Radio Free California Episode 2642, some notes about the music selected, a few cheap shots and more.

 

New music this week from Joce Reyome, lovelytheband, Sofie Royer, Fontaines D.C., Blondie, Levara, World News, Fantastic Negrito, Los Lobos, Zebra, The Goo Goo Dolls and much more. Enjoy!

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About a year ago my wife one tickets to see some band that was really happening at the time but that I must admit I had no real interest in - they were like the 4th or 5th Black Crows knock-off that year, but I went to the show enthusiastically, because of the opening act: Fontaines D.C. I had discovered that band in my roaming around looking for new tunes and they had impressed me. And now they're back with a new album, "Dopamine Chamber". For most of us this would be their sophomore album but in fact they've previously released several, including music in Gallic and tons of singles. The new album is a real solid effort and they're one of the more exciting bands to come from Ireland in a while.

Oh, and they blew away the act they were opening for. Even my wife was ready to leave after 3 songs of the headliner's set.

My greatest new find this week is Joce Reyome. She doesn't have a lot of material out there yet, and her latest is only a 4 song EP called "Smoke Break", from which I've added two songs. She has a voice that I would describe as boisterous and solid good old blues rock to back it up with. There's some great material here and she's only 5 songs into their career. I have a feeling she's going places.

Sometimes the way the music industry works these days is detrimental to artists. I am a big fan of lovelytheband and their new album "we're all feeling the same" is a great album, but of the 10 songs on the album 6 have been previously released. Don't worry, I was able to find a couple of new tracks to add, with special emphasis given to "change 4 u", which closes out this playlist. Like I said, it's a good album, but some of the material here was released months ago, and it no longer feels new. I think that makes the album as a whole suffer a bit.

Debbie Harry of Blondie is 81 years old. Age hardly seems to matter though, and Blondie is working up for a new album and tour. The first single is called "Spectral Eyes" and yes, it sounds like Blondie at the peak of their game. The Goo Goo Dolls, U2, Zebra and The Smashing Pumpkins all have new material out as well and they, just like the rest of us, are getting older. U2 even seems to acknowledge this in their new single "The Greatest Show on Earth". Also Kudos to one of my favorite bands from my Los Angeles days (which is now 3 decades ago) Los Lobos and their rip-roaring remake of "Cinnamon Girl".

Sofie Royer is a Vienna based American who has been involved in everything from classical to public DJ-ing. She has been a label executive and someone signed to that label, and has opened for acts as diverse as Lana Del Rey and LCD Soundsystem. Her fourth album, "before/after" is a solid pop effort that stays away from the usual reverb approach taken by so many artists of late.   I enjoyed this album, and I'm sharing a couple of tracks from it.

Finally, I don't know what brought Levara back together but I am grateful for it. They released their debut album 5 years ago and promptly disintegrated over personality clashes and more. Something softened though, and they're back with new music and "Underneath It All" is the first release from their next album. 

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We need to give a big thankyou to the now former press secretary at the end of her 5 day stint. It's nice to know that the unit of measure we now call a Scaramucci can be subdivided.

So the leader of the Crime Administration wants to rename New Mexico now. What a fucking child this man is. Nobody tell him how New York got named.

I am honestly glad that my children are too old to be gifted any stock in any company tarnished by Elon Musk.

I would hope that every single European Nation (and quite frankly everyone else too) dumps Starlink. What they've done to Ukraine is a war crime.

RIP to character actor Richard Riehle. As well as that memorable role in "Office Space" one of the rare actors to appear on Star Trek 3 times - in a different series each time. To give you an idea of how in demand he was, he has TEN projects yet to release.

Elon Musk warns superintelligent AI will be so persuasive that many people could get “one-shotted” into believing whatever it tells them. Not too surprising. Stupid people can be that persuasive as well. How else could you explain MAGA?

One more thing about Elon (do not read this blog post into a mirror) was that magic trick show where he unveiled a supposed "car". It looked more to me like a carefully supported cardboard box with air pressure jets attached as specific points, and it was still all tuckered out after the flip. What could have been more impressive? If the driver (there wasn't one) stepped out, Elon stepped in, and they did it again. Alas, like most magic tricks, you can only do it once.

The Wall Street Journal published an article asking why so many people are cutting off their parents, as if this were something new instead of something going back centuries. I'm guessing someone high up at ye old WSJ was cut off from their kids and they're taking it hard. Stop voting for jackasses who ruin the county and maybe we'll be nicer about it.

That reminds me, I need to call my mom.

I notice that all of the press releases carefully state that Christiane Amanpour is leaving CNN, not retiring.

So where are all of the "Hillary was Right" T-Shirts? Pick your topic.

The BBC subpoenaed Jack Smith for a deposition to defend itself against Trump's defamation lawsuit. Apparently Smith didn't object to the subpoena.

American levels of greed to not export well. Ask Albania tonight.

"NOT POUNDED BY THE SENTIENT TESLO FLYING CAR BECAUSE IT’S OBVIOUSLY FAKE BUT I’M SURE PEOPLE WHO THINK THE PIRATES AT THEME PARKS ARE REAL AND BIRTHDAY PARTY MAGICIANS ARE ACTUAL WIZARDS ARE PUMPED." is a real book you can find on Amazon. The plot description is equally bonkers.

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And because I love you, here the COMPLETE Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert. A whole slew of infamous incidents come form this show.