Monthly Archives: February 2023

Celebrating Robbie Williams, born on this day in 1974. —Ed.

What do you do when you’ve spent your lonely teen years idolizing Elton John, loving Elton John, ADORING Elton John, only to wake up one day to realize you’re 56 years old and need a substitute, a new Elton John in your life, to help see you through the long banal days and long lonely nights? Why you turn to Robbie Williams, of course. Williams is England’s best stab at providing us with a latter-day Captain Fantastic—to wit, a prolific hit machine who writes catchy songs and gets no respect from the right people, but is beloved by millions.

I fell in love with Williams the first time I heard “Angels.” It’s as close as any human has ever come to writing a new “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” and I swooned and don’t care who knows it. Bigger than life and anthemic as all fuck, “Angels” is all swirling strings and crescendos over which Williams pours, depending on your point of view, saccharine or his very heart blood.

Williams has come a long way since the acrimonious end of his first (1990-95) tenure in the boy band Take That—indeed, he’s one of the best-selling artists of all time, topping the likes of Beyoncé, The Black Eyed Peas, and Joseph Stalin, another Take That alumnus. He’s partied with Oasis and lived, released 11 solo albums, and bared his bum for the cover of 2014’s Under the Radar Volume 1, unless that’s a stunt bum I’m looking at as I write this. And he seems like a nice bloke, which is quaint, although for all I know he’s no friendlier than Heinrich Himmler, yet another Take That alum.

If there’s one thing you have to hand Williams, it’s he knows how to make an entrance. Take 2005’s Intensive Care. He opens the catchy “Ghosts,” its inaugural track, with the lines, “Here I stand victorious/The only man who made you cum.” Top that, friend. It’s your standard lovelorn affair with a great chorus, over which Williams says things like “me and you” and “we could have made it.” The backing vocals are wonderful, the strings transcendental, and while Elton John is no ghost I can feel his aura hovering over this one.

Read More »

Eric “Bobo” Correa might be one of my favorite percussionists of all-time. Fusing Latin jazz with rock and hip-hop, his unique style and limitless energy has been fueling Cypress Hill for over 30 years and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

We sat down with Bobo as he prepares for the upcoming Cali Vibes Festival taking place this weekend in Long Beach, California. During our chat, we discussed his start in music, the legend of Cypress Hill, and of course all things vinyl.

How did you get your start in music?

Well, I come from a musical family. My father was a Latin jazz musician by the name of Willie Bobo. He played with a lot of incredible musicians like Tito Puente and Miles Davis, and he had albums under his own credit as well. And when I was born, I just kind of gravitated to the music. I used to attend shows as early as five-years-old with him at jazz clubs in North Hollywood, and I got the bug immediately. I was playing pots and pans when I was two and three-years-old. So, I always knew that I wanted to be involved in music somehow.

Who were your inspirations as an up and coming percussionist?

People like Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaria and Patato Valdez. There were also other jazz drummers like Buddy Rich, “Philly Joe” Jones, Louis Bell, and Max Roach. So, anything rhythm related is where I naturally gravitated. But those were my main inspirations growing up.

Did you believe that music would ultimately end up being your career?

Well, that was my ultimate plan. It’s something that I wanted to do. However, just because I wanted to do something, it didn’t mean that it’s going to happen. But I think with me, playing with my dad for 10 years before he passed away, I knew that I wanted to do music.

So, dad passed away when I was 15 years old. I took over his jazz band—which was an incredible responsibility—but I did it to kind of keep the name going. But again, it’s very difficult to take the place of somebody that was as recognized and loved as my father. To just come in and step in his place, whether I’m his son or not, was difficult. So, I had to find my own way and eventually, that’s what happened.

What was your first big break as a musician?

I think that the thing for me that had me feeling that “I’m ready to roll” was when I started doing guest appearances at the Playboy Jazz Festival playing with legends like Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez, and Johnny Otis. So, people like that, very mature, and they each put me under their wing in a way and allowed me to learn. And I think when that was all happening and people kept on calling me, I knew, okay, this is something that I think that I can do—I can sustain myself like this. So, I think it was late teens when I knew for sure that music was what I wanted to pursue all the way.

Read More »

Remembering Peter Tork, born on this day in 1942. —Ed.

The kids in my 6th grade class didn’t give a shit about The Beatles; we were Monkees fans through and through. The Beatles, well… The Beatles were for fucking old people, and who gives a shit about old people? We had our own squabbles (Micky’s No. 1!) and rumor mill (Davy’s dead!) and preferred Dr. Pepper to Sgt. Pepper anyway. My older brother never tired of playing the thing; it was fucking boring! And what did he know anyway? He was, like, 16 and practically dead!

