Radio Free California Episode 2545, plus a few notes

 

New music this week from home town favorites Slow Coast, Cory Wong with Stephen Day, Lake Street Drive with Tiny Habits, LOREN, The Salt Collective, Spock's Beard, Aerosmith with YUNGBLUD, Manic Street Preachers and more. Enjoy!

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At last a band I've been championing for some time and not just because they are based a stone's throw from me is Slow Coast, whose new album "Home of the Restless" has finally dropped. This is an album that in the old days would make stars out of them. I've added 4 songs over the past year that appear on this album, and I'm adding another 4 this week. This is a great band and the album is well worth your time.

Lightning in a Twilight Hour is a mouthful of a name for a band but get past that. They have a new album called "Colours Yet to be Named" and it's full of melancholy exploration of sound and I've pulled a couple of songs from the narrative for this week.

In Virtue's new album "Age of Legends" might seem to be a fantasy tale only because it is. It's a hard rocking album with ideas drawn from ancient Italy and Greece, with a few nods to Tolkien and the link. Now lots of band have done this, but In Virtue's album is a Drop D hard rock standout and worth a listen.

Spock's Beard has dropped a new album called "The Archeoptimist" that is a serious reminder that they are the kings of Progressive Rock. The last two songs are a combined 30 minutes

Quite a few remakes out this week, from Aerosmith along with YUNGBLUD covering their own "Back in the Saddle Again", Lake Street Drive and Tiny Habits covering "Leaving on a Jet Plane", Austin Brown with Tumer Willis doing Christopher Cross' "Saling", and Courtney Hadwin's reimagining of Black Sabath's "Changes". Rob Zombie is dropping new music, and so are Manic Street Preachers. Prince's fantastic album "Around the World in a Day" has been given an update and a second disc filled with remixes and new mixes of songs you already know (I added the new mix of "Pop Life" last week).

And here I'm going to plug an album that's not coming out until January - a double disc set called "The Weapon And The Shield", a compilation with over 30 songs from artists big and small including me. If you want a sneak peek there will be online listening parties on December 1st (for the first disc) and December 5th (for the second disc):

I will post the link for the listening party as soon as I have it on my socials (CounterSocial, Bluesky, Tumblr), or you can follow the project on bandcamp and be e-mailed the link the day of the show. I actually recommend this method. I am not on Xitter, TikTok or Instagram and am only rarely on Facebook so those are not the best places to follow me.

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Speaking of Listening Parties, there will be one for my own new album coming out in January. "Frankfurt am Main" is a rock/jazz album of instrumentals (mostly) inspired by our stay in the city the album is named after. Although my work is readily available at most of the usual places I also have a bandcamp page. You can bookmark the event now if you'd like by clicking here. 

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The contents of this blog have not been translated from Russian.

If your saving can be obliterated by a change in the rules of a game then they weren't real to begin with.

As mentioned above, I'm not on Xitter so I never saw this, but this has to be one of the greatest self-owns of all time. Of all people, Elmo the Musk exposed that Overseas actors are propping up MAGA.

It should be noted that while the cases were dismissed against Comey and James, they were dismissed without prejuduce - which means they can be brought again if the administration can do it correctly. 50/50 odds for now.

You know, maybe the press should be talking to Senator Lindsey Graham to see what he thinks about Secretary of Whiskey Hegseth threat to court-martial Senator, Astronaut and War Hero Mark Kelly for simply reminding soldiers of their Constitutional Oath. Graham is a JAG Officer.

No offense to James Carville, because he was the right man at the right moment, but if the new/old guy is "collapsing" then I'm going to "sit back and watch". I want to give him a push.

Has "Big Balls" fled back to Canada yet?

And because I love you even I have to admit this is cute:

Radio Free California Episode 2544, and do you remember how Q-Anon started?

 

New music this week from Blondshell, chokecherry, Mourn, runo plum, Ed Harcourt, Red Lennon, Silversun Pickups, The Church, Prince, Noble Son and much more. Enjoy!

If there was ever a band that could help break the stranglehold that the English language has over alt/pop/rock it's Mourn, a band from Barcelona whose new album "Letra Ligada" (Linked Letter) is a certifiable banger. Every single track on the album is solid, full of hooks and worthy of you attention. At this moment in time they have very few followers outside of Spain, and we need to change that.

chokecherry is a band I've been following for a while as they've dropped single after single, and at long last they've dropped a full album called "Ripe Fruit Rots and Falls". Now that a full album is out there 5 songs from it are in the rotation at the radio station. I'm a fan and I think you will be too. To me they're like what Smashing Pumpkins could have evolved into if they hadn't gotten so obsessed with synthesizers.

