PRE-ORDER SQUARES WILL FALL

Listen to the a sample of the title track which features Justin Vernon singing as Jan sculpts and warps electronics and bass:

Best known as one half of the innovative German electronic duo Mouse on Mars, Jan St. Werner’s curriculum vitae is extensive and impressive. His musical efforts fall under a solo career (either as Lithops or under his own name) and his work with Markus Popp as Microstoria. Werner has also embarked on numerous prestigious endeavors in contemporary art and academia, having served as artistic director of STEIM, the Dutch studio for electro-instrumental music, presented works at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Ural Biennale, Venice Biennale, documenta Kassel, Lenbachhaus Munich, The Barbican London, and taught at MIT and AdBK Nuremberg. He is currently Professor at Folkwang University of the Arts. Werner’s latest album, Squares Will Fall, combines his mastery of inventive acoustics, performance, and production. Having been in the making for over a decade, the ambitious work finds collaborators in Justin Vernon, Sufjan Stevens, Ben Lanz, and John Colpitts, to name a few.

“Squares Will Fall” began in 2012 as an electronic composition lasting exactly 30 minutes, created to mark the 30th birthday of a friend. Over time, the piece continued to evolve, eventually forming the foundation for an improvisation by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Jan St. Werner during Mouse on Mars’s Dimensional People sessions at Vernon’s studio in Wisconsin. In 2021, “Squares Will Fall” assumed a new form as a multidirectional loudspeaker choreography created for the Ural Industrial Biennial. Three independent layers of the composition were transmitted through loudspeakers suspended via long ropes from the circus ceiling and were continuously repositioned by the performers, becoming active participants in the mixing process. The audience was free to wander through the venue, experiencing shifting perspectives of the work and creating their own recordings as personal documents of a composition that existed differently for every listener.

In 2026, Werner completed “Squares Will Fall” and created the first stereo mix at Mouse on Mars’s Paraverse Studios. Andi Toma, his Mouse on Mars partner, joined the final mixing sessions, contributing bass elements that subtly expanded the work’s sonic depth. The resulting stereo version brings together more than a decade of transformations, preserving the piece’s open, cut-up character while translating its spatial and performative origins into a form suitable for focused listening.

“Swamp Brains” is a purely generative composition, built primarily through granular synthesis and unfolding as an uncategorizable sonic organism. Constantly shifting and resisting stable form, the work inhabits a space between speculative sound design and abstract narrative. Its increasingly strange trajectory is guided by the voice of actor Roseanne Rubio, who narrates a fictional neuroscientific experiment. The text follows a metaphorical account of alien life forms that identify themselves as brains, beings capable of reproducing physical sensation and emotional intensity through electronic neural eruptions. The result is a work that moves between science fiction, cognitive speculation, and computer-generated sound.

“Flötotto” is derived from a live session led by Jan St. Werner at National Sawdust in New York. The original performance brought together Ben Lanz of The National and Beirut, drummer John Colpitts aka Kid Millions, clarinet virtuosos Christa Van Alstine and Rane Moore, as well as Sufjan Stevens performing on drum machine. Through an extensive editing process and computer-based sound transformation, Werner reshaped the material into a work that moves freely between improvisation and composition, acoustic performance and electronic hyperspace. “Flötotto” is an exuberant collage in which live interaction, post-production, and digital processing become inseparable parts of one single musical language.

Taken together as an album, the songs are a joyous musical adventure. Understanding the complexity of the songs’ origins is not required; as with all that he does, Werner’s love of music and collaboration shines through in this inventive and boundless listen. You can find the album on limited Clear Blue vinyl and on nifty gatefold CD, and all versions come with digital download code.

The full album will be out November 13 and findable in indie stores around the world, but you’re here so you might as well get ahold of it early! Find Squares Will Fall at the product page on Thrill Jockey or you can add it to your cart for tomorrow’s Bandcamp Friday over on the Mouse On Mars page.

PRE-ORDER SQUARES WILL FALL

2026 re-press of Millions Now Living Will Never Die! Now available!

GET YOUR COPY OF MILLIONS NOW LIVING

“Tortoise enabled the cross-pollination we take from granted today, drawing on dub, post-punk, weird folk, jazz-fusion, progressive rock and dance music to open a Pandora’s box of possibilities” - The Sunday Times

“One of the most heralded names in modern American rock music” - Clash Music

“When Tortoise emerged from the American punk/lo-fi scene in 1993, they redefined the possibilities of rock” - The Guardian

“Undoubtedly bridged the chasm between early-’90s grunge and the post-millennial guitar band renaissance” - Uncut

“They remain perennially relevant.” - Record Collector

Listen to Glass Museum, a beautiful track that’s served as an ear-opener for many over 30 years:

We got confirmation that we’ll soon be getting our shipment of the 2026 re-press of Tortoise’s timeless and foundational album Millions Now Living Will Never Die on black vinyl and clear with blue vinyl.

The jacket has a deluxe spot gloss treatment and the record comes with a two-sided inner sleeve. All versions come with a digital download code. We can’t tell you how quick these will swim out of our hands (we have to keep re-pressing it for a reason!) so grab your copy down below and grab one for a friend in need. We’ll ship orders as soon as we get them this month!

GET YOUR COPY OF MILLIONS NOW LIVING

Our 2026 goods! Check ‘em out for BC Friday!

Now that we’ve let you in on Squares Will Fall, all of our 2026 releases are officially announced! If you’re looking to celebrate Bandcamp Friday to start off your long weekend, here’s a recap of music to check out from our incredible artists from September through November!

Out September 25:

Jules Reidy - Clerestory
Features JACK Quartet performing Jules’s composition “Shadow Symmetric” on side A

Clerestory is a microtonal masterpiece. Frozen, stretched, mirrored music from the genius Berlin composer and performer.

Find Clerestory on Bandcamp here

Out October 9:

more eaze - valley and structure

The second amazing album we’ve put out from more eaze this year! She’ll be touring Europe and the US, and this album features SUPER SUPER limited remaining quantities of a special booklet of scores from the album.

Find valley and structure on Bandcamp

Out October 23:

Mike Reed’s Separatist Party - Sing the Color Blue

Chicago music titan Mike Reed pieces together a gorgeous collage from the beating hearts of the Chicago jazz scene with his band. Separatist Party consists of poet Marvin Tate, cornetist Ben LaMar Gay, and psych-drone trio Bitchin Bajas.

Find Sing the Color Blue on Bandcamp

Dis Fig - What To Make Of These Mortal Hands

The long-awaited solo album follow up from Felicia Chen aka Dis Fig! We love her raw punk energy, we love her vocal acrobatics, we love her incredible UKbass-steeped production!

Find Mortal Hands on Bandcamp

Out November 13:

The Body & Cel Genesis - Whole Wide World
The Body doing their suffocating industrial hijinks in the studio with Seth Manchester and friends - this time with digital hardcore group Cel Genesis! Just added more stock for Bandcamp day - we’ll seriously be sold out of the first color pressing soon. Listen to the lead single Candy Crush on their Bandcamp page & we’ll say no more.

Find Whole Wide World over on Bandcamp

Jan St. Werner - Squares Will Fall

You read it above! Creative electronic mastermind Jan St. Werner cutting, adjusting and pasting with contributions from Bon Iver, Beirut, Mats Gustafsson, John Colpitts and more!

Find Squares Will Fall on Bandcamp

New songs, an album release show, tour and more!

ORDER MERCURY

“...a stereo blitz of distorted strumming, whizzing arpeggios and screaming sustained tones” - The New York Times

“Few bands could pull off such an impressive balance of fast, ferocious, and fun.” - Stereogum

“The catchiest of space-rock melodies and anthems drenched in gnarly noise” - Brooklyn Rail

Starting off with real sound samples from NASA of solar winds, dive into the opener and title-track of the album, MERCURY:

Upper Wilds’s new album Mercury is officially out everywhere! You can hear the whole album of noisy, ecstatic, addictive rock as it was meant to be heard! Dan Friel and the band continue to push their space themed explorations with songs that are faster, fiercer, and filled with more riffs than ever before.

Mercury, the planet and the album’s moniker may be about death and burning, but that small barren planet blazing through the solar winds doesn’t stop moving.

A total anthem on this album is the new track Burning Bright - hear it for the first time HERE:

Or watch as they perform it live at The Old Franklin Schoolhouse in New Jersey:

The day after Dan’s birthday, the trio had a radio session on WFMU with Three Chord Monte. They played tunes from the record, were interviewed about their solar system series & their love of Yamaha amps, and you can still stream the radio session here:

WFMU SET + INTERVIEW

Because they know the energy of a live show can’t be matched without being in the room, Upper Wilds will be ripping through the new album in full for their upcoming album release show at Union Pool.

Or you can also catch them on tour from NY to DC in November - see dates here, and head to their artist page for tickets:

9/15 - Brooklyn, NY at Union Pool (album release show with Editrix & Chaser)
11/11 - Kingston, NY at Tubby’s
11/12 - Brooklyn, NY at Hart Bar
11/13 - Swarthmore, PA at Warehouse 3
11/14 - Frederick, MD at Cafe Nola
11/15 - Washington, DC at Simple Underground

TICKETS

You can find your copy of Mercury on metallic silver LP and compact disk (silver at least on one side!) at our web store or at indie record stores near you. All versions in stores and shipping from Thrill Jockey now, and all versions come with a download coupon! Buy it from Thrill Jockey and get the entire album downloaded now.

ORDER MERCURY

Shout out to Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton NJ, Used Kids in Columbus, and Wuxtry Records in Athens for carrying the heat!

And shout out to our mail order customers that have been spinning their records and CDs for weeks already!

OUT NOW! Black Duck with Elena Setién’s stunning collaboration of some heavy hitters!

This album is a dream and has been on repeat for weeks here at Thrill jockey HQ!

ORDER BLACK DUCK WITH ELENA SETIEN

“[Setién] has a knack for turning general observations about the sad state of things into unshakable acknowledgements” - The Wire

“Black Duck’s sprawling improv and cosmic Americana is the product of three experienced musicians deeply in tune with one another, eager to travel anywhere the spirit takes them” - AllMusic

“Setién makes each song feel as vivid and atmospheric as a film score” - Pitchfork

“If you can imagine an extremely chill, relaxed version of Horses-era Patti Smith, that’s how this sounds.” - Stereogum

“an absorbing collection of atmospheric, even cinematic, Midwestern-noir” - Premier Guitar

“gorgeous ... MacKay and McCombs twining together on guitar while Rumback sketches out rhythms, or involved abstractions at the kit” - Uncut

Listen to “Sunshine Unlimited”, a bright and bluesy track that shimmers and matches the album art so well:

Right alongside the new release from Upper Wilds, the debut album from this supremely talented supergroup is finally out for you to hear! The self-titled debut from Black Duck with Elena Setién is now streaming and can be found in indie stores around the world on LP and CD.

Each musician in this collaboration is a skilled songwriter with a long list of accolades and accomplishments. Elena, Doug, Bill and Charles have been honing their crafts for decades, and when they got together they communed to make an album that is all sorts of light, dark, serious, psychedelic, in, out, and totally pushes all the right buttons!

