Welcome to the Kool Kat Weekly New Release Update. Kool Kat are distributed in the UK and Europe by I Don't Hear A Single as part of our aim to keep CDs available and affordable. The Kool Kat Links with each album take you to further details on each release..
Please place all UK and European orders by following the details here. Links to Kool Kat's Entire Stock can be found here. Without further ado, here are seven new additions to Kool Kat Musik this Week.
Chris Church - Game Dirt (Big Stir Records 2021) $12
Chris's new album (and Big Stir label debut) “Game Dirt” is once again something different and new, even by the standards of his exploratory career, reflecting a looser, more straight ahead rock and roll element, adding a pinch of alt-country and 90’s indie styles in with his pop rock sensibilities. As the record unfolds, it’s perfectly clear that, musically, the only rule is that there are no rules.
The Lost Doves - Set Your Sights Towards The Sun (Green Tea Records UK 2020) $14
The Lost Doves are UK singer songwriters Ian Bailey and Charlotte Newman who have collaborated to bring a retrospective album of gorgeous, poignant song writing, chiming guitars, melody and harmonies. Makes for a great late Saturday evening/Sunday morning listen!!
Tommy Ray - Handful Of Hits (Kool Kat Musik 2021) $14
NEW RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT MUSIK LABEL – APRIL 2 – ACCEPTING ORDERS NOW!! Tommy Ray came into his own between 2011 and 2018 as the primary songwriter and front man for power-pop heroes The CRY! With the band on indefinite hiatus, he released “First Hits Free” (his 2020 Kool Kat label debut) and now, with the band STILL on hiatus, “Handful of Hits”! The record continues his flair for merging 50's melodies, the jangle of 60's pop hooks, 70's glam-rock, and honest gritty street-level lyrics.
The Summer Wardrobe - Cajun Prairie Fire (Sauspop Records 2009) $11
On their 2009 second album, The Summer Wardrobe play music that evades easy categorization, though overall it's Texan in character with a blend of swampy roots rock and retro psychedelia. It's no accident that they cover Roky Erickson's "Mine Mine Mind" on this CD, not only because Erickson is also part of this strain of Texas rock (albeit with a far more frightening wacky edge), but also because they have actually toured with Erickson as his backing band. Fans of Beachwood Sparks, their various spin-offs and solo outings will certainly dig this!
Diesel Park West - A House Divided (Live @ The Borderline 10/29/99) Self Released 2021 $16
THIS IS AN OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED CDR ISSUE AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM KOOL KAT! Diesel Park West's main influences come from the West Coast sound of 1960s bands such as Moby Grape, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Love. Adult Jangly Rock at its finest.
NEW RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT MUSIK LABEL. “Mondo Bizarro” is a mis-spelled version of "Mondo Bizzarro," meaning "Weird World" in Italian. Spain’s K7s (fronted by Kurt Baker) have delivered a front-to-back tribute to “Mondo Bizarro”, the twelfth album by The Ramones. Recording this album was an idea that had been in Luis Sánchez’s mind for years. Working with Kurt Baker, Jose Andrés Albertos and Raúl Artana, the songs of “Mondo Bizarro” were covered and polished. Lave put into it, they make an album like this a “must”.
Star Collector - Game Day (Clockwise Records Canada 2020) $14
In 2017, Vic Wayne and his bandmates began writing new material again, resulting in “Game Day”, the fifth album (and first in 15 years!) by Canada’s Star Collector. Built around the superbly multitalented Vic Wayne, the band is also blessed with one hell of a guitarist in Steve Monteith who brings that same special joyful blazing and inventive magic to the band sound as Whit Williams does to Cotton Mather!” The record packs a real wallop. The guitars are big, the production dynamic and the arrangements engaging.
Various - Flowers In My Garden : Sunshine, Soft & Studio Pop 1966-70 (Teensville Records 2021) $16
The seventh instalment examining the forgotten and neglected sounds of the late 60’s. Compiled to give the listener an 80-minute frown-upside-down trip. The package includes a 24 page booklet containing pictures, annotations and a 5,000+ word essay.
Chris Church has never stood still. His adventures bear similarity with my record collection, essentially Pop Rock but going off in all directions. Prog, Metal, AOR, name your genre! Church as outstanding appreciation of music, first and foremost he is a fan, something too many in this business are not.
You are never gonna get anything that's samey and that is pretty much concurred by the opener here. Learn is Dave Edmunds with Rockpile and the rest of the album is not. After the Power Pop excellence of Limitations Of Source Tape, Church moved on to 80's Guitar Rock on Backwards Compatible. Both superb, but very different albums.
Game Dirt is Chris Church does IRS and More. It is a very "Indie" album, very varied, very intelligent. It hasn't got as many hooks as the previous two, but it is actually a better album. Church stretches himself across a set of unobvious selections.
The album has been compared to early REM and I see that, but that doesn't give credit to all that's here. Church is no Stipe wannabe, his voice and parts of the album just remind you of Sir Michael. The truly admirable thing is that he moves on in a way that makes you move on and I cannot give the album any bigger compliment than that.
The album may not get you fully on the first or second listen, but trust me it does as all the best albums do. Repeated listens reveal this to probably be the best thing that he has done. So where do I start? Well let's start at the end. Sunrise is a closing ballad of the highest order. Different to what's gone before, but everything here is.
Know starts with a delightful Mandolin and morphs into a Stones like riff, Lost is all aching country tinged Americana and Gravity is so so Stipe like in its melancholy. Hang just speeds along venomously with a Guitar Hero Rock solo.
Falderal is probably my favourite here, unusual for something that's slower. but trust me it revs up and Down is the only nod to Matthew Sweet, a too often comparison on previous albums. Smile could be The Outlaws, it is so Country Rock.
You can see the Indie intention in the one word song titles. but the centrepiece is the magnificent sprawling six minutes that is Trying. It not only centres the album, it provides the crossroads. It is three songs in one, chopping and changing direction at will. Almost but not quite Neil Young And Crazy Horse.
As I stated, Game Dirt will take more than one listen. There are less Guitar histrionics and that is its charm. The Guitar is heavily present, its just not in your face. Want to impress your friends, tell them all about this and watch your reputation grow. Gobsmacking Stuff!
You can listen to and buy the album on Bandcamp here. It is also available from the Big Stir Site here.
Looking back its astonishing to realise just how many classic albums were released in the Nineties, a veritable mountain of brilliant records like a deluge of creative wonder that just kept coming and coming and coming…truly a great time to be into music. It was a golden age of abundant seemingly unending riches to be adored and cherished.
In the middle of that memorable decade came the modest release of Sleep In A Wigwam by one man band Rich Arithmetic a beautifully crafted affair, part XTC, part Beatles, but mostly the unmistakable talent of the man behind the curtain, Seattle based Rich Horton. Great guitar pop songs, masterfully delivered and dressed up in a delightful daisy bright psychedelic production, the release had it all. It was an album that even with everything else going on at the time became one you would return to again and again and sigh with delight as it charmed and beguiled you once more.
Then we waited in vain for the next album that sadly never came. Finally, now, Rich Arithmetic returns with the release of the very excellent Shiftingears on Kool Kat and the promise of more to come. Let us sit down with the excellent fellow and see how it all adds up.
What are your earliest memories of first getting into music?
"I was immersed in music from Day One. My father was an accomplished classical and Southern Gospel pianist and he had an eclectic record collection that I was exposed to as a child. Additionally, as a Methodist minister, my father made sure that my siblings and I all took piano lessons and sang in the youth choirs of the church he pastored."
Which music artists first made you sit up and take notice?
"Far too many to mention, but it always comes back to The Beatles. I’ve always likened the first time I saw them on TV as a religious experience and they influenced me more than all the other bands and genres that I have loved over the years. Of course, there are also a lot of “second place” artists & genres that have caught my devotions and obsessions over the years since then – The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Zombies, psychedelia & flower pop, sunshine pop, folk rock. Even jazz-influenced bands like early Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago because of their attempts to attach the adventurousness of jazz aesthetics to pop and rock music.
Unfortunately, Chicago became a lame ballad band and BS&T never could keep a set line-up and they began lacking the top-tier material that had marked their first three albums. I was into masterful pop tunesmiths like Billy Joel, James Taylor, and Brian Protheroe. Country rockers like Poco. And for a long period in the Seventies I immersed myself in Prog because of the ways Genesis and Yes as well as ELP expanded the pop & rock vocabulary.
Yes and Genesis were my two go-to progressive bands. Foxtrot is my favourite ever prog album, though Selling England is close. For me, the band lost its vision when Peter Gabriel left, I also totally dug The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge – all three of which I continue to play with regularity. But with Relayer, despite some excellent sections and Topographic Oceans, which I considered musical masturbation, I began falling off the boat.
The bands I played in reflected an amalgamation of those influences. I was also totally obsessed with Steely Dan, too. They incorporated jazz better into their sound & identity than most of the fusion bands. It was so smooth how they sucked you into it. In the late Seventies my brother and I had a band called "Harbor" that was a largely failed attempt to be a "Yes-meets-Steely Dan" kind of hybrid prog/jazz-pop group.
Unfortunately, we didn't have the chops to pull it off -- at that point, our song ideas outstripped our abilities to play them. Though we had some loyal fans, I think the majority of folks who came out to hear us were puzzled by what we were trying to do. In retrospect, I don't blame them.
But it was in the late Seventies & early Eighties that I found a fork in the road that changed my course as a musician when I stumbled on the new wave and power pop bands that returned my attention to what I’d loved about Sixties pop in the first place. Driving guitar-based bands with pop hooks and compelling harmonies, The dB’s, Squeeze, XTC, The Records, Joe Jackson, Split Enz, Nick Lowe, REM and on and on.
Back in the late '70s I remember reading an article that said XTC was the future of progressive rock. I hadn't heard them, yet, so you can imagine my surprise when I finally did! I love XTC. But prog? And Supertramp and 10cc? Not quite prog. More like Art Pop, maybe. All of these bands and artists are part of the Pop Stew that is the music of Rich Arithmetic."
When did you start playing an instrument?
"I started taking piano lessons on my eighth birthday, which in addition to teaching me notes and scales, also provided me with a vital foundation in music theory that allowed me to teach myself how to play guitar when I became a teenager."
When did you start writing songs and why?
"Actually, that’s kind of a funny story. When my father, the Methodist minister, bought me my first guitar, he made me promise that I wouldn’t play rock ‘n’ roll on it. But I side-stepped him by experimenting with writing my own primitive tunes, which I figured could not be strictly classified as “rock ‘n’ roll” since I’d composed them on an acoustic guitar.
I didn’t move to Seattle until I was in my early thirties. Before that, I grew up in the small college town of McPherson, Kansas, which, though small, had exciting music programs in the public schools and churches and, seemingly, a garage band on every corner. Several people from that small town went on to careers in pop, rock, and jazz circles. The older brother of a friend played in The Four Seasons, the million-selling popular band of the ‘60s and’70s. A guy on my Little League baseball team played with jazzman Stan Kent and the hit-making jazz-rock band, Chase in the ‘70s. A lot of my high school classmates played in nationally known touring bands and groups.
Our town may have been small, but it provided an abundantly rich atmosphere for kids who wanted to pursue music. In college I majored in Journalism, but except for a short stint working for an underground newspaper, The Hollywood Free Paper, I never had any career in "journalism," per se, though over the years I did write occasionally for blogs and music papers/zines here in the States."
When did you first meet Lance Morgan?
"I’m glad you asked about Lance. Some of your readers may know Lance Morgan as the nineties indie-pop recording artist “Monsters Under the Bed.” I met Lance in 1986, about a year after I’d moved to Seattle and he answered an ad I’d run in a local paper looking for someone to start a band with. Alone among the several people who answered my ad, Lance immediately and instinctively added a harmony voice to any song I threw at him; it was if we’d been singing together for years.
