Glenn Kimpton

‘When I’m Called’ is Jake Xerxes Fussell’s finest set and his most delicately arranged. Let this one bed in after a few listens and allow its delicate layers to slowly emerge; you’ll feel grateful for such beautifully performed and arranged music.

Banjoist Nathan Bowles and his band, drummer Rex McMurry and double bassist Casey Toll, join us to discuss their new album Are Possible, Nathan’s follow-up to 2018’s Plainly Mistaken and their first full-length trio effort.

We caught up with Jake Xerxes Fussell to discuss his new album, When I’m Called. He chatted about the recording process, working with James Elkington, the influence of artist, musician, folklorist, and mentor Art Rosenbaum, and more.

Celebrated Scottish fiddle player Laura Jane Wilkie’s debut album ‘Vent’ screams confidence from start to finish. There are surprises and delights throughout its nine tracks that will demand many listens, each bringing something new.

On Beehive Cathedral, Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson, and Cleek Schrey take tunes they love and make them as strong and dynamic as possible while maintaining the spirit and the magic that has kept them alive for so long.

Beautifully considered, intricate and finely nuanced, SUSS’s ‘Birds & Beasts’ is a great piece of work. Fresh and confident, the album marks a new beginning for the band while acknowledging their lost comrade, Gary Leib.

Morning Improvisations / Evening Abstractions, the debut collaboration from Elijah McLaughlin and Caleb Willitz’s, is so packed with creative ideas and endeavours that it defies you to switch off from it for a moment. It’s an ace, energising recording that has something for everyone.

Glookies Guit, D.C Cross’s latest offering, encourages deciphering of song titles and deep listening. A musically rich acoustic guitar album of both depth and character, it’s undoubtedly his most accomplished work to date.

Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock’s Two Improvisations is absolutely fascinating music that is as mercurial as it is rhythmic and steady. Imagine Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt’s A Meeting by the River with the experimental knob turned right up and you’ll get close. Spellbinding.

Locust Land, Bill MacKay’s third solo outing for Drag City, is his most diverse yet, but also his most harmonious and satisfying, which is high praise, considering the quality of his past releases.

It’s unusual to encounter a debut full-length album with as much confidence and clarity as Malin Lewis’s Halocline, which is also a work of subtle, nuanced beauty. We met with the Scottish piper to learn more about it.

We met with guitarist Bill MacKay to discuss Locust Land, his third long player for Drag City. The album’s focus and detail shout confidence and clarity, and it features some of the most driving and uptempo songs he’s ever written.