Each member stars as primary composer and director somewhere on the tracklist — plus there are tracks that were only developed as a whole unit, like “I Am On The Other Side” and “Cactus Mirror.”

“Duck Walk” was written by drummer Charles - Elena calls it a grand finale with hope and humor.

“Connects by Water” was composed for the group by Doug, and he takes a searing guitar solo that Charles says is “so undeniably Doug.”

The Wire shared love for the album with their advance copy of the album: “Setién has a knack for turning general observations about the sad state of things into unshakable acknowledgements that every act of hate is directed against somebody’s baby, and the authority to turn an Emily Dickinson poem about psychological unrest into a gospel tour de force.”

Listen to Funeral in my brain right here:

Elena and Black Duck are working on a tour! We can’t wait - but in the meantime catch Black Duck live at Sound & Gravity on Sunday, September 6th. And buy Josh our mail order guru a cold one - he has been working hard shipping all these out!

Get tix now if you haven’t already!

TICKETS

We want to give a shout out to the awesome Reckless Records and Rattleback Records for Stocking the album in our hometown of Chicago. More shout outs to Ragged Records in Davenport IA, and Breakaway in Austin. Spain and Portugal fans can mail order from our good friends at FLUR! All versions come with a download coupon, and of course you can order a copy on LP or CD directly to your door. Just click the button below - and get an instant download of the album - no waiting!

ORDER BLACK DUCK WITH ELENA SETIEN

Dis Fig’s new single “Psaltery” out NOW

And she takes us behind the scenes for a look at the artwork

We’ve been blasting Dis Fig’s first single from her new album since it was announced a month ago, and now we’ve got a 2nd single to bump! “Psaltery” represents another piece of the story that is What To Make Of These Mortal Hands.

Listen to Dis Fig’s new single “Psaltery” - a track that slowly boils with sadness & gauzy tension before it blooms into a flower of distorted glory:

The track name comes from an instrument that Felicia picked up while in Italy. She was hitting an out of the way gear shop, while touring with The Body, on the hunt for a cymbal to replace the one that snapped… She became enamored with the psaltery. Traditionally bowed, Felicia plucks and strums it on this track, making it her own.

“The psaltery is interesting, it’s not an instrument I’ve had the chance to see anyone else playing… I love picking up instruments with no intention of perfecting them, and finding my own way of tuning it and finessing it.”

We got some behind the scenes shots from Najla Said’s photoshoot for the album art, which beautifully mirrors the question posed by the album at large: What To Make Of These Mortal Hands? By crafting clay sculptures, picking up totally new instruments, and weaving a story of electronics and voice into an album, Dis Fig shows how she answers that question!

Psaltery is streaming now along with the first single “The Account feat. the wind between” which caught the attention of The Guardian, Resident Advisor, The Line of Best Fit, The Quietus. You can listen to both singles NOW to get a taste of what the full album has to offer.

Order on maroon vinyl or on CD and it’ll be delivered to your door before release day, October 23rd. Buy it now and get an instant download of the two singles, the entire album on release day. All versions come with a download coupon.

ORDER WHAT TO MAKE OF THESE MORTAL HANDS

Midori Hirano makes the soundtrack for Björk

Two new singles “The Juniper Tree” + “Good Bye” and new live dates!

We’ve been in love with Midori Hirano’s solo full-length album OTONOMA since February, and we knew a cinematic score would be a perfect fit for her dramatic and emotional sensibilities. In association with Viernulvier’s awesome Videodroom series (also see more eaze’s upcoming soundtrack for Nadja!) Midori crafted a moving new soundtrack for the movie The Juniper Tree!

This movie from 1990 was the acting debut of iconoclastic Icelandic musician Björk, and Midori’s work is a devastating and beautiful score for a terrific movie filmed in black and white.

Two new singles from this soundtrack are available to listen now, and Midori has several shows upcoming including a live score performance with a screening of The Juniper Tree. Listen to “Good Bye” and the title track “The Juniper Tree”, grab tickets to see Midori live, and pre-order a digital download of the album now.

Sep 2 - Berlin, DE - Silent Green *
Sep 12 - Santiago de Compostela, ES - WOS Festival [tickets]
Sep 18 - Stockholm, SE - Lumen Project @ Markuskyrkan [tickets]
Oct 9 - Braga, PT - GNRation performing OTONOMA

* The Juniper Tree album release concert with live score

ORDER THE JUNIPER TREE

ORDER OTONOMA

Mike Reed’s Separatist Album Release Party!

First single “New Angels” is now streaming

ORDER SING THE COLOR BLUE

Mike Reed’s Separatist Party has officially announced the new album Sing the Color Blue, with first single “New Angels” streaming everywhere! Full album out October 23rd!

Subscribers got an early jump with our newsletter last week… as we have seen a steady pre-order for the album with the blue copies being very limited..… don’t say we did not warn you!

We are so pleased to announce that full band will be performing an album release show, live in Chicago at Constellation on October 9th! See you in the front row!

We know this is just the beginning of all the hype for this awesome record — we can’t wait for you all to hear the rest of it! Keep your ears tuned.

Mike Reed is the curator for Sound & Gravity, happening in Chicago starting NEXT WEEK!

We’ve already mentioned that Black Duck is booked to perform on Sunday the 6th, and Setting is scheduled for the 5th - the festival also features performances from other all-star and avant-garde artists on the cutting edge including Grouper, Lee Ranaldo & Leah Singer, Marc Ribot, American Analog Set, Ana Roxanne, Yellow Swans and many more.

Expect to hear more from Mike Reed and his Separatist Party soon - you can read more about the album HERE!

Order a copy on translucent blue LP or CD and get the single now! All versions come with a download coupon and you will get the CD or record before the release date, and the full download email on release date - what a deal!

ORDER SING THE COLOR BLUE

Brand new album from more eaze shipping now!

The new more eaze CDs at our warehouse and now they’re shipping to you! Hold one in your own hands, cause you gotta get this one in a physical format!

Not only does it have sweet gatefold art and design, super limited booklet of scores and arrangements from the album, a digital instant download code, and the good conscience of supporting your favorite artists with a purchase instead of streaming…

….but in this case, you’ll get to hear the music in advance of anyone else!

It’s already arrived at some customers’ doors, and the digital version won’t be out until October, and very limited copies available in stores.

So hit the button below to grab your copy. As the only other place your likely to find it is on her tour. It’s a unique and gorgeous album - mari is one of world’s most interesting electroacoustic-pop composers today.

ORDER VALLEY AND STRUCTURE

Marielle’s West Coast summer days

Marielle V Jakobsons shared some kaleidoscopic photos from her tour from her West Coast Jaunt (stay tuned, she is not done yet). We can’t stop listening to The Patterns Lost to Air as its delicate details continue to reveal themselves.

These moody and refracted pics give us serious FOMO as we languish in the midwest - all we can do is put the record on the turntable again, and wrap ourselves in this beautiful blanket of sounds…

Listen to “Without You Inside Time” for some meditation and contemplation Marielle helming the violin, Moog, and wurlitzer:

The Patterns Lost to Air is an awesome ambient and contemporary classical album available on turquoise LP and on CD - all formats come with a download coupon and buy it from us and you get an additional download instantly.

LISTEN TO THE PATTERNS LOST TO AIR

Glenn Jones tours the US and Europe!

Our favorite troubadour Glenn Jones is taking his fingerpicking, lovely foot stools, and special capos on the road both in North America… and for the first time in ages - overseas!

How long has it been since this rogue set foot on European soil?

Ask him yourself at the show!

We’re sure he’ll have lots of stories and quips as he travels through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium. No ticket links yet, but take note of when he’ll be in your neck of the woods:

North America tour dates:
Sep. 16 - Montreal, QC - La Sotterenea
Sep. 18 - Toronto, ON - House show
Sep. 19 - Guelph, ON - La Poche
Sep. 20 - Hamilton, ON - The Gate
Sep. 21 - Detroit, MI - Trinosophes
Sep. 22 - Toledo, OH - Robinwood Concert House
Sep. 23 - Kalamazoo, MI - The Glow Hall
Sep. 24 - Chicago, IL - Constellation
Sep. 25 - Lexington, KY - Institute 193
Sep. 26 - Pittsburgh, PA - Acoustic Music Works
Sep. 27 - Rochester, NY - Carbon Records Festival

Europe tour dates:
Oct. 14 - Savona, IT - Raindogs
Oct. 15 - Regio Emilia, IT - Bar Futura
Oct. 16 - Gallarate, IT - Caru Vinyl
Oct. 17 - Chiari, IT - ADMR
Oct. 18 - Castelfranco, IT - Casa del Popolo
Oct. 19 - Milano, IT - Arci Bellezza
Oct. 21 - Zurich, CH - Walcheturm
Oct. 22 - Nuremberg, DE - Analog Treff
Oct. 23 - Kiedrich, DE - Phantom Limbo HQ
Oct. 24 - Liege, DE - La Cercle du Laveu
Oct. 25 - Cologne, DE - 674 FM
Oct. 26 - Ghent, BE - Cafe Trefpunt
Oct. 27 - Groningen, NL - tbd
Oct. 29 - Brussels, BE - AB Club
Oct. 30 - Amsterdam, NL - OCCII
Oct. 31 - Antwerp, BE - Dropa House Residency

All shows are with Liam Grant, another scion of American primitive folk.

Here’s footage of Glenn in Chicago - we’re psyched to get to see him again and hear more of his tales.

And dip into his Thrill Jockey catalog:

Dig your fingers in!

ORDER SING THE COLOR BLUE

We’ve been seriously dying to share news of this record with you. From Chicago music LEGENDS drummer/bandleader Mike Reed, poet Marvin Tate, cornetist Ben LaMar Gay, and ambient jammers Bitchin Bajas, we’ve got a new album packed with contemporary exploratory jazz, spoken word, kosmische and beyond.

We introduce: Sing the Color Blue by Mike Reed’s Separatist Party!
Set for worldwide release on October 23rd.

Soak up the Chicago Sound - listen to “New Angels” the first single from Sing the Color Blue:

Mike Reed first established himself as an institution in the avant Chicago jazz scene in the 2000s playing drums with the INCREDIBLE acts like Exploding Star Orchestra, with Bill Dixon, Jeff Parker, Wadada Leo Smith and many many more. He became the founding director of the Pitchfork Music Festival (curating all of their fine lineups over the years!), he is the current programming chair of the Chicago Jazz Festival and also the owner and director of Chicago’s beloved performing arts venues Constellation and Hungry Brain. He’s got an insane track record, and unimpeachable good taste.

Listen to the first single “New Angels” above, and read the album bio for the album below. Be among the first fine few who preorder it on CD or very limited translucent blue LP - by subscribing to our newsletter, you get first news of our exciting new releases like this one…. so you can always put your friends on to the new stuff.

Mike Reed’s Separatist Party returns on Sing the Color Blue, a recording assembled over years of sessions, rehearsals, false starts, and renewed approaches, eventually becoming a document of both persistence and transformation. The group’s second album, the record brings back together Mike Reed with Rob Frye, Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan (all of the trio Bitchin Bajas), Marvin Tate, and Ben LaMar Gay in a set that moves between composition, reconstruction, improvisation, and song form.

