I've been a music fan since my parents gave me a record player for Christmas when I was still in grade school. The first record I remember owning was "Sesame Street Disco." I've been a professional writer since 2004, but writing long before that. My first published work was in a middle school literary magazine and was a story about a zoo in which the animals could talk.
Thanks to all who listened to the first “Mystery Monday” show of 2024 on WSND. It was three hours of electronic dance music to kick off the new year. Here’s the set list:
Stephen Buono (by Matt Gribben) / Finom (by Alex Viscius) / Nels Cline / Ricardo Dias Gomes
Last month, Church Chords announced their debut album, elvis, he was Schlager, set to release on February 23rd via Otherly Love Records.The collaborative recording project led by musician/producer Stephen Buono brings together accomplished musicians from his time spent in Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, to create music that honors experimentation and collaboration.
Today, Church Chords returned to share “She Lays on a Leaf,” their avant-pop krautrock featuring guitar from Nels Cline (Wilco) and vocals by Finom‘s Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham alongside Ricardo Dias Gomes (Caetano Veloso),who also penned the song’s lyrics.
When asked about the track, Buono shared more about collaborating with Cline: “For this song, I asked Nels to imagine John McLaughlin playing the opening guitar solo on ”Mother Sky” by Can. I think the solo on the alternate version is one of his best on record. It is such an integral part of the song that I gave him writing credit. On the album version, I love how co-producer John Herndon synthesized the solo to sound like I don’t know what.”
The story of elvis, he was Schlager, begins ca. 2016 in Chicago where Buono had relocated after four decades as a Philadelphia area resident, who frequently traveled to New York in his 20s & 30s soaking up the scenes at Tonic and The Village Vanguard. In Philly, in addition to his ubiquitous presence at a multitude of performances, Buono notably volunteered for the renowned avant garde presenter Ars Nova Workshop and put on his own live events at a series of West Philadelphia spaces. He also founded, wrote music for, and played guitar in the post-punk outfit, Split/Red, which BrooklynVegan called “Beefheart-ian….punk with an unbridled, avant-garde antagonism.”
Deeply embedded and inspired by the fertile music scene in the Windy City, where he moved at 38, he wanted his first Church Chords album to be fully Chicago-centric, using only locals. Buono oversaw a session at Steve Albini’s famed Electrical Audio that attempted to, as he puts it, “synthesize ‘electric-era’ Miles Davis with Black Sabbath.” A laudable experiment that he felt was ultimately a failure, opting to stick it in his back pocket for re-evaluation later on.
In Fall 2016 Buono relocated to Los Angeles and, a year to the day after his Electrical Audio session, dusted off the shelved material in a session with bassist Devin Hoff (Julia Holter, Sharon Van Etten), percussionist John Herndon, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Boye (Ty Segall, Bonnie “Prince” Billy). The trio laid down new rhythm tracks for six songs from the original session — a 35-minute continuous improvisation that changed the dynamic and structure of the work. In addition, Buono produced an additional 4 songs from tracks laid down by Chicagoan multihyphenate Jim Baker on ARP2000. Elliot Bergman (Wild Belle) produced one of these songs, “Recent Mineral” aka “Renda,” which has versions in both English and Portuguese.
For the next little while, Buono started massaging this mass of material into shape alongside co-producers in the vein of a hip-hop producer. As he did, more voices and players from an equally vibrant L.A. scene were folded into the proceedings. Among them, keyboardist Sam Barsh (Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar); guitarists Nels Cline, Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Mark Shippy (US Maple), Brandon Seabrook; horn player Josh Johnson (Leon Bridges’ musical director); percussionist Kenny Wollesen (Bill Frisell, Tom Waits); and Nate Walcott (a multi-instrumentalist known for his work with Bright Eyes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Phoebe Bridgers).
It was at this point that Buono made some crucial decisions related to the album and the Church Chords project as a whole. The biggest was that he opted to lessen his contributions as a performer; to instead take on the role of a producer in the mode of Teo Macero or a member of Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad. He would be directing the sessions and helping finesse the finished product but otherwise staying out of the musicians’ way as they wrote lyrics and improvised.
As well, Buono decided early on that the material he was conceptualizing for elvis, he was Schlager needed vocals, and lyrics. Through his many connections in the community, he became friends with Ricardo Dias Gomes, a Brazilian artist who has worked with the likes of Caetano Veloso and Arto Lindsay. Initially, Gomes was going to contribute lyrics to a single song, but as he heard more of the music, he was inspired to write words for the majority of the tracks. Also making vital contributions were multi-instrumentalist/producer Matt Mehlan, who wrote “Warriors of Playtime,” a powerful song written in the wake of George Floyd’s murder; and old friend Kristin Slipp (Dirty Projectors, Mmeadows) who contributed words and vocals to “Alone, Under The Water” and several others.
