The news you need: Conan‘s seventh LP, Violence Dimension, is out April 25 as their first release through Heavy Psych Sounds. Between that and the player below premiering “Frozen Edges of the Wound,” if you want to skip everything else I have to say here, I’m not going to hold it against you. Sometimes a thing wants urgent listening. That should certainly apply to new Conan.
Violence Dimension follows 2022’s Evidence of Immortality (review here), which saw the band widen their atmospheric focus, experimenting with drone and weight beyond the all-out tonal crush that is their hallmark. Those looking for progression in that will want to pay attention to “Vortexxion” — listed as a bonus track — but the 10-minute “Ocean of Boiling Skin” just prior has a quiet middle to preface the album’s crescendo. That’s an important part of who Conan are as they push toward 20 years since guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis first got the band going, but it’s not the only talking point. Though consistent in production thanks to the work of longtime Conan collaborator and former bassist/vocalist Chris Fielding, Violence Dimension further stands out as the first full-length to feature Fielding‘s replacement, bassist David Ryley, known for his work in Fudge Tunnel.
I don’t think you’d be wrong to listen to “Frozen Edges of the Wound” premiering on the player below and imagine you’re hearing some extra crunch in Conan‘s riffing, a bit of noise rock working itself into one of doom’s heaviest sounds. Conan have a strong sense of identity to their work — you know it when you’re hearing them — but as time goes on, they also continue to find new methods and ideas to explore in their work. The lineup change presents some shift in dynamic, but Conan are who they are and aren’t the types to fix what was never broken in the first place. So much the better for the creative path they’re on.
April 25 is the release date. Conan do a quick swing through the Pacific Coast of Asia at the end of February and will continue on from there to New Zealand and Australia. All confirmed shows I’ve seen are below, but yes, more touring is likely, especially as they’ve already been confirmed for Desertfest London 2025 this May.
Enjoy the track:
Conan, “Frozen Edges of the Wound” track premiere
CONAN – New album “Violence Dimension” out April 25th on Heavy Psych Sounds
About the album: “Violence Dimension is our 7th full length release. We have come quite a distance in time and space since we released Horseback in 2010. One thing that binds us all is violence be that within a video game or in a movie or on the daily news. Violence affects our daily life perhaps more than love or kindness ever will. We are all bound by death whether we like it or not. This release explores the hinterland between being scared to live and bring scared to die and punches holes in the idea that we must live our life by one set of rules. We all live in the violence dimension and there is no escape.”
About the song: “A song for anyone fighting, whether that be an external or internal foe. Have strength for death comes to us all, just don’t make it an easy kill.”
Tracklist: 1. Foeman’s Flesh 2. Desolation Hexx 3. Total Bicep 4. Violence Dimension 5. Frozen Edges of The Wound 6. Warpsword 7. Ocean of Boiling Skin 8. Vortexxion (bonus track)
CONAN (UK) ASIA TOUR 2025 2/24 Mon – Tokyo 2/25 Tue – Osaka 2/26 Wed – Tokyo 2/27 Thu – Taipei 2/28 Fri – Singapore 3/2 Sun – Bangkok
CONAN (UK) NEW ZEALAND TOUR w/ BORER Thu 6 March | Valhalla, Wellington Fri 7 March | Sydenham Underpass, Christchurch Sat 8 March | Double Whammy, Auckland
CONAN (UK) AUSTRALIA TOUR 2025 w/ PALLBEARER Wed 12 March | Max Watts, Melbourne Thurs 13 March | Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide Fri 14 March | Crowbar, Sydney Sat 15 March | Crowbar, Brisbane
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
In addition to the shows listed below for tours in Asia and Australia, Conan have already confirmed for Spring 2025 appearances at Hellfest in June, and Desertfest London and Heavy Psych Sounds Fest in Italy in May, so safe to say the crush-prone UK three-piece are going to do some traveling even after this big trip for February and March is done. US in the summer? Misses some Eurofests, but Conan have done just about all of them, and they’ll have just been out in Spring, so their bases are covered either way. I don’t know.
Wherever and whenever they end up, you know Conan aren’t going to let a new album go unsupported, and their new album, as their latest newsletter informs, is finished. Not saying I’ve heard the masters or anything, but it is on-form and as massive as one would expect/hope while pushing a bit deeper into the ambience of the last record and introducing David Ryley on bass in place of Chris Fielding, shifting the dynamic there a bit. It’s a little more noise rock, actually. Rawer in its shove than Conan have wanted to be in a while, but in a way that suits them. Not that I’d know.
