddha” b/w “Ghosts of Rome”

English upbeat power pop quartet It's Karma It's Cool have a new digital single comping up. The double A-side Wooden Buddha b/w Ghosts of Rome follows the same format as their debut EP Hipsters and Aeroplanes: great vocal harmonies wrapped in retro Sixties psych pop. Both songs are about travel - in real life as well as an inner exploration. And as per usual the actual journey is far more important than the actual destination.

STASJ: "Good Fire" video

Watch the new STASJ video for Good Fire, a track from her album Soft Forces. "With electronics and classically trained vocals at the foundations for her music she goes for abstract, surrealistic lyrics, populating her world with kids, commuters and an aloof feline. It is not a pop record as such, neither is it a (modern) classical one. If anything it is a collection of highly personal stories and fairy tales, meandering travelogues and observations."

Oysterhead: two shows in California

Reformed supergroup Oysterhead keep adding dates. Bassist Les Claypool (Primus), guitarist Trey Anastasio (Phish) and drummer Stewart Copeland (The Police) will play two shows in California: the Greek Theatre in Berkeley on April 17th, and the Frost Amphitheater in Stanford on April 18th.

The Story of Dick Denney and the AC30 amp

Dick Denney created the Vox AC30 amp, one of the best amplifiers ever. The BBC aired a concise documentary about the rise (and fall) of this piece of gear that made the British beat boom sound so good.

» Dick Denney on Facebook

Cover Me: Dying on the Vine

Watch Australian indie band RVG tackle the John Cale classic Dying on the Vine, live in a session for PressureDrop.tv. They released a studio version as the B-side of their Alexandra single earlier this year.

» rvgband.com
» John Cale covers

Bonded: Suit Murderer

German trash metal band Bonded have made a video for their new single Suit Murderer, an all-out attack on "politicians, big business-bankers (a.k.a. 'the men in power')". Bernd "Bernemann" Kost (guitar), Markus "Makka" Freiwald (drums), Chris Tsitsis (guitar), Marc Hauschild (bass) and Ingo Bajonczak (vocals) have concocted a piece of old school mayhem that never goes out of style.

Kaki King: tour dates

Guitar virtuoso Kaki King hits the road again for a short Winter tour, that kicks of on January 15th in Los Angeles.

Live dates:

• 01/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Bootleg
• 01/16 Anaheim, CA @ Women of Fingerstyle (w// Muriel Anderson, Vicki Genfan, Christie Lenee)
• 01/18 Mountain View, CA @ Community School of Music and Arts
• 01/19 Portland, OR @ Winningstad Theatre
• 02/09 Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room & Garage
• 04/16 Blacksburg, VA @ Moss Arts Center
• 04/17 Blacksburg, VA @ Moss Arts Center
• 04/18 Blacksburg, VA @ Moss Arts Center

Thyla: December

photo: Sapphire Needham

Brighton based indie quartet Thyla go for the grand gesture on their latest single December. It is a pop anthem with orchestral leanings. With hints of Echo & The Bunnymen and Texas it serves as a consolation for singer Millie Duthie's sister, whose emotional issues were quite serious. This might explain why she can't quite reach the final high notes, being overcome with emotions herself.

The song will be included on their new Everything at Once EP, out on February 7th.

Geiger von Müller: Interstellar Resorption #1

London based acoustic slide guitarist Geiger von Müller reaches for the sky on his new single Interstellar Resorption #1, an intricate mix of improvisation and recurring blues themes, propelling old school music into the 21st Century. Poignant minimalism that deserves to be studied closely. Fingers crossed he has proper insurance for his hands, now that the NHS could in trouble after the recent election results.

Marco Benevento: The Lagniappe Sessions @ Aquarium Drunkard

Marco Benevento stepped by the Aquarium Drunkard offices to record three covers for The Lagniappe Sessions: The Crystals' Little Girl (MP3), Jackson Browne's These Days (MP3), and The Band's This Wheel’s On Fire (MP3).

He is op the road to promote his new album Let It Slide.

Two Too Many: Two Too Many

Amsterdam based Two Too Many keep hard-hitting classic rock alive on their self-titled debut album. Fimly borunded in blues and metal they barrel through 12 tracks worth of boozy, late night headbanging anthems. They are loud and they are here to sing about having a good time (Got My Rock n' Roll), with some valid side notes about the false romanticism associated with being on the road: no luxury coach, but catching a Southbound Bus to get home doesn't really sound rock 'n'roll, but it is a reality for a lot of+ musicians.

