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 […]
New Music From Pavement
Independent Project Records has announced the early 2026 release of the original motion picture soundtrack from the 2023 documentary film Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History of Gary Young & Pavement. Proudly resistant to genres and conventions, the Louder Than You Think soundtrack tells the story of Gary Young, a true original who – when he was approaching the ripe old […]
Mary Halvorson Makes The Lists At The Quietus And Treblezine
“About Ghosts is a masterclass in orchestration and pacing,” writes the Quietus. “Mary Halvorson perfectly balances all-out ensemble passages with quieter, more stripped-back moments.” The album is on the site’s list of best albums from 2025. Check that out here. The set, at radio from Nonesuch, also made Treblezine’s list. “Mary Halvorson leans back” the site writes, […]
Acoustic Café Welcomes Fruit Bats
Acoustic Café recently welcomed Eric D. Johnson – also known as Fruit Bats – for a live set. The most recent Fruit Bats album, Baby Man, is “the most stripped-down effort in the 25 years of Fruit Bats, easily duplicated in our studios!” Check that out right here, or find it on the radio this week. Baby Man is out now via Merge and […]
IPR Issues Gary Young and Pavement Video Clip
Independent Project Records just released Gary Young and Pavement‘s “Please Be Happy (For Us,” from the forthcoming soundtrack for Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History of Gary Young and Pavement. The unexpected reunion song is quirky, and its got an accompanying music video that includes performances from marionette versions of Young, Spiral Stairs, and Stephen Malkmus alongside archival photos of […]
Tits Upon Tyne Gets Stoked For Andrew Stogel
Tits Upon Tyne writes that Andrew Stogel‘s track “Woeful Beginning” features “a clarity of purpose that borders on confrontational. the track, steeped in alt-rock grit and bleak emotional candour, immediately pushes the listener into Stogel’s internal theatre — a place where dread, absurdist humour, and raw confession are tangled together with deliberate intensity. His collaboration with Chris Coady […]
Mary Halvorson Shatters The Standards
Shatter The Standards has included Mary Halvorson‘s About Ghosts, out now via Nonesuch, among its list of best Jazz albums in 2025. The site writes, “On About Ghosts, Halvorson leans into that large‑ensemble thinking, writing for brass, vibes, rhythm section, and her own crooked guitar in a way that lets the group move like a single organism rather than a […]
WRUV Gets Behind GECKØS
Burlington, Vermont’s WRUV digs Geckøs’ track “Lo Hice.” According to the station’s review, the band – M. Ward, Giant Sand’s Howe Gelb, and McKowski – make “an incredible blend of beautiful harmonies and soothing instrumentals” for fans of “Andrew Bird, Jesca Hoop, Band Of Horses, Ben Bridwell, Conor Oberst, Modest Mouse, Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, Father John […]
The Daily Vault Reviews Jeffrey Runnings’ Piqued
The Daily Vault recently reviewed FOR AGAINST leader Jeffrey Runnings‘ posthumous release Piqued, which is now out via Independent Project Records. According to the overview, “The textured haze of the key friendly ‘Batman Forever’ begins with much raw beauty, and ‘Just Before Nothing’ relies more on thumping drums and bass acrobatics with strong attention to mood. ‘Mayfair’ lands closer to the middle […]
Fruit Bats’ New LP Doesn’t Disappoint A Pessimist
On Baby Man, writes A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed, Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson “has sacrificed volume for a little more intimacy… On first listen, the starkness threw me. However, after playing this a couple of times, subtle pleasures would reveal themselves, like an acoustic guitar hook, or a hint of strings adding emphasis behind Eric D. Johnson’s voice. […]
New Single From Gary Young and Pavement From The Louder Than You Think Documentary Soundtrack
Independent Project Records has announced the early 2026 release of the original motion picture soundtrack from the 2023 documentary film Louder Than You Think: A Lo-Fi History of Gary Young & Pavement. Proudly resistant to genres and conventions, the Louder Than You Think soundtrack tells the story of Gary Young, a true original who – when he was approaching the ripe old […]
