5 SONGS FOR FRIDAY
F/FF/RW #4 :: New music this week by The War and Treaty, The Tallest Man On Earth, Handsome Ghost, Gordi and The Saxophones
I really like the new The War and Treaty record Lover’s Game. They’ve opened for Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile but will be headliners soon with material as solid as this. Remember, if you like F/FF/RW, please share with the other music lovers in your life and maybe head over to Ventipop.com for more music.
In the 1950s at 19, this legendary singer joined the Air Force and spent three years in Landsberg am Lech, Germany intercepting Soviet radio transmissions during the Korean War. While there, the musician bought their first guitar for $5 and founded their first band The Landsberg Barbarians, a play on the name of the military base’s newspaper, the Landsberg Bavarian. Can you put a face to the musician?
(don’t cheat…answer is below)
THE WAR AND TREATY :: “YESTERDAY’S BURN”
Marking the first major-label release from the acclaimed husband-and-wife duo of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, LOVER’S GAME lands like a romantic bomb, helping a critically acclaimed duo with a force-of-nature sound explode into the mainstream.
A powerhouse vocal duo, internationally renowned and long appreciated for live shows built on revival-like intensity, The War And Treaty now reach the next creative level.
“I think when people hear this album, they are going to feel the conviction of our voices and lyrical content behind these songs,” Michael explains. “For me, that’s what matters most.”
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH :: “HENRY ST.”
Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson has never remained in one place for very long. Having spent much of the last decade touring around the world as The Tallest Man On Earth, Matsson has captivated audiences using, as The New York Times describes, “every inch of his long guitar cord to roam the stage: darting around, crouching, stretching, hip-twitching, perching briefly and jittering away…Mr. Matsson is a guitar-slinger rooted in folk, and his songs are troubadour ballads at heart.” His new Album 'Henry St. is out on April 14 On ANTI- Records.
HANDSOME GHOST :: “BIRCH TREES”
Massachusetts duo Handsome Ghost is made up of Tim Noyes, singer-songwriter, and Eddie Byun, multi-instrumentalist and producer. “Birch Trees” "is taken from their new EP "To the Place Where We Met Last".
"Years ago I played a show up in a town on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It was a remarkably beautiful place, a bit of a tourist town - but I was up there at the end of winter - well before any tourists showed up. So there was a desolate prettiness to the place, it felt mostly empty. I wasn't up there for more than 24 hours, but the whole experience stuck with me and I wrote Birch Trees with that town in mind."
GORDI :: “BROKE SCENE”
Australian musician Sophie Payten aka “Gordi” is back with a new single called “Broke Scene”. It’s an undulating dark electronic track laced with Payten’s layered vocals and even blacker lyrics:
“Blackened skies drowning the noise out/ Gasoline dripping from your mouth/ One-way ticket out of this town/ Keep on running, don’t you stop now.”
On the song creation process, Payten says, “I had an afternoon of writing ahead of me, which was giving me ‘the Sunday feeling.’ I was in such a post-lunch haze when I got back to the piano, that I thought I’d just lie down and close my eyes for a second. I woke up an hour… almost robotically I picked up a guitar and started playing this riff as if I’d been dreaming about it. By the time the sun set, I had written “Broke Scene.”
THE SAXOPHONES :: “DESERT FLOWER”
Another husband and wife duo make the cut this week in The Saxophones. Alexi Erenkov and Alison Alderice return after a three-year hiatus with a new track “Desert Flower”. Their third album To Be A Cloud will be released on June 2nd, 2023. The Saxophones have a very unique 1950’s balladry, crypto-jazz, loungy-infused hybrid sound.
1808 - 1st college orchestra was founded in the USA at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1853 - Steinway & Sons Piano Company opens in New York City
1877 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" has its world premiere, performed by the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow
1956 - RCA Records placed a half-page ad in Billboard Magazine claiming that Elvis Presley was 'the new singing rage’
1959 - The Coasters' "Charlie Brown" peaks at #2 on the Billboard Top 100
1963 - Tragedy strikes as 30-Year-Old country star Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash
1965 - The #1 song in America is “My Girl” by The Temptations
1970 - The Beatles release a little song titled “Let It Be”
1972 - Billboard’s Song of the Year: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack
1975 - "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 45 performances
1987 - U2 release their fifth album "The Joshua Tree"
1987 - Beastie Boys make the pop history books by becoming the first hip-hop act to have a No.1 album with their debut, Licensed To Ill
1991 - The Clash scored their only UK No.1 with “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”
1998 - Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment signs unknown rapper Eminem
Born this week: Antonio Vivaldi (1678), Samuel Barber (1910), Mickey Gilley (1936), Mickey Dolenz (78), Edie Brickell (56), Carrie Underwood (39), Andy Gibb (1958) and Camila Cabello (26)
To listen to every new song featured in 2023 in chronological order, follow along with this Spotify playlist.
New albums released this week that I’m most looking forward to hearing:
The War and Treaty - LOVER’S GAME
Jane Bunnett and Maqueque — PLAYING WITH FIRE
Handsome Ghost - TO THE PLACE WHERE WE LAST MET (EP)
Death Cab For Cutie - ASPHALT MEADOWS (ACOUSTIC)
Nia Archives - SUNRISE BANG UR HEAD AGAINST THA WALL
Manchester Orchestra - THE VALLEY OF VISION
The Nude Party - RIDES ON
Van Morrison - MOVING ON SKIFFLE
This ad by Apple showcases their product line’s innovative features like Door Detection, Sound Recognition, Voice Control, and more. It features the inspiring track “I Am the Greatest (with Marliya Choir)” by Spinifex Gum.
FACE THE MUSIC Answer: The Man in Black…Johnny Cash
Hit the pause button ‘til next Friday. See ya then…
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