Joe Pugsley: May 10, 2023

MY TOP 10 BIG TAKEOVER PREMIERES 2023 (SO FAR)

1. Billy Tibbals: “The Best Day I Ever Had”
“Produced by the legendary Chris Robinson, it’s amazing how these sounds are like a time warp, bringing you back to the days when rocknroll was still a cultural driving force. It is clear Mr. Tibbals is doing his best to assert that it still is.”
Big Takeover Premiere 2.21.23

2. San Tropez “Valley and the Shore”
“drenched with guitars straight out of the gate and is powered by the floating rhythm of the bass and drums. The vocals drift in and out throughout the song – a bit airy and a bit purposeful.”
Big Takeover Premiere 1.13.23

3. Peter Case [of The Nerves] “Have You Ever Been In Trouble?”
“With his 16th solo, release, Case reinvents his sound with a piano driven record, unlike his previous guitar focused works, still retaining his signature fantastic vocals.”
Big Takeover Premiere 2.27.23

4. Pam Risourié “High on a Wire”
““High on a Wire” rides like a folk composition in a dark dreamworld. Kicking off with a sole vocal and two-chord-amble, Remi wastes no time planting his potent melody firmly in your ear and, frankly, it never stops.”
Big Takeover Premiere 3/4/23

5. Ivan Julian [of Richard Hell & The Voidoids] “Tell Me Lies”
“Julian was an essential part of the original Punk scene while sowing the seeds for Post-Punk with the pointedly his lopsided rhythms and scorched, melodically askew guitar lines so central to the Voidoids’ oeuvre.”
Big Takeover Premiere 2.16.23

6. The Alarm “Whatever”
““I was inspired to write ‘Whatever’ after hearing John Lennon sing ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’ on the hospital radio and thought to myself, ‘Never mind the night……. what am I going to do to get through life?’,” says Mike Peters of the iconic Welsh rock band The Alarm, about the origin of the song “Whatever””
Big Takeover Premiere 3.27.23

7. JoobieSeaz: “Something New”
“At her most forceful, her performance conjures memories of 90s-era Shirley Manson; at her breathiest, Bjork. “The song sounds like a mental disorder, like a bipolar disorder,” she adds, “not as a disease, but as a reminder of why we need to remain calm and self-sufficient.”
Big Takeover Premiere 1.31.23

8. Kety Fusco: “Starless”
“‘STARLESS’ is the striking second single from Kety Fusco’s album ‘The Harp, Chapter I’, due for release on 3 March 2023. The composition of this piece was created with all the classical harp sounds recorded and catalogued by Kety Fusco in her sound library “Beyond The Harp, Extreme, Extended, Experimental”.”
Big Takeover Premiere 2.17.23

9. Slow Fiction: “In the distance, where it doesn’t matter”
“an angsty, high-energy track with a definite early aughts feel, perfect to get one’s hips swaying despite its lyrical basis in a tumultuous emotional struggle.”
Big Takeover Premiere 1.11.23

10. Brutal Youth “Rebuilding Year”
“Toronto’s masters of melodic hardcore, Brutal Youth, have just released their anticipated new LP Rebuilding Year (April 21st on Stomp Records) with a video for their title track “Rebuilding Year”.”
Big Takeover Premiere 4.19.23