Playlist: February

• St. Vincent—St. Vincent (2014)
• Elbow—The Takeoff and Landing of Everything (2014)
• East India Youth—Total Strife Forever (2014)
• Neil Finn—Dizzy Heights (2014)
• Jesca Hoop—Undress (2014)
• Shearwater—Missing Islands:Demos & Outtakes 2007-2012 (2014)
• Suzanne Vega—Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles (2014)
• Bigelf—Into the Maelstrom (2014)
• Imogen Heap—Sparks (2014)
• Don Airey—Keyed Up (2014)
• John Wesley—Disconnect (2014)
• Fish—A Feast of Consequences (2013)
• Portico Quartet—Live (2013)
• Marillion—Brave (2013)
• Big Wreck—Albatross (2013)
• Jonathan Wilson—Gentle Spirit (2011)
• Field Music—Tones of Town (2007)
• C.C. Adock—Lafayette Marquis (2004)
• Ian Brown—Music of the Spheres (2001)
• Jeff Buckley—Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (1998)
• Mansun—Attack of the Grey Lantern (1997)
• Stevie Ray Vaughan—In Step (1989)
• Funkadelic—One Nation Under a Groove (1978)
• Pink Floyd—Ummagumma (1969), Obscured by Clouds (1972)

Now on Newsstands: Neil Finn interview

Rumor has it that Paul McCartney was once asked what it's like to be the greatest songwriter in the world. "I don't know," McCartney reputedly responded, "Go ask Neil Finn."

That was the first thing I asked Neil Finn when I interviewed him for the new issue of American Way, the in-flight magazine of American Airlines.

"I've been told that on numerous occasions, but I've never really gotten to the bottom of when and where he said that," Finn told me. "I have a slight reservation—unless you can inform me otherwise—that it's a popular myth. He may not have said that at all. So, go ask Paul McCartney!"

It doesn't really matter what McCartney might or might not have said. Those who know Finn's work as the songwriter behind Crowded House and, before that, Split Enz, can attest to his superior melodic gifts. He and his brother Tim (a founder of Split Enz) have also recorded two albums as The Finn Brothers. Finn side projects includes the The Pajama Club and two albums with The Seven World Collide collective, which includes members of Radiohead and Wilco and artists such as Johnny Marr and KT Tunstall.

Finn has just released his third solo album, Dizzy Heights. It is one of the pinnacles of Finn's remarkable career and shares the rarefied air of previous peaks such as Crowded House's Together Alone and his solo debut Try Whistling This. It's also a new sound for the songwriter. Producer Dave Fridmann (Mogwai, Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev) helped Finn create a sound that's more lush, orchestral and experimental.

“With this record, I was aware of trying to upset some expectations,” Finn said. “I think that’s a good thing after all these years.”

To achieve that new sound, Finn changed up the way he wrote songs.

“I enjoy the process of editing," he said. "Now that I know how to operate ProTools, I have more of an arsenal at my fingertips. It enables me to come up with an atmosphere and then forming a song around it, so the way songs are forming is often back to front.”

You can read more about the making of Dizzy Heights, which is now in stores, in my interview at American Way. And take a listen to the videos embedded in this blog post for a small taste of the feast of the album itself.

Finn will be touring the album this year (see tour dates here). After that, who knows? He's recently been writing new songs with his brother Tim. And Crowded House will return to action at some point, too.

“We did start some recording on the Crowded House front and I think there are some strong things in the cupboard that will see the light of day at some point," Finn said. "But I just started these other songs and they seemed more urgent to me and not necessarily suited to Crowded House. The decision of what to call things or what entity to use is slightly confusing to people - even for me, it’s confusing – because there’s some history attached to each entity. But, to some extent, I try not to think about it too much."

Indeed, it's best to regard Finn's work as a continuous whole, regardless of the name of the project. He's one of the best songwriters out there, as Paul McCartney would surely attest.

Now on Newsstands: Bigelf interview

During the 1960s, Laurel Canyon developed a reputation as an enclave for folk and rock musicians seeking quiet sanctuary from the hustle bustle of Los Angeles. But on the drive up to the studio of Bigelf, a single neon-lit peace sign on the roadside was the sole reminder of a time when Laurel Canyon was more hippie than yuppie. The band, a trio that has been recording its distinctive psychedelic-pop prog, has long been based here.