With riffs galore and not taking themselves too seriously - the reality check of Worse Things Have Happened (To Much Better People) pretty much sums it up - Two Too Many is a band that can get a crowd into a good mood and singing along to the Stones inspired This Is How We Roll and grooving to the nasty boogie of Head To Toe. Not a ballad in sight, except maybe the first few bars of Call The Boatman, where Charon is summoned to make the trip to the underworld.

Words about music (513): Erik Satie

The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest.

Erik Satie

Pat Moonchy: Luc Ferrari "Allo, ici la Terre​!​"

Italian avant-garde musician Pat Moonchy made her own interpretation of a part of Allô, ici la terre, a groundbreaking piece by French composer and sound artist Luc Ferrari. She turned it into a gentle - and sometimes harsh - dystopian excursion. It's almost an obituary for humankind, a mood that is reflected in the video made by Lino Budano.

Pocket Knife Army + LIJO: Electronic Adventures show in Leiden

Dutch avant-electro pop acts (and label mates) Pocket Knife Army and LIJO join forces for an : Electronic Adventures show @ Vrijplaats Leiden on February 15. Botch acts love to take risks and are always looking for something out of the ordinary.

Vida Blue: shows in Atlanta and New Orleans

Jazz synth quartet Vida Blue has announced shows in Atlanta and New Orleans Phish keyboards and piano player Page McConnell, guitarist Adam Zimmon, bassist Oteil Burbridge and drummer Russell Batiste returned to the stage earlier this year and released a new album, Crossing Lines.

Live dates:

• 04/30 Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
• 05/01 New Orleans, LA @ The Orpheum Theater

» Vida Blue on Facebook

Red Hearted Vibrations: Selkirk Boy

Glaswegian rock band Red Hearted Vibrations turn it down a notch on their latest single Selkirk Boy. It is a heart-wrenching ballad as a tribute to singer/songwriter Scott Hutchinson (Frightened Rabbit) who took his own life in May 2018. They hope to raise awareness about mental health issues, which can be as serious and devastating as physical ailments.

The Guru Guru: "Delaware" live video, tour dates

Belgian noise rockers The Guru Guru have posted a live video of them barreling thru the loud and abrasive Delaware, a track from their forthcoming new full-length Point Fingers (out on January 30). Inspired by the greenkey scene from Wayne's World, they get mad about the lack of real emotions and being in a place that nothing to offer. Adventure and excitement always happen somewhere else, or so it seems.

The Fierce & The Dead: performing @ 2Days Prog +1 Festival in Italy

English instrumental prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead will be performing @ 2Days Prog +1 Festival in Veruno Novara, Italy (September 4-6).

» fierceandthedead.com

HCTF review of Live USA 17.

Cover Me: Penny Lane

Watch Elvis Costello tackle the The Beatles classic Penny Lane, live in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on June 2, 2010. Paul McCartney had just received the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

» elviscostello.com
» thebeatles.com

Phish 2019 Fall tour SBD + torrents: 2019/12/08 Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC poster by Brian Blomerth

Phish
2019/12/08
North Charleston Coliseum
Charleston, SC

Set 1:

1. Sigma Oasis[1]
2. Buried Alive >
3. Guelah Papyrus
4. My Sweet One >
5. Everything is Hollow
6. The Curtain >
7. Mound
8. Brian and Robert
9. Crazy Sometimes >
10. Frost
11. Breath and Burning
12. Alumni Blues >
13. Letter to Jimmy Page >
14. Alumni Blues >
15. It's Ice >
16. Walls of the Cave

Vazum: In Night

Detroit based dark post-punk act Vazum explore the gloom and joy of the long Winter on their new single In Night. Zach Pliska (vocals, drums, guitar) and Zachary Anderson (guitars) have constructed a dense wall of sound, with the vocals slithering up and down, trying to get a grip. If the Jesus and Mary Chain and The Cure are looking for a worthy successor they should pay a visit to Motor City.

Elephant Stone: The Court And Jury

photo: Bowen Stead

Canadian psychedelic raga rockers Elephant Stone make it cleat that only the rich and famous are allowed to board the space ship Harmonia to get away from the impending collapse of Earth on their new single The Court And Jury. The video was made by Rachel Blumberg.