And all these years later I’ll still take the Pre-Fab Four over the Fab Four any day. My heart doesn’t go pitter patter when I hear “Penny Lane,” but it skips a beat every time I hear “Daydream Believer” or “Valleri.” What do I care if The Monkees were the product of big Hollywood and that boring homunculus Don Kirshner? The truth is I kinda like Don Kirshner; his impossibly monotone and utterly banal introductions of bands on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert bordered on Andy Kaufman-school performance art, and provided me with some of my biggest laffs during the seventies.

Sure, the Monkees were created in a test tube in a laboratory by the suspiciously named Raybert Productions, and sure they were hardly allowed to play their own instruments on their own albums (hell, for a long time they couldn’t play ‘em!), but when push comes to shove it’s all about the songs, man, which now that I think of it were outsourced to the likes of Boyce and Hart and Neil Diamond and Goffin and King, but who cares? The kids in my 6th grade class knew something our boring elders/Beatles’ fans didn’t know; namely, that The Monkees were communicating with us DIRECTLY through the televisions in our living rooms, and the televisions in our living rooms were omnipotent!

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | “King of Christmas” Bing Crosby sets his sights on Valentine’s Day, pulling back Cupid’s bow to deliver a new 20-track album, A Valentine From Bing, out now through Primary Wave via Green Hill/Virgin distribution.

One of the 20th century’s greatest multi-media stars, Crosby was integral in the development of audio recordings, motion pictures, and radio broadcasting—a legacy carried on today through his Estate and Primary Wave, which continue to grow his presence using new technology to reach new audiences.

The perfect soundtrack for the next big rom-com, A Valentine from Bing delivers timeless tunes for any occasion, whether listeners are celebrating Valentine’s Day or just craving some classic crooning. 15 of the album’s 20 tracks have never before been released to DSPs and are now available to stream for the first time.

The Crosby Estate marks the occasion with some bonus love in the form of a music video for “Dream A Little Dream Of Me,” featuring vintage family photos of Bing and his beloved wife Kathryn Crosby. “Seeing those photos of me and Bing so beautifully put together brings back wonderful memories of a very special time,” says Kathryn. “He’s still my Valentine.”

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Hidden Cameras in collaboration with Rough Trade Records, today announce a 20th anniversary expanded deluxe reissue of their majestic debut album The Smell of Our Own to be released on April 14th 2023.

A deluxe edition will be pressed as a 2 x LP edition on yellow vinyl and features bonus demos, b-sides, and live session recordings. To mark the announcement of this reissue, both the rarely seen incendiary debut TV performance of “Ban Marriage” and a never before seen document of their first radio session performing “Boys Of Melody” are being shared. Plus newly unearthed is this very early Canadian TV news piece originally broadcast on CBC in 2002 showing Geoff Travis discovering the band in Toronto.

The Hidden Cameras burst onto the Toronto music scene in the early 2000’s boasting an irresistible combination of pop and queer sensibilities. Playing self-proclaimed “Gay Church Folk Music” a new genre of their own making and songs ranging from haunted, aching ballads to foot-stomping anthems, the band’s outrageous stage shows packed such disparate venues as sweaty dance bars, art museums, a working porn cinema as well as many churches. Fronted by lead singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, the ensemble continues its musical provocations to this day, with Berlin now as its center of gravity.

Read More »

Even minimalists have a few knick-knacks tucked away, small objects that aren’t particularly useful, but which remind us of a warm memory, time, or place. When purging or decluttering, a lazy gaze at this bric-a-brac makes us wonder if we’re being too hasty considering parting with the item. But before we harshly “Marie Kondo” these objects, it’s essential that we check to see if they “spark joy,” for if they do, we can be certain that it will always have a place in our heart and our home. We all have tchotchkes.

But is Tchotchke—the band—on your shelf yet? If you collect music with girl group vibes or female fronted bands of the ’60s and ’70s, then New York’s Tchotchke is sure to make it to your library. The band has a brand-new self-titled album out now (Tchotchke Records/ORG Music) which was produced by the D’Addario Brothers from The Lemon Twigs and was mixed at the famed Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Musically, however, the group stretches themselves beyond guitar rock’s confines and even flirts with some proggy influences along the way. This first album is familiar enough to assure quick assimilation, but repeated listenings reveal a band equipped with the tools and talent to grow into something extraordinary.

Anastasia (drums, vocals), Eva (bass, vocals), and Emily (guitar, vocals) join me on this episode to discuss the ghosts who may have visited them during the recording process, the assembly of the album, preparing for an upcoming tour with King Tuff, and what songs are on their shared band playlist. You might declutter your record collection in years to come, but when you arrive at Tchotchke’s latest record, you’ll find it hard to part with. It did, after all, provide you with fun, warm sun-drenched memories. It’s a memento of that experience. How could you let it go? It’s sure to become a part of your permanent collection of tchotchkes.

