Δευτέρα 31 Μαρτίου 2008

Sun Kil Moon: April (2008)


Το άλμπουμ April είναι το πρώτο του Mark Kozelek με αυθεντικό υλικό από το ντεμπούτο του 2003 με το όνομα των Sun Kil Moon. 74 συγκλονιστικά λεπτά με τη συμμετοχή και των Will Oldham και Ben Gibbard. Κιθαριστικά σολαρίσματα αλά Neil Young κι ακουστικές μπαλάντες με τη χαρακτηριστική φωνή του Kozelek, καθώς και στίχοι που καίνε: "My thoughts will pause, my throat will swell/ When her name is spoken/ And looking past the cold, long sea/ I cannot bear to wonder now/ If the cascading soft lights are glowing for us in Moorestown" (Moorestown).
To April κυκλοφορεί από την εταιρία του Kozelek (Caldo Verde Records) αύριο. Ψάξτε για το δίσκο και για τον τραγουδοποιό που σ' έναν αγγελικά πλασμένο κόσμο θα είχε τη θέση που του αξίζει. Έως τότε, συντονιστείτε στο Ρετρό και πάρτε μια μικρή γεύση από το καινούριο δισκογραφικό πόνημα των Sun Kil Moon, μαζί με την απαραίτητη βουτιά μας στο παρελθόν.
Στις 23.05 ακριβώς...

06 Moorestown.mp3

Παρασκευή 28 Μαρτίου 2008

Friday Night...

Lou Reed
...you just keep me hangin' on

Πέμπτη 27 Μαρτίου 2008

Josh Ritter - Girl In The War (2006)

Μέσα από το ομώνυμο EP, του 2006. Το κατάλληλο σάουντρακ γι' ακόμη ένα ραδιοφωνικό βράδυ...
Στις 23.05 ακριβώς

Τετάρτη 26 Μαρτίου 2008

The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (2007)


