AFGHAN WHIGS – IN SPADES – new album.

Historically (and the Whigs have plenty of history) one could perhaps label the Whigs a bit hit and miss over the course of an album and indeed their entire catalogue, BUT this is a slow-burning late-career highlight from Greg Dulli’s influential outfit.

A bit of rock, a bit of roll, topped off with some gritty, dirty, horny (as in trumpets etc.) soul and Dulli’s trademark gravelly howl’n’growl delivered with loads of drama with a capital D.

This should satisfy your craving for noise for a while.

Play it thrice, nice and loud and see if you don’t like it.

(And then go buy it. Of course)

Go on, I dare ya……..volume 11 mind. Anything less just won’t allow it to cut its mustard.

afghan whigs in spades

AFGHAN WHIGS
In Spades
(Sub Pop, 2017)
Listen or buy on Google Play

ST.VINCENT – NEW YORK – new track.

First for two years, sounds great to my ears.

Yet another phenomenal and original talent I was lucky enough to have to sell, although I’d been down-sized before her album with David Byrne sadly.

4AD though is another one of THOSE labels. Always worth checking out what they release…

Home to such diverse genius as The Cocteaux, The Pixies, Dead Can Dance, The National and more recently Lemon Twigs and Aldous Harding it’s a music lover’s wet dream. (Sorry about that.)

For newcomers; St.Vincent deserves your love, as you’re about to discover.

 

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – New track

Sadly Lisa Lobsinger-less (more below) but Emily (Haines of Metric) and Leslie (Feist) are back! And it’s just great indie rock whoever’s in the band.

 

HIDDEN GEM – REVERIE SOUND REVIEW

Following on from the above here’s a track from the almost-criminally unknown Calgary band Reverie Sound Review.

Lovers of The Sundays/ Mazzy Star and spacy dream pop from all solar systems take mote.(C wot I did there?)

The lovely and indeed luscious Lisa Lobsinger was my ‘buyer’ at Calgary’s best-known indie record store (Megatunes) for a year or two in the 00s and what a delight it was talking music & marijuana with her. I actually tried to get a couple of labels to sign the band to no avail. Whatever, Lisa was a sweetheart, talented, knowledgeable and quietly steely she’s gone on to bigger and better things with Broken Social Scene which has allowed her to resurrect Reverie Sound Review and at least get some attention for her own material. Long may she/ they run, after all the race is not always won by the swift or strong but to those who endure… Right? Right.

(Holy F*ck Batman a bibular quote! That won’t be happening again any time soon I would imagine.)

 

FAVOURITE ARTIST FAVOURITE TRACK – MARK LANEGAN

I discovered Mark thanks to this track on a free CD with Q magazine back in 1992 and was immediately captivated by his subterranean baritone rasping growl.

 

Not only have I followed his career ever since, I was lucky enough to get to sell him when he signed for Beggars Banquet. (There’s that label thing again. Original home to Gary Numan, The Cult, Biffy Clyro and The Go-Betweens etc. etc.)

A conquered crippling heroin habit, a back catalogue of weighty gritty blues morphing into weighty gritty bluesy electronica the guy’s one of the great voices from the ‘grunge’ scene/era and has gone on to work with a diverse range of artists from QOTSA and Soulsavers to Isobel Campbell and P.J. Harvey.

Oh and…………..Greg Dulli, of course, in both The Gutter Twins and The Twilight Singers.

Which I found out about…ten minutes ago. So much for my encyclopaedic musical knowledge eh? Just goes to show, as I often try and tell people, doesn’t matter how much you know there’s always more to find out. So in light of this newly discovered (and purely coincidental) connection between two of these issues artists here’s a bonus track that should rock your world in a heavy, growly, howly, raspy,dirty, subterranean fashion.

Join me and take a Deep Hit of the Morning Sun as the Gutter Twins cover Prima Scream in suitably nitty and would you believe it – gritty fashion! (Go on laugh, it’s debliterate, as is that spelling.)

Until next time…….

 

And, of course, be sure to check out Mark’s latest tour de force: Gargoyle; it too will rawk your world.

And by now you know how…………………………..

Disclaimer: I own none of the vids and you should rush out and buy them.

I’m just posting them for entertainment and edumacation porpoises.

If they don’t work on this silly blogummathingamy go to my FB page Gary Anthony Rutland cos they’ll damn sure work there.

Want more music writing? Me too. Go here then.

6 new reviews up very shortly after you see this. Quickies and goodies. Diverse too. What’s new?

Want more me? Go here!

Next issue: Albums & tracks of the year so far. Betcha can’t wait. Me neither.

All technical cock-ups are down to faulty technology the small, bald pot-bellied controller is in no way to blame.

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About The Author

Collaborator - RREVERB

Gary’s been listening to music since the 60’s and has the scars to prove it. Failed dalliance’s with violins and guitars couldn’t stop him fronting the Punk band Moscow and being spat on by 2000 Welsh punks in the summer of 1977 while supporting John Peel faves The Motors at Cardiff Top Rank. He spent 15 years selling some of the finest music by some of the best musicians in the world.