"When we recording Money Machine and the demos for Hex, we lived across the street from from the garage where The Who used to rehearse in the '60s," bandleader Damon Fox told me. "Laurel Canyon has a vibe and, if that energy is inside you, then you channel it."

On assignment for Prog magazine, I interviewed the band about Into the Maelstrom, its long-awaited followup to its last album, 2008's Cheating the Gallows. During the interim, Bigelf underwent significant lineup changes. "For Bigelf to survive, it had to be torn apart and put back together," Fox said. Indeed, the band has endured more setbacks and struggles than most bands, which I chronicled in my article. As they put it, "Our Behind the Music special would be pretty devastating." 

The resulting album is a triumph. Bigelf recruited drummer Mike Portnoy to guest on drums and recorded its best produced and most forward-looking album to date. Seek it out when its released March 3 on InsideOut. And, in the meantime, read the latest issue of Prog, currently filtering onto newsstands (including Barnes & Noble in the US) and available as an e-magazine via iTunes and Google Play.

My interview with Kristen Bell

I interviewed Kristen Bell for the cover of the current issue of American Way, the in-flight magazine of American Airlines. (Here's a link to the online version. Note that the story ends of page 7 but there's also a sidebar on page 8.)

It was a nerve-wrecking assignment. The publicist only gave me 60 minutes to interview Kristen. I was told that the interview would take place entirely in her trailer. After that I was to leave the set of her television show House of Lies. I was nervous that I wouldn't get enough interview material for the in-depth piece, let alone any color for it.

That was before I met Kristen. She was so welcoming and warm. She gave me 75 minutes, shooing away people who wanted to curtail our time. And then she spontaneously asked if I'd like to just hang out on the set for the rest of the day. I got to watch her film a scene which gave me a great lede for the story. She spent the entire time with me when she wasn't filming. By then, we were well past the actual interview and just chatted for hours and hours about everything from her trip to South Africa to Breaking Bad to life with her new baby - who is incredibly cute. (Kristen is protecting her daughter from public view, but she was happy to show photos to everyone on set.) 

She's a blast to hang out with - as genuinely lovely as you hope and nothing fake about her either. 

And the Veronica Mars movie sounds very promising.  I asked Kristen about how, on the one hand, the movie has to cater to the hard-core fans of the TV show and, on the other hand, it has to stand on its own for people who have never seen it. How on earth did creator and writer Rob Thomas approach that task?

Kristen's response: 
=====================

He does it brilliantly, as he does everything. But if I had to choose who he’s writing for more, without question it’s for the long-term fans. He has chosen to disregard exposition that may or may not be necessary for new viewers because we didn’t make this movie for new viewers. We feel that people will want to watch it, knowing nothing about the show, and it’s important that we keep that in mind. But ultimately, the people we are working for are the people who funded it – our long-term fans. Everyone else is irrelevant. Even the studio is irrelevant, to be honest with you, because Rob raised the money through Kickstarter, he was able to do what he wanted. He had complete creative control. Rob is a very unselfish writer because he doesn’t write what he wants. He writes what he know will light a fire under the fans. He writes what you want to see. I think that’s what makes him such a good writer. 
=======================

Can't wait for the release of the Veronica Mars movie on March 14!

The Best Music of 2013

In the past, I've compiled numbered lists of my favorite albums of that year. I've decided not to do that this time around. Quite simply, I'm not sure how to rank and compare albums from genres as divergent as prog, indie rock, jazz, blues, folk, electronica, pop, world music and classic rock. Nor is there much point to such an exercise. This year, I've decided to limit myself to noting my 21 favorite albums of the past 12 months. They aren't listed in order of preference, though I will say that my absolute favorite record of the year was Steven Wilson's The Raven that Refused to Sing (and Other Stories). I've hyperlinked to the albums I've reviewed or written about.

The video of the top of this post is for Vertical Horizon's "Instamatic," featuring Rush's Neil Peart on drums. (Look carefully and you'll spot me lurking in the background of the video.) It was my great pleasure to write the sleeve notes for Vertical Horizon's Echoes from the Underground this year. Matt Scannell, the band's singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer, created the best Vertical Horizon album to date, full of fresh stylistic departures in the band's pop sound. It's one of the year's most consistently strong records.

