I wouldn’t wait much longer if you plan on seeing Sleater-Kinney‘s “Little Rope” tour, as two dates on the east coast are already sold out, and I’m sure other venues already have low ticket warnings in place. Joining them will be Black Belt Eagle Scout and, it was recently announced, Palehound.
Tickets are on sale for all shows now, so grab them while you can.
Keep your mind open.
[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]
Babehoven is the nomadic project of Topanga, CA-raised Maya Bon. Today, she announces her Nastavi, Calliope EP, out July 9th, and presents its lead single, “Bad Week.”
Nastavi, Calliope is the follow-up to Demonstrating Visible Difference of Height (2020) and Yellow Has a Pretty Good Reputation (2021). Nastavi, Calliope was built after a cascade of losses, and is a vessel into which Bon poured two years of heartache, humor, and rage, then growth. It’s largely motivated by reconnecting with her father in Croatia after being apart for 16 years, immersing herself in her ancestral culture, and the passing of the beloved family dog, Calliope. Throughout the EP, Bon untangles universal emotions through specific experiences, poignant writing, and a lacquered DIY aesthetic.
Since its inception in 2017 when Bon was a college student in Portland, OR, Babehoven has spanned geographies—Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia— and now, the tiny town of Arlington, VT, where Bon and collaborator Ryan Albert recorded the Nastavi, Calliope EP in their home studio. Their newfound home gave the duo the space and freedom to transform the EP’s seven tracks into lush, fully-formed compositions. After Bon drafts a new piece (typically with vocals and guitar), the two parse through the track and deconstruct its instrumentals, later adding new elements to replace/embellish the existing sound. In Bon’s words, “we try to dismantle and recreate the song, creating an open space for the song to morph and grow as we explore.” The resulting EP is an instrumental layer cake, stacking drums, then bass, then guitar and vocals, and finally gilding them with unconventional
elements like bowed guitars and the reverb of an 80s karaoke machine.
In the EP’s stunning opener “Bad Week,” Bon’s vocals reach out from beyond like a late night phone call from a friend. “It’s been a bad week for so many weeks now,” she sings, her voice glowing over strums of guitar and shuffling percussion. “This song is a hand reached inward to the swelling and amorphous cavities of grief,” says Bon. “As time keeps moving forward, I have found that it can feel as if the ‘bad days’ keep going, growing into ‘bad weeks,’ ‘bad years,’ into new levels of struggle that are hard to move through. Though this realization can feel staggering, it can also feel like an honest admission to self: these times are very hard and yet I want to move forward, I want to feel, I want to grow. ‘Bad Week’ is my attempt to commit to
myself in these feelings.”
Evocative of Arthur Russell’s Love is Overtaking Me or Julia Jacklin’s Crushing, Nastavi, Calliope balances meticulously between the universality of emotion and the particulars that crack you open, that you carry alone. There is no containing grief, or rendering it sensible, or arranging it neatly, but Nastavi, Calliope lets us gaze into a fragment of it like a broken mirror—a sharp,
incisive revelation.
Bon elaborates on the EP’s title: “’Nastavi’ means ‘keep going’ in Croatian, a language which carries a lot of weight for me. I am half Croatian and I often dreamt of what Croatia might be like as a child; it felt like a fictitious land, an inaccessible place where a piece of me lived, like a dismembered limb found itself on the Croatian shores. ‘Calliope,’ the name of my childhood dog, means ‘beautiful voice’ in Greek.
It is also the type of organ that is placed at the center of a merry go round to provide that very specific type of music. The cyclical movement of the merry go round provides another element that I enjoyed including in this EP title; pain is cyclical, experiences are cyclical, and in a way we are constantly exploring new terrain while carrying our body memories with us that seem to go round and round and round in our heads.” – Maya Bon
Listen to Babehoven’s “Bad Week”
Pre-order Nastavi, Calliope EP
Nastavi, Calliope EP Tracklist
Keep your mind open.
[I’ll have a bad week if you don’t subscribe.]
[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]
Recorded before they were officially known as Vapors of Morphine, Jeremy Lyons, Dana Colley, and Jerome Dupree were playing and recording dark delta blues tracks and mixing in low rock touches. This live album, recorded twelve years ago, sounds like it was performed last week.
Their version of “Worried Life Blues” has a bit of swing to it that showcases some of Lyons’ musical influences gained while living in New Orleans. “Screamin’ and Hollerin'” is the first track to let Dana Colley’s baritone saxophone cut loose, and we’re all better for it. The groove of “Red Apple Juice / Waiting for My Baby” is downright infectious. You’ll be humming the song for days after you hear it.
“Hard Times Killing Floor” shows why low rock and blues go so well together. Colley’s saxophone puts down the rails for Lyons sad vocals and Dupree’s subtle drums keep a hint of danger floating around the room. “Ain’t Gonna Marry” has a great swing to it as Lyons sings about sending a “Dear Jane” letter to a lover as he moves on down the road. His guitar solo is also sharp as a knife on the track.
