Over at Cheap and Plastic Andrew has a nice set of photos from last week's show at Brighton Music Hall in Allston.
Also, if you haven't seen them already there's a couple of other videos from the show posted by instant1rock at YouTube: Oh and Candy Wrappers / So Alone:
Uploaded by instant1rock on 2011-08-29.
Juliana:
My fans are so cool. (They) understand that it's not 1992 anymore, and that I've evolved and they have evolved with me. They understand that in writing music, I'm in the moment, and I'm not trying to do anything that relates to anything I've ever done before. I'm just doing what feels right now.
Juliana and other artists talk about fan funded projects in a feature at Salon - Don't Just Buy The Record - Help Fund It. (update - this is now a webarchive.org link - the original Salon link is dead)
It's worth a read, although it's a shame they haven't given the new album its updated name.
Another batch of There's Always Another Girl reviews:
First up Daniel Tebo, loving it big time at PopMatters:
While her fellow graduates from the class of ’93 have been content relive past glories, Hatfield has matured into a distinguished, risk-taking songwriter who continues to surprise and occasionally confound listeners.
8/10
Then Jason Keller, not so much at Now Magazine:
Many of the other 13 songs on her 11th studio album (financed by pledgemusic, with a percentage going to animal shelters) show flashes of the melodic brilliance of her early 90s output, like the sweetly sung Failure, the easy groove of Thousands Of Guitars and the bluesy boogie of Don’t Wanna Dance.
3/5
And finally, Chris Kein, most definitely not impressed at Tiny Mix Tapes:
In a time where it is possible for acts who made their careers in that early-90s cauldron of independent creativity to reform and remake themselves, it seems a cop-out to make such a risk-free album, especially since Hatfield had full creative control.
2/5
thanks to liveontomorrow reader Carlos for submitting some recent links
Three more reviews for you:
Mark Jenkins, Blurt Online:
The pretty-girl trap and bad-boy misbehavior are longtime Hatfield themes, but she's rarely delivered them with such directness and authority.
6/10
Tyler Kane, Paste Magazine:
...It’s moments like these that show Hatfield’s ability to take advantage of her own intentional, focused ideas and meld them with spontaneous moments of creative opportunity.
7.2/10
Some guy in the UK, Some Website:
The honor system had worked well since 2004, the $1,000 songs had sold, she'd succesfully auctioned her guitars. PledgeMusic was always going to work.
Ok the last one is from your humble webmaster, which doubles as the prestigious liveontomorrow review™ on this site's dedicated page for There's Always Another Girl, where all the reviews, links and other relevant info from these here news pages will be collated. More information than you could possibly ever need or want. That's how I roll.
The new album is now available for non-pledgers as a digital download in most territories.
The physical CD remains available to order at Juliana's official site.
Those who pledged on the vinyl version have been notified by Juliana of a delay until mid September (pledger only link) but they all have the download version.
So if you haven't heard There's Always Another Girl yet, your excuses are running out.
Thanks as ever to David Young for sharing his photos here from both of Juliana's shows last week.
UPDATE - The full photo sets are now archived here:
Juliana Hatfield "All That She Wants" -- Ace of Base cover. Live @ Brighton Music Hall, Boston, August 27th, 2011.
Already thinking about that mooted album of covers, here's Juliana covering Ace of Base.
Taken from Saturday night's show at Brighton Music Hall in Boston.
See also Wasting Time and Feel It.
thanks to cokemachine99 and instant1rock for posting the vids.
Juliana Hatfield live, "Taxicab", Aug 26, 2011, New York City, City Winery, #1
Juliana's opening song from the City Winery show last night in New York.
Video via spiketop.
Last night's set list from the City Winery in New York, where Juliana shared the bill with Jesse Malin:
Thanks to spiketop for sharing this via
.
You can read this review by Jonathan Perry at the Boston Globe.
A couple of other reviews are also online. A gushing blog review at A Momentary Lapse, With Joel:
Juliana has written a song full of truth. 'There's Always Another Girl' will leave an impression on you and you'll want to go back and re-listen to make sure you heard every word she uttered. "Don't you love it when a beautiful woman self destructs?"