Part of what gives Sing the Color Blue its character is the unusual length and shape of its creation. Elements of the album reach back across nearly a decade, with initial band tracking beginning in January 2022 at Constellation in Chicago and the majority of the recording completed between November 2023 and April 2024 at Electrical Audio. Because the project depended on a deep archive of Marvin Tate sessions, as well as the difficult schedules of core collaborators including Cooper Crain and Ben LaMar Gay, the completion of the record unfolded gradually, with Reed returning to the material repeatedly until the album’s final structure revealed itself.

The album includes both a cover of the avant garde cellist Tristan Honsinger’s “Restless in Pieces” and an arrangement of Conlon Nancarrow’s Study for Player Piano No. 6, placing the record in dialogue with two very different but equally iconoclastic minds. Elsewhere, the vocal material is treated with striking flexibility. Some pieces were captured live in-studio performances, including the opening track “Closing” and “Last Night on Earth,” preserving the volatility and immediacy of the band in real time. Other tracks, including “Tea Leaves Pt. 2,” “If I Were a Song,” and “New Angels,” grew from sessions Reed had recorded with Marvin Tate over a period of years.

“Over the years I reordered several hours of Marvin for various projects. During the sessions for this album we tried a lot of vocal material. When I couldn’t find the right direction, I would go back to these earlier sessions for potential source material.”

Rather than treating those sessions as fixed songs, Reed used them as a source library. He reassembled fragments of Tate’s words and performances into new lyrical structures, often changing their original meaning completely, and in some cases provided Tate with melodic lines to sing against or within that material. The result is a record where authorship feels layered rather than singular: songs emerge from live interaction, archival excavation, editing, rearrangement, and re-composition at once.

The title Sing the Color Blue also reflects that spirit of transformation. Reed has said the phrase grew partly out of a friend’s critique of his nearly all-blue wardrobe and his longstanding attraction to Bauhaus aesthetics. He was also struck by a phrase from a documentary in which a historian described people being instructed to “dance the color blue.” Reed reshaped that line into Sing the Color Blue, a title that suggests synesthesia, instruction, abstraction, and also a subtle relation to the blues and to Chicago’s musical history. In that sense, the title names the album’s larger project: turning mood into form, color into sound, and fragments of lived time into music.

We can’t wait for you to hear it - this incredibly deep and adventurous album is available for preorder starting TODAY and you’ll be able to hear the full thing when it’s out on October 23rd. If you pre-order from our website, you’ll get it in the mail before it’s available anywhere in stores or on streaming! You will get the singles as soon as they’re released!

ORDER SING THE COLOR BLUE

The Body & Cel Genesis is officially announced! New track now streaming!

The Body and Cel Genesis’s new collab record is officially announced and people are losing their minds - multiple calls for “perfect collab”, “they’ve done it again”, and “track goes soooo hard” spotted, with shout-outs from Zac Jones of Nothing, Dis Fig, Hisham of Kill Alters, The Flenser, Fully Cooked and more, and the excitement only builds from here.

Test pressings were just dropped off TODAY, and they sound SICK. Vinyl and CD presales are flying off the shelves — the smoke color vinyl is limited in quantity and getting LOW. It would be gone, but the band put up some of their copies…. Grab it before it’s officially out of stock.

We’ve got more videos and more songs to share with you before Whole Wide World is officially out on Friday the 13th of November. Listen to Candy Crush….. we have it on repeat!! ‘Til then.

ORDER WHOLE WIDE WORLD

Marisa Anderson performs “Hamd” live - UK & Ireland dates this September!

GET TICKETS TO SEE MARISA ANDERSON

Watch Marisa’s incredible performance of “Hamd” from The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music, vol.1, and grab your tickets to see her live if you’ll be in the UK or Ireland in September. The stories she shares with the audience brings an amazing new depth to each song.

Marisa made a cross-country trek performing in the US this year already, but something in the wind says she’s not done yet…. Keep an eye out for more North America dates soon, and grab a copy of The Anthology if you haven’t already - it would be an awesome piece of world music to add to any collection. Available on LP + digital download and CD + digital download below.

ORDER THE ANTHOLOGY

Wooden Shjips: Back to Land repress ahoy!

Feeling lost at sea? Climb aboard our Wooden Shjip ‘cause we’re headed Back to Land! The 2026 LP repress comes in a new vinyl color with deluxe die-cut O Card and gatefold jacket. Listen to the track “These Shadows” for a taste - the syrupy guitar lead will leave you weak in the knees.

“Johnson’s music has joined the microdots between Spacemen 3 and the Grateful Dead, Suicide and The Doors, Crazy Horse and Neu!” - MOJO

Back to Land was the first record written after Ripley Johnson (do you already love Rose City Band and the Barry Walker Unit?) and Omar Ahsanuddin moved to Oregon, so you can definitely feel an earthier mood shift compared to their albums written on the SF Bay, but it’s still charged with zaps of psych rock & roll modernism. It’s got some all-timers, and the title track “Back to Land” is a perfect jammer to throw on the turntable at a late-summer party:

“Full of fuzz-pedal jams that capture moments of fleeting happiness in dark days.” - Pitchfork

We’ve always loved the super plush art of this record - there’s a die-cut O-card outer where you can see just a preview of the kaleidoscopic jacket hidden underneath, and you can take the O-card off to get a hit of the wavy gatefold artwork.

“Wooden Shjips definitely raised the bar for modern psychedelic rock.” - Ghettoblaster

This edition is pressed to limited Opaque Blue vinyl and includes, as always, a digital download code of the boogie. LPs are shjipping directly to your door now, with your digital version available instantly.

GO BACK TO LAND

Add What To Make Of These Mortal Hands to your record pulls

As record collectors, there’s little more that is satisfying than being able to look at a library that includes a broad scope of styles, moods, designs and decades. Dis Fig’s What To Make Of These Mortal Hands fills a unique spot: heavy sub-bass influenced by UK dub, the distorted cymbals and crushing electronics of industrial music, vocals that are liftingly beautiful, and in turns sick with rage.

The album art features Najla Said’s photographs of hands, sculpture and clay, and the inner sleeve has decayed and distorted lyrics and notes designed by GENG PTP.

What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is available on maroon LP exclusively to mail order customers, and in limited quantities! All LPs and CDs come with a digital download card inside. Keep building your analog music collection! Tune in for Dis Fig’s next preview of the album with a new single “Psaltery” next week!

ORDER WHAT TO MAKE OF THESE MORTAL HANDS

Catalog Highlight: Hidden Path by Plankton Wat

Plankton Wat’s Hidden Path was recorded almost entirely at home on a Tascam 4 Track, and released in a limited run of cassettes in 2017 before being given a wider LP reissue in 2022. The cassette medium suits the material, as this record is comprised of some of the most relaxed, personal material Plankton Wat has released to date. On Hidden Path, Plankton Wat (the solo project of Dewey Mahood) dives deeper into his bag of kosmische musik, 70’s pop, folk standards, and lo-fi dub to create an intimate portrait of creative passion.

At the time of the 2022 reissue, Dewey reflected on the album’s title and themes, saying “It became about my life, and the path that I’d chosen for myself…I’ve played guitar and bass in bands continually since I was in high school … and basically been immersed in underground, DIY music my entire life, so this is the hidden path that I’ve taken.” The title also calls to mind the disparate musical reference points for the record, which at different times calls to mind classic Krautrock, psychedelic folk, and the lighter side of 80’s post-punk. These musical pursuits are all their own “hidden paths”, just out of view of the mainstream and always waiting for the curious listener to explore. In this way, Hidden Path also serves as a gateway into Mahood’s creative world; the loose, lighter-than-air song constructions presenting themself to the listener as if they were being created in that moment. Mahood’s work with Eternal Tapestry, Jackie-O Motherfucker, and Rose City Band are all braided together in these free-wheeling compositions, inviting the audience to pick up a musical thread and start pulling. For instance, on “A Window In The Mirror,” you can pick out touches of Manuel Göttsching, CAN, The Durutti Column, or Fripp and Eno’s No Pussyfooting (the iconic cover of which is alluded to in the song’s title.)

Listen to “A Window in the Mirror” from Hidden Path

On Hidden Path, Plankton Wat showcases the rare ability to synthesize one’s influences into something cohesive and greater than the sum of its parts. In tying together many diverse musical “paths”, Mahood demonstrates that a richer life is possible through constant dedication to art and creativity. As he mentioned before the reissue: “It is a political album in the sense of saying it’s ok to opt out of everything mainstream, you don’t need a great job, or much money at all to be happy and feel satisfaction in your life. My music and art are about rejecting anything that seems normal or status quo or of the modern capitalist world. This music is about life outside of all that.”

READ MORE ABOUT HIDDEN PATH

Plankton Wat will be traveling down the west coast for the next week for some awesome solo sets! Catch Dewey at the following locales:

Aug. 20 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Crepe Place
Aug. 22 - San Francisco, CA - Make-Out Room
Aug. 23 - Oakland, CA - Thee Stork Club
Aug. 25 - Arcata, CA - Miniplex
Aug. 28 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom

“[more eaze] stares down the ephemeral with tenderness and camaraderie...”
- Pitchfork

“The album folds hyperpop sensibilities, pedal-steel romanticism and folkish intimacy into a fully formed language...”
- The Wire

“...the intimate, voyeuristic tone of more eaze’s music puts me in mind of Arthur Russell.”
- Resident Advisor

“No doubt More Eaze’s compositions are coloured with a vibrant palette of weird sonics, but sneaking into these are stealthy, lovely melodies.”
- The Quietus

“God bless mari rubio! Country, pop, ambient—the multi-instrumentalist Texan does it all…”
- Paste

“...at the forefront of a niche but passionate experimental scene.”
- The FADER

Brooklyn-based more eaze, aka Mari Rubio, released her solo Thrill Jockey debut, sentence structure in the country, this spring to critical acclaim from Pitchfork, The Wire, Bandcamp Daily, Paste, Our Culture, and more. Rubio is a prolific and burgeoning composer, producer, instrumentalist and songwriter within indie and experimental scenes, having worked with Water Damage, claire rousay, Chanel Beads, Tasha, and Faye Webster.

Today more eaze officially announces her new album, valley and structure, out October 9, 2026 on Thrill Jockey. Born from live performance and an ongoing fascination with repetition, harmonization, and the ways small musical gestures can transform through context, the album is Rubio’s purest distillation yet of the exploratory work she has pursued over the past year. Rubio composed and produced the record herself, performing alongside trusted collaborators Wendy Eisenberg, Jade Guterman, Conner Simmons, Nora Stanley, and Sammy Weissberg.

Along with the announcement, more eaze shares the single “what’s wrong with the structure?“ The track is composed like a minimalist jazz lead sheet.