“Know” is one of my favorite Vapors of Morphine tracks, and this version is as good as any of them. All three members have a swinging good time on it. “Hurricane” is another song of theirs that’s become somewhat of a classic by now. Colley’s saxophone reverb effects bring to mind a swirling storm as Dupree’s drums roll in the thunder and Lyons’ guitar is the driving rain.
Lyons’ guitar is in full swampy blues mode for “Louisiana Blues,” which is a sizzling rocker. “Special Rider” ends the set with a true low rock tune. The drop-tuned guitar, the warped saxophone sounds, and the slow, almost buzzed-drunk drums produce a great feeling. The album ends with the soundcheck version of “Red Apple Juice,” which is a nice addition.
It’s a cool record, and like their collaboration as The Ever Expanding Elastic Waste Band, a neat piece of history in the band’s formation.
Keep your mind open.
[Stay on top of music news and reviews by subscribing.]
Friends Jerome Deupree (percussion and drums), Dana Colley (saxophone, harmonica, and vocals), and Jeffrey Lyons (bass, banjo, guitar, vocals) got together in 2009 to start working on some shows and to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of Deupree and Colley’s friend (and in Dupree and Colley’s case, former bandmate in Morphine), Mark Sandman. They decided to play some Morphine tracks and other songs they’d written, and demand for more gigs soon grew to the point where they decided to record a record as The Ever Expanding Elastic Waste Band. This would be a couple years before they changed the name to Vapors of Morphine and released A New Low, but the first hints at what was to come were here on this album from 2010 that combines studio tracks with live cuts.
“Hurricane” begins the album with a dark blues cut that sounds like it’s from a gothic film that takes place in a seedy Mississippi town in the middle of August. Colley’s saxophone is pushed through multiple effects pedals along the track, creating a mind-warping effect. “Different” continues this psychedelic swirl amid Deupree’s jazz drums and Lyons vocals about how all of us, despite our differences, are walking the same path in this reality.
“Pulled Over the Car” is a wicked groove tune from Morphine’s catalogue about a time Mark Sandman fell asleep at the wheel. The slinky sounds of “Let’s Take a Trip Together” are great example of low rock – trippy vocals, reverb saxophone, sexy drums, warped bass. “Thursday” is another fine example with its heavy baritone sax and darkly comic lyrics (again, from the late Mark Sandman) about an extra-marital affair that goes wrong after going so right for so long. “All Wrong” has all the punch of the original Morphine track, with all three men putting down serious chops on their respective instruments.
I love that they included the instrumental “Kitchen Closes at Midnight” on the album. It’s a neat psychedelic jam played with toys as well as the band’s respective instruments. The blues / bluegrass track, “Know,” written by Lyons, is the type of song that makes you stop in your tracks when you hear it. The dark saxophone tones, the vaguely country guitar, and the yearning-for-love vocals make you want to track the band down as soon as possible. The album ends with another live cut and another instrumental – “Palestrina.”
It’s a cool record. One that will impress you and anyone else who hears it.
Keep your mind open.
[Pull over to the subscription box while you’re here and awake.]
“What is your wish? What do you expect?” begins Cross Record’s self-titled album, due August 2nd via Ba Da Bing! Throughout, Emily Cross attempts to answer these questions as she guides the listener, delivering a textured soundscape of meditative curiosity. The album is primarily anchored by Cross’s singing, as she pushes her range and engages with a multitude of different approaches, detuning her voice and obstructing its clarity in specific moments. Cross Record presents the lead single, “PYSOL My Castle,” and an accompanying, self-directed video.
Since the release of Cross Record’s last album, 2016’s Wabi Sabi, the Austin, TX-based Cross has divorced, quit drinking, become a death doula, started the observational podcast “What I’m Looking At,” and toured and recorded with Sub Pop’s Loma, the trio she formed with Dan Duszynski and Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater). Having recorded Wabi Sabi at home between work and sleep hours, Cross did the opposite for Cross Record, writing the album while living on a secluded part of Mexico’s coast. The album was recorded with musician Andrew Hulett and co-producer Theo Karon, and the songs realized their ultimate forms at Hotel Earth, Karon’s studio in Los Angeles. The collaborative atmosphere of Loma challenged Cross to experiment with her sound, leading to a collection of fully-developed songs with percussion, string arrangements, and an expanded production. Though her voice is always central, the instrumentation is equally nuanced and experimental.
In her songs, Cross reconciles her present state of being with her experiences of the past few years. Themes of departure and separation were inspired by her new role as a death doula, which helps clients navigate decisions and hardships at the end of life. Cross’s work in helping others face their greatest fears inhabits the same space as her art, which has always explored the metaphysical in the everyday. Across the album, she looks inward and observes the transcendental – framing death as a spiritual departure and considering the fragility and resilience of the mind. The eerie experience of listening to Cross Record and the unsettling sense of songs slipping from coherent grasp share these same sensibilities.
