Archive: 2026

Theoretically, there are no two record stores that are identical. Like a collection of Ethiopian jazz albums, each shop has a distinction from the others, almost as if these stores are as much an expression of self as the albums they’re selling. Some shops lean on a gimmick, some aim to reimagine the shops of […]

Bruce Hornsby didn’t want to record this album. After a five-year run of musically intrepid and critically acclaimed studio LPs – Absolute Zero, Non-Secure Connection, ‘Flicted, Deep Sea Vents – as well as entire albums’ worth of still-unreleased material, the virtuoso pianist suddenly found himself “creatively fried.” Despite his best, well-intentioned efforts to step away from songwriting […]

Maria Taylor started working on Story’s End—her latest LP—six years ago, beginning with a handful of quiet, stripped-down demos in her home studio. There was no real rush to follow up her 2019 self-titled effort, but fractures in both her marriage and a close friendship found her leaning back into these songs once again. The […]

Surtsey is an indie rock band formed in 2009 out of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The band began releasing music together in 2010 with their Broken Beds triple single, a proper introduction to the band’s wide-ranging prowess. Future releases, like the 2020 single “Sotting Wendell / Hoss” and 2022’s “Lyrics & Birthdays,” showcased a more focused, […]

Wendy Eisenberg has spent the past decade as a fixture of independent music and an artist of inspired multiplicity. As a singer-songwriter, improviser, and virtuoso guitarist, the coordinates of their artistry are ever-shifting, from art-rock to jazz to blistering free improv and eloquent folk. On catalog highlights including 2020’s Auto and the 2024 free-jazz sprawler […]

On March 27, the Free Jazz Collective Irreversible Entanglements released Future Present Past, their moving and daring new LP. The spellbinding ten-song album successfully balanced the band’s dark experimentation and refreshing takes on spiritual jazz traditions with an urgent message meant to uplift and alarm, featuring a tracklist that ranges from risk-filled cacophonies, like the […]

Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival 2026 returns to Texas, taking place September 26-27 in Austin, Texas at Moody Center. It will be his seventh festival and is being held in celebration of the 28th anniversary of the 1998 founding of the Crossroads Centre Antigua.  The event will feature main stage concerts and muti-artist collaborations by some […]

With Flea dropping a boundary-pushing solo album last week—packed with exploratory jazz and thoughtful covers—and a recent Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary revisiting their early years, it’s the perfect time to look back at the band’s raw, formative ’80s era. Say what you will about Anthony Kiedis and his off-the-wall vocal style, but there’s no […]

Following so closely on the heels of the January 2026 concert piece One Moment in Time – Live In The USA, the re-release of Robin Trower’s 1975 Live! might seem a bit suspect. Instead, it serves as a template for such expansive archival projects (not just for this artist’s discography). Issued in an elaborate two-CD […]