Today we are saying goodbye to one of the greatest sound engineers in the world for rock’n’roll. Geoff Emerick passed away last week at the age of 72. We listen to some the music he recorded, but we also check out a good dose of new stuff. Alejandro Escovedo teamed up with Don Antonio Gramentieri from Sacri Cuori on a new album and Peter Perrett of The Only Ones is somewhere out there to help as well. Paul Collins of The Beat is back with the new record as well. Aaron Lee Tasjan, man from the heart of Ohio with a stellar biography of collaborations with Kevn Kinney and New York Dolls is also back with the new album. We introduce a retro band from California, The Sound Reasons, Luke Tuchscherer from UK via New York City, buddies of Paul Weller over in UK, Stone Foundation and the new singer songwriter Curtis Roush.
The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows;
Aaron Lee Tasjan – Set You Free;
The Sound Reasons – Window Payne;
Dinosaur JR – Live in CLE;
Alejandro Escovedo With Don Antonio and Peter Perrett – waiting for me;
Peter Perrett – How The West Was Won;
Chris Mars – Can’t Go Home Again;
The Successful Failures – For no One;
Luke Tuchscherer – Just Like Holden;
Stone Foundation – Next Time Around;
Paul Collins – Lost Again;
Curtis Roush – Getaway;
Tomorrow – Revolution;
Chris Bell – I Am The Cosmos;
The Zombies – Friends of Mine;
Cockney Rebel – Psychomodo.
Tony Kinman and his brother Chip grew up in Carlsbad, CA, just North of San Diego. They started a band called Dils at the tail end of the 70s and were one of the first and strongest punk bands from the first American wave of punk. They moved from San Diego, to San Francisco and then finally Los Angeles. Uncompromisingly left wing political messages they delivered were true to heart and securely wrapped in equally uncompromising loud and explosive rock’n’roll sound. Tony had a deep baritone a Chip was a high tenor. Left wing politics and rough musical backdrop made their musical vision stood out in contrast to what the industry wanted from the very beginning. Rebelling against the punks, Tony and Chip formed a new project in the 80s called Rank & File in an adopted home of Austin TX. Teaming up with Alejandro Escovedo, they basically invented what would later be dubbed first cow punk and then alt country, but again, a few years too soon. Punks rejected the old brothers and country music scene just didn’t know what to make out of the left wing cowboys. Their next project started at the end of the 80s and went into the 90s. Just two brothers, one loud guitar and one metronome drum machine became ingredients for their next band called Blackbird. It was a minimalist approach, but nevertheless an approach that put their poetry up in the center and also Tony’s voice. Indeed, his deep dreamy baritone became the focus of the performance. Punk audience was not ready for the drum machine, so Kinmans decided to throw something else at the crowd. Remembering their childhood joy of listening to the old traditional cowboy songs. the brothers reinvented themselves as Cowboy Nation. Again, Tony’s voice was the focus attention. But with lyrics like in their songs Rebel and Revolution, they were rejected by the niche western scene and in the new millennium, Kinmans started family lives. The music was still there. Tony formed his own band called Los Trendy in Los Angeles and he also joined Smash Fashion for one album. Good news came this year that Chip formed his new band Ford Madox Ford with his son Dewey Peek and with Tony helping in the studio as a producer. But like in a bad novel, good news is always followed by a sad one. Tony was diagnosed with cancer in March and then fell to it on May 4th this year. His past music continues to inspire, but also, may Chip’s and Dewey’s future music be a reminder on Tony’s legacy just as well. This episode of The Little Lighthouse goes to Tony Kinman, our fallen comrade.
Today we have the new music from Alejandro Escovedo who found his new collaborators in Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey. Will Oldham is back together with Trembling Bells, of course using his moniker Bonnie Prince Billy. His friend from many projects, Angel Olsen is also back with some new tunes. In addition to that we introduce Italian singer-songwriter Giulia Millanta, who nowadays lives and creates in Arizona. We also introduce new music from Purling Hiss and Mannequin Pussy (both bands from Philadelphia) and Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost from St. Louis. We also pay respect to the country music songwriter Curly Putnam who passed away at the age of 85 last week.
