THE ZOUNDS OF MUSIC

You can hear it! You've got it in you! It makes the world go round! Face it. Follow it. The hills are alive with the sound of it! It's for the masses! It sounds better with you! It chose you. Let's face it and dance! It comes from the Body! It comes from the Spheres! It comes from Big Pink! It comes from Metal Machines! It comes from "The Elder." It comes from... (read more)

On November 18th, Drag City re-aquaints the world with Japan’s greatest (yeah, we said it) pop export—Eiko Ishibashi! The American release of Car and Freezer combines both the Japanese and English versions of the record, with Eiko’s delicate vocals sweeping through both languages. Car and Freezer has a swinging openness, with loose, rolling rhythms suitable to the exploritory mood and introspective nature of Eiko's songs. Consisting of Toshiaki Sudo, Hatano Atsuko, Yamamoto Tatsuhisa and Jim O’Rourke (who also produced... (read more)

Limbo as the space between heaven and hell where unblessed babies float, sighing; limbo as the supple-spined Calypsonian dance craze: here twists Elisa Ambrogio’s solo debut The Immoralist! The bewitchery and bewilderment of Magik Markers are often obscured by their ability to flash into xprmntl/noise/improv mode, but for her solo debut, Elisa Ambrogio delves into pop sounds, holding them inquisitively like fragile antiquities and crafting bedroom window ballads out of their ashy remains.

Flashes of youthful innocence and playful conceit glimmer... (read more)

The "Quail and Dumplings" single plays in the wake of Singer's Grave a Sea of Tongues, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's latest album which exists simultaneously as a new album, an alternate-reality version of Wolfroy Goes To Town, and the concluding record of two separate perceived trilogies within the Prince's catalog. There is much on the table here, and "Quail and Dumplings" manages to balance contrasting perspectives within itself - one of great lack and wanting, and the other... (read more)

In ‘98, Royal Trux had emerged from their Virgin contract buyout, proudly bearing the brand of SELL-OUT! tattooed on their forehead by the angry mini-hordes of indie rock. As always, out was in and the only direction was UP. The year is now 2000 — Y2K and all that jazz. Innarestin’ times! The next move for Royal Trux started by reconvening their Floridian rhythm section of Dan Brown and Chris Pyle, who’d been a part of the Virgin act. Together with Kenny Nasta (who’d come on later... (read more)

Blurry guitars, sea-legged rhythms, somnolent tempo - must be Mick Turner! Last November, we released Mick Turner’s post-rock opera masterpiece, Don’t Tell The Driver and Mick isn’t quite done being “The Navigator.” To reach the exalted next-level listening experience that Don’t Tell The Driver warrants, Mick has graced us with a brand new video for one of it's elegant songs, “Sometimes!” Caroline Kennedy-McCracken’s breathtaking vocals are accompanied by equally as striking Mick-strumentation, as well as visuals courtesy of the Melbourne sea-side, bringing... (read more)

It's been awhile since we've heard from The Red Krayola - but then again, it's been awhile since they've heard from US too, hasn't it now? It seems like longer than just six months back that we pumped back into the "marketplace" (such as it is) new vinyl copies of their long-OOP albums Coconut Hotel and Hazel along with a first-ever pressing of the compilation Singles. In the absence of new music from The Red Krayola, those have gone a long way to... (read more)

He's the Singer, he sings with the la-la. Where his voice goes, no one knows. The spotlight shines whether he's onstage or all alone. In a room below the surface, surrounded by piles of gorge and clutter destined for the junkyard, he plugs in and looks into your eyes - or where your eyes should be - and he sings. Ty Segall sings "The Singer," and his strums bring you into the room there with him, summoning the spirit of the Ty Segall... (read more)

You asked for it, so you got it; wait, what did you ask for, specifically? Right - a bound copy of select Bill Callahan and Smog lyrics pair'd with over a hundred, never-before-seen ink-wash images by the artist, man and myth himself? Check and double-check, mate! I Drive A Valence is all revved up and ready for you to ride inside it's tantalizing array of emotional and situational intrigue. The nuances and ambiguities within plain-spoke expression are at the exquisite center of Callahan's gift,... (read more)

How do you harness the fence that extends as infinitely as the one that Tim "White Fence" Presley has thrown up for our listening pleasures? It's a magical construction,  surrounding us and nearly consuming us at all times, the posts and slats ever widening, ever multiplying. And yet, as music White Fence can reside safely inside your psychic heart without causing compartmentalization or damage; rather, it's a giver of sick comfort, enlightenment, alignment. Y'know - love and all that. A tension akin to... (read more)