L&Q Weekly
David Lynch auction, Alex G signs to a major for his return, Tyler Ballgame live in London, Kieran Hebden and William Tyler unite, Cullen Omori is a lawyer now
Supported by Bird On The Wire
Song of the Week
A couple of years ago, the unexpected duo of Kieran Hebden – aka indie’s favourite IDM artist, Four Tet – and US instrumental guitarist William Tyler sneaked out (and I really do mean SNEAKED) a couple of tracks they’d made together via a label from North Carolina called Psychic Hotline. Now they’re back with an 11-minute rendition of ‘If I Had A Boat’, a song originally by ’80s American county singer Lyle Lovett. Americana is what Hebden and Tyler bonded over when they finally got together to work on music in 2022, after almost a decade of saying they should. They’ve been tinkering with what they made since (including this track of 3 parts – a trad folk, finger-picked epic sandwiched between a God Speed! slow whoosh and blippy electronics) with an album now on the horizon, called 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s (coming 19 September via Eat Your Own Ears). Hear it once to realise just what a winning collaboration this is. Listen here
3 Sentence Live Review
Tyler Ballgame in London, UK
THE SOCIAL, 20 MAY: Tyler Ballgame (I think the man, but introduced as the band) arrived in London for his first headline show outside of LA to make a small, narrow basement sound like a symphony hall. It’s Roy Orbison the Musical, with a touch of early Stones Mick Jagger a little later on, which only edges into Jack Black for a brief second, thank everyone you know. ‘Help Me Out’ is a high over the course of an hour from a group who sound like they’re in their Hackney Diamond days when there’s not even one album to chase around the world yet. Stuart Stubbs
Film Review
The folk history of rave, and our continual need for a good time
In a new documentary called Free Party: A Folk History, filmmaker Aaron Trinder covers a period of time that predates the coining of the term ‘experience economy’ by 8 years, and a community that would baulk at it more than anyone else: the hardcore ravers of 1990 who were already fighting against the commercialisation of their culture. Continue reading
Podcast
“My dream for this album is for someone to hear it and not know who I am as an actor beforehand,” says Finn Wolfhard on this episode of The Loud And Quiet Podcast. As the star of Stranger Things and the new Ghostbusters reboot, it feels like a dream that’s becoming more and more unlikely, but Wolfhard began playing and writing music long before he started acting, learning bass at the age of 7 to emulate his hero Paul McCartney. Listen now
Education
Fellow fans of Chicago band Smith Westerns, and frontman Cullen Omori’s solo work after that, might have been thinking, it’s been a while since we heard from that guy. 2018, to be exact, and his second album, The Diet. Well, it turns out he’d “paused his music career” to enrol in a prestigious university (Northwestern) and study law. He confirmed this last week when he graduated with his MBA, as if ‘indie musician’ is no longer a stable career. (He even has a LinkedIn profile now.) His Instagram post sharing the news made no mention of if his music career will now be un-paused, and I imagine he was as surprised as anyone when a new Cullen Omori track appeared on streamers on Wednesday, called ‘Out Of My Skin’. Omori posted that he has no idea where the track has come from or who it’s by, but it’s not him. Which is good, because it’s a really terrible song.
Online Shopping
Two weeks ago it was the late Steve Albini’s archive that was being auctioned off, following his untimely death in May 2024. That’s an auction that will be replenished every Friday for the rest of the year at Steve Albini’s Closet. This week, it’s been announced that the belongings of David Lynch – who died five months ago – will also be auctioned, including his record collection, instruments and cameras. The auction will take place on 18 June in Los Angeles, and you can see the entire catalogue of items here.
Album News
Albums for your diary announced this week
Modern Nature – The Heat Warps (29 Aug, Bella Union): Jack Cooper’s Modern Nature head in a new direction after their sparse and ambient 2023 album No Fixed Point In Space, with new guitarist Tara Cunningham inspiring Cooper to return to a Can-ish drive on lead single ‘Pharaoh’.
Alex G – Headlights (13 July, RCA.): 10 albums in, the Philly indie hero has signed to a major and it shows on the sheen of first single ‘Afterlife’. But a bit like when Vampire Weekend crossed over, a melody merchant is a melody merchant.
