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The late 1960s brought a cascade of reflection to popular music, a deep sense of transformation that included disillusionment within its revolution. High on the waves of those turbulent times, Chris Gantry pulled apart the tropes of traditional voice-and-guitar singer-songwriting with his raconteur spirit and refined lyrical expressions. Settled in Johnny Cash's home studio with a band of Nashville troubadours following a brush with the Feds over growing marijuana on his farm, Gantry ran through an album's worth of material that would eventually become... (read more)

Ed Askew's 1968 ESP-Disk release Ask the Unicorn presented his musical charm and disposition with little streamlining, allowing his emotionally raw, lyrical songs to shine. This was a rare record for people who considered themselves odd and lonely, and those that heard it, lived with and drew comfort from it - but for many years, it was the only thing heard from Ed, who performed and painted through the 70s and 80s without much recording activity. Today, thanks to the reissue of Ask the... (read more)

Ready to unlock some mysteries - and unearth some others? Follow Ka Baird deep into our underground bunker for another one-of-its-kind Steamroom Session! Performing live for Drag City Limits in the mythical Steamroom, Ka Baird bares all (spirituo-figuratively, people!) with a trans-formative rendition of "Ka". "Ka" is a palpitating gusher of energy, aiming for total erasure of thought through physical catharsis and movement. Baird's sonic spirit takes hold, thrusting herself into ecstatic mediation that transfers radiantly to our own eyes and ears, while providing us... (read more)

Ty Segall’s new song, “My Lady’s On Fire” has been heard on the tour trail over the course of 2017, quickly becoming an audience favorite with its classic pop ballad style that offers provocation to the unrighteous creators of chaos. The studio version encompasses a range of yearning emotions through an iridescent production blend of electric piano, acoustic and electric guitars and saxophone. In fact, this could be the saxophone jammer of the year! The solo brings us to our knees. Insane or... (read more)

The imperceptible shifts of being are illuminated, elevated and celebrated on Circuit des Yeux's shattering new album Reaching For Indigo. As the first sounds and words you hear, "Brainshift" causes the floor to drop from beneath you, as you travel deep within Haley Fohr's psyche. This is a trip she takes every day, but one that makes for breathless listening for the rest of us. Haley's unflinching power and volitant lyric croon spiral we the listener through layers of intimacy and... (read more)

Sometimes the things you question the most in life are instead the things least worthy of consideration. Like, for instance, what have Mountain Goats fans done to deserve the forthcoming Spring tour-leg with Dead Rider? Delving into the state of people's karma and/or the vagaries of the luck of the draw....these are some not worth considering. Instead, it's more fruitful to consider how Dead Rider's show will be reanimated in the big rooms they'll be playing back East in April. That's a delicious... (read more)

Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker are out on the road, playing their way from town to town. "Stretching My Dollar In Plano" is a dusty, sonic evocation of the slow waltz across Texas, but the video? Plano's a very long way from LA, and it usually seem that most places are -that's why we have an inescapable Shangri-La-cum-Val-Halla-type of dream that we reflect upon when considering that faraway angel city. There's even a time that being in LA can seems as expansive as a dream... (read more)

As fall rises to its apex, and withers away, with Thankslessgiving, Bleak Friday, the Equinox and all that all that other shit on the 'risin, the lid on the sun bowl is rattling. Through a crack in the snow globe, natural energy is fixed to explode. Bajas Fresh is coming! The sonical light 'n lazering of Bitchin Bajas is come back to us again, as sure as seasons (gulp!...). Their latest epic comes three years after their S/T album broke open the barrier into new... (read more)

Circuit des Yeux's latest addition to an already stunning repertoire, Reaching For Indigo, is deep and austere, pulsating with life stemming from one intimate moment that fell down on January 22nd 2016. Now the moment that fell down in Haley Fohr's life a year-plus ago is giving us something to live for, today! With a sound vibration as universal as it is deeply personal, Reaching For Indigo is an album with a message of self-discovery. Conjuring a complete experience, Circuit des Yeux... (read more)

Cast into a moment of tumult and discovery, Pearls Before Swine contributed a uniquely earthy strain to the arc of sound that defined the time and place of the later 1960s, via exotic instruments, electronic oscillation or pure, simple intent as communicated by Tom Rapp's erudite, yet humane songs. There was proto-punk in the mix, rife with humor, aloft with the pastoral acoustics of the banjo; music of the people of the world, all in the service of  Rapp's visceral, unblinking lyrics.