Bitterviper is the brand-new quartet of Nikos Veliotis (cello), Taku Unami (synthesizer), Sarah Hennies (percussion), and David Grubbs (guitar, piano), four individuals who separately are responsible for some of the most striking and wildly idiosyncratic music of the past couple of decades—not to mention the duo collaborations between Grubbs and Unami (the albums Comet Meta and Failed Celestial Creatures) and Veliotis and Grubbs (The Harmless Dust). Their self-titled debut album, Bitterviper, is out July 25th on Blue Chopsticks.

Athens-based... (read more)

In the wake of Rafael Toral’s much-acclaimed return to guitar voicings and improvisations, 2024’s Spectral Evolution, comes a new set of CD masters for his first two albums: Sound Mind Sound Body and Wave Field. These new versions — alongside represses for the 2018 vinyl versions for both — arrive June 27.

In 1987, Rafael Toral began making his own compositions and solo recordings using electric guitar in an enhanced signal path. He paid notice to the massive impact of discreet... (read more)

Like a sweet spring breeze after a long, cruel winter, Cory Hanson’s blowing through town again. And like the wind, I Love People — our lone wanderer’s fourth album, out July 25 — comes from parts unknown. Need a ride? Long as you’re ready to find yourself wherever it dies down, jump on! The first single, “Bird on a Swing,” arrives today with a music video.

Followers of Cory’s twin arcs as solo singer and Wand member will be intrigued to learn... (read more)

Time is ticking, and Faun Fables’ new album only gets closer every second! Counterclockwise is their most engrossing collection of “songtelling” to date: a true family album, etched exquisitely and studded with fine-hewed jewels of song, recorded by Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl with their daughters, Edda, Ura, and Gudrin. A new song wheels out from their home today: “Widdershins”.

“Widdershins” is an ornately decorated folk epistle that shares an existential fundament of Faun Fables’ worldview — along with... (read more)