A Head Full of Wishes

Dean Wareham has just shared another track from his forthcoming album I Have Nothing To Say To The Mayor of L.A. accompanied by a lovely new video directed by Judith Berndsen and edited by Britta Phillips.

Just as Much As It Was Worth is the third track from the album following on from The Past is Our Plaything and Cashing In.

You can pre-order the album from Dean’s website or from record stores - in the UK it is available to order from Norman Records.

Dean Wareham has just released a new track from his forthcoming album I Have Nothing to Say to The Mayor of L.A.

The track Cashing In is accompanied by a video by L.A. based experimental filmmaker Leanna Kaiser:

You can also listen to the track in all the usual places.

The new album will be released on 15th October and can be pre-ordered from Dean’s online shop in an exclusive cherry coloured vinyl.

Featuring Britta on bass and synth, Roger Brogan on drums, and yours truly on guitar and also playing my new “Hooky” 6-string bass in the coda, Peter Hook’s signature model now made by Eastwood guitars. If you watch video of old New Order gigs you realize that so many of the memorable guitar lines were in fact played by Peter Hook on this instrument.

I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people remembering the events of the 11th September 2001 but since my memories are tied in with Luna I thought I’d just post something here.

On the 1st August 2001 (Dean’s birthday) Luna, then very much a New York band, played a show on the Center Stage at The Twin Towers - just over a month later the world was changed by the events. All the photos in this post are from that show (most, possibly all, by Pablo Chang - if you spot one of yours, uncredited, do shout).

Back then the Galaxie 500 Mailing List was still a fairly vibrant discussion forum, mostly full of Luna fans, many of whom were from NYC so the events that played out in the city on that day were documented somewhat on the mailing list.

One of the active members of the list, Steve, was known to work in WTC2, and all Luna band members lived in the city. While it didn’t need this connection to be affected by the events it did rather bring it home, even to the folk whose home was far away.

Looking through the mailing list archives of that day here are a few of the posts. I hope no one minds me re-posting their words.

Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 16:43:32 +0100
From: andy@grange85.co.uk
Subject: current events

With what I’ve been watching and reading over the last 2/3 hours, and the sickness and fear (for the world as a whole) I feel I just wanted to say that I hope all NYC listmembers are safe.

I fear the world will not be the same again.

-Andy

Dean Wareham will be releasing his second solo album on 15th October and has just released the first track from the album, The Past Is Our Plaything, with a new video directed by Alexandra Cabral.

The album, I Have Nothing to Say to The Mayor of L.A., will be released on Dean & Britta’s Double Feature Records.

A coloured vinyl copy is available exclusively through Dean Wareham’s shop and can be pre-ordered now.

While you’re at Dean’s shop you might also want to grab the LP version of Dean & Britta’s Quarantime Tapes that was previously only released as a very rare box set of lathe cut singles.

Luna have just finished a mini-tour of the North East of the US. The shows were in less than usual venues (vineyards and cinemas) and looked lovely and relaxed - here are a few clips:

So… another Bandcamp Friday and another opportunity to throw a few extra pennies into your favourite bands’ purses!

Last year I threw together this page collecting together as many AHFoW related releases I could finc on Bandcamp so this is just me pulling out a couple of highlights:

Damon & Naomi have released the third single from their new album A Sky Record with a video directed by Naomi and fashion designer Gary Graham,

The video was premiered on Brooklyn Vegan:

The video for “The Aftertime” was directed by Naomi and fashion designer and artist Gary Graham. “Gary Graham and I have worked together for almost 15 years,” says Naomi. “I wear his clothing every day and on stage and I have collaborated with him on many videos for his brand, GaryGraham422. ‘The Aftertime’ is a song about the kind of freedom you can give back to yourself, after emerging from a challenging situation — be it a relationship or a year and a half of lockdown…”

Gary adds, “The original idea was about a squatter who begins overlaying her own imaginary world onto an abandoned building. I love the interior landscapes and the seascape and the castle wallpaper — our castles, the interior/exterior worlds we occupy. Naomi’s voice is like an heirloom siren call, the chanteuse as trickster from a faraway place. That place is where Damon & Naomi live, a place that offers a new hypnotic understanding of time, of getting to see how long the sun lasts.”

A Sky Record is released as a book and digital download on Friday via Bandcamp (and elswhere later in the month).

In the wake of the announcement that Dean & Britta will be heading out on a 13th anniversary tour of their 13 Most Beautiful show here’s a bunch of 13MB bits and pieces to keep you occupied while you wait for it to arrive near you!

Very cool video of Dean & Britta playing Teenage Lightning at The Warhol in 2012:

A cool set of pictures from their show in Milan in 2009:

When the audio of 13 Most Beuatiful was released a couple of the DVD mixes never got released - Britta sent them over to me to share, so…

Bomb Magazine had a lengthy article by Dean about the screen tests and how the show came about…

I visited the museum in Pittsburgh and looked at about 150 of the Screen Tests, without quite knowing what I was looking for. Warhol had shot close to 500 of these films. Some were so immediately stunning—Jane Holzer brushing her teeth, Ann Buchanan crying a tear—that I knew I had to include them.

Here’s a PDF of the screening notes from when they performed it at The Barbican in London.

… and here’s set of pictures of the UK premiere at The Carnegie Hall in Dunfemline.

… and, in case you missed it, here are Dean & Britta intorducing the anniversary tour…

This autumn Dean & Britta will be heading out on a 13th anniversary tour of their 13 Most Beautiful show. The only date so far announced is as part of the Warhol Museum’s Sound Series Block Party on the 18th September in Pittsburgh.

The trailer also teases that there will be A special encore featuring additional screen tests

If you were unsure about heading to Pittsburgh for the Block Party show perhaps the added incentive of it being followed by Dean Wareham playing Galaxie 500’s On Fire as a follow up (and to bring the day to a close). I’d certainly be there if I could!

Tickets are $35 and on sale now from the Warhol Museum.

As soon as I hear about additional dates I’ll let you know - and I’ll see you in the UK if (when!!) it makes it over here!

• 18th September 2021 - Sound Series Block Party, Isabella Street Block, Pittsburgh, PA, USA - Dean Wareham / Britta Phillips 13 Most Beautiful
• 18th September 2021 - Sound Series Block Party, Isabella Street Block, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500’s On Fire

Damon & Naomi have announced their first live show in over a year. They will play at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn on the 12th August in support of their new album A Sky Record, which will be released via Bandcamp on the 6th August and elsewhere on the 13th.

Tickets for the show are available now

The album is being released both digitally and as a 48 page booklet - you can pre-order both on their Bandcamp page.

In readiness for the release the duo have released a second single from the album on Bandcamp - the beautiful Oceans in Between and you can also watch their live performance of it from last months performace at the Peabody Essex Museum