Tag Archives: Will Oldham

Flashlite #603

Esther Rose

Folky episode today! We start off with the new title for Bonnie Prince Billy, who collaborates with Three Queens in Mourning over in Scotland. Lydia Loveless over in Columbus, OH has a new single and so does Emma Ruth Rundle in LA. We introduce the new project for Daniel Romano, Alias Ensemble. Esther Rose from New Orleans is another new name for us today. Josh Klinghoffer, former guitarist in Red Hot Chilli Peppers has a solo project called Pluralone. Dive in!

The Third Mind – The Dolphins;
Bonnie Prince Billy – Dead Man’s Island;
Lydia Loveless – Love Is Not Enough;
Kim Simpson – Night Swirls In;
Fairport Convention – Time Will Show The Wiser;
Alias Ensemble – A Picture Of Perfume;
Three Queens in Mourning – Tonight’s Decision;
The Akibas – Down Along The Road;
Snowgoose – Hope;
Pluralone – Directrix;
Esther Rose – My Favorite Mistake;
Bob Dylan -  I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You;
Leigh Gregory – Sweet Fifteen;
Marshall Chapman – Tennessee Blues;
Josefin Öhrn and The Liberation – Caramel Head;
Emma Ruth Rundle – Staying Power;
Fred and Rose – Piedra Y Camino.

Flashlite #405

Angel OslenToday 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.

Ezra Furman – Devil’s Haircut;
Purling Hiss – Everybody In the USA;
Mannequin Pussy – Pledge;
Wasted Potential – Two Pumps and a Quiver;
Javier Escovedo – Bad And Good;
Alejandro Escovedo – Heartbeat Smile;
Trembling Bells and Bonnie Prince Billy – I Can Tell You’re Leaving;
Trembling Bells and Bonnie Prince Billy – Goat & Ram;
Angel Olsen – Never Be Mine;
The I Don’t Cares – Back;
Goerge Jones – He Stopped Loving Her Today;
Curly Putnam – Green Green Grass Of Home;
Paul McCartney – Junior’s Farm;
Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost – Born There;
Giulia Millanta – 4th and vodka.

Bonnie Prince Billy – Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues (Palace/Drag City)

Bonnie Prince Billy - Singer’s Grave a Sea of TonguesCover albums are a fad of this millennium. They give an artist a chance to show off their interpretive abilities and taste. Will Oldham’s new record is also an exercise in interpretation, but Oldham doesn’t go back to other people’s songs. He goes back three years behind, to his own album Wolfroy Goes To Town.

Wolfroy is a troubling album for me. Introspective, performed as if on downers, the album failed to catch my attention back when it came out. I heard it, and okay, it’s just another Oldham record, file it and forget it. The power of songs were obscured by what I thought was a weak interpretation.

Now, Oldham goes back to nine of the Wolfroy songs and appends it with two more, but this time his interpretation is incredibly focused and straight to the point, especially the passages with the gospel duet courtesy of Ann and Regina McCrary. The new interpretations reveal the full glory of the songs and now I can indulge.

It would be interesting to find out what was Oldham’s own motivation for going back to the his old songs, but in any case, Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues is a wake-up call for the Americana genre. Focus equally on interpretation and songwriting and greatness will be achieved.

Flashlite #239

Motel MirrorsA 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.

The Replacemetns – Achin’ To Be;
The Replacements – Takin’ A Ride;
Modernettes – Rebel Kind;
True Believers – Rebel Kind;
True Believers – Gipsy Son;
Bad Sports – Would You Wait For Me Too;
Bad Sports – Nothing In This World;
Terry Matls – I Was Not There;
Terry Malts – No Good for You;
Amy LaVere – Killing Him;
Motel Mirrors – Meet Me On The Corner;
Howe Gelb – Vortexas;
R. Stevie Moore – Schoolgirl;
R. Stevie Moore – Free Pussy Riot;
The Dirtbombs – Hot Sour Salty Sweet;
The Dirtbombs – Candyass;
City of Cool – Controlled;
Eamon McGrath – Exile;
The Replacements – IOU.

11. Soulsavers – Broken

SoulsaversMore project than a band, Soulsavers is a musical collective that got head started by electornic music producers Rich Machin and Ian Glover, but has grown into a pure rock’n’roll deal once the American rockers Mark Lanegan and Will Oldham joined in as songwriters and performers. This year’s Broken is their strongest album thus far. It’s great to see that electronic musicians, whatever that means, still keep their interest in pure, live-music-driven rock’n’roll. The highlight of this album is a cover of Gene Clark’s song Some Misunderstanding is a perfect homage to the songwriting rock era of the seventies and one of the greatest albums of that time No Other. Accidentally or not, this is also the only major label album on our year end list!