From WQXR and Carnegie Hall comes Classical Music Happy Hour, a new podcast hosted by me, pianist Maniacs. Each episode will speak with a special guest, listen to musical gems, play music-inspired games, and answer questions from our listeners. The first episode drops March 4th. Listen on the NPR app. It was a rough weekend for me. Okay. How are you doing? Well, my beloved Kansas Jayhawks went down in the second round of the tournament again. Okay. They haven't gotten past the first weekend since 2022 when they won it all, but it was a brutal, brutal loss to St. John's. Go Jayhawks. Nobody says go Jayhawks. Okay, see, nobody says it's Rockchock Jayhawks. Okay, I'm sorry. Rockchock Jayhawks. Are we gonna do a show? I know. This is a show. Is this a sports talk show now? I wish we had a sports talk show. This episode of All Songs Considered comes to you from the NPR Music Podcast, your one-stop shop for everything and the music nerd verse, including all Latino you'll find that in this feed every Wednesday. We close out every week with New Music Friday, a rundown of the best new albums out. Every other Thursday in the NPR Music Podcast, we've got a plus episode with Ann Powers and Daewoo Tyler Amin, where they do deep dives on a single song. They're back this week with Mariah Carey's Fantasy. Wait, why am I not on that episode? I know. Mariah is your queen. That's my queen. Where's your queen? Oh my gosh. Well, that's a great song. You know, I'm disappointed that I wasn't asked to participate, but I will be happy to be a listener. So NPR Music, also where you will find the wild and wondrous world of Lars Gotrich. That's me. That's you, Lars. I should mention we've got new episodes of All Songs Considered every Tuesday. We get into all kinds of stuff on the show, but on this episode, we're sharing our picks for the best new songs out now. I want to start with Bonavar. And are you a Bonavar fan? I don't know that you are. I liked the first album and the first EP. I dropped off after that. Well, Bonavar has a new live album coming out. We don't normally do live albums. I don't know. They don't always give us anything new. They don't really offer anything. Unless you're talking about Frampton Comes Alive or Exit Stage Left from Rush. Okay. This one from Bonavar, I don't know. It really took me by surprise. It's called, the album is called Volumes One, Selections from Music Concerts 2019 to 2023. So the first cut that they've released from it is a rarity called Heavenly Father. And this is a song that Bonavar originally wrote back in 2014 for the Zac Braff film, Wish I Was Here. It was on a soundtrack compilation for that film, but the only way you could hear it is if you bought it on physical, like a CD or vinyl or something. It was never available to stream. So it's very cool to hear the song at all, but this live version I think is especially cool. Again, it's called Heavenly Father. Just leave it to a caller that asks the same. I don't know how you house the sin. But you're free now. I was never sure how much of you I could let in. I want you to settle down. You don't care the other name. I When you're free now Turn around now when you come to death See you go now But I know now honey that I can't pretend Heavenly Father Is brought to His autumn And all is left in it I just built up here for God damn good Can you see now? I'm filling up holes with God damn fear I am free now And when I know about it darling I've been standing here Heavenly Father Is all in the office of safety in the end Heavenly Father Well I wonder what you thought like if you're just you like the folky early stuff like what you think is this just not your the way you want to hear boner bear the sort of heavy sense and processed sounds. Well, so my my impression is that this is kind of like been his jam for a long time kind of like more sense and stuff. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And so is the recorded version like this. Yeah, I mean this is pretty true to the original version. This live version gets a little bigger. It's more euphoric. It has a bit more of a punch to it. It's kind of raw in a way. I don't know if you hear that but it's I don't know it kind of cuts to the bone in a way that the recorded studio version doesn't. Well that's why I'm kind of made the Heartland Rock comparison because it's like super earnest. But in this case it's over since and electronics and kind of like a weird little sample that's been looped. So this live album from Bonavar is it's part of a new series that the band is doing called Volumes. And this is just the first volume Volumes one and the plan is to put out a bunch of like live recordings previously unreleased tracks, demos, other things from the the vaults, the archives, the Bonavar archives. This first collection Volumes one selections from music concerts 2019 to 2023. It is out April 3rd. Where do you want to go from there? I think we stay in the Midwest. Okay. We started with Eau Claire Wisconsin. Yeah. I think we're going to Chicago. Bonavar going to Chicago. All right. We're going to start with the first album in 30 years by a truly cult band. And I don't use that term lightly called a sold American. Are you familiar with this band at all? So it's sold S O U L E D right? Yeah. So I know it only