Gomes, Slipp, and Mehlan’s lyrics were treated with immense care and compassion by the people Buono tapped to sing on elvis, he was Schlager. As with the rest of the album, the vocalists are an array of jaw-dropping talent from Genevieve Artadi, here singing in Portuguese for the first time on record, Brazilian Thalma de Freitas (Kamasi Washington, Madlib), electropop genius Takako Minekawa to L.A. dynamo zzzahara (the Simps) to the avant pop group Finom (f.k.a. Ohmme) to Ako Castuera, an artist who worked behind on Adventure Time.
The number of contributors and the storyline behind elvis, he was Schlager, is a little dizzying to comprehend. And it may sound like a recipe for a mess — a situation with too many cooks. But thanks to Buono’s steady hands guiding each step of the process, the album is a complete, cohesive statement. An exploratory, daring, and engaging expression of music’s transformative power. A mood piece that flows steadily and smoothly from vibe to vibe, guiding the listener through each melodic twist and rhythmic turn.
Keep your mind open.
[Lay your e-mail address on the subscription box while you’re here.]
Drive-thru metal rockers Mac Sabbath are about to launch a short western U.S. tour with psych-rockers The Darts, starting at the legendary Pappy and Harriets in Pioneertown, California and ending at the wild Area 15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Don’t miss them. Tickets are on sale now.
01/17/24 – Pioneertown, CA – MAC SABBATH – Pappy And Harriets
01/19/24 – Flagstaff, AZ – MAC SABBATH – Orpheum Theater
01/20/24 – Tucson, AZ – MAC SABBATH – Rialto Theatre
01/21/24 – Las Vegas, NV – MAC SABBATH – The Portal Inside AREA 15
TOOL make their highly-anticipated return to Europe this Spring, with a month of dates slated for the 2024 trek, including outings at London’s The O2 Arena, Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena and Paris’ Accor Arena, as well as festival outings at Graspop Metal Meeting, Tons of Rock and CopenHell.
News of the band’s European tour follows a particularly busy time for the Los Angeles-based band, with the foursome featuring Danny Carey, Justin Chancellor, Adam Jones and Maynard James Keenan, currently in the midst of a North American tour that extends into February. Over the last five months, TOOL has headlined Aftershock, Welcome to Rockville, Louder Than Life and the Sonic Temple Arts & Music festivals, as well as a once-in-a-lifetime performance at Power Trip, which Metal Hammer described as “a mind-melting, triumphant showcase of just how singular their art is, a transcendental experience that surpasses genre boundaries.”
Tickets for all headlining dates are on-sale now.
TOOL European tour dates:
25 May Hannover, DE ZAG Arena
27 May Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
30 May Birmingham, UK Resorts World Arena
1 June Manchester, UK AO Arena
3 June London, UK The O2 Arena
5 June Paris, FR Accor Arena
8 June Berlin, DE Parkbühne Wuhlheide
10 June Wien, AT Wiener Stadthalle
11 June Kraków, PL Tauron Arena
13 June Budapest, HU BudapestAréna
18 June Köln, DE Lanxess Arena
20 June Dessel, BE Graspop Metal Meeting
22 June Copenhagen, DK CopenHell
25 June Stockholm, SE Tele2 Arena
27 June Oslo, NO Tons of Rock
TOOL North American tour dates:
10 January Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
12 January New York, NY Madison Square Garden
13 January New York, NY Madison Square Garden
18 January Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood
19 January Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood
21 January Charlotte, NC Spectrum Center
23 January Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
24 January Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
26 January Birmingham, AL The Legacy Arena at The BJCC
27 January Biloxi, MS Mississippi Coast Coliseum
30 January Corpus Christi, TX American Bank Center
Ty Segall returns with his most ambitious, elastic set of songs to date, Three Bells, to be released January 26th via Drag City. Following 2022’s acoustic introspection opus, “Hello, Hi,”Three Bells is a deeper, wilder journey to the center of the self, with Ty using his musical vocabulary with ever-increasing sophistication. In conjunction with today’s announcement, Tyunveils the new single/video, “My Room.”
Three Bells is an obsessive quest for expression. With much of the album being played by Ty in conversation with himself, a decision that further elevates the album’s conception, it answers back to the riptide always pulling Ty subconsciously into the depths. Questions we all ask in our own private mirrors are faced down here — and regardless of what the mysterious “Three Bells” mean in the context of the album’s libretto, you can be assured that Ty’s ringing them for himself, and for the rest of us in turn. With all fifteen songs brimming with perspectives, shape-shifting incessantly, Ty pushed them out farther and farther compositionally, challenging the way they’d be played. Each song moves through repetitive, thematic material in its own way, building a claustrophobic/paranoia vibe, cycling bold thrusts forward into ego deaths, the one-step-forward, two-steps-back patterns framing an overriding ask: what can we do to get past the back-and-forth conversation, to arrive at a place of acceptance?
On Three Bells, Ty and Denée Segall collaborated on five of the songs, including the previously released single, “Eggman.” Some of the songs needed the kind of playing Ty couldn’t get alone. Emmett Kelly’s bass parts not only addressed that need, but inspired the way the songs eventually went down. The remaining members of the FreedomBand were called in to play, transforming the material. Co-producer CooperCrain, who deeply contributed to both Harmonizer and “Hello, Hi”, engineered and mixed most of the album.
With todays’ single, “My Room,” Ty rings the bell of the introvert who is empowered by the world inside his own room. The layers of acoustic and electric guitars dance around each other, quickening the already swinging tempo, while fuzz distortion blows the walls farther back as he takes us deeper. The accompanying music video was directed by longtime collaborators MattYoka and Ty, and features Ty steadfastly performing the song on stage as bananas are launched in his direction. He remains resolute in dedication to the craft, only to reveal a surreal dialogue between the dual facets of his own identity.
Three Bells takes Ty Segall’s trips so much deeper and farther than they’ve gone before — a masterpiece of personal expression, expressed through words, music and production, parabolically addressing malaise with compassion in a flowing, unstoppable hour-plus of intoxicating sound. Following the album’s release, Ty will tour throughout North America. Tickets are on sale now.
Three Bells Tracklisting: 1. The Bell 2. Void 3. I Hear 4. Hi Dee Dee 5. My Best Friend 6. Reflections 7. Move 8. Eggman 9. My Room 10. Watcher 11. Repetition 12. To You 13. Wait 14. Denée 15. What Can We Do
Ty Segall 2024 Tour Dates: (new dates in bold)
Tue. Feb. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall Wed. Feb. 21 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall Fri. Feb. 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern * Sat. Feb. 24 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Fri. Apr. 19 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole Sat. Apr. 20 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar Mon. Apr. 22 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk (Outside) Tue. Apr. 23 – Jackson, MS @ Duling Hall Wed. Apr. 24 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl Fri. Apr. 26 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel Sat. Apr. 27 – Washington DC @ Lincoln Theatre Sun. Apr. 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Mon. Apr. 29 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall Wed. May 1 – Boston, MA @ Royale Thu. May 2 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda Fri. May 3 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall Sun. May 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom Mon. May 6 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Tue. May 7 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room Thu. May 9 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre Sat. May 11 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s Fri. June 28 – London, UK @ Roundhouse
Caroline Rose’s live show “explodes in color. Angry reds, deep blues, vibrant yellows, and every shade in-between flex and melt onstage in a dazzling light show dance that only grows in intensity as the set goes on” (NYLON). Today, Rose announces a 2024 North American tour in support of “their strongest and most resonant record yet” (Under The Radar), The Art of Forgetting, out now on New West Records. The Art of Forgetting was released earlier this year to a wealth of praise from the likes of The New York Times, NPR, and Document Journal, who hailed it as “a confessional, layered with personal anecdotes, Southern storytelling sensibilities, and unreserved exploration of the ever-evolving self.”
Rose’s 2024 tour includes stops in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Boulder, plus two-night stints in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco. Metropolis Ensemble, founded by Grammy award nominated conductor Andrew Cyr, will join Rose in Brooklyn and Northampton for a special set-up featuring eight auxiliary players. Fans will also have the opportunity to attend VIP screenings of Rose’s The Art of Forgetting short film, taking place in many of the venues following soundcheck. The film has earned many accolades, including the title of Best Music Video at Hollywood Shorts Fest, New York Indie Shorts Awards, and ARFF Amsterdam, in addition to being a semifinalist at Indie Shorts Awards Cannes and an official selection at Hollyshorts Film Festival. A full list of tour dates are below, and tickets are on sale to the general public now.
Caroline Rose 2024 Tour Dates Sun. March 31 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre Tue. April 2 – Northampton, MA@ Bombyx Wed. April 3 – Northampton, MA @ Bombyx Fri. April 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel Sat. April 6 – Fairfield, CT @ The Warehouse Sun. April 7 – Boston, MA @ Royale Tue. April 9 – Montreal, QC @ Studio TD Wed. April 10 – Toronto, ON @ Concert Hall Fri. April 12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer Sat. April 13 – Washington, DC @ 930 Club Sun. April 14 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom Tue. April 16 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Fri. April 19 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon Sat. April 20 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave Tue. April 23 – Iowa City, IA @ Englert Theatre Wed. April 24 – Kansas City, MO @ RecordBar Fri. April 26 – Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre Sat. April 27 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre Sun. April 28 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf Fri. May 3 – Tucson, AZ @ Congress Plaza Sat. May 4 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Mon. May 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Tue. May 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Fri. May 10 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre Sat. May 11 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Sun. May 12 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Tue. May 14 – Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu Barn Thu. May 16 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Fri. May 17 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Sat. May 18 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox Sun. May 19 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
The first 3-for-Thursday Nocturne show on WSND was a blast. Thanks to all who listened. Here’s the set list, and how each song relates to the number 3.
Tinariwen – Atahoura Techragh D’Azaka Nin (3rd song on the Kel Tinariwen album)