Rubio shares on “what’s wrong with the structure?”: “I really love this performance of this piece because it highlights the ensemble. Everyone is doing some really interesting improvisation within the framework of the score. I also did a lot of post-production on this piece that I think further served to carve out a sense of dynamics and an overall arc within the repetition of the piece. This piece in particular feels like a merging of many different strains of my work into something new and alien.”

valley and structure expands into new horizons that coalesce into a variety of arrangements and formations. Where sentence structure tears and rebuilds, valley and structure branches out, forever actualizing in different shapes and contexts. Though Rubio has previously demonstrated an inclination towards repetition and minimalism, valley and structure stretches simple ideas to their logical extremes through small bits of connective tissue. “I’ve always been really interested in the idea of the ostinato in music,” shares Rubio. “I felt like I unlocked some forbidden secret as a child when I first discovered that a bassline or melodic figure could stay the same while other elements reharmonized or changed around it.”

valley and structure is available in very limited quantities on CD only, accompanied by a book of the scores.

more eaze will be making festival appearances at Hopscotch, Talk Low, and Le Guess Who? this fall. In addition, Rubio is embarking on a solo EU and UK tour before heading off on a North American run with Philly band Friendship.

TOUR DATES

9/1 - Glasgow, UK @ Glad Café

9/2 - Leeds, UK @ Wharf Chambers

9/11 - Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival

9/26 - Cincinnati, OH @ Talk Low Festival

10/2 - Florence, IT @ Centro Pecci Prato

10/4 - Rome, IT @ Trenta Formiche

10/11 - Ghent, BE @ Viernulvier - Miry Theatre (live scoring of Nadja)

10/15 - London, UK @ Vespers

10/16 - Madrid, ES @ Conde Duque - Auditorium (Delicatessen/ Soundset Series)

11/7 - Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who?

12/3 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace *

12/4 – Buffalo, NY @ The Rec Room *

12/5 – Kingston, NY @ Assembly *

12/6 – New York, NY @ LPR *

12/8 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church *

12/9 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat *

12/10 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *

12/11 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre *

12/12 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Purgatory) *

12/13 – Asheville, NC @ Revival *

* supporting Friendship

Upper Wilds release a new song for you, “Reaper,“ ahead of their soon to be everywhere album Mercury, out August 28. The track has been on Heavy Rotation in the office, what are you waiting for?!?

The track features the incredible Jeff Tobias (Modern Nature, Thee Reps) on a dizzying electronic wind instrument (EWI), harkening back to Friel’s own circuit-bent synthesizer glissandos.

Dan let us in on the making of “Reaper”:

“Reaper is about as lighthearted as you can get with a song about trying to outrun death. Our narrator laces up his shoes, and really likes his odds this time. Sonically it’s a great platform for us to stretch out and collaborate with Jeff Tobias, who has now contributed to multiple Wilds albums (as well as some of my solo releases). Jeff had put together a new rig combining his electronic wind instrument (EWI) and a set of pedals and outboard gear that allows him to rip as he usually does on sax, but sounding totally alien.”

Along with the track release, Upper Wilds have announced an East Coast tour, kicking it off with an album release show at Union Pool on September 15 with support from Editrix and Chaser.

Tour dates can be found below, with more to be announced soon.
Mercury is shipping now and hits stores and TIDAL / Apple / Spotify August 28.

Sep. 15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool * [tickets]
Nov. 11 - Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s #
Nov. 12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Hart Bar #
Nov. 13 - Swarthmore, PA @ Warehouse 3 ^
Nov. 14 - Frederick, MD @ Cafe Nola ^
Nov. 15 - Washington, DC @ Simple Underground ^

* ALBUM RELEASE SHOW w/ Editrix and Chaser
# w/ Axis:Sova
^ w/ Shadow Riot

Mercurial metallic silver vinyl and CD Shipping NOW!

All versions come with download coupons— order and get any available singles instantly, as well as automatically with the whole album on August 28th!

ORDER MERCURY

Black Duck and Elena Setién release “Funeral in My Brain”

Black Duck and Elena Setién share new song “Funeral in My Brain” and interpretation of a poem by Emily Dickinson. KLOF magazine and Stereogum are loving it, and so are we:

“Black Duck with Elena Setién” turns Dickinson’s darkest poem
surreal and fearless”
- KLOF Mag

“a gorgeous six-minute reverie”
- STEREOGUM

“The recently released single, “Funeral In My Brain,” offers a glimpse into this collaborative masterpiece. Inspired by the Dickinson poem, the track is a six-minute odyssey that transports listeners to a realm of tranquility and reflection. The comparison to Patti Smith’s “Horses” era is intriguing, suggesting a blend of poetic storytelling and a relaxed, yet powerful, musical delivery.”

The Wire described Setien as having the “authority to turn an Emily Dickinson poem about psychological unrest into a gospel tour de force.”

Setién herself explains: “This one is a funeral, but a surrealistic one in some way. In a sense, as a performer, and as a listener, I lose fear of death and just embrace it.”

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading - treading - till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through -

Black Duck and Elena Setién is available CD or limited Coke Bottle Clear. The Cover painting is by Leslie Baum and the fully artworked inner sleeves feature photos of the recording session. All versions come with a download coupon. Order now and get any available singles instantly, as well as the whole album emailed on August 28th!

LPS and CDS are shipping now!

CHICAGO - Sound & Gravity Festival is on the horizon!

Black Duck is set to perform at Judson & Moore on September 6th

Setting will be at Beat Kitchen on the 5th.

They will join other Thrillers such as Walt McClements, and Jim White, as well as Hamid Drake also performing at the festival.

SOUND & GRAVITY TICKETS

ORDER BLACK DUCK WITH ELENA

more eaze’s announces new tour

more eaze just announced her new album valley and structure, steeped in the influences of post-minimalism and her own past work. The record is composed, produced, and performed by Mari, featuring additional players Wendy Eisenberg, Jade Guterman, Conner Simmons, Nora Stanley, and Sammy Weissberg.

more eaze shares the single “what’s wrong with the structure?“

Rubio shares on “what’s wrong with the structure?”:

“I really love this performance of this piece because it highlights the ensemble. Everyone is doing some really interesting improvisation within the framework of the score. I also did a lot of post-production on this piece that I think further served to carve out a sense of dynamics and an overall arc within the repetition of the piece. This piece in particular feels like a merging of many different strains of my work into something new and alien.

more eaze is hitting the road, including stops at Hopscotch, Talk Low, and Le Guess Who? with more to be announced. See you there, and if you are in Rome, or Ghent, or London please send us pics and show notes! Help us with our FOMO!

9/1 - Glasgow, UK @ Glad Café [tickets]
9/2 - Leeds, UK @ Wharf Chambers [tickets]
9/11 - Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival [tickets]
9/26 - Cincinnati, OH @ Talk Low Festival [tickets]
10/2 - Florence, IT @ Centro Pecci Prato
10/4 - Rome, IT @ Trenta Formiche
10/11 - Ghent, BE @ Viernulvier - Miry Theatre (live scoring of Nadja) [tickets]
10/15 - London, UK @ Vespers
11/7 - Utrecht, NL @ Le Guess Who?
12/3 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace *
12/4 – Buffalo, NY @ The Rec Room *
12/5 – Kingston, NY @ Assembly *
12/6 – New York, NY @ LPR *
12/8 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church *
12/9 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
12/10 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
12/11 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre *
12/12 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade (Purgatory) *
12/13 – Asheville, NC @ Revival *

* supporting Friendship

valley and structure is available on CD, and a SUPER limited number will come with mari’s scores for the work. There are less than 100 flagged to go to our favorite indie stores, so now is your best chance at adding this incredibly one-of-a-kind CD to your collection!

With your purchase you get a digital download of the album, and an instant download of the single.

ORDER VALLEY AND STRUCTURE

Take a tour of Jules Reidy’s immersive art exhibition in Sweden

JACK quartet commissioned a composition by Jules Reidy. Jules did that and so much more.

The new work “Shadow Symmetric” was premiered in New York by the JACK Quartet, and it was so well received the quartet recorded it. On top of that, Jules created 5 more pieces for to make the upcoming album Clerestory.

Restless Jules made the immersive art installation Inside, Crystals and Circuitry with its two accompanying musical pieces Clerestory Windows I & II, as well as the pieces Clerestory Windows III - V which were developed in residency at Pioneer Works in New York.

“They’re using related harmonic materials but exploring them in a different mode - whether that be through physical materials (glass surfaces, transducers, transducer speakers) or instruments (acoustic / electric guitar, midi instruments) or physical spaces / speaker placements (corridors with staggered speakers, rooms with certain resonant frequencies).”

Take a walk with Jules through the installation Inside, Crystals and Circuitry by Jules for the anorak artist collective. Thanks Tom Rosenberg who documented the exhibit on film just for you!

Audio featured is “Clerestory Windows I”, a MIDI version of the Shadow Symmetric composition that was played in the room with the installation of transducers on glass, with spotlights pointed at them to produce natural light shadows which, Jules says: “despite their cartoonish appearance seem to be more real than the surfaces themselves.”

Audio featured is “Clerestory Windows II”, an acoustic piece that played in the corridor leading to an image by photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková. This image is a flash photo in a mirrored frame, which is tied to the installations conceptual focus: “surfaces that act as mirrors / windows and mics / speakers at once - both amplifying and reflecting.” Jules also performed this piece live on guitar at the gallery’s opening.

Shadow Symmetric and its counterparts in Clerestory Windows and Inside, Crystals and Circuitry all form a beautiful study of shadow, transparency and refractivity, forms of uncanniness and clarity. The music on Clerestory is a deep, brilliant and dreamy architecture available on vinyl and CD which include a write-up by Francis Plagne and a diagram of the score for Shadow Symmetric and the fundamental frequencies used in the piece. See more and order below - you get a digital version with all physical purchases.

ORDER CLERESTORY

Aseethe announce a fall tour with pulverizing new songs

Aseethe announced that they will be touring in October playing ALL NEW songs!

Word has it they have gone into Electrical Audio (the iconically vertical B Room) and an album is in the works…

You know what to do -

Sept. 2 - Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen
Oct. 7 - Columbia, MO - PDM
Oct. 8 - Tulsa, OK - Whittier Bar [tickets]
Oct. 9 - Lawrence, KC - Farewell
Oct. 10 - Dallas, TX - Double Wide
Oct. 11 - Austin, TX - Lost Well
Oct. 12 - Lafayette, LA - Freetown Boom Boom Room
Oct. 13 Baton Rouge, LA - Mid City Ballroom
Oct. 14 New Orleans, LA - Broadside
Oct. 15 Memphis, TN - Hi Tone [tickets]
Oct. 16 Birmingham, AL - True Story Brewing
Oct. 17 St Louis, MO - Sinkhole

Grab your ticket here:

ASEETHE ON TOUR

Come ON! Catch UP!

Been busy sleeping on the beach? Sleeping at work? Or getting in those bike rides and long walks?

Let us catch you up on some of our latest releases and new represses!

Body Cel Genesis
Whole Wide World

BRAND NEW. Already sold out & restocked!

This record isn’t even officially announced to press yet and the Smoke LPs are going going going… we have restocked twice so don’t sleep on this one. CDs are not far behind. It’s selling out before it’s even announced.