The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter catches the Idaho musician in the midst of a radical transformation. While last year's The Animal Years had Ritter thinking about the state of the nation, his latest offering finds him pining for Joan of Arc, Calamity Jane and Florence Nightingale, all of whom seem to be stuck together in the belly of a whale, a la Jonah. He also manages to squeeze in a few admiring words about ladies¹ underwear‹and that¹s well before Ritter, backed by drums, bass and organ and cacophony, arrives at a rollicking chorus you might be able sing along with if you¹re quick enough to get all the words.
Ritter is clearly having fun‹and you will, too‹but there is a method to his madness. Those legendary heroines he name-checks were each responding to an inner voice that pushed them toward some extraordinary mission, one both noble and a little foolhardy. "Those voices can be pretty confusing," he says, "but there is no doubt that if you follow your two a.m. voices you¹ll end up someplace fairly extraordinary."
And Ritter did follow those late night voices. While The Animal Years was a meticulously crafted and stately paean, for Conquests the artist radically revamped his working methods and his sound. "I needed to be somebody different," the singer says. "The air of gravitas around me was getting oppressive. For some reason it seemed like there was a premium being placed on earnestness and that can be pretty stifling. There was a lot of talk about true love and righteous indignation. I wanted to write about gunslingers and missile silos."
But it didn¹t start like that. "I was tired of writing with the guitar," says Ritter, who began writing The Historical Conquests by committing to tape wordless tunes and melodic fragments, certain that the lyrics and thematic ideas, whatever shape they might take, would soon follow. Setting aside the guitar, he began writing on an upright piano some family friends had given him‹an instrument, he admits, he didn¹t actually know how to play.
The result is an often raucous, occasionally dizzying affair, with pounding keyboards, strings, horns, and his new producer and long-time collaborator Sam Kassirer, leading the charge. About the recording conditions in the Maine farmhouse where the record was made, Ritter enthuses, "You should have seen it up there. It was January and twenty below. We had horns in the attic, we had strings in the barn, we had a gaggle of people shooting targets with bb guns in the woods. It was a full house and everyone was there to throw themselves at the music. There was no holding back."
As he says in the drum and Steinway-driven "Rumors,"
My orchestra is gigantic. This thing could sink the TitanicAnd the string section¹s screaming Like horses in a barn burning up.
Giving the project a literal go-for-broke feel was the fact that his then-label, V2 America, had just fired the entire staff. "They went under the night we performed on Letterman!," laughs the songwriter. "It seemed me and my band were pretty much storming the heights of irony that day." The situation emboldened the self-reliant artist; after all, Ritter had launched his career DIY-fashion with his self-titled 1999 debut and released its 2001 follow-up, The Golden Age of Radio, on his own, before finally signing with an indie label. When he rushed back into the studio in early ¹07, after another year of worldwide touring, it was on his own timetable. "One thing I¹ve realized is that at the end of the day, you¹re on your own. There isn¹t a song, a record or a record label that can teach you how to swim or how to keep your head above water," Ritter says. "You have to be the one getting out of the boat and taking your chances every day. In what you write and in how you play. If notŠ"
The artistic leaps Josh Ritter displays on Conquests are not without their stepping-stones, however. On a conceptual level, Paul McCartney¹s Ram served as an ever-present reminder to enjoy the process of writing. Ritter was attracted to the free-spirited quality of the solo album McCartney made at his own farmhouse‹amidst the Beatles¹ tumultuous breakup: "It sounded like he had something to prove, but also like he didn¹t really care. In terms of my favorite records, Ram is more about the philosophy. If this guy can do this after what he came through, then, okay, maybe I could try something like this too. It really loosened me up."
Stepping farther back, he sites Buddy Holly¹s apocryphal The Apartment Tapes as a major influence. "A friend passed me Buddy Holly¹s Apartment Tapes. The tapes are plain and genius. Buddy sang ŒLearning the Game¹ and ŒThat¹s What they Say¹ in his apartment in New York City and you can hear his wife bumping around in the kitchen and the whole thing feels clear but not simple. Those recordings feel like a Raymond Carver story. I listen to him and remember that it doesn¹t have to be all nine-minute songs. That guy can get more across in a couplet than some people are lucky to learn in their whole life."
With a new approach, a new producer and a new location, Ritter got underway in earnest. "I shaped the songs and recorded a basic shell with Sam and then asked my bassist Zack Hickman and my new drummer Liam Hurley to come on up." Skeleton tracks in hand, Ritter collaborated further with his band mates and a group of assorted musician friends he dubbed The Great North Sound Society Orchestra, who were clearly up for trying anything.
The results speak for themselves. The upbeat, vintage "Right Moves," the Liberty Valance standoff "Mind¹s Eye," the pre-(and possibly post-) apocalyptic love song "The Temptation of Adam" and the Robert Altman era "Next to the Last" combine to hold a kind of punk-meets-Peckinpah fiesta.
Says Ritter in summary, "On my last disc, The Animal Years, I went pretty deep inside the gears of what I do. I knew where the words fit and how the songs dovetailed with each other." He adds, however, "If I hadn¹t approached the writing that record on such a clockmaker¹s level, I may not have decided to step back and try shooting the clock to pieces on Historical Conquests. I¹m glad we did though," he adds. "I wanted to blow something up."
Given the new lyrical and musical trails that he is blazing, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter proves that one can still cross any number of Rubicons all the while not taking themselves too seriously. Historic indeed.
-- Michael Hill

Δευτέρα 24 Μαρτίου 2008

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo...


Country rock is a musical genre formed from the fusion of rock with country music.
While such cross-pollination has occurred throughout the history of both genres, the term is usually used to refer to the wave of groups of the late 1960s and early 1970s who began to record country flavored records, including The Byrds, Gene Clark,The Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons, Neil Young, Michael Nesmith, The Band, Bob Dylan, Area Code 615 and The Buffalo Springfield. These musicians grew up listening to early country music on the radio in the 1950s, and were also influenced by the emergence of rock & roll in the 1960s. The Beatles according to Gram Parsons also were recording songs with a strong country influence like I'll Cry Instead and I Don't Want to Spoil the Party in 1964.
The term is also used for those who came after them, such as Barefoot Jerry, Eagles, Little Feat, Linda Ronstadt, Poco, Pure Prairie League, The Doobie Brothers and The Marshall Tucker Band as well as many musicians that they influenced, such as those in the alternative country movement.~ Wikipedia

Σαράντα χρόνια μετά την κυκλοφορία του Sweetheart Of The Rodeo των Byrds, το Ρετρό σ' ένα μεγάλο αφιέρωμα, με τους καλύτερους δίσκους της country rock μουσικής. Μην το χάσετε!
Απόψε στις 23.05 ακριβώς...

Παρασκευή 21 Μαρτίου 2008

Steve Wynn live!

