Pack your bags, and let's hit the road. Running from the sunset, heading for the morning. You know the old American road story, worn thin, and still swinging like a flag above the interstate. Worn like a cape. Simple pleasures are always attached to complex and desperate contexts. Wand are a band in pursuit of these contradictions- their electric, shifting perspective is rendered more vividly than ever on their forthcoming full-length, Laughing Matter. Their new single is... (read more)

Haley Fohr will not rest! Whether it be through the cross-continental Circuit des Yeux touring that occurred for a solid year following the release of Reaching For Indigo, site-specific vocal and instrumental improvisations and collaborations, art show curation, or sound installation, Fohr has developed a unique cultural cachet by going beyond the traditional cycle of record-release-tour-rinse-repeat. It's this driven quest for expressive variance that led to the composition of an original score to the classic silent film, Salomé (based on the Oscar Wilde play... (read more)

Like a fiery blaze of orange, Bill MacKay is burning bright. Hot off the release of his second solo album, Fountain Fire, Bill's on tour, traversing the Midwest, armed only with his picker's prowess and deep harmonic inspiration. And that's more than enough! As Dusted put it, "MacKay makes his instrument express joy and wonder and agony like a voice, only more so." Bill digs deep within himself on Fountain Fire: showcasing a precise evolution of songwriting, arrangements, even singing--in an arc... (read more)

You know what haven't we had since 2016? Besides sanity and a general sense of well-being, that is? Joanna Newsom live in concert! This fall, Joanna will be playing for the first time in a long time, only (for now?) in New York, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Chicago.  These will be rare and intimate performances by Joanna alone: solo voice, harp and piano. And probably some t-shirts in the lobby. Get your tickets this Friday, April 5th at 10am local time! Or StubHub them later....

Ever since that all important release day back in January, Tim Presley's White Fence is out there, feedin' Larry's Hawk. This bird just can't seem to get un-famished! It's this search for satiation that is the underlying theme of the new "Forever Chained" video (directed by Sean McAnulty and Alex McLaren), which by the way, brings the total of visual accompaniments for I Have To Feed Larry's Hawk to five - a generous output that further illuminates the enigmatic messages of Tim... (read more)

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme - great ingredients for any homemade meal and who knows, maybe even an album title? Once upon a thyme, you might reply, but the world of yesteryear still speaks a lot to "America's Funnyman", Neil Hamburger, which is why Neil's brand new video from his latest LP, Still Dwelling, is a USDA Choice cut from 1966 and one of Simon & Garfunkel's greatest hits, "Homeward Bound." Our only question is, why didn't... (read more)

Death comes in many forms; with symbolic representations as the Grim Reaper, Azrael, the Hindu God Yama, Father Time and, of course, the world's first punk band! Originally made up of three African-American brothers, Detroit legends Death are returning to the touring circuit for the first time in years, hitting up cities they missed on their last jaunt...all in the name of celebration! It's been ten fucking years since Death arrived on the world stage with the archival release of ...For The Whole World To... (read more)

19 IN THE SHADE

WOW! If this is our last year on Earth, we’re going out with a BANG. Just a few months into this thing, we’ve been so set to the grindstone that your humble scribe hasn’t found the moment to compose a deathless Drag City’s newsletter – until right this minute, of course. By which we mean, 15 minutes before this minute. No foolin’, though – we got hot stuff – and not simply the distressed magma... (read more)

Our hearts and minds and dreams and lives are heavy today. RIP Scott Walker, you were twilight personified.

Mike Donovan's Exurbian Quonset is a genre, a thought process, a way of life and a full-grown branch of the rock and roll family tree! As many steps as it takes to get something 'perfect', it takes just as many to get to what you might call its opposite --- a place underwater, where songs sung through gills bubble to the top for all of us on dry land to hear. Mike excels by presenting the tangible and the unknown, making music that's perhaps... (read more)