On October 2, 2008, on tour, in Seattle, with Silver Jews, in between songs, David Berman addressed the crowd:

“This is our 86th show! You know, I'll tell ya.... I have some pretty jaded musician friends, who've heard me say this kind of thing before, and asked ‘Why are you always counting your shows? Nobody cares about that!’ And I was like, ‘Oh gee, I don’t know... maybe because they’re important?  Because they actually mean something to me?’"

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2020! Now it can be told: the charade of a world without new Magik Markers records (six-plus years!) has finally ended. In these times of contagion fables and hacky blockbuster n95 disaster imagery IRL, Markers emerge again like three Lazarus from their three individual firmaments, just in the nick of the end of time.

What Magik Markers do best is listening, and as John Shaw, Pete Nolan and Elisa Ambrogio worked with the tunes, they heard something taking shape. Less a style than... (read more)

In the years of this new century (AY2K) guitarist Tashi Dorji has stood out in the field of improvised music with an incisive way of playing in and out of moments, tremendous conviction alongside the mercurial touch needed to ride the changing wind. Tashi's debut for Drag City is the work of a seasoned player, delving fearlessly forward and finding new places in the present moment with every stroke and pick. Stateless is about more than just playing your way into somewhere. This is music... (read more)

A Smog cover from the artist formerly known as Smog! Maintaining the original bounce but eschewing the star-crossed semi-tragic implications of his late-90s version,  Bill Callahan's new rendition finds fresh life, flexibility and freedom in the promise of the next chapter played out in the hinterland - but is it prequel or sequel? Heaven knows.
 

Listen to "Let's Move to the Country" on the DSP of your choice and remember, Gold Record... (read more)