I’m As Angry As Hell!
I’m As Angry As Hell…
I’m having difficulty in sleeping because I cannot get out of my mind the evil destruction of a country’s people, homes and civilian infrastructure. It is beyond me that Putin has been allowed to murder and injure many thousands, maybe millions, over many years in Syria and Ukraine without any effective sanction (hell, in England one could have been jailed for non-payment of the TV licence!). Putin has also generated the mass migration of millions fleeing danger, destruction and death. I cannot believe that so many Russians actually support this tyrant, even considering the iron-clad media censorship and violent crack-down on peaceful protest. For pity’s sake surely the imprisonment, murder and torture of political opponents must have been noticed… Stadiums full of adoring, celebrating Putin fans sickens me.
I cannot comprehend the failure of countries like China, India and South Africa to condemn Putin’s criminal, murderous and destructive actions. In my view if they refuse to so do they are in effect supporting him. And to think that Great Britain is still pressing ahead with negotiating trade deals with countries that fail to condemn…
What we have here is a modern day Hitler, nothing less. How can the world have been so short-sighted in not recognising Putin’s intentions after what he has done in the past? It is unbelievable. A No-Fly Zone should have been implemented at the early stages of the ’special operation’, and now the rapid deployment of fighter jets is critical to Ukraine’s survival. The argument of escalation doesn’t hold water and, as yet, I have heard no explanation on what escalation in this context means. Does it mean nuclear war? Does it mean attacking adjacent NATO countries? Putin may be a murdering tyrant but he is not stupid. And if he did seriously contemplate actions such as these he knows he could not win, and would be probably removed by his own supporters. Think back to when a Russian fighter jet strayed into Turkish air space and was shot down with both pilots killed. Now Putin and the Turkish president are good friends…
How could so many wealthy criminal Russian Putin ‘friends’ have ben allowed to whitewash their ill-gotten gains in England’s financial city and purchase substantial assets in and around the capital? How is it possible that the Conservative party has received significant funds directly or indirectly from these wealthy Russians? There are still no answers to these and other questions.
Listening to a radio phone-in recently I was surprised and disappointed at the number of callers (mostly of the older generation) who suggested appeasement and early peace negotiations. Some even suggested that Putin keep his ill-gotten Ukraine territorial gains and that the rest of the world should decrease arms assistance. I wondered if the same callers also voted to leave the EU…
PJ Harvey New Record
PJ HARVEY ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING (https://pjharvey.lnk.to/iinsidetheoldyeardying) OUT 7 JULY ON PARTISAN RECORDS
Releases new song ‘A Child’s Question, August’ Stream Here: https://pjharvey.lnk.to/acqa
Watch The Video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvYMlixvzHM
PJ HARVEY has released a new song and video, ‘A Child’s Question, August’ with the announcement of her tenth studio album, I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING.
The new album - Harvey’s first since 2016’s Grammy-nominated THE HOPE SIX DEMOLITION PROJECT - will be released on 7th July via Partisan Records. The album is produced by long-time collaborators Flood and John Parish. Today’s song release comes with a video, directed by Steve Gullick.
PJ Harvey has commanded attention since the start of her career and is the only musician to have been awarded the UK’s Mercury Music Prize more than once, winning first in 2001 for STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA and again in 2011 for LET ENGLAND SHAKE. An accomplished poet and visual artist, as well as a musician and songwriter, her work is striking in its originality: vivid, absorbing and distinct. Since the release of THE HOPE SIX DEMOLITION PROJECT, which went to #1 album in her native UK, she has contributed compositions for stage and screen; most recently for Sharon Horgan’s acclaimed Bad Sisters mini-series.
Throughout her career, Harvey has always ensured that each phase of her progress has taken her somewhere new, but her latest music is audacious and original even by her own standards. Full of a sense of a cyclical return to new beginnings, it combines its creative daring with a sense of being open and inviting, in the most fascinating way. The new songs, Harvey says, offer “a resting space, a solace, a comfort, a balm - which feels timely for the times we’re in.”
I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING’S story goes back six years, to the end of touring around her last album in 2017 and how Harvey felt immediately afterwards. What she keenly felt was that somewhere in the endless cycle of albums and tours, she had lost her connection with music itself, a realisation that was troubling beyond words.
This was hardly a time of creative withdrawal: thanks to mentoring by the Scottish poet Don Paterson, she worked on Orlam, the accomplished work of poetry - her second, after 2015’s The Hollow of the Hand - that was published last year and became one of the new album’s key inspirations. There were also the reissues of Harvey’s preceding albums - and, in new editions, their demo versions - that came out between 2020 and 2022. But eventually, two things began to push her in the direction of new songs, music and sounds.
One was the memory of a meeting with the artist and film-maker Steve McQueen, in Chicago, during the ‘Hope Six’ period. His advice was to remember what she loves about words, images and music and to put away the concept of writing “an album” to focus on and play with these three passions. The other catalyst for a return to music was simple: the sheer act of playing it. Picking up the guitar or sitting down at the piano to play her favourite songs by such artists as Nina Simone or Bob Dylan - reconfirmed her passion for the art form.
Something soon started to cohere. When Harvey began to write new songs, there was a liberating sense of making music for its own sake, rather than the first steps back into the album-tour-album-tour cycle. She drew on the sense of creative freedom she had felt in past musical work on soundtracks, and in the theatre. At the same time, her perspective was shifting, away from the big themes of LET ENGLAND SHAKE and THE HOPE SIX DEMOLITION PROJECT (”looking out, at war, politics, the world“), towards something more intimate and human.
The new songs, Harvey says, “all came out of me in about three weeks.” But that was only the beginning. The key to what would happen next - at Battery Studios, in North West London - lay in a three-way creative bond that now goes back nearly thirty years, between Harvey, her enduring collaborator and creative partner John Parish, and Flood: nominally a producer, though that word does not really do him justice.
“The studio was set up for live play, and that’s all we did,” she says. The importance of this is hard to overstate: if I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING is a very tactile, human record, that is partly because just about everything on it is rooted in improvisation: spontaneous performances and ideas, recorded at the moment of their creation.
There is something profoundly uplifting and redemptive in the recording, qualities exemplified by the album’s lead-off single, ‘A Child’s Question, August’. “I think the album is about searching, looking - the intensity of first love, and seeking meaning,” says Harvey. “Not that there has to be a message, but the feeling I get from the record is one of love - it’s tinged with sadness and loss, but it’s loving. I think that’s what makes it feel so welcoming: so open.”
I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING tracklist:
Prayer at the Gate
Autumn Term
Lonesome Tonight
Seem an I
The Nether-edge
I Inside the Old Year Dying
All Souls
A Child’s Question, August
I Inside the Old I Dying
August
A Child’s Question, July
A Noiseless Noise
Pre-Order Here: https://pjharvey.lnk.to/iinsidetheoldyeardying
Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood LP
DUDU TASSA & JONNY GREENWOOD PRESENT LIVE PERFORMANCE OF ‘YA MUGHIR AL-GHAZALA’ FEATURING IRAQI VOCALIST KARRAR ALSAADI
WATCH NOW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYAH7XZGOC8
NEW ALBUM JARAK QARIBAK OUT 9TH JUNE ON WORLD CIRCUIT
LIVE AT LONDON’S PITCHFORK FESTIVAL ON 10 NOVEMBER 2023
Dudu Tassa and Jonny Greenwood present a filmed live performance of ‘Ya Mughir al-Ghazala’, featuring guest vocals from Iraqi singer Karrar Alsaadi. The song will feature in studio recording form on their recently announced collaborative album ‘Jarak Qaribak’ (translating from Arabic as ‘Your Neighbour Is Your Friend’), out 9th June on World Circuit Records. Produced by Tassa & Greenwood and mixed by Nigel Godrich, the album brings together vocalists and musicians from throughout the Middle East.
LIVE PERFORMANCE OF ‘YA MUGHIR AL-GHAZALA’ HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYAH7XZGOC8
Of the video, Dudu comments: “This song originates from Yemen, my father’s country of origin, and Kiri (Karrar) is from Baghdad, my mother’s hometown. I met Kiri in Vienna and all I could think about was how much beauty, culture and humanity we miss while we are busy stressing differences, borders and limitations. That’s how, together with Jonny, the idea for this whole album started to take shape, through the notion of crossing borders, and looking for connections rather than differences.”
Tassa and Greenwood have also this week announced a performance at London’s Pitchfork Festival on November 10th.
