"they don't know they're going there to Blackwell's Corner to stop and stare..."
Hearing the caustic nature of "Staff of the Flag" by shape shifting artist AJ Lambert (Bloodside) and I felt the muscles in my face form a smile. There was something rough, sonically dirty yet artistically grand, a blend of distortion and gothic folk orchestrations like an amalgam of Tropical Fuck Storm, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Kate Bush. It is the kind of vast, hurt song that you want to see as a movie or after a moving piece of cinema. I absolutely adore, the dark rock sweep, the masterful drumming and musicality all around and especially AJ's utterly beautiful vocals and melodies.
As far as I understand it will be a track on her new album "Dirt Soda" dropping in July. Her partners in crime here are many and beyond talented, featuring Parker Kindred (Joan As Policewoman) and Rhys Hastings (Yves Tumor) on drums, Dave Harrington (Darkside) on guitar, Kenny Gilmore (Julia Holter) on synths, and AJ on vocals, Taurus pedal, piano and guitar for the record. She wrote most of the album’s tracks but also takes on a pair of 90s indie rock titans with her versions of Pavement rarity “Strings of Nashville'' and Codeine classic “Broken hearted Wine”, and also covers The Casinos’ “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye”.
[AJ says of the song, “The idea for ‘Staff of the Flag’ came after I'd had to make several trips driving up to Northern California from LA. Along my route you pass the last spot where James Dean stopped on his fateful last drive. It's called Blackwell's Corner and they have made it into a major tourist stop, where you can see a lot of memorabilia and buy things that have his name on them - everything from snacks to trinkets. Then a few more miles up that road is the site where the crash happened, where people leave mementos in tribute to him. Also along that route are several "descansos" (roadside shrines) to other people who died driving on that dangerous road (it used to be called Blood Alley). I found it interesting that so many people know that one person who died there, but so many others have met the same fate and go unrecognized except by the people who loved them. The song is about an imaginary woman who, after selling flowers to tourists on their way to the Dean site all day, takes the leftovers to the nearby site where her own loved one died.”]
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.instagram.com/aj.lambert/
https://bloodslide.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/track/2bzO63eTS6LHMsDCpRs2Xb
AJ Lambert, granddaughter of Frank Sinatra and daughter of Nancy Sinatra, is a singer and director. She is also, along with Greg Ahee (Protomartyr) and Michael Wallace (Preoccupations) a founding member of Bloodslide, a multimedia group that released its self titled EP earlier this year. Her second solo LP, "Manhattan Beach, Swept By Ocean Breezes", dropped February 2022.
+ + +
We get by with a little help from our friends
AJ Lambert, singer songwriter, musician, shape shifting artist, Bloodside, sonic distortion, gothic folk, indie rock, alt rock, rock orchestrations, "Staff of the Flag", upcoming album, "Dirt Soda",
[AJ says of the song, “The idea for ‘Staff of the Flag’ came after I'd had to make several trips driving up to Northern California from LA. Along my route you pass the last spot where James Dean stopped on his fateful last drive. It's called Blackwell's Corner and they have made it into a major tourist stop, where you can see a lot of memorabilia and buy things that have his name on them - everything from snacks to trinkets. Then a few more miles up that road is the site where the crash happened, where people leave mementos in tribute to him. Also along that route are several "descansos" (roadside shrines) to other people who died driving on that dangerous road (it used to be called Blood Alley). I found it interesting that so many people know that one person who died there, but so many others have met the same fate and go unrecognized except by the people who loved them. The song is about an imaginary woman who, after selling flowers to tourists on their way to the Dean site all day, takes the leftovers to the nearby site where her own loved one died.”]
It is funny. We live in the California mountains and, unfortunately, there are many "descansos" that we pass coming from the flatlands. I have always wanted to stop and read some of the details from these fallen people (too many die on two lane highways) so maybe I will get the courage to do so now.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.instagram.com/aj.lambert/
https://bloodslide.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/track/2bzO63eTS6LHMsDCpRs2Xb
AJ Lambert, granddaughter of Frank Sinatra and daughter of Nancy Sinatra, is a singer and director. She is also, along with Greg Ahee (Protomartyr) and Michael Wallace (Preoccupations) a founding member of Bloodslide, a multimedia group that released its self titled EP earlier this year. Her second solo LP, "Manhattan Beach, Swept By Ocean Breezes", dropped February 2022.
+ + +
We get by with a little help from our friends
AJ Lambert, singer songwriter, musician, shape shifting artist, Bloodside, sonic distortion, gothic folk, indie rock, alt rock, rock orchestrations, "Staff of the Flag", upcoming album, "Dirt Soda",
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