Steve Wynn- 1997
Την Κυριακή 23 Μαρτίου, ο αγαπημένος Steve Wynn επιστρέφει στην Αθήνα για μια συναυλία-έκπληξη στο Tiki Athens, στο πλαίσιο της περιοδείας Paisley Dreams Tour 2008. Στην περιοδεία αυτή, η οποία θα τον φέρει και στο Ξυλουργείο του Μύλου, στη Θεσσαλονίκη, μία ημέρα νωρίτερα στις 22/3, αλλά και στο Fogg's της Άρτας στις 21/3, ο Wynn θα παρουσιάσει ένα μεγάλης διάρκειας show με παλιά τραγούδια από το σύνολο της δισκογραφίας του, μαζί με το συνεργάτη του Robert Lloyd, ενώ θα παρουσιάσει για πρώτη φορά ζωντανά και μέρος του επερχόμενου νέου του album με τίτλο Crossing Dragon Bridge, το οποίο και θα κυκλοφορήσει στις 21 Απριλίου.
To Crossing Dragon Bridge είναι μια μεγάλη έκπληξη, το άλμπουμ που θα μείνει σαν "ο ευρωπαϊκός δίσκος" του Steve Wynn. Ηχογραφημένο στη Σλοβενία, σηματοδοτεί τη συνεργασία του Wynn με τον Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts), ο οποίος υπογράφει την παραγωγή. Συμμετέχει ορχήστρα από την Πράγα και γυναικεία χορωδία από τη Λιουμπλιάνα, όπως επίσης κι οι Linda Pitmon, Kirk Swan, Chris Cacavas και Tim Adams (Teenage Prayers).
Έως τότε, μη χάσετε την αποψινή εκπομπή, με καλλιτέχνες που επηρέασαν τον Steve Wynn, αλλά και που επηρεάστηκαν απ' αυτόν. Στις 23.05 ακριβώς...

Τετάρτη 19 Μαρτίου 2008

On strike!


Η χώρα σε απεργιακό κλοιό, 48ωρη απεργία και για εμάς, μαζί ξανά την Παρασκευή 21/3, λίγο μετά τις 23.00 το βράδυ.

Stay tuned...

Τρίτη 18 Μαρτίου 2008

Garage days, part II


Garage rock is a raw form of rock 'n' roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 60s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name. In the early 70s, some rock critics retroactively labelled it as punk rock. However, the music style was later referred to as garage rock or '60s Punk to avoid confusion with the music of late-1970s punk rock bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash.

Το ζητήσατε και το επαναλαμβάνουμε με ακόμη πιο πλούσια θεματολογία. Ένα αφιέρωμα με σπάνια σαρανταπεντάρια και με μουσικές που δε θα ακούσετε πουθενά αλλού, μιλώντας πάντα για το ελληνικό ραδιόφωνο...
Απόψε, λίγο μετά τις 23.00, από τη συχνότητα του 9,58 fm.

Δευτέρα 17 Μαρτίου 2008

New York Dolls - Trash (1973)

Η rock 'n' roll εποποιία, στο διάβα του χρόνου, μας έχει προσφέρει συνθέσεις για όλα αυτά που μας ενοχλούν και μας νευριάζουν. Επιτέλους, pick 'em up!

Παρασκευή 14 Μαρτίου 2008

The Black Crowes - Jealous Again (1990)

Friday night...

Πέμπτη 13 Μαρτίου 2008

Black Hollies - Casting Shadows (2008)


New Jersey's Black Hollies emerged in 2005 with a mix of '60s-styled garage rock, psychedelia, and gritty soul. Initially formed as a side project by three members of the hard rock group Rye Coalition, the quartet signed with Brooklyn's Ernest Jennings Record Co. and officially debuted in 2006 with the self-produced Crimson Reflections. Bandmates Justin Angelo Morey (vocals, bass), Herb Wiley (guitar), Scott Bolasci (drums), and Jon Gonnelli (guitar) supported the release with a slew of live dates, during which they played alongside fellow garage rock revivalists the Fleshtones and began tailoring their clothing to reflect the songs' retro appeal. Bolasci left the band and was replaced by Nick Ferrante, and the Black Hollies returned to their '60s state of mind with 2008's Casting Shadows. ~ All Music Guide

Καινούρια κυκλοφορία από μια μπάντα με ρετρό ύφος, αλλά με ήχο προσαρμοσμένο στο παρόν. Ότι πιο δυνατό ακούσαμε τελευταία, ανακαλύψτε τους πριν γίνουν το επόμενο hype...


Τετάρτη 12 Μαρτίου 2008

I don't want to grow up!