Maybe you fly to Tokyo to see Conan in February? Trip of a lifetime, it could be.
Some of the below comes from the newsletter and the dates come from socials. Ticket links are confusing but that’s the age we live in and if you don’t want global concert monopolies, you might have to click a different link to buy a ticket in your region. A minor consideration among this future’s many horrors. I’m probably also missing a bunch of dates, so make sure you confirm some shit before you sell your car and uproot your life to get a plane ticket to Japan.
Dig it:
***CONAN – NEW ALBUM NEWS***
Our new album is DONE. It is now with Heavy Psych Sounds while they set up their PR and pre order systems. Be aware that we will have a very limited edition hand numbered version of this release with a very special insert, that will be available with our version only. We will not be advertising our version on social media, but nevertheless it will be made available here via our mailing list on the 5th February at noon, UK time. Please set an entry into your diary, you don’t want to miss this.
TOURING / FESTIVALS
We have released dates for 2025, with shows happening in Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia so far. There are MANY more more to come, so keep an eye on our social media posts in the coming months.
CONAN (UK) ASIA TOUR 2025 2/24 Mon – Tokyo 2/25 Tue – Osaka 2/26 Wed – Tokyo 2/27 Thu – Taipei 2/28 Fri – Singapore 3/2 Sun – Bangkok
CONAN (UK) AUSTRALIA TOUR 2025 w/ PALLBEARER Wed 12 March | Max Watts, Melbourne Thurs 13 March | Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide Fri 14 March | Crowbar, Sydney Sat 15 March | Crowbar, Brisbane
CONAN (UK) NEW ZEALAND TOUR w/ BORER Thu 6 March | Valhalla, Wellington Fri 7 March | Sydenham Underpass, Christchurch Sat 8 March | Double Whammy, Auckland
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 19th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Been about five minutes since we had some Conan news, hmm? I’d say that makes us due. The UK everythingcrushers will journey to Australia in the New Year to support Pallbearer — who also crush, but with feelings — for four shows in four days. Yeah, it’s not by any means the most extensive tour, even of Australia, but the gigs will be frickin’ awesome for the people who get to see them.
By the time they head out on this run, we’ll likely have word of Conan‘s next full-length being released — the band are set to record later this month at Foel Studios with now-former bassist Chris Fielding at the helm (like old times) — as their first offering for Heavy Psych Sounds. If all goes well, a Spring release doesn’t seem like a crazy expectation. Imagine it, new life sprouting and here comes a brand-spanking-new Conan record to snuff it out and return us to the frostbitten cruelties of tonal (nuclear) winter. Could hardly be more perfect.
Something to look forward to. Maybe you’ll get to one of these shows and maybe not. If not, rest assured Conan will have more coming as they’re likely planning to spend the bulk of 2025-26 supporting the still-to-be-tracked album hither and yon. I’ll do my best to keep up with the announcements. Here’s this one for now:
We are VERY excited to head to Australia again. This time with @pallbearer. From the socials of @UnitedFront.
“United Front Touring Presents
PALLBEARER AUSTRALIAN TOUR w/ Special guests CONAN
Renowned doom metal merchants Pallbearer make their return to Australia in March 2025 for an electrifying tour promising to deliver their signature blend of haunting melodies and crushing riffs. Joining them on all dates will be special guests UK doom metal titans Conan!
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Conan have kept themselves plenty busy between North American and European jaunts over the last year-plus (also the last decade-plus), but at the end of November, the three-piece of Jon Davis, David Ryley and Johnny King will hit up Foel Studios to begin the recording process for their next record. It will be the first since Ryley joined the band on bass/backing vocals late in 2023, and it sees their former bassist, Chris Fielding, shift back into the producer role for Conan as he’s held for countless others at this point, and their sixth album, coming in behind 2022’s Evidence of Immortality (review here) with this year’s self-released DIY Series, Issue 1 EP (review here) keeping the momentum going in between.
This isn’t the most expansive announcement, as you’ll see. It came with a holiday merch update — Conan always have a killer sweater design at the ready for those feeling cheeky — but as it confirmed they’re on track for the Spring 2025 release that was floated in June when they signed to Heavy Psych Sounds, and as it heralds new stuff from them either way, I figured it was good news and good news is welcome by me. Conan have one more date for 2024 to go, in The Netherlands, following up on their stop at Desertfest Belgium this month, and you can read more about that below as well. No surprise they note that plans for more touring are in the works. That’s how they do. Pro fuggin’ shop.
