Manipulator is one of the year’s very finest rock records, which is a nice thing to be able to say about a record just about to break into the American Top 40! True fact dat. The songs, the sounds, the singing, "The Singer," - the whole conception! Really though - Manipulator is just getting rolling. Release week was highlighted by four nights of sold-out madness at the epicenter of Ty's LA stomping ground, The Echo - and now the Manipulator band is rocket-riding its... (read more)

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast, infinite, and timeless as space (big bang is only a theory, man). It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears, and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call…The Goldilocks Zone. Dan’l Boone are in fixed orbit, destined to travel the space-ways of... (read more)

We love it when September kicks off with a burning anthem, and whoo-ha, have Purling Hiss just lit one that's particularly blazin'! Back in the mid-summer you educated yourself in a leisurely manner with da Hiss’s first single, “Learning Slowly;" now prepare to break through their “Forcefield of Solitude,” single numero dos off their howling new album, Weirdon, out September 23rd! "Forcefield of Solitude" is Purling Hiss' summer fade, a sunset jam that enters your ear... (read more)

The strange and wonderful home recordings of The George-Edwards Group were recorded in the 1970s, yet they're marked by natural tape sounds that give them a timeless space. Having thus far provided two full albums of sanguine melody and mood, 38:38 and Archives, it's time now to prep our universal ear for the third installment of the book of George-Edwards, Chapter III!

Chapter III of The George-Edwards Group archives draws from deep in the pockets of their sporadic later embodiment.... (read more)

SINGER'S GRAVE A SEA OF TONGUES OUT ON SEPTEMBER 23rd!

It's hard to believe it's still the same week as it was yesterday, but it is! And yesterday happened to be the most excellent release date of Bitchin' Bajas' self-titled opus. Often flying under the radar of their own volition, it's become increasingly clear the Bajas can't be anyone's best kept secret for long, and Bitchin Bajas is the reason. Over 70 minutes of slow moving acoustics, electronics, and tape machinery, with string arrangements and field recordings fleshing the bone, Bitchin Bajas changes your... (read more)

THE DECADE STARTS HERE

August Drag City, 2014 – no, not the month! We’re speaking in the awesome sense of the word! It’s been a grand 25th year in a row to put out records – majestic, even! The new music from New Bums, Dead Rider, Black Bananas, Ambarchi/O’Malley/Dunn, Neil Michael Hagerty & The Howling Hex, White Fence, Neil Hamburger and now, Bitchin Bajas and Ty Segall, they all qualify in our mind for Records... (read more)

Death's just kept on knockin' ever since 2009, when ...For The Whole World To See sprung to life, re-energizing a band by resescuitating a crucial slab of rock music that had first been made too soon before going unnoticed for over 30 years. After the doors opened and the Hackney brothers walked through, there was no stopping Death from getting to everyone! Reunion gigs turned into full on tours, new demo recordings surfaced in Spiritual, Mental, Physical form, the band appeared on The Arsenio... (read more)

"Clean and full and never hungry/want to live like that" goes the song, and the point is clear - the singer (us) wants a life that he (we) cannot have, and until something better comes along, he (and 99% of mankind) are consigned instead to dream of crossing class lines that WE WILL NEVER CROSS and experiencing the best things in life THAT WE WILL NEVER EXPERIENCE. For our lives are comprised of certain inevitabilities, as solid and inflexible as statues; as inert as our... (read more)

It's August, and that can only mean one thing - no, no, not that it's time to check out for yet another bank holiday - not 'til next Monday anyway - no, today, it means it's time for Neil Hamburger's nearly annual trip to the UK, wherein he eliminates any doubt that he's the greatest American comedic product, one classic gag at a time! And with one fewer of them left in this world today, let's be sure to appreciate those carrying the torch... (read more)