March 2022 – 7th Level Music

Daniel Villarreal’s new single is “Uncanny.”

Today, Panamá-born, Chicago-based drummer Daniel Villarreal announces his debut album, Panamá 77, out May 20th on International Anthem (IA), and presents its lead single “Uncanny.” Villarreal has long been a widely known and beloved character on the Chicago music scene. If he’s not DJing somewhere on bustling 18th Street in Pilsen, he’s playing drums with Dos Santos, Valebol, The Los Sundowns or Ida y Vuelta (all bands he co-leads), or sitting in with Wild Belle or Rudy De Anda. Named for his home country and birth year, Panamá 77 is a vibrant and verdant suite of multi-textural, jazz-laced psychedelic instrumental folk-funk that fuses his past and present. He describes the album as, “an affirmation of both my origin story and who I’m today. I see my life and my music as a collaboration of improvisation and intention all in the spirit of community and joy.”

Villarreal wields a wide range of knowledge and skill in various stripes of folkloric Latin music; but, ironically, he didn’t play traditional Latin music until he moved to the States from his hometown Panamá City 20 years ago. His deepest roots in drumming are from the progressive punk and hardcore scenes of Central America, where his bands NOHAYDIA and 2 Huevos 1 Camino toured in the late 90s. His music career rests on those formative experiences.

The first decade of Villarreal’s life in the States was spent living on a farm near Woodstock, IL, where he was a social worker helping migrant laborers reach community health clinics, and raised two daughters. His spare time went to nurturing his passion for drums, which eventually led him to Chicago. After another decade of non-stop sideman work, including the growing national awareness and success of Dos Santos, he began to envision a solo record. A handful of studio experiments got Villarreal close, but it wasn’t until he traveled to Los Angeles for a gig in 2019 that he caught a lasting spark. A simple stereo recording of Villarreal improvising with a first-time ensemble of friends – including Elliot Bergman (Wild Belle), Jeff Parker, Kellen Harrison, and Bardo Martinez (Chicano Batman) – launched the album process, with help from engineer Dave Vettraino.

As Villarreal and Vettraino dove into post-production, the need for more material to fill out the album became clear, so sessions were scheduled with players from Villareal’s and IA’s shared circles. Guitarist Nathan Karagianis, who also plays with Dos Santos, joined them at Jamdek Studios in Chicago along with organist Cole DeGenova and bassist Gordon Walters. In Los Angeles at Chicali Outpost (aka the garden behind IA co-founder Scottie McNiece’s home), Villarreal recorded again with Martinez on bass and synths, Kyle Davis on keyboards, Anna Butterss on bass, and Parker on guitar. Villarreal spent much of 2021 adding layers of percussion, editing and piecing the music together with Vettraino at IA studios in Chicago.

The Chicali Outpost session was recorded by engineer Ben Lumsdaine outdoors in open air. One of the most electric tunes from that session is today’s “Uncanny,” a psychedelic funk dub with spacey William Onyeabor-style synths. Villarreal recalls that “we were jamming in Bardo’s little garage studio the night before we did the recording at Scottie’s house. I remember starting the main groove and Bardo jumping in with a wacky bass line. We celebrated how weird it was even though we weren’t playing the same groove together, it came out in a strange, wonderful way that surprised us.”

Watch Video for Daniel Villarreal’s “Uncanny”

The album also features Aquiles Navarro (of Irreversible Entanglements) on horns for “Uncanny,” and Marta Sofia Honer, who wrote string arrangements and recorded a Curtis Mayfield-style symphony of violins and violas for “Cali Colors” and “18th & Morgan.”

Pre-order Panamá 77

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Yuri at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Marco Benevento’s new single, “Marco & Mimo,” is a bouncy delight.

