News

This summer, citizens west of the Missouri River are advised to stay alert! Come late August, there's gonna be Dead Rider sightings along the I-80 corridor as far west as Colorado. Since there's no telling what they might do outside their natural habitat, you are further advised to BE THERE, WHAT MATTER NO: in Iowa City, for their first local show since 2018, in Omaha, unplayed since 2014, and — this can't be correct — Des Moines, for the first time ever? Dead Rider should... (read more)

Drag City is pleased to announce reissues of the first two OM records, out May 29. Variations on a Theme and Conference of the Birds are available to pre-order now on vinyl, CD and cassette.

The first OM album, Variations on a Theme, features Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius. It was produced by OM, and was originally released in 2005 on Holy Mountain.

The second OM-ing, Conference of the Birds, also features Al Cisneros and Chris Hakius,... (read more)

Songwriter, guitar innovator, private press legend and man Michael Yonkers has passed away at the age of 78. We join his fans to send our condolences to his other friends and family. He will be missed, but more importantly, Michael’s music, his DIY musical experimentation and his singular approach to conveying his songs over several dozen independently released recordings throughout his life, will be remembered.
 
Inspired as a teenager by the hair-raising freedom rock of The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” and the degraded... (read more)

Los Angeles guitarist Cole Berliner dives into the world of his solo material with his first album, The Black Door, out May 29. Known for his shape-shifting pop compositions as one half of Sharpie Smile (formerly Kamikaze Palm Tree), his debut LP features acoustic-electric arrangements and lineups ranging from stripped down folk, to chamber ensemble, to jazz combo. The second single, "Bongo Syndicate," is out today with a new music video by Brian Bartus.

Guitar and bass lines push and pull... (read more)

The Stars are aligned! Major Stars, that is, and aligned to roll out of their greater Boston fiefdom, come May. A six-strong, triple-guitar rock behemoth in the autumn of their years, Major Stars have energies in reserve at all times for live performance; that's where the Major magic happens! As they're still in proximity to last year's blinding More Colors of Sound, they've arranged a New England run for the first time since 2020, with stops in Hartford, Brattleboro and Providence, as well as another big... (read more)

Songs Album II is LA musician Aaron MF Olson’s Country Thyme Records debut, the second “sung songs” album from the L.A. Takedown architect in just over a decade of releasing music. Mixing satiric, confessional and experimental lyric modes in his songs, Songs Album II is an overwhelming show of Aaron’s compositional gifts and pop sensibilities, cut from a fine cloth of head-informed, classically sweet and soft pop/rock modes. The first single, “Nobody Can Tell,” releases today with a music video by Matt Hewitt... (read more)

Fans of Bill Callahan’s latest opus, My Days of 58, rejoice! More US shows have been announced for the end of August. Hot off a sold-out in-store tour, too — some real talk-of-the-town events! Now he's coming your way, West Coast, with his mighty band in tow: guitarist Matt Kinsey, saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and drummer Jim White. All dates on sale now!

Bill Callahan 2026 Tour Dates
(new dates in bold)

May 1 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Beer City Music... (read more)

Stash, out June 26, is the absolutely energy-drenched second album from BCMC. Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain’s sophomore stint together cements their status as a guitar n’ keys power duo for the ages, a borderless pursuit of cosmic music in every strain: folk, rock and jazz, psych, prog, DIY, experimental, programmatic, impressionistic, liturgic, electric…! Hear the first single, “Kaleidosmoke,” out today.

BCMC carve minimal dialogues into epic horizons on “Kaleidosmoke,” a jangling nest of Brit-rock guitars and trans-dimensional blues solos.... (read more)

Eiko Ishibashi & Jim O’Rourke arrive in Europe this April for a set of very special performances, marking a return to the lands where the resonances of last year's Pareidoliaalbum were first realised and developed in the live setting.

Just like those lucky enough to have witnessed the shows in 2023, the audience for these selected Spring dates will be treated to the creation of dynamic medleys of colour and shape pulsing through the air, the like of which only Eiko & Jim ... (read more)

What lies beyond The Black Door? For Cole Berliner’s solo debut, he opens up an album-length sequence of musical transformation: rich-grained instrumental parlor music, blending the modes and vibes of country, blues, ambient and folk into one great ambient prairie. Hear the title track today, out with a music video by Fred Joseph.

"The Black Door" is a tune conceived as “an ode to the sweetness and darkness of memory, both in one’s immediate life and in the context of history,”... (read more)