Words in blue from the aforementioned update. Sign up for newsletters, people. These things exist for a reason:
CONAN – NEW ALBUM
We record our new album at the end of November with Chris Fielding, in Foel Studio. This will be released on Heavy Psych Sounds. We are super excited to get into the studio and build upon these awesome demo’s we have in hand. We think you’re all going to love it.
As for 2025….. We have a LOT of touring and festivals planned. You’ll hear about them in due course. Rest assured, no matter where you are on this planet, we’ll likely be playing close to you. More on that soon.
CONAN is Jon Davis – Vocals/Guitars Johnny King – Drums David Ryley – Bass
Posted in Reviews on October 10th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Some of this stuff is newer, some of it has been out for a while. You know how it goes with these things. If I had a staff of 30, I’d still always be behind and trying to keep up. It rarely works, but when a given Quarterly Review is done and I’m on the other side of 50, 70, 100 records, whatever it might be, I can fool myself for a few minutes into thinking this site is remotely comprehensive. At least until I next check my email.
Ups and downs to that, I suppose. I wouldn’t swear to it all not being AI, but I wouldn’t swear to reality being ‘real’ by any human definition either, and I’m not sure a machine making you feel something invalidates the artistic statement. Seems to me all the more an achievement. I guess what I’m trying to say in my best Kent Brockman is, “I for one, welcome our new robotic overlords.” I hope the machines take into account that I liked their paintings when they’re crushing skulls like in Terminator 2 or handing out especially cushy seats in the Matrix.
What were we talking about? Oh yeah, albums and such. Back to it:
Quarterly Review #31-40:
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Conan, DIY 10″ Series, Issue 1
In some ways, DIY 10″ Series, Issue 1 is the release Conan have been building toward. A DIY recording for Conan at this point meant recording with bassist Chris Fielding (who’s since left the band as a player but will continue to produce) and releasing through Jon Davis‘ Black Bow Records. That’s a DIY deal a lot of bands would take, and sure enough, the three songs on DIY 10″ Series, Issue 1 — the characteristically crush-galloping “Invinciblade,” “Time Becomes Master” and a cover of “Hate Song” by Fudge Tunnel — don’t sound like some half-assed thing made in the band’s rehearsal space or the living room when everyone else is out. They sound like Conan. So yes, they destroy. “Time Becomes Master” does so more slowly than “Invinciblade” and not before its intro turns feedback into cinematic artistry over the course of its first two-plus minutes, distortion eating the howl twice before Johnny King‘s drums kick in to answer what were those footprints that knocked over all the trees. Vocals don’t even kick in until four of the five minutes are gone; truly mastering time. And that drone is there the whole time. I’ll take more experimental Conan anytime.
Guitarist Dan Lorenzo (Hades) and drummer Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative) return with 12 new cuts across 43 minutes on Visioning. As with last year’s My Veneration (review here), the album features an assortment of guest singers, from Mark Sunshine (Unida) and Karl Agell (Legions of Doom, Lie Heavy), to Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys, Watchtower) and Kyle Thomas (Exhorder, Trouble, Alabama Thunderpussy), and more besides. Bassists Dave Neabore (Dog Eat Dog) and Eric Morgan (A Pale Horse Named Death) hold down the low end as Lorenzo demonstrates the principles of applying quality riffing to an assortment of situations. It veers into nü metal more than once, but at least it’s taking a risk, and it’s just as likely to be a classic Sabbathian delve like “Empty Cup,” so you wouldn’t accuse the band of lacking scope, and Sunshine — who’s on the West Coast and plenty busy besides — might be the frontman Patriarchs in Black have been looking for all along.
Welsh melody heavy post-rockers Lurcher will have to find a new label home as Trepanation Recordings, which released Breathe, earlier this year and stood behind the band’s 2021 debut EP, Coma (review here), has ceased operations, but it’s hard to imagine Lurcher having much trouble finding a home for a sound as defined as it seems to be on “Breathe Out” and the more driving “Blister” here, which take the lush melodies one might hear from a band like Elephant Tree from an angle rooted more in post-hardcore, and a little more about shove than nod, but still able to get hazy and dreamy on opener “Never Over” or likewise mammoth and poppy on “Blink of an Eye,” though I’ll note that by “poppy” I mean accessible, melodic and professional. It wants neither for bombast nor impact, and the Mellotron before they turn “Blink of an Eye” back to the verse is just one among the many examples of why Lurcher are ready for a full-length. Or why I’m ready for one from them, at the very least.