Phish 2019 Fall tour SBD + torrents: 2019/12/07 Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC poster by Brian Blomerth

Phish
2019/12/07
North Charleston Coliseum
Charleston, SC

Set 1:

1. Fluffhead >
2. Ocelot
3. Nellie Kane >
4. The Dogs >
5. Reba
6. Halfway to the Moon >
7. Train Song >
8. Guyute
9. Strange Design
10. Moonage Daydream

Yip Man: "Tremors" video

Watch the new Yip Man of Scotland video for Tremors, a track from his Pure Zen, Ken? album. It is about the restless legs syndrome.

» Yip Man on Facebook

HCTF review of Pure Zen, Ken?

Oysterhead: headliners @ The Peach Music Festival

Oysterhead will be headlining the The Peach Music Festival in Scranton, PA. (July 2-5). Bassist Les Claypool (Primus), guitarist Trey Anastasio (Phish) and drummer Stewart Copeland (The Police) recorded one album, The Grand Pecking Order, in 2001, after a one-off show @ New Orleans Saenger Theatre on May 4, 2000.

Live shows were scarce: a short tour in 2001 and two festival appearances in 2006 at Bonnaroo and Allgood. The surprise announcement of two reunion shows in Broomfield, CO was followed by a headline slot @ SweetWater 420 Fest 2020.

Phish 2019 Fall tour SBD + torrents: 2019/12/06 Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC poster by Brian Blomerth

Phish
2019/12/06
North Charleston Coliseum
Charleston, SC

Set 1:

1. Carolina
2. Party Time
3. Strawberry Letter 23 >
4. Undermind
5. I Been Around >
6. Divided Sky
7. The Sloth
8. Destiny Unbound
9. We Are Come to Outlive Our Brains >
10. My Friend, My Friend[1] >
11. About to Run
12. The Horse >
13. Silent in the Morning
14. David Bowie

Words about music (512): Sean Lennon

Growing up, I fantasized about being a rock musician and that somehow it would be really easy. I didn't realize that it's so much work.

Sean Lennon

Johnny Dowd: Hey DJ

photo: Kat Dalton

Johnny Dowd proves once more that age is just a number by offering a free download on his new song Hey DJ:

Howdy friends. Here’s something different from yours truly. I guess it falls somewhere between hip hop and pop/electronica—a whole new world for me to mess around in. Keep an open mind! — Sincerely, Johnny

High on Stress: Wish this Moment Gone (ft. Laurie Lindeen)

Reformed Minneapolis alternative country rockers High on Stress returned to the scene last year with a couple of unplugged shows. Some new material already found its way into the live sets and now they are back with the Wish this Moment Gone single, a melancholic midtempo song about the inner struggle about wanting to let go and hold on. They reached out to Laurie Lindeen to add a bit of extra vocal pizzazz. It is a taste for the new full-length Hold Me In, out next year on Neurotic City Recordings.

» highonstressband.com

HCTF review of Greatest Hits.

Phish 2019 Fall tour SBD + torrents: 2019/12/04 Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, PA poster by Helen Kennedy

Phish
2019/12/04
Petersen Events Center
Pittsburgh, PA

Set 1:

1. 555
2. AC/DC Bag
3. Cars Trucks Buses
4. Water in the Sky >
5. Sample in a Jar
6. Theme From the Bottom >
7. Funky Bitch >
8. Wolfman's Brother
9. Halley's Comet >
10. When the Circus Comes
11. Victim[1] >
12. Run Like an Antelope

John Cale: show @G STIMMEN-Festival in Lorrach

John Cale will be performing in Lorrach, Germany @ STIMMEN-Festival on July 15th, 2020.

» John Cale on Facebook
» John Cale tour dates

Tomer Krail: "The Future Is Futile" video

English neofolk artist Tomer Krail has shared video for his new single The Future Is Futile: "a bleak picture about the lost art of connection, alternating between anger and tongue-in-cheek humour. With a tugging bass line and glam rock guitar a la Marc Bolan he faces the issue at hand in a mix of rock star attitude and musical jester".

Cover Me: Albatross

Watch Belgian jazz guitarist Bert Dockx (Flying Horseman, Dans Dans, Ottla) tackle the Fleetwood Mac classic Albatross, a track from his solo album Transit.

