Two tracks culled from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's  Haggard-tribute Best Troubador sessions save a little for Tommy! Tommy Collins was the stage name for Leonard Sipes, whose presence on the Bakersfield scene and in the country charts during the 1950s was no doubt a major inspiration for Merle Haggard during his early years of apprenticeship. "Carolyn" tells the tale of Tommy's rise and fall and rise again in deft images; a plain-spoke and loving tribute to a hero of Merle's.

Tommy contributed... (read more)

Visually set in the austre backdrop of monochromatic black and white visuals, Bill MacKay's "Powder Mill Park"is, contrastingly, bright and full of life! Shot on site in MacKay's home state of Illinois, director Dan Mohr captures the serene and harmonious composure of euphonious guitar in his video for "Powder Mill Park," from Bill's freshly released album, Esker!   

The scenery for "Powder Mill Park" is wide and expansive, with room for Bill to stretch, stroll and breath-much like the song itself! Free of... (read more)

ADMINISTERING YOUR EPIDERMAL  

Is it 2018 yet? Back in March, we retired to our subcutaneous Ivory Bunker to sit out a) the First-Nation Winter (the hottest April in a thousand years, we're told) and b) the RSD Parade street closures. But then the dialup went and we lost track of the time and well....a few weeks back, we sent the Drag City honorary groundhog up to get us a scene report, and that lousy woodchucker never came back! So we're... (read more)

The threshold continues to smolder as Six Organs of Admittance keep the flame! Yes, Burning the Threshold, released in February, has received well deserved praise since its release, and the subsequent North American tour supporting it sparked the warmest of responses, enabling new minds and old heads alike to come together and get turned on. Whether it was for first timers in this cyclical resurgence of acoustic guitar love, or in a love rekindled for the types who've been around the plinth with Ben... (read more)

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Best Troubador is an intimate portrait of artistic admiration for the late, great Merle Haggard. Best Troubador presents sixteen performances of songs plucked from Merle's extensive and varied catalog, each track reflecting a deeply personal appreciation and execution. As a long-time fan and follower of Haggard, Bonny's introspection and approach offer a singular and alluring take on storied songs written by a legendary performer. Recorded at home with friends old and new, Best Troubador is a record... (read more)

Spring is everywhere but Europe is about to bloom... WAND. That's right, with all this fresh energy transferring through the air, none is fresher than that of Wand, who are all set to hit the road in Europe next month and well into the summer. It hasn't even been 1000 days since 1000 Days, yet this is the bands 3rd European tour in the time since its release (with a Cory Hanson solo record dropped in there too, for good measure)! Within that... (read more)

We read the papers! Sometimes you people wonder what it's like inside the mind of the always-busy, perhaps never even sleeping, Ty Segall. Well, with the new video for "Break a Guitar", the answers are all there for you, no need to wonder anymore! The answers are INSANE, but that's another story. "Break a Guitar" is a fun-fest pitched to the back of the house, with the song's descending power-chords and accompanying power rhythms churning hard whilst our lad elucidates on the universal absurdity... (read more)

Listening to Bill MacKay play guitar is similar to suddenly becoming aware of the Earth's breath: it's a blissful and centering experience.  Esker, Mackay's latest LP out May 5th, has an expansive candor that bends folk music his own way, from vastly disparate yet connective influences and sounds alike. This hybrid-genre approach constructs melodies that glimmer, oscillate and roll into sweeping landscapes. Nowhere is this more evident than on the new single from Esker, "Twilight," which showcases a richly melodic and pastoral... (read more)

It's official: The Peacers are at hand, with their second album, Introducing the Crimsmen, due on June 16th, and tours of Europe and the US developing swiftly beyond then. But before all that, there's still plenty to talk about! The first evidence of this, "Jurgen's Layout" is already on the record - remember? Mike D's wispy melodies seem to be conveying a ghost existence, but the band nails his wraith-like presence to the churning guts of rock, and roll on. For the second... (read more)

Six Organs of Admittance is forever Ben Chasny, but the nature of its existence is often collaborative. Take a look at the liner notes for any given record and you'll see contributions from Elisa Ambrogio, Al Cisneros, Matt Sweeney, Eyvind Kang, Chris Corsano, Haley Fohr, or Damon & Naomi - it's simply an essential strain of 6OOA DNA. It's no surprise, then, that BBC Radio 3 came calling, inviting Chasny to partake in one of their collaborative Late... (read more)