A new configuration for some familiar players, as Alreckque‘s debut EP, 6PM, presents an initial four songs from guitarist/vocalist Jim Healey (We’re All Gonna Die, Blood Lightning, Set Fire, etc.), bassist/vocalist Aaron Gray (Hepatagua) and drummer Rob Davol (Cocked ‘n’ Loaded, Set Fire, etc.), each of whom would carry their union card for the Boston heavy underground if the city hadn’t busted the union to build condos. Healey‘s voice will be immediately recognizable to, well, anyone who’s ever heard it — it’s a pretty recognizable voice — and though “Sunsets” touches on some more metallic riffing in the vein of Blood Lightning, Alreckque is distinguished by what Gray brings to it in vocals, not only keeping up with Healey melodically (which is no small feat), but serving as an essential part of some of the EP’s most affecting moments. Yeah, the moniker is kind of a gag, but “Achilles’ Last Taco Stand (End of Man)” sets high stakes and has the reach to hit the mark in its apex. Projects like this come and go as everybody involved is usually doing more than one thing, but Alreckque sounds like the start of something worth pursuing.
Black Capricorn‘s second LP for Majestic Mountain behind 2022’s Cult of Blood (review here), the nine-song/43-minute Sacrifice Darkness… and Fire lets you know it means business immediately because not one, not two, but three songs have the word “night” in the title. To wit, “The Night They Came to Take You Away,” “Another Night Another Bite” two songs later, and “Electric Night” two songs after that. That doesn’t even count “The Moon Rises as the Immortals Gather” or “A New Day Rising,” both of which would presumably take place at least in part at night. Clearly the Sardinian cult doomers have upped their game. Your move, entire genre of heavy metal! Perhaps the highest compliment I could pay the record would be to say it earns its instances of “night,” which it does, but don’t let that keep you from “Blood of Evil” or the opener “Sacrifice,” which pairs drifting vocal incantations with an earthy groove and lays out the atmosphere for what follows. As expected and as one would hope, they dig into the songs like grainy VHS zombies into foam-rubber skulls.
The sophomore full-length from Argentina’s Dios Serpiente, founded by bassist, programmer and vocalist Leandro Buceta, brings a collaboration with Sergio Chotsourian (Los Natas, Ararat, Soldati, etc.), who contributes guitar and keyboard, Duelo de Gigantes might be an appropriate title for such a thing, as surely the swell at the finish of “Ruinas Ancestrales” is of duly mammoth proportion, but there’s more happening than largesse as “La Espera” explores textures that feel born of ambient Reznorism en route to the slamming industrial doom of “Dinastia del Morir,” an aggressive centerpiece before “El Oraculo” shows brighter flashes and “El Ultimo Ritual” turns caustic, low sludge into inhuman megaplod before “Monolitos de Lava” drops the drums and thereby transcends that much more completely into atmospheric avant garde-ness. Those used to hearing Chotsourian‘s voice alongside his guitar will be surprised at Buceta‘s growls, but the harsher vocals suit the range of dark and aggressive moods being conveyed in the electronic/organic blend of the arrangements.
If you, like me, remember a time when a band called Swarm of the Lotus stalked the earth with an especially vicious blend of sludge metal, harsh hardcore bite, and doomly proselytizing, Swiss/Swedish trio Norna wield a lurch no less punishing on “Samsara” at the outset of their self-titled sophomore LP. Huge and encompassing, it and “For Fear of Coming,” which follows, feel methodical in the European post-metallic tradition (see Amenra), but Norna are rawer than most and more direct in their assault, so that “Ghost” comes across as punk rooted in its intensity more than metal, which is also what stops “Shine by its Own Light” from being Conan, despite the similar penchant for crush. The effect of the backing atmospherics in “Shadow Works” shouldn’t be understated, even if what tops is so all-out furious, and “The Sleep” slows down a bit for one last tonal offloading, harsh shouts cutting through every punishing stage. Norna don’t mess around. Call it sludge if you want. The truth is it’s more in style and dimension.
Having a couple seconds on either side of the start and finish of a song emphasizes the live-in-studio feel of Luto Sessions, but as it’s the first offering from Argentine psychedelic doom rockers Dead Fellows, it’s not like there’s a ton to compare it to. “Pile of Flesh” or its side-B-opening counterpart “Imminent” have some Uncle Acid to their swing, but even in the boogie of “The Ritual” and the last twists of “Hell Awaits,” Dead Fellows are chasing no sonic ideal so much as their own. Echoing vocals top riffs made more sinister by the lyrics applied to them, and as “Pile of Flesh” is both opener and the longest song (immediate points), everything after seems to build momentum despite mostly languid tempos, and the movement keeps hold right through the dark swirl of “Satan is Waiting for Us” and into the finale, which at last highlights the heavy blues that’s been underscoring the material all along. You already knew if you were listening to the basslines. I don’t know if it’s actually their debut album, but it’s engaging and quickly finds its niche.
You might call Troy, New York, four-piece experimental for all the noise and keys and drones and weirdo vibes they throw at you on their debut, Does the Heartbeat, but go deeper and it’s even weirder. Because it’s pop. Like 1960s Beatles-type pop. Check out “Real Life.” The organ line of “Does the Heart Beat.” The vocal pattern in “I’ve Been Hypnotized” is more Thin Lizzy, so a couple years later, but a lot of what Rabid Children are playing off of is notions of safe, suburban interpretations of rock, and some of it is about turning that on its head, like the Ramones did, but by putting their own spin on these ideas — and songs that are mostly one to two minutes long suits that frenetic approach — Rabid Children both undercut the notions of pop as something that can’t be ‘deep’ or ‘intelligent’ (that’s called “doing Devo‘s work”) and that “Messin Round” can’t coincide with a sprawler jam like “Other Dreams” or that the over-the-top wistfulness of “Teenage Summertime Dream” and the quirkier “FCOJ” (is that a Trading Places reference?) aren’t working toward similar ends.
Just two songs on this initial offering from German noise-doomers Ord Cannon, but that’s enough for the band — which traces its pedigree back through Bellrope into Black Shape of Nexus, thereby ticking any box you might have for off-kilter heavy-as-hell cred — to leave a crater behind. The Foreshots EP brings “Letting My Insides Out Into the Air” (10:35) and “I Need a Hammer” (9:41), and with them, Ord Cannon mark out what one suspects won’t at all be the limits of their ultimate breadth. A harsh experimentlism seems to put the studio on a similar plane to the instruments, and the mix, whether that’s pushing the vocals further back toward the end of “I Need a Hammer” or making “Letting My Insides Out Into the Air” sound like the end of the world more generally, further bolsters the true-horrors-in-three-dee vibe. I don’t know what the advent of Ord Cannon signals for Bellrope, who put out their debut EP in 2019, but this kind of malevolent worldmaking is welcome in any form.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
This past Fall, UK consciousness-smashers Conan took to the streets of Continental Europe in the company of futureprog-thrashers Lord Dying. Neat bill. For their upcoming US run, they’ll be out with Psychic Trash, the duo who until last year were known as Wizard Rifle, which is a similar kind of set up if you think about it as follows: A band gets on stage and does a lot. Conan get on next and crush everything.
It’s an interesting play with dynamic there, right? Lord Dying are more severe and far more metal, but both they and Psychic Trash are a counterpoint to Conan‘s own style, which while it has grown, refined, tried new things, etc., still readily bills itself as ‘Caveman Battle Doom.’ This tour will touch both coasts and points between, hitting not quite the four corners of the US, but pretty close. I wonder where Conan actually haven’t been yet, aside from Mars or some such. Limited to this planet.
If you missed word from the band early last month, they announced that Fudge Tunnel‘s David Riley has taken over on bass for Chris Fielding, who will continue in his role as producer, to both the betterment and devastation of all mankind. Pretty sure that’s the latest. At least until this tour, that is. Conan will be out in the UK before this one happens as well.