I mean, listen to the single:

…because we know once this cat is out of the bag - these will be gone - grab it now.

ORDER WHOLE WIDE WORLD

Marisa Anderson
The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music vol.1

Land & Sea sold out! Special Green Lion vinyl repress available!

She is heading to Europe on tour, having left the collective jaws of all of us who saw a U.S. show on the floor. Go go go if you can!

Sep. 3 - London, UK - Theatreship [tickets]
Sep. 4 - London, UK - Chats Palace [tickets]
Sep. 6 - Dorset, UK - Blandford Forum at Larmer Tree Gardens (End of the Road Festival) [tickets]
Sep. 8 - Glasgow, UK - Glad Cafe [tickets]
Sep. 9 - Kinsale, IE - Prim’s Bookshop
Sep. 10 - Cork, IE - University College Cork (UCC) [tickets]
Sep. 11 - Kerry, IE - Tobar Naofa
Sep. 12 - Dublin, IE - Cobblestone [tickets]
Sep. 13 - Belfast, UK - Crescent Arts Centre / Belfast Guitar Festival [tickets]

The Anthology was featured in New York Times, The Guardian, The Quietus, Mojo, The Wire and so sooo many more…

Listening to The Anthology is one thing, but don’t miss out on Marisa’s incisive commentary and stories she shared in the incredible liner notes for a fuller picture.

Grab a copy on the newly repressed Green Lion LP and on the affordable and portable CD.

This is an absolutely essential album.

ORDER THE ANTHOLOGY

Big|Brave
in grief or in hope

Northern Lights sold out! Clear Pink restocked!

BIG|BRAVE continue to break ground with new instrumentation and new approaches. in grief or in hope has been drawing deep appreciation from fans who have been with the ever-evolving group for more than a decade, and their constant touring for the past 3 months has served as a cool introduction to those who are just tapping in. This run is shaping up to be a pivotal moment for the band - listen and see for yourself.

We’re sold out of Northern Lights LP variant - grab the gorgeous clear pink LP or affordable and portable CD now.

FAN LOVE ON BANDCAMP:

“Their most noisy droning industrial work while simultaneously being one of the most melodic vocal albums of their excellent discography. There’s beauty and heart in the overwhelming wall of feedbacking sounds. This might be the loudest and softest BIG BRAVE have been. I love it and then some.”

“Utterly devastating. This consumes me in a way no piece of music ever has. Favorite track: a shape of shame.”

“Thank you for continuing to make and share music. All of it gives me strength.”

ORDER IN GRIEF OR IN HOPE

ALSO JUST BACK IN STOCK - A CHAOS OF FLOWERS on LP

“A Chaos Of Flowers is their subtlest and their most daring work, dialling back some volume to let their ecstatic guitar feedback stretch and breathe.” - The Guardian

"A record that twists the listener’s expectations from high and low volume." - The Quietus, best of 2024

“On A Chaos Of Flowers, BIG|BRAVE have transcended their metal origins without betraying them and created something truly astonishing and unique in the process.” - Metal Hammer

ORDER A CHAOS OF FLOWERS

Berndt/Schmidt
Cloud Machines

Egg Yolk vinyl, totally sold out! Black LP restocked!

“Magical textures more abstract than rhythmic with the sensibility of John Berndt added to Matmos’s wide spectrum. So many surprising sounds and open spaces. There is a lot to discover on this fantastically experimental album. Favorite track: Fragile Parlor Music.”

ORDER CLOUD MACHINES

White Hills & GNOD
Drop Out III

Orange double vinyl sold out, restocked!

“A soaring and mesmerising masterpiece. Surely the album of 2025, hypnotic beyond belief. I can’t stop listening to it on repeat. So many layers. So much to unpack. Favorite track: Per Sempre.”

“Been listening to this album for years, really digging the additional tracks.”

ORDER DROP OUT III

Colleen
The Tunnel and The Clearing

Gold vinyl restocked! CDs available!

“Love this album ... slows the mind & soothes the soul. Favorite track: Revelation.”

“This music hits all the right spots: emotional heft, masterful craftsmanship, and unwavering creative vision. Utterly gorgeous and irresistibly compelling!”

ORDER THE TUNNEL AND THE CLEARING

Magic Tuber Stringband
Heavy Water

Turquoise LP restocked! CDs available!

“A richly layered and haunting piece of durable art.”

“this is a moving album, especially paired with the beautiful writeup from Courtney. it’s also so evocative of space and mood. it feels like a forest, eerie but beautiful; it feels like a backyard, like the kind of home I want to be in. I want to live here. Favorite track: Scintillation.”

“This is my favorite old-time stringband - whether that designation applies or not. Favorite track: Where the Place Becomes Forgetting.”

ORDER HEAVY WATER

SUMAC and Moor Mother
The Film

Yellow 2xLP restocked! CDs available!

“this is a masterpiece of an album. not even an album, just a pure work or Art(with a capital A). I love both sumac & mm on their own but this is its own beast. and it’s a monster of a beast. this is one of those albums that will be talked about many years from now when people look back at how evil times caused the creation of amazing art.”

ORDER THE FILM

Listen to “Candy Crush” here first:

The Body visionary collaborations feature a wealth of interesting and unexpected artists. If you’re looking for a new band to get into, check out who The Body’s been working with!

Collaborators include Big|Brave, Full of Hell, Thou, Dis Fig, Uniform, BUMMER, Sightless Pit, Manslaughter 777, Dead Times, OAA, and more…

It’s time to add a new one to the list.

Tension, contradiction, curiosity, animosity and affection; these are all as essential to the collaboration between The Body and Cel Genesis as are the drummers, the sounds of Trance music, of Distortion and of Electronica. Sonics delivered by voice, that carry the weight of experience and emotion, whose meaning bends to the vocalist’s intent.

Watch Jackie making the album cover on Instagram:

The idea to collaborate and make Whole Wide World was hatched on tour, with few parameters other than to use friendship, humility and each artist’s distinct processes to create music. Cel Genesis’s creative practice tends towards maximalist writing coupled with aggressive editing and removal, whilst The Body’s process as explorative sound shapeshifters, open. Improvisational and inclined to take ideas to their outermost limits.

Recorded at Machines with Magnets by Seth Manchester with additional recording in California by Andrew Oswald, Whole Wide World evolved over a period of two years, several recording sessions and meticulous editing. Tracks were built from either beds of electronic tracks generated by Cel Genesis that were served to the group to be edited and arranged or directed by beds of live drumming by Lee Buford and Nick Cowman that were similarly edited and arranged by the group in service of a song, sound or lyric. This intensely collaborative approach was liberating and joyful, a giddiness born of boundless exploration. This contrasted with an elemental tension as the Body and Cel Genesis individual methods of creation were forcibly altered by compromise and revision. The inherent contradictions in process, and emotion compliment the themes addressed in the album- a reckoning with the past, nostalgia and lost hope.

Whole Wide World is both heavy and dense as well as joyful and fresh, an uncategorizable ode to the egoless inventiveness. A work born of artists whose disparate approaches, sound sources, and egos are surrendered to the work. Its musical contractions mirror the thematic contradictions of joy in the making on an album whose themes confront today’s harsher realities. Unrelenting optimists processing the death of possibilities.

Whole Wide World is available to you first on CD and Smokey Vinyl, all formats with a digital download card included. Purchase on any format and get the first single “Candy Crush” as an instant download.

ORDER WHOLE WIDE WORLD

Exclusive Preorder: more eaze -
valley and structure SUPER LIMITED CD + scores!

Listen to “what’s wrong with the structure” here first:

more eaze has something special to share with you: a super limited album valley and structure available on CD (only 350 copies will be available). This was made for you, the musical adventurer, and the more eaze fan. Get it while you can as there will be less than 100 CDs going out to stores.

This bespoke release was made by more eaze between all her tours, specifically for the headz, for the new music lovers, lovers of her work with Wendy, and as a companion to sentence structure in the country. Ahead of the announce, she is offering it up to YOU first. A deeply moving album—and a really remarkable one at that. We tried to press more copies, but this was mari’s vision. So don’t miss your chance at an amazing new album by more eaze.

more eaze – composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist mari rubio – is a dynamic artist and a growing influence in contemporary music. Her work melds youthful pop sensibilities with deep explorations of elemental musical theory. Rubio’s production, arrangement and performance credits span across a diverse and lauded list of artists including Water Damage, claire rousay, Tasha, Jeff Tobias, Chanel Beads, Faye Webster, and Wendy Eisenberg. Following her bedroom pop Thrill Jockey debut, sentence structure in the country, more eaze returns with valley and structure, the purest distillation of her exploratory work over the past year.

Though rubio has previously demonstrated an inclination towards repetition and minimalism, valley and structure stretches simple ideas to their logical extremes through small bits of connective tissue. “I’ve always been really interested in the idea of the ostinato in music,” shares rubio. “I felt like I unlocked some forbidden secret as a child when I first discovered that a bassline or melodic figure could stay the same while other elements reharmonized or changed around it.” In valley and structure, her fascination with her childhood discovery is front and center. Written as she was wrapping up sentence structure in the country, rubio began to expand her pieces, navigating new frontiers of performance.

A firm believer in the notion that no song or composition is ever permanently fixed, the Brooklyn-based musician references her own past work as a jumping-off point for future projects. The pieces on both valley and structure and sentence structure are undeniably in conversation with one another while also comprising two incredibly distinct works. As such, “the producer” has been stripped to its core and then dubbed out on “i’m in the structure.” The new version keeps the idea of the ostinato as a repeating arpeggio on the violin, accompanied by the occasional drone and scrape of a drum machine. The sprawling, 20-minute long “once you say yes to the structure, you never get out” opens with an almost glitching rhythmic pattern, gradually phasing as an extra eighth note is added to the figure, the whole ensemble droning as longer notes are introduced like slowly changing release and attack times. By the end, the process nearly reverses as the ensemble returns to a hyperactive rhythmic pulse. The piece demonstrates rubio’s penchant for both elevating her music past what’s expected and grounding herself in her roots.

valley and structure expands into new horizons that coalesce into a variety of arrangements and formations. Where sentence structure tears and rebuilds, valley and structure branches out, forever actualizing in different shapes and contexts. Following her extraordinary take on pop with sentence structure in the country, rubio’s latest work serves as a conceptual signpost, pushing her music forward into an exciting new territory. valley and structure is a true testament to the musicianship of mari rubio, demonstrating her knack for composition, collaboration, arrangements, and direction. With valley and structure, rubio transforms the smallest musical ideas into expansive worlds of possibility.

valley and structure is available on CD, and a SUPER limited number will come with mari’s scores for the work. If you perform one of the pieces, please share this with us so we can share with mari! There are less than 100 flagged to go to our favorite indie stores so now is your best chance!

With your purchase you get a digital download of the album, and an instant download of the single.

