The members of Bay Area hip-hop group Souls of Mischief—Tajai, Phesto, A-Plus and Opio—were still in high school when they started recording with fellow Hieroglyphics crewmate Del the Funky Homosapien. They were so young, in fact, they needed their parents’ permission to participate in an overnight recording session for “Burnt,” the B-side to Del’s “Mistadobalina.”…
Time has not diluted the Cowboy Junkies’ dreamy mix of tempestuous torch songs and soup-for-the-soul soundscapes, but it has given it a naturally more seasoned feel and bittersweet bite that fans (and those who only knew their music in the ’80s and ’90s) should appreciate. The Canadian band’s latest reintroduces and reimagines one of their…
Marcus King is the guest on the newest installment of the Lipps Service podcast, speaking with host Scott Lipps about his new Republic album, Darling Blue, and the challenges of mental health and sobriety amid life in the music industry. King also gets into his upbringing in South Carolina and playing music with his family members from…
Tortoise. (Credit: Heather Cantrell) Tortoise has done a lot in their 30+ years as a band. In the ‘90s, they became standard-bearers of the Chicago scene, their unusual instrumentation (three percussionists, two bassists) and eclectic palette (jazz, dub, EDM, prog) helping define a major wing of the instrumental post-rock genre. Their expansive 1998 album, TNT,…
“‘Danny, we need a gimmick. Wear a gas mask.’” Daniel Ash is recalling his first paid gig as a young musician with a band called MI5. It was at Glasgow Rangers Supporters Club in Corby, an industrial town in Northamptonshire, where Ash is from, nearly two hours from London. Aside from its (obvious) Scottish pride,…
Rosalía delivers a stunning first sample from her upcoming Columbia album, LUX, in the form of the Nicolás Méndez-directed, Warsaw-set video for “Berghain,” which features vocals from Björk and Yves Tumor. In the highly surreal clip, Rosalía is enveloped first by orchestra musicians and then a menagerie of animals as she moves from her apartment…
The best concert albums bring home the excitement of the live experience. Though the songs might not sound as polished as the studio versions, live records present us with different iterations of music that have continued to gestate long after the producer has applied the finishing touches. On triple-live album Cornucopia Live, released October 24,…
Friday, October 17 I arrived as the sun set. Erika De Casier’s “Two Thieves” rang out softly as I rushed past the guards toward the Mind Melt stage. A small crowd of alt-kids was gathered as close to the front as possible. Erika swayed to a gentle trip-hop drone. “Is Nick León present,” she asks,…
For a lot of years, Vera Brandes couldn’t listen. Not once had she heard the bestselling solo jazz album of all time—Keith Jarrett’s passionate and sublime The Köln Concert—though she’d been essential to making it happen in 1975 as an 18-year-old music promoter in Cologne, West Germany. It wasn’t the first show organized by the…
With their first proper tour in 17 years now underway, the reunited Shudder to Think are also unveiling some new music for the first time since Bill Clinton’s second term as president. Per an Instagram post, the group is selling a seven-inch vinyl single with the songs “Thirst Walk” and “Playback” at the shows, which…
