Juliana performed a live acoustic show today, broadcast via Livestream as an exclusive for PledgeMusic subscribers.

There was an unscheduled break halfway through when the stream broke down completely, and although some reported further problems those of us lucky ones without such issues saw a stream that was of a decent quality and Juliana sounding great.

This is the first time she has done anything like this and she seemed keen on feedback with a view to doing more. She said it felt odd not to see or hear her audience response. This, and indeed the whole atmosphere, sound and actual physical experience simply do not translate when the audience isn't in the room. For those of us privileged to have seen Juliana perform in person in recent years this virtual event didn't compare. At all.

So it was best not to think of it as a substitute for an actual gig, be thankful for what it was and as the set was largely made up of requests sent in by pledgees prior to the show, enjoy those live rarity treats.

The setlist:

• Taxicab
• Hurt Me
• Learn To Fly
• I Picked You Up
• Make It Home
• Everybody Loves Me But You
• Hotels
• Until Tomorrow
• Choose Drugs
• Table For One
• For The Birds
• Law Of Nature
• The End Of The War

View fullsize

The tracklist for Juliana's new album, released today via PledgeMusic (subscribers only):

1. Sleep
2. June 6th
3. Spit In The Wind
4. Parking Lots
5. Dog On A Chain
6. Hurt Me
7. Tracks
8. Push Pin
9. Or So They Say
10. Love Is Like The Wind
11. Never Beg

It is titled 'Wild Animals', acoustic and very much a solo effort, similar to the sound of the Peace & Love album.

It's available to download as mp3 and...drumroll...FLAC.

Juliana says to pledgers:

I am eternally grateful and so happy and lucky to be able to keep making my music for you. I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed assembling it in my little back room with the bird songs coming in through the windows.

Currently this is a PledgeMusic exclusive but as per the last two projects we can expect a general release within a few weeks. UPDATE - the release date is September 10. Pre-orders are being taken at julianahatfield.com.

as posted yesterday on the Instagram by occasional Juliana photographer and remixer Brad Walsh.

I used my teenage diaries as an archival source for this essay I wrote on the legacy of @julianahatfield's Hey Babe http://t.co/oLeP8ZBLg3

— Laura Fisher (@termitetree) July 1, 2013

Laura Fisher:

Hey Babe’s landscape of feelings — self-disgust, second-guessing, depression, cautious optimism — have no place in a reception model that hinged strictly on “empowerment.” If Hey Babe’s tone of general malcontent has endeared the album to alienated listeners over the past 21 years, it has also kept the album from wider recognition. This reflects our cultural preference for “vehement passions” over “minor feelings.” As theorist Sianne Ngai notes of the Western literary tradition, “something about the cultural canon itself seems to prefer higher passions and emotions — as if minor or ugly feelings were not only incapable of producing ‘major’ works, but somehow disabled the works they do drive from acquiring canonical distinction.” This explains a lot about Hatfield’s disappearance from the alternative rock narrative.

An outstanding article. Read the whole thing at The New Inquiry.

Music video by Sonic Youth performing 100%. (C) 2004 Geffen Records

100%

Funded.

Juliana's new fan funded project launched today.

A whole brand spanking new album is in the works.

Juliana:

This is my third Pledge Music project and I am optimistically jumping into it because I have been so encouraged by your energy and your generosity and your many ongoing kindnesses. I am excited to bring this new batch of songs to life. I am going to make a mostly (but not totally) acoustic album but I am not going to overthink or overproduce any performances. It will have the loose energy of, say, my album “Bed”, without all the distortion (but maybe with some) and with more prettiness.

The 'incentives' include an online acoustic performance on Aug 10, more original artwork, a signed guitar, an unworn high school varsity jacket (!) and a whole bunch of back catalogue on cd.

There's also some tour books, and unreleased demo / master tapes - but most if not all of these high ticket items are already gone having been snapped up in seconds by the eager kings and queens of browser refreshing.

Tantalisingly Juliana goes on to say:

Throughout this process, as I work on the new recordings, I will be sharing other music with you that you might not have ever heard before, music I have recently unearthed from my vast archives.

Marvellous.

tomorrow, 2 p.m., EST (eastern standard time[massachusetts time]) we will launch my new pledgemusic.com peoplefunded project

— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) June 1, 2013

That's 7pm British Summer Time, 6pm UTC.

As spotted by Andrew on the This Is The Sound group, there is a new* song titled Miles Away available to listen at Juliana's PledgeMusic profile page.

Bring on tomorrow.

*it's a new old song

Uploaded by Evie170 on 2013-05-31.

Juliana's new album project launches tomorrow (Sunday, June 2). While we wait, here's some further footage from last year's Melbourne shows with Evan Dando as uploaded to YouTube this week by Evie170.

See also Bit Part, All My Life, and It's About Time.

Thanks to Carlos for the tip.

