Australia is home to an amazing indie rock and indie pop scene, one I had not discovered until a few years ago. Despite a few Australian artists breaking into the American mainstream over the years such as Vance Joy, Troye Sivan, and Natalie Imbruglia, I had not explored the depths of the Australian music scene. Without further ado, let me highlight some of my favorite songs by some of my favorite Australian artists.
CHAI is one of the best Japanese girl groups. Two of the members, Mana and Kana, are twin sisters; the other members met the sisters during high school and became friends through their school’s light music performance club. After the girls graduated and went to college, they began performing throughout Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture and eventually moved to Tokyo to pursue the band. Since their formation they have released two albums, most recently “Punk.” They’ve also gained a more global following in recent years, and have toured the UK and US and signed onto labels in both the UK and US.
As Japanese musicians, the band has strived to go beyond the J-Pop genre and beyond the geographic boundaries of Japan. CHAI creates music that doesn’t perfectly fit within the pop mold. The women also focus a lot of their music towards empowering themselves and all women. They also take a new approach to “kawaii”, or “cute” culture: promoting that everyone is cute in their own way. CHAI is a wonderfully expressive and dynamic band that everyone should listen to. I recommend their most recent album, “Punk”, especially.
Welcome back to the “Behind the Cover” series! This week, I’ll be diving into the story behind one of the most iconic album covers in the history of classic rock: “Led Zeppelin IV.” I first heard about the cover’s origin in rock journalist Brad Tolinski’s book, “Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page.” Filled with interviews and stories about the guitarist’s life, one of the points Toliksni touches on in the sixth chapter is the making of “Led Zeppelin IV.”
The Backstory
By 1971, Led Zeppelin was quickly reaching international success. Fans around the world worshipped them and their hard-hitting, experimental rock, but critics weren’t as adoring. They chalked the band’s fame up to “hype, not talent.” Their first three albums, especially “II” and “III”, had the band’s faces plastered all over the record sleeves, leading harsh music journalists to believe that Led Zeppelin was nothing more than a fad.
The band and Atlantic Records had a steady, gracious relationship up until “IV’s” release. They gave the foursome full creative control over every aspect of their music, including the album covers. The band took a “retreat” to Headley Grange, a two-hundred-year-old mansion in the English countryside, to record the majority of their upcoming album. Free from distractions at the remote, crumbling house, the band used the natural acoustics at Headley to experiment with new sounds in their creative seclusion. It was rumored that their fourth album would be otherworldly.
Needless to say, Atlantic Records was devastated when they found out the album would have no name, no cover title, and no artist credits. It is now known as “Led Zeppelin IV,” but it was originally meant to have no title at all. The record label tried to convince the band that they were “committing professional suicide,” but their choice was final. They wanted to show the world that Led Zeppelin was more than a trend.
The Cover Art
The final cover design shows an antique painting of an old man with a bundle of sticks on his back, hanging on a peeling wall. This painting was found by lead singer Robert Plant in an antique shop. It spoke to the band because of its reference to the “destruction of the old,” which they contrasted with the photographs of skyscrapers on the back cover. The entirety of “IV” and its cover is very much an ode to balancing traditionality with the new.
The inside is just as fascinating and mysterious as the outside. Depicting the Hermit, an ancient figure used in Tarot, it is meant to represent “a seeker aspiring to the light of truth.” The record sleeve has a gorgeous Arts and Crafts style typography, spelling out the lyrics to “Stairway to Heaven.” (Jimmy Page, the producer and guitarist, actually found a clipping of the typeface in a vintage magazine and hired a designer to remake the entire alphabet.)
Led Zeppelin IV inside cover (taken by me)Led Zeppelin IV record sleeve (taken by me)Led Zeppelin IV front and back album art (taken by me)
This is truly one of my favorite album cover stories. I think it’s so interesting how the band used it as both a representation of the music and as a reaction to their critics. They wanted to let the music speak for itself, and by god it did.
