Don’t Let Go, Fantastic Cat (from the Missing Piece Records release Cat Out of Hell) A scream-along-at-the-top-of-your-lungs anthem about holding on to your dreams. Nothing you can buy can save what you soldSo hold on tight to the light in your soulDon’t look down, baby don’t let… Don’t let go Suffer, Boy Golden (from the […]
Mayer’s Picks – the Best of 2026 (So Far), the Albums
Cat Out of Hell by Fantastic Cat Fantastic Cat’s third album is another classic, nothing but pure pop perfection. Four songwriters with distinct styles blend here in a way that shouldn’t work as well as it does — sharp and spirited in both lyric and melody. And credit where it’s due: any album title that […]
Get Into Trouble – a Premiere from Travis McKeveny & the Famous Doctor Scanlon Band
Travis McKeveny, a beloved NY musician, died in 2021, leaving behind two albums and a community that loved him as much for his friendship as his music. Just as important, he left behind a collection of songs and a blueprint for a third album he was ready to record. Shortly before the pandemic, Travis assembled […]
William Matheny on Tinned Fish and Not Making Artistic Compromises
West Virginia singer-songwriter William Matheny talks about Isaac Asimov, destination dining, and why every US citizen should be drafted into two years of mandatory customer and food service upon turning the age of 18.
Monday Morning Video – Eric Ambel & Sophie Gault in NYC
On July 19th, Eric Ambel and Sophie Gault play Groove in the West Village, and they’re bringing their own kind of heat — the kind you actually want. Ambel’s been running electric current through a guitar for decades, across a solo and production career that’s still going. Gault generates her own voltage, and it runs […]
Tift Merritt – Sugar
After the birth of her daughter in 2016 and her last full length, Stitch of the World, in 2017, Tift Merritt moved music to the backburner. She serves as a Practitioner-in-Residence at Duke University exploring the creative process. She also hosted a radio show called The Spark. Fans of Tift rejoiced last year with demos […]
Now & Then: American Aquarium’s New Ways to Lose and the reach of Tennessee
American Aquarium’s New Ways to Lose puts BJ Barham back in familiar territory, but with a wider lens. The songs still come from bars, back roads, family memory, and bad decisions, yet the focus has shifted from private wreckage to the social pressures around it. For a useful older reference point, Lucero’s Tennessee makes sense. Released in 2002, it helped define a Southern alt-country lane where punk urgency, country phrasing, and bar-band durability could sit in the same set without apology.
Readers’ Pick: American Aquarium – New Ways to Lose
You picked American Aquarium – New Ways to Lose as your favorite new release for the week of June 26, 2026.
Studio Spotlight/Tree Sound Studios, Paul Diaz
Back in the year of our Lord 2001 (in the year 2000…in the year 2000…) I ventured with my band to Tree Sound Studios to record. We liked what we’d heard with The Tender Idols’ album Distressor and saw that the guitar player produced it. So we struck a deal with the young Dave Cobb […]
Tony Kamel – Live at The Bunker
Over the years, releasing a live album has been a bit of a double-edged sword. Back in the day it gave bands who excelled in front of an audience a chance to show that off. Unfortunately, the sound quality coming off the sound boards back then was suspect, and sometimes just plain bad. Technology has […]