Live dates:

• 12/18 Brussel, Belgium @ AB Box
• 01/10 Kapellen, Belgium @ "t Kerkske
• 02/22 Leiden, Netherlands @ Peel Slowly and See (w/ Ottla)

» bertdockx.be

Phish: Philadelphia, PA @ The Met setlist

Philadelphia, PA poster by Brian Steel

Phish
2019/12/03
The Met
Philadelphia, PA

Set 1:

1. Hello My Baby
2. Tweezer >
3. Free
4. The Moma Dance >
5. Tweezer ->
6. Blaze On
7. Jesus Just Left Chicago
8. Kill Devil Falls >
9. Tweezer >
10. Ya Mar
11. Drift While You're Sleeping

Senga Etna & Johnny Dowd: Fine Time

Rik van Iersel made an animated video for Fine Time, a track by Senga Etna (music) and Johnny Dowd (poetry). It's an off-kilter mixture of free jazz, avant-garde and spoken word, with quite a few references to Dowd's Execute American Folklore album.

Jay Gordon and Blues Venom: Slide Rules!

Guitarist Jay Gordon loves to play slide - he is almost obsessed with it. His latest album with his trusty cohorts Bluers Venom is called Slide Rules! and it does what it says on the cover: howling like a banshee. Gordon is not subtle like Derek Trucks or Sturgis Nikides, but loud like his hero Johnny Winter: in-your-face chord progressions while he tells tales of darkness, booze, pain and feeling lost.

Loud electric blues fell off the mainstream radar a couple of decades ago - with Joe Bonamassa as the token poster boy, but as a genre it is still thriving in smalle clubs and bars, enabling acts like Jay Gordon and Blues Venom to keep playing and recording. Slide Rules! caters to converted and there is nothing wrong with that.

Pocket Knife Army: "The Flood" live in the studio

Dutch electronic pop duo Pocket Knife Army have posted a live video of their new song The Flood, episode 11 of their "one new song each month" series. They used a Korg MS20 as the main instrument and a vocoder in order to nail the Eighties vibe.

Desirée Coumans and Erwin Tuijl captured the cycle of water on this one: "Your fierce eyes became so dull // The color is almost gone // From deep sea green to ice-cold blue // You’re standing here but this isn’t you". The clip was filmed - with a blue filter - in their recording studio by Jesse Immanuel Bom.

Deleyaman: Deer on the Run

French dark wave band Deleyaman have posted a video for Deer on the Run, the lead single from their forthcoming new album Sentinel, out on January 17, 2020 via TTO Records / Sonic Rendezvous. Walk slowly through the fields and find the lake where "everything has been said. Of ancient myths to darkest hours". Madalina Drouvin Obreja guests on violin.

Phish 2019 Fall tour SBD + torrents: 2019/12/01 Uniondale, NY

Official Uniondale, NY poster by Dave Kloc

Phish
2019/12/01
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Uniondale, NY

Set 1:

1. Ghost >
2. Rift
3. The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday >
4. Avenu Malkenu >
5. The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday Reprise >
6. The Wedge
7. Martian Monster >
8. Timber (Jerry The Mule) >
9. Cool It Down >
10. Roggae >
11. Poor Heart >
12. Tube >
13. Character Zero

Stars On Fire: Please Come Home for Christmas b/w Hurricane Hermione

Cristoph Mark borrowed the title of the country classic Please Come Home for Christmas for a stern look at the holiday season for the A-side of his new single of his one-man project Stars On Fire. Co-written with ex-Ampersand bandmate Marc Horton he serves up a gnarly garage rocker, with plenty of distorted guitar. Backed with the equally fuzzy lo-fi original Hurricane Hermione it is the perfect antidote for all the sugarcoated crap that is piped through the sound system of your local shopping mall.

Phish 2019 Fall tour SBD + torrents: 2019/11/30 Providence, RI

Official Providence, RI poster by Jason Abraham Smith

Phish
2019/11/30
Dunkin' Donuts Center
Providence, RI

Set 1:

1. Turtle in the Clouds
2. Punch You in the Eye >
3. Llama
4. Meat
5. The Old Home Place
6. Lawn Boy
7. I Didn't Know
8. Maze
9. Horn
10. Gotta Jibboo >
11. Stash[1] ->
12. Plasma Reprise >
13. Golgi Apparatus