Lead single “PYSOL My Castle” is immediate proof of Cross’s introspection. Inspired by a visit to an overstimulating Mexican street market, the track describes her search for an unencumbered mindspace: “Walking through the plaza in a dream // All these people reaching out // touching me. I cannot take what you are giving // You cannot break the bubble I’m living in.”
Watch the Video for “PYSOL My Castle” – https://youtu.be/5s4-B4h6ANQ
Pre-order Cross Record – https://bit.ly/30MqQjK Cross Record Tracklist: 1.What Is Your Wish? 2. Licorice 3. Face Smashed, Drooling 4. PYSOL My Castle 5. I Release You 6. The Fly 7. Hollow Garden 8. Y/o Dragon 9. An Angel, a Dove 10. Sing the Song 11. I Am Painting
Keep your mind open.
[Put your shoes on and walk over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
Toronto, Ontario’s Qarafa is a four-piece outfit that somehow combines jazz with psychedelia, low rock, and even drone rock. It’s hard to describe, but it’s beautiful.
Tape I is just two tracks (sides A and B of a cassette, really). Each is about fifteen minutes long and each is its own hypnotic meditation. Alex Howard‘s tenor saxophone on “Side A” immediately hooks your brain, Anthony Abbatangelo‘s bass and synths blow peyote smoke in your face, Tyler Bontje‘s drone guitar keeps you just on edge, and Jason Chow‘s jazz drumming holds you on the Earth so you don’t drift off to Jupiter or somewhere else.
The low rock elements come out hard on “Side B,” which sounds like a long Morphine cut recorded in a Marrakesh speakeasy in the back of a spiritual bookstore run by a old man who might be a wizard and his wife who might be a succubus.
This is good, groovy, and trippy. I hope they come out with a full-length album soon.
Keep your mind open.
[Get the new year off to a good start by subscribing.]
The countdown continues!
#20 
This is the best funk / Afrobeat record I’ve heard in a long time. Golden Dawn Arkestra will get you moving and possibly transport you to another dimension.
#19 
I happened to catch Ron Gallo at a show in Fort Wayne and was glad I did because his RG3 EP is one of the best EP’s I’ve snagged all year. I need to get his full album pronto. He plays a neat style of garage blues-influenced rock.
#18 
Morphine is one of my favorite bands of all time, so it’s no surprise that I was going to love Vapors of Morphine, which includes two of the band’s original members and a new singer and bass player performing glorious low rock and blues.
#17 
There’s no way an album by Goat wasn’t going to be at least in the top 50% of albums I’d like, and Requiem is full of their usual weird voodoo rock. It’s mellower than previous releases, but still trippy.
#16 
I discovered the new Cosmonauts record late in the year, and I’m glad I did because I think they’re going to be one of my new obsessions. A-OK! is full of neat psych-rock and shoegaze. I’m all in if you can combine those two genres.
Who cracks the top 15? Come back tomorrow to see!
Keep your mind open.
[Crack open your inbox with updates from us by subscribing.]
Consisting of two members of Morphine (one of my top 5 bands of all time) – Dana Colley (saxophones, vocals) and Jerome Deupree (drums) – and their pal Jeremy Lyons (vocals, guitar, bass, banjo, and more), Vapors of Morphine are reclaiming low rock and bringing it back when we need it most in this time of 24-hour news cycle cacophony.
A New Low opens with a short instrumental and then a traditional Tuareg song, “Renoveau / Daman N’Diaye” (and a second version of it near the end of the record). The inclusion of Tuareg music on this (with vocals by Boubacar Diabate) is a great choice and shows the band’s love for low-fi world music as well.
Their new version of Morphine’s “Shiela” is great, and slightly darker than the original. “Baby’s on Fire” has some of Colley’s best electric saxophone work. I still don’t know how he gets those sounds out of those things. Their take on Morphine’s “The Other Side” turns it from a song of lament and regret to one of paranoia.
Dana Colley often plays two saxophones (one tenor, one baritone) at once, but it sounds like he’s playing four on “Sombre Reptiles.” “If” is a great example of low rock as Lyons sings, “If the ocean was whiskey or full of gin, would you lead me away or push me in?” and Deupree drums are cooly reverbed and Colley’s saxophones do a creepy crawl through your stereo.
“Red Apple Juice” is an old Appalachian standard, and the band does a great job with it, turning it into a near goth-country song with Lyons’ banjo leading the way.
Colley sings leads on “Souvenir,” another great Morphine track. He also goes blissfully bonkers with his saxophone work on it by the end. “Rowdy Blues” reminds me of Treat Her Right tracks, which is always a good thing (and a natural progression since THR’s Mark Sandman went on to form Morphine with Colley and Deupree).
The album ends with the instrumental “Interstellar Overdrive,” in which Dana Colley plays a spaceship. The track is proof that the band could go full-blown psychedelic if they wanted.
A New Low is proof that low rock has returned and is just as good as it’s always been.
Keep your mind open.
[If you subscribe to us, you’ll never have to worry about missing a post.]