Within weeks we started the band HI-FI (later known as Point No Point) and played all around Seattle for the next two to three years. We recorded one full-length album called “Point No Point” before we broke up in 1989. After that Lance and I each began pursuing our own solo recording projects – me as Rich Arithmetic and Lance as Monsters Under the Bed, with each of us playing & singing on recordings by the other. To this day Lance & I continue to play an occasional unplugged gig as a duo we call The Arithmetic Monsters."
Tell us about Optional Art, the label you ran.
"In the early eighties my brother and I bought one of the early PortaStudio 4-track cassette recorders and started recording our own songs. When we began giving them to our friends and prospective booking agents and trading them with other home-tapers, we slapped the name “Optional Art” on our tapes. The idea being that “Optional Art” was meant to imply that we were trying optimize the accessibility potential of our songs while also trying to realize the option of making it as creative and artistic as we could.
For the first several of those Cassette Culture years, that was all Optional Art was. But in 1985, after I went into a “real” studio to record my first solo venture, “Hi-Fi Limbo” by Richard H, I decided to make Optional Art an actual record label. Following that first formal Optional Art release, virtually all of our releases were recorded in “real” studios, but were released on cassette simply because we could not afford to press vinyl in those pre-CD years."
And then came your debut album “Sleep in a Wigwam”
"As I mentioned, with few exceptions in the early days of Optional Art, almost everything we released was in the form of a cassette, including the first version of “Neighborhood Of Reality” in 1993. This began changing a bit, however, between 1991-1993, when we also released three vinyl 45’s, including my first single as Rich Arithmetic, a single by Monsters Under the Bed and a single by the band Edgar Schwartz – all of whom subsequently had full-length CD’s.
My idea at that point was that in addition to my own recordings, I wanted to use Optional Art to promote other DIY/indie artists whose music I believed in, regardless of how it fit with existing genres. For example, although I arranged a lot of the material on Lance Morgan’s Monsters Under the Bed album “Neighborhood Of Reality” to appeal to the indie-pop crowd, I recognized that, at bottom, he was primarily a singer-songwriter with a strong folk bent, who also had a few hooks in his songs. Edgar Schwartz was more an avant-garde type of pop act. Their songs were very quirky, but were overlaid with lush harmonies. I wanted to use Optional Art to promote that kind of creativity.
Although I had an on-and-off acoustic trio during the late Nineties and up until about 2013, my last true band Point No Point broke up on the cusp of 1990, which was when I decided to quit playing live and become a studio only solo artist. So the early Nineties was all about teaching myself to be a one-man band, which culminated in the recordings that became my album "Sleep In A Wigwam." Despite my intentions of being a one-man band, with only two or three exceptions, the songs on "Sleep In a Wigwam" had been written for my band, but we'd learned only a few of them before we broke up.
Unlike some artists, I almost never start recording until I have a song pretty much in place, both music and lyrics. As for how I record, the first two things I always lay down are a click track to set the song's tempo and then a guide instrument (either an acoustic guitar or a piano) which may or may not be included in the final mix, but can keep the basic rhythm & tempo and steer the arrangement of the song.
Once the click track & guide tracks are solid, I may record a guide lead vocal but just as often I'll play bass in order to provide a "basement" for the house of the song I'm building. After that, I have no set order to what instruments or vocals I next play/record. It all depends on the nature of the song and which musical ideas I intend to emphasize most. But one thing that is invariably true is that I leave recording the drums until the very end so that I can ensure the fills and riffs don't get in the way of the other aspects of the song.
Generally speaking, the vocal harmonies don't get recorded until near the end of the recording process. I like having a large backlog of songs to choose from when recording, so I can choose not only the best ones, but also the ones that seem to fit with a particular recording project. For example, back in the mid-'90s, my label Optional Art was going to release a Christmas album, which allowed me to dig into my box of songs and find several that fit the project. It was actually quite rewarding because I'd particularly wanted to record them but never had had a place for them to fit until then.
"In 1994-95 when we released “Sleep In A Wigwam,” my first full-length album as Rich Arithmetic, it came out on both CD and cassette, which were identical, in terms of material. Although Monster Under the Bed’s “Neighborhood Of Reality” album initially was released in 1993, when we decided to release it as a CD four years later in 1997, we decided to delete several songs from the initial cassette release and I had Lance record a handful of new songs for the CD release.
"It’s funny. I’ve never considered myself as Power Pop artist, per se, but I seemingly became a viable presence in the indie-pop and power pop community in the Nineties with the success of “Sleep In a Wigwam. “Hartbeat” Magazine listed it as one of its Top 100 Best Power Pop albums of all time. Audities Magazine, which was the power pop “bible” of the Nineties included it as Number 7 on its “Best Power Pop Albums of 1995” list and many other fanzines and indie-pop media embraced it with enthusiasm.
Even though Rich Arithmetic and Optional Art did not fit neatly within many more purist power pop definitions, those good receptions helped give Optional Art a certainly kind of credibility when we released the second version of “Neighborhood Of Reality” by Monsters Under the Bed, “Milk & Cookies” by Edgar Schwartz” and “Cool Yule” and “Burnt Marshmallows and Teeny Bikinis,” both of which were holiday-themed compilation CD’s with a variety of indie-pop and power pop artists."
And then you kinda disappeared…
"In the late Nineties I actually started recording material for what was intended to be another album, but then life happened – both good & great things, as well as some very hard and stressful things. My children were still very young and needed a father who wasn’t gallivanting around trying to be a pop star,and I loved being present for them.
But then the health of my elderly parents took a downturn, and that required my intense concentration for the better part of seven years. In the midst of that, I developed cancer (I’m cancer-free now) and also got a divorce. Certainly, I continued to write music, but I just didn’t have the emotional bandwidth or time to run a record label or record new music and I just closed the doors for the next twenty years."
