2025

RÓIS’ MO LÉAN is a masterful album with incantatory soundscapes that leave you for dead. “It’s as though Bjork was actually from Fermanagh and got really into ‘keening’.”

We chat with 21st-century renaissance man Sam Amidon about his influences, his love of instrumental music, jazz and folk; and of course, the creation of his sublime new album ‘Salt River’.

Watch the video for Psychic Rome, the new single from Alex Rex, which reveals his fascination for a period when the Roman Empire was at its most glorious and depraved. He’s accompanied by Rory Haye, Lavinia Blackwall and Marco Rea.

Taken from his new album, Richard Dawson shares ‘Gondola’ video, which features Jenny Coverack miming his words and reflecting on life—past, present, and future – a portrait so vivid, it’s totally genius.

Taken from his new album, The Beautiful World, Portland-based artist and producer David Allred premieres the video for his latest single ‘Look’ featuring VHS footage from his childhood, which he described as an incredibly cathartic project to create.

David Allred understands that negative emotions are defined by their positive flipsides and vice versa, and his music reflects that understanding. The pieces on ‘The Beautiful World’ are emotionally complex but admirably light of touch…its quiet power is nothing short of amazing.

The latest Monday Morning Brew includes music from The Burning Hell, Yo La Tengo, The Cosmic Tones Research Trio, RK Nagati, Mulatu Astatke, Jeff Tweedy & Claire Rousay, Don Cherry, Echolalia, Ngozi Family and lots more.

Read Tom Blake’s poem about Ed Askew – ‘He Is 82 Years Old Now’. Ed, an outsider folk musician, poet and painter, passed away recently; Tom called him “one of the finest, most big-hearted, most underappreciated songwriters of his or anyone else‘s generation.”

Although now in his 81st year, Mulatu Astake demonstrates in his latest album, Tension, that his appetite for pushing his musical envelope in new directions has not diminished. It’s a vibrant, uplifting listen, and the musicianship is of the highest order.

On How to Rescue Things, Bill Orcutt plays his four-string Telecaster over recordings of old RCA easy-listening music…although he often resists going full pelt into his guitar strings, he flirts with the idea, reminding us that he still has plenty of fire in his fingers.

While the latest in the Ceremonial County Series is entirely wordless, both convey striking and very different stories: Bridget Hayden’s mythic and haunting, Daniel Weaver’s inevitable and personal. Rarely can so much have been said, and so eloquently, in half an hour of instrumental music.

Compter Les Dents strengthens the notion that Tartine de Clous’ music is something shared, something that exists in the world with lasting meaning. It’s so refreshing to hear music that is not overtly performative and not intended primarily as a product to be consumed.

The legendary outsider psych-folk musician, painter and poet Ed Askew has died, he was 84 years old. He released his first album, Ask the Unicorn, in 1968 after graduating from Yale.

Taken from his forthcoming new album ‘The Purple Bird’, Bonnie “Prince” Billy shares his latest single, Downstream, an eco-ballad co-written with and featuring Nashville legend John Anderson.