This summer, hallucinatory keyboard wizard Marco Benevento pulls back the curtain on his latest studio effort, simply titled, Benevento. Due June 10 on Royal Potato Family, the 11-track collection presents 40-minutes of small-batch psychedelia, bubbled up from his home studio (Fred Short Studios) at the base of the Catskill Mountains in Woodstock, NY. Its title nods to Paul McCartney‘s first solo album and like Macca’s eponymous release, Benevento is a similarly loose, low-key affair where song sketches and sunrise jams share space with more constructed tracks. Benevento plays all of the instruments with exception of percussion from Mamadouba ‘Mimo’ Camara and backing vocals by his wife and kids on a handful of songs. He also produced and engineered the recording. The album’s latest single “Marco & Mimo,” which sets Afro-Caribbean melodic lines and sing-song, earworm vocals against the bump ‘n’ grind of Camara’s percussion, is out today (listen/share), while pre-order is available here.

“This record really acts as a psychedelic window into my studio and my brain,” Benevento explains. “The studio was a good place to be trapped for the last few years. I was surrounded by tape machines and gear. The album started to become this document of a crazy dude losing his mind in the woods—and maybe regaining it.”

Recording was conducted amidst stacks of gear in varying states of repair, all fodder for inspiration during long quarantine-dictated solo jam sessions. In this environment, Benevento unlocked his archives, mining for unfinished song ideas, and surrendered to the machines, coaxing beats and melodies from both go-to favorites and gear that had long been collecting dust. Benevento has since decamped to a new, significantly larger, home studio. As such, the album also acts as a swan song for his former workspace.

“Wall-to-wall keyboards, mics, amps, drums, the place was about to explode,” Benevento laughs.

In contrast to Let It Slide, his minimalistic 2019 full-length collaboration with producer Leon Michels, Benevento is heavily saturated and experimental, built from countless layers of keyboards, bounced to 4-track tape. Deeply indebted to the West African psychedelia of artists such as Francis Bebey, Kiki Gyan and William Onyeabor, the songs are rhythmic and repetitive, built into thick mosaics of sound. Each track features at least one keyboard solo, allowing Benevento ample time to explore sounds from the deepest recesses of his gear collection.

For the five songs with vocals, Benevento collaborated on lyrics with Al Howard, a San Diego-based poet. Howard handed over a 10 pages of lyrical sketches which Benevento worked into his tracks, occasionally chopping and mixing the lines or adding in words of his own.

“It was a new thing for me to dive in to—using someone’s lyrics,” Benevento says. “Or, I should say, finding a way to fit someone else’s lyrics into my tunes. I was a bit fed up with my own lyrical ideas, and was immediately drawn to Al’s writing.”

Despite stresses of the global pandemic, the vibe at Fred Short Studios was deeply peaceful and creative as Benevento patiently worked through years of accumulated ideas, lost, as he says, in the wonder of Woodstock. The experience ended up being so inspiring that—in another nod to McCartney—Benevento II is already in the works.

“I guess all my records are kind of experimental and weird, but this one is really unique,” Benevento says. “Records are snapshots of time, and this is from a time when it was just me, dialing knobs and making mixes and inventing how things could sound.”

As such, Benevento is sonic time capsule, a wormhole beckoning listeners to enter and explore. Throw away your preconceptions of time and space and dive in.

Benevento is out June 10 on Limited Edition Bubblegum Pink 180-Gram Vinyl,
Classic Black 180-Gram Vinyl and Digital formats from Royal Potato Family.
Pre-order available HERE

Marco Benevento
Tour Dates:

4/7 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
4/8 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
4/9 – Fairfield, CT – Stage One
6/22 – Rochester, NY – Abilene
6/23 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird
6/24 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
6/25 – Rothbury, MI – Electric Forest Festival
7/1 – Scranton, PA – Peach Music Festival
7/3 – Quincy, CA – High Sierra Music Festival
9/3 – Portland, ME – Ghostland Festival

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Kevin at Royal Potato Family.]

Whiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, and Girl Talk tell us “How the Story Goes” with their new single.

Today, Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, and Girl Talk present new single, “How The Story Goes,” from their forthcoming collaborative album, Full Court Press, out April 8th on Asylum/Taylor Gang. The album includes various combinations of the artists working together, and, following lead single, “Put You On,” today’s track features the trio of Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T. and Girl Talk. Built around a hazy sample, Khalifa and Big K.R.I.T. trade verses over Girl Talk’s (aka Gregg Gillis) production, complete with glimmering keys, an infectious bassline and a subtle backbeat. “Wiz recorded his verse first. I thought the beat was a slightly different vibe than normal for him, but once he got in the booth, it felt like a natural fit. K.R.I.T came in and built the rest of the song around that verse. He was able to capture the feel of the sample and take it somewhere new,” says Gillis. “This turned into one of the songs that I ended up going back to the most.”