From socials:
***US TOUR 2024 ANNOUNCEMENT*** We are beyond excited to return to the USA with @psychictrash in March. Ticket links are over on our Linktree (www.linktr.ee/hailconan) dates are below. See you in the pit. Art by @apesofdoom
3/29 Boise, ID – Neurolux 3/30 Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High 3/31 Denver, CO – Skylark Lounge 4/1 Lincoln, NE – Cosmic Eye 4/2 Chicago, IL – Reggies 4/3 Youngstown, OH – West Side Bowl 4/4 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie 4/5 Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus Bar 4/6 Washington DC – Atlas Brew Works 4/7 Raleigh, NC – Pour House 4/8 Atlanta, GA – The Earl 4/9 New Orleans, LA – Santos 4/10 Austin, TX – Lost Well 4/12 Albuquerque, NM – Sister Bar 4/13 Phoenix, AZ – Rebel Lounge 4/14 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo 4/15 Oakland, CA – Stork Club 4/16 Sacramento, CA – Café Colonial 4/17 Eugene, OR – John Henry’s 4/18 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios 4/19 Seattle, WA – Clock-Out Lounge
CONAN is: Jon Davis – Guitar, Vocals David Riley – Bass Johnny King – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Founding Conan guitarist and vocalist Jon Davis has made absolutely zero secret of his love for Fudge Tunnel. Over the years, on social media and in interviews he’s heralded the undervalued noise metallers who called it quits in 1995 and whose 1991 debut, Hate Songs in E Minor, remains a landmark. In August, when Conan announced they’d be undertaking a series of 7″ singles, one of the songs included in the first was a Fudge Tunnel cover, and David Riley — Conan‘s new permanent bassist as per an announcement today — has played alongside Davis in his Ungraven project as well, so his joining Conan seems like a natural extension.
Nonetheless, it’s a significant change in the band, whose low end has been on utter lockdown since 2014 thanks to Chris Fielding. Also one of the UK underground’s foremost producer/engineers, Fielding wasn’t Conan‘s first bassist, but he brought a presence and aggression to the stage that set well alongside Davis‘ own, his low growls and Davis‘ higher shouting style developing a dynamic between them that I doubt anyone could’ve guessed Conan would’ve featured when they started out and that made them a richer band. Conan has said that Fielding will continue to act as their producer, as he recorded them before he joined as well, and while they’re not far removed from 2022’s Evidence of Immortality (review here), an even partially new lineup inevitably leads to questions of new studio work. I’ll be interested to hear that, of course, as well as to see what Riley brings to the three-piece on stage with Davis and drummer Johnny King.
Those questions can I guess just kind of hang out for a bit, since Conan kept the announcement short and sweet in welcoming Riley to the band. Here’s what they had to say and a video they put on Instagram to mark the occasion:
*NEW BASSIST ANNOUNCED* Those of you who know how much of an influence Fudge Tunnel have been on us, will no doubt know how exciting it is to be able to be able to announce our new bass player. David has played and toured with us several times since 2018, it gives us great pleasure to have him join us formally. @fudge_tunnel @ryley.barr #heavymetal #cavemanbattledoom #riffs #fudgetunnel thanks to @alterystudios for the graphics
CONAN is: Jon Davis – Guitar, Vocals David Riley – Bass Johnny King – Drums
Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
First of all, you bill anything in rock and roll as ‘the last’ and you’re setting yourself up for jokes later. “Now and Then,” the new four-minute single by The Beatles, was announced a while ago and much-ballyhooed with stories about how it used artificial intelligence, which quickly became the narrative of a digital John Lennon harmonizing with Paul McCartney and a robot writing the next version of “Love Me Do” or whatnot. What the AI did was pull Lennon‘s vocals off the original piano line from the demo of the song he recorded in 1979/1980 — the famous “For Paul” tape that Yoko Ono gave McCartney when they were doing The Beatles Anthology in the ’90s; what a time to be alive that was — but you can hear parts where gaps have been filled in in the early verse line “…And if I make it through, it’s all because of you,” in that quiet beginning of piano, acoustic guitar, drums that recall the gentler love songs on A Hard Day’s Night — thinking “If I Fell” — but that suits the melancholy, contemplative, very modern-pop ‘moment’ happening in that verse.
Is it The Beatles — John Lennon (R.I.P. 1980), Paul McCartney, George Harrison (R.I.P. 2001) and Ringo Starr — getting a gritty reboot from producer Giles Martin, who is of course the son of George Martin, who helmed so much of the band’s studio work during their unparalleled legendary run from 1962-1970? If so, it wouldn’t be the first one. In addition to the oft-memed volume raising on sundry new remasters of their work, and the aforementioned The Beatles Anthology digging out alternate studio versions of their material and presenting the first new Beatles songs since Let it Be in “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” the removal of static alone from the Live at the BBC releases, then you get to the surround sound, the new mixes, the alternate mixes, the instrumental versions, the isolated bass tracks, on and on and on. The Beatles‘ music has been pulled, pushed, screwed and unscrewed and manipulated every which way for at least the last 40 years. They don’t seem to mind.