One-Two-Three-Four!

Με όλα αυτά που βλέπουμε γύρω μας, πειράζει που δε θέλουμε να μεγαλώσουμε;
Συντονιστείτε στην αποψινή εκπομπή, με τραγούδια που καυτηριάζουν τη σύγχρονη πραγματικότητα κι όχι μόνο...

Στις 23.05 ακριβώς

Τρίτη 11 Μαρτίου 2008

10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival


Εικόνες απ' όλο τον κόσμο και βέβαια μουσικά ντοκιμαντέρ που τόσο λατρεύουμε να βλέπουμε. Όπως αυτό της Susan Dynner, με τίτλο Punk's Not Dead, παραγωγής 2007. Πολύ ενδιαφέρον, ίσως από τις καλύτερες αναλύσεις πάνω στο φαινόμενο πανκ και σ' ότι αυτό πρεσβεύει. Για τους φίλους εκτός Θεσσαλονίκης, με πληροφόρησαν ότι ήδη κυκλοφορεί και στα διάφορα dvd stores.
Το πανκ ζει!

Παρασκευή 7 Μαρτίου 2008

Hot Chip - Made In The Dark (2008)


Ασφαλιστικό, απεργίες, σκουπίδια, εγκληματικότητα, trash αισθητική...
Καλό τριήμερο...
Και κάποιοι στίχοι...

Since we fell apart I've been nothing but blue
Longing for a night-time to bring back my youth
Every night in motion, together, apart
Apart from the moments so dear to my heart
We were made in the dark We were made in the dark
We were made in the dark
We were made in the dark
Since I stole this song we have made a new start
My premonition hits hard as our start is apart
Every night the motion must be fixed by glue
But babe, be careful, what's fixed as one breaks in two
We were made in the dark
We were made in the dark
We were made in the dark
We were made in the dark

Πέμπτη 6 Μαρτίου 2008

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash (2008)


Ο Real Emotional Trash είναι ο τέταρτος δίσκος του γκρουπ Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. Ο Malkmus ήταν η βασική μορφή πίσω από την επιδραστική indie rock μπάντα των Pavement, τη δεκαετία του '90.

Track listing:

"Dragonfly Pie" - 5:08
"Hopscotch Willie" - 6:56
"Cold Son" - 3:43
"Real Emotional Trash" - 10:09
"Out of Reaches" - 4:51
"Baltimore" - 6:37
"Gardenia" - 2:54
"Elmo Delmo" - 6:42
"We Can't Help You" - 3:04
"Wicked Wanda" - 5:06

Ο δίσκος κυκλοφορεί από τη Matador Records κι αποτελεί την κυκλοφορία του μήνα για το Ρετρό


Τετάρτη 5 Μαρτίου 2008

Mad Season - River of Deceit (1995)

Σ' ένα ήρεμο και νωχελικό βράδυ, με mid-tempo συνθέσεις και μελωδίες βγαλμένες απ' το παρελθόν, αλλά και το παρόν...
Στις 23.05 ακριβώς

Τρίτη 4 Μαρτίου 2008

The Gutter Twins - Saturnalia (2008)


"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"- Oscar Wilde

O Greg Dulli ξανασυναντά τον Mark Lanegan και κυκλοφορούν στην ετικέτα της SUB POP (στην Ελλάδα από την Hitch Hyke)- σαν The Gutter Twins- το άλμπουμ Saturnalia. "Όσο και να το βρίσκω πνευματικό, τελικά έχει να κάνει περισσότερο με την σάρκα", λέει ο Dulli για το Saturnalia. "Η σάρκα υποφέρει και αγαλλιάζει, αμαρτάνει και υπερβαίνει"...

Απόψε στις 23.05 ακριβώς...

Δευτέρα 3 Μαρτίου 2008

Hit the city!


Είναι οι Σκοτσέζοι Sons & Daughters, οι άξιοι συνοδοιπόροι των Franz Ferdinand; Ο δίσκος This Gift (Domino, 2008) αξίζει τα λεφτά του; Επιτέλους, τι συμβαίνει με την καθολική αποδοχή των Vampire Weekend;! Οι Mark Lanegan και Greg Dulli για συναυλία μαζί στην Ελλάδα, ως Gutter Twins.
Αυτά κι άλλα πολλά- μαζί με τη καθιερωμένη βουτιά στο παρελθόν- στις 23.05 ακριβώς. Μείνετε συντονισμένοι...