PREMIERES

It often comes a bit of a surprise to fans of Alex Chilton when they hear the Box Tops and Big Star singer cited Chet Baker as the biggest influence on him. When Chilton was only seven years old he immersed himself in the Chet Baker Sings album. Baker was a trumpet player and the […]

Those familiar with the sound and style of the DIY scene in Chicago’s Logan Square may be surprised to find out that it was the birthplace of psych pop quintet Lucille Furs. They are a little surprised themselves. At the time it wasn’t exactly the place to hear harmonies and harpsichords so much as songs […]

Pezzettino is the recording name for Margaret Stutt, who adopted the name from the illustrated Leo Lionni children’s book. She currently lives in Oakland, CA. Her hometown is Racine, Wisconsin, where the blender, Off! bug spray and Ziploc bags were invented. Resin (out 2/8) is her first studio album since performing under the same name circa 2008-2012 […]

Violet and the Undercurrents operates, in many ways, on both sides of a political divide. “Whenever I write more socially conscious songs,” says singer-songwriter Violet Vonder Haar, “I like to write in the space that, wherever you are on the political spectrum, you can still take something from it. I don’t want to offend people […]

Since founding her own label MPress Records two decades ago, NYC-based alt-pop artist Rachael Sage has steadily released a slew of vibrant, dynamic albums with poetic lyrics spanning subjects as wide as her inspirations. She has toured with an eclectic list of artists including Ani DiFranco, Beth Hart, Sarah McLachlan, Judy Collins and Howard Jones. […]

Austin based R&B soul singer and songwriter Kelly Hafner is due to drop her debut studio album If it’s Love on February 22nd. Her show-stopping voice and unmistakably improvisational style keep listeners hooked from start to finish. Echoing the traditions of her soul forebears like Etta James, Lauryn Hill, Marvin Gaye, and Amy Winehouse, If […]

Written in the wake of a brain operation that nearly cost him his life, Andrew Leahey’s sophomore LP, Airwaves, is as carpe diem as they come, an urgent sonic love letter channeling the 1980s FM-radio anthems he cut his teeth on as a kid. “We didn’t have cable TV growing up,” Leahey says, “but my big […]

Born in the small town of Dunn, North Carolina, Clint Alphin always had a straight path to becoming a successful businessman. His family ran a second-generation meat and seafood distributing company, and it was assumed that he might someday take it over, or do something similar. Although his family are all musical, and he grew […]

Everybody in your life will write his or her own chapter in your story. Take a step back, and you’ll see the influence of your loved ones, mentors, and friends in your decisions. Shook Twins refer to these folks in the title of their fourth album, Some Good Lives, which is out February 15. Throughout […]

To celebrate what would be iconic folksinger Pete Seeger’s 100th birthday, singer-songwriter John McCutcheon has recorded an exquisite tribute to the late artist. To Everyone in All the World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger is due from his own Appalseed Records on January 11.  In many ways, this album has been a long time coming.  […]

Known in human form as Neshma Friend, Micropixie is the alien alter-ego and creative persona through which Friend’s voice finds its muse. She’ll be releasing her new album Dark Sight of the Moon in March 2019. Made with award-winning producer Paco Serén of Los Piratas in Galicia, Spain, and featuiring contributions from Rob Myers and Ashish […]

Mark Feldman’s LEVEL5 is an evolving collective of top-drawer New York musicians. The Sybil EP was recorded with all-star line-up of guest musicians including Oz Noy on guitar, Will Lee on bass, Adam Klipple on keys, and Feldman on drums. It’s being released February 22 via Mutant Cat Records. The Sybil EP is an instrumental […]

Madisons are an 8-piece garage-folk band based out of Austin. Founded by lead singer and main songwriter Dominic Solis in 2011, the band is known for their deeply personal lyrics, vivid and honest storytelling containing equal parts profound misery and inescapable joy, and their jubilantly raucous live shows. This, combined with touring all over the […]

One would be hard-pressed to think of a more quintessential go-to artisan for dynamic and progressive new music than Lisa Papineau. She began her performance career in experimental theatre and has since amassed a body of work that spans albums, film soundtracks, art installations, dance and theater productions, narration and producing, but is best known […]

Addi McDaniel, Brooklyn-based singer hailed as “a dynamo with a brass-plated voice” by the LA Times, announced her debut solo album, “After The News,” December 6th. The record is out January 25 via Sylvan Songs. McDaniel is both an extraordinary singer and a gifted interpreter of song, and ‘After The News’ finds her breathing vivid life into […]

Next spring Victor Krummenacher will be releasing his latest album, Blue Pacific (out March 1st, 2019). This will mark his ninth solo effort away from his two co-founding bands – the pioneering indie-rock group Camper Van Beethoven and the art-rock collective, Monks of Doom. The inception of this emotionally-charged project started nearly a year after his divorce, […]

“I’ve always done things a little bit differently,” says singer/songwriter Michael McArthur, who wrote the most vibrant album of his career, Ever Green, Ever Rain, during the darkest season of his life. Songwriting has always been a form of therapy for McArthur. Over the past decade, the Florida native has filled a handful of EPs with his own […]

With the Feb. 1, 2019, release of Reed Foehl’s fifth solo album, Lucky Enough, fans will get a dose of powerful medicine, a cathartic collection of 10 songs that Foehl recorded with help from a mighty musical force, The Band of Heathens, at their Finishing School studio in Austin, Texas. It’s an album that will […]

Formed in Los Angeles in 2013, Andy Frasco & the U.N. consists of Frasco (lead vocals, piano), Andee Avila (drums), Shawn Eckels (Guitar), Ernie Chang (Saxophone), and Chris Lorentz (Bass). Their sound has been described as “rock fueled by reckless abandonment and a disregard for the rules.” To date, Andy Frasco & the U.N. has […]

Say I’m Pretty—the gorgeous new album from Nashville-based musical polymath Patrick Damphier—is a collection of sun-kissed guitar pop that effortlessly glides across its 45-minute run time. But while each track seems deceptively simple, repeat listens reveal compelling nuance and depth. With the record’s layered production, a cascade of slowly evolving aural surprises lurks just beneath […]