Listen to “How The Story Goes”

Full Court Press is a culmination of friendships going back ten-plus years and a “unique intersection of all of our work,” says Gillis. From Wiz’s melodic sensibility to K.R.I.T.’s rhythmically tight delivery to DZA’s colorful wordplay, all of the artist’s distinct styles play off of each other. On Girl Talk’s first album since 2010’s All Day, his production keeps the project diverse, each song with its own individual style and mood, while still working as a cohesive body of work. The sample selection and arrangements highlight each of the artists’ most entertaining and compelling characteristics.

From years of expertise at finding unlikely pairs in mashup work, Gillis has an uncanny ability at finding samples that feel like a natural fit for his collaborators. “With any particular sample or beat, I usually have a strong idea of what I’d like to do with it. But when working with other people, it might go somewhere else completely. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to shake what I originally had in mind. I think that’s partially because I spent so many years working alone, in complete control of every detail. It’s both exciting and challenging to be pushed creatively, and in the best situations, you find yourself enjoying someone else’s ideas more than what you originally had planned.”

Later this month, Girl Talk kicks off his first tour in over nine years, with most dates completely sold-out. A full list of tour dates can be found below.
Watch the Video for “Put You On”

Pre-save Full Court Press

Full Court Press Tracklist
1. Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA, Girl Talk – Mind Blown
2. Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, Girl Talk – Put You On
3. Smoke DZA, Girl Talk – Season
4. Big K.R.I.T., Wiz Khalifa, Girl Talk – How The Story Goes
5. Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA, Big K.R.I.T., Girl Talk – No Singles
6. Wiz Khalifa, Girl Talk – Ready For Love
7. Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, Girl Talk – Revenge Of The Cool
8. Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, Girl Talk – Ain’t No Fun
9. Big K.R.I.T., Girl Talk – Fly The Coop
10. Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, Wiz Khalifa, Girl Talk – Everyday ft. Curren$y

Girl Talk Tour Dates:
Thu. Mar. 31 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues^ *SOLD OUT*
Fri. Apr. 1 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom ^ *SOLD OUT*
Sat. Apr. 2 – Boston, MA @ Royale^ *SOLD OUT*
Mon. Apr. 4 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre^
Tue. Apr. 5 – Chicago, IL @ Metro^ *SOLD OUT*
Wed. Apr. 6 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave^ *SOLD OUT*
Fri. Apr. 8 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant^
Sat. Apr. 9 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman^
Mon. Apr. 11 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre^ *SOLD OUT*
Tue. Apr. 12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot^
Thu. Apr. 14 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom^
Fri. Apr. 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom^ *SOLD OUT*
Sat. Apr. 16 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox *SOLD OUT*
Mon. Apr. 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent^ *SOLD OUT*
Tue. Apr. 19 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues^ *SOLD OUT*
Wed. Apr. 20 – Phoenix AZ @ The Van Buren^
Fri. Apr. 22 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater^ *SOLD OUT*
Sat. Apr. 23 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Ballroom^ *SOLD OUT*
Mon. Apr. 25 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel^ *SOLD OUT*
Tue. Apr. 26 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club^ *SOLD OUT*
Thu. Apr. 28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel^ *SOLD OUT*
Fri. Apri. 29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Sat. Apr. 30 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE^ *SOLD OUT*

^ w/ Hugh Augustine

Purchase Tickets to Girl Talk’s 2022 North American Tour

Wiz Khalifa Tour Dates:
Fri. Apr. 15 – Northampton, MA @ Carniroll Festival, The Roll Up at Three County County Fairgrounds
Mon. Apr. 18 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Sat. Apr. 23 – Washington DC @ National Cannabis Festival
Sat. Apr. 30 – San Bernardino, CA @ Smokers Club Festival, Glen Helen Amphitheater
Sat. May 14 – Turlock, CA @ Dazed On The Green – Stanislaus County Fairgrounds