Blondshell's new album "Another Picture" is well worth your time as well, a solid alt-rock effort that should in a just world translate to radio play on the Alternative radio stations. Save for all the words they'd have to edit out.

And I also want to highlight runo plum's new album "patching", which is a laid-back affair of melodies and some experimenting with chord changes that I found enjoyable.

Add to that new albums from Cheap Trick (who have never lost a beat in my mind), Monalisa Twins, Lyric Jones, The Korgies, Thee Headcoats and their sister band Thee Headcoatees, and a greatest hits album from Blackberry smoke with some previously unreleased music we wind up with a pretty good week. And I'll be honest, I didn't know I needed a 9 minute of Prince's "Pop Life" until I heard it.

Finally, I have to give a shoutout to an album that's not on the playlist - the soundtrack to the Broadway play "Waiting for Godot" with Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves by Ben and Max Ringham. There's nothing pop about it, but I found it fascinating to listen to.

Addendum: I'm on this playlist too! I am finally releasing a rock/jazz album - instrumental - which people who have known me in real life have been insisting I do for many years now. The first single, "Skyscrapers and Skateparks" is now available wherever you get your music. The album, "Frankfurt am Main", will be out in January.

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I usually write about whatever news is going on at the beginning of the week right about here, but there's really now only one story isn't there? Despite about 50 different attempts to Wag the Dog the whole sordid Epstein business just won't go away, and it shouldn't.

Do you even remember what the genesis of Q-Anon was all those years ago? It was that there is a political elite that traffics in children. One guy even invaded a pizza parlor convinced that there were children hidden in their basement - a basement they didn't even have. The Q-Anon movement pre-dates MAGA, and I think a lot of people have forgotten that because MAGA simply absorbed the Q-Anon movement, claiming it was their own. The Q-Anon people are easily swayed by conspiracy theories, and the MAGA movement capitalized on that.

Thing is, the original Q-Anon folks are starting to realize that the MAGA movement is led by members of the very child sex-trafficking ring they always suspected was there. They're not woke, but they're starting to wake up and they're pissed that they've been lied to. Q-Anon was there before MAGA, and they want their suspicions answered. Hell, just look at Margery Taylor-Greene. She was Q-Anon before she was MAGA.

I suspect that this scares the hell out of a whole lot of people - people currently in power - because they're all implicated. And I'm certain that there are a number of Democrats in these files too and they should be prosecuted and exposed the same as anyone else. It's just that I think that most people on the left side of the political spectrum have a sense of shame and I'd be surprised if any of them are still living public lives.

And that's the rub, isn't it? This scandal seems to be ensnaring mostly Republicans because they're still in the public eye, and they'll be the most publicly shamed.

Remember Dennis Hastert? He's not a cautionary tale - he's a trend. He went to prison, is on the register, and is still paying restitution to this day.

It should happen to them all.

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And because I love you, here is the video for my new single, "Skyscrapers and Skateparks". Watch it on YouTube to learn the full story behind it.

Radio Free California Episode 2543, and a few thoughts

 

There is usually a small inhale of breath when the Grammy nominations are announced, so we have a smaller list of releases this week. Still a strong week though, with new music from Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, White Lies,  Kanadia, The Mountain Goats, The The and much more. Enjoy!

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First of all, how am I so late to the party when it comes to the band Kanadia? "The Fire That's Tearing Through Our Home" is an excellent new record, and looking back at their previous releases they're all just as strong. I highly recommend checking out this band.

Singer Militia Fox has a new single and it's a banger (a remake of the Bryan Adams/Tina Turner hit "It's Only Love") featuring Corey Glover and Vernon Reid of Living Colour as well as Nuno Bettencourt. I've included the song on this week's playlist. But man oh man is the video fuckin' awful. These are people with real talent - TWO well-known shredders on the guitar and TWO great vocalists. The video is 100% AI generated, and even worse that that it's lazy. It doesn't even try to show what the performers are doing, but it does show their own version of the performers. Stay away from the video - it will sour you on the song, which is actually very very good.

Mavis Staples has a new album out and her voice is as strong as ever. I have to admit that only one song, the opening "Chicago", really grabbed me, but it's really nice to see her still going.

Finally I need to air a pet peeve. There is an artist named Pina Jones who has been releasing a lot of music lately to benefit Artists Against Injustice. Nothing wrong with that, even though I do not find her work enjoyable myself. But she's been using Julian Lennon's support of the organization to claim that he's also on her songs and as a result her songs show up as releases by Julian Lennon - which they are not. I have no idea if this is being addressed but I do notice that since this started a few of those tracks have vanished from his discography.

Careful what you lend your name to my friends - take it from someone whose work appears on 3 separate charity albums.

