What I Heard This Morning: Cold Specks
I haven't heard I Predict A Graceful Expulsion, the newly released new album from Cold Specks. However, I was very impressed with a version of Swans' "Reeling The Liars In" she'd recorded for a Record Store Day exclusive, Dancing Coins EP. Perfect voice for this kind of song, just a haunting and world-weary tone. Excellent cover; please give it a listen.
Via New Music United.
This is a video for her single, "Blank Maps."
Links were provided by Mute Records.
NEW TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED FOR NEW YORK, MONTREAL, TORONTO AND LOS ANGELES
NEW VIDEO FOR “WINTER SOLSTICE” FROM THE HOXTON HALL SERIES
KEXP’S #1 MOST PLAYED SONG OF THE WEEK IS "BLANK MAPS"
Debut album, I Predict A Graceful Expulsion out May 22nd
“Haunting doom-laden soul”
-Vogue
“When she begins singing, you understand the fuss…”
-Pitchfork
"I can tell you without a doubt that Al Spx is going to be a superstar before year’s end."
-YVYNYL
“Positively spellbinding and downright possessed”
-NME
Currently touring through the US and celebrating the release of her debut album I Predict A Graceful Expulsion, and a #1 Most Played Song of The Week for Blank Maps at KEXP, Cold Specks is ready to announce new tour dates including stops in Brooklyn at Glasslands on August 1st and Los Angeles at the Echo on August 16th.
Otherwise known as Al Spx, Cold Specks hails from Etobicoke, Canada although she now calls London home. Channeling James Joyce’s Ulysses she donned the name Cold Specks from Joyce’s gripping script “Born all in the dark wormy earth, cold specks of fire, evil, lights shining in the darkness.”
Describing her sound as ‘Doom Soul’, Cold Specks’ music is steeped in the musical traditions of the Deep South. No wonder then that Al cites the Lomax Field Recordings and James Carr as influences along with Bill Callahan and Tom Waits. With a voice that evokes the ‘spirit feel’ of Mahalia Jackson and the visceral tones of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Cold Specks’ sparse arrangements and chain gang rhythms stop you dead in your tracks.
“My little brother, who was spending his summers with our mother in Toronto, had always told me of this girl he was friends with that had this amazing voice,” recalls Cold Specks’ manager, Jim Anderson. “As a producer I’d heard that so often that I didn't take too much notice. Then I came in one night to find him and a few friends drinking in the flat and playing a CD of her demos. I was completely transfixed and just kept pressing repeat. I knew I had to work with her. I eventually persuaded her to come over. At that point she had never played with another musician and was completely self-taught with her own unique tuning and timings, which we had to decipher.”
“Jim convinced me to fly out and work on the record for a few months,” explains Al Spx. “That was a year and a half ago. I guess I’m permanently based here now. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here. We needed musicians and Jim knew a bunch. Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey’s regular collaborator) has been helping out with some arrangements and percussion and Jim’s old friends Pete Roberts (guitar), Thomas Greene (piano) and Tom Havelock (cello) also play on the record.”
COLD SPECKS TOUR DATES:
May 23rd – Stubb’s – Austin, TX*
May 24th – One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA*
May 25th – Variety Playhouse –Atlanta, GA*
May 26th – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC*
May 27th – Rock and Roll Hotel – Washington, DC*
May 28th- Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA*
May 30th – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY*
May 31st – Middle East Downstairs – Cambridge, MA*
June 2nd – The Music Hall –Toronto, ONT*
July 27th & July 28th - Calgary Folk Festival –Calgary, AB
July 29th – Hillside Festival – Guelph, ON
August 1st- Glasslands- Brooklyn, NY
August 3rd- August 5th - SappyFest- Sackville, AB
August 7th – Le Divan Orange – Montreal, QC
August 8th – The Great Hall – Toronto, ONT
August 10th – August 12th – Regina Folk Festival – Regina, SK
August 16th – The Echo – Los Angeles, CA
*With Great Lake Swimmers
COLD SPECKS PERFORMANCE ON Later With Jools Holland
COLD SPECKS VIDEO FOR “BLANK MAPS"
COLD SPECKS VIDEO FOR “HOLLAND”
COLD SPECKS: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE
MUTE: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
Via New Music United.