What’s going on Butcher Crew?! It’s your Master Butcher, The Saw, and I have another band up on the slab for The Saw’s Choice Cuts! Now, it is no secret that I love Alice In Chains. I am a big grunge fan and Alice In Chains is the band that got me into grunge. My mom and dad played them frequently when I was a child and I remember listening to them driving down a back road with my mom. Alice In Chains is the perfect combination of harmony, groove, and emotion. The riffs that are in their songs are influenced by metal and hard rock, and that’s why I will argue that grunge is a different sub-genre of metal. The lyrics are packed with emotion, especially the songs that have Layne Staley (RIP) on vocals. You can hear how much he is hurting within their songs and I think that’s why I love Layne and the band so much. I like music that captures true, raw emotion, and that is exactly what Alice In Chains does. You can feel the emotion in each song with every breath that Layne takes. His voice was so beautiful and he sang like a wounded angel.
In no particular order, here are my favorite Alice In Chains songs:
Would?
Man in the Box
Rooster
Nutshell
Them Bones
Dam That River
Check My Brain
Bleed The Freak
Junkhead
Again
Love, Hate, Love
Angry Chair
A Looking In View
Get Born Again
What are some of your favorite Alice In Chains songs?
As I was looking for indie French bops to bump on those hot, sunny Spring days ahead of us, I realized there are so many indie French artists who are not getting enough international recognition. So there you go: here’s a list of French artists you should be listening to this Spring and keeping an eye out for in the coming months! You can find them all in this Spotify playlist I’ve made recently.
“Bleu ou vert” by BARON.E
The French duet “BARON.E” released their EP “Jeunesse Dorée” (“Golden Youth”) in 2020 and it’s one of the best musical discoveries I’ve made in the last few months. “Bleu ou vert” literally fits so well the happy mood that sunny days get me in, so I couldn’t resist sharing this song with you. It’s just too good.
“Été 90” by Thérapie Taxi
Bad news: Thérapie Taxi broke up a few months ago. Good news: the duet just released an EP to say goodbye to their fans before they continue their careers separately, and they have a tour planned post-COVID to say goodbye to their fans. “Été 90” (“Summer 90”) is going to be my official Spring and Summer 2021 anthem, in their memory. Long live Adélaïde and Raphaël.
“Feux ” by Poupie Feat. Jul
I am addicted to the chorus of this song and I’m listening to it so much it’s becoming alarming. That’s it. That’s the review. In all seriousness, the song was first released by Poupie singing alone, and Jul collaborated on a new version with her when it was time to work on her EP. I never thought I’d like Jul’s voice that much — he heavily relies on autotune and I usually HATE it — but I guess I do now.
“Étrange Mélange” by Claire Laffut
Claire Laffut’s voice is really sensual in this one. This song is perfect for relaxing sunny days. The lyrics are somewhat dark and mysterious but the overall mood really screams “sunny summer vibes” and I love it. 10/10 recommend to listen to while you’re soaking up the sun.
“Le temps est bon”by Bon Entendeur
This song has become so famous and mainstream in France that I feel weird recommending it to anyone, but I don’t think it’s well-known in the US, so I thought I’d include it just to make sure no one’s missing out on this absolute hit. It’s a remix of Isabelle Pierre’s song “Le temps est bon” from 1972. Bold move, but the result honors the original version perfectly.
“The Hellbilly,” Rob Zombie has returned with a new release on March 12, 2021, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy (Nuclear Blast). His trademark eclectic style – Psychedelic Horror Metal, Go-Go Funk; sometimes folky, always spooky songs, samples, lyrics and instrumentals – is on display, and as all his album titles suggest you’re always in for a ride!
One of the constants on a Rob Zombie record as of late is his killer band – Zombie (vocals) John 5 (guitars), Piggy D (bass), Ginger Fish (drums). The other constant is the awesome musicianship of these veterans. If you’ve ever seen Rob Zombie live, then you already know the shock-n-awe of the visual expression of the psycho/horror sounds (all while Zombie go-go dances!). No matter what style the band employs on this newest record, it is incredible. And “The Hellbilly’s” multiple vocal ranges are, as usual, superb.
The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy has landed in the top sales spot on the Billboard Charts, a first for Rob Zombie. While there are two good records separating them, this is the natural follow-up to the masterpiece Hellbilly Deluxe, in my opinion. Excellent production is on display on this 17-track offering, and even a new genre of music at one point – Industrial-Country!
