Bill MacKay

On “Black Duck with Elena Setién,” Chicago’s experimental trio team up with Spanish-Basque singer and multi-instrumentalist Elena Setién, recording after just a few hours of rehearsal to capture the direct energy of their live shows. The music shifts from tightly composed to improvised — exciting, adventurous, and full of character. A joy to listen to.

Black Duck and Elena Setién share “Funeral in My Brain,” the final single from “Black Duck with Elena Setién,” their collaborative debut out August 28th via Thrill Jockey. The track draws on Emily Dickinson’s 1862 poem. The quartet came together on shared Spanish tour dates in early 2025 and recorded at Palisade Studio in Chicago.

“Stash,” the second album from BCMC — the Chicago guitar-and-keys duo of Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain — pulls a range of styles from their minimalist set-up. More excitable than 2023’s “Foreign Smokes,” the musicians are happy to explore dynamically within a song. This is a generous, joyous album, brimming with life, energy and a real love of music.

Chicago trio Black Duck and Basque musician Elena Setién announce their self-titled debut, Black Duck With Elena Setién, out August 28th via Thrill Jockey. Born from a run of improvised Spanish shows and recorded fast in Chicago, the album lands with lead single “Land of the Many Eyes” — four players conversing at the boundaries of improvisation and composition.

BCMC — Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain — return with “Tête-à-Tête”, the second single from their forthcoming Drag City album “Stash”, out June 26th. Where lead single “Kaleidosmoke” unfurled in patient, accumulative psychedelia, this one rotates skyward — Crain’s organ tearing through prog, gospel, psych and funk, MacKay’s twin guitars tracing intricate, Krautrock-leaning patterns. A new visualiser arrives alongside the single.

Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain have announced Stash, their second album as BCMC, due June 26th via Drag City. Lead single Kaleidosmoke is out now — a sprawling, nearly eight-minute psychedelic piece layering Brit-rock guitars over a patient, accumulative structure. Where their debut Foreign Smokes was built on improvisation, Stash finds the duo working with tighter, groove-based composition.

Drag City announces the 10th-anniversary vinyl reissue of Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker’s hypnotic debut, Land of Plenty, arriving September 26th. Recorded live during their famed 2015 Chicago residency, the album showcases the duo’s telepathic guitar interplay. To celebrate, a new music video for the title track has been released, offering a fresh look at this seminal work.

Following last year’s ‘Locust Land’, his most diverse album yet, Bill MacKay shares details of his EU tour, including Ireland co-headline dates with Brigid Mae Power and a London date with labelmate Six Organs of Admittance.

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.

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.

Taken from his new album Locust Land, listen to Bill MacKay’s new single ‘Keeping In Time’, which finds MacKay employing a searching voice to explore themes of fate and love. He has also announced a UK date at London’s Café OTO on 4th September.

Taken from his new album Locust Land, Bill MacKay shares his second single, ‘Glow Drift’, on which he locks into a relatable psychedelic groove with Mikel Patrick Avery and Sam Wagster. Intelligence and imagination are the order of the day for these sonic explorers.