This is a video for her single, "Blank Maps."
Links were provided by Mute Records.
NEW TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED FOR NEW YORK, MONTREAL, TORONTO AND LOS ANGELES
NEW VIDEO FOR “WINTER SOLSTICE” FROM THE HOXTON HALL SERIES
KEXP’S #1 MOST PLAYED SONG OF THE WEEK IS "BLANK MAPS"
Debut album, I Predict A Graceful Expulsion out May 22nd
“Haunting doom-laden soul”
-Vogue
“When she begins singing, you understand the fuss…”
-Pitchfork
"I can tell you without a doubt that Al Spx is going to be a superstar before year’s end."
-YVYNYL
“Positively spellbinding and downright possessed”
-NME
Currently touring through the US and celebrating the release of her debut album I Predict A Graceful Expulsion, and a #1 Most Played Song of The Week for Blank Maps at KEXP, Cold Specks is ready to announce new tour dates including stops in Brooklyn at Glasslands on August 1st and Los Angeles at the Echo on August 16th.
Otherwise known as Al Spx, Cold Specks hails from Etobicoke, Canada although she now calls London home. Channeling James Joyce’s Ulysses she donned the name Cold Specks from Joyce’s gripping script “Born all in the dark wormy earth, cold specks of fire, evil, lights shining in the darkness.”
Describing her sound as ‘Doom Soul’, Cold Specks’ music is steeped in the musical traditions of the Deep South. No wonder then that Al cites the Lomax Field Recordings and James Carr as influences along with Bill Callahan and Tom Waits. With a voice that evokes the ‘spirit feel’ of Mahalia Jackson and the visceral tones of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Cold Specks’ sparse arrangements and chain gang rhythms stop you dead in your tracks.
“My little brother, who was spending his summers with our mother in Toronto, had always told me of this girl he was friends with that had this amazing voice,” recalls Cold Specks’ manager, Jim Anderson. “As a producer I’d heard that so often that I didn't take too much notice. Then I came in one night to find him and a few friends drinking in the flat and playing a CD of her demos. I was completely transfixed and just kept pressing repeat. I knew I had to work with her. I eventually persuaded her to come over. At that point she had never played with another musician and was completely self-taught with her own unique tuning and timings, which we had to decipher.”
“Jim convinced me to fly out and work on the record for a few months,” explains Al Spx. “That was a year and a half ago. I guess I’m permanently based here now. I didn’t know anyone when I moved here. We needed musicians and Jim knew a bunch. Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey’s regular collaborator) has been helping out with some arrangements and percussion and Jim’s old friends Pete Roberts (guitar), Thomas Greene (piano) and Tom Havelock (cello) also play on the record.”
COLD SPECKS TOUR DATES:
May 23rd – Stubb’s – Austin, TX*
May 24th – One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA*
May 25th – Variety Playhouse –Atlanta, GA*
May 26th – Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC*
May 27th – Rock and Roll Hotel – Washington, DC*
May 28th- Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA*
May 30th – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY*
May 31st – Middle East Downstairs – Cambridge, MA*
June 2nd – The Music Hall –Toronto, ONT*
July 27th & July 28th - Calgary Folk Festival –Calgary, AB
July 29th – Hillside Festival – Guelph, ON
August 1st- Glasslands- Brooklyn, NY
August 3rd- August 5th - SappyFest- Sackville, AB
August 7th – Le Divan Orange – Montreal, QC
August 8th – The Great Hall – Toronto, ONT
August 10th – August 12th – Regina Folk Festival – Regina, SK
August 16th – The Echo – Los Angeles, CA
*With Great Lake Swimmers
COLD SPECKS PERFORMANCE ON Later With Jools Holland
COLD SPECKS VIDEO FOR “BLANK MAPS"
COLD SPECKS VIDEO FOR “HOLLAND”
COLD SPECKS: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE
MUTE: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
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