Now tell us all about the excellent new album. What brought about your welcome return.
"I’m glad to report that about four years ago I was able to recover my energy and enthusiasm for recording again. As you know, the album is called Shiftingears, which is intentionally ambiguous as it can be read as either Shiftin Gears or Shifting Ears – the point being is that it represents a shift from what I did with “Sleep In A Wigwam.”
For myself, it represents a shifting of gears in that my palette has broadened, but it may require a shifting of ears for fans to go along for the ride. I try to write the kinds of songs I'd want to listen to (although my listening interests go far beyond the kinds of things I write, admittedly).
Whereas the songs on “Wigwam” were intended to sound like something a four-piece guitar-centric band might have sang and played live, the new album is much more about who I am as a solo musician. I am a musician who is interested in the varieties of directions a pop song can take and several songs feature a guest lead singer or somewhat different instrumentation. There’s more variety in the song writing style, as well.
For instance, “One Thing,” a song I co-wrote with my producer Jim Nicholson, features the vocals of the fabulous Maura Kennedy of the award-winning coffee-house pop group The Kennedys singing lead with my former colleague from my little-known acoustic group Cool Blue, Colleen Anderson on harmonies. That song starts out in somewhat moody fashion, but ultimately transforms itself into a bouncy affair with interweaving sunshine pop harmonies. The song “Always” features a groove-oriented verse and a longish seventies styled guitar solo but keeps a catchy chorus and a Beach Boys-inspired bridge central to its pop intents.
There’s also a song called “A-Girl’s Reply,” which is ostensibly the musings of the Ipanema Girl and punctuated by jazz chords, a surf guitar solo, a marimba and sultry voice of Diane Leigh, who is a wonderful R&B singer in my town. Another tune, “Make Me Over,” tries to be a pop song disguised in bar band clothes, featuring Charlie Malizsweski, the harpist & lead singer for the blues-rockers, The Legendary Chucklenuts.
There’s an Andy Partridge-meets-Paul McCartney piano-based tune, “He’s a Good Man,” which my pal Chris Zajkowski (aka Squires Of The Subterrain), co-wrote with me. I even attempt Baroque Pop on “Before the First Slice,” which was inspired by four chords Ray Carmen from the Librarians With Hickeys “gave” to me and that I supplemented with voice, piano, and a 4-piece string arrangement.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I haven’t abandoned my guitar-pop style altogether. For example, “In Our Time” a song I wrote as an ode to the Sixties cult-pop group The E-Type, which features a dueling Strat & 12-string theme that recurs throughout the song and is interspersed with intricate vocal harmonies that interweave and answer each other. On that note: I even cover an old E-Types single, “She Moves Me,” which is a garage rock tune featuring a glistening guitar, an insistent riff and great three-part harmonies.
All in all, it will be evident that The Beatles and XTC are big influences on my music, but my influences also extend beyond them and I think the way I’ve combined the variety of those influences in my music comes off as unique. Some of my music is Power Pop, to be sure, but for the most part, as one of my friends says: “It’s Rich Arithmetic music.”
Fortunately, I have been writing songs ever since I was thirteen, which covers a lot of eras and a lot of genres in pop music. So I do not feel constricted by needing to record only the latest handful of songs I’ve written. I also go back and retrieve songs that I have written in the past, songs that I feel shouldn’t be left behind just because I wrote them ten, twenty, thirty years ago or so. For example, the most recent song on Shiftingears was written less than a year ago and the oldest was written in 1979 (and I won’t tell you which ones!)."
Are you slow or prolific?
"Oh, man. I am such a slow writer. Once I dedicate myself to an idea, it undergoes revision after revision before I feel satisfied with it. Even then, I continue to tinker with the lyrics or a chord progression or something else."
The production is crucial and all important…its obvious you feel the same and what a beautiful listening pleasure your stuff is…full of superbly crafted sonic adventure…tell me about how you approach it
"Thank you for saying that. These days, I record everything in my home studio, but I do not consider myself a technical wizard at all. For that, I have to give credit to my co-producer, Jim Nicholson. After I record all my tracks here in Bellingham, Washington, I send them to Jim’s studio in Fayetteville, Arkansas which is almost 2200 miles from me. He gets under the hood and adjusts the spark plugs and jiggles the valves and often adds some cool effects and sounds.
He is the most awesome collaborator I could ever have and we have the greatest conversations while he is mixing and mastering my recordings. We're in constant contact regarding the various mixes. It's a delightfully collaborative process, because Jim often comes up with sonic ideas that I haven't thought of, which benefit the song."
What does psychedelia mean to you?
"I’m quite surprised that you asked! “Psychedelia” informs almost all of my production decisions! Even though I would not consider myself a psychedelic artist in any real sense. I continue to be influenced by how records were produced in the mid-late Sixties – the echoes on the voices, the effects on the guitars, the baroque approach to arrangements, etc. Without question, it was a period when record production grew in leaps and bounds and I continue to embrace it."
How’s the feedback to the album been so far?
"Initial reviews have been positive for the most part, but some reviewers have mentioned that it’s not a “Power Pop album,” and one mentioned that I was an “oddity” even back in the days when my stuff appeared in the catalog of Not Lame Records, which was the “home” of Power Pop in the Nineties.
I don’t particularly quibble with that response to my work. It’s true – I am not a Power Pop artist if that means that every song features crunchy guitars and anthemic choruses. As I continue to mention, I’ve always been inspired by The Beatles and XTC, artists who never felt constrained by any particular genre boundaries, even while remaining eminently tuneful. That’s kind of how I view my M.O., as well.
I find the endless debates on some of the indie Facebook pages about what is and what is not "power pop" a bit wearisome. Frankly, I much prefer the days when tastes seemed broader, If you liked something, that was reason enough to dig it and not have to justify whether it "fit" into some preconceived genre. Although, of course, I do remember being embarrassed when I was in my "rock snob" era about enjoying The Monkees. Ha.
