Explosions In The Sky : End

Explosions in the Sky have long been one of the supreme purveyors of post rock, a genre of music that relies on mostly wordless exaltations through instrumentals. Sometimes the music is big, widescreen, and heavy with emotional intent. Sometimes the music is as quiet as a whisper, conveying the same emotional depths but through ambient […]

Sparklehorse : Bird Machine

When singer/songwriter Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse took his own life back in March of 2010 it was both an absolute shock and sadly not surprising. Linkous struggled with depression and addiction and you heard it in his music. Still, you hope someone as talented and heart-on-sleeve as Linkous would find their way out of the […]

Justin Sweatt : Permian Tapes Vol. 2

Justin Sweatt has covered a lot of musical ground over the last decade plus. Hazy Komische to sweaty dance floor bangers to cosmic synth drifts to pastoral ambient trips, Sweatt approaches them all like a composer telling a story through sound. And for a large swath of that time he worked under the moniker Xander […]

Slowdive : Everything Is Alive

Slowdive are one of the premier OG shoegaze bands of the early 90s. Releasing their debut album Just For A Day in 1991, then following it up with Souvlaki in 1993. Their sophomore release got mixed reviews when it came out, but like most great things in hindsight was re-evaluated as a masterpiece. Slowdive released […]

The Hives : The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons

Do you remember the early 2000s indie music explosion? New York had become the epicenter of a music movement once again, this time with indifferent, arty kids revamping everything from Joy Division to Television to The Cars. The Strokes, Jonathan Fire Eater, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Juan McClean, LCD Soundsystem, and Interpol were at that […]

awakened souls : unlikely places

awakened souls is the musical project of ambient musicians and husband and wife duo Cynthia and James Bernard. Cynthia records under the name Marine Eyes, while James has had his hand in many solo and collaborative projects. Cynthia and James have, to my ears, perfected the ambient music realm. Creating sound worlds vast and beautiful, […]

The Strange Case Of Patrick Xavier, Stuart Hamm, And Me

I’d say it was spring of 1990. I was a full-fledged guitar dork by then – practicing in my basement space dad built for me – in lieu of underage drinking, toking, dating, athletics, or any of the other malarky teens in R-Rated comedies were doing in the 80s. It wasn’t that I was a […]

Blake Mills : Jelly Road

Blake Mills could have gone the route of a world famous pop producer. As a producer he’s worked with Alabama Shakes, Fiona Apple, Perfume Genius, Sky Ferreira, and Marcus Mumford. And as a session musician he’s played with Bob Dylan, Weezer, Conor Oberst, Pink, Dixie Chicks, and Lana Del Rey to name just a few. […]

London Odense Ensemble : Live At Jaiyede Jazz Festival

When you’re as tight, forward-thinking, and exploratory as London Odense Ensemble it’s hard not to keep striking while the iron’s hot. The five-piece fusion/cosmic jazz collective is made up of Danish musicians Jonas Munk(guitar), Martin Rude(bass), and Jakob Skøtt(drums); as well as London-based Tamar Osborn(saxophone, winds) and Al MacSween(keyboards). A fruitful recording session back in […]

zakè and City of Dawn : Ash

There’s a kind of musical alchemy when Zach Frizzell (zakè) and Damien Duque (City Of Dawn) come together. I first heard these two back in 2020 as Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea(along with Marc Ertel.) Their Azure Vista Records debut Liberamente was a breath of fresh air; blankets of sonic warmth and sublime tones […]