Track Listing:
Expanding the Head of Zed
The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)
The Ballad of Sleazy Rider
Hovering Over the Dull Earth
Shadow of the Cemetery Man
A Brief Static Hum and Then the Radio Blared
18th Century Cannibals, Excitable Morlocks and a One-Way Ticket on the Ghost Train
The Eternal Struggle of the Howling Man
The Much Talked of Metamorphosis
The Satanic Rites of Blacula
Shower of Stones
Shake Your Ass-Smoke Your Grass
Boom-Boom-Boom
What You Gonna Do with That Gun Mama
Get Loose
The Serenity of Witches
Crow Killer Blues
Rating: 8.5/10!
Favorite Songs: The Triumph of King Freak; Shadow of the Cemetery Man; Boom-Boom-Boom
Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” was my favorite movie of 2018 by far. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s a true story set in the early 1970s about the first Black cop at the Colorado Springs Police Department, a man named Ron Stallworth. The movie focuses on how he, with the help of his partner, infiltrate the Klu Klux Klan. It is a powerful, striking movie, with important references to today’s racial inequality. Commanding, telling, and surprisingly comedic, it’s a must-see.
Something I loved about this movie right from the beginning was the soundtrack. Terence Blanchard, who’s worked with Spike Lee on several other films, served as the composer for “BlacKkKlansman.” Though the film includes a variety of old-school funk and R&B tracks, Blanchard’s original composition is fantastic. He meshes the classical sounds of violin with a crooning electric guitar, mimicking a Hendrix-esc sound. According to Blanchard, he wanted to imbibe this sound because it reminded him of when Jimi Hendrix performed the national anthem at Woodstock:
I kept thinking that was one of the most patriotic things I’d ever heard. It seemed like me that he was screaming that we were all Americans.
Most of the songs play off the same riff, which can be heard best in “Main Theme – Ron.” However, some stray into intense, sometimes frightening tones. For example, the last scenes in the movie tie the plot to real-life footage of modern events. Underlined with Blanchard’s “Photo Opps,” it creates a sinister tone that really drives home the film’s message.
It’s a dramatic and dynamic soundtrack, truly reflecting the intensity of the movie. As the scenes switch quickly from light-hearted to fierce, the music follows suit. One of my favorite moments is when Ron and his girlfriend, Patrice, are dancing to “Too Late To Turn Back Now” by The Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose at the club. The music is perfectly picked to match the mood of the scene.
“BlacKkKlansman’s” soundtrack is truly one of the best I’ve ever heard. It reflects the feeling of the movie perfectly. Now, go watch the movie and give it a listen!
By 1979, Led Zeppelin seemed to be at the tail end of an 11-year reign over rock music. After the release of their seventh studio album, “Presence”, in 1976, the band decided not to tour due to a number of personal issues, beginning a long period of silence for Zeppelin. The cancellation of the tour was due in part to a serious car accident involving Robert Plant and in part to Jimmy Page’s alleged drug abuse. The band did end up touring very briefly in 1977, although the tour was cut short due to the death of Plant’s five-year-old son, Karac. Prior to the release of the band’s final LP, “In Through the Out Door”, the future of Led Zeppelin was all but determined and it was unclear whether any new music would be released again. It seemed as if the greatest rock band of the 1970’s was finally expiring.
Inner-Zeppelin Turmoil
The making of “In Through the Out Door”defined a clear separation among the members of the band. The majority of the album was written by multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones and vocalist Robert Plant; a surprising deviation from the usual Page and Plant songwriting dynamic. Prior to the release of “In Through the Out Door”, guitarist Jimmy Page had been credited with taking a hand in writing every Led Zeppelin song released, aside from covers. On the final album, Page was noticeably absent from writing credits on “All My Love” and “South Bound Suarez”. Both Jones and Plant have suggested to multiple sources that they took the primary hand in creating “In Through the Out Door” and that the separation among the band members was clear in its production. In discussing the absence of Page in a 1991 interview, John Paul Jones stated, “We were left alone quite a lot of the time, along with [drummer John Bonham], and so we tended to get on with it, I think. I suppose you could say that “In Through the Out Door” is my album, the way “Presence” was Jimmy’s album.” Although it seems that Jimmy Page had very little to do with the album, he was still given the producer’s credit. He has been recorded in several interviews stating that he actually had more involvement in the album than it seemed. In an interview with “Mojo”, Page stated, “‘In Through the Out Door’ was done in a little over three weeks, so I couldn’t have been in that bad a shape,” alluding to his rumored drug abuse in the years following “Presence”and preceding “In Through the Out Door”. No matter the exact details of the delegation of the album’s production, it was clear that there was definitely some separation among the band members that was not present in previous albums.
