News

The High Llamas return today with new single “Sisters Friends”, a glitchy soul number featuring lead vocals from Rae Morris from their upcoming 11th studio album, Hey Panda, set to arrive on LP/CD/digital on March 29th.

“Sisters Friends” exemplifies what head Llama Sean O’Hagan was looking to achieve on this very modern pop album, combining and clashing various techniques new and old, to create a distinctive sound; when Rae and Sean’s vocals meet in the chorus, there is a euphoric twisting of... (read more)

Today, the legendary drummer Jim White shares his second second single and video, “Marketplace”, off his upcoming debut solo album All Hits: Memories(out March 29). “Marketplace” further illuminates Jim’s headfirst dive into pairing synthesized tracks against his unmistakable drumming, a practice heard first on last month’s lead single, “Names Make the Name”.
 
The tapping of the hi-hat, like signals from typewriters and stock tickers of old, sets the tone for “Marketplace.” Jim sprays staccato energy across the kit,... (read more)

Bill MacKay and Drag City are delirious with pride to announce the discovery of a new territory: Locust Land, the Chicago-based renaissance musician’s transcendent and singular new solo album due for release May 24, 2024. Alongside the album announcement, Bill is sharing the album’s lead single, “When I Was Here”, with its accompanying video and a tour commencing in June.

“When I Was Here”, featuring Mikel Patrick Avery on percussion and Sam Wagster on bass, is a surging, blistering, blues-inflected jam with a... (read more)

Today, Laetitia Sadier issues “Who + What”, the third and final single for her new album, Rooting For Love, her first solo album in seven years, out February 23rd via Drag City.
 
Alongside Rooting For Love’s two previously-released singles (“Une Autre Attente” and “Panser L’inacceptable”), “Who + What” is meant as nothing less than transformational sonic balm to aid the evolution of Earth’s traumatized civilizations. The song is a gently percolating Q&A led by Laetitia’s implacable vocal presence,... (read more)

Last month, The Children’s Hour were pleased to announceGoing Home, their unlikely and long journeyed sophomore album, set to arrive February 23rd. Today, the band is sharing the album’s second single, the jubilant “Dance With Me”. Listen here!

Discussing the single, David Pajo offers, "“Dance With Me" might well be my favorite song on Going Home. It documents a sweet moment I think we all can relate with.” Bar called the tune “A dance song for reluctant wallflowers.”

Going Home shows... (read more)

Wake up, Rip! For the past 25 years, Ben Chasny has made mucho music under the moniker Six Organs of Admittance, while living in different places out on the road most of that time. After two decades of shifting permanence, Chasny had returned to Humboldt County, from whence Six Organs had long ago emerged; there, in the name of everything cycling, of circles that spiral concentrically and remain unbroken, Time is Glass was conceived. The 21st album from Six Organs of Admittance shows itself... (read more)

Rafael Toral’s revolutionary guitar treatments of the 1990s established far frontiers in experimental guitar; with his forthcoming album, Spectral Evolution, Toral's DIY “Space Program” electronic modules aid his explorations in jazz guitar space, unfolding aspects of drone and ambient sound into sensuous new-phase orchestral arrangement, gently, yet relentlessly pointing new directions in the evolutionary idiom we call music. About "Second Short Space", the now-live third single in advance of the album release, Rafael says:

"One thing I always loved... (read more)

Today, veteran drummer Jim White announces his first-ever solo album All Hits: Memories, out March 29th via Drag City, and shares the lead single, “Names Make The Name.” All Hits: Memories is a landmark release from White, who has become universally known as one of the greatest drummers alive for his work with the bands Dirty Three, Venom P. Stinger, Xylouris White, and Springtime, as well as with other artists such as Cat Power, Mary Margaret O’Hara, PJ... (read more)

High Llamas return today with new single “Toriafan”, a hypnotically grooving pop confection from their upcoming 11th studio album, Hey Panda, set to arrive on March 29th.

Discussing “Toriafan”, O’Hagan notes, "The song is about learning through action and not through the page. It speaks to those with dyslexia. I did not learn well in the classroom. I was a slow reader and to this day learn as a listener and conversationalist. I failed all my exams and worked on construction sites... (read more)

Holy smokes, Bitchin Bajas are flashing back again? Yeah! Midsouthern synthesizer suckers, get this: the Bajas have shows coming your way in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee this March!

Those familiar with a Bitchin Bajas show can attest to the power within: the Chicago-based titanic trio run a lean, mean multi-modular machine, a locomotive that stirs before it steams. Upgraded with all-new gear (the bells & whistles of Bajascillators, hey-hey!) and a few new jams to kick, the Bajas will transfix and transform... (read more)