ORDER VALLEY AND STRUCTURE

Jules Reidy shares new song “Clerestory Windows V”

Listen to “Clerestory Windows V”:

“challenges any fixed ideas of what “guitar music” can be... one of their instrument’s most restlessly inventive interpreters” — Pitchfork

“Reidy treats their instruments the way wind does wind chimes, colliding with them to produce harmonies and patterns with a gentle yet titanic energy. It renders their chief instrument, the guitar, as something almost entirely new” — The FADER

“You are unlikely to hear a more arresting and unique album... expansive and brilliant” — The Quietus

“a visceral experience ... music that finds just the right balance of unbridled catharsis and restraint” — The Wire

Jules Reidy is sharing yet another single with you: “Clerestory Windows V,” the closing track from their forthcoming album Clerestory, out September 25. The track was realized in collaboration with New York’s JACK Quartet, one of the world’s preeminent new music ensembles, renowned for its work in microtonality and just intonation, Clerestory unfolds across two complementary sides.

Following the lead preview “Shadow Symmetric,” a single edit of the side-long composition, Reidy now returns with “Clerestory Windows V,” the closing movement of a five-part suite that reimagines “Shadow Symmetric” as a series of solo electronic and guitar pieces. Performed by Reidy on hex electric guitar, the piece distills material from the larger composition into its most elemental form. Built from Euclidean sequencing and pitch-shifted single guitar tones, it “ends with the simplest and most reduced iteration of the piece,” Reidy explains, “and trails off into two oscillating sine tones: the piece’s fundamental and its shadow.”

“Shadow Symmetric” uses two pitch sets that begin from the same point but expand via different scaling into what Reidy calls “two offset spectral layers”—close but not identical, producing an uncanny near-unison across the quartet’s four voices. “Clerestory Windows,” meanwhile, remakes that same material as a series of episodes, as if seen through individual panes of stained glass, moving through MIDI strings and voices, lyrical 12-string guitar, frozen string tones, and flickering RMI arpeggios before resolving into spacious electric guitar chords shadowed by ringing sine tones.

Clerestory is the latest expression of a musical language Reidy has spent years refining. They have established themself as a singular voice for the guitar, with acclaimed solo albums including World In World (Black Truffle), Trances (Shelter Press) and their Thrill Jockey debut Ghost/Spirit, while becoming a key figure in Berlin’s contemporary music scene through collaborations with Judith Hamann, Sam Dunscombe, David Grubbs, Jan St. Werner, and Oren Ambarchi’s various large ensembles.

Clerestory is available for pre-order on CD and metallic gold vinyl, both of which include an insert that includes the original score and diagram of the fundamental frequencies of just intonation used by the composer and performers.

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Upper Wilds LIVE on WFMU

Upper Wilds will be performing LIVE on WFMU next Monday, August 10th, at noon eastern time. The trio are bringing the heat with performances off their brand new album Mercury sent blasting through the airwaves and across the New York City area. Dan, Jason, and Jeff are going to rock n roll through the cosmos on none other than The Three Chord Monte Show with Joe Belock. Save the date and get a taste for what WFMU is in for on Monday:

SAVE THE DATE

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FRESH: Rose City Band, Big|Brave, Marisa Anderson on tour

You can always keep an eye on our tours page, but even obsessive refreshers need sleep.

Here are some of our artist tour dates that got added this week:

Rose City Band

• Sep. 6 - Government Camp, OR - Timberline Daydream [tickets]

• Sep. 25 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel [tickets]

• Sep. 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel [tickets]

Big Brave in EU/UK

• 5 Nov. - Tilburg, NL - Paradox [tickets]

• 6 Nov. - London, UK - Iklectik [tickets]

• 7 Nov. - Bristol, UK - Simple Things Festival [tickets]

• 8 Nov. - Glasgow, UK - Nice N Sleazy [tickets]

• 9 Nov. - Manchester, UK - The White Hotel [tickets]

• 11 Nov. - Brighton, UK - The Prince Albert [tickets]

• 12 Nov. - Bruxelles, BE - Magasin 4 [tickets]

• 13 Nov. - Eeklo, BE - N9 [tickets]

• 15 Nov. - Hamburg, DE - MS Stubnitz [tickets]

Marisa Anderson

Reminder! Marisa Anderson will be performing songs from The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music in the UK + Ireland in less than a month! Grab your tickets now.

• Sep. 3 - London, UK - Theatreship [tickets]

• Sep. 4 - London, UK - Chats Palace [tickets]

• Sep. 6 - Dorset, UK - Blandford Forum at Larmer Tree Gardens (End of the Road Festival) [tickets]

• Sep. 8 - Glasgow, UK - Glad Cafe [tickets]

• Sep. 9 - Kinsale, IE - Prim’s Bookshop [tickets]

• Sep. 10 - Cork, IE - University College Cork (UCC) [tickets]

• Sep. 11 - Kerry, IE - Tobar Naofa

• Sep. 12 - Dublin, IE - Cobblestone [tickets]

• Sep. 13 - Belfast, UK - Crescent Arts Centre / Belfast Guitar Festival [tickets]

A Chaos Of Re-Pressed Flowers

In light of their newest release, new aspects of A Chaos of Flowers reveal themselves. The unification of the high poeticism of the lyrics with the searing and visceral guitars seems to have cleared the way for the elegant enmeshing of the two showcased on in grief or in hope. Even softer tracks like “a song for Marie” showcase their evolving penchant for minimal music which maintains a degree of unsettling power.

With each release, BIG|BRAVE moves closer to a pure distillation of their sound, one which is able to draw upon the strengths of folk traditions and heavy guitar music in equal measure. In reaching back to the poetry of Emily Dickinson or Renée Vivien, they were able to further hone in on a certain type of longing and solitude which the instrumental accompaniments perfectly suited. The structures of these songs spread out to suit the final tone of the composition, one which was able to marry the pummeling heaviness that came before it and the taught, powerful drones that stood ahead. Looking back with two fantastic records standing between us and the original release of A Chaos of Flowers, it stands as equally vital and exciting for the possibilities it was able to create, both for the band and for the landscape of heavy music at large.

We are super pleased to say that Clear Pink vinyl IS BACK in stock, because who doesn’t like a lovely pressed flower? We just restocked our mail order shelves + the band’s merch table for the last few nights of their tour. Catch them with The Body at PhilaMOCA August 7th or in Brooklyn August 8th if it’s not too late.

ORDER A CHAOS OF FLOWERS

First up is a BRAND NEW ALBUM from The Body and their collaborators Cel Genesis!

Two drummers, three vocalists, stuttering trance and power electronics, and a suffocating miasma of guitar. They toured together in 2024 and played some AWESOME sets before hitting the studio to record WHOLE WIDE WORLD. For sale on Friday on smoky vinyl and CD formats, with incredibly fine-detailed cover art designed by Jackie Althouse aka @white.noise.witch with additional jacket design and layout by Lee Buford and Daniel Castrejón.

Brand new music from The Body, bending genres with a new collaborator — ‘nuff said.

Will be available at: thebody.bandcamp.com/album/whole-wide-world

Our second offering is a SUPER LIMITED CD-ONLY ALBUM from more eaze! Special edition comes with a booklet of scores by Mari!

Mari Rubio is a genius of fantastic and thought-provoking arrangements and compositions. Always looking toward reinvention and breaking new ground, Mari has graced us with a new album valley and structure that will be available in super limited edition on CD only. This won’t be widely available to all of our usual worldwide distributors for stocking store shelves - we want to send them direct to you!

Songs were composed, performed, and produced by Mari Rubio and feature additional instrumentation by Wendy Eisenberg, Jade Guterman, Conner Simmons, Nora Stanley, and Sammy Weissberg on piano, acoustic guitar, sax, clarinet, and more.

We printed a small run of booklets with scores and arrangements to include in limited numbers as well at no extra charge to you… you just gotta get it before it’s gone.

These scores are an awesome peek at how Mari approached writing and recording these new songs, and they’re printed and bound on a lovely natural composer’s paper for a very sophisticated feel.

Will be available at: moreeaze.bandcamp.com/album/valley-and-structure

Finally is a new song from the same recording sessions that produced SETTING’s mindblowing self-titled TJ debut!

Jaime Fennelly let us in on this track last week, saying that it came from the same Drop of Sun studio sessions in Asheville that produced Setting’s glorious headtrip of a full-length album. Described as something that felt like it wanted to stand on its own outside the sequencing of the album, this track certainly pulls us into its gravitational field with HEAVY strokes of bass drum and celestial synths.

Thrill Jockey’s not involved with this one — we’re just loving fans.

Will be available at: https://setting.bandcamp.com/
where you can also find Setting’s most recent full-length album from April.

AND FOR MORE OF THE GOOD STUFF!

Head to our music tab for everything new and old, including our upcoming new releases from Black Duck and Elena Setién, Upper Wilds, Jules Reidy with JACK Quartet, and Dis Fig as well as RECENT REPRESSES from BIG|BRAVE, Tortoise, Rose City Band, Midori Hirano, and more!

See it all: https://thrilljockeyrecords.bandcamp.com/music

Listen to “The Ebb and Flow of Tides in a Sea of Ash”:

“Master, We Perish… lashes at perceived and much debated divisions between metal and noise so hard and so fast that its tremendous squall and anthemic structures might actually be the sound of those fortified seams splintering… every bit as exhilarating and intimidating as you might hope” - Pitchfork, 8.1

“Who the hell else sounds like The Body? No one.” - VICE

“The Body is a two man bulldozer, ready to tear anything apart at a moment’s notice.” - Echoes & Dust

The Body’s Master, We Perish has been remastered and expanded in a deluxe reissue that is out TODAY, July 31st! Last summer we brought the reissue of All the Waters of the Earth Turn To Blood to you, and this summer we have the reissue of the highly influential Master, coupled with some real rarities from The Body’s archive. The Body have been unstoppable… keep your eyes peeled for even MORE new music from everyone’s favorite duo very soon. For now, get your hands on the quintessential Master, We Perish.

The Body’s landmark record Master, We Perish was originally released all the way back in 2013. It found the acclaimed duo at a crossroads in their career. It was recorded just before drummer Lee Buford and guitarist/vocalist Chip King were leaving their longtime home of Providence for Portland, and released in between their breakthrough albums All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood and Christs, Redeemers. Lee and Chip expanded on their love of layered worldbuilding with precision and a stronger emphasis on percussive samples than ever before. The seeds of the duo’s celebrated collaborative inclination are evident as the album features Assembly of Light Choir leader Chrissy Wolpert, choir member Reba Mitchell, Otesanek vocalist Leslie Weitz, and guitarist David Lifrieri. With the expanded edition, the album’s striking cover painting by Providence mainstay Manifester aka Matt Brinkman (Mindflayer, Forcefield) is finally rendered in its original form.

The deluxe expanded edition features remastered tracks from Master, We Perish and side B features songs from the ultra rare 7” releases Cop Killer/Dead Cops from 2005 and The Body’s split with Get Killed from 2004. These storied singles mark the first time the band truly pushed the boundaries of sound in the studio and on record. It was the beginning of The Body wielding the studio as a veritable weapon to translate their gargantuan sound with deeper impact on LP. The results are not only pushing the capacity of the album format, but are sonically riveting. The bonus material was recorded at Machines with Magnets. The band described it economically as “NASTY.”

