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)

After last year's icing on the CAVE, Threace, who knew when in the world there'd be another CAVE record? Yet once again, and in perfect rhythm (it's what they do), CAVE deliver! Due out on Drag City in October, Release compiles jams from the sweltering heart of CAVE that didn't make it onto their three LPs and three EPs.

Anyone who's heard their albums can attest that CAVE have a fresh, yet well-seasoned ear for long-play records, and each one shows their... (read more)

Two months ago, we uncorked the bottle that held Ty Segall's latest craft brew - his seventh solo album, the towering inferno, Manipulator. It was too hot and too sweet to not to let people know! We put the word out - tell the blogs! Come August 26th, everybody can come drink their fill. Now it's two weeks to go until Manipulator, but its still got a good head and a bright fizz to it people, see and hear for yourselves!  

Still trying to unravel the mystery of Dan’l Boone?! Makes sense - with a lineup of heavy hitters like Neil Hagerty (Royal Trux), Nate Young (Wolf Eyes), Charles Ballas (Formant) and Alex Moskos (Drainolith) it’s safe to say our feeble mental capacities are too limited to fully grasp their collective ability! Yet while their debut album contains some of the wildest zones recorded in recent memory, it's still fully relate-able to the average human ear: females, males and she-males alike! Dan'l Boone... (read more)

Something pure and natural is happening--within the sound, within the song; in the album and in you. The shifts that come make changes in your moods and your body temperature. Bitchin Bajas' self-titled new album (which streets August 26th!!) is something delicate yet definite, gradually washing over your consciousness. On one hand, it is in many ways the ultimate album; and on the other, barely even an album at all. Where these ideas meet is immediately realized in the come-to-life video for the song,... (read more)

It's been almost a year since we released Bill Callahan's Dream River, but Bill still manages to find something that gets beneath the skin. Lyrically, he tugs at the loose strands of a scene and unspools 'em until he comes to the knot. Or if he's out of doors, he ruffles the chaff that makes up the haystack, looking for something sharp and hard. The visual modes of "Javelin Unlanding" are exquisite; shifting in delicate but deliberate time as Bill's... (read more)

It's the time for the season in Hisstory, folks! Your last waves of summer begin with a lesson: unlearn what you thought you knew and relearn the weirdness of Purling Hiss! The Hiss returns with the blissful blast of a lead single, “Learning Slowly,” an epic guitar-slangin’ masterpiece off their new collection of songs, Weirdon. Upfront guitars and drums shine through the 5 minutes of windows-down, steering-wheel slapping jouissance. It’s a pure laconic anthem in the tradition of guitar wizardry,... (read more)