Frankly, I don't think the fracturing and sub-fracturing of rock & pop into so many sub-genres has been very healthy, in terms of giving fair shrift to all the great stuff that's out there! I think the last time I felt labels were meaningful was when "new wave"and "alternative" were used almost exclusively to designate almost anything that was different from the mainstream commercial music of the time.
Thus, Elvis Costello, The Clash, The Cars, REM, The Ramones, Squeeze, The dB's, Oingo Boingo, The Selectors, even Dire Straits and The Police, etc. -- it was ALL New Wave or Alternative because it was a"new way" of expressing pop and rock music of the Seventies. And I liked almost all of it.
As a musician I have always struggled with labels. In the early eighties, a prospective manager told my brother and me: "You guys are far too alternative for the pop crowd, but far too pop for the alternative crowd and the rock audience will hate you either way."
And so it has been ever since.
"At long last, I have finished cleaning up my studio a bit. It got rather disheveled during the Christmas season when I was also using it as a gift-wrapping area and all my notebooks & lyrics pages got scattered across the floor along with endless loops of cords and mic stands.
For me, this is good news because I'm hoping to start recording a new song tomorrow, which is intended to be a bit of a collaboration with Marvin Hunt, an old-time friend from the Kansas City area whose bands over the years have been awesome. He was the producer of my very first solo record "Hi-Fi Limbo" by Richard H back in '85. The nature of our collaboration is that each of us would write a Nick Lowe-styled song and that we'd take turns adding things to each other's recording of their own song.
Trouble is, Nick Lowe has written so many styles of music that almost anything could qualify as a Nick Lowe-styled song, right? The song I've just finished writing for our collaboration is called "You Are Always Right" and I've had the chorus for the song floating around since the late 1980's, but the impetus for this project led me to finally finish writing it.
A few weeks ago I woke up one morning with a song running through my head that I'd written way back in 1978, "Reignburst," a song that was one of my attempts to write a Yes-meets-Steely Dan thing. It's funny. I hadn't heard that song, or even thought about it, in twenty years or more. But I went and dug out a live recording of my old band Harbor playing the song in 1980 and I was surprised that we'd played it as well as we had.
It certainly had no Yes or Steely Dan influences in it, but it did include some jazz chords and some prog influences while being neither genre particularly; however, I shocked myself because it was a fairly decent song, after all. I've been considering maybe brushing it off and recording it … all eight minutes of it! Ha.
As to the future, I’m not quite sure. I’ve got a whole lot of songs on the table right now and trying to decide which ones should be given priority, in terms of which to record next. But continuing to write music and record it is something I plan to continue to do."
You can listen to and buy Shiftingears here. You can buy CDs of Shiftinggears at Kool Kat here and of
I really must apologise for not telling you about Dunkie earlier, entirely my fault. Working To Design was in the I Don't Hear A Single Top 100 albums of last year and this new EP deserves even further recognition, it is a beautiful listen.
Anthony Price with Wayne Bassett are effectively the band, as well as being the songwriters, but the whole project is a collaboration of like minded individuals. As well as adding variety to the material, these collaborators add to and expand the appeal.
Over these five songs, there are treks into Folk and Country, but overall the vibe is more Modern Prog and definitely Pop Rock. I'm thinking of the Alan Parsons Project or Renaissance. The quality of the song writing shines through and the arrangements complement Price's wonderful delicately fragile voice.
There is a real laid back feel to the album, maybe it's a South Wales effect, which allows the songs into your soul. The poppiest thing here is Shadows On The Sun, a song built around an hypnotic riff. This and the moodier The Vanishing are a perfect showcase for that precious voice. The latter has far more packed into it than the former. I kept thinking of Beth Orton's Roll The Dice at times.
Deep Dark Heart is essentially a folk duet with vocals from Mark Purnell and Sarah Birch, but that is only part of the story. The blend of their voices is a tad prime time Fleetwood Mac, but the arrangement is superb. Stunning Violin from Terry Payne with a tinge of Americana adding to the mix.
Mali Davies takes lead vocals on Choke and the melancholy rings out, aided again by Terry Payne's Flute, as well as Violin. Choke is amazing in that it is played by seven musicians, but still sounds so splendidly sparse.
Lauren Coates is lead vocalist on the closer, The Vanishing Shadow, bringing a more modern feel to proceedings. Hopefully, the people who will like this EP will also add the Working To Design album to their collections.
Another thought occurred. If only a collaboration like The Prog Collective could come up with something as special as this. Providing an intelligent rounded beautifully arranged album instead of revealing how well they could play their instruments. This EP is exceptional.
You can listen to and buy the album here. The EP is only 50p, I mean 50p! Bandcamp buyers also get a bonus track, an alternative stripped down version of The Vanishing recorded at the same sessions.
I am a Caddy fanatic. Norway's Tom Dahl has a knack of making music that turns every mood to chirpy. My one frustration is that such a fantastic talent doesn't promote himself nearly enough if at all, so I'm hoping that this heads up review changes a little bit of that.
The album is out digitally this Friday and on CD on Kool Kat in April or May. I'll post links for both formats as soon as I have them, but I've been bursting to tell you about this for so long. Even though I'm told that I'm a Power Pop writer, I don't really consider myself such, but I definitely am for this review.
I know when people hear the words cover album, they run for the hills, I know I do. It fills me with dread the way this lockdown has brought out the words "acoustic set." But wait! It really depends on the songs and thankfully there are no Beatles related covers here. I love The Beatles, but you know, other bands are available.
The fact is that many of the songs here will not be familiar to most away from the die hard Pop Rock fans, who are probably listening to Badfinger or Raspberries on rotation. Bar a magnificent cover of Junior Campbell's 1971 gem, If I Call Your Name, all choices are from the end of the 70's / start of the 80's golden New Wave Guitar Pop period.