For more information on upcoming tour dates, visit: https://www.wizkhalifa.com/tour

Big K.R.I.T. Tour Dates:
Thu. Apr. 21 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre*
Fri. Apr. 22 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore*
Sat. Apr. 23 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa*
Sun. Apr. 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts (TLA)*
Tue. Apr. 26 – Boston, MA @ Royale*
Thu. Apr. 28 – New York, NY @ Gramercy Theatre*
Sat. Apr. 30 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore*
Mon. May 2 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom & Tavern*
Wed. May 4 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre*
Fri. May 6 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues*
Sat. May 7 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave II*
Sun. May 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Café*
Tue. May 10 – Denver, CO @ Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom*
Fri. May 13 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater*
Sat. May 14 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox*
Tue. May 17 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall – Music Hall*
Thu. May 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Belasco Theater*
Fri. May 20 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box*
Sat. May 21 – Las Vegas, NV @ 24 Oxford*
Sun. May 22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom*
Tue. May 24 – El Paso, TX @ Lowbrow Palace*
Thu. May 26 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s*
Fri. May 27 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live*
Sat. May 28 – Jackson, MS @ JXN Festival*
Sun. May 29 – Arlington, TX @ So What!? Festival*
Wed. Jun. 1 – Mobile, AL @ Soul Kitchen*
Thu. Jun. 2 – Birmingham, AL @ Iron City*
Sat. Jun. 4 – Louisville, KY @ Mercury Ballroom*
Sun. Jun. 5 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl*
Tue. Jun. 7 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues*
Fri. Jun. 10 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle*

* w/ ELHAE and PRICE

Keep your mind open.

[Why not go to the subscription box while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Jessica at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Let’s Eat Grandma release new single and first tour dates in three years.

Today, Let’s Eat Grandma – the duo composed of songwriters, multi-instrumentalists, and vocalists Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth – share “Levitation,” the final single from their forthcoming album Two Ribbons, out April 29th on Transgressive Records. “Levitation” is accompanied by a surreal and ethereal video directed by Noel Paul, who also worked with the band on the video for “Happy New Year.” One of the most hopeful songs on the record, “Levitation” is a glimmering and expansive track, driven by soaring synths. Walton explains, “It’s about feeling all over the place, escaping to your imagination and being in a disorientating and surreal mental state, which can be both scary and elevating somehow – everything feels more creative and things look brighter. You’re with someone you’re close to, trying to reach out and connect to them, and even though you’re both struggling, you’re able to find comfort in one another, and have an absurdly funny yet meaningful time together. You begin to see some hope in your future again after a time when you’d started to lose sight of that.” In conjunction with today’s release, Let’s Eat Grandma announce their first tour in over three years which will see them playing shows across UK and North America in support of Two Ribbons. A full list of dates can be found below.

Watch Let’s Eat Grandma’s Video For “Levitation”

Co-produced by David Wrench and Let’s Eat Grandma, Two Ribbons is astonishing: a dazzling, heart-breaking, life-affirming and mortality-facing record that reveals the duo’s growing artistry and ability to parse intense feelings into lyrics so memorable you’d scribble them on your backpack. Following the critical acclaim for 2018’s I’m All Ears, Walton and Hollingworth began to find themselves as individuals, tastes differing here, reactions jarring there. There was a time when both felt a little trapped, and Two Ribbons treads a fine line expressing the most intimate feelings of, whilst making space for, the different perspectives of two women. It can be heard as a series of letters between the two of them, taking the place of conversations as they try to make sense of the rift in their relationships. The nature of Two Ribbons is cyclical; there is sadness, and pain, and joy, and hope – and the knowledge that no matter what detours we take, we are all connected.

