News

With Ghosted II out n’ about — unshackled from its phantom hull, phasing through the walls — Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin deliver one more visual to play out their polyrhythmic skeletons. Summoned before us today is a new music video for the second track, “Två”, directed by Cédrick Eymenier, the trio’s longtime collaborator and soul-bound confidant.

“Två” opens with a portal of spiraling, metallic organs, cast in circles by Oren, above the muted bass harmonics of Johan and intermingling... (read more)

Wand regenerates again with their most ambitious work yet: Vertigo, out July 26 on Drag City. Turning from their Plum/Laughing Matter-era quintet, Wand now emerges in quartet form (Evan Backer, Evan Burrows, Robbie Cody, Cory Hanson) with a noir-tinged record looming with tension, theatrical elevation, and lush orchestration. With today’s announcement, Wand reveal a new single/video: “Smile”.

Vertigo is the sound of feet lost, regained, and lost again: a vision of Wand that is... (read more)

Lit aflame with their first new release in what feels like an eternity, Gastr del Sol raise their crowbars and pry the vault open further today with “The Bells of St. Mary’s”, the second single off We Have Dozens of Titles. The track is a practically-unheard studio recording from David Grubbs and Jim O’Rourke’s trailblazing time together, joining the first single “The Seasons Reverse (live)” to dazzle us all twice-fold ahead of the album’s May 24 release date.

In contrast... (read more)

Drummer Chris Corsano is a tireless collaborator. Among the 150 or so albums that he’s contributed to over the past 25 years, only six have been credited to Chris alone — which makes the existence of The Key (Became The Important Thing [& Then Just Faded Away]), out June 28 via Drag City, a rare instance of Chris going deep on his own vision. A feverish essay of transcendent drumming, Corsano’s ambitious new record brings his encompassing focus on free improvisation and noise... (read more)

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)