With their one and only early-90s release, Fearful Symmetry, ad-hoc art freaks Box of Chocolate's secretly showcased music from a young Will Oldham, a figment of early Phish marination, an enthomusicologist, a 2019 Tony Award Winner, and more (weirdos)!
So consider Fearful Symmetry a time capsule bridging the gap between funky, post-punk 80s sounds and freewheeling, 90s college rock experimentation, and one its best songs, "The Writhe," a high energy track glimmering with new wave, tight grooves, layered guitars, and a heavy... (read more)

Summer 2020 keeps ragin' full on, and No Age keep firing on all cylinders. As our world descends into a perilous, unknown state, Dean and Randy have been channeling their live show energies into some extraordinary videos instead, wrapping as many Goons Be Gone (DC767) songs as possible with warm, comforting visuals, full of the action and color of the outside world - like deja vu, sunshine recollected from a dream. "Turned To String" is the latest case in point, with Jonn Herschend (who previously collaborated on ... (read more)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Of course, that's just not quite the reality for most of us right now, but Bill Callahan's folksy meditation on belonging not only assuages fears, but conjures what's needed most right now: a cross-the-driveway embrace of simple family values and connection.   
 
With "The Mackenzies," a broken-down car leads a man to adopt a new family next door. Shedding his trademark DIY bon mots with ease, Bill floats, alongside guitars and bass, through a dreamscape of deep... (read more)

After the shutdown and accompanying production delays at COVID-challenged pressing plants, the long-promised deluxe vinyl edition of John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch will soon be ready to ship. This was a project founded to spread the wisdom of the youth to all ages, but with the advent of the contagion, we've seen a world more challenged to receive wisdom than we ever wished to guess. To more adequately serve the people in this current climate, we're marking down the limited autographed LP edition of ... (read more)

Compassion is a cycle of music born of the need for healing.

Jim Becker has been playing music for several decades, in Chicago and around the world, with lengthy tenures in Califone and Iron & Wine and many additional production and playing credits to his name. Lama Lobsang Palden is a gifted energy healer, teaching Yantra Yoga and Buddhist meditation. As a young boy, he was recognized as a tulku - a reincarnation of a Nyingma guru yoga master. Following the path, he studied all... (read more)

We know how you feel right about now, over midway through this tumultuous year: another week, another.... oh hold up, wait - it's another Bill Callahan song! With 2020 chock-full of unprecedented, fundamental shifts, it's only fitting that modern day Bill C would tackle the Gold Record reveal with a similarly conceptual yet seriously positive approach!
 

So, here we meet again. Bill's latest offering, "Protest Song" details a singer-songwriter aghast at the unreality of the... (read more)

A Meditation on "35" by Bill Callahan
by Patty Yumi Cottrell

Bill Callahan is a friend to everyone. A conjurer of mortal joy, he shows us how a song can be a mirror, a map of encounter, a shrine to solitude. We were thirty-five once, all of us, reading books by Herman Melville, David Berman, William Vollman (so many -man/men!), hoping they would tell us how to live or at least why. Why should we live? Listening to Bill's new song "35" I take a walk with... (read more)

The sonic resonance of Bill Nace's solo debut Both reverberates through the constant deluge of noisy assaults we've now become accustomed to in this post apocalyptic world. Since it's digital release in June, Both has expanded into ears like hot tar, encouraging continual alertness, to hear and feel each murky tone. With vinyl now available at brick and mortar locations (support your local!) and direct to consumer mail order, Both has the ability to burrow its sound into deep foundations.
 

The meditative hum of Bill... (read more)

Magik Markers never had the well-turned heels and precious 'tuning pedals' so many bands set their stock with; they were animals. Animals learn. Animals adapt. Animals develop an economy of means. Animals rarely lie, and here, "Isolated From Exterior Time 2020," Magik Markers are those animals! This new EP appeared out of nowhere last week, billowing into full-fi brilliance with prowling guitar, static and delay-whacked vocals. Or, if we may continue the narrative, like a newly discovered species of reptile escaped from some nearby rain... (read more)

In the past two decades, Tashi Dorji has traveled a long road. Making several dozen albums and touring the world, playing his guitar solo and in tandem  with inspired others. Gifted with a sensitive and restless ear, he reaches through his guitar to find new sounds. The title of this forthcoming record, Stateless, is about more than just playing one's way into somewhere else. It invites us to perceive hair-raising truth; these are free pieces in more ways than one.

A native of Bhutan, Tashi... (read more)