Various Artists — Cosmic Waves Volume 1 (Jagjaguwar/Somethingcosmic)
To watch Angel Olsen on her Big Time tour in 2022 was to watch someone who’d settled comfortably into their own both personally and professionally. Despite the title, that album’s steady middle ground between the muddled decadence of All Mirrors and stripped-back Whole New Mess sounded like Angel had finally found some equilibrium. She must’ve been feeling that during the era, too — enough, in fact, to warrant firing back up her own Somethingcosmic imprint. Early December 2024’s Cosmic Waves Volume 1 is the second evidence of said label (her 2021 Aisles EP is the first), though Jagjaguwar’s again doing the heavy lifting on promotion and, it appears, vinyl releases. Regardless, Somethingcosmic gives Olsen “the flexibility to release when and how I want to.” This is money in the bank for the Jagjag camp, so it makes as much cents as it does sense, but what she does with the compilation format here makes for interesting listening.
The short of it is that Olsen’s given the front half of the comp to artists she’s attracted to her orbit; the back half is her covering each of these artists. Considering she’s been based in North Carolina for several years at this point, it’s curious that the comp doesn’t feature any artists from the Asheville area, instead comprising Poppy Jean Crawford, Coffin Prick, Sarah Grace White and Maxim Ludwig, who are all from Los Angeles, and Camp Saint Helene as the lone holdout from Catskill, New York. Despite the geographic imbalance, however, the spiritual fabric of the musicians remains consistent.
Let’s start with the back half since there is less to say about what Angel does with the covers. Olsen tackles the EP title-tracks from Crawford’s undeniably catchy The Takeover and White’s Sinkhole; the concluding cut from Coffin Prick’s album Laughing; Ludwig’s “Born Too Blue,” originally out way back in 2012; and “Farfisa Song” from Camp Saint Helene’s debut Mother. In each case, the covers are reverent but spartan — there are no radical reinventions or compositional experiments here. Instead, Angel strips any excess away to deliver a handful of covers that foreground what has always been her most alluring talent, that singular voice, accompanied only by guitar or piano (“Sinkhole”). In both cases, she tweaks the reverb and mic effects, but there’s only one person any of these songs could’ve come from.
The front half is where the diversity happens, but for an album entitled Cosmic Waves, nobody must’ve told Crawford the mood would be more subdued. What we get from her is “Glamorous,” one of the most arresting songs in her discography and a screaming rocker that recalls no less than Hole, Cable Ties, Scanners or Savages (and it won’t surprise you to learn she recently opened for Placebo); it’s an astonishing opener made all the more so because nothing after it even remotely shoots for the rafters. Instead, you get Coffin Prick’s edgy, eye-shifting funk with “Blood”; White’s “Ride” perhaps most closely echoes Olsen’s early, more hauntingly isolated releases; Ludwig (here credited without early backing band The Santa Fe Seven or the more recent Mystics) doing a kind of Randy Newman or Harry Nilsson — or, let’s be realer, Five for Fighting — piano ballad on “Make Believe You Love Me”; and Camp Saint Helene’s full-band soft touch on “Wonder Now,” which to me gets closest not only to an Angel Olsen imitation but also to the ethos of the compilation’s title.
In each of these songs, though, you can see where the artists overlap with Olsen. The angst of “Glamorous” goes hand in hand with any number of Angel’s most cathartic moments; “Blood” would fit right in on Aisles; “Make Believe You Love Me” could easily be a demo from as far back as Burn Your Fire for No Witness; and “Ride and “Wonder Now” could work just about anywhere across her discography. I’ve seen some chatter suggesting this compilation is a way for Angel Olsen to buy herself some time before her next grand move, but that’s selling short both her and the small cadre of artists she’s got here; if anything, it should be an auspicious calling card for whatever’s to come from Somethingcosmic.
Song Review: Keith Richards - “I’m Waiting for the Man”
If there’s anyone unkempt and druggy enough to convincingly cover “I’m Waiting for the Man,” it’s Keith Richards.
And so it shall be.
The Rolling Stone re-recorded the Velvet Underground & Nico track for the forthcoming various-artists collection The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed. It’s also the lead single.
With a short a capella intro and higher fidelity than the original, Richards nevertheless stays close to Reed and the Velvet’s arrangement while transforming it into the quintessential Keef Riff Hard cut. Not small feat, that, but Richards knows of which he sings on “I’m Waiting for the Man.”
“To me, Lou stood out,” Richards said in a statement. “The real deal! Something important to American music and to all music. I miss him and his dog.”
Arriving on 4/20 - natch - The Power of the Heart includes contributions from a motley array of admirers including Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams, Maxim Ludwig and Angel Olsen, Rickie Lee Jones, Mary Gauthier, Bobby Rush, Automatic, the Afghan Whigs, Rosanne Cash and Brogan Bentley.
Grade card: Keith Richards - “I’m Waiting for the Man” - B+
Need a pick-me-up this morning? Take a listen to Maxim Ludwig’s newest track “No One Has To Know”, a vibrant rock song that has all the right vibes for these gorgeous California days we’ve been getting lately. I love the rock-driven vibes on this track but there’s also a little bit of synth that gives the song some gorgeous color. “No One Has To Know” has an unapologetically fun and outgoing vibe that is just so infectious.
“No One Has To Know” is taken from Maxim Ludwig’s upcoming debut LP Libra-Scorpio Cusp out June 2 on Hit City USA.
Happy November! Let us borrow your sound waves for moment to introduce Los Angeles musician Maxim Ludwig and his new single called 'All My Nightmares'. The production on this one is backed by a three-part saxophone section giving the rockin tune just the right amount of soul and nostalgia that we are damn excited to share with you all. It is the the latest in (and debut for) Los Angeles favorites Hit City U.S.A.'s For Immediate Release singles series and available for stream / download below.
Also, be sure to check out the b-side 'Assembly Line'
