The Latest
On Columbia Deluxe, Fuubutsushi sound simultaneously like a bunch of musicians who have never met and a group who have been playing together for an eternity. These tracks, in a live setting, have developed a life beyond the logistical constraints of their conception. Beautiful and increasingly complex, they have become a celebration of live performance and a reminder of how music still plays a vital role in human interaction.
When an illness stole her ability to sing, Chicago artist Gia Margaret turned to her synthesizer for comfort. The result was “Mia Gargaret,” her stunning 2020 ambient album. Weaving field recordings with immersive soundscapes, it’s a deeply personal document of self-healing and a powerful testament to the restorative nature of creating music.
Run For Cover Records will release I Will Swim to You: A Tribute to Jason Molina on September 5th. The album honors the late songwriter with twelve covers from artists like MJ Lenderman, Sun June, Hand Habits, and Horse Jumper of Love. Listen now to Lenderman’s take on “Just Be Simple” and Sun June’s “Leave The City.”
Throughout Spider Towns, Will Hansen (Old Pup) finds profundity in the everyday, shrugging off the ephemeral and delivering delicate, melancholic hooks. The album captures moments of quiet absurdity, heartfelt earnestness, and pastoral mystique, leaving listeners entangled in its beautifully crafted web.
It feels like Mike Polizze has unlocked some doors with ‘Around Sound’. There is a tone that unites the whole record: a celestial, dreamy mirage of sound that shifts with the elements from bright sunshine heat to breezy clouds casting darker shadows. Where he travels next may be as hard to predict as ever, but if the results are as fine as this, then we must follow him.
Mark Underwood chats with Bonnie Dobson about her new album with The Hanging Stars ‘Dreams’, and she recalls memories of poverty and living in an emergency housing project in Canada, Pete Seeger Summer Camp, McCarthy-era blacklisting, the Cuban Missile Crisis, touring with The McCalmans and Mike Harding…and even Ken Dodd—and her secret to longevity: singing and satsumas. He also has a quick catch-up with The Hanging Stars’ Richard Olson.
Inspired by the modal compositions of Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century German abbess, interdisciplinary artist Fletcher Tucker has shared “To Light A Fire,” the powerful second single from his forthcoming album, Kin. The track, a compelling fusion of animistic verse and hypnotic drones, features notable contributions from Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie) and Spencer Owen.
Modern Nature returns with “Source,” a new single from their anticipated album The Heat Warps, out August 29th. The politically-charged track confronts the 2024 UK riots directed at asylum seekers, sparked by online misinformation. Frontman Jack Cooper notes that amidst the hate, he saw a desperation for community, which he turned into a strangely uplifting song.
The World Is But a Place of Survival: Begena Songs from Ethiopia is the latest compilation offering from the London-based record label Death Is Not The End, which delves into the deeply spiritual and rarely heard music of the begena, a large ten-stringed lyre intrinsic to the Amharic heritage of Ethiopia.
The Archivists (2020) is a Canadian short film directed by Igor Drljaca that explores how artistic creation is the ultimate expression of our interconnectedness. Set in a dystopian future where past art is forbidden, the film follows three musicians who discover a secret room in an abandoned home containing vinyl records and a gramophone. Selecting one of the albums to play, they are inspired to perform one of the songs.