News

Off his upcoming new album Traveling Light, Rafael Toral unpacks a stunning new single today: “Solitude.” This Duke Ellington number has received many unique treatments over a near-century — from jazzers including Thelonious Monk, Marc Ribot, Matthew Shipp and Mary Halvorson — though this version owes the most to Billie Holiday’s matchless vulnerability. Commencing with an almost sacred air, as if reflecting upon ages of consciousness from a great height, Toral lingers along a reconfigured melodic path, his guitar refining the... (read more)

Tomorrow, we wake up to a new album from Sir Richard Bishop! YES! And today, the six-stringed woodshedder shares a new music video for “Head Bone in the ‘Tater Hole.” Opening with the kind of galloping figuration that once might have constituted a waltz or a kind of Latinate dance, Sir Rick quickly boils his ideas down into a steaming stew of theme and variations. He slashes and hacks from the guitar’s neck and body with impromptu energy and unstoppable propulsion, losing nothing of... (read more)

Jim White proudly announces a new single, "I Don't Do / Grand Central," a marvelously turbulent vocal duet between Jim and Zoh Amba. The new music video, edited by Eve Sussman, demonstrates Jim and Zoh in lineage with the great vocal pairings such as Birkin/Gainsbourg, The Human League, and Goyte/Kimbra. The spirited exchange takes the pair straight to the Oyster Bar of Grand Central Station where the two commune and parry in delightful form a la Belmondo... (read more)

As we sail toward Inland See (out this Friday), the saporous sounds of Bitchin Bajas only grow louder! Their new album was a live endeavor, written on the road and tracked with barely any overdubs — so it’s only natural that this 8-minute live video of “Skylarking,” directed and edited by Michael Gaertner, looks and sounds like Bajas on full blast. Watch it on YouTube now!

Bitchin Bajas is the trio of Cooper Crain, Rob Frye, and Daniel... (read more)

The Holy Mountain Orchestra is Al Cisneros (bass, Moog), Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (vocals, Mellotron), Ben Chasny (guitar) and Matthew Tobias (drums, percussion). They play in honor of the late John Whitson, who founded and operated one of the world's greatest independently-run record labels. Their new track "Song for JW" is out today.

On Beacon Hill: at twilight we find Anthony Moore, a lone veteran of art rock and experimental sound, roots winding backwards to the halcyon days of Slapp Happy and the ‘70s progressive art rock scene. With the accompaniments of AKA & Friends, he now breathes infernal new life into songs from his six decades of music making, wrapping his avant/pop traditions into a darkly radiant coil of folky chamber music for the ages. On Beacon Hill is out November 21; hear the... (read more)

Alasdair Roberts and Scottish Gaelic singer Màiri Morrison have joined with Pete Johnston and his Canadian all-star band for their new collaborative LP. Remembered in Exile: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia is a collection of newly crafted arrangements of traditional songs of Scottish origin from Nova Scotia, pulled from the pioneering work of folklorist Helen Creighton (1899-1989).

Next month, Màiri, Alasdair and Pete will hit the road for a run of very special and intimate shows, performing these songs on the isles of their origin!

Blasting out of fried speaker cones everywhere, Boston's Major Stars are set to return with a new album, More Colors of Sound, out October 24! Following the lead single, "Blackout," hear a new track out today: "Wrapped Up in Circles."

The siren call to arms of guitar arpeggios leads "Wrapped Up in Circles" straight into a riff-powered body, the three-axe attack spaciously filling the stereo azymuth with a tautly calibrated balance. Noell’s vocal is Slick in the old sense of the word:... (read more)

Billy Mac's back in the safe confines of the good ol' EU this October! A year and a half on from his acclaimed Locust Land  and with the 10th Anniversary of Land of Plenty, Bill's duo album with Ryley Walker,  resulting in its welcome reissue ahead of these dates, enjoy the merch table at these shows! 

Speaking of the shows, it's only a quick handful for our cheerful guitarist/songwriter/improviser - but since who knows what the rest of the world's... (read more)

Forever starts now! Shuffling the deck with road-tested jams and a couple immaculate old-school tunes, Glyders engage their new power-trio formation with a proper full band album, Forever, out November 21 on Drag City. The first single, “Stone Shadow,” is out today with a music video filmed by the band and Liv Mershon.

Guitarist/vocalist Joshua Condon and bassist Eliza Weber started up in 2014, but even when they put together their 2023 album debut, Maria’s Hunt, they still had a revolving... (read more)