Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits

Following the success of last year’s ‘Somebody’s Knocking’ LP, Mark Lanegan has announced the news of his new solo album, ‘Straight Songs Of Sorrow’. The album, which is closely aligned to his forthcoming memoir features guest appearances from Greg Dulli, Warren Ellis, John Paul Jones, Ed Harcourt and more. When considering any great work of art, it’s natural to wonder what might have inspired it: ‘the story behind the song’. Mark Lanegan’s new album, ‘Straight Songs Of Sorrow’, flips that equation. Here are 15 songs inspired by a story: his life story, as documented by his own hand in his new memoir, ‘Sing Backwards And Weep’. The book is a brutal, nerve-shredding read, thanks to Lanegan’s unsparing candour in recounting a journey from troubled youth in eastern Washington, through his drugstained existence amid the ’90s Seattle rock scene, to an unlikely salvation at the dawn of the 21st century. There’s death and tragedy, yet also humour and hope, thanks to the tenacity which impels its host, even at his lowest moments. ‘Straight Songs Of Sorrow’ combines musical trace elements from early Mark Lanegan albums with the synthesized constructs of later work. The album feels both definitive and unique, a culmination of its creator’s arc yetalso indicative of the energy that drives him onto future horizons. No wonder Lanegan is proud.

Canyons are places of mystery and beauty. The interesting thing is, while they are one of the great wonders in the history of planet earth and attract scientists of all kinds of disciplines, they have also been a popular retreat for artists and musicians. You will have heard of Topanga Canyon, Rickie Lee Jones and Chicago recorded here. Laurel Canyon is even more well known, a mythical place where Crosby, Stills & Nash developed their unique vocal sound while hanging around Mama Cass' place. Or was it in Joni Mitchell's house on Lookout Mountain? Ok, you get the picture. There is something unexplainable, almost magical going on in canyons.Maybe that's why Andy Platts and Shawn Lee were thinking of "Canyons" when they wrote and recorded their third album as Young Gun Silver Fox. With "West End Coast" and "AM Waves" these two very talented musicians, singers, songwriters, arrangers and producers already explored all things Westcoast, AOR, Softrock and Boogie. But - especially if you are a into the golden age of this sound running from circa 1976 to 1984 - you will be aware that there is no return once you started digging these unconditional musical delights with their timeless compositions, untouchable musicianship and refined arrangements. The great albums from that era appeared when punk broke and the musical establishment was shaken to the ground. Today they sound more up to date than ever. Who would have thought back then?On "Canyons" Young Gun Silver Fox turned it up to eleven. They are nothing but "Kids" cruising in the fast lane, totally over the top searching for the "Dream Woman", touching down in Tokyo caught in a "Long Distance Love Affair", imagining the theme for a lost 70s TV series starring "Danny Jamaica", being on the winning side in a "Private Paradise", getting deep and soulful in "Things We Left Unsaid" and wondering how to spread "All This Love". Their bass lines, sound layers, brass arrangements and harmony vocals are immaculate. Everything fits perfectly. Just like this. "Who Needs Words" when everything is crystal clear? Exactly!

ELECTRIC JALABAEl Hal The FeelingStrutElectric Jalaba comprises six accomplished musicians with an empathy that feels telepathic and a groove that immerses. In Arabic, the mother tongue of Moroccan-born singer and guimbri player Simo Lagnawi, a leading practitioner of Gnawa music in Britain, they call this indefinable quality, “El Hal” – “The feeling”. “It’s the feeling that comes when we’re playing and totally forgetting where we are,” says producer and bassist Olly Keen. “The feeling of being grabbed by the music and lost in the groove.”El Hal is the new third album from Electric Jalaba and their first release in five years. It’s a multi-faceted work that finds the band tighter than ever, deploying a vast cache of influences across nine tracks improvised and developed in their south London studio then deftly produced by Keen. Some tracks pay homage to the origins of Gnawa music, whose repertoire of Arabic-language praise songs contains remnants of West African dialects – Bambara from Mali, Fulani and Hausa from the Sahel region – that point to a centuries-old migration.

L'idéal ce serait un texte tellement bien écrit qu'on puisse se passer d'écouter la musique qu'il accompagne. Un vocabulaire poétique voire exotique, une syntaxe déroutante et une liste abracadabrantesque de références obscures. On pourrait aussi dire que c'est de la pop. Anglaise ? Américaine ? Name dropping : Brian Wilson ? John Lennon ? Big Star ? Mais peut- être aussi The Flaming Lips ? Tame Impala ? Air ? Non ? C'est chiant, déjà ? C'est vague ? Peut-être. Une histoire ?Monsieur Thibauld Labey écrit des chansons, depuis longtemps, à l'écart mais bien souvent en plein dans le mille, selon certains. Entre pure joie et désespoir, naïveté enfantine et aigre cynisme il trimballe tant bien que mal un spleen qui s'illumine aux couleurs de ses rencontres.Depuis A*Song et ses trois albums jusqu'à TRUMPETS OF CONSCIOUSNESS aujourd'hui, avec Thomas Chignier, Quentin Martinod, Sly Apollinaire, Noé Macary et Mathieu Larue. Après un premier LP éponyme sorti en 2016 (Le Pop Club Records / Echo Orange) le groupe monte sur scène, fait une série de dates au Canada et vend tous ses vinyles. Alors voilà un autre disque, il s'appelle Approximate, il y a deux titres en français, il sort en avril 2019 avec, à nouveau, une pochette signée David Sala.

41 years after its original release, it's hard to grasp just how revolutionary the New Age Steppers self-titled debut album was. The brainchild of the Slits' Ari Up and producer Adrian Sherwood, the set brought paired the cream of the post-punk scene (including the Pop Group's Mark Stewart and journalist Vivian Goldman) with a string of experienced dub-wise players to create a set that genuinely took dub and roots reggae in thrilling new directions (think alien noises, industrial sounds, experimental effects and squally guitar textures). Now available on vinyl for the first time since its original release, New Age Steppers is an album that should genuinely be in every serious music-head's collection.