Jeffrey Runnings Reviewed By Bay Area Reporter
The Bay Area Reporter is out with a list of “gay and queer music acts you may not yet know, but you should,” and Piqued by Jeffrey Runnings is on the list. The site explains that Runnings, the longtime For Against frontman, said before he died that the album “wasn’t made for anyone, it wasn’t even intended to be put […]
New Release From Funkadelic
Though it found little commercial traction upon release, Funkadelic‘s George Clinton-produced debut LP Funkadelic would eventually come to be recognized as a foundational work in a broader movement in music that embraced complexity, cosmic vision, and sonic experimentation. Its DNA runs through the work of Prince, Bad Brains, Erykah Badu, Outkast, and countless others. Drawing from psychedelic rock, gospel, blues, and […]
Photog Says Patrick Watson And Martha Wainwright Are “Deeply Moving”
Photog Music writes, “Blending Patrick Watson’s signature orchestral pop with Martha Wainwright’s evocative vocals, ‘House on Fire’ is a deeply moving and cinematic piece—easily one of the standout moments we’ve heard so far from Uh Oh.” The new album, which was inspired in part by a period of time during which Watson lost his voice, is due September 26 […]
Teppen! Digs Into Jeffrey Runnings’ Piqued
Piqued, the posthumous LP from Jeffrey Runnings, writes Teppen!, “frequently lacks words, evoking images of a fantasy world filled with soft synths and drum machines. It feels somewhere in between the jagged darkness of early For Against and the melancholic, jangly dreams that began in the 90s.” The site has a review of the record, which is at radio […]
Mary Halvorson Shares Her “Turning Point” With Jazzwise
In a “Turning Point” feature for Jazzwise, Mary Halvorson shares her affection for the album Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt. “When you’re a teenager and you hear things for the first time they have an incredible impact; and I certainly had experiences like that at that age. But it’s much rarer that you get that kind of impact later in life; […]
Norman Records Highlights Jeffrey Runnings’ Piqued
Norman Records appreciates the legacy of For Against, a band that “made dark post-punk in an era when it was completely unfashionable to do so.” The shop has a review of the posthumous release from the band’s frontman, Jeffrey Runnings, that’s at radio now from Independent Project Records. Go here for the review – select the July 11 edition to read […]
Jazz Trail Enjoys Mary Halvorson’s Creative Mind
Jazz Trail has a review of the new Mary Halvorson album, which is out now on Nonesuch.”Produced by Deerhoof’s John Dieterich,” the site writes, “About Ghosts allows another worthy journey into the musical imagination of one of contemporary jazz’s most creative minds. Groundbreaking guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson presents eight originals, impeccably arranged for her widely praised Amaryllis sextet… The material is unmistakably Halvorson’s. She […]
New Music From Patrick Watson, Martha Wainwright, and Solann
Featuring Martha Wainwright, “House On Fire” is another preview of Patrick Watson’s forthcoming LP Uh Oh, out September 26 via Secret City Records. Written by Watson during a period where he lost his ability to sing – and by Wainwright, “House On Fire” features his voice effortlessly intertwined with Wainwright’s in a moving duet: “I’ll be wrong / you’ll […]
Springhouse’s From Now To OK “Works,” Writes The Midlands Rocks
The Midlands Rocks writes, “Who knows why some bands only attain cult status whilst less talented bands reap commercial rewards? In the case of New York trio Springhouse, that question is all the more puzzling. In many ways they were too far ahead of the curve; shoegaze before the term was coined, they signed to Caroline Records and were […]
Midlands Traveller Enjoys The Nostalgic Warmth Of Jeffrey Runnings’ Piqued
Midlands Traveller writes that Jeffrey Runnings‘ posthumous album “Piqued is a stark, lo-fi collection that feels like a dream-pop mixtape unearthed from the late ’80s, warm with nostalgia but weighted with the poignancy of mortality. The album features 10 tracks that blend analogue drum machines, synths, and Running’s unmistakably vulnerable voice. The arrangements are sparse but effective. Just […]
