Month: June 2022

When I was a kid, my dream was to become an album cover artist when I grew up. And I have many favorite covers including the one you see above of Billy Preston’s 1973 album The Kids & Me. Before acquiring this record as a child, I’d only ever owned Disney and Sesame Street soundtracks, so this was also one of the very first “grown-up” albums I ever owned.

And now forgive me for what I am about to do, but don’t think it’s fair that I should have to experience it alone. This week I saw one of the most disgusting pieces of album artwork I’ve ever seen. I found it so repulsive, that I felt a need to save it in my downloads so I would have it forever. Then the next day, without describing it, out of the blue, a friend asked if I had seen it. It had shaken him too. We both agreed that it was unforgettably disgusting and maybe, possibly, sort of perfect.

And with that, here is the cover of the forthcoming album by genuinely fab post-punkers Dry Cleaning.

Cover art is important. It can be the determining factor as to whether you give an album a spin or not. I know when I see a baby picture or childhood vacation photo used as a cover I immediately recoil in horror. I want adventure, weirdness & hand-made dreamscapes, not a kid in a hotel pool with f-ing mouse ears or holding a toy guitar on Xmas morning. A cover photo like that tells me “this album is not going to change your life” and carries the insufferable side message of “look how cute I am”. Whereas that Dry Cleaning album you have just seen is unquestionably an album that wants to fuck with you and destroy all your previously held perceptions of the world. And that is the kind of thing I wanna hear.

Is everyone okay? Maybe this will bring you back to consciousness. Here are the greatest new songs we have heard over the past seven days aka the WEEKLY NEW WONDERS PLAYLIST. Lots of absolute stunners in here so please, just shake it off, close your eyes and immerse yourself. And please be polite and rinse off the soap okay? Other people have to use it 😉

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Just a quick one this week if that’s okay! We have been working day and night on a forthcoming discographic deep dive (!) on a legendary artist (you’ll see!) and so have been devoting all attention in that direction ( coming this very month!). And, AND, there is a forthcoming monster-sized piece coming on musical website Cover Me for someone’s birthday later this week which I will alert y’all to once it’s posted ( it’s massive and also freakin’ nuts). But enough excuses, please enjoy the latest installment of the WEEKLY NEW WONDERS PLAYLIST featuring the finest new music that has crossed our path this week. This week has blessed us with a lot of tuneful, tear-jerking, lush, heart-squeezing anthems for driving and/or walking away from things. Don’t look back, a new day’s breaking…

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Love this pic by late photographer Chauncey Hare taken at San Francisco’s Playland Amusement Park in the late ’60s. Whatever this lady is feeling, I f-ing feel it too. Ride that tiger girl. Plus when I was a kid when it came to the carousel, I never, ever wanted to sit on a horse, I always gravitated to the weird nonsensical creatures that couldn’t be ridden in real life ( the rabbit at Jolly Roger’s Park on Long Island was my main squeeze for years). This is just one of those pictures that feels like life.

Time for the WEEKLY NEW WONDERS PLAYLIST showcasing the finest new songs that have crossed our path over recent days. There is an unusually high concentration of familiar names in this week’s countdown hence it is extra welcoming, wisdom-filled, and super old-school handsome. Listen below on Soundcloud or Spotify.

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