Following our piece yesterday on Neil Young and given being hopelessly mired in the new Basement Tapes Raw release from Bob Dylan, there was something quite conjoining this morning when we happened upon the new single (New Black Rich (Tusks)) from Bonnie “Prince” Billy.  The song wouldn’t have been out of place amongst Young’s harrowing hat-trick and has allusions to Dylan lyrics within (“and the times they are not a-changing fast enough”), and is the latest from Bonnie’s recently-released, critically-acclaimed new album, Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues.  The new album is produced by the regular Bonnie-collaborator  Mark Nevers (see the previous Bonny albums Lie Down In the Light and Master and Everyone).

As you’ll hear below, New Black Rich (Tusks) is a heartfelt, ennui-ridden ballad (“I’ll say goodbye before we meet”) with an On The Beach-meter that features the perfect accompaniment of Billy Contreras on fiddle, Chris Scruggs on mandolin and Emmett Kelly on guitar, all of whom add a handsome hue and sepia-tones.

As you can view below, Bonnie has now released the song’s official video (directed by Claudia Crobatia) that tells an off-kilter love story (imagine that, from Bonnie “Prince” Billy).  In the video, the be-tusked Bonnie walks into a bar (no joke) and finds a beautiful, be-hooved singer who he slow-dances with.  Who hasn’t felt be-tusked or be-hooved at times while out in this world of ours?  The song and the video are beasts of beauty.

Everybody “knows” Neil Young (and this is nowhere).  But we’ve found that only a subset of folks younger than 50 actually know three consecutively-released albums from the mid-70s that define Neil Young for us.  There’s a reason for that.  Unless you held on to your turntable and owned the vinyl versions of these albums before the world went digital, the good part of a generation didn’t have much opportunity to hear Young’s harrowing hat-trick of consecutively great records:  Tonight’s the Night, On The Beach, and Zuma.   On The Beach was released in 1974, went out of print on vinyl in 1980 and wasn’t released digitally until 2003.  Tonight’s The Night and Zuma, both released on vinyl in 1975, weren’t released on compact disc until 1990.  So 15-30 years lapsed between when these albums were originally released on vinyl and when they were released digitally.  To sum up (in the words of the Talking Heads):  “Some of you people just about missed it!”  And that is a crying shame because some of the most original and emotionally-charged music in all of rock n’ roll appeared on these three albums.  As has been written about more thoroughly elsewhere and everywhere, these three albums comprised Young’s emotional reaction to a rash of events:  stardom encountered following the commercial success of Young’s album Harvest; the trials and tribulations of being in the super-group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; the overdose deaths of entourage members Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten; and Young’s failed relationships.  All were fodder for one of the greatest creative periods in Young’s musical life.  And in our book, you can’t praise much more than that.

On the Beach was inspired in part by the overdose deaths of Danny Whitten in 1972 and Young’s roadie Bruce Berry the following year.  Young wrote and recorded the harrowing, wee-small-hours Tonight’s the Night late in 1973, but first released On the Beach.  Young released Tonight’s the Night the next year.  He then finished off the hat-trick by releasing the rocking Zuma later that same year.  As mentioned, despite containing some of Young’s best songs, Tonight’s The Night was rejected by his label for being too unpolished and grim (just listen below to Young’s heartfelt, ravaged vocals on Mellow My Mind and his soul-reduced Tired Eyes).  So Young instead offered up the barely-less ominous album On The Beach. Hence the latter’s being released first.

Taking these albums in their proper chronological order, Tonight’s The Night features several of our favorite songs by the artist and of all-time, including Borrowed Tune, Albuquerque (decrying notoriety), Tired Eyes, the title track and Mellow My Mind.

On The Beach features the signature songs Ambulance Blues (damning his critics, amongst other things–lyrics at bottom), the title track (rejecting stardom), Motion Pictures (an elegy on his relationship with then-wife Carrie Snodgrass), For The Turnstiles and the raving Revolution Blues (about Charles Manson).

