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Shorties

New Neko Case video: Last Lion of Albion

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Video: Neko Case – “Last Lion of Albion”

Directed by Laura Plansker. From Hell-On, out now on Anti.

After releasing a couple of short little one-minute spots (“Hell-On”, “Bad Luck” and “Curse of the I-5 Corridor”), Neko Case has finally released a full-length video from her latest album, Hell-On. I originally thought these shorts were teasers for real videos, but Case insisted that these were the whole thing: “They are commercials for commercials.”

“Last Lion of Albion” features our eponymous hero roaming the earth and gazing at the heavens.

Last lion of Albion
They’ll use you for centuries to come
They’ll steal your patents for the sun
And you’ll feel extinction
When you see your face on their money

Case told Spin: “It’s just one of those things that when you’re somewhere and you’re looking at a flag, you’re thinking, How did that image get on that flag? There’s a lot of lions associated with England, and yet lions are completely extinct in England. It makes you feel sad inside, and then you realize how every culture everywhere has that, and I was just kind of meditating on that thought.”

Neko Case: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Marc Ribot and Tom Waits video: Bella Ciao

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Video: Marc Ribot – “Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful)” (ft. Tom Waits)

Directed by Jem Cohen. From Songs Of Resistance 1942 – 2018, out now on Anti.

It’s always news when Tom Waits does anything. Especially when he records a version of an old anti-fascist resistance anthem from the Italian Civil War.

One fine morning I woke up early
Find the fascist at my door
Oh, partigiano, please take me with you
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful

This comes from a new collection of protest songs from guitarist Marc Ribot, who recruited a bunch of singers (including Steve Earle, Tift Merritt, Syd Straw, and Meshell Ndegeocello) to voice historical songs and a few originals.

Explaining “Bella Ciao” Ribot says, “Mussolini’s voodoo economics led Italy into a generation of poverty and a senseless war with hundreds of thousands of Italian casualties—including over 30 thousand Partisans. This song tells the story of one of them. At a tender moment when he or she is saying goodbye to her lover (Bella Ciao=goodbye, beautiful) and trying to imagine what it means to fight for freedom. I played Tom a bunch of the tunes and he immediately bonded with that one. “Of course, he brings a certain gravitas to everything he does—my Italian friends say he sounds exactly like an old ‘partigiano’ (resistance fighter)!”

Portions of the album’s proceeds will be donated to The Indivisible Project, an organization that helps individuals resist the Trump agenda via grassroots movements in their local communities.

Tom Waits: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Marc Ribot: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Mavis Staples video: If All I Was Was Black

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Video: Mavis Staples – “If All I Was Was Black”

From If All I Was Was Black, out now on Anti.

Mavis Staples is 78 years old and she’s been singing professionally for 70 of those. Thank about that. She’s been getting paid to sing since before most Baby Boomers were even born. She’s a national treasure. This is the title track to her third album produced by Jeff Tweedy.

Director Zac Manuel told Rolling Stone, “The intent of this video is to highlight black excellence, and to provoke and encourage a larger public appreciation of the labor – physical and emotional – the people of color often are expected to bear. Using the symbolism of the ‘monument,’ a contemporary point of debate, I hope to steer conversation toward the acknowledgment of actual greatness; by replacing a negative and reinforcing a positive, this video will alter the image of who we often see immortalized in our country’s history.”

If it was up to me, I’d just replace every statue in America, confederate or otherwise, with a statue of Mavis Staples. Oh, mercy.

Mavis Staples: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Tom Waits Video: Hell Broke Luce

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Video: Tom Waits – “Hell Broke Luce”

After some intriguing teaser images, Tom Waits has released his a new video for a song from his 2011 album Bad As Me a day earlier than expected. Directed By Matt Mahurin. Still no word on a tour to promote the album.

As a bonus, here’s a couple of videos from Waits’ recent forays in late night television last month.

Video: Tom Waits – Jimmy Fallon interview

Video: Tom Waits – “Raised Right Man” (live on Jimmy Fallon)

Video: Tom Waits – David Letterman interview

Video: Tom Waits – “Chicago” (live on David Letterman)

Links

Mavis Staples – Wrote A Song For Everyone

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Video: Mavis Staples + Jeff Tweedy – “Wrote A Song For Everyone” Acoustic

This is one of my favorite CCR songs. Shoot, it’s one of my favorite songs, period. The way John Fogerty’s lyrics tackle hugely complex subjects and make them personal, while acknowledging his inability to communicate with the person he loves, is heavy and perfect. It’s no wonder Jeff Tweedy picked up on this song: it essentially encapsulates the entire theme of his own masterpiece, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. What took Wilco a whole album to say, “Wrote a Song for Everyone” does in under five minutes. Even if you can write songs that connect with thousands of people, it’s still tough to be honest with the people you love.

Saw the people standin’ thousand years in chains.

Somebody said it’s different now, look it’s just the same.

Pharoahs spin the message, round and round the truth.

They could have saved a million people, how can I tell you?

There are only two songs written by white folks that take on the subject of slavery and handle it in an effective way. This one and Bob Dylan‘s “Blind Willie McTell.” I hope Tweedy gets Ms. Staples to do that one on their next collaboration. You Are Not Alone is due September 14 on Anti.

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Articles

Roky Erickson with Okkervil River – True Love Cast Out All Evil

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Roky Erickson with Okkervil River - True Love Cast Out All EvilRoky Erickson with Okkervil River – True Love Cast Out All Evil (Anti)

The greatest praise that I can give to the first Roky Erickson album in fifteen years is that if you listen to it without an inclination of the man, his past, and his inner demons, you’ll find it a worthy collection of alt-country originals that please the ear and comfort the soul.

Of course, for those of you that do know about the man, his past, and those inner demons, True Love Cast Out All Evil becomes that much more of an impressive achievement. If you’ve ever seen the documentary on Erickson, You’re Gonna Miss Me, the new record may even come as a relief, as it may be his first release that finally finds him at peace with himself.

Continue reading Roky Erickson with Okkervil River – True Love Cast Out All Evil →

Links

Booker T. + Drive-By Truckers

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Stax recording legend Booker T. Jones has dumped the MG’s for his latest album and hired a new band, the Drive-By Truckers.

It’s every bit as raw as Booker says, thanks to layers of guitar from the Truckers and Neil Young, who plays on nine tracks. The title track has five guitarists—three Truckers, Young and Booker, who writes on guitar even though he’s famous for playing organ.

Like classic Booker T. & the MG’s albums, “Potato Hole” consists entirely of instrumentals, which have melodies and funk rhythms to balance their grit. And like those classics, “Potato Hole” also includes instrumental covers of pop songs—Tom Waits‘ “Get Behind the Mule” and a down-home take on OutKast‘s “Hey Ya!”

This could either be ridiculous or totally badass. We’ll find out for sure when Potato Hole is released on April 21 on Anti-.

Booker T.: iTunes, Amazon, Insound

Drive-By Truckers: iTunes, Amazon, Insound