Tickets here: https://dice.fm/
‘Ashufak Shay’, featuring Lebanese vocalist Rashid al-Najjar, was the first track to be unveiled from the album and can be heard and viewed below:
WATCH/LISTEN TO DEBUT TRACK ‘ASHUFAK SHAY’ HERE: https://worldcircuit.lnk.to/JarakQaribakPR
“When people listen to this music,” says Dudu Tassa, “I really love to imagine them thinking. . . what is this? It sounds 1970s, but there are drum machines, there are guitars but they’re singing in Arabic. . . what’s going on?”
What’s going on is a remarkable collaboration between two remarkable musicians. Israeli rock star Tassa and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood have known each other a long time. They’ve collaborated before - Jonny played guitar on ‘Eize Yom’ (‘What A Day’), a track on Dudu’s 2009 album ‘Basof Mitraglim Le’Hakol (‘In The End You Get Used To Everything). Asked what he likes about Jonny’s playing, Dudu replies “It’s everything I can’t do, and don’t know how to do.” Jonny, who is married into an Israeli family hailing originally from Iraq and Egypt, remembers hearing Dudu’s music twinkling amid the prevailing gloom of mid-noughties Israeli rock when Radiohead first visited. “What Dudu was doing had its roots in the Middle East,” says Jonny, “and I just found that more interesting. I was hearing that music at home a lot, as well.”
JARAK QARIBAK translates, more or less, as ‘Your Neighbour Is Your Friend‘. It’s an expansive, inclusive sentiment. The songs on the album, and the singers, are drawn from all over the Middle East - and, in keeping with the theme established by the album’s title, each singer takes a turn at a tune from a country other than their own. So ‘Djit Nishrab’, a sultry, slow-building lament to love gone wrong by 1940s Algerian singer Ahmed Wahby, is performed by the 2020s Egyptian singer Ahmed Doma. ‘Taq ou-Dub’, a defiant kiss-off, is performed by the Palestinian singer Nour Freteikh. When Dudu takes a lead vocal himself, it’s on ‘Lhla Yzid Ikhtar, borrowed from Morocco. When a Moroccan - in this instance Mohssine Salaheddine - steps up, it’s on the Egyptian track ‘Leylet Hub’. The Jordanian traditional ‘Ya ‘Anid Ya Yaba’ is sung by a Syrian. And when the song is Israeli - as ‘Ahibak’ is - it’s sung by Safae Essafi, from Dubai.
JARAK QARIBAK is scarcely the first time that Jonny has stepped beyond the boundaries of guitar rock. He has had a parallel career as a solo artist going back 20 years, to his soundtrack for ‘Bodysong’ - he has since composed the soundtracks for Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread and The Master and Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog, among others; he has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
But while Dudu grew up with this music, Jonny had to learn it, which meant unlearning a lot about being a rock guitarist - a challenge he’d previously confronted when working with another Israeli musician, Shye Ben Tzur. “‘Jarak Qaribak’ presented a similar set of problems,” says Jonny, “in that, you have all these scales which don’t conform to western major/minor scales, and have notes which involve quarter-tones, and it’s very hard to impose a chord sequence on these melodies. It usually makes them collapse. It’s like reducing the resolution on a colour photo until it’s just squares”.
When assembling the tracks on ‘Jarak Qaribak’, Jonny reflects he was “trying to imagine what Kraftwerk would have done if they’d been in Cairo in the 1970s,” which is actually a pretty deft characterising of the overall sound of ‘Jarak Qaribak’.
“It’s a letter in a bottle, thrown into the ocean,” decides Dudu. “Who will get it, who will hear it, I don’t know. But someone will love it.”
Tracklisting:
Djit Nishrab (feat. Ahmed Doma)
Ashufak Shay (feat. Rashid Al Najjar)
Taq ou-Dub (feat. Nour Freteikh)
Leylet Hub (feat. Mohssine Salaheddine)
Ya Mughir al-Ghazala (feat. Karrar Alsaadi)
Ahibak (feat. Safae Essafi)
Ya ‘Anid Ya Yaba (feat. Lynn A.)
Lhla Yzid Ikthar
Jan al-Galb Salik (feat. Noamane Chaari & Zaineb Elouati)
https://jarakqaribak.com/
https://worldcircuit.co.uk/
DUDU TASSA
https://www.instagram.com/dudutassaofficial/
JONNY GREENWOOD
https://twitter.com/jnnyg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Greenwood
Paul Simon New LP
PAUL SIMON SEVEN PSALMS TO BE RELEASED ON MAY 19TH
PRE-ORDER / PRE-SAVE ‘SEVEN PSALMS’ HERE: https://paul-simon.lnk.to/seven-psalms/lang/gb
Paul Simon has consistently crafted some of the most influential music in the history of music - from his early classics to the pioneering GRACELAND right through to his previous collection of original material, 2016’s UK #1 album STRANGER TO STRANGER. Now Paul Simon announces the release of SEVEN PSALMS.
A step apart from anything Paul Simon has released before, SEVEN PSALMS defies categorisation. The record is a continuous 33-minute piece of music, a journey which consists of seven interlinked segments. It’s a record which establishes an engaging and meditative, almost hymnal ambience, with Paul’s vocals at the top of an acoustic arrangement. Predominantly performed by Paul, the record is seasoned with esoteric percussion instruments, choral elements from the Grammy-nominated British vocal ensemble VOCES8, and a beautiful vocal appearance by Edie Brickell.
Watch HERE for a glimpse into Paul’s inspiration and process in finding Seven Psalms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiDc4DbFQZY
Image By Kevin Mazur
True to the origin of psalms as hymns meant to be sung rather than spoken, SEVEN PSALMS reaches back to the very genesis of folk music: King David’s Psalms. The result is a quietly moving musical experience which uncovers a wealth of subtle details with every repeated listen. Lyrically, Paul’s philosophical musings also provide plenty for fans to unpack and reflect upon.
The record’s tone is complemented by its artwork, which features a close-up extract of ‘Two Owls’ by the celebrated landscape artist Thomas Moran.
SEVEN PSALMS is Paul Simon’s first album project since releasing IN THE BLUE LIGHT in 2018 - which was a collection of re-imaginings of the artist’s favourite deep cuts from his vast back catalogue; the album debuted in the UK Top 10. While Paul Simon retired from touring in 2018, his surprise performance at last year’s Newport Jazz Festival proved to be one of the most memorable moments in the event’s history.
Produced by Paul Simon and Kyle Crusham, SEVEN PSALMS is comprised of the following seven interlinked movements:
‘The Lord’
‘Love Is Like A Braid’
‘My Professional Opinion’
‘Your Forgiveness’
‘Trail Of Volcanoes’
‘The Sacred Harp’
‘Wait’
SEVEN PSALMS will be released on vinyl, and as a 33-minute single-track on CD, streaming and download formats via Owl Records and Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. The album is available to pre-order or pre-save HERE: https://paul-simon.lnk.to/seven-psalms/lang/gb
Photo Credit: Myrna Suarez
https://sevenpsalms.paulsimon.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2CvCyf1gEVhI0mX6aFXmVI?si=7WC6DpxRQ4SlEe3ogly68A&nd=1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRfCiKTwOOKV8aoxE9M44bA
https://www.facebook.com/paulsimon
Roger Waters Live 2023 + LP
TRAFALGAR RELEASING AND SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE ROGER WATERS THIS IS NOT A DRILL LIVE BROADCAST FROM PRAGUE WORLDWIDE CINEMA EVENT ON THURSDAY 25 MAY* 2023
**** Daily Telegraph (UK) “…a generous and often sublime sharing of his best music, and convincing displays of warmth and humanity…”
**** The Times (UK) “…This Is Not A Drill…one of the most eye-catching, imaginative, well executed examples of arena rock you’ll ever see.”
In Cinemas Thursday 25 May (*Time shifted to May 26 in Australasia)
Tickets on sale 25 April 2023
Roger Waters today announced a special live broadcast of his This Is Not A Drill show from the O2 Arena Prague, Czech Republic on *25 May 2023. The worldwide live event will be distributed by Trafalgar Releasing in over 1,500 cinemas across more than 50 countries in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. Tickets go on sale at 3pm BST (10am ET, 7am PT) on Tuesday 25 April 2023 via www.ThisIsNotADrillFilm.com. Watch the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjoafyDA8Q4.
