Lojinx - British Independent Record Label

Butch Walker recently plugged into one of Fender’s new Acoustic Pro amps to play haunting title track from Afraid of Ghosts.

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Dial-A-Song Week 42!. Get Glean, pre-order Why?!

This stuff is complex
Never figured out the part that comes next
I’m out of my depth
Everything I reach for is out of my grasp

And nothing comes next
You figured on a change or a rest
Well, that’s a good guess
Everything is shifting and shifting again

Something punched my mind in the face
Tracked me down under my pillow case
Now we’re alone in this freaky place
Our consciousness has been

This stuff is complex
Never figured out the part that comes next
I’m out of my depth
Everything I reach for is out of my grasp

There are forces out to destroy us
I heard whispers. It was a warning
They’ll knock us out and drag us to a forest
Yes, that’s what I’ve been told

Blitzen Trapper perform “Love Grow Cold”, a highlight of their new album ‘All Across This Land‘, live for The Current. Get your copy, direct from Lojinx, on LP, CD or digital here.

Dial-A-Song #41 is “Prepare”. Video directed by Paul Sahre. “Glean” is out now, pre-order “Why?“!

Prepare

prepare for a second from now
comb your hair and compose yourself
prepare for a second from now
adjust your chair and clear your throat
a second from the present is nigh
are all your affairs in order now?
a second is a very short time
a moment to anticipate the things to come

the next second won’t be anything like the current one
and we won’t know how it’s gonna be till a second is done

no one can see into the future
we’re just going to have to wait
there may be strange new customs and new ideas
so try to keep an open mind
prepare for a second from now
as if that would make any difference at all
ready or not it is coming
and there’s no way to stop the clock

the next second’s gonna make the present seem like long ago
and make you forget everything that you currently know

counting down / to zero from one
hold your breath / here it comes
now that the second has passed
let’s all reflect on the times we’ve had
look back on a second ago
given everything that we now know
remember a second ago
recall if you can how it used to be
remember a second ago
it’s hard to believe we were so naive

I can barely remember anything about a second ago
we will soon be a second in the future that is all I know

TMBG’S Dial-A-Song week 40 brings us an alternate version of Black Ops, originally heard on Nanobots. The collage slideshow video dedicated to all dystopian modernists was compiled by the inimitable Rolf Conant.

Pre-order new album Why?!

black ops black ops
a holiday for secret cops
black ops black ops
dropping presents from the helicopter

it’s been a long year
we’ve been so far from home
too many people here
here come the drones
we take the best of it
and make a mess of it
ripping up some lawn
and then we’re gone

black sites black sites
a thousand miles from day or night
black sites black sites
the story will remain unwritten

before we make you gone
you’d best be running on
stick to the music, child
don’t get us riled
hey, there’s a spot we missed
I see a communist
and there’s another one
and his dumb son

black ops black ops
little vials filled with knock-out drops
black ops black ops
Maybe leave you in your old gym locker

black ops black ops
a thousand miles from day or night
black ops black ops
a story told before rewriting

hey, there’s a passport here
but it could disappear
tarmac to landing pad
don’t look so sad
we fly to Amsterdam
and in a little bit
we’ll sing our special song
and this is it

you’ll be standing when the music stops
we’re not worrying about the optics

While continuing to explore broad stylistic territory, Blitzen Trapper’s eighth studio album, a 10-song collection titled All Across This Land, stands as an exceptionally focused and immediate effort. Though it follows 2013’s somewhat experimental VII, a futuristic hip-hop/country-rock hybrid, All Across This Land, in contrast, is a top-down, tightly defined piece of classic rock and roll, full of big riffs, bigger hooks and compelling, instantly relatable lyrics. In sound and scope it recalls two of the band’s more beloved albums, 2008’s breakthrough fourth effort, Furr, and 2011’s landmark American Goldwing.

“We recorded it specifically to be a two guitar, bass, drums and piano record,” Earley says. “Every song is a band song, and arranged just how we’d play it onstage. Because at this point, we’ve made tons of records and we’ve played tons of shows. And the people who come out to see us, they understand what we’re doing and they don’t care about genres or anything like that. They’re more interested in our actual specific unique personality as a band.”

As for what that specific personality is? “I think there’s two kinds of songs I love to write,” Earley says. “I love songs that rock hard and that just make you feel good, and then I love songs that are sad and introspective and touch you in a very deep place.”

Which, in essence, is exactly what Blitzen Trapper puts forth on All Across This Land. “I was trying to distill everything down to those two things,” Earley explains. And if, in doing so, the band happens to pick up a host of different sounds and styles along the way, so be it. “We’re never going to be a band that plays the same song over and over again,” he says. “We like to explore. And sometimes that’s not so easy for people to deal with. But we’re going to just keep on doing what we do.”

• iTunes: http://smarturl.it/AllAcrossThisLand
• Amazon CD: http://ljx.cc/BlitzenAmazonCD
• Amazon LP: http://ljx.cc/BlitzenAmazonLP
• Lojinx Direct: http://ljx.to/btaatl (CD, LP & high-res digital)

All Across This Land is out now.