New Single from Erin Durant "If Love Had A Name"

Folk singer Erin Durant has a new single out "If Love Had A Name" off her upcoming album, Firetrail, which will be released tomorrow on Ruination Record Co. 

Check out the ethereal tune below and grab the full album on bandcamp tomorrow:

Happy 10th Anniversary to Angels & Vagabonds Anyways...

RtBE not only writes about music, but also creates some.  Angels & Vagabonds (mostly) acoustic EP titled Anyways... turns ten years old.

It is exciting to go from critic/reviewer of music, to creator of tunes. Special thanks goes out to friends and bandmates who helped with this one. While it has been quite a few years since a release from the group, more music is actually on the way...

Happy 10th Anniversary to Bop English - Constant Bop

Today we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bop English's, Constant Bop. 

The only record (that RtBE knows of) released by White Denim frontman James Petralli under this alter ego and now that White Denim is basically a solo project, it is doubtful anymore Bop English albums show up!  RtBE loves this album, rating it as our favorite of 2015 and it made our list of the favorites of the past decade. 

Album Review: Miles Davis - Miles '54: The Prestige Recordings Box Set

Miles Davis

Miles '54: The Prestige Recordings Box Set

**** out of *****

Miles '54: The Prestige Recordings Box Set was released in December 2024 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of these recordings on the Prestige label, which capture Miles Davis in a transitional year of his career.  Remastered from the original recordings the sound is crisp and lively as Davis and a rotating cast of players still sound fresh all these years later. 

Happy Anniversary to Angels & Vagabonds Debut, The A&V EP

Hard to believe @angelsvagabonds released our debut effort, The A&V EP eleven years ago today.

It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last fifteen plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and the whole band are still very proud of the final result.

From the serendipitous cover photo that stayed exactly as Bruno_Pek_ shot it, to the great production from our good friend Glen, to the contributions of everyone involved, The A&V EP is a joy to remember. More importantly, we still like listening to it and you can do that now.

You can download from our bandcamp site, you can buy it from iTunes, stream it on Spotify or below. As always, thanks for reading, and on this day I can say thanks for listening to my music.

 

Year In Review 2024 - Favorite Archival Releases

Each year the music industry dips into the past to deliver box sets, live albums, re-masters and outtake collections to sell to the music loving masses (present company included). This look back will round up some of RtBE's favorite archival releases from the past year. 

Usually these releases can fall into the money grab category, not really adding much outside of revenue for the label and (hopefully) the artist. Every now and then though some spectacular collections are unearthed and are worth any price. 

RtBE includes live albums in this category, since they were recorded in the recent or distant past and thus fall into archival release status. 

With the increase in vinyl, and enhanced Record Store Days to help smaller sellers, there are more and more archival releases each year. RtBE are sure to miss a lot of them, but the quality and abundance is exciting. Post your favorites, or any we may have missed, in the comments. 

These were our favorite archival releases of 2024, click the link in the title for full reviews.

Bandcamp Fridays Returns Tomorrow September 6th

Bandcamp Fridays returns tomorrow, September 6th.

For those unaware, here is some history from the website:

Bandcamp Fridays began in March of 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when the shuttering of venues led to a loss of vital tour revenue for artists. Bandcamp Fridays—on which we waive our revenue share and pass the funds directly to artists & labels—has resulted in millions of fans paying over $120 million directly to labels and musicians they love.

This is a great deal for artists, and for fans who are waiting to buy an album. Almost every artist RtBE reviews has a bandcamp page, intrigued by our Max Boogie Overdrive Stoned Again review? We found the band through bandcamp.  

Even my band, Angels & Vagabonds has one if you would like to buy my music and review me! Whoever you like, odds are they have music on bandcamp, so head on over and help out any of the artists. 

Here is one of our tunes just in case you would like to grab one of our two EP's. 

New Single From Zahn, "Apricot"

The Berlin based noise/art rock band Zahn has released a new single "Apricot".

About the track, the band states:

"Being in a band often entails profuse sweating, whether it's under the stage lights, lifting heavy gear, sitting on a sweltering bus without air conditioning or the anxiety-induced perspiration before a performance. For many rockers, being intoxicated is a vital element of a show. With ZAHN we're approaching this in a different way – we’re pursuing an altered state of consciousness by pushing ourselves to the limit in a sauna – Apricot is a sober yet sensory and psychedelic sauna experience."