Master, We Perish deluxe is available on CD and mail order exclusive, limited Smoke LP.

Available now at all fine independent record shops on CD / Jade Blue LP and Black LPs. All versions come with a download coupon Buy from Thrill Jockey direct and get an instant download of the album with purchase.

We found it at Zions Gate in Seattle, Zia Enterprises in Phoenix, AZ, and Everyday Music in Portland, OR!

ORDER MASTER, WE PERISH

OUT NOW: Peals - The Compound 76 & Le Pantoum 46

Listen to “Essential Attitudes”:

Peals, the duo of William Cashion (Future Islands) and Bruce Willen (Double Dagger) have returned with not one, but TWO new albums! The Compound 76 captures one of the duo’s most essential performances in crystalline detail by engineer/mixer Craig Bowen (Lungfish, Animal Collective, Dan Deacon), with mastering by Mat Leffler-Schulman and a guest performance by Baltimore saxophonist Andy Abelow. Le Pantoum 46 is also out today, on digital release only. To celebrate, Cashion and Willen are throwing some bi-coastal parties for Baltimore and LA fans!

Join Peals at special listening parties in LA and Baltimore for our upcoming album The Compound 76. William and Bruce will be introducing the new album and spinning other favorite selections through the great sound systems at Zebulon and Idle Hour. Limited signed copies of the new LP will also be available.

Los Angeles
Sunday, August 2
Zebulon Café
Doors 6pm. Album listening 7pm.

Baltimore
Tuesday, August 4
Idle Hour
Doors 7pm. Album listening 8pm.

Both events are free and open to the public, and none other than Tortoise will be performing at Zebulon right after William wraps up!

“A dreamy landscape of whimsical guitars...” - Impose

“The duo layers delicately woven guitars on top of a rough drum loop, and the results prove that“unassuming” doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t be paying attention.” - FADER

“The yin-yang dynamic between Cashion and Willen’s other, louder outfits and the more meditative Peals flares as electric guitars knife upward against the track’s lullaby rhythm. That minimal tension suggests the song forward until it too dissolves into a wave of calming feedback,preserving Peals’ soothing wash of textures.” - Pitchfork

Four years near the beginning of the last decade, William Cashion and Bruce Willen created quietly radiant instrumental music from two tessellated guitars, a few modest synths, and a slew of percussive and noisy toys, like walkie-talkies or the things that gave the pair their handle, bells. This 2016 live recording is taken from the band’s next-to-last show, at least for now, cut in an artist-run space called The Compound in their hometown of Baltimore. Peals is the project of two bassists known best for their other livewire and loud Baltimore bands: Future Islands for Cashion, Double Dagger for Willen. Technically, Double Dagger—an absolutely electrifying post-punk trio—had reached its end just as Cashion and Willen began talking about trying to make music together, but that context never really mattered.

Peals emerged at an inconvenient moment for their sort of instrumental wonder. The noisy international explorations of great acts like Yellow Swans, Growing, and Fuck Buttons (all duos, mind you) had mostly subsided before Peals played their first show in April 2012. And the current bloom in New Age and ambient music was very much still germinating, those terms still catching substantial side-eye from arbiters of acceptability. That was steadily changing, however, as Peals offered this set in September 2016, with the United States unknowingly at the edge of successive upheavals that would increasingly make such sounds feel like requisite medicine.

Writing to you from 2026, then, this recording does not feel at all out-of-time, like some overlooked gem that was simply swallowed by its moment. It sounds relevant, welcoming, welcome. These 38 seamless minutes have clear predecessors: Manuel Göttsching’s E2-E4, Cluster and Eno’s Cologne dalliances, the way Midwest Emo could sound smarter than its lyrics read. I hear bits of old spirituals and Appalachian banjo music, too, nested inside the guitars. But the way Cashion and Willen stitched it all together ignored any rules of what this music was supposed to be, so that very gentle passages abutted joyously jarring ones, so that the saxophone line that unexpectedly offers the denouement here feels as though it were birthed by a symphony of chattering guitars. It’s a sound meant for you to inhabit, to take a walk around, to notice.

For either their first or second show, Cashion and Willen brought along a table lamp—the kind of old-fashioned thing you’d find in a thrift store, with a bulbous brass base and a thick shade that seemed much too big. They toted it to every subsequent gig, placing it between them on a table or the floor. It made the whole thing feel homey, as if they’d invited you into their living room to relax and listen, to sit still in some different space for a spell and walk away new. When Peals started, their Baltimore scene was known for paroxysms and energy—Dan Deacon, Ponytail, Ecstatic Sunshine, Future Islands, Double Dagger, and on and on. This was a calming project, a comedown for band and audience alike. The world hasn’t slowed or softened in the last decade. And Peals, heard here just before what we can hope is only a decade-long pause, still offers another option, a way out, an antidote.

— Grayson Haver Currin

The Compound 76 is available on Clear Pink LP. The album’s artwork was by Bruce, founder of the Legendary design team of Post Typography, and a multidisciplinary artist, designer, bassist. Bruce currently leads the Baltimore design group Public Mechanics. The cover photo of the salvaged drywall is by Baltimore artist and The Compound board member Nicholas Wisniewski. The LP comes with a download coupon and an instant download of the album!

We found it at End of An Ear in Austin, TX, Amoeba Music in both LA and San Francisco, and Electric Fetus in Minneapolis!

ORDER THE COMPOUND 76

Don’t miss out on the elegant Le Pantoum 46, available digitally only.

ORDER LE PANTOUM 46

Dis Fig announces What To Make Of These Mortal Hands + “The Account”

Listen to new single “The Account” featuring the wind between:

Dis Fig, the project of Berlin-based, New Jersey-raised producer and vocalist Felicia Chen, is back with her long-awaited second full-length solo album What To Make Of These Mortal Hands out this October 23. The album is INCREDIBLE, it has been well worth the wait. Following her acclaimed 2019 debut PURGE and celebrated collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, her first album in seven years represents an ambitious evolution of Dis Fig’s artistic vision, moving through tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a 63-minute, filmic exploration of humanity’s capacity for both beauty and devastation.

Dis Fig released the lead single “The Account,” a track that embraces every facet of Chen’s practice while showcasing some of her most immediate songwriting to date. Opening with the voice of poet the wind between, the song introduces the cinematic framework of What To Make Of These Mortal Hands before Chen’s own expressive vocals enter. “I liked teasing it by opening with a voice that wasn’t mine,” Chen explains. “I felt like I really needed someone to set the stage for what was about to unfold, like a Greek chorus or narrator, and it was clear to me that he was the right person to do it.”

Across the album, Chen moves fluidly between raw, unaccompanied vocal passages and towering, maximalist arrangements, cresting around a set of massive crescendos. While the album is almost entirely written and performed by Chen, she draws on a close circle of collaborators to help shape its world, bringing in recorded drums from Lee Buford of The Body and a guest bass appearance by Liam Andrews of BIG|BRAVE on one track, alongside vocal features from the wind between and LUηG, lending the record’s most cathartic moments an added physical weight.

Structured as a series of interconnected scenes, What To Make Of These Mortal Hands finds Chen reckoning with the capacity of humans for destructive tragedies and revelatory marvels alike. In the album’s closing vignettes, Chen is neither relieved nor resigned. Instead, she harnesses tenderness and a sense of hope that rings defiant.

Listen to “The Account” ft. the wind between above, and stay tuned for more music from Dis Fig ahead of the release of What To Make Of These Mortal Hands on October 23 via Thrill Jockey.

What To Make Of These Mortal Hands was mixed by Seth Manchester, mastered by Heba Kadry assisted by Jacob Clements. The Vinyl was cut by Josh Bonati.

The record features contributions from the wind between, Diana Miron, Lee Buford, and Liam Andrew.

Designed and featuring art by Felicia Chen, layout by Daniel Castrejón, inner sleeve by GENG PTP, and photography by Najla Said. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands will be available on the mail order exclusive Opaque Maroon LP and CD. All formats come with a download coupon and get the single instantly when you preorder on any format!

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Who’s Afraid of Gaunt?

Gaunt’s Kryptonite celebrated its 30th birthday this past April. It was our first foiled record—and we still have a few copies of the Foiled version (printed on the foil!) in stock! Kryptonite, a concept record about Superman and his love affair with Lois Lane, is their most polished recording. It saw the band maturing beyond the kamikaze speed of Sob Story (recorded with Steve Albini), Whitey the Man or I Can See Your Mom From Here with a perfect balance of energy, melody and heart. Kryptonite is a tour de force of great songs and catchy melodies, recorded with Tim Mac in Minneapolis.

Listen to the epic “Superman,” the cut that got the major labels sniffing around as they were apt to do in the 90’s when they were ‘discovering the underground’ so to speak.

Or try Bettina’s pick “Hope You’re Happy”

“I used to bike around the East Village, where I lived, and started Thrill Jockey (in my apartment on 7th and Ave C.) frequently flipping people off. My bike was built from parts that I and my friend Jim (referenced on Whitey The Man) found left on Locks. I would listen to this song on my Walkman, from the mixtape I had made and feel invincible. It still sounds soo great to me!”

Since we were celebrating Kryptonite we wanted to reach out to Guitarist Jovan Karcic to check in on some of his recollections about Gaunt.

Gaunt is an OG Thrill Jockey band, Thrill 008 my friends, with their debut single coming out in 1993, and putting out their first album in 1994. Formed in Columbus, Ohio, and part of the fertile scene that included the New Bomb Turks and Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, the band had an incredible run until Jerry Wick–the band’s lead singer, songwriter and lead guitarist– was killed by a drunk driver while riding his bike.

Those of us that knew Jerry loved to razz him, and we still miss him and are thankful we have his music. He was an intensely passionate, strong-willed person and bandleader, dedicated to the music above all else. He worked in a record store by day and talked about music all day and all night (unless you shut him up). And, oh man, he had opinions… His passion showed in his writing, performance, love of touring, and approach to recording no matter the budget.

When Gaunt would have enough songs to record, Jerry would insist on them going out of town to do it, no matter what the cost would be. They mostly recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini or in Minneapolis with Tim Mac. Jovan explained to us why that is: “He wanted us all to be focused on doing the work, rather than having us be distracted by our friends and family and chores and all the things you have to do in a daily life at home. Our focus was singular. I think that was a really smart move on his part to get us all out of town to record the albums.”

The band’s high energy and infectious hooks went down easy and the pit went wild on their second show ever at the famous CBGBs. They shared a bill with Guided By Voices and Seattle’s Gorilla and Zipgun. It was a BLAST

Jovan remembers Bettina getting Gaunt on that gig: “Bettina was still living in NYC and got us on the bill as well as the other TJ bands Gorilla and Zipgun. I remember it was a very big deal for us to be invited to play. It was a work night for most of the audience so we ended up playing early in front of a lot of people. This was only the second show I’d played with Gaunt and I remember being so excited during the end of the set that I threw my guitar (sad but true).”