because Jeff Tweedy is a fan. Jeff Tweedy also of Wilco also from Chicago. Right. So it makes sense that he would have heard this band. But I had, I think in fact, you know how Pitchfork does that series, a song I wish I'd written. Sure. He picked one of the songs from sold America, from the band sold America. That's right. That's one that he wished that he had written. So that's how I know them, but I haven't spent any time with them. No. They're the kind of band where they unintentionally created alternative country. Which is interesting because Jeff Tweedy is often credited with creating all country. Right. Later. Like literally just a few years after with Uncle Dupalo. Yeah. So sold American, they stopped and they kind of like would pop up every now and again, but they've always been kind of a mysterious duo or they start out as a quartet now it's a duo. And yeah, their first record in 30 years is called sanctions. And this is a beautiful song called Freeing Wheels. Freeing wheels across the tracks Lighting the plight into the rain There's nothing romantic Waking up to facts Got a guitar around the case Freeing wheels, they don't cost much Hearing a quiet, lonely taste There's nothing nobody can take away from Got a guitar around the case Finale Finale Finale Finale Finale I'm a guitar out of the cave. I really heard Neil Young in this. Oh, sure. Something right out of After the Gold Rush or Kansa Times, something like that really reminded me of that. I think this is probably one of their more accessible songs. In even so, the way that the guitars are triple, even quadruple, tracked, and everything's a little out of phase, everything seems off. Yeah, it makes it seem a little ramshackle, a little messy. Yeah, there's no metronome. There's like a strange sense of time, and that's kind of how their music has always existed. It's music that makes you want to or need to slow down. Well, it's reconsidering the idea of what it means to be free and wild, which that's what I love about it is that being free and wild doesn't have to be chaos. It can be quiet and simple and restrained, something as simple as taking a guitar out of its case to play some music as an act of defiance or living free and wild. I think you just summed up the entirety of sold American. Well, it's working for me. I really like this a lot, and yeah, I hadn't spent any time with them at all. But I read that they've been promising this album for quite a long time. Yes. Like, I think they, in the mid-90s, they were saying like, it's almost done. It's almost ready. And now we're getting it 30 plus years later. It's absolutely stunning. It's called Sanctions, and it comes out in April. I'm so ecstatic. From WQXR and Carnegie Hall comes classical music happy hour, a new podcast hosted by me, pianist Maniacs. Each episode will speak with a special guest, listen to musical gems, play music inspired games, and answer questions from our listeners. The first episode drops March 4th. Listen on the NPR app. Lars, I was listening back to that songs to calm the nerves episode that you and I did Oh yeah, yeah. And you said on that episode how you sometimes struggle with pushing away the darkness, finding hope, pushing away the negative thoughts, and that that's something that you struggle with. Yeah. I've been accused of being polyanic, overly optimistic. It's probably true. I don't feel like I suffer from blind idealism or anything like that, but I think it's just understanding that the good and the bad can exist at the same time and that all the bad that we see in the world doesn't negate or erase all the good. Right. And I think the trick to being happy is accepting that and understanding that and finding some balance between the two. And I bring this up because there's this really great song out now from Francis of Delirium. Francis of Delirium is the name of the artist that really is a great song. That really, I think, lays this all out so beautifully. We can talk more about it after we hear it, but the song is called appropriately, It's a Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Beautiful Life. Come on, man. I bet you love that. Oh, yeah. That was giving me like a swerim and like super chunk. Okay, yeah. Fancy, chunky, riffy, indie rock. Yeah. Yeah. And so to what I was saying earlier about sort of finding hope in times of despair, this song rocks so hard. I think it's the kind of thing that gets your fists up in the air, gets you moving. Yeah. It's super infectious, but there's definitely a thread of melancholy that runs through all of it. Rocking and crying at the same time. Absolutely. The Robin Hilton and Lars Gottridge Jam. There's even a little bit of rage in it too in that bridge. You know, in the bridge she sings up on a wire, tight rope over fire, I'm burned out and I'm tired and the guitars are starting to gear up a little bit more. There's another subtle thing that happens in it that I think is really cool. It's easy to miss because it just sounds like a little vocal flourish just for the sake of making the music part a little more interesting, the ha-ha, the ha-ha vocals that are kind of accents that come in. I see that as laughter. Oh yeah. But at the same time, we get a little bit at the top of the song, but then there's this kind of angelic choir