Before telling you about other songs, I have to mention the closer. It brought tears to my eyes as a massive Chris Sievey fan, I mean who covers The Freshies? Only Pop Rock devotees. For me everything revolves around this song, an inspired choice.
Whilst people will know of Robin Lane And The Chartbusters and The Cretones, how many of you would know SVT's Heart Of Stone? What about Screaming Sneakers' Violent Days, here it includes a lead vocal from Ida from Blomst. It is also a long time since I've heard Gary Charlson. You will have heard Walking On The Roof on the IDHAS Audio Extravaganza, it still sounds as great now.
All 10 songs have been given Maximum Power Pop and it works. I'm not sure that Detours And Dead Ends should even be classed as a cover album, it has been Caddied (sic) up so much to make it their own. This is a superb feel good album, a pleasure to listen to and one to explore. You'll learn something about artists you didn't know of and be reminded that Tom Dahl is a major talent.
01. Walking On The Roof (Sgt. Arms, 1982)
02. Heart of Stone (SVT, 1981)
03. If I Call Your Name (Junior Campbell, 1971)
04. Best Thing I Ever Did (The Invaders, 1979)
05. Cost of Love (The Cretones, 1980)
06. Violent Days (Screaming Sneakers, 1982)
07. Not The Way It Seems (Gary Charlson,1978)
08. Don't Wait Till Tomorrow (Robin Lane & The Chartbusters, 1980)
09. Mark My Words (Chrissy, 1980)
10. No Money (The Freshies,1980)
The album is available on Apple Musichereand Spotifyhere. As soon as I have the link for the Kool Kat CD release, I will post that too.
I get a lot of music sent to me and I can't always get to it straight away and tucked away out of plain sight was this cracker from last year. Bang 74 are from Ferrol in Spain, but this album is very UK Wave 1979, wonderfully so in fact.
A Power Trio, which seems a prerequisite for many of the best of that scene, these three offer up a no messing 12 songs in 32 minutes. You can imagine them as storming some sweaty club with the audience in the palm of their hands.
There is a real earthiness to Cris Veiga's vocal, not quite the drawl of Graham Parker, nor the shout of Jimmy Pursey. This suits the material, it rocks like a good un', but you sense that the band, like all the best New Wave Bands of the time would have started thinking they were Punk, but were just too catchy to reside there.
There is variation here. The Park Of The Peacocks borders on Psych Pop, Driftin' has a real Power Pop Jangle and Thru The Desert is even a bit Strummer vocal wise. The latter ends with a Hippy Psych Out which shows what they are capable of.
There will be lazy comparisons to The Replacements, maybe even to The Clash, although they aren't as street as either. You sense that the band are happiest when they are playing at pace, allowing the hooks and shouts to grip their audience.
Let It Drift is raucous. The sort of album that you used to hear a lot, but don't now. It's a thoroughly enjoyable romp and in All Straight Ahead, Bang 74 have a real anthem to hang on to. This is a great little album, well worth your pennies.
The few reviews that I've seen for Endeavor have been so wide of the mark that my indignation set off for record and levels. One review compared the band to The Strokes. Trust me this album is nothing like The Strokes in any shape, form or sound.
You'd expect a band with a name like The Muckers to be a Garage Rock or Punk outfit. There's none of that either. I can see some of the confusion, many reviewers listen to the first two songs and then blag a will this do review. Doing that here would have you believe this is Pop Rock.
However further listening reveals a splendid melodic Psych album. Wonderfully riff led, the Brooklyn quartet have offered up a cracking slice of 60's far out man joy that never loses its hooks despite the Psych being desperate to take over.
The vocal edges to somewhere between Modern Prog and The Fifth Dimension and that is the appeal. Front man. Emir Mohseni has cited his influences from Frank Zappa to The Stranglers and you can hear that, but it is that top notch Psych that everything centres around. It isn't Pop, but it is incredibly hook laden.
As a fan of Pop Rock who is also a lover of Psych or Prog, I confuse people. But listening to this album will perhaps explain why. At times it is Groovy Uncle, at others Moby Grape without ever appearing that it is trying to be any of either.
A corking 7 minute wigged out storming affair like To The Core Of The Sun is 1967 UFO Club, yet that is tempered by a song like Suspended which is all UK Beat. Endeavor is an incredibly inventive thing, nodding to the past whilst grabbing da kidz. I'm more than impressed.
Welcome to the Kool Kat Weekly New Release Update. Kool Kat are distributed in the UK and Europe by I Don't Hear A Single as part of our aim to keep CDs available and affordable. The Kool Kat Links with each album take you to further details on each release..
Please place all UK and European orders by following the details here. Links to Kool Kat's Entire Stock can be found here. Without further ado, here are seven new additions to Kool Kat Musik this Week.
Ryan Allen - What A Rip (Futureman Records) 2021 $12
Forgoing his “Extra Arms” this time around, “What A Rip” is a brand new “solo” record from Pop Rocker Ryan Allen. “With ‘What A Rip’, Allen gives us a 2020-themed record that doesn't try too hard to be a 2020-themed record. Like so many other musicians and artists, he made the best of a bad situation last year and used his pandemic downtime to focus on creative pursuits. In terms of musical inspirations, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks and The Who are all over this record. While it's fun to joke about who he might be ripping off from track to track, he does a wonderful job of stealing creatively.
The Total Rejection - A Travers Les Mythes Du Temps (Raving Pop Blast Records UK) 2020 $18
With their first three studio albums featuring a whole host of sounds and arrangements, we often wondered how the band would pull their songs off live. Well now we know!! These are LIVE recordings (from over three days) by the Bristol (UK) based Garage-Punk-Pop-Psych band. Recorded live with no overdubs (just a quick levels/balancing). The English translation of the album’s title is “Through The Myths Of Time” The recording is raw and messy, but also wild and rocking!
