Here is a preview of my new album 'When Sorrows Encompass Me Round, slated for release in March 2014.



Sun To Sun

Off Los Tones debut LP Psychotropic;

For sale at: http://los-tones.bandcamp.com/

Shakedown

Wooden Ideas

Perl Wolfe - Lead Vocals/Piano/Vibraphone , Dalia G. Shusterman - Drums/Vocals, Elisheva Maister - Cello, Dana Pestun - Violin, Howard Feibusch - Guitars, Myles Heff - Bass

Recorded at Strange Weather in Brooklyn, NY
Engineered by Marc Alan Goodman
Mixed by Bryce Goggin of Trout Recording
Mastered by Fred Kevorkian
Produced by Howard Feibusch and Bulletproof Stockings
Music and Lyrics by Perl Wolfe & Dalia G. Shusterman

LYRICS
Don't dance near the ledge 
They told me 
Might not make it back in tact 
But curiosity's got the best of me

Accelerate 
Lose control 
Keep runnin' like you got no soul

Used to believe I had to spoil all fortune 
Why wait around for your heart to get broken 
Pushed it over the edge 
Nearly every time
 
Uh huh
Sabatoge 
Blowin' up your grand facade 
Thirstin' for the truth in a bleak mirage 
Turn that noise off 
Turn the music up

Took me for a ride 
I know better now 
Give up this artificial way 
Go out and face the crowd 
I made up my mind, dear 
I've got my mind clear 
I've got my mind clear 
I've got my 
Mind clear

Please mind your step 
Tread lightly 
Tiptoe round the shadows 
Like you fear the dark 
You're braver than that 
Just start

Deliberate 
Break the mold 
From the crown you make it gold

Used to believe that every joy ends in sorrow 
Can't hang around on the hopes of tomorrow 
Pushed it over 
Pushed it over the edge

Uh huh
Sabatoge 
Blowin' up your grand facade 
Thirstin' for the truth in a bleak mirage 
Turn that noise off 
Turn the music up

Took me for a ride 
I know better now 
Give up this artificial way 
Go out and face the crowd 
I made up my mind, dear 
I've got my mind clear 
I've got my mind clear 
I've got my 
Mind clear

This is the moment 
Here in this moment 
I feel freedom light up my veins and I 
Look back on all of the shame that I 
I brought upon myself while 
Everyone else was 
Waltzing the streets 
I was too busy getting me

Mind Clear

"2. Contamination: A Tribute To David Bowie" (2006).

Arcade Fire - Five Years (Live) [David Bowie cover]

Pascal Finkenauer- Islands in the Stream(Rogers/Parton/Bee Gees Cover in Feist&Constantines Version)

Departing

Muscle Relaxants

The Killers - Human Live Abbey Road Orchestra

Late Night Tales: Snow Patrol

New Sensation

07. Radiohead live in Prague - Morning Bell

It’s all but inconceivable that J Mascis requires an introduction. In the quarter-century since he founded Dinosaur (Jr.), Mascis has created some of the era’s signature songs, albums and styles. As a skier, golfer, songwriter, skateboarder, record producer and musician, J has few peers. The laconically-based roar of his guitar, drums and vocals have driven a long string of bands—Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Gobblehoof, Velvet Monkeys, the Fog, Witch, Sweet Apple—and he has guested on innumerable sessions. But Several Shades of Why is J’s first solo studio record, and it is an album of incredible beauty, performed with a delicacy not always associated with his work.

Recorded at Amherst Massachusetts’ Bisquiteen Studios, Several Shades… is nearly all acoustic and was created with the help of a few friends. Notable amongst them are Kurt Vile, Sophie Trudeau (A Silver Mount Zion), Kurt Fedora (long-time collusionist), Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Paulo Zappoli (Black Heart Procession), Matt Valentine (The Golden Road), and Suzanne Thorpe (Wounded Knees). Together in small mutable groupings, they conjure up classic sounds ranging from English-tinged folk to drifty, West Coast-style singer/songwriterism. But every track, every note even, bears that distinct Mascis watermark, both in the shape of the tunes and the glorious rasp of the vocals.

“Megan from Sub Pop has wanted me to do this record for a long time,” J says. "She was very into it when I was playing solo a lot in the early 2000s, around the time of the Fog album [2002’s Free So Free. She always wanted to know when I’d do a solo record. Several Shades of Why came out of that.

“There are a couple of songs that are older, but the rest is new this year. And it’s basically all acoustic. There’s some fuzz, but it’s acoustic through fuzz. There’re no drums on it, either. Just one tambourine song, that’s it. It was a specific decision to not have drums. Usually I like to have them. But going drum-less pushes everything in a new direction, and makes it easier to keep things sounding different.

“The album comes out around the time of South by Southwest, so I guess I’ll play there. It would be cool to have a band, but I don’t know. Some of the songs have a lot of musicians on them. I might start out solo then add people as it goes along. I don’t like playing solo so much. It’s weird. You have to try and keep the show going. If you break a string you have to come up with banter, like Richard Thompson does. He’s the master of the one man show. For me it’s stressful.”

There is little evidence of stress on Several Shades of Why. The title track is a duet with Sophie Trudeau’s violin recalling Nick Drake’s work at its most elegant. “Not Enough” feels like a lost hippie-harmony classic from David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name. “Is It Done” rolls like one of the Grisman/Garcia tunes on American Beauty. “Very Nervous and Love” has the same rich vibe as the amazing ruralist side of Terry Reid’s The River. And on and on it goes. Ten brilliant tunes that quietly grow and expand until they fill your brain with the purest pleasure.

What a goddamn great album.

—Byron Coley

Several Shades of Why

Not Enough

J Mascis - Not Enough

We're not the best, but we're pretty good.