News

Hear that sound? It's a Whistle from Above, David Grubbs' new album coming out on Drag City next month! Yes! After sharing the lead single/video for “The Snake on Its Tail” this past December, Grubbs has a new song for us today: “Queen’s Side Eye”.

Opening with warm, folky arpeggiation, David swiftly introduces edits and variations into “Queen’s Side Eye” — he’s hardly done pursuing them down each path before turning and chasing after another set. It’s a taut, intensively scaled... (read more)

With the 2024 release of Locust Land, Bill MacKay discovered a territory all his own — and now he's returning to yours! Bill's bringing his bag and spreading new tunes throughout Eire and the UK, plus a sojourn to Paris, this March. Irish, Scottish and English folk, rock island dwellers, Parisien and Parisienne, come one, come all!

Bill MacKay's six-stringed transcendence has always translated into a striking live show, but with the breakthroughs Bill's made on Locust Land, the holy... (read more)

The fragmented shards from the history of punk rock are still being sourced! Thanks to the rediscovery of a long-lost cache of cassette tapes, Bag People can now be counted: the sounds of their feral stink sitting perfectly in the grime-streaked canon of NYC’s early-‘80s post-punk/no-wave era. Forty-some years later, Drag City unwraps Bag People’s brief but blistering run with a self-titled archival release coming out March 28.

Bag People were Chicagoans who outgrew their home in the maelstrom of the early 80s NYC... (read more)

In Space, out February 28, is Edith Frost's first album in two decades, breaking the silence with a way-out country soul expression charting a heartening renewal of commitment and form. Today, Edith releases the second single off In Space, "Nothing Comes Around".

Ruefully emoting from the confines of her introvert’s heart on "Nothing Comes Around", Edith traverses the frozen tundras of inertia that she encountered entirely too often during her isolation. At turns frustrated, resigned and afraid, Edith builds strength with... (read more)

Mess Esque is an Australian duo who sound like they literally dreamed themselves into being, made up of Helen Franzmann (McKisko) and Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Tren Brothers). The two enjoy moving at an unhurried pace, but what: here’s their third album in less than five years! Jay Marie, Comfort Me releases March 28, 2025 — the lead single “Take Me To Your Infinite Garden” is out today with a music video by Charlie Hillhouse.

On “Take Me... (read more)

On Geologist & D.S.’s forthcoming record A Shaw Deal, out January 31, Animal Collective’s Brian Weitz works a variety of loops and edits through his modular system to lovingly reorder a few short minutes of fine folk guitar chops and magic vibe from Sleepy Doug Shaw. A mesmerizing pool of new pleasing shapes resulted from this process, all sampled from a handful of videos Doug posted online — no additives. Ahead of the release, “Loose Gravel” comes trickling out today with a crushed-up visualizer.

Loops... (read more)

We’re sitting for a minute, silent, as we consider the passing of Ed Askew. A kind and thoughtful man is gone from our living ranks! A gifted writer, artist and singer whose works will go on to be discovered and loved in the world beyond us all, is certainly a consolation of some kind.

Ed’s first album is a legend that continues to draw listeners in as it continues to grow, a legend born in the fire of his words and music. In his... (read more)

Antigone is Eiko Ishibashi’s latest musical masterwork, one rife with chilling speculations for the future calling from inside her own head. Out March 28, 2025, it marks Eiko’s first “traditional” songcraft album — that is, with lyrics and singing — since 2018’s acclaimed The Dream My Bones Dream, arriving on the heels of her celebrated soundtracks for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s films.

Within Antigone, Eiko teases out images from a dystopia not unlike the one we’ve already got. Hers is suffused... (read more)

Back on their own turf after a first-ever West Coast tour, Prison’s sought the heat and is now ready to unleash another single off Downstate, their second album stint. “In The Tall Grass / Made For You” is a pair of songs from the record, because you know how Prison rolls: the jams don’t end, so you get to (and gotta) hear ‘em together! Rick Charnoski filmed a new music video for the occasion just to prove it.

“In The Tall Grass” is a... (read more)

Whistle from Above, out February 28th, is David Grubbs’ first Drag City release in over a decade and his first-ever instrumental album for the label — and why shouldn’t it be? The suspiciously youthful Grubbs is now four decades into his career, with former bands including Gastr del Sol, Squirrel Bait and Bastro, along with a wild ride of collaborators over the years — lately, Tony Conrad, Taku Unami, Jan St. Werner, and Wendy Eisenberg. The list grows each year! If all... (read more)