Check it out here and grab their new album from bandcamp:

RtBE Interview: Graveyard Lovers - 10th Anniversary of Dreamers

Check out RtBE's interview with friends Graveyard Lovers up on Glide. 

It is to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Graveyard Lovers release Dreamers. A personal favorite of RtBE's that made our list of top fifty albums of the decade and we were happy to chat with  Zach and Tricia about the writing, recording and promotion of it. 

For those who haven't heard it, do so today on their bandcamp page, if you are a fan of rock, you will not be disappointed. 

Support the artist, read the interview, buy the album and peep some video below:

Bandcamp Juneteenth Fundraiser

You still have time to help out and grab some great music as well via Bandcamp's Juneteenth Fundraiser. 

From the site:

On June 19 (from midnight (PT) June 19 to midnight (PT) June 20), we’ll hold our annual Juneteenth fundraiser, where we donate 100% of our share of sales* to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to support their ongoing efforts to promote racial justice through litigation, advocacy, and public education.

This annual fundraiser is part of our larger, ongoing commitment to racial equity, and we’ll continue to promote diversity and opportunity through our mission to support artists, the products we develop, those we promote through the Bandcamp Daily and Bandcamp Radio, how we work together as a team, who and how we hire, and our relationships with organizations local to our Oakland space (some of which we’ve highlighted below).

We hope you’ll help us spread the word about the upcoming fundraiser, and thank you for being a part of the Bandcamp community!

Ethan Diamond
CEO & Co-Founder of Bandcamp

Lots of bans are doing their part and one that jumped out is an RtBE favorite, The Hold Steady:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Hold Steady (@theholdsteady)

 Here is some Hold Steady to get you pitching in...

Happy 9th Anniversary to Angels & Vagabonds Debut, The A&V EP

Hard to believe @angelsvagabonds released our debut effort, The A&V EP nine years ago today.

It has been fun writing about music on various websites and publications over the last fifteen plus years, but nothing beats the act of creating music, playing it live and recording it. Our first EP was an excellent experience, a huge learning process for me personally, and the whole band are still very proud of the final result.

From the serendipitous cover photo that stayed exactly as Bruno_Pek_ shot it, to the great production from our good friend Glen, to the contributions of everyone involved, The A&V EP is a joy to remember. More importantly, we still like listening to it and you can do that now.

You can download from our bandcamp site, you can buy it from iTunes, stream it on Spotify or below. As always, thanks for reading, and on this day I can say thanks for listening to my music.

 

New Single From Manuela Iwansson Titled "Strangers On A Train"

Swedish new wave punkster Manuela Iwansson has released the single "Strangers On A Train" from her debut album Dark Tracks which you can check out on Bandcamp. 

The Stockholm based singer has been working on the album for a while, check out the song below:

New Album from Mike Dillon & Punkadelick Titled Inflorescence Coming in January

The newest release from Mike Dillon & Punkadelick, Inflorescence is coming out January 27th, you can pre-save/order it today. 

We love Dillon's Mortal Machine Gallery shirt in that pic and Nikki's Hitman one as well. 

RtBE reviewed Mike's last three major releases for Glide, the trilogy of albums 1918, Suitcase Man and Shoot The Moon.  

Dillon is an active and interesting cat, one to always keep an eye out for.  The first single "Devil's Playground" has been released on bandcamp. 

New Single/Video from TINO "Wait A While"

The Dayton, Ohio based artist TINO has a new song and video out titled "Wait A While" off of his newest release Midwest Sorrow. 

Check out the tune and video below and grab TINO's new album over on bandcamp. 

Live Stream: Thee Sacred Souls - Bandcamp Live Performance

We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.

Today we highlight: Thee Sacred Souls - Bandcamp Live Performance

After catching some jazz legends, peep out Thee Sacred Souls Bandcamp Live Performance.  RSVP link. 

RtBE reviewed their self-titled debut for Glide and we dig on them. To get in the mood here is a tune:

On Bandcamp Tomorrow Only, "Good Music To Ensure Safe Abortion Access For All" Compolation

The non-profit Noise For Now has curated a group of artists to create a compilation of brand new songs that will be released for one day only, tomorrow October 7th, 2022, on bandcamp. 