The Lennon-on-piano-in-his-living-room demos on which “Now and Then,” as well as “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” were based have been officially released, but they too, as well as the session material that produced what was then also called “the last Beatles songs” have been bootlegged. Lennon takes the lead vocal in the verse, but that’s grace on the part of McCartney. If you ever compared the Anthology versions of those songs with the original bootlegs, there’s an awful lot of the Beatles story that became the Paul story in the 1990s and that narrative has persisted as decades have passed since Lennon‘s murder and Harrison‘s passing from cancer in 2001. I cried when he died. I cried the first time I listened to “Now and Then” last night. I cry at the drop of a hat these days. But the point is McCartney is the CEO of The Beatles, and whatever’s happening under their banner is happening under his watch. It’s pretty clear at least he’s thinking of this as his last go.
You can hear it in how crammed the arrangement of “Now and Then” becomes. Everybody sings. Never mind how on earth it’s remotely possible, it’s happened and it exists. Four-plus decades of recording processes and likely millions of actual dollars went into making it happen. It was done with cutting edge science. It is very likely the final time new Beatles music will be issued to the public during Paul McCartney‘s lifetime, and he knows it. Death as the fifth Beatle. So it’s all-out. Big chorus, layers of voices (some watery effect there) and strings coming in to tick the “Eleanor Rigby” box — they’ll be back — and an unmistakable Beatlesness to its underlying bounce that’s been audible in the work of others for the last 60 years. A flash of sitar in the next verse — subtle, because they’ve gone to that well a lot and it feels a bit obligatory at this point — and some tambourine as they move to the next hook, classy with Ringo on the ride and the rising background vocals giving over to the solo, very George Harrison.
And right about at 2:48 is where it feels like it should start to wind down, but it doesn’t because this is “Now and Then” and they’re gonna cover all eras. They had the early days in the song’s start, moving through Revolver and the mid-’60s in the chorus, and so the big ending is, of course, constructed in the spirit of The Beatles‘ later work. Another solo starts at 2:49, plotted, melodic, classy, soon joined by the background vocals and a shift back to the verse; little flourishes of strings feel current but fit just fine — one has to acknowledge the now, I get it — and then an instrumental comedown finish of the sort that might’ve wrapped a tune on Help! in 1964, which is cute and feels kind of like a Beatles reference.
There are a lot of Beatles references being made here — the song also feels like it’s The Beatles talking about The Beatles, which is maybe inevitable — and that’s fine if you’re one of those people who think the band wrote their songs specifically so that you could apply them to your own life (in other words, even the most casual of Beatles fans), and thinking of the generation who was there when the band first happened, I’d imagine it’s pretty special for someone who remembers watching Ed Sullivan. It’s pretty special for me, who chased down silver-back-disc CD bootlegs in the early 1990s as a pubescent goober and remembers watching the “Free as a Bird” video like 700 times on MTV — you know what? I’m gonna go watch it now; I’ll be right back — but the song feels inflated going back to the verse and with that extra four measures of soloing in a way that, if it was then and not now, it probably wouldn’t be by the time it came out.
Oh no there’s new Beatles and it’s too long for the guy into doom metal? Do you think the band will be able to survive the hit? Yes, but I’ll be curious to see if they’ll knock Taylor Swift off the charts. I do like the song, for whatever that’s worth. And in time I’ll love it. It’s sweet in a way not much dares to be in broader popular culture, and while I think the cover art could possibly be more elaborate, at least it’s not cartoon boobs. This band’s music changed my life, and last night I got to sit with my daughter on my lap and listen to it with her for the first time and if I’d had an aneurysm and keeled over five minutes later I’d have died a satisfied human being for that.