We start off today with the new Swedish quartet Honeymoon Disease with a cool, denim-clad, straightforward rock’n’roll sound. Javier Escovedo, of Zeros and True Believers, brother of Alejandro has a new record as well. We introduce King Mud, a duet from from Fort Wayne, IN. Legendary Dan Stuart is back with a new band and a follow up to his great album Deliverance of Marlowe Billings hecho en Mexico. Our Italian friends Cheap Wine, who never shied away from naming Green On Red as their biggest influence are back with their second live album that contains longer, improvisational pieces. And in the end, we say goodbye to the rock’n’roll legend Giorgio Gomelsky who passed away in January. He helped the career of Yardbirds when we worked as their manager and producer over in the swinging 60s London.
Robert Pollard is as active as ever. We introduced his new band Ricked Wicky just recently, and now he also has a new solo record. We also introduce Home Blitz from Princeton NJ, which reminds me on Game Theory. Faux Ferocious come from Nashville and we check out their studio and live recordings from their show in Cleveland. Thee Oh Sees are back with the new LP called Mutilator Defeated At Last. Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris have a new album together. They first worked together 40 round years ago, so it’s a nice anniversary. Fauntleroys is a supergroup consisting of Alejandro Escovedo, Ivan Julian (ex Voidods) and Linda Pitmon (ex Zsu Zsu’s Petals and Miracle 3). We finish with a tribute to Bobby Irwin, drummer in Nick Lowe’s band who passed away recently.
Doug Gillard has a new record out called Parade On and we check out the new single. His old band-mate from Death of Samantha, John Petkovic and his new band with J Mascis, Sweet Apple, finally have their long-awaited second record out, and we check out one track from it. Holly Golightly and her Brokeoffs are back with another LP, All Her Fault. Luther Dickinson of The North Mississippi Allstars also has a new record called Rock’n’roll Blues. Dex Romweber from Flat Duo Jets returned with Images 13 plus there’s a recent reissue of the back catalogue on Third Man Records. We introduce three new names. Little Murders from Australia and Lydia Loveless from Columbus. Muck and The Mires come from Boston.
A ton of new things today. A lot of it comes from advanced downloads that artists made to promote their upcoming records, so search, stream and download. Amy LaVere and John Paul Keith have a new duet together called Motel Mirrors. Howe Gelb has a new tune that he recorded together with Will Oldham. City of Cool from Australia also have a new tune and so does Eamon McGrath. His new song Exile is meant to announce a three part series of eps that will eventually comprise his future LP. R. Stevie Moore has a new hilarious song as a support for Pussy Riot and he has a reissue of his 1978 record called Delicate Tensions. Alejandro and Javier Escovedo together with Jon Dee Graham reunited into True Believers and prepared a newly recorded song as an advance for their future new record. Talking about reissues, The Replacements are back together and I saw that over in Toronto. They sounded great and we have three songs bootlegged at the reunion show today. Two new exciting records are also out Bras by Bad Sports and Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere by Terry Malts. And Dirtbombs! Two new records, one with brand new records done in bubblegum rock style and the other – a compilation of B sides and singles.
Four old legendary rockers are back these days with their new projects. Neil Young once again got on his Crazy Horse and this time he covered eleven songs from the history of the American continent. Thus the title Americana. Howe Gelb expanded Giant Sand to Giant Giant Sand and a busload of musicians from two places on the planet (Denmark and the US), and made a new rock opera dedicated to his hometown Tucson. Ed Crawford (Fromohio) has a new band FOOD and a new EP Four Easy Pieces. Alejandro Escovedo is back with the new record called Big Station. Once again, the record is co-written with Chuck Prophet and it is produced by Tony Visconti, just like the other two previous records. The idea of this episode is to fill up an our by hearing some new tunes from Young, Gelb, Crawford and Escovedo and also recall their earlier careers as well.
Today we have three new records and four obituaries. We say goodbye to Pete Quaife, former bass player of Kinks and a Memphis musician Tommy Hoehn. We also have a small tribute to Tom Gotovac, a conceptual artist from Zagreb who influenced the local punk scene greatly and who also died recently. I did not find any musical tribute, but another Yugoslav actor, possibly the greatest one from over there Bekim Fehmiu committed suicide a few days ago. Today’s show is dedicated to Pete, Tommy, Tom and Bekim. Alejandro Escovedo has a new album out, it’s called Street Songs of Love and it’s again a collaboration between him and Chuck Prophet, just like the previous one Real Animal. Marah is now basically only one of the Bielanko brothers and he put out a new album called Life is a Problem. Melvins came straight out of nowhere to #200 on Billboard new albums list with a new release called The Bride Screamed Murder. Check it all out here: