| Mark Lanegan – Blues Funeral (2012) |
Mark Lanegan – Blues Funeral
Birth name: Mark William Lanegan
Born: November 25, 1964,
Origin: Ellensburg, Washington, US
Genres: Alternative rock, grunge, country blues
Occupations: Singer-songwriter, musician, vocalist
Instruments: Vocals, guitar, violin
Location: Ellensburg, Washington, US
Album release: February 6th, 2012
Recorded in Hollywood, California by Alain Johannes at his 11AD studio
Record Label: 4ad Records
Length: 55:27
Tracklist:
All songs written and composed by Mark Lanegan.
No. / Title / Length
01. "The Gravedigger's Song" 3:43
02. "Bleeding Muddy Water" 6:17
03. "Gray Goes Black" 4:11
04. "St. Louis Elegy" 4:34
05. "Riot in My House" 3:53
06. "Ode to Sad Disco" 6:24
07. "Phantasmagoria Blues" 3:16
08. "Quiver Syndrome" 4:03
09. "Harborview Hospital" 4:31
10. "Leviathan" 4:22
11. "Deep Black Vanishing Train" 3:06
12. "Tiny Grain of Truth" 7:07
Total length: 55:27
Producer: Alain Johannes
Website: http://marklanegan.com/
Mark Lanegan Band releases Blues Funeral on February 6th 2012, Lanegan’s first album since 2004’s Bubblegum. It was recorded in Hollywood, California with Alain Johannes and features guest appearances from the likes of Josh Homme, Greg Dulli and Jack Irons.
Today, the artwork and tracklisting for Blues Funeral has been unveiled, and the opening track ‘The Gravedigger’s Song’ – premiered today on US west-coast radio – can now be downloaded below.
‘The Gravedigger’s Song’ will be released as a 7” backed with a new version of ‘Burning Jacob’s Ladder’, a song which briefly featured in a trailer for the Rage video game in early 2011. The 7” will be issued on coloured vinyl and available from January 2nd.
Blues Funeral is the new Mark Lanegan Band record, the first since 2004’s Bubblegum. It was recorded in Hollywood, California by Alain Johannes at his 11ad studio. The music was played by Johannes and Jack Irons with appearances from Greg Dulli, Josh Homme et al.
Mark Lanegan has sung with Screaming Trees, Queens Of the Stone Age, The Twilight Singers, The Gutter Twins, Soulsavers and Isobel Campbell. He resides in Los Angeles and has two dogs
Blues Funeral will be available digitally and on CD and LP on February 6th, 2012 via 4AD. To coincide, Mark Lanegan Band will tour Europe next year at the following destinations. News on US shows will follow in due course.
Tour Dates:
06 Feb - Blues Funeral release day
07 Feb - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
09 Feb - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
24 Feb - Tromso, SE - Aurora Rock @ Kulturhuset
25 Feb - Oslo, NO - Rockerfeller
26 Feb - HELSINKI, FI - The Circus
28 Feb - GRONINGEN, NL - Oosterpoort
29 Feb - AMSTERDAM, NL - Paradiso
01 Mar - EINDHOVEN, NL - Effenaar
02 Mar - ANTWERP, BE - Trix
03 Mar - Antwerp, BE - Twix
04 Mar - BRISTOL, UK - Academy
05 Mar - MANCHESTER, UK - Academy 2
07 Mar - DUBLIN, IE - Academy
08 Mar - BELFAST, NI - Mandela Hall
09 Mar - GLASGOW, UK - ABC
10 Mar - LEEDS, UK - Cockpit
12 Mar - BIRMINGHAM, UK - Library
13 Mar - LONDON, UK - Shepherds Bush Empire
14 Mar - COLOGNE, DE - Gloria
15 Mar - HAMBURG, DE - Gruenspan
17 Mar - COPENHAGEN, DK - Amager Bio
18 Mar - BERLIN, DE - Columbia Club
19 Mar - WARSAW, PL - Proxima
20 Mar - PRAGUE, CZ - Lucerna Music Hall
22 Mar - VIENNA, AT - Arena
23 Mar - Zurich, Switzerland - M4Music
24 Mar - BOLOGNA, IT - Estragon
25 Mar - MILAN, IT - Alcatraz
27 Mar - BILBAO, ES - Kafé Antzokia
28 Mar - SANTIAGO, ES - Sala Capitol
30 Mar - PORTO, PT - Hard Club
31 Mar - LISBON, PT - TMN ao Vivo
01 Apr - MADRID, ES - Sala Kapital
02 Apr - BARCELONA, ES - Sala Bikini
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MarkLanegan
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blues-Funeral-Mark-Lanegan/dp/B006CC0YB0/ref=tmm_acd_title_0
4AD: http://shopusa.4ad.com/blues-funeral-1
A stellar dose of haunted romance and midnight hymns from Rock's inimitable gravel-throated lone wolf.