Best Studio Albums

The Besnard Lakes—In Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Boards of Canada—Tomorrow's Harvest 
David Bowie—The Next Day
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds—Push the Sky Away 
Elvis Costello and The Roots—Wise Up Ghost
Francis Dunnery—Frankenstein Monster 
Nils Frahm—Spaces
John Grant—Pale Green Ghosts 
Patty Griffin—American Kid
Laura Marling—Once I Was an Eagle
Queens Of the Stone Age—…Like Clockwork
Rovo and System 7 (feat. Steve Hillage)—Phoenix Rising
Otis Taylor—My World is Gone
Richard Thompson—Electric
Emiliana Torrini—Tookah
Rokia Traoré—Beautiful Africa
Jonathan Wilson—Fanfare
Steven Wilson—The Raven that Refused to Sing (and Other Stories)
Laura Veirs—Warp and Weft
Vertical Horizon—Echoes from the Underground 
Anna Von Hausswolff—Ceremony

Best Live Album
Portico Quartet—Live/Remix

Best Soundtrack album
Boss, Original Soundtrack—Brian Reitzell

Best Covers album
Shearwater—Fellow Travelers

Best Reissue
Yes—Studio albums box set, 1969-1987

And, finally, my Song of the Year (at least, one that wasn't penned by Steven Wilson), may just be Amplifier's "Matmos." (The parent album, Echo Street, is good, but a little uneven.) Here, below, is the video.

Now on Newsstands: Francis Dunnery interview

I interviewed Francis Dunnery for a big feature in the current issue of Prog magazine, which is now on UK and US newsstands. In the interview, Dunnery talks in-depth about his incredible career over several decades.

I've been a fan of Francis Dunnery for quite some time. In 1987, when I was but a young teen growing up in South Africa, I took a chance on a cassette copy of the album Big Lad in the Windmill by Dunnery's first band, It Bites. The British band scored something of a novelty hit in 1986 with the absurd, yet catchy, song "Calling All the Heroes." I could tell there was something interesting about the band just from that one song and purchased the album in a bargain bin. I loved it. It was poppy but ambitiously so and Dunnery's guitar work stood out. In retrospect, I realize this was probably the first sorta prog album I ever bought, though I wasn't particularly aware of prog-rock as a "genre" at the time even though I loved Pink Floyd.

It Bites created an even better and far more progressive follow-up album in 1987 titled Once Around the World. For all its catchy songs, it never really took off for the band. Nor did the next album - the more rock-oriented (and awfully titled) Eat Me in St. Louis in 1989. Around that time, I moved to Manchester in the UK and got to see It Bites perform on what would become their last tour. (At least, until they reunited several years ago with new guitarist and frontman John Mitchell.)

It wasn't the last time I saw Dunnery, however. I still remember the day that I opened up an issue of Q magazine (an indispensable source of music news in the pre-Internet years) and read that Dunnery was joining the band of my favorite singer: Robert Plant. Dunnery played some great guitar parts on Plant's exceptional 1993 album Fate of Nations. I caught four shows on that tour, too, and it was quite evident that the singer and guitarist enjoyed a great rapport on stage. Indeed, Dunnery later told me,

"I don’t think Robert invited me to the band for my guitar playing. He’s not that keen on my guitar playing! He invited me into his band more for my energy. I’m quite uplifting to be around. I’m always up and I try to keep my energy warm and friendly. I think he appreciated that. And I didn’t want anything from him - and he knew it. I think I was one of the few people who wasn’t trying to get him to put one of his songs on my CD. I was just hanging out. I had plenty of money at the time, I had a record deal, I had a publishing deal, and I had a manager. All those things he had. So, I think it was easy for him to give me the job rather a lot of the guitar players who came to audition who quite frankly played the Led Zeppelin music a lot better than I did."

Francis is being rather modest about his guitar playing. His technique would trip up most people's fingers - check out the video below - and he's a virtuoso acoustic player. Dunnery can also play very emotive solos. (Hear, for example, his guitar solos on the It Bites songs "You'll Never Go to Heaven," "Still Too Young to Remember," and "The Ice Melts Into Water." Or solo tracks such as "Jackal in Your Mind," "Immaculate," "Grateful and Thankful," "Blinded By the Memory," and the 2009 version of "Staring at the Whitewash.")



Given his superior axemanship, Dunnery's next move was something of a shock: He eschewed lead guitar heroics on a lushly produced modern R&B-influenced solo album titled Fearless. Dunnery wisely sought to sidestep getting pigeon-holed as a guitar hero. He wanted to showcase formidable his talents as a songwriter, which he further showcased on the next album, 1995's punk-raw album Tall Blonde Helicopter. Dunnery's solo career since then has been just as wildly unpredictable - excitingly so - as he's veered from style to style. A truly progressive artist. I've bought every album. The one constant in his career has been his confessional style of songwriting and his fearlessness is laying his soul bare.

Dunnery's brand new album, Frankenstein Monster (available at francisdunnery.com) is yet another delightful stylistic swerve. It sounds like a long lost treasure from the 1970s. That's because it it kind of is. These songs were all written by Dunnery's older brother, Barry, who was in a short-lived band called Necromandus. They were managed by Tony Iommi and Melody Maker described their sound as "Black Sabbath plays Yes's biggest hits." But their 1973 album wasn't released until 1999 and they never received the fame they deserved. (Here's David Fricke's appreciation for Necromandus in Rolling Stone.) Following Barry Dunnery's death several years ago, Francis has re-recorded these songs anew as a tribute to him.

Frankenstein Monster is notable for being Dunnery's most guitar-heavy album ever. The solos on this record are ridiculously exhilarating. And also beautiful - take a listen to the gorgeous guitar solo around the three minute mark of this track.

In fact, you can stream (and also purchase) the entire Frankenstein Monster album over at Bandcamp. For starters, watch the music video for the title track, below, which is the only original song Dunnery wrote for the album.

A wonderful talent with a discography well worth exploring.

Playlist: December

• Jonathan Wilson—Fanfare (2013)

• Neil Finn—Dizzy Heights (2014)

• Imogen Heap—Sparks (2014)

• Butterfly Boucher—Happy Birthday Flutterby (2013)

• YES—The Studio Albums 1969-87 box set (2013)

• Midlake—Antiphon (2013)

• Marillion—Brave Live (2013)

• Marillion—"Carol of the Bells" digital single (2013)

• Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri—Arc Light (2013)

• The Steve Rothery Band—Live in Plovdiv (2013)

• Shearwater/Low—"Novocane"/"Stay" split 7" single (2013)

• Shearwater—"This Year"/ "Black River Song" 7" single (2013)

• John Wesley—Disconnect (2014)

• Rush—Vapor Trails Remixed (2013)

I'm hugely enjoying Jonathan Wilson's second album, Fanfare. It sounds like a blend of Meddle-era Pink Floyd, Laurel Canyon folk, and the sound of Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis Wilson (no relation). Moreover, it features songs co-written with Roy Harper (Wilson produced Harper's latest album) and includes the likes of Graham Crosby and Graham Nash and Jackson Browne. You can very much hear all the influences, but Wilson's channeled them all through the funnel of his own vision - It's a grand and ambitious record that pays off in every way. Watch this music video above - at the 3:15 mark, the song plunges down the rabbit hole into an utterly sublime and trippy guitar solo.

 Marillion has released a brand new charity single, a brilliant and fun version of "Carol of the Bells."

 

And, finally, here's Shearwater's cover version of Frank Ocean's "Novocane," which is available on a 7" single they split with Low for Record Store Day.

My interview with Shearwater

Track-by-Track: Shearwater on “Fellow Travelers” - The Complete Interview

By Stephen Humphries

For Under the Radar magazine's Track-by-Track feature, we go in-depth with an artist about each song on their new album. This week the magazine features of Shearwater's Fellow Travelers. It's an album of cover versions of songs by bands and artists that Shearwater has toured with over the years, including St. Vincent, Coldplay, Wye Oak, and Clinic.

There's an added twist to the concept behind Fellow Travelers - Shearwater invited most of those artists to guest on the album, but not on their own songs.