It’s Psychedelic Baby Speaks With Melvins’ Buzz Osborne
It’s Psychedelic Baby says the new Melvins LP Thunderball “feels like a fresh tremor from a band that has long operated on its own frequency. For Buzz Osborne, it’s a recalibration to their enduring, almost accidental genesis. This is a band that, four decades in, still manages to sound like nothing else, avoiding nostalgia by simply being too busy to […]
New Music From Letters Under Glass
Letters Under Glass was born when Mano (guitar, vocals) and Pavel (keys) crossed paths on a train in the shadow of the Cascade Mountains. They traded scribbled words in a notebook as the tracks carried them past forests of fir and drifts of snow. What began as fragments of pen sketches and half-formed poems soon grew […]
Jazzwise Lists Mary Halvorson’s About Ghosts Among The Best of The Year (So Far)
Jazzwise has Mary Halvorson‘s About Ghosts on its list of best albums of 2025 so far and calls the LP “a glorious gallimauphry of sounds.” The album, writes Jazzwise, is “a gnat’s crotchet more structured [than] earlier releases,” noting the dense arrangements provided by Halvorson’s Amaryllis sextet. Read more here. About Ghosts, out now via Nonesuch, recently spent two weeks on […]
Americana UK Calls Fruit Bats One Of Their Favorites
Americana UK calls Fruit Bats “one of our favourite Americana artists,” and the site has shared the act’s new single “Let You People Down.” According to Americana UK, “it’s a short and sweet song – that finds thoughts of the darkest kind beating on those night wings. It’s a searching for answers kind of song, it’s a song […]
Beatique Rates Jeffrey Runnings’ Piqued As “A Beautiful Final Solo Album”
According to Beatique, the posthumous LP Piqued from For Against’s Jeffrey Runnings is “a beautiful final solo album… both a testament to Runnings’ creativity and a loving tribute to the musician.” The review notes, “There’s an eclecticism to the album. ‘Batman Forever,’ which opens the album and is one of few vocal tracks on Piqued, is melancholic dreampop and is immediately […]
Mary Halvorson, Writes Steve Pick, Is “Legitimately Great”
According to Steve Pick, Mary Halvorson “makes legitimately great records damn near every time she steps into a studio. This new one [About Ghosts] brings back the wonderful ensemble that made Cloudward last year and adds saxophones by Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles. Halvorson’s compositions are slow burners, insinuating their way into your bones as you enjoy the tight arrangements and expansive solos […]
New Music From Fruit Bats
GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Eric D. Johnson (aka Fruit Bats) has released the sparse and intimate new track “Let You People Down.” The song appears on his deeply personal forthcoming album Baby Man, which is set for release September 12th on Merge Records. “This is an ode to the people pleasers of the world,” says Johnson. “It’s about breaking […]
Tracking Angle Says Mary Halvorson’s About Ghosts Is A Terrific Album In Every Way
Tracking Angle says “It is beyond time to herald Mary Halvorson as a true and brilliant original. Some have likened her music to Anthony Braxton or Joe Morris, mainly because she studied with the former at Wesleyan and the latter in private lessons. But interviews with all three suggest that what Halvorson gained most from both mentors was permission—and insights into […]
The Second Disc Calls Piqued “A Fine Tribute” To The Late Jeffrey Runnings
The Second Disc says Jeffrey Runnings‘ posthumous release Piqued is”a fine tribute to the late artist.” The site notes that the longtime For Against leader “believed in stripping music down ‘to the bones,’ and that lo-fi, often dreamy aesthetic is on full display throughout the eleven mostly-instrumental songs on Piqued. The homemade feel adds to the retro ’80s vibe and intimate milieu of […]
KUVO Jazz Features Mary Halvorson’s About Ghosts, Which Has Topped NACC Jazz For Two Weeks
KUVO Jazz has shined a spotlight on About Ghosts, the newest album from Mary Halvorson‘s Amaryllis sextet. The feature notes that the record is “not literally ‘about’ ghosts, rather it is a celebration of sonic ghostly effects. Random sounds, sighs from electronic sources, horn bleats that call to mind the chill of a ghostly presence. Halvorson does nod […]
