Radio Free California Episode 2615, tributes, remakes, and the Avignon Pope?

 

New music this week from The Sixters, Lala Lala, Peter Frampton, American Football, Unwed Sailor, Hannah Lew,  songs from two seperate compilations - one for Fishbone and one for Sixto Diaz Rodríguez, B'z, Momo Boyd, Dogstar and much more. Enjoy!

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Okay, let's talk music. The full album from The Sixsters finally dropped and it's even better than I had expected and I've been following them from day one. To remind you, the band is made up by 6 female refugees from Ukraine who met for the first time in France and formed their band. They are a force to be reckoned with and are more than worthy of conquering America and not just Europe. I've added 3 more tracks of theirs to the rotation.

I also added 3 tracks from the new album by Lala Lala, "Heaven 2". Lala Lala is a pop/rock powerhouse and a fantastic singer, and I'm truly impressed with the new album.

There are two compilation albums (aka "Various Artists") out this week with cover versions of songs by superstars. The first is called "Cover Your Face" and features 11 different artists covering Fishbone songs. There are some real underground/indie bands on the collection, which is led off by Silversun Pickups cover of "When Problems Arise". The other is a collection of 21 songs covering the great Rodriguez called "For Rodriguez". We're talking about Sixto Rodriguez, songwriter originally from Detroit who is believed to have sold more albums than Elvis in South America and the subject of the movie "Searching for Sugar Man". Look him up. You'll be glad you did.

We have a new single from Yes that's as good as anything they've ever done, but I feel obligated to point out that not a single original member is left in the band (Steve Howe joined for the 2nd album all those years ago). However, Jon Davison has been with the band for 14 years, Billy Sherwoon was Chris Squire's hand-picked replacement, Geoff Downes has been in the band off and on for a while now, and drummer Jay Schellen joined the band long before the death of Alan White.

Did you have on your bingo card that Seattle Grunge heavyweights The Melvins and scream rockers Napalm Death would do an album together? I didn't. The album sounds like both bands, which I suppose was the intent. It's worth a check out at the very least.

Check out Kurt Deimer's remake of "Silent Lucidity", a late entry to the list and featuring original vocalist Geoff Tate.

And finally I must give props to the debut album from Hannah Lew, who gives us a straight-ahead look back at the best of late 80's synth-pop. Seriously, there is some really catchy stuff here and you should check out the self-titled album. 

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First of all, congrats to Hungary for kicking Viktor Orban to the curb! Given how many obstacles were in the way this is pretty impressive. My only concern is that Péter Magyar was once one of Orban's cronies. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. Still, very impressive.

Apparently the head of the Crime Administration wants to be the new Avignon Pope? Fuck man, the dude doesn't even go to church! I do find it hilarious that he rants about how the Pope is "Soft on Crime". He leads a religion - of course he's soft on crime. It's kind of in the whole job description to forgive the worst in people.

Also correct me if I'm wrong, but that AI slop picture out there of Mr. Damaged Hands laying hands on a bedridden man shows that the recipient of the "blessing" is Jeffrey Epstein? I'm told that this is a photoshop over the original AI slop and I'm just going to take people's word for it. I'm not getting on that motherfucking site.

And just like that, Eric Swalwell is Gary Hart.

"FC St. Pauli, a Hamburg-based soccer team with a long history of lefty politics, decided to create its own Peace Prize for people who have actually done something to promote peace, community, decency, etc. And the first recipient they chose is Wes Burdine, owner of The Black Hart of St. Paul. The Black Hart is a soccer bar but also a queer bar, where you can catch a game or a drag show or both. And play bocce when it’s not snowing. During ICE’s terror campaign in the Twin Cities, Wes was one of the people out there on patrol, and also raised funds for folks in the community." Full article here.

The fact that the Pride Flag is being restored at Stonewall is a good thing, but we still need to see restored the contributions of the Trans community to Stonewall. Without them it didn't happen and fuck your revisionism.

And because I love you, here is Kurt Deimer's version of "Silent Lucidity"