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I've been making a point of telling people this past week that it's time to turn the car keys over to the next generation. It's not just that the Democratic Party won so many elections, it's that most of the winners are YOUNG. At least younger than the average lawmaker. They have figured out how to win, and if winning is what we want, we should let them drive. Hell I'm in my sixties, younger than the average Washington D.C. Lawmaker, and I'm too old for this shit.

And then 8 "Moderates" went and threw the whole game away. Angus King of Maine actually said that "standing up to the new/old guy didn't work". Yes it did. It was working. It was.

Yes it was. Yes it was. To quote Doonesbury from the 1970's:

We were winning this. Hands down winning, and you fucked us. Are you so out of touch that you were believing the media? The media isn't "left wing" despite what so many people say.

This was all on the Republicans. On the new/old guy. It was their fault and they were bungling it with every statement, every stupid comment, every step they took. And you gave them a win without getting anything in return. Sure, you've forced the Senate to vote on the ACA Subsidies in a month or so, but quite frankly no one ever remembers the votes they didn't take. And the House sure as fuck won't take it up. Not while Pornhub Johnson is in charge. Even the MAGA diehards were starting to see that the people they've been worried about and complaining about the most were actually the people they voted for.

All that you've successfully done here is prove that you're out of touch, and it's because you're listening to people who have the ability to take time out of their days to reach out to you. The rest of us are working for a living and you aren't listening to us. To them.

The Clinton days are done. Over with. They're a quarter-century behind us. We don't need people of that era writing our laws and negotiating on our behalf. This is the Obama generation. This is the generation AFTER Obama. You should be listening to them, not to people whose main issues come from the previous century.

Because as they've shown us this past week, they know how to win.

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And because I love you, here is the video for the first Kanadia song on this week's playlist:

Radio Free California Episode 2542, the election and thoughts on passing the torch, plus the death of a mostly evil man

 

A smaller playlist this week but we're not skimping on quality. New music from IST IST, Mellon-Collie, Swim School, The Belair Lip Bombs, Guided By Voices, Indoor Foxes, Mercury Teardrop, The Charlatans and more. Enjoy!

I'm only going to recommend two albums this week, one of which is the new one from The Belair Lip Bombs, called "Again". This is their second album and in my eyes it beats the dreaded "Sophomore Slump" with solid songwriting and performances. They're also now signed to Jack White's label, so I would presume that will mean more exposure, which they deserve.

There is also the new album from LØREN, "The Waits". Nice pop/alt writing there that's worth the listen, but I'll admit that the release format is confusing. It's a 3 disc set despite the fact that it's only 8 songs and clocks in at under 23 minutes.

Most of what I've featured this week comes from singles, and you're of course welcome to hunt them down - it is after all what I did.

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So this is being posted a day late. Election Day here in the United States, but first...

Dick Cheney is dead. Until the current assholes came along, he was easily the most evil person to hold nationwide elective office in this country. I know this is hard to fathom for the youngsters, but this is the guy who once shot a friend in the face and the guy he shot apologized. He is the first (and so far perhaps only) congressman to tell a colleague to go fuck himself on the record. He dressed as a Darth Vader like villain for Barack Obama's swearing in ceremony. He orchestrated the Iraq War. Both of them. He's the man who floated the idea of Presidential Immunity as a weapon (and not just as a defense) which has put us into the mess we're in today.

He is also absolute proof that you can't trust The Lincoln Project. The Lincoln Project likes this guy. They just don't like the new/old guy.

Anyway, although I hated the man he had a family that was close that included a gay daughter and a former congresswoman the new/old guy would love to lock up in prison. The man was FIERCELY loyal to them both and protective of them, and I give him credit for that. Condolences to the Cheney family.

Believe it or don't there are thousands of elections today, most of which you won't hear anything about. Resolutions, local mayors and councilmen, judges. Democrats aren't going to win them all but it would be splendid if they won at least a majority of them.

This of course includes proposition 50 in California and Zohran Mamdani in New York City. We must win them BOTH, even if the old guard frets about the consequences of both. Fuck all of them. The party needs new blood and Mamdani represents that. It needs new thinking and like him or not Newsom in California represents some of that. The old guard needs to step aside already.

And it looks like one of the best of the old guard is preparing to do just that. I think if Proposition 50 passes in California Nancy Pelosi will retire. She has been one of the most effective people in Congress ever, the best vote counter, and quite frankly compared to Hakim Jeffries is a lion to his sheep. She's earned a nice retirement but we need someone of her strength and fierceness in her place. I'm not certain San Francisco has anyone like that right now. I'm not sure anywhere does.

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And because I love you, here are the basics of how to make cheese and onion pie. Personally I would cook the onions for longer and use a sharp cheddar, and add a bit of nutmeg. I had these at a stall in London and I'd go back there every day if I could.