And a not quite so gushing review from Austin Trunick at Consequence Of Sound:
Nothing says open mic night more than singing lyrics such as “The batteries are dead/Totally, completely dead [...] Completely fucking dead.” It’s bad enough to recall another buried mid-’90s memory: Phoebe Buffay’s agitating coffeehouse performances on Friends.
2/5
The liveontomorrow review is now imminent. That's the one you're all waiting for of course.
Let the reviews commence...
this album is the perfect blend of everything that Juliana already does best, while amping up the melodies, harmonies and moods to degrees that even some of her most ardent followers probably couldn’t have predicted.
Marc With A C, The Real Congregation
Having made her name producing sardonic jangle-pop tunes with sometimes uncomfortably honest lyrics, Hatfield has wisely gone back to those roots for There’s Always Another Girl. Recapturing the golden-age of ’90s female-fronted indie, the album feels startlingly retro at times.
7/10
Terry Mulcahy, wears the trousers magazine
The innocent voice may be a little raspier with age, and the heart may be a little more ragged and roughed up by experience, but the soul of Juliana Hatfield remains strong.
Q: Do you dance?
A: only alone. but yes. alone.
Another of the PledgeMusic 20 Questions has been made public. Read Juliana's responses to emailed questions raised by Foxopoly at Internet Poison.
If you missed the earlier posting of Juliana's 20 Question exchange with N'Awlins Contrarian you can read it as a pdf here.
Wow.
Just hours after the PledgeMusic download release of There's Always Another Girl, we now have some bonus demos too!
Released under the old skool Juliana honor system, 12 tracks are now available for download at Juliana's official site. Although some have been available before (at Juliana's site and PledgeMusic) there are some interesting new ones. They are released with the caveat:
Please understand/be forewarned that some of these demos are unfinished works in progress, especially lyrically.
With that in mind...
Download, Devour and Decide what to Donate.
The lyrics to There's Always Another Girl are now up at Juliana's official site.
The time has come people.
Coinciding with her birthday, Juliana's new album - There's Always Another Girl - is now available to download for PledgeMusic subscribers.
Audiophiles will note that the download is a 192 kbps mp3 affair.
Juliana says:
This has been a really interesting and illuminating and gratifying project and I can't thank you all enough for taking part. I hope to do it again soon.
This also means that the project is now closed. If you haven't pledged, you'll have to wait until Juliana makes the album available for general sale from August 30. (Update You can now pre-order at Juliana's official site.)
Download, Decompress and Devour.
On the eve of releasing of There’s Always Another Girl, Juliana is already talking about her next album.
In her latest PledgeMusic update she moots the idea of a collection of cover versions.
Having invited suggestions it comes as no surprise to see a plethora of tracks in the comments. Music fans will take any opportunity to list some songs. It's in our DNA.
There are some really good choices there and some super duper great fab choices too - enough to fill several albums.
Given the success of the current project, it would seem almost certain that if pursued this would be another PledgeMusic thing.
Juliana has a history of some inspired covers. In recent times these have been largely home acoustic recordings.
For those who have missed this year's covers they have included Albert Hammond's It Never Rains In Southern California and Jessie J's Price Tag (both Juliana's choices), Neil Young's Barstool Blues and New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle (both fan choices), and for band with electric guitar fans she has performed Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl with Evan Dando.
Another new song and this time it's a preview from the now imminent new album.
Stray Kids is track 8 from There's Always Another Girl and can be heard / downloaded at Stereogum.
In her PledgeMusic update yesterday Juliana said:
if you do hear the sneak peek don’t go thinking that the whole album will sound just like that, okay? not that i don’t love the song—i have a special place in my heart for the song.....it has been around me for a while, in different forms.
A spotters badge for anyone who has recognised one of those different forms as Bringing You Down Again - one of the 2009 honor downloads.
Saturday, August 27 at the Brighton Music Hall, Boston.