And finally, Zuma contains a quiver of the best songs Young’s ever recorded, including the astonishingly great Barstool Blues, Don’t Cry No Tears, Pardon My Heart, Through My Sails and, why not, Cortez The Killer (in case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard it).

If you haven’t heard (or even if you have) any of the songs mentioned above, check them out below.  And if you don’t own these three album masterpieces, add them soon to your collection.

Ambulance Blues

Back in the old folky days
The air was magic when we played.
The riverboat was rockin’
in the rain
Midnight was the time
for the raid…

All along the Navajo Trail,
Burn-outs stub their toes
on garbage pails.
Waitresses are cryin’
in the rain
Will their boyfriends
pass this way again?

I guess I’ll call it
sickness gone
It’s hard to say
the meaning of this song.
An ambulance can only
go so fast
It’s easy to get buried
in the past

When you try to make
a good thing last.

So all you critics sit alone
You’re no better than me
for what you’ve shown.
With your stomach pump and
your hook and ladder dreams
We could get together
for some scenes.

I never knew a man
could tell so many lies
He had a different story
for every set of eyes.
How can he remember
who he’s talkin’ to?
‘Cause I know it ain’t me,
and I hope it isn’t you.

Well, I’m up in T.O.
keepin’ jive alive,
And out on the corner
it’s half past five.
But the subways are empty
And so are the cafes.

Except for the Farmer’s Market
And I still can hear him say:
You’re all just pissin’
in the wind
You don’t know it but you are.

And there ain’t nothin’
like a friend
Who can tell you
you’re just pissin’
in the wind.

I never knew a man
could tell so many lies
He had a different story
for every set of eyes
How can he remember
who he’s talking to?
Cause I know it ain’t me,
and hope it isn’t you.

“Build a place where we all can belong.”  Wishful thinking you say?  Well, we’ll take utopian over dystopian any day of the week, but especially on Mondays.  ‘Cause it’s all we can do sometimes.  The great  José González  gives us yet another reason to carry on today.

Late last week while we were away, González (of the groovy Junip, Red White + Blue’s Arthur Russell Tribute Album, etc.) offered up the first single (Every Age) and video from his next album, Vestiges & Claws, which will be released February 17^th 2015 on Mute.   Every Age has been on repeat at Chez Lefort every since.  The melody and message are deceptively simple and heartening, and in the face of the surrounding turmoil, a great encouragement to the world.  The lyrics can be found below the video.

The inspirational video for the song below uses 360° technology to create an all-sensory experience of space.  Directed by Simon Morris and Chris Higham, the video was produced by global collective Eyes In Space whose aim is “to mesh artistic experiment with scientific innovation to open new worlds.” González sums up the video and song thus: “The lyrics [of “Every Age”] fit well in the sense of living on a globe together and how it can make us wonder and reflect on how we can make this the best trip ever!”  Amen!  Watch the 360° version of this galactic journey here, and watch the standard version below.

González ‘s self-produced new album is his first solo album in seven years and is filled with all-original material centered around concepts of civilization, humanism and solidarity.  About the album, González has said (though Every Age doesn’t reflect the following):  “I started out thinking that I wanted to continue in the same minimalistic style as on my two previous records, but once I started the actual recordings I soon realized that most of the songs turned out better with added guitars and a more beat-like percussion, and with more backing vocals.”

Every Age is now available digitally at the usual spots. Download it instantly when you pre-order the album here.  We can’t wait for Vestiges & Claws!

González has also announced a European and North American tour in support and you can see the dates HERE.

EVERY AGE

every age has its turn,
every branch of the tree has to learn
learn to grow, find its way,
make the best of this short lived stay
take this seed, take this spade,
take this dream of a better day,
take your time, build a home,
build a place where we all can belong

some things change, some remain
some will pass us unnoticed by
what to focus on, to improve upon
in the face of our ancient drives
feels so clear, feels so obvious
to each one on their own
but we are here, together
reaping what time and what we have sown

we don’t choose where we’re born
we don’t choose in what pocket or form
but we can learn to know
ourselves on this globe in the void
take this mind, take this pen,
take this dream of a better land,
take your time, build a home,
build a place where we all can belong

As mentioned again and again, Bahamas (Afie Jurvanen) is amongst our favorite singer-songwriter-guitar players. Watch below as he deftly renders Bitter Memories at a Minneapolis brewery for North Shore Sessions.  The song is off of Bahamas‘ latest, outstanding album, Bahamas Is Afie.

Bahamas music has also recently been featured in the James Franco Droid Turbo commercial.  Check it out at bottom.

FKA Twigs has taken the pop world by storm this year via her debut album, LP1, and alluring live performances.  She/they were the musical guest(s) last night on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and gave a visually-inventive (if nothing else) performance of the track Two Weeks.  Check out the performance below, in all its blowing-fabric-looking-alternately-like-a-pyre-then-jellyfish glory.  If your vocals are going to be a bit thin, best to break out some stunning, inventive visuals.  Mission accomplished then.  Fallon seconded by exclaiming, “Oh man, oh my goodness, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

The electrifying Elbow today released an enigmatic visual ode to British Speedway racing via the track Charge off of the band’s album, The Take Off And Landing Of Everything, which is hovering at the very top of our current Best Albums of 2014 tally.  Check it out below.  The song’s elder’s-lament lyrics are at bottom and well worth your time, as with all Guy Garvey lyrics.

“I am electric
With a bottle in me
Got a bottle in me
And glory be these …. are ignoring me
I’m from another century
I am a preacher
When I’ve got it on me
And I’ve got it on me
And glory be these …. are ignoring me
We never learn from history

Hey
I am the beau who loved her so in every song
And I designed that little mystery on your tongue
I’ve broken jaws protecting laws to keep you free
I made your day so take a seat by me

I am an old tree
Gonna talk my jaw free
Someone come and get me
Another night beside myself would finish me
Give us G & T and sympathy
I am the diehard with an empty dance card propping up a young bar
I’m pouring oil in double time upon the troubled rising tide inside of me
Upon my history”

We’ve loved what we’ve heard so far from the impending new Damien Rice album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy, from Warner Music. To get a feel, go over to NPR to stream it until its release next week.  Produced by Rick Rubin, the album will likely end up high on our Best Albums of 2014 list.  The title track has already been a Lefort Song of the Week, and we have raved about tracks I Don’t Want To Change You and The Greatest Bastard, all of which bodes incredibly well for the new album.  Go listen at NPR and pick it up next Tuesday.

Kendrick Lamar will appear on SNL on November 15th.  Lamar has owned SNL twice, but when he performs this time he should be sporting a sack of new songs from his next album (to be released this year).   One new song that’s been released to much acclaim and is loved by Lefort is the track i , the lyric video for which you can watch below.  Lamar had this to say to Carson Daly recently about the new song:

“When I first started doing music, I did a lot for myself, just for my enjoyment, but then I started doing these shows and I start seeing these kids saying my song saved their lives [because] they were going to commit suicide.  It got a little bit deeper than me, you know?

As for the song’s cover art, Lamar told Daly:  “Where I’m from, there’s a lot of gang culture and things like that, so instead of throwing on up gang signs, which we used to, I put a Blood and I put a Crip together and we’re throwing up hearts.  It got a little bit deeper than just going with a simple contemporary hit record cliché sound, and I said I’m going to use my pedestal and speak about something much more and do it my way because I’d rather go out like that.”

As you’ll hear, the song features an old Isleys sample from That Lady, including Ronnie Isley’s iconic guitar riff.   Evidently Isley also added a few ad libs to the song himself.

Check it out, and get ready for Lamar on SNL on November 15th.  We can’t wait.