Every now and again, there are a handful of new tunes that grab my attention and it becomes worth bundling them together and sharing them with you. I guess the year is not that young anymore, but here are three tunes that have caught my ear over the last few weeks.
Also, we pay our respects to the rock and roll legend that was Wayne Kramer, who passed last Friday from pancreatic cancer, aged 75.
Camera Obscura: Big Love
They were always quite good at pulling together whimsical and catchy tunes, anchored by Tracyanne Campbell's lovely voice - and after a decade long hiatus - they are back with the first new material since 2013's Desire Lines.
Big Love is a whimsical and catchy tune, but with added country notes! A beautiful little ditty to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step. Look To The East, Look To The West comes out in May.
Lime Garden: I Want To Be You
I'd not heard of them before, but there was an echo of Rilo Kiley in this song that grabbed me. The Brighton four piece (originally from Guildford) are signed with So Young Records and were noted on the NME top artists list in 2022. I Want To Be You is a nice and quirky indie track that is propelled by low-key, insistent drums, a nice hooky guitar riff, with extra clean notes bouncing off that. Their debut album is imminent.
Real Estate: Water Underground
Real Estate are a New Jersey band that have apparently passed me by for fifteen years. That is a shame - this is a fantastic tune!
There have already been five albums, with Water Underground coming from upcoming album number six, Daniel, due for release later this month. While I know they were initially influenced by the likes of Pavement and Weezer, and you can hear them weaved through this - I also got a big dollop of Semisonic running through it. That might be from the precise, crisp songwriting that reminds me a little of Dan Wilson - either way, this tune is an absolute delight.
Remembering Wayne Kramer - punk pioneer!
Born Wayne Kambes, Kramer hooked up with high school friend Fred 'Sonic' Smith to form the MC5 (Motor City 5). By 1967 they were the house band at Detroit's Grande Ballroom and were managed by John Sinclair, who also established the anti-racist, White Panther Party.
They became known for their pioneering garage rock sound, which became gradually heavier with free jazz influences. They signed with Elektra and released their hugely influential 1969 debut Kick Out The Jams, which was recorded live at the Ballroom. They toured with the likes of Cream and Big Brother & The Holding Company (Janis Joplin's band), and became mentors to up and coming proto-punks, Iggy & The Stooges.
They were dropped by Elektra and so moved to Atlantic, ditching Sinclair along the way. Two more albums followed; Back In The USA (1970) and High Time (1971). The end came soon after, with a farewell gig at the ballroom on 31 December 1972.
He would try to start a new line up of the band, with himself singing. He was then arrested in 1975 for selling drugs to undercover cop receiving a 4 year sentence. While in FMC Lexington, Kentucky, he got to play with Red Rodney, Charlie Parker's trumpeter. Following his time as an inmate, Kramer joined Was (Not Was), and was also briefly in a band called Gang War with Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls).
Through the 1980s he found work as a carpenter, while also pursuing music, sometimes working as a session man. He would then mix these two passions moving from New York to Key West and then Tennessee. The 1990s saw him going it alone, producing four albums for the Epitaph record label.
He toured again with the remaining members of MC5 (Smith died in 1994), with rock star guests that they'd inspired, including Ian Astbury (The Cult), Dave Vanian (The Damned) and Lemmy (Motorhead).
In 2018, there was the MC50 tour, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kick Out The Jams, which included Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam), Brendan Canty (Fugazi), Don Was and Billy Gould (Faith No More).
Following the announcement of his passing, many big names of rock were quick to pay tribute to this key member of a band that were punk, long before punk existed, and have been hugely influential for more than five decades.
Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine): "Brother Wayne Kramer was the greatest man I've ever known… His band the MC5 basically invented punk rock music. Wayne came through personal trials of fire with drugs and jail time and emerged a transformed soul who went on to save countless lives through his tireless acts of service."
Duff McKagan (Guns n Roses): "Just a supremely sweet man, and one hell of a rock and roll fire-starter."
Jack White (White Stripes): "He was definitely part of the solution as he changed rock and roll and broke the ground wide open in Detroit for the rest of us. Thank you brother Wayne for all that you have done and will continue to do forever."
We'll leave the final word for another Detroit legend - who owed much to Kramer for paving the way and mentoring him.
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