New Release From Independent Project Records: The Well
For more than four decades, Independent Project Records has embodied what true independent record labels should stand for. The compilation The Well is its past, present and future rolled into two albums-worth of genre-defying, utterly unfettered music. You’ll find them living together, post-punk and ambient, psychedelia and desert surf rock, dream pop and goth rock, well-traveled singer-songwriters and young […]
The Big Takeover Digs Woo’s Shifting, Eclectic Debut
The Big Takeover writes, “There are records that feel anchored to a moment, and others that seem to exist on a parallel timeline, quietly ignoring fashion and chronology. Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong, Woo’s debut album, belongs firmly to the latter category. More than forty years on, this newly remastered double-LP reissue from Independent […]
Nina Protocol Sits Down With Venera
Nina Protocol is up with an interview with Chris Hunt and James “Munky” Shaffer about their collaboration, Venera, and the new album they have at radio now, Exinfinite. The LP, writes the site, “serves as a deepening of the core Venera sonic language—both cinematic and damaged.” The interview hits lots of points, including details on the band’s collaboration with FKA twigs, the gear […]
New Release From Woo
Independent Project Records (IPR) has reissued UK cult band WOO‘s debut album, Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong, originally released in 1982 via the band’s The Sunshine Series Records label, as an expanded edition. The remixed and remastered edition of Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong includes new album cover art and ten previously unreleased bonus […]
Patrick Watson Talks Gear With Arturia
Last year, Patrick Watson spoke to Arturia about his “distinctive musical identity” as well as the Arturia synths he uses. According to the feature, “From his perspective, anything that keeps him from feeling fully present in the moment is a distraction. ‘If I’m behind a laptop, it might break that connection,’ he notes, preferring hands-on gear that allows him […]
Eric D. Johnson Tells Glide Mag About Fruit Bats’ Baby Man
In a 2025 interview with Glide Mag about his new Fruit Bats album Baby Man, Eric D. Johnson explained, ““It’s like a snapshot of a week in the life. With my other records, there might be songs I worked on for a year. But this one—I wrote and recorded everything in a week and a half. Some of the first lines were literally […]
Join The Louder Than You Think Listening Party On January 28
The soundtrack for the SXSW-award-winning documentary Louder Than You Think: a Lo-Fi History of Gary Young & Pavement is out on Friday, January 30 via Independent Project Records. Join IPR on Wednesday January 28 at 5pm PST for their next Bandcamp listening party, where you’ll be able to chat along with Pavement’s Scott Kannberg (aka Spiral Stairs) and film producer/IPR […]
CKUA Covers The Baby Man Tour
CKUA is getting excited for Eric D. Johnson’s solo Fruit Bats shows in Alberta next month. The site quotes Johnson as he explains the charming nature of playing solo. He says, “I’m just learning to enjoy it. I found it quite terrifying at first. But there’s a freedom and stealth that comes from being up there […]
Patrick Watson, On Tour Soon, Performs on Dutch TV
Patrick Watson recently appeared on 2 Meter Sessies, the Dutch TV show. “Witness the emotion and intimacy of Patrick Watson’s live performance,” the site writes, continuing, “In this exclusive session, the Canadian singer-songwriter performs five captivating songs, showcasing his signature falsetto, poetic songwriting, and cinematic sound.” Check that out here. Watson’s Uh Oh, his most recent album, was […]
ArcticDrones Includes Venera On Its 2025 List
ArcticDrones has Venera‘s Exinifinite on its list of 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2025. According to the review, found here, “This one feels like a malfunctioning starship engine: serrated textures, acidic synth pressure, and industrial riffs that sound like they’re clawing their way out of the mix. And the guest vocal spots (FKA twigs, Dis Fig, Chelsea Wolfe) add a […]
RBR Pod Talks Louder Than You Think
Louder Than You Think, writes the RBR Music Podcast, is an “oddball, fuzz-covered documentary that drags you straight into the chaotic genius of Pavement drummer and underground legend Gary Young.” In the December episode of the podcast, RBR discusses the film, to “pull apart the film’s messy magic… the wild early days of the band, the blurred lines between […]
Andrew Stogel Says Dying’s Okay
Andrew Stogel – formerly known as War Strings – is at radio now with his newest release, American Miserable. It’s a brutal, playful and immersive installment that finds Stogel at his most searing. According to Tits Upon Tyne, Stogel’s work presents an “internal theatre — a place where dread, absurdist humour, and raw confession are tangled together with deliberate intensity.” […]
NPR’s 2025 List Includes Patrick Watson and Mary Halvorson
NPR’s 2025 Best Albums list includes Mary Halvorson‘s About Ghosts, out via Nonesuch, and Patrick Watson‘s Uh Oh, from Secret City Records. The full list is here. WRTI‘s Nate Chinen writes, “It usually only takes an instant to recognize the sound Mary Halvorson gets out of her hollow-body guitar: percussive but pliable, with the odd subversive wobble. Her voice as a composer and orchestrator is no less unmistakable, […]
New Release From Woo
Independent Project Records (IPR) has announced that UK cult band WOO will reissue their debut album, Whichever Way You Are Going, You Are Going Wrong, originally released in 1982 via the band’s The Sunshine Series Records label, as an expanded edition on January 16, 2026. This genre and time-defying selection of songs marked the public’s first exposure to the wild sonic […]
Patrick Watson Lands On NPR’s List Of Best Songs From 2025
Patrick Watson has landed on NPR Music‘s list of best songs from 2025, with Uh Oh standout “Peter and the Wolf.” The site observes, “After suffering a vocal chord hemorrhage at the end of 2022, Watson was told he might never speak again, let alone sing. But after a year and a half of uncertainty, his voice came back […]
Blabber N’ Smoke Tackles Geckøs
Blabber N’ Smoke enjoyed the self-titled LP from Geckøs – the trio of Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), M Ward, and McKowski (Mark McCausland of The Lost Brothers) – which is at radio from ORG Music. According to the site’s review, “There are elements of Leonard Cohen, gypsy music and ambient sounds all in the mix and, quite inspired, all eleven songs […]
Mary Halvorson Is On Steregum’s Best Of Jazz List For 2025
Mary Halvorson‘s About Ghosts #3 on Stereogum’s year-end list of jazz LPs. They write, “The eight tracks on About Ghosts are compositions. Not heads, not guided improvisations, though the members are given a lot of freedom to interpret the music. Halvorson nestles in the center, alongside Brennan’s vibraphone and Dunston’s bass, occasionally overdubbing a Pocket Piano synthesizer to keep […]
CoS and UCR Honor Melvins With Year-End Nods
Melvins’ album Thunderball made Consequence of Sound‘s list of Best Metal and Hard Rock albums of 2025. For a band that’s over 40 years into its career,” the site wrote, “their recorded output continues to keep us on our toes.” See their list here. Ultimate Classic Rock also has the album on their year-end list of best rock albums, writing that the LP […]
Relix Features Fruit Bats
“Nearly 25 years after Fruit Bats played its first show,” Relix observes, “Eric D. Johnson has zeroed in on his mission through Baby Man—not to release an instant classic, not to seek anything, really, just to accept what comes, remain present and express himself the best he can.” The site has a nice interview feature with Johnson about […]
Slate and Nate Chinen Put Mary Halvorson At The Top
Mary Halvorson‘s About Ghosts is Slate Magazine’s Top Jazz album of the year. Fred Kaplan writes, “in recent years, Halvorson has figured out how to lace her ideas with structure, and About Ghosts, in that sense, is a triumph, marking her stature as a truly original musician, bandleader, and composer—a master in a style of her own invention. Her […]
