Avant-prog improv trio Stick Men have posted a recording of their show @ Elkton Music Hall, Elkton, MD on April 3, 2026 on Bandcamp. Pay-what-you-want for this board mix made by F.O.H. engineer Robert Frazza, so it sounds rather splendid. As per usual there are plenty of King Crimson tunes - check their treatment of Red - carefully arranged for this power trio format, as well as some stuff from the upcoming new studio album. Dive into The Well to get an idea what they have in store.
Another episode has been added to the Phish Live Bait series. All tracks on Vol. 24 are from the 1.0 era, including fan favourites Run Like An Antelope (aka "Roll Like A Cantaloupe" - 11/14/91 Cat's Cradle – Chapel Hill, NC) and Frankie Says > David Bowie (11/4/98 McNichols Arena – Denver, CO).
Tracks:Live Bait Vol. 24 is a free download compiled by the band's archivist Kevin Shapiro.
English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead are busy recording their fifth studio album, Regional Theatre, which will be released in October. After years of being an underground insrumental band, they brought in vocals for News From The Invisible World in 2023. The press was all over it, and for all the right reasons. For a limited time that album is now available as a free download: "Switching from metal to prog, surf, and avant-garde. Ambitious and grandiose stuff delivered impeccably."
Experimental avant-garde prog band The Fierce & The Dead have selected tracks from their albums Field Recordings (live), Show Me Devon: Live At Kozfest 2019, Live At The Hope & Anchor and Live at Ramsgate Music Hall '24 for the free If It Carries On Like This We're Moving To Your House - Best Of Live sampler. The collection shows their transformation as an instrumental power trio through them embracing vocals quartet to the current five-piece incarnation.
Another episode has been added to the Phish Live Bait series. Vol. 23 features a bunch of four lengthy 1.0 recordings, including the special You Enjoy Myself > Catapult > You Enjoy Myself (10/15/94 Oak Mountain Amphitheatre – Pelham, AL).
Tracks:
Running a label sounds cool, right? Releasing good music and maybe make a little money as well. Canadian Wally Salem got the first part right, when he founded The Beautiful Music in 2004, focusing on power pop and New Wave in all their guises. As a fan first and a business man second, he put out over 60 releases since then.
He built a carefully crafted catalog that can keep listeners entertained for days on end. As an introduction the free sampler Lost In An Imaginary World is a gateway drug to the full albums, plus it features quite a few previously unreleased tracks. Few people will have be familiar with bands like Tender Engines, who contributed an ace cover of Edward Ball's Love Is Blue, or Roy Moller, whose self-depricating song Byres Road Saturday about his busking adventures in Glasgow set the tone for his Playing Songs No One's Listening To album.
Another episode has been added to the Phish Live Bait series. Vol. 22 features a bunch of mostly 1.0 recordings, with Harry Hood (10/15/98 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA) and Magilla > Foam (11/3/90 Boulder Theater – Boulder, CO) as the ones that should be played first.
Tracks:Live Bait Vol. 22 is a free download compiled by the band's archivist Kevin Shapiro.
Berklee online is offering a free Music Production Handbook, so for those who are looking for some pointers to get the sound right, get cracking and pick it up before it disappears in yet another Stateside clusterfuck.
Radiohead's groundbreaking album OK Computer has been analyzed ad infinitum. It got a rather good deluxe treatment, but there is still more to be found and it can be streamed and downloaded for free from archive.org:
A collection of material from the OK Computer era that wasn't selected for inclusion in OKNOTOK or the White Cassette. This is being released for free, but we encourage you to donate to Extinction Rebellion, which the band themselves have done in the past.
As per usual the folks at power pop label Big Stir Records have put together a sampler with highlights from their roster. Among others Box Of Records features songs from The Armoires, Blake Jones & The Trike Shop, Graham Parker & The Goldtops, Librarians With Hickeys, and The Speed Of Sound. It is available as a pay-what-you-want download in a wealth of digital formats from their website.
Dutch electronic pop duo Pocket Knife Army celebrate the anniversary of the release of their debut album This Time I'll Come Out Unharmed by offering as a free download: 11 tracks that explore the other regions of utterly danceable glamorous synths and bass music.
