Southern Lord has just posted for sale the newest 2xLP from Dylan Carlson and crew. Part II of the Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light saga continues in the improvised style of the title track from the last record. These tracks were laid to tape during the same sessions, and the packaging follows the same [...]

Chuck Johnson was a new name to me, though he’s been around for years in bands like Spatula, Idyll Swords, and Shark Quest. His new gig is virtuosic picking of the steel-stringed guitar, and this one is a real beauty. We’ve been covering some great guitar albums lately, this one stands right up there with [...]

Three Lobed Recordings just posted the preorder for the newest album by the Gunn-Truscinski Duo, “Ocean Parkway”. If you were at all a fan of “Sand City”, their last release, you’re going to love this one. It takes their brand of Americana psychedelia even further, as guitarist and percussionist have almost melded into one here. [...]

Every once in awhile, a record comes to us from a relatively unknown artist that simply blows us away. I had never heard of Clint Heidorn before, but when his email said that he was referred over by Experimedia’s Jeremy Bible, I knew it’d probably be good. “Atwater”, it turns out, is great. It’s a [...]

We are pretty much constantly blown away by what Thrill Jockey is doing, you should know that by now. They’ve got two even-better-than-usual records out right now, wanted to give the quick heads up. First comes “2013-3102″ from The Skull Defekts. This isn’t your average Skull Defekts record though. In addition to the legendary Daniel [...]

We’ve written about the awesome dark folk of King Dude in the past, and now Dais Records is offering his first proper full-length. From what I’ve heard, these are his best recordings yet, purely genius weirdo songwriting. Limited to 500 copies in die-cut sleeves for $17. Hear a sample and order at DaisRecords.com.

If you’re into virtuosic acoustic guitar jams, its hard to do better than England’s James Blackshaw. Though the instrument list on “Holly” is fairly extensive, the finished sound is decidedly minimal, mostly relying on guitar and piano. These two side-long pieces should keep the finger-picking purists happy, it’s Blackshaw to the core. We’ve expressed enough [...]

Students of Decay have got another winning vinyl platter on their hands, following up on excellent LPs from Caboladies and Aquarelle with this stunning set of guitar-centered pieces from Danny Paul Grody. In Search of Light follows in the tradition of many folks who have come before (probably can’t finish this writeup without dropping the [...]

Happy Friday everyone, some pretty big records on the site today. I’ve been waiting for Scott Tuma’s “Not For Nobody” on vinyl for what seems like forever, and it’s finally available for purchase. A masterful piece of Americana, this one is beautifully sparse, down to the audible creeks of the floor. We can’t recommend this [...]

It seems like Thrill Jockey is putting out a great record almost every week. Glenn Jones’ “The Wanting” is a sterling example of how great the whole American Primitive movement can be. The compositions here are made up of solo acoustic steel string guitar, six-string, 10-string and bottleneck, and 5-string open-back banjo. I’d be hard-pressed [...]