Judy Dyble - Darkness To Light – The Recordings 2004-2006

Following a stint in the band Judy and The Folkmen in her teens, Judy Dyble was vocalist and a founding member of Fairport Convention.  She was only in the band from 1967 to 1968, and appeared on their debut album, before moving on to Giles, Giles and Fripp with her then-boyfriend Ian McDonald.  She recorded some demos with them before leaving the band following the dissolution of her relationship with McDonald.  Her next project was the duo Trader Horne with Jackie McAuley (ex-Them), who released an album and two singles before calling it a day.  This was followed with a stint with the group Dyble, Coxhill & The MB's (also known as Penguin Dust), whose other members were Lol Coxhill (saxophone), Phil Miller (guitar) and his brother Steve, but unfortunately, they never recorded anything.  At this point, Judy got married to music journalist, DJ and lyricist Simon Stable and they focused on raising a family and running a cassette duplication business until he passed away in 1994, when she started working as a librarian.  During all these years she largely disappeared from the music world with the exception of a few vocal sessions and a couple of guest appearances with Fairport Convention at their Cropredy Festivals.  Then, what initially started as Marc Swordfish wanting to sample her voice for the next Astralasia album, evolved into 2004's Enchanted Garden, her first solo album and first recorded work in thirty-four years.  That also marked the beginning of what would become a trio of albums they would record together.  Those three albums have now been collected in the outstanding new box set Darkness To Light - The Recordings 2004-2006.

When the Enchanted Garden recording process started, Swordfish would send her rough loops, then she would fill in the lyrics and harmonies, and he would edit the recordings with contributions from other musicians including violinist, keyboardist and arranger Simon House (Hawkwind, High Tide, Third Ear Band).  The end result is a captivating release that meshes folk (largely thanks to her vocals) with psychedelia, trance, prog and space rock.  Opener “Summer Gathers” is an absolutely gorgeous track that sets the stage perfectly.  Throughout the album other elements are tossed in like the slow, funky groove on “Rivers Now," the soulful sounds of “Going Home," and the sitar and tabla on the title track, which give it an Indian flair.  Other highlights include the ethereal “For You,” where her vocals drift over strings, electronic beats and keyboard washes in dream-like bliss, and the haunting sax-driven “Neu! Blue."

While the next release Spindle follows a similar path, there is less emphasis on the samples and more on the instruments.  The album opens with a killer take on Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play.”  The high energy version borders on electronica and features some great violin from House and keyboard solos from Swordfish.  “Misty Morning” harkens back to her original folkier side, and has a great guitar solo, but still has a bit of that Swordfish touch, as does the largely acoustic “Fingest”, a captivating track driven by traditional, rootsy instrumentation.  Another high point is the enchanting “Shining”, which features a gorgeous guitar soundscape from guest guitarist Robert Fripp.  “Honeysweet” is a darker track that is enhanced brilliantly with Harold Asher’s dulcimer, and album closer “Thank You My Dear” is a super catchy, sprightly and whimsical tune complete with the brilliant use of jew’s harp and tambourine adding to the effect.

Largely picking up where Spindle left off, Whorl was the last of the three albums with Dyble and Swordfish collaborating.  “Starlight” opens things up and is a lilting track on the folk side, with more of a traditional band sound and more great dulcimer from Asher.  The hypnotic “Breathe The Same Air” mixes things up a bit driven by a slow, soulful jazz beat and horns.  Following “The Teller,” a mesmerizing melding of folk and psychedelia, is a cover of the King Crimson song “I Talk To The Wind.” Dyble originally recorded an early version of the song with King Crimson in 1976 (released on the compilation album The Young Person's Guide To King Crimson) and her version here is stunning, featuring some stellar guitar from Fripp.  She really makes the song her own, while keeping the core of the original intact.  The swirling “The Last Kiss” throws in a Middle Eastern groove and closing track “Forever Shining” is a variation on “Shining” from the preceding album that again features a gorgeous Fripp soundscape.  Also included in this outstanding box set are nine bonus tracks, with notable additions including an instrumental dulcimer mix and Robert Fripp demo version of “Shining.”  Following these three albums, Dyble decided to move in a different direction and recorded several more albums before passing away in 2020.

(Esoteric Recordings)

exPorter - New Rubber Girlfriend 

Even though it only has six songs, New Rubber Girlfriend, the latest EP from Santa Barbara’s exPorter shows an impressive array of diversity while still maintaining a strong sense of cohesiveness.  “Mustash Sally” gets things going and is a solid blast of high-energy pop punk. Shifting in darker direction, “Letting Go” is somewhat reminiscent of Weezer with a very taut sound that conveys the tension of the lyrics before exploding in the chorus.  The fuzzy, bluesy guitars of “Southern Kingsnake” give it a stoner rock vibe, but if stoner rock had more of a pop slant.  The West Coast roots of the band really come through on “805” an upbeat power pop tune with just a little bit of grit.  The simple, largely acoustic guitar and vocals track “Flowers” is an infectious lo-fi pop tune that brings us to the strangely titled closer “She Won’t Stop Eating Batteries,” which sounds like a long-lost nineties alt rock tune that is so familiar you will feel like you have heard it before.  

