Now listening to:
Alamo Race Track - Life Like Fire
Upcoming reviews:
J.J. Cale - Roll On
Calexico - The Black Light
Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Sunday at...
Latest buys/gifts/finds:
Alamo Race Track - Greetings from the...
Calexico - The Black Light
Dan Bern - Dog Boy Van EP
Blaudzun - Promises of No Man's Land
Caesar - Leaving Sparks
Upcoming shows:
Feb 23
Oct 19-21
Clan of Xymox [Dordrecht]
Left of the Dial festival [Rotterdam]
Recently visited shows:
Feb 08
Jan 25
Dec 01
Nov 11
Nov 19-21
Jul 08
Jun 14
Jun 09-11
May 27
May 19
Apr 23
Mar 25
Mar 11
Jan 27
Saint Agnes
Kevin Montgomery
Elephant, Sofie Winterson
Wannes van Capelle
Plattenbau, Chalk, CLT DRP, Wych Elm, Carriegoss, Joshua Idehen, LIFE, Big Special, Tramhaus, [Left of the Dial festival]
Ellen ten Damme
The War on Drugs
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul,The Chemical Brothers, De Staat, Hammok, Lankum, De Toegift, Alvvays, Crack Cloud, Kurt Vile & the Violators, MICH, Nation of Language, Sorry, Oscar and the Wolf [Best Kept Secret festival]
Exit North
Alamo Race Track
Quiet Hollers
Flip Noorman
The Notwist, Dorpsstraat 3, Kinderen tegen Kinderen [Peel Slowly and See festival]
Spinvis
List of personal favorites:
Anywhen - The Opiates
Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Black Atlantic - Darkling, I Listen
Broken Records - Let Me Come Over
Ane Brun - My Temporary Dive
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
The Frames - The Cost
Kashmir - No Balance Palace
Madrugada - The Deep End
Noir Desir - Des Visages des Figures
Currently reading:
De Beste Muziek Verhalen van 1945 tot Nu samengesteld en ingeleid door Leon Verdonschot
posted [16.02.2023]
released [2003]
[sub]genre: indie
rating:
Comment:
Exactly a year ago and no more than a mile from todays' guesthouse I was listening to this very record. It's been a lousy year I wish I could erase. Time to start anew; all it takes is just a little perseverence. So here we are. Everyone's out skiing, I've done the dishes and made a grocery list. Meanwhile Alamo Race Track's debut is playing on the stereo.
Alamo Race Track is one of those bands that sets an album free when the time is right, tours and vanishes into thin air for an unknown period of time. And then you're lost. Songs grown on you, they open up like flowers in spring, but only if you let them and only if you try your best. They will sound ramble tamble at first and some will stay that way, just because they aren't for you. But other bits and bobs will fall into place and songs will embrace you and from there on never fail or bore you. In the meantime front man Ralph Mulder is working his Alamo Landscape company whilst brooding on new ideas.
A year ago it had been quiet around Alamo Race Track for some 7 years, but there they were; on the ESNS showcase festival bill! Not a hint on why, but something was in the air! I was on the look out for tour dates and a glimpse of an announcement on a new record. And there it was 'Greetings from Tear Valley and the Diamond Ae' was to be released in 2023 and a clubtour would follow. I was lucky to see them play at Tivoli Utrecht on May 19th with some good friends. Ramble tamble as expected, magical, mysterious, strange; I was left lost and Alamo Race Track has since vanished into thin air, for no one knows how long.
Don't Frighten Them
Happy Accidents
We Like To Go On
Trunk
Summer Holiday
Short Leave
Life is Great
Speed Up
Flame it Up
I Have Seen The Light
The Low End
Wild Bees
Birds at Home
Life Like Fire
Caesar
Before My Band Explodes
posted [03.02.2023]
released [2005]
[sub]genre: indie
rating:
Comment:
The start of Caesar as a band parallels the start of the Excelsior Recordings label (Tim Knol, Triggerfinger, Spinvis, Moss, Claw Boys Claw, De Staat). In 1994 Roald van Oosten from the Little Furry Things meets Chicas del Rock's Marit de Loos. They chat, connect and share an idea. Sem Bakker who hadn't played bass before in his life was added to complete the line up. Their first demo was sent to Excelsior Recordings - in 1995 still called (Nothing Sucks Like) Electrolux. Their 1996 debut Clean is the first album released on Excelsior Recordings. After a festival season and tours with Johan, Scram C Baby and Daryll-Ann, Caesar writes and records follow up No Rest for the Alonely. Situations Complications with the legendary lyrics "Life is so much easier when you're stoned" becomes a festival favorite. China Records - with The Levellers in their stalls - shows interest and releases the album in the UK under the gramatically correct title No Rest for the Lonely. As far as I know nobody had issues with Bob Dylan's The Times are a-Changing. In 1999 Caesar flies to Chicago to record Leaving Sparks with Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana), but fans are not impressed. The band returns to Excelsior Recordings resident producer Frans Hagenaars for the autonomously titled Caesar. In search of super power the artists change their names to Roald Von, Semmie Automatic and Clair Obscure. A sabatical and a compilation follows. Though the compilation - a rewriting of the song title Before My Head Explodes - is played integrally on the reunion tour, it proves prophetic. 2008 sees the end of Caesar.
Don't You Feel Like: Wow
Firefly
Goodbye to Barruschna
The Safeword
Gogomobile
Before My Head Explodes
Oh Weirdo
Visions of Mars
In My Sequoia
Situations / Complications
Twist
In Flames
Should I Fall From Space
Plastic Heart
Alcatraz
Return to Go
Rocket
Out of Orbit
Dark Matter
Memory Man
Firestarter
Strange Positions
(Hell Yeah) Mistaken
The Byrds
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
posted [06.02.2022]
released [1968]
remastered [1997]
[sub]genre: folk rock
rating:
Comment:
While on this side of the pond The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks define music history, McGuinn, Clarke and Crosby feel the urge to provide counterbalance. Where the British Invasion drew heavy on R&B, The Byrds - a misspelling in line with The Beatles - took their influences mainly from American folk and soon psychedelica. The Byrds released 12 albums between 1964 and 1973, 6 of them are regarded defining for American music. The Byrds are at their creative high recording The Notorious Byrd Brothers, but the tension within the band was explosive. Crosby in particular pushed the limits. He had written a rather controversial song on a menage-a-trois (Triad), that was competing for the tracklist with the King-Goffin song Goin' Back. With three songwriters on board, in Crosby's opinion adding yet another cover was a sign of weakness. On top of that Crosby annoyed his band members at the Monterey Pop Festival by giving lengthy in-between-song speeches on delicate subjects as the JFK assassination and LSD. Stepping in for Neil Young with Buffalo Springfield without informing his Byrds members was the straw that broke the camel's back. Or the horses' as his dismissal is reflected in the album cover. Notorious Byrd Brothers was eventually finished with the help of session musicians. The album has a lot going on. From their reknowned harmony vocals to Sergeant Pepper-inspired brass and baroque, from experimenting with the Moog synthesizer to a straight forward country tune. Complex personalities made this band explode. To quote the liner notes: 'The Byrds had always fought and made records like a tight but dysfunctional family'. With Crosby and Clarke fired The Byrds would carry on to make one more relevant record before fading out. In hindsight Sweetheart of the Rodeo - with Gram Parson - would mark the start of the country rock genre.