Listen to “Levitation”
Watch the “Happy New Year” Video
Watch the “Hall Of Mirrors” Video
Watch the “Two Ribbons” Video
Pre-Order Two Ribbons

Let’s Eat Grandma Tour Dates
Sat. April 30 – Edinburgh, UK @ Stag and Dagger Festival
Sun. May 1 – Glasgow, UK @ Stag and Dagger Festival
Sun. July 24 – Southwold, UK @ Latitude Festival
Thu. Oct. 6 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach
Fri. Oct. 7 – Manchester, UK @ Yes (Pink Room)
Sat. Oct. 8 – Leeds, UK @ Belgrrave MusicHall
Thu. Oct. 13 – Newcastle, UK @ Cluny
Fri. Oct. 14 – Nottingham, UK @ Metronome
Sat. Oct. 15 – Birmingham, UK @ Space 54
Sun. Oct. 16 – Cambridge, UK @ Mash
Tue. Oct. 18 – Bristol, UK @ Thekla
Wed. Oct. 19 – London, UK @ Koko
Fri. Oct. 21 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
Sat. Oct. 22 – Norwich, UK @ Epic
Tue. Nov. 1 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
Wed. Nov. 2 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
Fri. Nov. 4 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Sat. Nov. 5 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair
Mon. Nov. 7 – Montreal, QB @ La Sala Rosa
Tue. Nov. 8 – Toronto, CA @ The Axis Club
Thu. Nov. 10 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
Fri. Nov. 11 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Sat. Nov. 12 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Mon. Nov. 14 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Wed. Nov. 16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Fri. Nov. 18 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Sat. Nov. 19 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
Sun. Nov. 20 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Tue. Nov. 22 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Wed. Nov. 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater

Keep your mind open.

[Levitate over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Ahmad at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Local Suicide create another remix of Alberto Melloni’s “Red Siren.”

Local Suicide make a second pass of the Alberto Melloni’s Red Siren which gained support and praise from the likes of Sean Johnston, Justin Wilson (No Strings Attached), Erol Alkan (Phantasy Sound), and Curses.

Berliners, Local Suicide return to the helm, offering up their hypnotic superpowers to concoct an alternative to their cobra wave anthem. This one’s entitled “Blood Red Siren” and will be released digitally through EPM on the 8th of April.

Keep your mind open.

[Zip over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Paradise Palms Records.]

Review: Alien Lizard – Lucid Dream Machine

Blending words from Phillip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, Edgar Allan Poe, and other famous authors and thinkers with shoegaze, synthwave, and fuzz-rock, Alien Lizard‘s Lucid Dream Machine has a perfect name for its effect on you.

The instrumental “Terminal” starts off the album sounding like it was recorded in a steel mill owned by My Bloody Valentine. “Lotus Eaters” is eastern-tinged psychedelia with guitars that sound like bees working in the aforementioned steel mill. “Obserwacja Obserwatora” is even trippier, bringing Brian Jonestown Massacre tracks to mind as it winds around you like a sexy snake.

“Los Naranjos” loops acoustic Spanish guitar riffs around synths that remind me of fog horns. I can relate to “Sympathy for the Luddite,” as I am a bit of one, and I love the dreamy, hazy vocals. They remind me of some Love & Rockets tunes with Daniel Ash‘s vocals. “Eyes Eye the I in You” is a smoky instrumental, and “The Bird” is a slow, almost languid, track that could’ve been a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tune in a previous life.

“Romantyczność” takes you into a strange headspace with strange, droning guitar chords, and the closing track, “Wombat 9,” takes you out of that headspace and into a dreamspace for over seven minutes- thus, the title of this album. The whole thing is like a dream that leaves you thinking about it for the rest of the day.

Keep your mind open.

[I dream that you’ll subscribe today.]

[Thanks to Alien Lizard.]

Live: Gary Numan and I Speak Machine – March 21, 2022 – Park West, Chicago, IL

This was my third time seeing Gary Numan live, and it was the smallest venue I’ve seen him in so far. It was good to see a crowd of people happy to be experiencing live music again, and even better to see Numan and his band having a good time on stage.

His opening act was the one-woman band I Speak Machine, who came out looking like a Black Widow assassin and throwing down a set of darkwave mixed with kabuki, opera, and industrial grind. One of the best parts of her set was watching the reactions of some in the audience who didn’t know what to make of her, and of her not giving a damn what people thought.

I Speak Machine belting out operatic vocals for a dumbfounded crowd.

Mr. Numan came out to an appreciative crowd and proceeded to belt out a loud, sometimes furious set that mixed classics with hot tracks from his last two albums, Savage and Intruder.