The Dials - AND ANOTHER THING…b-sides and asides (Kool Kat Musik) 2021 $14
NEW RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT MUSIK LABEL – AVAILABLE MARCH 19 – ACCEPTING ORDERS NOW!! The Dials are a British band that formed in 2002 whose music is a mixture of psychedelia, country, and rock. Like a lot of bands handcuffed by the pandemic, they took a look back at their recorded output to date and realized there were some “gems” that needed to be rediscovered/comped – so here they are!
New To The Dials? Here’s Your Chance To Get “Dialed In”! Buy At Least Any Two (Or All) Of Their Previously Released Cds For Only $14 Each! If Paying By Credit Card You Will Be Charged The Correct Amount. If Paying With Paypal, You Will Be Refunded Accordingly!!
The Dials - That Was The Future (Gear Disc Records UK) 2017 $16
There’s much to delight fans of Anglophile psych and early prog (think Charlatans UK meets Caravan) in The Dials’ 2017 effort. Strong hooks, Hammond and Vox organs, modular synths and swirling guitars abound, however their inventiveness clearly show they are not retro revivalists.
The Dials - The End Of The Pier (Gear Disc Records UK) 2013 $16
Released in 2013, The Dials’ third album touches on monster acid rock (Syd-era Pink Floyd on "Mondo Space"), blissed-out acoustic balladry ("Over The Fence") and forgotten underground spy movie theme music ("The Crawling Man") on a twang-tastic, Farfisa-fuelled, genre-busting, twisted seaside pop trip! "The End Of The Pier" makes impeccable references to "Nuggets"-inspired garage, English pastoral psychedelia and surf twang.
The Dials - Companions Of The Rosy Hours (Gear Disc Records UK) 2009 $15
Their 2009 sophomore effort takes in influences from psychedelic pop, classic country, American and English folk music, surf and much more. A tightly focused burst of strange energy that still manages to roam all over the sonic landscape.
The Dials - The Dials (Gear Disc Records UK) 2007 $16
The 14 tracks sprawl all over the stew of the last 40 years of music bringing to the surface nuggets of country music that have been seasoned in the cosmic stew and fused with all manner of other ingredients, their absolute control over their craft allowing them to combine strange flavours into a satisfying tasty whole. A sprawling stylistically diverse work that is almost flawlessly executed,
There's been a lot of love expressed for the latest IDHAS Audio Extravaganza after it's return yesterday, fresh from a couple of months absence. One of the most mentioned songs by you has been the third in revelation that is Space Cadet's Bad Luck. It is a hurricane of a song caught between 70's Glam Rock and 80's Indie.
So it makes sense to tell you about the upcoming album that's released on the 26th. The album is straight out of Massachusetts, but sounds much more 80's UK Indie. I suppose people would call it Post Punk now, although in it's heyday, no one ever mentioned that term. The genre term is reflective and tells you nothing about the music.
Lion On A Leash is a Guitar Riff led Rock album in which the Pop is fighting to get out. The Guitar Sound is very Billy Duffy and I keep thinking of The Cult, although these guys are far more melodic than The Cult could ever be. They are not even a happy version of The Cult, so it is probably the riffs that direct me that way.
There are a lot of influences around, all of them seem to be in the UK Indie scene. Having said that Lose Control ventures into Space Rock and almost Modern Prog. The closing Instrumental, Slo, heads toward something almost Coheed And Cambria.
Having said that Forever For A While is stomping Pop whilst If Only is a Bass driven joy and then there's Bad Luck, an absolute killer of a single, a song should cue for the next party, whenever that is. The biggest compliment that I can give the album is that there's nothing around like it at the moment.
The Guitar runs are hypnotic, hooks are held on to until you can't get them out of your head. Just when you think you've sussed Space Cadet out, they offer up something completely surprising. It'll be interesting to hear what the direction the next album takes, but this is a splendid debut in a time when the guitar isn't as important as it should be.
You can pre-order the album and get the three embedded tracks now here.
The IDHAS Audio Extravaganza returns after a month or two. We've brought a note from our Mum. 24 songs in just under 77 minutes. 23 are new and one is a splendid archive choice with an hello from the artist.
Work has resumed in providing a talky version of this which may be ready by the time we reach 108.The playlist will remain the same. If you feel inclined, like the Mixcloud version, this gives the artists wider listening potential. The Audio Extravaganza features regularly in the Mixcloud Global Indie Charts.
A reminder that these episodes are compiled with great care. The aim is to produce a sort of modern day mix tape. Hopefully this will be the soundtrack to your day. If you use the Mixcloud player at the bottom of this page, each song title is shown as it plays. The playlist itself is also as the first comment on the Mixcloud Episode page.
You can listen to the previous IDHAS Audio Extravaganzas on Mixcloud here.
Thanks as always to Jim Moody for his audio expertise. Here are the contents of Volume 107 :
I'm more than used to writing about American bands who sound so British. So how about some splendid West Coast California Pop from a Manchester Trio. Portable Radio's debut album is Sunshine Pop at its very very best. Now we can wait for the jokes about it always raining in Manchester.
When the Jellyfish massive switch on to this album (and they will), you'll get loads of comparisons to The Explorers Club to The Beach Boys and you can easily hear them. But the contents here are far more keyboard led and certainly far more jaunty.
That jauntiness is more likely the UK influence and it certainly adds to the quality of the songs. The layered vocal harmonies will be compared to Brian Wilson, but there is just as much in common with the likes of early Todd Rundgren and even the great Glasgow Pop of the mid Eighties onwards. There's certainly hints of Ben Folds Piano Pop and even Dodgy.
However all these "sounds like" comparisons should not take away from how good Portable Radio are and how unique this blend of upbeat pop is. Music should bring a smile to your face and too often it doesn't. We seem to be under a blizzard of songs about lockdown misery and this album is the antidote. It is also a reminder that electricity is still available during this period.
Normally I'd mention a few songs to guide you. But this is an album to listen to all the way through. Considering the current times we are enduring, this debut album should be prescribed to everyone. It may also be that the best song is left until the last, just listen to those harmonies. What a splendid offering this is.
