drag city

Celebrate one year of Jim Franks’ acclaimed book Existential Bread with a new audiobook from Drag City. Out March 10th, this “Hardnose Prose” masterpiece is read by Franks and features a rhythmic, searching score by Whitney Johnson, Shutaro Noguchi, Bill MacKay, Rob Frye and James Scroeder. Move beyond recipes and explore the philosophical, whimsical world of baking as a life story of listening and adapting.

Drag City unearths Echo Park, a long-lost collection of “glitter-light” pop from LA jazz legend Tommy Peltier. Mixed and mastered by Jim O’Rourke, the album captures Peltier’s 1970s transition into a soulful troubadour. Lead single “Flight of the Dancer,” out now, is a lush, 1976-tracked ballad featuring ethereal vocals and sensuous slide guitar reminiscent of George Harrison.

Tashi Dorji returns with “burn the throne,” a haunting new single from his upcoming album, “low clouds hang, this land is on fire.” Accompanied by a monochrome video by Philippe Léonard, the track trades Dorji’s signature acoustic friction for meditative, reverb-drenched ambience. “Barbed with intention, it is a declaration of war rooted unshakably in peace.”

Bill Callahan arrives with the new single, “Lonely City,” from his upcoming album, My Days of 58. A profound meditation on the familiar, ever-changing relationship we have with our cities. The stunning music video showcases over 15 years of photography by street photographer Daniel Arnold.

Chicago-based trio Glyders feel complete with drummer Joe Seger joining Joshua Condon and Eliza Weber on Forever. Regarded as their first true band album, it captures electrifying energy honed through relentless touring. Blending assertive riffing with old-school tunesmithery inspired by classic rock masters, these eight tracks offer a high-voltage ride from futuristic glam to electric country jangle, marking an exciting, stable new chapter for the group.

Sir Richard Bishop’s ‘Hillbilly Ragas’ sees the veteran guitarist in devilish, free-flowing form. This terrific set of solo acoustic instrumentals subverts the rigid “American primitive” genre with a ramshackle, rhythmic, and improvised approach, adding Indian and Arabic flavours. It’s a “total banger”—vital, super-focused, and creatively brilliant acoustic music at its most exciting and intelligent.

Tashi Dorji announces his new album, ‘low clouds hang, this land is on fire’, out January 30th on Drag City. He turns to the electric guitar for a “disarmingly gentle musical drift,” a major shift from his previous acoustic work. Watch the video for lead single “gathering,” directed by Robert Beatty, which exemplifies this new meditative and melancholy sound—a political “quiet fire” and an anthem for resistance.

Brian Weitz, aka Geologist of Animal Collective, has signed to Drag City for his first-ever proper solo album, Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights? (due Jan 30th, 2026). The lead single “Tonic” showcases his “post-post-punk” vision, swapping guitar for an overdriven hurdy gurdy inspired by Keiji Haino and Greg Ginn. The track, featuring a thumping Dave Portner bassline, is out now.

If Jim White’s second solo album, Inner Day, is a “state of nature: peace and tension, rest and disquiet”, then “Two Ruffys”, his new album single, is its disquieting, beautiful wind. Watch the accompanying video, directed by Anna White, which scores the song’s meditation on “life and loss.”

Chicago trio Glyders have released “Moon Eyes,” the latest single and video from their forthcoming Drag City LP, Forever, and announced a full US tour. A meditation on time and fate, the accompanying video, directed by Sean Pierce and Karen Schmitz, captures the band on a glowing trip to a fire pit.

Hillbilly Ragas, the new album from Sir Richard Bishop, drops tomorrow. Watch his latest video for his new single “Head Bone in the ‘Tater Hole,” a track that begins with a galloping figuration that could be a waltz before the ideas boil down into a steaming stew of theme and variations. The nine pieces on the album were carved out in a wild-eyed state, reflecting the “untamed explorations of a musical loner” …

Chicago boogie-rockers Glyders announce their signing to Drag City and a new album, ‘Forever’, out November 21, 2025. The new power-trio, now featuring drummer Joe Seger, celebrates with the release of their first single and video, “Stone Shadow,” a T-Rex and new wave-influenced track promising a high-energy, good time.

Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin’s Ghosted I and II freewheeled across a matrix whose corners were marked by krautrock, ambient, jazz and freely improvised modernism, III adds even more dimensions. It’s the sound of a band who know each other well enough that they can begin to concentrate on the things they don’t yet know, the unexplored musical directions that open up when they play together.

Pareidolia is a subtle and teasing record, beautiful and sometimes bewildering. It has an engrossing element that resembles the arc of a story, which is difficult to achieve in improvisational music but which gives you an insight into how closely and how well Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke work together, and how much background work they put into this intuitive, cohesive album.

Master percussionist Jim White is set to release his second solo album, Inner Day, on October 24th. This time, he’s exploring new territory as a lyricist and vocalist for the very first time. The album finds White creating a hypnotic relationship between keyboards and drums, a process he began on his 2024 solo debut, All Hits: Memories. The title track, featuring the first lyrics he’s ever written, is out now.

Taken from his new album, Hillbilly Ragas, Sir Richard Bishop’s latest single, “Pass the Juggernaut,” is a ferocious, brooding track that channels tradition, near severed from its source. It’s a journey into the “dark woods” of sound, with Bishop’s jagged, blunted strikes creating an intense and intimate musical experience that is both aggressive and profoundly soulful.

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.

Experimental trio Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin have unveiled “Chahar,” the exhilarating second single from their upcoming album Ghosted III (out August 29th). Pushing further into the exuberant territory hinted at by first single “Yek,” the track is a startlingly funky dance of wild interplay and ricocheting guitar tones, accompanied by a mesmerizing new video ahead of their European tour.