A host of RtBE favorites are included on this release and it supports a worthy cause.  The album cover was crafted by Kim Gordon and you can see it here:

Buy this album tomorrow. To get in the mood, here are a few older songs from people participating. 

Album Review: Joe Rainey - Niineta

Joe Rainey

Niineta

**** out of *****

The opening track of Joe Rainey's full-length debut for 37d03d Records, is titled "jammer from the slammer" and features a Pow Wow singer delivering his craft from lockup. Niineta moves from their as the vocalist builds layers of soundscapes along with producer Andrew Broder (Fog). 

The partnership between Rainey and Broder results in an interesting amalgamation of audio efforts throughout the full-length effort. Rainey is a member of the Red Lake Nation of Ojibwe people and has been recording pow wow gatherings most of his life. Working with Broder, Rainey sings and samples, interweaving electronica with the spiritual chants, forming a new artistic whole.  

Perhaps the the most stark entry is "easy on the circle" which begins with a joking comment before absolutely earth shaking drums and bass fall into a thunderous march. Whooshing synths enter the context, then eerie piano before chanting vocals take over and drive the song forward all the while those bomb dropping drums continue their death march; it is a powerfully affecting number. 

"no chants" has spiritual metal feeling of acts like Sun0))) or Lightning Bolt using brutal low end with complementing chants while "b.e. son" vibrates on a lighter level with layers of singing/chanting, strings and warbling production. "can key" has the cleanest Pow Wow vocals with also a spoken word piece placed in the center before a swelling dramatic string finale. "turned engine" featuring Allie Bearhead begins soothing before turning cataclysmic where as elongated closer "phil's offering" goes full on on repetitive EDM in spirit for the eleven minute complete with rain water extended outro.  

Not everything works perfectly "bezhigo" is overloaded with so much sounds, from samples of pow wow singing to distorted synths, strings and industrial clanging, it can never settle down while the circular drumming/sampling of "ch 1222" clashes with the piano and soothing singing.  However, experiments like the almost hip-hop groove of clapping/chanting/swelling "jr. flip" is worth all the mixing and matching of styles. 

Niineta can be a soft tone poem or a raging war cry as the songs bend and shift the singing and sounds in fascinating ways. Avant-garde, experimental and interesting Joe Rainey and Andrew Broder have crafted a listen that will make you sit up and take notice. 

_________________

What a cool random bandcamp find. Support the artist, buy the album and peep some video below. 

Bandcamp's Final Goodbye to Reigning Sound and Possible Hello To Cartwright/McMicken?

A few months back RtBE wrote about Greg Cartwright's decision to end the Reigning Sound moniker. Then last month we reviewed his final album with the band, the live recording Memphis in June. 

Now Bandcamp does an excellent job wrapping up their career and talking to Cartwright about his decision to move on. It looks like we may have been correct about one prediction, a follow up from The Parting Gifts is on the horizon, however, we could never have guessed another revelation here:

He (Cartwright) also shared some details on an unnamed project he has started with Dr. Dog’s Scott McMicken. “He just moved to Asheville a couple months ago, and we put a band together with a couple of friends of ours,” Cartwright says. “It’s a four-piece with guitars, bass, drums, and occasionally some keyboards. It’s been super fun writing songs with him and writing for that dynamic and not being the bandleader having another person who seems to lead sometimes. We’ve done some recording, but we’re not quite done with it.”

Wow. This would be a combo of two all-time favorites for RtBE as we have loved both Reigning Sound and Dr. Dog since we first heard each. Having had the pleasure of interviewing Scott for Glide, this pair would be a joy to check out.  

Here's hoping something comes to fruition from their sessions. Until then, check out songs by both Reigning Sound and Dr. Dog below. 

Margo Price Releases New Song "Fight To Make It" to Benefit Noise For Now

Margo Price enlisted both Mavis Staples and Adia Victoria to help out on her new song "Fight To Make It" which will benefit Noise For Now. 

You can purchase the song off of bandcamp or just make the donation directly to the group. 

You can also check out the video below, but buying the song this go around is the better play. 

Sammy Kay Releases Aid & Abet to Benefit Ohio Statewide Abortion Fund

The folk/punk raspy rocker Sammy Kay has released a new digital 7" to benefit WHO Ohio Statewide Abortion Fund.

Check out the songs on Kay's bandcamp or below: