Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe Continue Their Glorious Run
In August, word came that, the night before, Iggy Pop had performed “Grunewald,” the best song of Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe’s “Right On” E.P. This was the ultimate tip of the cap from one old pro to another (slightly younger one.) We’ve been playing “Grunewald” for months, a song that sounds like something The Koolaid Electric Company could riff on the whole night through.
On their eponymous new album, Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe continue their work together three years after releasing I Declare Nothing, one of 2015’s best records. Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe proves that each is the other’s muse. Newcombe has long worked with female vocalists in the Brian Jonestown Massacre, from Miranda Lee Richards to Sarabeth Tucek, and Parks sang on last year’s “Fingertips” single. Recording together, though, seems to encourage Newcombe to dig deep into his bucket of velvet hooks, and the results are seldom less than glorious.
Over the weekend, I put together a playlist comprising the best songs the Brian Jonestown Massacre have released over the past five years, coupled with the best songs Anton’s recorded with Tess on their two albums and E.P. The playlist is three hours long.
Tess Parks has a limited range and a husky voice, but on the evidence of her strong 2013 album Blood Hot she doesn’t actually have to record with Newcombe to find something to say. She’s a fascinating artist in her own right — and he is, this many years in, proving that being creative is the best revenge. Their recorded relationship reminds us of how Dave Roback and Hope Sandoval come together in Mazzy Star. Sandoval may have the more beguiling voice, but Parks and Newcombe together are every bit as magical.
Tulip Frenzy 
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