Another episode has been added to the Phish Live Bait series. Vol. 21 features a bunch of mostly 1.0 recordings, with Llama, You Enjoy Myself (2/13/93 Bob Carpenter Center, University of Delaware – Newark, DE) and McGrupp And The Watchful Hosemasters > Run Like An Antelope (8/12/96 Deer Creek Music Center – Noblesville, IN) as the first ones that should be played.
Live Bait Vol. 21 is a free download compiled by the band's archivist Kevin Shapiro.
English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead have compiled another collection of songs from their back catalogue. An Introduction To The Fierce & The Dead. No live versions or different edits on this one like they did on last year's picks for the TFATD Sampler, but is a pretty nice summation of 14 years of creating original and adventurous music that is slowly making its way out of the underground.
English prog experimentalists The Fierce & The Dead have compiled a collection of songs from their back catalogue for a giveaway for the September issue of Prog. Non-subscribers can grab it from Bandcamp.
Don't be fooled by the dull title TFATD Sampler. It is carefully curated and properly sequenced album, ranging from their latest album News From The Invisible World all the way back to their first outing, the sprawling instrumental Part 1. Also: choice cuts from their live albums and single edits.
Chicago alternative rock band Midwestern Dirt are in a happy sad mood on their new single Sun's Going Down, reliving a Summer romance that didn't really take off, but became the source for bittersweet memories. With a recurring guitar motif as the main engine it will go down with fans of The Decemberists and Tame Impala - the song title is a nod to that band's Sun’s Coming Up. It is a track from their new album Twilight at a Burning Hill, due for release on August 18.
English quirky pop trio The Happy Somethings offer their new single Daisy Bracelet in two flavours: a psychedelic "yellow heart version" and a darker echo-heavy "petal version". Sometimes telling the story of a girl who does not fit in, but is always free, can't be done in two-and-a-half minutes, so they went for it again. The different backing tracks add different moods to the lyrics, and that changes the perspective a bit, which is a good thing indeed.
Chicago alternative rock band Midwestern Dirt reminisce about the annual, rather loud Air & Water Show in their hometown by way of wordplay on their new single, The Aaron Waters Show. The festivities are known for the booming aircraft making runs across the city and, while it is bit scary, it is also a reminder that Summer is reaching its peak. Which is no consolation at all when the singer's love life is apparently going South.
College rock stations with a soft spot for early 90s guitar bands will play the Hell out of this song. It is the lead single for their new album Twilight at a Burning Hill, due for release on August 18.
Winter At Sea is a kind of underground supergroup whose members share a love for drones, noise, ambient, and spoken word. Their debut EP Lorelei contains two lengthy explorations that dig deep: stumbling upon a morif and see how far it will go - and keep going after that. The title track moves at a glacier pace, speeding up every now and then, before settling into a slightly different groove. Uncross The Bridge starts out quite different, with a harsh, skewed rhythm kicking off the proceedings before going into slow moving prog metal.
As a first release Winter At Sea have managed to skip childhood and adolescence, and get straight to the vanguard of the thriving post-rock scene in the UK. Lorelei has collector's item written all over it. A photo and lyrics card is available via their website. A free cassette can be ordered via 3 Alveston Place.
Another episode has been added to the Phish Live Bait series. Vol. 20 features almost exclusively 1.0 recordings, with Ghost (8/3/18 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park – Alpharetta, GA) as the sole representative of the 3.0 era. Want to get deep and weird? Mike's Song > Bass Jam (5/2/94 Five Points South Music Hall – Birmingham, AL) is the one to go to.
Tracks:Live Bait Vol. 20 is a free download compiled by the band's archivist Kevin Shapiro.
George Bisharat who goes by the stage name Big Harp George, is offering an old school blues song for the Holiday Season as a free download. That Grinch Is Me was in early 2020, together with Bad Santa. With Derrick Martin (drums), Chris Burns (keyboards), and Kid Andersen (guitar) having his back, he got a big band vibe going that worked out really well. He has finished recording the 13 tracks for his upcoming fifth studio album and is already working on the next one.