For one night only, Roger Waters, founder member and creative force behind the golden years of Pink Floyd, presents his THIS IS NOT A DRILL tour, Live from Prague, in cinemas around the world. Billed as his first ever Farewell Tour, the global cinema event, directed by Sean Evans, will give fans the chance to see and hear his critically acclaimed live show in full cinematic glory. A stunning indictment of the corporate dystopia in which we all struggle to survive, the live film will include 20 Pink Floyd and Roger Waters classic songs, including: ‘Us & Them’, ‘Comfortably Numb’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, and ‘Is This The Life We Really Want?’. Waters will also debut his new song, ‘The Bar’.
Waters will be joined on stage by Jonathan Wilson, Dave Kilminster, Jon Carin, Gus Seyffert, Robert Walter, Joey Waronker, Shanay Johnson, Amanda Belair and Seamus Blake to deliver an unforgettable performance with a call to action to love, protect, and share our precious planet home.
“We are excited to give fans around the world the opportunity to experience such an iconic concert performance live on the big screen,” said Tom Mackay, President, Premium Content, Sony Music Entertainment.
Tickets for the event will be available on Tuesday 25 April, when full cinema listings and times will be announced. Visit www.ThisIsNotADrillFilm.com to sign-up and get updates and further information.
*Whilst presented live in Europe, to suit local time zones the event has been time shifted in many territories.
Philip Sayce New LP & Tour
Philip Sayce is set to tour the UK in November 2023 with special guest, slide guitarist Troy Redfern.
Sayce’s band will feature Philip Sayce (vocals, guitar), Sam Bolle (bass), and Bryan Head (drums).
Blues rock and guitar fans can order tickets from www.philipsayce.com/tour from The Gig Cartel via - https://www.thegigcartel.com/Artists-profiles/Philip-Sayce.htm
Tickets go on sale at 10am BST (British Summer Time) on Wednesday April 19th.
The news also includes word about a brand-new single that will be released in mid-May, taken from a brand-new studio album released on Philip’s independent label, Atomic Gemini, later this year.
‘Out Of My Mind’ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cp0SPEMAls
More info about the tour can be found HERE: https://www.philipsayce.com/tour
“Players come along and challenge what you thought was possible… Philip Sayce - I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone go that crazy in that direction for a long time.” - Joe Satriani
“Philip Sayce… The soulful master of the Stratocaster.” - Jude Gold, Guitar Player Magazine
Celebrated guitarist Philip Sayce is thrilled to return to the UK with six exclusive dates in November 2023. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday April 19th at 10am GMT via www.thegigcartel.com and www.philipsayce.com.
Special guest on all shows is slide guitarist Troy Redfern.
The UK tour announcement precedes the release of a brand-new single scheduled for mid-May from Philip’s highly anticipated forthcoming studio album, which will be released on Atomic Gemini, Sayce’s own label. This new music follows SPIRIT RISING, his seventh full-length album released by Warner Music during the pandemic and currently has over 11 million streams on Spotify.
“I am beyond excited to return to the UK - it’s been a long time coming, and it is a privilege to return to the country where I was born to perform. I cannot wait to reconnect with the UK audiences, who are always so gracious, supportive, and welcoming. We are going to light it up with everything we’ve got. Are you ready?”
The band consisting of Philip Sayce (vocals, guitar), Sam Bolle (bass), and Bryan Head (drums) will be performing featured music from Sayce’s rich catalogue, including ‘5:55′ (Spirit Rising), ‘Alchemy’ (Peace Machine), and ‘Aberystwyth’ (Steamroller) which was produced by GRAMMY Award-winning producer, Dave Cobb.
Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Sayce is the protege of guitar legend Jeff Healey and GRAMMY and Academy Award-winning superstar Melissa Etheridge. Born in Wales, raised in Toronto, Canada, and now an American citizen, Philip’s love of the guitar started at a young age when his parents introduced him to the greats early on - notably, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins, Jeff Healey, and Jeff Beck.
Over the past two decades, Sayce has performed at the world’s most prestigious - from the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland with Healey to a victorious night at the Oscars in the heart of Hollywood with Etheridge when she won best song for “An Inconvenient Truth” where Sayce’s guitar playing shines. Sayce also worked with multi-platinum artist, Uncle Kracker, appearing on the album “No Stranger To Shame”. During this time, the powerful cover of Dobie Gray’s ‘Drift Away’ set a Billboard record for most weeks at #1 on any chart for a staggering 28 weeks in the United States.
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