Juliana has written a new article for the Huffington Post on her Save a Sato dog rescue patronage.
She previously mentioned her interest in this project last month.
If you thought the negative review of Peace & Love in Pitchfork was infuriating (and others did), take a deep breath before reading the PopMatters review.
It's OK if a reviewer doesn't like the album and can offer a criticism that explains why but other than an opinion that the lyrics are weak, the gist of the review seems to complain that Juliana has the audacity to still be making music after 20 odd years. The review has been suitably taken to task by 'stever' in the comments on the PopMatters site.
Hopefully this is not a view shared by every writer on PopMatters. Indeed, in 2008 Juliana was described there as a "talented iconic rock star" and How To Walk Away as "a brilliant new album of intensely personal songs"
Ho hum.
Forumites at Juliana's messageboard (which sadly remains unavailable for new members- UPDATE Jun 2010 -the forum is now gone) have spotted a recent upload to the repository of almostcertainlycopyrightinfringement and oftenwrongaspectratiovideo, otherwise known as YouTube. A concert from Gibson's in Tucson, AZ from 1997 is now available in its entirety either from links on the uploader's channel or via the individual links below:
I Got No Idols / Outsider
Fade Away / Dying Proof
Fleur De Lys / Spin The Bottle
What Have I Done To You
My Sister / Supermodel
My Darling
The Unheard Music / Get Off
For The Birds / Live On Tomorrow
Bottles And Flowers
Trying Not To Think About It / Addicted
Get Your Head Off My Shoulder / Dumb Fun
The Unheard Music is a cover of a song by X.
Also, from the same forum thread, Evan Dando covering My Darling from 2009:
More from this Dando show on Moshcam.
Another bunch of Peace & Love mentions from review sites, blogs and the wide world of the web:
Posted today on Twitter:
TMRS is That Modern Rock Show, broadcast on WFDU, Saturdays between 9pm and 1am Eastern Time.
UPDATE Tuesday, March 23:
You can now listen to the interview in the WFDU Archives.
"Every time, I write a song about a break-up, I can’t believe I’m writing about it again. It’s like shut up already. But I think it’s a universal experience and it never gets old."
Juliana talks about Peace & Love, her career and voice, and names her price for a Blake Babies reunion in a Q&A interview at Hear/Say.
Thanks to Allison for sharing this link.
"I don't know what happened with the guitar solo in 'What Is Wrong', I just sort of plugged in and in about three seconds got a kind of nasty sound happening. I pressed 'record' and this gnarly blast fell out. Listening back, I was very amused with myself."
Read more comments from Juliana in a feature on Groupee.
"When CDs came out I thought they sounded like crap. And now, I think MP3s sound like crap and MP3s make CDs sound better."
Read Juliana's thoughts on music technology, the crappiness of mp3, why Twitter is a distraction and her future book writing projects in a nice interview at Sounds Good Ink.
Three new tracks are now streaming on Juliana's MySpace page. Described as Peace & Love outtakes, there's an alternate version of I Picked You Up plus two previously unheard songs - I Won't Let You Go and Between The Clouds.
“The music business is so complicated. I want a really simple life. …The theme of the past few years [has been] a process of reclaiming my freedom and independence and being totally self sufficient.”
For those who may have missed the news, a reminder that Juliana has recently resurrected her blog pages on the official site. She may have quit social networks but appears to be now using the blog for random thoughts rather than the song inspired essays of yore. It now looks like many other blogs with Twitter-ish posts - a means for her to communicate if not (by virtue of comments being disabled) to interact. If you enjoyed her Twitter posts it's worth subscribing to the RSS feed.
"my lack of technical expertise is, I think, an aesthetic of sorts"
Juliana talks about the recording process of Peace & Love in an interview with Patrick Ogle for Gearwire. Listen to it at gearwire.com.
It looks like there's more to come as according to Patrick's twitter post this is Part 1.
Update on 2010-03-31 20:47 by Craig
Part 2 is now available at Gearwire.
Peace & Love can now be heard on Spotify, the streaming service available in parts of Europe (UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Finland and Norway).
A handy tool for those of us who want to recommend the album to non-Juliana fans who use the service. Just suggest that if they like it they might want to buy the CD from Ye Olde. Although Spotify is legal there are doubts as to how much independent artists are compensated, and your site admin is a bit suspicious of the motives of a DRM / p2p service by stealth, and still prefers to 'own' music, rather than trusting a collection to the cloud. Maybe he's just old fashioned.
Peace & Love is this week's Editor's Choice on the US version of the digital download site 7digital. The title track, easily one of the standout songs on the album, is currently free. Hopefully this will spark a few sales among the curious. A good thing, even if the Editor's blurb is a bit sloppy:
"Peace & Love is the 10th studio album by Hatfield, marking 20 years as a recording artist. The title track on this album is free this week and offers listeners a nice example of the singer/ songwriter's somber folk magnifigance (sic). She supposedly produced all the songs on this album as well as playing the instruments. Her heart seems weathered but her sound remains very young and fresh on this 12 track album."
Magnifigant! As for the self-production, there's no supposedly about it.
“I needed some calm because the year was very turbulent. The easiest way for me to feel calm was to be alone. I couldn’t handle the idea of going into a big studio with a bunch of people. I just wanted to stay home and make this very personal and quiet record.”
Some quotes from Juliana on Peace & Love, her withdrawal from social media and more in an article at The Patriot Ledger.
Another collection, this time of largely indifferent reviews from blogs, review sites and the internets at large:
"Her music allows one to contemplate the depth of her sadness, and to compare their own to hers."
Nicely put in a small piece on Microphone Memory Emotion.
Another recommended review can be found at Indie Rock Grrls and, a notable rarity in the reviews so far, a couple of negative ones at Express Night Out and Pitchfork, the latter being a particular stinker. So much, that the critic has been critiqued. It's the internet. It's what it does.
"it’s been a long time since Hatfield put out a record so warm and affecting, so hopeful in its examination of loneliness and pain, and just plain comforting"
One of the best reviews that captures the themes of Peace & Love is by Michael Fortes at Popdose.
Other reviews now online include a take by the marvellously named "Rev. Theodore Marley Renwick-Renwick" at the oh-so-knowlingly-pompous Donnybrook Writing Academy and, to less enjoyment, a small 3 out of 4 stars review at the Los Angeles Times.