situation. So the first time they do ha-ha, that's not there, but then the second time the ha-has and the choir come in. Right. It's like, okay, there's some dense commentary happening in this song. Yeah, for sure. And I only clocked at this listening to it now, sitting here with you. I bring out the best in your Robin. You really do. You really elevate me, elevate the show. Everything you do just makes everything better, Lars. So Francis of Delirium is an artist based out of Luxembourg, Jaina Barich. This song, it's a beautiful life from her second full-length album called Run, Run, Pure Beauty, and It is Out at the End of May on May 29th. You said that everything that we are playing is kind of polar opposites, but I don't know if that's true. We're getting maybe a little bit of a theme, maybe not sonically, but at least thematically, where everybody's trying, everybody's just trying their best, it sounds like, to deal with whatever's happening in their world. I don't have like a lyric sheet for this next song, but the song is called Somewhere Good, so maybe they're in a similar headspace. But the group is called Terra, Quirkin, Trio. They're based out of Bristol. They've been around for a minute, but I probably got to see them perform last year at probably one of my favorite venues in DC that I've mentioned here many times called Rhizome. Terra, Quirkin, Trio's music is just losing on the wobbly in the right way, in the way that you sort of have to trust the process. I saw that when they performed, where it's like, I don't know where this music is going, but I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. And then once they finally get to where the song is going to be like, ah, yes, I feel, I feel held. I feel seen. I feel held. So again, the song is Somewhere Good by Terra, Quirkin, Trio. So, I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. Somewhere good I know. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. I'm glad that I'm here with them on this journey. So, when you saw them live, did they do this song? Do you recall? No. I think this might have been too early for them to be playing this material. I asked because it has that repeated guitar line and I would love to know if they were playing that live or if they just had a looping on a computer or something. I mean, when I saw them, their pedal software was pretty minimal, which I thought was cool, that they kind of kept everything pretty contained. But it's extremely hypnotic and it kind of keeps you off your axis a little bit. But there's always something that's kind of keeping you rooted at the same time. I love that feeling. I mean, that's kind of what that repeated guitar line does. And I'm a sucker for that too. Like, I love a line that is repeated over and over again throughout the entire duration of a song. And this one's long. It's like six minutes, but you never grow tired of it. You kind of lose track of it at some points and then you'll kind of tune back into it and then it'll kind of go away again. And everything else that happens is built around that repeated line. So many unexpected things in this song too. Like that little clarinet that comes in is so lovely and absolutely the last instrument I would have predicted that they would bring in at that moment. Tara Clark and Trio is on like a rare U.S. tour like right now on their way to the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville. So if you're on the East Coast, I would highly recommend seeing this band. It really takes you out of your orbit in the best possible way. So that song is called Somewhere Good and the album is called Somewhere Good. Yeah. And it is out June 5th. So this last one that I want to play Lars is from an absolute legend. Yeah. A legend. Mm-hmm. Tori Amos. This is another one where I absolutely respect the longevity of her music, the importance of her music and her person. I like watching live videos of her. I think she's such a fascinating performer. Yeah. But the music has never clicked with me for reasons I don't really under, don't really know why. Well, what did you start with? Did you, was little earthquakes like her day on set? I think so. Yeah. And that didn't do it? I think I had read like an essay that Ann Powers had written about it. I was like, okay, let's go with this in mind. And I listened to it and I liked it, but it didn't like, it didn't stay with me for whatever reason. I can't tell you how mind blowing that album was when it came out. Nothing sounded like it when she dropped that in 1992. Sure. I'm tempted to say that it like shook the world. Because I know people were shook. You're all with the accidental puns today. Shook the world, little earthquakes. Little earthquakes, I just don't want to do that. But I think that she completely reinvented Piano Pop, rejuvenated it and breathed all this new life into it. She brought this sort of power to it in a way. I don't know, I think without Tori Amos, I'm not sure you get Fiona Apple. I'm not sure you get Regina Spector. Yeah. You know, definitely. Absolutely. You know. And Tori Amos is like, she hasn't slowed down at all in all the years since she put out little earthquakes. She is about to release her 18th album, 18th album. It's called In Times of Dragons. And I guess in keeping