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Belle & Sebastian release double live album and 23 song video playlist
Belle and Sebastian have released What to Look for in Summer, a live double album gathering choice selections from the band’s 2019 world tour, including last summer’s epic Boaty Weekender cruise. Includes ‘Funny Little Frog’ recorded at MTelus in Montreal (July 15th 2019).
With the release, Belle and Sebastian also present channel B&S1’ – a 23-song video playlist with dedicated visuals for each track on the album.
Featuring a mix-and-match of custom-made Belle and Sebastian dolls by Angharad Jefferson (‘I Didn’t See It Coming’, ‘Nice Day For A Sulk’, ‘Dirty Dream #2’), original illustrations by Graham Samuels, (‘The Fox In The Snow’, ‘Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John’), overlays for the eagle-eyed of previous Belle and Sebastian videos (‘If She Wants Me’, ‘Beyond The Sunrise’) and live footage from The Boaty Weekender and elsewhere (‘The Wrong Girl’, ‘I Didn’t See It Coming’) – the collection is a one-stop shop for your What To Look For In Summer visual companion needs.
“Someone said it would be a good idea to have a visual clip for every song on the album. But – even though we had recorded the songs live – we only had visuals for a few of them,” explains frontman Stuart Murdoch.
“So, we set to work with a talented pair of editors to make little vignettes for each song. We were deep in Covid, so we thought it might be interesting to have the band mime along with one of the songs while we stayed inside our respective Glasgow bubbles. Hence the clip for ‘Arab Strap’ came about.”
“I contrived to make a clip for ‘My Wandering Days Are Over’ on my phone featuring my nephew Ethan and our friend Meri, who lives with us,” he says. “I had to keep them socially distanced, so that became the theme for the clip.”
ROMY RELEASES PIANO SESSION VERSION OF “LIFETIME”
Romy has released a piano version of her debut solo single “Lifetime”.
Captured at the end of the day during studio sessions for her forthcoming debut album, the stripped-back filmed performance is a moment of pure intimacy, putting the focus back onto Romy’s song writing and the emotion of her vocal performance.
It comes at the end of an exceptional few months for the London singer and songwriter, who released her debut solo single in September. Produced with Marta Salogni and Fred again.. “Lifetime” combined Romy’s love of yearning, emotional club music and timeless song writing (having written songs for the likes of Dua Lipa and Mark Ronson in addition to co-writing The xx’s three acclaimed albums); an exhilarating piece of warm, club-influenced pop that has already found its way into a host of end of year best of lists (including The Guardian, NPR and NME’s).
Meanwhile, Romy recently further explored her club and electronic influences, collaborating with Jayda G, Planningtorock, HAAi and Anz on a Lifetime remix package that stretched the original into a variety of stunning dancefloor directions. This week she also appeared on the cover of the iconic dance publication Mixmag, releasing her first official DJ mix alongside an in-depth interview.
To round things off, Romy brings us right back to where the song started, just her vocal with minimal accompaniment. It’s still a moment of escapism, just in a more delicate and intimate form.
Muzz release Covers EP featuring songs by Arthur Russell, Bob Dylan, Mazzy Star and Tracy Chapman
Muzz have released Covers, a four-track EP which sees the trio of Paul Banks, Josh Kaufman and Matt Barrick reimagine songs by Arthur Russell, Bob Dylan, Mazzy Star and Tracy Chapman.
On Friday, Muzz performed their first-ever, world exclusive live performance, Muzz – Live in Kingston, NY. Filmed at Reade’s Old Kingston Theater in New York, the band were joined by musicians Annie Nero (bass, backing vocals), and Stuart Bogie (saxophone, flute, harmonica, clarinet, keyboard) for a full-fledged rendition of the widescreen sound found on their eponymous debut album, out now on Matador Records.
The band also recorded a standalone live performance of Arthur Russell’s ‘Nobody Wants A Lonely Heart’, featured on the EP.
Covers is as much an illustration of the bands collective inspirations as it is a sonic testament to their expansive imagination and fluidity as a musical outfit, imbuing the singular classics with a sense of wonder and awe that come together to a short but powerfully holistic set.
Arthur Russell favourite ‘Nobody Wants A Lonely Heart’ is deconstructed to its mesmerising foundations, with Banks’ baritone gliding over Kaufman’s submerged piano and Barrick’s gentle shuffle. Bob Dylan’s ‘Girl From The North Country’ is recast in a cobweb of acoustic guitars, swooning slides and ghostly vocals that slow-burn to a mystical crescendo. Elsewhere, Banks’ invocation of Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’ is fraught with raw emotion, set to a backdrop of palpitating percussion and arching strings. Tracy Chapman’s ‘For You’ brings the set to a buoyant and moving close, punctuated by fluttering guitar runs, cinematic pads, and Banks’ soulful delivery.
Featuring singles Bad Feeling, Broken Tambourine, , Red Western Sky and Knuckleduster, Muzz’s debut album was born out of longstanding friendship and collaboration. Banks and Kaufman have known each other since childhood, attending high school together in Spain before separately moving to New York. There, they independently crossed paths with Barrick while running in similar music circles. They kept in touch in the following years: Barrick drummed in Banks + Steelz and on some of Kaufman’s production sessions; Kaufman helped on Banks’ early Julian Plenti solo endeavour; various demos were collaborated on, and a studio was co-bought.
The self-titled debut album, written, arranged and performed by all three, is dark and gorgeous, mysterious and heartfelt. No matter the sonic direction, Muzz goes there effortlessly and with maximum emotional charge.
Sleaford Mods announce new single 'Shortcummings'
Sleaford Mods have today announced their politically-charged, no holds barred single ‘Shortcummings’ with a premiere on Apple 1 Music. The song is taken from the upcoming album Spare Ribs, out Jan 15th.
The band’s Jason Williamson says “I wrote the lyrics to Shortcummings in late 2019 after becoming annoyed by Dominic Cummings increased unelected presence. The arrogance of the privileged generally leads to short, short short, short, short cummings in a momentary centre stage at the cost of untold human misery and exploitation of public money. In the case of Cummings who exactly knows what he lost when he walked out of No10’s front door. It looked staged or given what I suspect is his sense of intellectual superiority, perhaps one last show of bizarre defiance. But there is no defiance when you come from privileged stock, just pistols at dawn. Posh hamsters going at each other. It’s just so fucking tiresome, as we lumpily coexist, us and the elite. The fortress of control is too strong and indeed there is no denying now, that there is powerlessness in the idea of revolt in this modern day daylight robbery.”
The polemical Williamson and dexterous producer Andrew Fearn kick against the pricks with unrivalled bite, railing against hypocrisy, inequality and apathy with their inimitable, scabrous sense of humour. And ‘Spare Ribs’, their astonishing 6th album, finds the duo charged with ire at the UK Government’s sense of entitlement, epitomised by its devil-may-care approach to the coronavirus crisis.