By Johnny Firecloud / January 26, 2012
If Death were a man of blood and bone, romantic notions would lead a wager that he'd have a voice akin to Mark Lanegan's - hypnotically magnetic, a whiskey-in-the-ashtray grit with supernatural depth.
"I hear the winter will cut you quick," Lanegan measures in a slow growl on St. Louis Elegy, a handful of songs into Blues Funeral, his seventh solo album. "If tears were liquor, I'd have drunk myself sick." The clarity in the moment of his spiritual crossing is a troubled awakening, an usher into final, undesired territories: "Here I am earthly bound / said Hallelujah, I'm going down / and the River Jordan is deep and wide / I think I see forever across on the other side".
Blues Funeralis set for release on February 6th via 4AD, and is Lanegan's first solo output since 2004's excellent Bubblegum. Naturally, he's been quite active in the interim, with stints in and with Queens Of The Stone Age, The Twilight Singers, The Gutter Twins, Soulsavers, Isobel Campbell and beyond keeping his name - and talents - fresh in our minds. Recorded with Queens of The Stone Age/Them Crooked Vultures/Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes at his 11AD studios in Hollywood, CA, Blues Funeral features appearances from numerous friends and collaborators including Jack Irons (Eleven, Pearl Jam), Greg Dulli (Gutter Twins), Josh Homme (Queens of The Stone Age) and, of course, the inimitable Johannes.
While never quite stepping out from under the shroud of lonely-campfire isolation, the album runs a stylistic gamut, leaping between ominous groove-rock and 80s synth-melancholia with casual confidence and varying influence. The night-drive anthem of Grey Goes Black leans on an eerie early Jonny Greenwood riff, enjoying an emotive solo before a drum machine supplants the kit with an understated yet urgent breakbeat.
A vital component of the man's magic is in his unique vocal and timing arrangements, accentuation anomalies within his gravel-worn leather baritone. Like the onset of a powerful psychedelic, Phantasmagoria Blues sets on the regrets and hangups of the introspectively inclined, a funereal reflection on lost hopes and shortcomings. It's a fitting accompaniment to Leviathan's slow-marching burial hymn. "I lay my guns on the table," he admits, before confiding that the hangman is on his trail. It's in the end where the hypnosis takes effect, however, with four vocal parts overlapping, and at least three voices in the mix. We hear Mark, of course, as well as Johannes and legendary producer Chris Goss.
The guitar kicks into gear on Riot In My House, delivering a welcome uptempo change to an otherwise true-to-title album. Chaos is blossoming, ferocious dogs are prowling, and Josh Hommes' guitar serves a squealing counter to Mark's vocal. It comes unleashed after the two-minute mark, leading the charge into a downright riotous groove over handclaps and pounding high-note keys that would do Natasha Shneider proud.
Ode To Sad Disco leaps with both feet into Erasure territory - yes, the Chains of Love Erasure - with full 80s synth keys, drum machines and a breezy near-falsetto (about children losing their minds) that's just about the last thing we'd expect from this particular grey wolf. But Blues Funeral certainly confirms Lanegan's unpredictability, as well as his knack for flashing chameleon colors across the style spectrum. Look to Harborview Hospital for further evidence, where heavily effects-laden guitars lead Lanegan through programmed drums and a heartbeat throb into a feeling of ethereal purgatory, akin to that found at the apex of Puscifer's Oceans.
But Quiver Syndrome sets us right again, a proper Rock jam with a buzzing lead and snapping percussion that could've qualified it for inclusion on QOTSA's Songs For The Deaf. Sexy, strutting and nightmarishly dangerous on a juggernaut groove with psychedelic frills, it encompasses everything the desert gods do best - and is that Homme we hear again on the "oooh" backups?
Lanegan's quality consistency leads us confidently through a spectral variety of sound that few other artists can convincingly achieve. His haunted romance and midnight hymns have reached new heights on Blues Funeral, and we're happily chasing the hearse down that old dirt road, once again.
CraveOnline Rating: 9.5 out of 10
http://www.craveonline.com/music/reviews/181957-review-mark-lanegan-blues-funeral
Discography:
The Winding Sheet (1990)
Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994)
Scraps at Midnight (1998)
I'll Take Care of You (1999)
Field Songs (2001)
Bubblegum (2004)
Blues Funeral (2012)
Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 10/17/2010 / Awesome show!
| Mark Lanegan – Blues Funeral (2012) |