Category: ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Doug Wieselman’s “WA-Zoh”
The phrase “for the birds” is often applied dismissively. But if you said it to Doug Wieselman’s face, he might

MAGNET Exclusive: “Karen” Excerpt From “Thank You For A Lovely Day: 11 The Go-Betweens Songcomics”
If you have spent any time reading MAGNET over the past three decades, you know about our obsession with the

Essential New Music: Sharron Kraus’ “KIN”
When the stages went quiet, no one artist was better equipped to handle the pandemic than Sharron Kraus. Her songwriting

Essential New Music: Ken Vandermark & Hamid Drake’s “Eternal River”
Ever since Heraclitus so wrote 2,500 years ago, people have been saying that no one can step into the same

Essential New Music: Rose City Band’s “Garden Party”
Audiologists and environmentalists will unite to implore you not to drive the highway with your windows down. The drag will

Essential New Music: Talk West’s “Black Coral Sprig”
If your impressions of the American West have been shaped by its cinematic representations, sooner or later, your mind will

Essential New Music: Mike Gent’s “Career Moves”
Songwriter/guitarist Mike Gent’s band, the Figgs, has been pretty prolific since its 1987 formation, releasing 16 official LPs, including 2022’s

Essential New Music: Alasdair Roberts’ “Grief In The Kitchen And Mirth In The Hall”
A folk song’s enduring appeal may come down to its flexibility. One person’s tall tale is another’s symbolic epic of

Essential New Music: Shizuka’s “Heavenly Persona”
The appeals of the P.S.F. Records catalog are many and diverse, but they can be summed up rather simply this

Essential New Music: Metallica’s “72 Seasons”
It was nearly two decades between 1991’s Metallica and 2008’s Death Magnetic. Nearly two decades of collective head-scratching among fans,

Essential New Music: Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch’s “American Landscapes”
When you hear the words “American landscapes,” maybe you imagine your favorite Ansel Adams photograph or that time you surveyed

Essential New Music: The Necks’ “Travel”
Many musicians rack up the miles just to get to work, but travel has been an especially inescapable aspect of

Essential New Music: Tony Conrad/Arnold Dreyblatt/Jim O’Rourke’s “Tonic 19-01-2001”
This recording represents a nodal point in musical history. The three participants were already connected by a web of acquaintance

Essential New Music: P.G. Six’s “Parlor Tricks And Porch Favorites”
Tea drinkers doubtless knew from the start: Keep an eye on this P.G. Six guy. The name, which seems to