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

For the longest time I had no use for U2—they were too sanctimonious and self-righteous was my opinion, and Bono stuck me as a frustrated Sunday school teacher. But as the years passed they loosened up, Bono became less of a tight-ass, and I discovered I enjoyed some of their songs, a lot. But there were plenty of haters to take my place, and they emerged from the dank caves we music critics inhabit to litter guano all over the band’s 1988 studio/live LP Rattle and Hum, the soundtrack of a rockumentary released the same year.

To cite just two of the album’s critics, The Village Voice’s Tom Carson called Rattle and Hum an “awful record” by “almost any rock-and-roll fan’s standard.” He went on to add that the LP’s sound wasn’t “attributable to pretensions so much as to monumental know-nothingism.” Meanwhile, David Browne of the New York Daily News said Rattle and Hum “just prattles and numbs.” The phrases “sincere egomania” and “the worst album by a major band in years” were also bandied about.

Rattle and Hum’s chief problem is it’s a dog’s breakfast, and lacks even the cheap glue to keep a model airplane in one piece. But I simply can’t bring myself to hate it—it includes some of my favorite U2 songs. Unfortunately they all happen to be the LP’s studio cuts, rather than the ones recorded during U2’s The Joshua Tree tour of the US.

To begin with the absolute low points, the only thing to be said for the forty-three second snippet of Jimi Hendrix’s “The Star Spangled Banner” is U2 had the common decency not to play the whole thing. As for the thirty-eight second snippet from “Freedom for My People” by Harlem street duo Sterling Magee and Adam Gussow, I guess you had to be there. And the live version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” is ham-fisted, and haven’t we heard the song seven million times too often already?

Read More »

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Stimela were a popular and successful South African Afro-fusion outfit led by guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and arranger Ray Phiri. The band was formed under the name The Cannibals during the 1970s when Phiri got together with drummer Isaac Mtshali, keyboard player Thabo Lloyd Lelosa, and bass player Jabu Sibumbe. They initially started out as instrumentalists, but later evolved to Afro-fusion when they joined forces with vocalist Jacob “Mparanyana” Radebe in 1975. The story of The Cannibals ends when Radebe died in 1978 but the Stimela story was only just beginning.

​In 1979, after a life-changing experience in Mozambique (where they were stranded for three months) the bandmembers had to sell all their belongings to take a train home. This trip was a watershed moment as it was here where they conceived the new name for the band: The Zulu word for “locomotive-train” STIMELA.

​Stimela would soon become little short of an institution in their home country of South Africa. With soulful tunes and gripping lyrics, the band has recorded platinum-winning albums such as Fire, Passion and Ecstasy, Shadows, Fear and Pain and Look Listen and Decide. In addition to recording their own material, the group supplied instrumental accompaniment on albums by a lengthy list of legendary artists. Stimela would go on to gain global fame after being featured on Paul Simon’s iconic 1986 Graceland album and the mega tour that followed.

​Ray Phiri would enter into many successful collaborations with major acts and artists such as Harari, Joan Baez, Willie Nelson, and Manu Dibango. In 2017 he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died at the age of 70. Phiri has received many awards in recognition for his contribution in the music industry, one of these is the Order of Ikhamanga awarded to him by the South African president. This was to honor his sterling contribution to the South African music industry and the successful use of arts as an instrument of social transformation.

Read More »

The 5-piece Lauds hail from Wilmington, NC and Imitation Life is their debut album, its ten songs emanating from the indie pop, jangle pop, and ’80s Alt-rock zone, with the playing energetic and lean. It’s unusually strong for a debut, and what it lacks in originality is more than made up for with the focus and drive of the whole. The 135 gram vinyl in a hand numbered limited edition of 100 appears to be sold out, but hopefully Fort Lowell Records will order a repress. In the meantime, the digital is available on Bandcamp.

Lauds consists of Gavin Campbell, Boyce S. Evans, J Holt Evans III, James McKay Glasgow, and Ross Page. Glasgow and Evans III are the songwriters, with the former a guitarist and lead vocalist and the latter serving as multi-instrumentalist and lead vocalist on three tracks. Amongst their cited inspirations are The Cure, Slowdive, Ride, Chameleons, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. To the band’s credit, they avoid leaning too heavily on any one influence.

Opener “Parallel” does go heavy on the Anglo jangling, the guitars crisp as the track’s progression is full of swelling beauty, as Glasgow’s vocals deepen the Brit aura without going for a full-on imitative trip. “Somehow” follows, the vocals airy a la dream pop and the playing urgent, giving the Cure-like guitar figures a dose of the ol’ shoegaze.

With Evans taking a turn at the mic, the singing is even breathier in “24,” as a rouge ’80s keyboard gets thrown into the mix, conjuring visions of nursing a fountain soda in a mall food court while perusing a copy of Smash Hits. But Lauds smartly retain their intensity in the song, which keeps the attack focused, as “CeeDee Lamb” grows increasingly raucous, and during the post-punkish guitar soloing, reaches the border of downright heavy.

Read More »