In 2010, Okkervil River put out a collaboration with Texas psych legend Roky Erickson. Critically regarded as his comeback album True Love Cast Out All Evil, was a bold step for all parties. Okkervil River’s Will Sheff was in fact recently nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for the aforementioned release.
This year though, the band will be focusing on their own craft once again, as they will release a new single on February 8th via Jagjaguwar.
The single contains two new tracks: "Mermaid" and the b-side "Walked Out on a Line." (According to the fan site Down the Oubliette, "Mermaid" was previously featured in the independent 2008 film, In Search of a Midnight Kiss.)
The single will come out on glorious twelve-inch vinyl. As always, for those without a vinyl carver, it will also be available digitally. The "Mermaid" single precedes Okkervil River's forthcoming follow-up to 2008's brilliant The Stand Ins, which is due sometime later this year.
It’s been nearly a decade and a half since any new, original material from psych-rock legend Roky Erickson was on the shelves. Word today that the legendary 13th Floor Elevators frontman is readying a brand new record called True Love Cast Out All Evil. Fellow Austin, Texas rockers Okkervil River back Erickson on the whole album and Okkervil head honcho Will Sheff produces. (Erickson played previously with Okkervil River at SXSW in 2008 and 2009.)
Talking about the record in a press release, Sheff said, "When we started out, I was given sixty unreleased songs to choose from. There were songs written during business setbacks including the Elevators' painful breakup, songs written by Roky while he was incarcerated at Rusk, and a great deal of songs that reminded me of the sense of optimism and romanticism that I think sustained Roky through his worst years and ultimately reunited him, a few years ago, with his son Jegar and his first wife Dana."
Though his music has appeared in several anthologies over the last two decades, Erickson has not released new material since 1995's All That May Do My Rhyme, and it is half a century since the Texas songwriter's most celebrated work, with psychedelic rockers 13th Floor Elevators. Erickson was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1968, leading to time in hospital, while minor brushes with the law and resulted in further hospitalisation. In 2005 the singer was profiled in a documentary, You're Gonna Miss Me, which helped a healthier Erickson to launch a small comeback, touring the US and parts of Europe. The new album features songs written by Erickson throughout his life, as well as "found-sound and archival recordings culled from Erickson's home videos and recordings made in the Rusk State Hospital.
True Love Cast Out All Evil, is out April 20th via Anti-.
One of my best and earliest memories is that of my Deltek transistor radio playing under my pillow as I drifted off to sleep so many years ago. Wouldn’t it be something if it was Led Zeppelin or the Velvet Underground that I discovered when I was eight years old? No such luck… But I do remember The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia. There's been no looking back since. In honour of that "radio" discovery, a brand new playlist.
Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio? [Demo Version] - The Ramones This Is Radio Clash - The Clash Video Killed the Radio Star (live) - The Wrong Trousers Listen To the Radio - Sloan The Radio's Hot Sun - Handsome Furs Radio Attack - Prefuse 73 Radio Ballet - Eluvium Radio Spiricom - Tim Hecker Radio War - Iron & Wine Radio Campaign - M. Ward Radio Cure - Wilco Radio Head [Tito Larriva Vocal Version] - Talking Heads Radio On - Tandemoro Mexican Radio - Wall Of Voodoo Radio Prague - This Heat Radio Drill Time - Josef K In a Radio Song - Okkervil River Static On The Radio - Jim White Ultra-Powerful Short Wave Radio Picks Up Music From Venus - Yo La Tengo
File Under: The huge and overwhelming influence ofVicki Lawrence