Andrew Youssef:

I follow Hatfield on Twitter and was intrigued when she announced a Pledge Music campaign for fans to fund her new album of cover songs. One of the limited packages was a fifteen minute phone call with Hatfield for fifty dollars. I immediately got out my Visa card and made the donation as I knew it would sell out. The chance to speak with one of my favorite artists and guitar heroes was a no-brainer.

Ironically, at the time she was supposed to call was the day my chemotherapy ran later than usual. So I have a voice mail on my phone from Hatfield saying she would try back later. When I finally did talk to her, my anxieties melted away as it was effortless talking to her about guitar pedals, working with Josh Freese on her album "Only Everything" and how Nada Surf were criminally underrated.

Read the whole article at OC Weekly.

Andrew links to his photos from last year's Q Division shows in his piece. You can view some of his other work at amateurchemist.com.

Low Times Podcast:

Maggie Serota sits down with entertainment lawyer John P. Strohm to chat about his roots in the Boston music scene of the late 80s, founding The Blake Babies with ex-girlfriend Freda Love and Juliana Hatfield and playing in The Lemonheads with Evan Dando. He also discusses the shift from trying to eke out a living as an indie musician to becoming an attorney specializing in working with artists.

It's a very good interview and well worth a listen for any Blake Babies / Juliana fan.

You can hear it via the episode page at Low Times.

John's interview is the last section of the episode and begins after the 1 hour 4 minute mark.

rock and roll! twitter.com/julianahatfiel…

— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) March 10, 2013

For those who don't follow Juliana on Twitter, she posted the above tweet earlier this month, plus others from the studio in New Jersey, where she continues to work with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf.

No further news has emerged on this project which doesn't seem to be following the fan funded route so far.

The two have worked together before of course. They've guested on each other's albums and Nada Surf's Fruit Fly featured on Juliana's eponymous covers album last year.

been making big plans with matthew caws twitter.com/julianahatfiel…

— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) January 31, 2013

From 1p Album Club - Friends buying and reviewing albums bought from Amazon Marketplace for 1p.:

This is an album millions of people would love but hardly anyone owns.

True dat.

Ok then, more.

Here's some terrific videos of the Australian tour taken by Bambino Koresh's leticianischang:

UPDATE: See also Ride With Me (Sydney), It's About Time (Sydney) and Pale Blue Eyes (Melbourne Night 2).

Down About It (Sydney):

Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield perform 'Down about It' Metro Theatre Sydney 20th December 2012

Choose Drugs (Sydney):

from the Metro Theatre 20th December 2012

Ugly (Melbourne Night 2):

from Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield Australian tour Ugly live at the Corner Hotel, Richmond December 19th 2012

Somebody Is Waiting For Me (Melbourne Night 2):

from the Corner Hotel, Melbourne December 19th 2012

Ride With Me (Melbourne Night 1):

'Ride With Me' live at the Corner Hotel, Richmond 18th December 2012

From the Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield Australian Tour 'My Sister' live at the Rosemount, Perth, 22nd December 2012

Set list courtesy of Charlie:

• All My Life
• Butterflies
• Down About It
• Choose Drugs
• Rudderless
• It's A Shame About Ray
• Tourist
• Hospital
• Candy Wrappers
• My Baby's Gone
• Baby Gets High
• $1000 Wedding
• Somebody Is Waiting For Me
• Femme Fatale
• Ride With Me
• Nirvana
• Nighttime
• I Picked You Up
• Frying Pan
• My Sister
• Confetti
• Fruit Flies
• It's About Time
• Brain Damage
• Lament
• Into Your Arms
• My Drug Buddy
• Severed Lips
• Pale Blue Eyes

There's video of Juliana channelling Nico.

The Blake Babies (Dinosaur Jr) cover of Severed Lips was a special request from Bambino Koresh - the support band.

During a couple of Evan's songs, Juliana opted to lay on her back, motionless, with a guitar resting on her stomach:

Her attempt at meditating to the Dando sound was interrupted by a member of the stage crew checking she was ok!

This Perth show was the last of Evan and Juliana's late 2012 tours of UK, Ireland and Australia.

Thanks to all who have helped to tell the story of these shows including contributors to this site (including Carlos for various links), together with the members of This Is The Sound, and the forum at evandando.co.uk.

Juliana Hatfield & Evan Dando, @ The Metro, Sydney, 20th December 2012 "My drug buddy"

Reviews of this Sydney show (plus a photoset by Maria de Vera*) and the preceding night at Melbourne are at Tone Deaf.

UPDATE: Maria's Sydney photos are also on Flickr, where browsing / navigation is better.

Juliana Hatfield & Evan Dando @ The Metro, December 20th 2012, Sydney. "Lament" Blake babies

Blake Babies FTW.

Also, photosets by Pete Dovgan at The AU Review and Maria de Vera at Flickr.

Juliana Hatfield & Evan Dando, The Metro, Sydney 20th December 2012. "Somebody is waiting for me" and "Ride with me"