(exPorter)

J Mascis - Live At CBGB's

As the title states, J Mascis Live at CBGB's was recorded at the famed venue on December 2, 1993 and documented his first solo acoustic show.  Originally released in 2006, and long out of print, it has now been reissued on transparent red vinyl.  Over the course of thirty-seven minutes, Mascis performs twelve songs consisting of Dinosaur Jr tracks plus covers of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Every Mother’s Son” and Greg Sage’s (of The Wipers) “On The Run”.  Dinosaur Jr are known for the extreme volume of their shows as well as the fuzz and feedback of Mascis’ guitar work, so it’s interesting to hear these songs stripped down to their core.  While his distinctive vocals aren’t for everybody, for those of us that do like them, you can really hear the emotion and nuances that sometimes get lost a little in their full-band versions.  As for the set list he does a great job of touching on everything from the early days up to their most recent release at that time and the two covers are perfect choices for him.  Considering it’s his first solo acoustic performance, he does sound a little nervous at times, but for the most part he sounds surprisingly relaxed and even introduces many of the songs.  

(Cherry Red Records)

Bagdad - They Don't Know EP

Formed in 2023 by a couple of high school friends, guitarist/vocalist Franciszek Drobiński (guitar, vocals) and bassist Wojciech Stach, and later rounded out by drummer Jakub Gadamski, Polish three-piece Bagdad have recently released their debut EP They Don't Know.  While it does have a few short bursts of energy, the Cobain like vocal delivery and droning guitars of opening track "Valley Of Dry Bones" are quite reminiscent of Nirvana's slower moments.  With it's infectious beat, the fuzz rock of "Somewhere, Nowhere" is the most upbeat and "pop" (using that term loosely) track here and really highlights their diversity.  The midtempo "Knight Errant Block" starts off somewhat restrained and then becomes even more introspective about halfway through before letting oose at the end.  The dreamy "Ash Pan Nocturne" is a gorgeous cut of swirling slowcore with a taut undercurrent rearing its head at times.  The seven plus minute "Heartland" closes out the EP and is a very introspective track at first, building to a slow, but much noisier instrumental ending about halfway through.  With elements that include slowcore, grunge, pop, fuzz rock, and post-punk They Don't Know is quite an impressive debut.

(Rite Field Records)

Girlschool - Running Wild & Live In London (CD/DVD)

Girlschool initially formed in 1978 when school friends Kim McAuliffe (vocals/rhythm guitar) and Enid Williams (vocals/ bass) teamed up with Kelly Johnson (vocals/lead guitar), and Denise Dufort (drums).  They meshed hard rock with punk energy for a sound that caught the ear of Motorhead's Lemmy and resulted in the band supporting them on the 1979 Overkill tour, signing with their management and label and even releasing a single where they recorded Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' "Please Don't Touch" together along with covers of each other's songs.  They released four albums and a handful of singles over the next few years and also went through some lineup changes with Gil Weston (formerly in the punk band the Killjoys with Kevin Rowland of Dexy's Midnight Runners fame) replacing Williams in 1982 and guitarist Cris Bonacci and keyboard player/vocalist Jackie Bodimead replacing Johnson in 1984.  This last lineup change not only saw them go from a four-piece to a five-piece, but it also saw them shift towards a more polished, mainstream sound, something that had been hinted at on the preceding album Play Dirty.  That brings us to Running Wild & Live In London, which was originally released on VHS and then later reissued on DVD (under several different names including Play Dirty Live and Live From London), and has now been released for the first time on CD along with the DVD.  The show was recorded at The Camden Palace in London on December 7, 1984, and was released to support the upcoming release of Running Wild (the set included five songs from that album), which in hindsight was an interesting time in the band’s history with the aforementioned shift to a five-piece and the change to their sound.  When the album was released in February it was only released in the States and when its follow-up was released in 1986 they had gone back to their earlier sound, and were back to a four-piece with Bodimead no longer in the band.  In addition to the Running Wild tracks, the remainder of the set draws primarily from Hit and Run and Play Dirty with only two songs taken from other albums.  Interestingly, not only did their earlier tracks maintain the heavier and faster punk-tinged edge in the live show, the newer more AOR / hair metal tracks tended to also be a little heavier live.  As for the performance, the band definitely knew their way around the stage and sound great here giving an enthusiastic, high-energy show.  Even though this lineup was very short-lived, Running Wild & Live In London is a great representation of the band, especially at this point in their career.  (Unfortunately, I haven’t had access to the DVD, so I can’t comment on that part of this release)

(HNE Recordings)

Bee Blackwell - Nine Lives EP

After initially posting emo and grunge covers online in 2023, Bee Blackwell released the three-cut EP Calico later that year.  She followed that up with three singles, “Dumb,” “The Same,” and “Signs” in 2024 and is now back with her second EP Nine Lives.  She describes her music as “‘90s alternative meets 2000s emo,” which pretty much hits the nail on the head here.  It’s very rare that a song becomes an instant earworm the first time I hear it, but that’s exactly what happened when i hit play on the opening track “Claws.”  Fuzzy guitar driven alt rock with sugary sweet pop hooks and Blackwell’s vocals that fit the song perfectly, make this a track that should be blasting out of everybody’s radio this summer.  A little slower and more introspective, but still not lacking in melody, “Cowboy” adds a little bit of grunge.  Although a little more upbeat “LALALA” moves in more of a shoegazer direction and closing track “More” once again slows things down and is a bit darker.  My only complaint here is that opener "Claws" is so infectious that I wish there was a little more like that.

(Bee Blackwell - Bandcamp)