You can listen to and buy the album here. You really should.
Following on from 2020's Rebuilding Permit and the big stir (see what I did there?) that the album created, Chaney embarked on a series of Radio Sessions, mainly for Woody Radio, Incidentally he kindly did a Session to celebrate the 100th Edition of the IDHAS Audio Extravaganza which was lauded loudly and rightly so.
To keep these Sessions fresh, Chaney revisited his back catalogue and played songs that he hadn't played for a long time. This allowed him to stretch himself on new arrangements and listeners realised that Rebuilding Permit may have been new to them, but it was a culmination of a career spanning over three decades.
Although his back catalogue had quality songs, all had been recorded hand to mouth on whatever lo fi equipment he could muster. It soon dawned that these songs deserved a wider audience, but needed revisiting and recording in a more modern setting with a producer capable of catching their glory. Enter Nick Bertling who plays on and produces the album.
When back catalogue is revisited by an artist, it is usually for copyright reasons and results in inferior versions. Here we have the opposite, songs that have been improved, aurally and in spirit. Most people wouldn't have heard these songs previously, so This Is Dolph Chaney virtually becomes a new album to all.
There is great variety provided within. You would expect that with songs written throughout a career, but the production doesn't reveal that, bar the odd song, it is hard to date them and Chaney's versatility shines through. It is therefore impossible to play the guessing game of what was written when. Cuddle Party sounds like something off the Footloose soundtrack when it was written in 2004.
Status Unknown opens the album and continues a recent refreshing Pop Rock album trend. Track 1 is no longer let them have it explosion of old. Openers are more reflective, moody even, before the noisier offerings that follow. Status Unknown is suitably moody and hypnotic.
There is lots here for you to shout out choruses to. I Wanted You fairly romps along and reminds me a lot of Nick Piunti. Now I'm A Man is straight out of FM Radio and My Good Twin shouts out Matthew Sweet at virtually every turn.
Beat It is a fine AOR ballad whilst it could be Pino Paladino playing Bass in early Paul Young style, on the wonderfully laidback Under The Overpass. Pleasant Under Glass is splendidly yee haw with a real country twang, aided by the Backing Vocals of a couple of Vapour Trails.
A special mention must be aimed at Graveyard Shift, a magnificent moody closer with Nick Bertling in Phil Collins Drumming mode. This Is Dolph Chaney is for all intents and purposes a fully fledged new album and underlines how bright the future is for Dolph Highly Recommended!
You can listen to the album on Bandcamp here. You can also buy the album there or on the Big Stir site here.
Welcome to the Kool Kat Weekly New Release Update. Kool Kat are distributed in the UK and Europe by I Don't Hear A Single as part of our aim to keep CDs available and affordable. The Kool Kat Links with each album take you to further details on each release..
Please place all UK and European orders by following the details here. Links to Kool Kat's Entire Stock can be found here. Without further ado, here are seven new additions to Kool Kat Musik this Week.
Bhopal’s Flowers - Astroemeria - A Journey On Earth & Beyond (Kool Kat Musik) 2021 $15
NEW RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT MUSIK LABEL – AVAILABLE MARCH 12 – ACCEPTING ORDERS NOW!! Hindu deities dancing in the sky of the American desert, psychedelic cosmic pop hanging by a thread to the star of the shepherd, the music of Bhopal's Flowers seems to point to an unknown but familiar direction: The record oozes shades of 60’s trippy psych/West Coast -influenced sounds with dreamy vocals, liberal sprinklings of 12-string guitars and sitar, singing the gospel life, from its very first sunrays, to its late moonbeams.
The Cheap Cassettes - See Her In Action! (Rum Bar Records) 2021 $7
The Cheap Cassettes have joined the ranks of like minded power pop/punk rock Pacific Northwest bands like The Exploding Hearts, The Briefs, King Louie’s Missing Monuments, Flop, The Fastbacks, The Lemons, The Riffs, The Cute Lepers, and Best Kissers In The World. "It’s a toe-tapping sing-along that will earworm you incessantly."
Javier Escovedo - Kicked Out Of Eden (Saustex Records) $13
Released in 2016, “Kicked Out Of Eden” was the second solo effort by the founding member of The Zeros and The True Believers and a pioneer of the 70’s West Coast punk movement. The album is pure pop inflected rock ‘n’ roll that remains true to his love of 60’s garage and 70’s punk and glam. He’s backed by Brad Rice (Keith Urban Band), Hector Muñoz and Cornbread (Billy Joe Shaver). A must for folks who love great songs delivered with passion and punch.
The Fleshtones - Face Of The Screaming Werewolf (Yep Roc Records) 2020 $15
Legendary garage rockers The Fleshtones have been pumping out hits for over four decades, earning them the honour of being "America's Garage Rock Band." They’re one of the final remaining original CBGB bands, they’ve played on Andy Warhol’s short-lived MTV show while Sir Ian McKellen read Shakespeare over their jamming and were the last band to publicly perform at the World Trade Center’s Windows On The World.
Hayley and The Crushers - Fun Sized (Rum Bar Records) 2021 $9
San Luis Obispo, CA’s Hayley and the Crushers offer up a tsunami of bold, bad girl fun. Fizzy, frothy, and still a little dangerous, be careful just how far you paddle out. There's blood in the water and the mermaids in this part of the Crusherverse are known to nibble. "A great mix of punk, pop, new wave, surf and glam. Great melodic hooks and vocal harmonies compare-and-contrast perfectly alongside fuzzy guitars and a pounding rhythm section."
Various Artists - Rebel Rousers (Rum Bar Records) 2021 $9
“Rebel Rousers”’, a Rum Bar Records “Loss Leader” compilation, serves to affirm the label’s mantra that art is generally enjoyed best with a warm beer and cold shot in a corner at a neighbourhood watering hole! If you haven’t been keeping up with the label, here’s a terrific, inexpensive, ready-made, overview mix tape to bring you up to speed!