It was great to see him and his four-piece band having a good time. There were many moments when they were smiling or laughing. You could tell they were excited to be on tour. Numan’s guitarist, Steve Harris, was all over the stage, often mixing shredding solos with performance art antics. I’m fairly certain he broke a string or two just a few songs into the set from playing so hard.

It was a great set, with standouts like “The Promise,” “Films,” “Ghost Nation,” “Love Hurt Bleed,” “Bed of Thorns,” “My Name Is Ruin,” “A Prayer for the Unborn,” and “Are Friends ‘Electric’?” Catch him if you can. He’s having a blast right now, and so will you.

Thanks to the woman who let me snap this photo of the set list she scored.

Keep your mind open.

Alister Fawnwoda, Suzanne Ciani, Greg Leisz, and Ghost Marrow take part in a “Snow Ritual” with their new single.

AKP Recordings is excited to announce the expanded Milan (Deluxe) from Alister Fawnwoda, Suzanne Ciani, Greg Leisz to be released digitally on April 15th. Today the first single “Snow Ritual (feat. Ghost Marrow)” is available and features vocals from singer and multi-instrumentalist Aurielle Zeitler.

Listen to the new single HERE, and pre-save the digital release HERE.

The song opens with a mass of sparkling, effervescent synth arpeggios, flitting through the air like snowflakes. The lush, plaintive pedal steel undulations of Greg Leisz emerge and float past like clouds in the sky, billowing above the electronic crystalline mesh. Deep sub bass undertones rise up from beneath the earth, fortifying this imaginary sonic landscape. Aurielle Zeitler, under the moniker Ghost Marrow, contributes a wash of soft, tranquil vocal layers, imbuing the song with a wordless nostalgia. “On “Snow Ritual,” I wanted to join the “drifting by on a cloud” sensation of the beautiful performances by Greg and Suzanne.” says Zeitler. “I recorded two improvised vocal tracks using a delay/loop pedal in an attempt to contribute to the emotional immediacy that I hear in the song.”

Milan is a bracing and expansive collaboration between generations of musical adventurers. Conceived and led by Detroit-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Alister Fawnwoda, the project includes major contributions from legendary 5 time Grammy-nominated synthesizer pioneer Suzanne Ciani, and Grammy-winning pedal steel maestro Greg Leisz.

Intuitively tracing a slowly evolving journey through time, Milan is deep listening music reminiscent of some of the best work of Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Pauline Oliveros.

As Ghost Marrow, California singer and multi-instrumentalist Aurielle Zeitler created a space to process her ongoing struggle with a rare bone marrow disease that both inspired the Ghost Marrow moniker and sequestered her to prolonged periods of isolation and loneliness, feelings palpable in her music.

After several years of writing and touring with Sacramento-based doom/indie band Giant Squid, Zeitler embarked on her solo project and recorded the hauntingly transcendent Ghost Marrow (Untitled) in 2012 before presenting different facets of her artistry by making appearances on Tera Melos’ X-ed Out, Emma Ruth Rundle’s Marked For Death, and serving as touring lead guitarist for Chelsea Wolfe. In 2016, Zeitler returned to the Ghost Marrow project, expanding on the wistful sounds of Ghost Marrow with the dispiritedly tender and delicately interwoven Bunraku Warrior, and synth-driven single “Form-a” in 2020.

Zeitler currently lives and works as a high school therapist in Oakland, California and is finishing a new Ghost Marrow record in 2022.

Alister Fawnwoda melds an abundance of influences into a sound that is expansive, ambitious, and authentic to its core. With a creative practice that flows between painting, production, DJ’ing, and beyond, Alister is committed to exploring the boundaries of his talents and potential. Alister is persistently building his repertoire as he makes a name for himself as one of the most promising artists in the City of Detroit. For lovers of classic house, experimental ambient, and everything in between, Alister’s music presents the possibilities of creative exploration.

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Scott at AKP Recordings.]

International Anthem releases amazing, rare recording of Charles Stepney’s “Step on Step.”