with my recurring theme of hope and optimism, the song that I want to play from the album is called Stronger Together. Diabolical crimes. You know all about it. We've been trapped in darkness. But you know all about it. I said, Pucatoli, this is a stout of the story. But stronger together. We found, we could tackle it. And we could talk about it. And we could cry about it. And we could, and we did. And we could together. And we could, and we did. Now that you're a woman. Now that you're a woman. Now that I'm a woman. Now that I'm a woman. And we could, and we did. And we all could together. And you do understand. It's okay, you'll save him. But you do, yes we could. And we did together. I understand it was tough. Now we'll sleep together. Stronger together. Stronger together. Stronger together. And we could, and we did. And we can together. It's okay, we can face. All of this together. And we are stronger, stronger together. It's okay, live your truth. That's how it is together. Stronger together. Stronger together. It's okay, we can face. All of this together. All of this together. All of this together. I just thought this was so beautiful. I'm a piano player, so I do love piano pop. Maybe I'm just a sucker for that. I think the thing that I've realized in recent years is that I just don't like piano pop or piano rock. I think a lot of it stems from a long abiding hatred of Billy Joel. Oh man. Let's not get ugly here, man. Don't get me started about Billy Joel, man. I love Billy Joel. I'm going to make you a Billy Joel mixtape. I am, and it's not piano, man. I promise you that. I'll find some stuff that you'll like from him. Well, I don't know, maybe you won't, but... I think it's because I'm such a guitar guy. I love a guitar. I like synths, but piano. I don't know, when it comes... If I'm listening to piano, it's usually in a jazz or classical context unless pop and rock. This song from Tori, it's not like a stride piano. It's not super dominant. It's kind of all in the bass notes that she's playing. It's very atmospheric as well. Yeah, very atmospheric. So this is a concept album from Tori Amos. Again, it is called In Times of Dragons is out on May 1st. Lars, I know this last one you want to play. I'm just going to say right now. I'm not my jam. Okay. And you and I, we've talked about this a lot. We have. But I do think that there are some as sonically polar opposite as it is from the Tori Amos. Yes. I think there's actually, they're both sort of kind of getting at some of the same themes. I think so. So this is the first record in 10 years by the metal band Neurosis. It's a record called An Undying Love for Burning World. And it dropped on Friday completely. Total surprise. Total surprise. There are even some people I saw in the metal world who are like, how did they keep this under lock and key the way that they did? Maybe it's because no one's paying any attention to it. I don't think so. This is a band Robin that's been around since the late 80s. Okay. And has put out several extremely influential records in the metal world. And they even kind of influenced a whole style of metal that took from doom metal, from sludge, from industrial, from ambient music. But it was all kind of done with a hardcore punk attitude. The band went on a long hadus because it was revealed in 2022 that one of the co-founders, Scott Kelly, had been let go from the band for domestic abuse against his family. Oh, right. It's absolutely like tragic for everyone. The band had no idea. None of the close friends had any idea. He kept it very close and systematic. And it broke everyone's hearts. I hated writing that news piece for NPR because this is a band that has meant a lot to so many people. And when the news of this album dropped, the first question was like, is there another member? Or they just do it. They replace him. And to be honest, they kind of picked a better person to kind of step into that second guitar role with Aaron Turner from the metal band Isis and Sumac. And so here's this album that is very much about a band that has gone through the fire. You know, I've only had this record for like a few days and I've been texting with some friends. I'm like, I don't think this record's just good. I think it might actually be great. Like there are some songs in this that are kind of like top tier neurosis for me now. And I'm just, I'm so glad this band is back because neurosis has always been about catharsis and has never shied away from pain and struggle. But they understand that the underlying thing that keeps us moving and the thing that you always talk about, Robin, is hope. So I don't think I named the song. It's called Untethered and it's by the band Neurosis. All right. Thanks as always, Lars. Thanks, Robin. It's All Songs Considered. I'm Robin Hilton. You're listening to NPR Music. NPR Music. NPR Music. Stricted in the way of cash cow We see no way to be known We see no way to be known We see no way to be known We see no way to be known We see no way to look behind We see no way to be known We see no way to be known We see no way to be known We see no way to be known Seeking it on a shallow clear sky These wings give fortune, broken vision Far as the eye can see, rats on a wire Will you be content to give your tea? Listen on the NPR app.
