New Music From A Produce
Ambient cult LP The Clearing was originally self-released on vinyl in 1988 by A Produce, the moniker used by the late Barry Craig, who was a prolific artist operating on the fringe of the experimental and DIY music scene in Los Angeles from the 1980s until his premature death in 2011. As a lead-up to the album’s March […]
PopMatters Says Sunny War Is Both Promising And Exciting
According to Popmatters, “Sunny War is one of the most promising, exciting voices in American roots music” and her new album Anarchist Gospel, at radio now from New West Records, “is a testament to clear-eyed persistence and gritty hope… Raw and authentic but never preachy nor maudlin, Anarchist Gospel keeps life’s contradictory tensions in the forefront of our consciousness, whether […]
Vic Ruggiero Chats With The Kansas City Pitch
The Kansas City Pitch has a great interview with Vic Ruggiero, whose new album Stuff In My Pockets is now at radio from ORG Music. The conversation touches on Ruggiero’s love for “pissed-off sounding” retro music, like that made by Nick Lowe, his appreciation for ORG as a label, and the ebb and flow of his songwriting process. He says, “I […]
KCRW Gets Behind June McDoom
KCRW recently discovered June McDoom, including her track “The City” on this week’s edition of “Five Songs To Hear This Week.” The song appears as a bonus track on our digital servicing of her debut EP, at radio now from Temporary Residence Ltd. According to KCRW, “Dewy-eyed and sparkly fresh, relative newcomer June McDoom sings ethereal bedroom folk that’s […]
New Music From Nima Kazerouni
Nima Kazerouni is a Los Angeles based multi-instrumental artist who established the dream punk band So Many Wizards. From the start of the pandemic, Kazerouni concentrated much of his time working on a collection of songs and doing what he knew best; recording layers of melodies and counter-melodies with the arsenal of synths and analogue instruments he’s […]
Pitchfork Recommends Sunny War’s New LP
Pitchfork recommends Sunny War‘s new album Anarchist Gospel and writes that the “folk-punk singer-songwriter steps into a more expansive, considered sound, blending various strains of American roots music into a quietly idiosyncratic style.” According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, “it’s the warmth of War’s delivery that lingers… Always an empathetic vocalist, War sometimes seemed a shade too earnest on her earlier […]
New Noise Says There’s “Not A Weak Moment” On Vic Ruggiero’s New LP
“On his latest solo effort, Stuff In My Pockets,” New Noise Magazine writes, “Vic Ruggiero shows he is so much more than just a ska singer, drifting into a wildly satisfying fusion of blues and folk with snatches of everything from rockabilly and soul to garage rock… Ruggiero seamlessly segues from raucous, garage rock numbers, like the […]
Bandcamp Daily Gushes Over June McDoom
Bandcamp Daily writer Diamond Sharp says that “June McDoom’s self-titled [EP] is like an immersive playground that reveals new nooks and crannies with each new listen… McDoom is measured yet adventurous and her airy folk is interspersed with ‘70s-era musical influences…The songs on this album constantly expand and take unexpected directions. I was lucky enough to see McDoom […]
James Yorkston Explains His Cardigans Connection To The Scotsman
In an interview with The Scotsman, James Yorkston sheds light on his recent collaboration with Nina Persson of The Cardigans. “I always get embarrassed when I say this in interviews, but I loved one of her albums when I was younger,” he told the paper. “Pre-internet, me and my friends used to swap cassettes and one of them was a Cardigans album […]
Hump Day News Applauds Mary Halvorson’s Maximalism
Hump Day News writes that Mary Halvorson‘s Amaryllis is “an album full of winks, nods, bobs, weaves, and roundhouses. The instruments supplied by this sextet playing six songs is standard contemporary jazz, but the instrumentation makes chock-a-block, maximalist use of the instruments. There’s a symphony squirreled away somewhere in that song suite.” The site has “Night Shift,” one of […]
Bandcamp Hails The “Endlessly Entertaining” New LP From Tyondai Braxton
Bandcamp Daily recently called Tyondai Braxton‘s Telekinesis “endlessly entertaining and beautifully put together” while including the record on its list of best contemporary classical albums of November 2022. Author Peter Margasak wrote that “this album has proved seriously addictive; its richly detailed timbre is impossible to resist. Braxton used the manga classic Akira as a thematic framework, tracing the destructive hubris […]
New Music From Vic Ruggiero
Stuff In My Pockets is the latest project from singer-songwriter Vic Ruggiero, best known as the frontman of The Slackers and also as a contributor to projects by the likes of Rancid, The Transplants, and David Hillyard and the Rocksteady Seven. Known primarily as a singer and organist, he also plays piano, bass, banjo, cigar box guitar, guitar, harmonica, and percussion. His […]
Rolling Stone Counts Sunny War Among The Best Voices In Roots Music
According to Rolling Stone, “Sunny War has always drawn from a number of traditions (Eighties hardcore, Delta Blues, Seventies singer-songwriter, folk busking). But never before have all those styles sounded more seamlessly integrated than on Anarchist Gospel, her latest LP. On the collection, War synthesizes those genres into her very own distinct sound, from the murky swamp grooves (“Swear […]
Clash Music Praises The “Beautifully Absorbing” New LP From James Yorkston, Nina Persson, And The Second Hand Orchestra
Clash Music calls The Great White Sea Eagle, the new album from James Yorkston, Nina Persson, and The Second Hand Orchestra, “a beautifully absorbing album… The Great White Sea Eagle is redolent of long days spent watching boats come and go in Cellardyke harbour. An experience marked by patience, the final results are cast in widescreen by the Second Hand Orchestra, […]
New Music From Sunny War
Sunny War released her New West label debut Anarchist Gospel on February 3. The 14-song set was produced by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and features appearances by Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Allison Russell, David Rawlings, Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs, Micah Nelson, John James Tourville of The Deslondes, Kyshona Armstrong, Dennis Crouch, The School Zone […]
Dominionated Praises Matt Holubowski’s Poetic Sensibilities
About Matt Holubowski‘s “End Scene,” one of two advance singles at radio now from the upcoming LP Like Flowers on a Molten Lawn, Dominionated writes, “It’s a perfect example of Holubowski’s poetic sensibilities reaching equilibrium with a primal noisiness, beginning with the soft chatter of voices, snaps, and hums. The gradual entrance of the electric guitar is surrounded by […]
If It’s Too Loud Shares The Snob-Proof New Fruit Bats Single
If It’s Too Loud writes, “Eric D. Johnson is back with new music from Fruit Bats. The latest single, ‘Rushin’ River Valley,’ is a perfect sun swept, laid back, California sounding, 70’s AM radio style song. It’s hardly a throwback, though, as the song sounds like a completely modern version of those sounds. Despite how laid back the […]
The Ophelias’ Leslie Medford Chats With Psychedelic Baby
Leslie Medford of The Ophelias – the classic San Francisco band from the Eighties, whose Bare Bodkin collection was released last year by Independent Project Records – recently chatted with Psychedelic Baby Magazine about his own musical history and that of his band. About the band’s name, Medford says, “it was just a name that, to me, conveyed psychedelia and literacy. There was certainly […]
Aquarium Drunkard’s Transmissions Chats With James Yorkston And Nina Persson
James Yorkston and Nina Persson did a recent joint interview on Aquarium Drunkard’s Transmissions podcast. About their new album The Great White Sea Eagle, at radio now from Domino Recording Company, the venerable site wrote, “Created in collaboration with The Second Hand Orchestra, it’s saturated with soul and kind wit. Calling in from their respective places in Sweden and Scotland, Persson and […]
Mary Halvorson Shares Influences With WYPR’s Essential Tremors
Mary Halvorson – the ground-breaking artist whose two albums Amaryllis and Belladonna are at radio now from Nonesuch Records – was interviewed recently on WYPR’s Essential Tremors. In its intro, the site writes that “Halvorson is often classified as a jazz guitarist, but her work — fluid, soulful and inventive — pushes boundaries, having been described as ‘the most future-seeking guitarist working right […]