Today, International Anthem presents “Step on Step,” by the late Chicago producer, arranger, musician and composer Charles Stepney. Stepney died tragically in 1976, and his legacy includes essential behind-the-curtain work on world famous recordings by Rotary Connection, The Dells, Muddy Waters, Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Earth, Wind & Fire, Terry Callier, and many many others. In his music – as producer, arranger, and composer – Stepney routinely transcended trend and convention. Much of Stepney’s work, including from his prolific days as a staff arranger at Chess Records in Chicago, employed prismatic horn and string arrangements (in some cases brought to life by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra). His arrangements – like the idiosyncratic underpinnings of “That’s The Way Of The World,” as recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire, “What Color Is Love” by Terry Callier, or “California Soul” by Marlena Shaw – are still squarely in our hearts nearly fifty years after their inception. His sound has been sampled countless times by artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, The Fugees, Kanye West, Jay-Z, D’Angelo, Gang Starr, and Jurassic 5. Yet all too many of us don’t know his name.

He was a genius relegated to the shadows, whose enigmatic lifeforce was snuffed out far too soon. However, his genius is being brought into brighter light by his three daughters, Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté Stepney, who have spent the greater part of their lives engaged in a quest to exalt their father’s legacy.

Today’s “Step On Step,” the first recording ever to be released under Stepney’s name, comes 3 days ahead of what would have been his 91st birthday. The song was recorded by Stepney to 4-track tape in the basement of his home, sometime in the late 1960s. It features Stepney layering his own performances on piano and vibraphone over a primitive drum machine. It is perhaps the most stripped down impression ever heard of Stepney, an artist known for his epic, orchestral arrangements.

Listen to Charles Stepney’s “Step on Step”

This “Step on Step” single is just a beginning. There will be much more news and music to come from The Stepney Family together with International Anthem in 2022.
#SummerOfStepney

Keep your mind open.

[Step on over to the subscription box while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Rewind Review: The Smithereens – 2011 (2011)

Saluting the past and embracing the current moment, The Smithereens‘ 2011 album, 2011, is a nod to their classic 11 album and was their first album of all-original material since 1999’s God Save the Smithereens. It was a fine return to form with catchy hooks, heartfelt lyrics, and ample shredding.

Take the opener, “Sorry,” for example. Jim Babjak‘s powerful guitars come at you right away and Pat Dinizio‘s strong vocals about being both sad and angry about a breakup show he’d lost none of his chops. “One Look at You” is the opposite in terms of lyrical content, as Dinizio tells the story of swooning after once glance at a lady, but keeps up the snappy beats by Dennis Diken and solid bass work by Severo Jornacion. “A World of Our Own” is the kind of song that The Smithereens do so well – toe-tapping beats, lyrics about love, Beach Boys-like harmonies, and chugging garage rock guitars.

“Don’t listen to the things they say, you just take my hand and we’ll just keep on running,” Dinizio tells his lover on the solid, strong “Keep on Running.” The whole band is firing on all cylinders here, working in great union with each other as Babjak’s guitar seems to melt and solidify from one note to the next in his solo. “Rings on Her Fingers” could’ve been a Beau Brummels song in a previous life.

“As Long As You Are Near Me” has what I’d consider a “classic” Babjack guitar solo – somewhat bluesy, somewhat gritty, and all shredding (and Jornacion’s walking bass line sounds like it’s easy to play but is deceptively tricky once you examine it). “Bring Back the One I Love” has Dinizio lamenting a lover who left him. Jornacion’s bass takes front stage on “Nobody Lives Forever,” giving the song a pulse you can’t ignore.

The haunting “Goodnight Goodbye” has great vocals from the whole band and this almost doom metal pace to it that I love. It’s a standout on the record. “All the Same” displays the band’s love of the Mersey Beat sound. “Viennese Hangover” belongs in a romantic comedy that takes place in Austria. Diken’s drums are in fifth gear on “Turn It Around,” and the added tambourine and jingle bells only increase the punch. The closer, “What Went Wrong,” sends us off on a fast note like a hot rod not bothering to slow down after it crosses the finish line in a street race.

2011 showed that The Smithereens still had plenty of fire in them, and it still sounds good eleven years later.

Keep your mind open.

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