The Release
“In Through the Out Door”was released in August of 1979 as Led Zeppelin’s eighth studio album. Overall, the album was well-regarded by the public and was most definitely comparable to earlier successful Zeppelin works. The album debuted at No. 1 on both American and European charts and it was clear that fans had been made to wait far too long for new music. The album is yet another example of Led Zeppelin’s incredible range and fearlessness towards musical experimentation. Songs such as “Fool in the Rain” show John Bonham’s impressive drum work, as well as an incredible solo and multiple creative run by Page on guitar. The integration of Latin music and samba beat influences in the song further exhibit the recurring creative risks present on every Zeppelin album. The most notable creative liberties taken on “In Through the Out Door” undoubtedly come from John Paul Jones, with his use of multiple instruments, such as a synthesizer. This was possibly John Paul Jones’ most significant work. Without the regular influence of Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin was in serious need of an instrumental frontman, and Jonesy stepped right in. His growing role in the band was apparent and he subsequently received much more praise and recognition than he previously had. Although the album is quite different from the more rock-heavy albums that Zeppelin had previously released, “In Through the Out Door”was an important addition to the band’s repertoire and lives on as an important album in rock history.
“All My Love”
Possibly the most notable track on the LP is “All My Love”, one of only two Led Zeppelin songs that Jimmy Page did not have a hand in writing. Although it may be one of Led Zeppelin’s most widely known songs, the band considers it to be something entirely different from their usual releases. It is clear that Page’s absence took a bit of Zeppelin’s hard rock element out of the equation, as “All My Love” is often credited as being one of their ‘softest’ songs released. Both Jimmy Page and John Bonham can be found expressing their disapproval of “All My Love” to multiple sources. In an interview with “Light and Shade”, Page stated, “I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that. And I thought ‘That is not us. That is not us’,” alluding to the more soft and intimate feel that accompanied “All My Love”. Another quote by Page in the same interview states, “In its place it was fine, but I would not have wanted to pursue that direction in the future.” Of course, the song did end up on the final version of “In Through the Out Door”, even after the artistic disapproval of Page and Bonham. Despite their concern with the softness of the song, “All My Love” was ultimately included on the album because of Plant’s undeniably beautiful vocal performance and pure passion. “All My Love” is not a song of Plant’s declaration of romantic love, as many listeners may assume. Robert Plant wrote the lyrics of “All My Love” as a tribute to his late son, Karac, who passed away in 1977 at the age of 5. The death of Plant’s son was a devastating loss for him, as well as the band. “All My Love” is a timeless classic rock ballad that shows a more intimate side of Led Zeppelin, furthering proving their mastery of range.
Many of our first introductions to the varied religious traditions of East Asia do not come from books or school, let alone Asian people themselves. While there are a variety of ways that people first meet Buddhism, Hinduism, or any of the number of religions thrown into the grab bag of ‘Eastern Religion,’ many of our cultural ideas about Asian and Indian spirituality come from the rock and roll. This association seems set in stone, but if you give it more than a passing thought it’s actually… really weird? Psychedelic rock was not always associated with Eastern spiritual movements and considering that the philosophical backing of the New Left was largely atheist, it’s fairly confusing that mainstream artists leaned so hard into other culture’s religious traditions.
The counterculture of the sixties has largely defined rock music in the traditional telling, and it co-opted many real religious traditions that actual people have practiced since the dawn of time, religions which Western people usually treated with at best indifference and more often with outright derision. Now the basic woke impulse for this is to simply write this phenomenon off as some indeterminate form of cultural appropriation, which I guess is what I did prior to hearing the song “Galileo,” but more on that later.
