News

Jim Rafferty’s relatively unheard version of his own “I See Red” now finally makes its splendidly remastered debut on Drag City in the form of a new 7" out May 24!

Should the name Jim Rafferty sound a tad familiar, he is in fact the older brother of Gerry Rafferty, of “Baker Street” and “Stuck In The Middle with You” fame. As a songwriter, Jimhad signed a solo deal with Decca in the late 70s. With Gerry in the... (read more)

**NOW EXTENDED! Two additional shows have been added for Joanna Newsom's Los Angeles solo residency at The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever: on May 26th, an encore children's matinee, and May 27th, an evening affair. The links are live now; tickets will go on sale Friday, April 19 at 12PM CDT.**

Trill the trumpets!

Hoist the flags!

Raise the gates of the city!

Rip the protective plastic covers off the furniture!

For lo, Joanna Newsom, balladeer... (read more)

Next month, the Chicago-based singer-songwriter and captivating guitarist Bill MacKay will release his forthcoming album, Locust Land. The album serves as the long-awaited follow up to MacKay’s 2019 solo effort, Fountain Fire. Previously released album tracks include the dazzling “When I Was Here” and “Glow Drift,” and today, MacKay has shared “Keeping In Time,” an album highlight which finds MacKay employing a searching voice to explore themes of fate and love, as he sings “We take a step forward/Then a glance sideways/But... (read more)

Out June 28th via Drag City, Evil Does Not Exist is an expansive new soundtrack undertaking from Eiko Ishibashi. Her score harmonizes effortlessly with the state of nature as depicted in the new Ryusuke Hamaguchi feature, a nuanced tale of humans’ uneasy efforts to maintain co-existence with the delicate state of the planet. Following her marvelous 2018 Drag City album, The Dream My Bones Dream, and her score for Hamaguchi’s Oscar-winning 2021 film, Drive My Car, Evil Does Not Exist is... (read more)

Emerging once again from the unending waves crashing upon our fragile time-craft (adrift on the eternal ocean, and taking on water), Dirty Three are a) back, b) tangled in seaweed, rank with saltwater and possessed of three rather ominous thousand-mile stares (at least!), and c) not wasting another minute — as nothing is guaranteed. For their first album in over a decade (yep, it’s been since 2012’s Toward the Low Sun) they flew in, got together and started playing. End of story. What else... (read more)

BEHOLD: The first release from Gastr del Sol in over 25 years is nigh! Like a bolt echoing back from the blue, We Have Dozens of Titles (out May 24 via Drag City) restrikes the iron of Gastr del Sol, plunging us back into the maelstrom of David Grubbs and Jim O’Rourke’s all too brief (but ultimately, long enough to change everything incisively) run together between 1993–1998. For We Have Dozens of Titles, Jim and David reconnected to assemble nearly an hour... (read more)

Today, Ben Chasny delivers a third and final Six Organs of Admittance single from their upcoming album, Time is Glass (out April 26th). Played with elegance and earthly soul, "New Year's Song" arrives with a striking music video from director and frequent Six Organs collaborator Cam Archer. Six Organs of Admittance will celebrate the release with a US tour starting in May, and a freshly-announced Midwest tour beginning in September — including a performance at Pygmalion Festival in Urbana, Illinois.

"New Year's Song"... (read more)

The album of the comedy special of the year is here at last! And by "year", we mean 2023! Twas almost a year ago that John Mulaney's Baby J debuted on Netflix, to instant acclaim. Come May 24th, 2024, the Emmy-winning Comeback Kid himself comes back yet again with the vinyl & CD release of Baby J: his blunt, brilliantly quotable, Emmy award-winning stand-up special.

Baby J takes the form of a wide-ranging conversation between John Mulaney, a kid in the balcony... (read more)

Last month, the Chicago-based, journeyman musician and singer-songwriter Bill MacKay announced his forthcoming album, Locust Land, with the stunning lead single "When I Was Here". The album serves as the long-awaited follow up to MacKay’s 2019 solo effort, Fountain Fire. Today, MacKay is excited to share the second single from the upcoming album: a swaggering, psychedelic, slow-burning jam called "Glow Drift" replete with a gorgeous guitar melody reminiscent of early Yo La Tengo. As was the case with its predecessor “When I Was... (read more)

Returning to this heated Earth on your calendar’s next page are two early classics from Faun Fables: 2001’s Mother Twilight and 2004’s Family Albumarrive on vinyl for the first time ever on April 26th. These two treasures from Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl join hand-in-hand, in full Family Band fashion, with a hearty tour across North America this spring alongside Nils’ reunited Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

Wiser, well-weathered, and now 20 years of age, Family Album lit the Faun Fables flame at... (read more)