Fussell follows his celebrated s/t debut with a moving new album of Natural Questions in the form of transmogrified folk/blues koans. This time these radiant ancient tunes tone several shades darker while amplifying their absurdist humor, illuminating our national, and psychic, predicaments. Featuring art by Roger Brown and contributions from three notable Nathans—Bowles, Salsburg, and Golub—as well as Joan Shelley and Casey Toll.
January 20th sees the release of Michael Chapman’s 50, produced by Steve Gunn and described by Pitchfork as “a startlingly current and nearly apocalyptic vision of America… an album full of brimstone and brine, perhaps more perfect for this moment in history than we’d like to admit.” Now Stereogum presents 50 in its entirety.
Taken from his anticipated album 50, out January 20th, the hellish travelogue approaches a pure distillation of the perfect Chapman song, with its dark lyrics and mesmerizing, elastic instrumental passages. (We’re snowed in here in North Carolina, so it feels particularly apropos to the season.)
The legendary Michael Chapman joined Marc Riley on BBC 6 Radio Music today, playing several songs and chatting about his new album 50; recording with Steve Gunn, Nathan Bowles, James Elkington, Jason Meagher, and Jimy SeiTang (“a stick insect who plays the bass!”); his first American tour disaster in 1971; and … run-ins with Jimi Hendrix, among other things.
The critical acclaim for Michael Chapman’s magnificent forthcoming album 50 continues with unanimous praise from the UK, including MOJO, Uncut, The Wire, BBC Radio, and Record Collector. Also, peep photos of the finished LP package.
Mind Over Mirrors has shared the rolling and hypnotic song “Glossolaliac” this morning via FACT Magazine, who write that the vocals of Haley Fohr (Circuit des Yeux) and Janet Beveridge Bean (Eleventh Dream Day, Freakwater) “add to Fennelly’s stratospheric soundscapes with textural vocalizations that bring to mind the orbital beauty of Steve Reich while achieving an analog warmth all its own.”
To celebrate, all catalog items will be discounted 20% through Sunday, Dec. 11th when you use the coupon code KRAMPUS during checkout. This year, in the spirit of assistance and resistance, we will be donating a portion of our sale proceeds to the ACLU. Also, listen to our PoB 2016 Picks + Office Favorites Playlist.
Dear fellow nerds and heads: our friends at Aquarium Drunkard asked us to assemble a guide to our favorite science fiction and fantasy literature. We hope this might help reorient your minds in some small measure in these troubled and anxious times. Dig in; many delights and terrors await herein.
Michael Chapman has premiered his latest single “Sometimes You Just Drive,” “further proving the transcendental power of his music.” The dark, angular song, one of three new compositions on 50, prominently features the smoldering guitar work of Steve Gunn and the backing vocals of Bridget St John, and was inspired by events very close to home.
The new album by the ever-evolving project of Jaime Fennelly is his most ambitious and spellbinding set of roiling, meditative recordings to date, and the first to supplement his foundational arsenal of Indian pedal harmonium, analog synthesizers, and incantatory voices with a full ensemble, including Janet Beveridge Bean (Eleventh Dream Day), Jim Becker (Califone), Haley Fohr (Circuit des Yeux), and Jon Mueller (Death Blues).