 As regular readers will know, Shearwater is my favorite American band with a unique sound that emulates the spirit of late era Talk Talk without sounding like that group. Among Shearwater's fans: Robert Plant, Steven Wilson, and Marillion's Steve Hogarth.

I interviewed frontman Jonathan Meiburg about each of the songs on the band's new album of cover versions. Read the whole thing here. (But first, check out the music video for "I Luv the Valley, OH!" above.)

Shearwater fans should seek out the recent limited edition 7" single that Shearwater split with Low. Shearwater did a brooding version of Frank Ocean's "Novocane" that I can't get enough of. Low turned in a beautiful, haunted version of Rihanna's "Stay." Also a must-have: The limited edition 7" single that came as a bonus from early orders of Fellow Travelers at SubPop.com. You need to treat your ears to Shearwater's slow-creasting tsunami of a cover version of "Black River Song" by Angels of Light (Michael Gira's band outside of Swans).

Finally, here's the band's cover version of "Fucked Up Life" from Fellow Travelers.

Now on newsstands: Yes

One of my most fun assignments was to fly to Las Vegas to attend a Yes-themed Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp and write about it for Prog magazine. (The new issue is now on UK newsstands and very soon available on US newsstands, including Barnes & Noble. Or, if you can't wait that long, just download the issue onto your Kindle or iPad via iTunes.)

You may have heard about the Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp (or seen the affectionate spoof on it in The Simpsons episode with the Rolling Stones). The institution gives amateur musicians an opportunity to get up on stage to jam with bands and artists such as Steve Vai, Joe Perry, Slash, Judas Priest, Jeff Beck, Def Leppard, Sammy Hagar, Roger Daltrey, and many other luminaries.

In decades past, this sort of thing would be unheard of. The closest that rock fans could get to their idols was a front row seat at a concert. (The exception to the rule: Attractive women with the wiles to get backstage.) Indeed, rock 'n' roll camp founder David Fishof says, “When I was touring with rock bands, the bands always went out the back stage door, and out of the back door at hotels. They didn’t want to interact with fans. They were scared of them."

More than that, bands reveled in the fact that they were inaccessible and remote because it made them seem mythical.

Yes bass player Chris Squire admitted to me, “Back in the ’70s, one often hired a publicist to make sure that there was a bare minimum of interviews with the press as it was generally thought that this would increase the artists' mystique."

Nowadays, Squire and the other members of Yes are active on social media, interacting with fans, answering questions and offering music recommendations.

As Squire put it, "In the last 10 years, we have been increasingly been made aware of the fact that we now live in the world of social media and conversely from the past we have now been recommended by our current webmasters that interaction is a part of general life."

Fishof observes, "Bands now realize that these fans are the ones that kept them alive and they’re more appreciative.”

This year, Yes met some of their biggest fans at the rock 'n' roll fantasy camp. It was wholly new territory for all the band members except drummer Alan White. He'd participated in 10 previous camps and felt very much at home. He seems to enjoy the chance to mentor amateur musicians.

"I have had people in my class who kind of noodle," said White. "They want to prove they can do all kinds of stuff but I keep telling them, ‘Stop!’ They’ve got to listen to what’s going on around them. They benefit from it by the final day by being able to get up there with confidence and play the music and feel good about it. Some people are really, really good. You don’t have to say a word, you wonder sometimes why they’re at the camp because they’re such excellent musicians."

Part of the fun of reporting the story was meeting the amateur musicians themselves. Case in point, Gary Birch, a Software application architect from St. Paul, Minnesota, who told me, " I literally have been dreaming about standing on stage and playing with Yes since 1972. I don’t know if you could ask for anything better."

His wife, Janell, observed, "I listened to Yes since we got married since 1978. I tell you, we just needed to come here because I just wanted to support this whole camp with Yes because he looks younger, acts younger when he’s around this."

The band members in Yes were all friendly and happy to chat about their camp experience. I was particularly impressed with new singer Jon Davison, a sweet guy and one helluva singer.

Yes is currently working on new material for an album. Next year, they'll tour the UK and Europe to perform their albums The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, and Going for the One each night. Here's my recent interview with Yes guitarist Steve Howe about the tour.