Do I really think it’s the last? Never say never. Some lost tape, some creative great-grandchildren 70 years from now. Holograms and better programming. Who knows. It may be cynical, but it doesn’t seem impossible or even entirely unlikely to me that new Beatles music would be made or released after all the members of the band have died. AI can already write you Beatles songs. And even if it wasn’t arranged by robots, “Now and Then”‘s self-referential penchant recalls other new-generation relaunches from various media properties with similarly-positioned standout recognizable elements. “It’s not just a tambourine, it’s a Beatles tambourine,” and so on. But no question “Now and Then” is a landmark by the simple fact of its existence, and I’m glad to have been on the planet when it happened along.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
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Much of this week would turn out to be defined by the moment on Tuesday when, coming back from the Littleton School Halloween parade — The Pecan was a purple octopus; I had nothing to do with it, but her grandmother made her costume and it was spectacular — the dog got out. I was carrying two armloads of crap in from the car, as ever, and wife and child were already in the house. I called to The Patient Mrs. to call Tilly to get her in as she stood on the porch, looking at me and realizing the freedom she now had because I was stuck standing there with two armloads of crap and no leash, but the bathroom door closed and that was my answer. She didn’t hear. The Pecan, off somewhere else doing her thing.
What a mess. The dog, of course, sprints off the porch and onto the lawn. We live one house away from a four-lane road; this is not a place you want a young dog to be off-leash. I give chase and she darts for the street. I look, a silver SUV coming around the corner, timing just right. I damn near had a heart attack thinking about having to go inside and tell my daughter her dog just got run over. Yelling with my arms up I stop the car as Tilly jukes to the right, cuts the corner on the neighbor’s driveway and goes diagonal across their yard. For a quick second she’s actually heading toward our house but from behind her running I have no way to direct her there. And she won’t stop. Tilly come. Tilly stop. Tilly wait. All of these things we need to work on, apparently. Lesson learned.
She straightened out her path, then looped around to the neighbor’s back yard. They have two young kids and two dachshunds, so I expect they’re probably used to weird shit at least on some level, but I do hope someone happened to be looking out a window at just the right time to see me sprint onto their property and tackle my now-seven-pound shih-tzu/bichon frisee mix, because I can only think it would’ve bean a wonder to behold. In a humbling reminder that I’m in my 40s, I was out of breath for like an hour afterward, and I’d say it was the better part of three before my nerves had really settled. I didn’t hit the dog. She definitely got a stern-ass talking to, though. And I grabbed her muzzle, which is kind of our go-to correction, to let her know she messed up. We’re also working on “stay back” when the door is open. She’s amenable to these things, which helps.
And she sits with me on the couch in the mornings when I’m up, like today, now. She’s a good little dog, she’s just still very much a puppy. So I got her, but that’s not the end of the story, because the next morning I realized my car key was missing. And I didn’t find it all day in the house, and with the pants I was wearing when I chased the dog, I knew, just knew, that my key had fallen out of my pocket in the yard somewhere and that it was gone, gone, gone. We looked the entire day, just about everywhere I’ve ever put a key and in places like the bathroom where I very much do not put my key, which is just the clicker on a keychain and a key to the storage unit where my CD collection mostly lives. No car was going to make yesterday difficult.
Wednesday night, The Patient Mrs. reserved a metal detector from our local library. I was like, “You gotta be fucking kidding me.” I didn’t know this, but apparently I carry a strong bias against metal detectors. I don’t know if I had some negative experience with one as a child but in my head they’re absolute bullshit universally. Nonetheless, I love and trust my wife and so I went to the library yesterday morning, got this metal detector and with The Pecan after a half-day of school yesterday searched the neighbor’s yard for my car key, beep, beep, beep, boop all the while. Nothing. I looked on the route I took and in back where I finally rolled her over on the ground, and no dice. We went back in the house.
The Patient Mrs. came home from work about 15 minutes later, put the thing back together, went outside, started a grid search pattern with the admirable confidence of an Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher, and found the key within 15 minutes of beginning. The moral of the story, obviously, is that I am married to a goddess, and if I spend the rest of however many days I’ll walk this wretched decaying earth worshiping at her altar I’ll be lucky to do it.
Pretty god damn astonishing, and it turned the entire week around after a current of stress had settled over about 40 hours of it or so. Today we’re taking The Pecan out of school to go see the Statue of Liberty, which she wanted to do for her birthday and we were like ‘uh okay sure.’ Tickets to go up and all that. So I look forward to I believe 167 stairs in my near future. Will be wearing light pants. Whatever you’re up to, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. Next week is packed, so sit tight. Have fun, hydrate, watch your head. If you need me over the weekend, I’ll be writing at least for part of it.
