YES M!CH!GAN

We don’t do it nearly often enough, but occasionally it’s nice to hit the road with no definitive destination in mind. Pack some snacks, get some tunes playing, and let the road take you where it may. Yesterday was one of those days and it felt good. The wife and I and our 13 and […]

I’m Afraid Of Americans

My wife and I finished the final season of the FX series The Americans tonight. It was a bittersweet hour, honestly. I’ve come to love the show, despite the fact that the family you knowingly root for and grow to love are deep cover Soviet agents that are flipping US citizens to join forces with […]

Damien Jurado : The Horizon Just Laughed

For 20 years Damien Jurado has taken the slow but steady road to the crown of preeminent American songwriter. Playing in-stores, living room shows, and intimate 50-seat room gigs across the US and Europe touring in a van with just an acoustic guitar, Jurado has proven himself the musician of the people. He’s a guy […]

Sungod : Wave Refraction

The Austin, TX music collective Sungod aren’t one to take lightly. Since their inception in 2009 the band, formed by multi-instrumentalists Michael C. Sharp and Braden Balentine, have kept things pretty heady and vast. Taking cues from Tangerine Dream, Sun Ra, John Fahey, and a vast pool of mind-expanding forward thinkers to help mold their […]

Shy Boys : Bell House

There’s an overwhelming exuberance that comes from The Shy Boys’ newest long player called Bell House. Rough-around-the-edges four-part harmonies intermingle with sparse garage rock compositions, bringing to mind The Feelies and the dB’s with a touch of K Records illumination. Their music has a timeless feel that gives it the feeling of finding some lost […]

MCMLXXXIV

So by the time Van Halen’s 1984, or MCMLXXXIV was released in January of that year and you were a fan of Van Halen you were pretty much in one camp or another. You either dug the heavier synthesizer trip Eddie was taking and liked that at times they were starting to sound like Asia, […]

On The Record Series Part One : El Paraiso Records

Today is part one in a multi-part series on various record labels that are currently doing things right. Meaning they have built a true musical community thru similarly-minded artists coming together under one roof and pushing the boundaries of their chosen genre. The labels included in this new series have created an aesthetic with their […]

Michael C Sharp : End Times in Babylon

Michael C Sharp released his debut album on Holodeck Records last year titled Never Enough Time. It was a heady and densely layered collection of guitar loops and synths woven together to form these dream-like songs. Elements of Steve Reich and Rhys Chatham; as well as guitar touches inspired by guys like Gunter Schickert, Achim Reichel, […]

Metavari : Symmetri

Nate Utesch has been the leader and sole constant in the electronic band Metavari since its inception back in 2008. He’s cultivated the sound and aesthetic from the sprawling vastness of post-rock to a much tighter electronic feel quite seamlessly. If you listen to early Metavari, say something like Be One of Us and Hear […]

Omni Gardens’ “Thinking” Is Absolute Bliss

I’d never really thought much of new age music. I guess my idea of new age is the sound of trickling water, the earth store at the mall, meditating in a salt mine, and guru-looking cats like Yanni or Doug Henning playing one continuous note with purple skies in the background while lost middle-aged souls […]