by Brooke Russell and the Mean Reds
Brooke Russell and the Mean Reds - The Way You Leave (PBS Feature Record)
Written between Nashville and Melbourne, the second full length album from Brooke Russell and The Mean Reds, The Way You Leave is a sweet, sultry and soaring collection of songs documenting love, loss, friendship and regret. Featuring Andrew Combs, Clare Reynolds, and Tobias Hengeveld as well as covers of JD Souther and Tom Waits.
With Grant Taylor on guitar, Ben Franz on pedal steel, Luke Richardson on double bass, Roger Bergodaz on drums and Brooke Russell on lead vocal and guitar, the band tracked the bed of the album live at Union St Studios, with Roger Bergodaz at the helm.
Two tracks stripped back the Mean Reds sound to feature Brooke in trio mode with double pedal steel guitar backing from Franz and special guest Shane Reilly (Lost Ragas, Tex Perkins). Reilly also composed stunning string arrangements and piano before the final touches were made by some special friends bringing backing vocal magic; Ladie Dee (Howl At The Moon), Emilee South, James Arneman and Flora Smith (Small Town Romance), Tracy McNeil and Jac Tonks (Amarillo).
Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice (featured on The Breakfast Spread)
Today sees the release of Lotta Sea Lice, the irresistible album born of collaboration between Philadelphia's Kurt Vile and Melbourne’s very own Courtney Barnett. The record, which has already garnered wide-spread critical acclaim and spawned the gorgeous sprawling singles Over Everything and Continental Breakfast, will be released on Barnett’s own label Milk! Records alongside Matador Records.
With Lotta Sea Lice Barnett and Vile have delivered something utterly miraculous, an instant-classic record which sounds as if the two have played together for decades. This is a conversation between friends, documented in raw, unvarnished song form, brimming with personal history, crackling with energy and shot through with humour. There’s an unforced ease to the record helped the fact that the pair have been not just friends, but hardcore fans of each other’s work for years, and have also roped in colleagues such as Mick Turner and Jim White of the Dirty Three, Stella Mozgawa from Warpaint and even Mick Harvey to play.
Apart from the aforementioned singles and a bevy of originals from both Barnett and Vile, Lotta Sea Lice features a blistering version of Jen Cloher’s Fear Is Like A Forest, a gorgeous harmony-laden version of Belly’s cult 90’s classic Untogether.
Lotta Sea Lice has already been awarded critical accolades, from the likes of Pitchfork, Guardian, Loud and Quiet, Q and Uncut, which made it their Album of the Month. Their US tour, which kicked off this week, has also sold out, taking in dates in Joshua Tree, LA, Seattle, Chicago and more.
This week's Top 10:
