Hola Amigos! What with 1537 being a bit of a retrospective gig I thought I would very self-indulgently* let you know what was happening musically over here at 1537 Towers, 2014 stylee.
First off the line-up for the 2014 Liverpool Psychedelic Festival has been fleshed-out a bit:
This was just a brilliant time last year and I’m sure this year will be no different. I am very excited to see Goat, if you don’t own World Music rectify that immediately, Teeth of The Sea and, of course the best-dressed band in psych rock, White Hills. Also looking forward to seeing (is that the right verb?) Andrew Weatherall DJ-ing too. Other than that I recognize some names, don’t recognize others but hanging out and exploring is half the fun.
Secondly, despite my earnest declaration that I would not buy any vinyl this year, I am staring down the wrong end of 17 LPs bought so far, or one a week plus interest as I like to think. Retro highlights include The Shrine Primitive Blast, Anathema We’re Here Because We’re Here, Helmet Betty and a great box set anthology of Mark Lanegan Has God Seen My Shadow? 2014 is definitely a bit of a rock year for me so far, new stuff includes the quite wonderful Harsh Toke Light Up And Live (not a stoner band at all!), Papir IIII and Pontiak Innocence. All that aside, I think may just think I may have just picked up the best of the bunch last week, War On Drugs Lost In The Dream, a wonderful album that I’m losing myself in for hours on end – lots of classic rock sounds courtesy of Springsteen, Petty and Knopfler, refracted through a more arty, hazy prism, a great LP.
As is a bit of a 1537 tradition, I’ll be away in the middle of nowhere for RSD 2014**, but in all honesty there wasn’t too much that grabbed my fancy on the list apart from a couple of Poison Idea 7″ and a Gonga 12″ called Black Sabbeth, where they cover ‘Black Sabbath’ but with Beth Gibbons from Portishead on lead vocals, other than that there are a couple of things I’d quite like, but nothing that would be likely to persuade me to stand in line for 15 hours for.
I’ve also discovered a delightful, small, but perfectly formed record label that specializes in new psych/prog/acid/spacerock releases called Fruits de Mer Records. I’m already very excited about all their lovely vinyl and the fact they have a beer named after their Crabstock festival – that shit’s important EMI! Anyway, visit them here for a rummage around their brains.
Gonna need some more shelves, again!
365 Down (still).
P.S – as always thank you to any/all of you out there who steer me towards new/old music, my friend Mr Hubner particularly for hipping me to Papir and Harsh Toke and Mike Ladano who has just reviewed me into ebaying a copy of Def Leppard High ‘n’ Dry.
*okay, okay, so more self-indulgently than usual.
**am beginning to suspect Mrs 1537 is tactical genius.
I loved that Anathema album immensely! Hope you enjoy/are enjoying that one!
Very much so, it’s a classy album. Working in Liverpool, I know at least three people who are friends of friends of the band and thought I’d check them out.
Cool! I’m a big fan of theirs, a lot of brilliant albums in their discography. It’s great to see them getting more attention these days!
Thanks for the shout-out dude!
As far as concerts go, a BIGGIE was announced yesterday. Keep in mind that where I live (outside Toronto, Hamilton, AND London) we don’t get major concerts.
We’re getting a 3 day festival:
Aerosmith, Slash, Styx, Bryan Adams, Kim Mitchell, Collective Soul, shoot now I can’t remember them all. The first four were the main point.
Brilliant – get your tickets NOW!! I think that’s a really fun-sounding line-up.
Hoping to win tickets on Friday from my buddies at the radio station, we shall see! (They owe me, I supplied all the Canadian content for their Hair Metal Weekend last week.)
Hopefully you’re playing with loaded dice!
Hope so! I’ll tell you who I’m most excited about — Slash and Myles Kennedy.
I’d like to see Bryan Adams too for nostalgic reasons too.
My sister has seen him live multiple times, one of her favourite performers. Her Bryan Adams collection is pretty awesome. Of course having a brother working at a CD store and buying everything Adams for you doesn’t hurt.
Hey, Aaron Of The Moose, here. I switched around and am now using the KMA for all this stuff.
I saw Bryan Adams on the Waking Up The Neighbours tour. Line-up went Sass Jordan, Steve Miller Band, Extreme and then BA. It was quite a night, but the Adams gig was pretty spectacular. My big shout out goes to his guitar player, Keith Scott. That guy was amazing.
I prefer Moose Aaron – it’s a bit more Sopranos-y!
Keith Scott is a good player, I’d also liked to have seen the Steve Miller band – my parents always played his stuff so much, it’s ingrained in me.
Sadly, Steve Miller was bollocksed that afternoon. Or maybe suffering some form of brain damage from years of being bollocksed. I dunno, but suffice it to say he didn’t even know all the words to the songs, relying on the crowd to sing them for him. Sass Jordan was just shrill, but the band rocked. I saw her later, opening for Jeff Healey, in a smaller venue and she was much better there. And Extreme? Sorry Bryan, Extreme was the best gig of the day. That was just as III Sides was coming out, freaking great show they put on.
I think breaking that New Year’s Resolution regarding no vinyl purchases was a good choice. There have been some amazing records released so far this year. I think I’ve listened to War On Drugs at least twice a day since I got it two weeks ago.
And that lineup looks pretty full for Liverpool Psych Fest. Holy Wave is a great band. I’ve got both their albums and enjoy them both greatly.
Excelsior!
Never heard of Holy Wave – too much music!
It was always going to get broken, along with the diet!
That’s what they’re there for…to be broken.
So maybe the secret to dieting is to tell yourself that your new diet is to eat whatever and however much you want. That way, when you break your diet, you lose weight! Damn, I need to get out there and write a dieting book and capitalize on this!
As for a resolution to not buy records? That’s just insanity.
I know, when I’m so good at buying them too!