Research into New Age spirituality and Eastern religion in America is plentiful, and you must forgive me for barely even scratching the surface of scholarly literature on the topic (I am but a humble blog writer with other essays to write), but what research I could find for free with an NC State login on Jstor usually identifies the rise of new-age religion with the decline in doctrinal Christianity, which makes sense. Winston King has attributed this to a search for a more flexible undefined vocabulary for expressing spiritual concepts, a vocabulary supposedly worn down by years of biblical literalism, which is probably fair enough. This was an interesting idea on its own that I wanted to share with you, but if we take a textual reading to the music that introduced Americans to Eastern religious concepts, we can see evidence for King’s claim.
The first person most of us think of when it comes to Eastern spirituality in rock is probably George Harrison. He was one of the most prominent advocates for Buddhist and Hindu philosophies, and he was the only one of the Beatles for which, as one writer so tactfully put it, “The Hare Krishna stuff wasn’t a phase.” His music probably makes the best case for King’s analysis of Western people wanting to energize belief with new vocabulary. Harrison did not follow any discreet religion and often mixed Eastern and Western religious language to create an emotional through-line for his presumably Western listeners, most notably in the song My Sweet Lord. Additionally, if you wanted to make an argument for Harrison appropriating Eastern religion, there is a lot to work with. While Harrison had the money to visit India multiple times, he never really entered the religious tradition or converted so much as he took language and ideas to suit his purposes. I will leave further discussion of the permissibility of that practice to Twitter.
If we end our discussion in the 60s, we might make the mistake of assuming Americans either abandoned interest in Eastern religion or hold that interest in the same unevolved sense of romanticization that Harrison used. Even though counterculture spiritualism unambiguously exited the mainstream, and new age religion makes the news most often for anti-vax scandals, there has been at least some maturation in American’s approach to other culture’s religion. This is where the song Galileo by the Indigo Girls comes in. Unlike 60’s religious experimentation that equated Eastern religions with recreational drug use and did a poor job distinguishing between different religions, Galileo is unambiguously about the philosophical implications of Buddhism. The song takes the same level of spiritual uncertainty and angst people apply to Christian theology and applies it to Buddhism, asking questions like “How long till my soul gets it right, does any human being ever reach those kinds of heights except for Galileo?” The song is also distinctly positioned from an American perspective, referencing milestones in Western intellectual history to frame its spiritual questions instead of presuming knowledge about the East. The song isn’t predicated on the novelty of other belief systems, instead, it assumes the audience has at least a passing familiarity with concepts like reincarnation, and then uses that knowledge to ask other questions.
Your mileage may vary as to how much you can enjoy Europeans and Americans using Eastern vocabulary to frame distinctly Western arguments. However, regardless of how you come down on that issue, I think it is worth considering the progress made since the sixties. While George Harrison was generally respectful, I’m not sure you could say the same about Donovan or the number of better-off forgotten faux hippies of the era. And listen to the Indigo Girls if you get a chance.
When Deana Lawson took this portrait, titled “Binky & Tony Forever,” she had no idea that it would become the cover of one of Dev Hynes’s most prolific albums. Lawson specializes in photography depicting identity, love and materiality, particularly in Black culture. Her work is beautiful and honest, showing levels of intimacy that are both soft and powerful.
In 2016, the year “Freetown Sound” was released, “Fader” magazine interviewed Lawson on the album cover’s creation. She described how “Binky & Tony Forever” was originally a personal project, and it would be seven years before Dev Hynes used it for his album artwork. Binky, the woman in the photo, was a makeup artist she met on a shoot. Anthony, the man, was a friend of Binky’s. Lawson went in knowing she wanted to capture the idea of “physical intimacy” with a young couple. Usually, she shoots her subjects in their own environments, but for this particular photo shoot, they were actually in Lawson’s bedroom. She chose to keep everything on the walls the same except the Michael Jackson poster, which she says invoked her “own memory of popular culture while [she] was growing up.”
Lawson chose them as subjects partially because of their heights. Though Binky was quite short and Anthony quite tall, their positions demonstrate a deep level of respect and closeness. The way he’s embracing her gives off the sense that they are equals, and there’s no toxic power dynamic in their relationship.
The striking tenderness of this visual is perhaps what drew Dev Hynes to the photograph. After seeing “Binky & Tony Forever”, he asked if he could use it for the cover to “Freetown Sound.” Though Lawson was hesitant to release one of her pieces into such heavy circulation, she came around after hearing Dev Hynes’ unreleased album. She felt “like his mission, his intention, and his aesthetic” fit hers perfectly.