This poster was made by Scat Records founder and awesome record man who released gems like My Dad Is Dead (and half the bands on this bill). It was printed by Bettina at a local NYC printer who assumed from the imagery and the name thrill jockey that we did not release records… but perhaps a certain kind of film. (This printer did a lot of business printing Porn VHS box covers, but that is another story).

We don’t have a video of CBGBs but check out their show at Staches in 1994. Jerry was full of spit, or perhaps spite, doing his signature String pull leap. Don’t care if our amp is on when we start, don’t care to do soundcheck.

Motherfucker I don’t care!

As soon as we started to release records they hit the road with endless touring.

Jovan remembers the difference of being in a band then vs now. How you had to map your drive out by hand and constantly ask for directions. Many people had slugs (counterfeit coins) to fool payphones because you had to call for directions constantly. Printing t-shirts in the van as you drove to the next town, and how fun it was to play whatever CDs and cassettes you had on hand.

Jovan: “Back then when we were on tour, we had an itinerary with the name of the venue, the address and the phone number and a contact at the club. We’d have to have one of our bandmates look at a map/road atlas to get us into the town we were playing, then we would have to pull off the road and find a payphone and call the contact at the club and ask for directions on how to get to the club. It’s crazy how easy it is now.”

Promoting shows was just as cumbersome: wheat-pasting posters, endless flyers at other shows and inserts in punk zines.

Gaunt was a punk rock band through and through. And they lived for the DIY spirit that they were raised with in Columbus. Jovan looks back fondly on those days: “I have fond memories of those years mostly because there was a sense within our group that we were entering a community created by the bands that came before us, and it felt like we were building momentum with each record. I didn’t have the capacity at the time to know how lucky we were and how many people helped us along the way to get to do the things we did but now I do and I’m floored by the generosity. It wasn’t as instantaneous as it is now: you had to wait, like a message in a bottle, and go out and buy the magazines/fanzines to see if anyone found it. We were super lucky to have started when we did and to have found the people that helped us form our community of DIYers.”

College radio was also essential for Gaunt when they were first coming up as a band. Playing live sessions and connecting with DJs who loved and supported their work was a true blessing. Jovan recalls how Jerry was a natural at making those kinds of connections: “It helped to have someone like Jerry who was incredibly passionate about music and willing to talk about it with other people. He was fearless about reaching out to a writer or label or club owner to find out if they were interested in helping. He was very confident in his work and didn’t suffer from what a lot of artists have with regard to talking about it. I admire that.”

Jovan remembers recording Gaunt albums at Steve Albini’s house in the Attic in Logan Square, before he opened his studio. He remembers all sorts of things from the time spent there: someone standing at the stove, stirring coffee beans in an iron skillet with a GIANT burlap of unroasted coffee beans at their feet. “This was serious DIY. The first time/place I’d ever seen someone roasting their own coffee.” Jovan said. ( Jovan now is a coffee roaster who sells DELICIOUS coffee). He also remembers a secret door in the control room in the attic: “There was a pin up style photo in the living room that if you pressed on the model’s breast a secret door bookcase raised up slowly exposing the staircase to the attic.” He looks back on experiencing the famous Albini drum sound in person, with microphones taped to the checkerboard floor. Jovan remembers running out to grab burritos while Albini would tune the drums. It was, and Jovan puts it simply, “Freaking magical.”

The now 30 year old Kryptonite was recorded in Minneapolis with Tim Mac. Mac had a unique approach to recording. Once the basic tracks were finished, the vocals could be recorded in the band’s own time, on their own. Mac taught Jerry how to operate the tape machine and some basic mixing console maneuvers. In a day, Jerry recorded vocals all by himself in the control room. Jovan remembers that day, “There were places to sleep on site at the studio and I remember waking up one morning and greeting Jerry in the hallway, he’d been up all night and was really excited to share what he’d done. The first time I heard ‘Transistor Sister,’ I was blown away, I had no idea what we had recorded the day before would become this awesome pop song.”

Check out the sweet 90s music video for “Transistor Sister,” recorded on film!

ORDER KRYPTONITE

Magic Tuber Stringband: Improv Recordings from Chicago

Magic Tuber Stringband continue to grow from the fertile ground of Appalachian folk music.

At their show last week at Constellation Chicago, The Tubers (The Magicians?) highlighted their folk foundation in group improvisation — nearly every song they perform leaves space to draw out and reinvent melody, rhythm, and texture and technique from tracks off of their recent album Heavy Water. Though tied to familiar forms and concepts, each song and each set is bound to be different.

We heard our first taste of Heavy Water back in 2024 while they were touring on their album Needlefall. One of the first new pieces they wrote was “Wintering Grounds” — inspired by the multicolored tapestry of sounds at a pond doing field work during winter migration months, the band improvised to voice the overlapping calls of birds, insects, frogs, and moving water using extended fiddle technique, bowed and plucked banjo, and lap steel guitar.

Listen to “Wintering Grounds + Improv” at Constellation:

You may or may not know that The Tubers are superfans of SUMAC and their dark and winding improvisations, but it’s really clear in the tense grinding of tracks like “Sound of a Million Stars” and “The Hermit’s Passage” from Needlefall, and here in the the weeping climax of “Tribute to the Angels”, with Mike DeVito switching to upright bass and Evan Morgan playing acoustic guitar:

Watch Magic Tuber Stringband perform & improvise on the title track from Needlefall, and grab a copy of their new record Heavy Water. They’re wrapping up their tour right now - follow them at @magictuberstringband if you didn’t catch them this time so you know when they’ll be back in your neck of the woods.

ORDER HEAVY WATER

Peals Cratediggers Playlist

To celebrate the new Peals records, we’re sharing a mix the two made for you of their initial inspirations following their time in Future Islands and Double Dagger. Hit play on the mix and let it inspire you on your own future adventures…

Listen to new single “The Account” ft. the wind between ONLY HERE:

If you’re reading this, it means you are the first to learn about and hear the new song from the new Dis Fig – AKA producer and vocalist Felicia Chen – What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is phenomenal, powerful, devastating and beautiful. Chen was driven by a desire to express deep emotions through meticulously crafted, innovative production and expressive vocals. On acclaimed collaborations with The Bug, The Body, and Asian Dope Boys, Chen’s sound is indelible. Her solo work utilizes electronic, industrial, and bass-forward music as filters for sonic plentitudes, unbounded and wholly her own. Every granule of sound is in service of alchemizing intense emotion and vulnerability. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands is an ambitious widening of Dis Fig’s scope, traversing tectonic dynamic shifts and heartrending arrangements in a filmic study of humanity’s capacity to create both beauty and devastation.

The album’s worlds are built within an architecture of fierce bass, sub-frequencies, and an array of distortions and electronics, laid atop Chen’s versatile voice. No stranger to extremes, Dis Fig finds new, exciting combinations and balances to expand her form and shape the sound of her new record. “A throughline for me is trying to create a womb-like chamber through sound,” explains Chen. “I wanted this record to feel like stepping into its own distinct world. It’s meant to be a portal with a guide, taking your hand and inviting you in with care.”

Dis Fig has a preternatural ability to ground massive sounds with tactile rhythms and her instinctually connective voice. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands charts a cinematic arc exploring a complex web of feeling with extraordinary purpose and focus. Chen’s curiosity unearths ecstatic and absorbing environments. The album is a staggering display of innovative songcraft and unfathomable emotion–a musical world like no other.

What To Make Of These Mortal Hands was mixed by Seth Manchester, mastered by Heba Kadry, and the vinyl was cut by Josh Bonati. The record features contributions from the wind between, Diana Miron, Lee Buford, and Liam Andrew.

The record features a layout by Daniel Castrejón, inner sleeve by GENG PTP, art by Felicia Chen, and photography by Najla Said. What To Make Of These Mortal Hands will be available on mail order exclusive Opaque Maroon LP get it while you can andand CD. All formats come with a download coupon and get the single instantly when you pre order on any format!

ORDER WHAT TO MAKE LP

Peals announce a listening party & have a mix made for you

Consider yourself invited! Peals are hosting a listening party in Baltimore on Tuesday, August 4 at Idle Hour, doors at 7 pm and music at 8 pm. The listening party is free! Bruce of Peals will introduce the new record, sign copies, and spin some favorite selections. LA… stay on the lookout for a party on the west coast as well.

Peals is the Baltimorean duo of William Cashion of Future Islands and Bruce Willen of Double Dagger. Their latest albums The Compound 76 and Le Pantoum 46 are out next week, July 31st, on Thrill Jockey.

ORDER THE COMPOUND 76

ORDER LE PANTOUM 46

And a bonus playlist!

Magic Tuber Stringband blew minds in Chicago as they continue their tour

If you have FOMO, you should!! The Magic Tubers were so great last night, making us sway to the heartbreakingly beautiful “Marker of a Drowning” from their new album Heavy Water.

Listen to it here:

They also dropped the office favorite (and best title of the year?) “Where the Place Becomes Forgetting.” The track is an essential listen—and absolutely spellbinding live!

If you are within driving (or biking, bussing, etc.) distance to any of the shows below, the show is a must see. You will not regret it - the Chicago crowd demanded an encore and the Tubers obliged.

Get to the show!!

• Jul. 23 - Rock Island, IL - Rozz Tox [tickets]

• Jul. 24 - Minneapolis, MN - The Cedar [tickets]

• Jul. 25 - Milwaukee, WI - Jazz Gallery

• Jul. 28 - Cincinnati, OH - Woodward Theater [tickets]

• Jul. 29 - Nashville, TN - Random Sample

• Jul. 30 - Boone, NC - Huzzah Books

• Jul. 31 - Asheville, NC - Ayurprana Listening Room

Special note to Ashevilleans: The Ayurprana Listening Room is doing a ticket giveaway in partnership with Bagatelle Books. Win 2 tickets to see Magic Tuber Stringband live on July 31st and get a copy of the Tuber’s book pick Trilogy by Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), which served as a direct inspiration for a track and the cover of Heavy Water.

You can see more info on the Magic Tuber Stringband’s IG

Can’t make it to the show? Grip Heavy Water on Turquoise vinyl here and get the full album download immediately when you buy.

ORDER HEAVY WATER

Jules Reidy ‘s new album unboxed

Jack Quartet commissioned Jules Reidy to compose for them—the results are astounding.

Side A features the full composition and side B is the composition reimagined, reworked, and reconfigured by Jules. If you like Ellen Arkbro, Catherine Lamb, Sarah Davachi, claire rousay, then you not only have some fine taste but we believe jules’s new album is for you!

Listen to “Shadow Symmetric for JACK Quartet (excerpt)”:

Clerestory is available for pre-order on CD and metallic gold vinyl, both of which include an insert that holds the original score and a diagram of the fundamental frequencies of just intonation used by the composer and performers. Recorded by Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio, New York 2026. Cover images: Inside, Crystals, and Circuitry by Jules Reidy, commissioned by anorak as part of September Sessions 2025 at Mint, Stockholm. Artwork is by Libuše Jarcovjáková. Photos by Johan Österholm.

ORDER CLERESTORY

Photo Diary: claire rousay in Australia

From Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, claire brings you on the road with her via photo diary.

Listen to “somewhat burdensome” as you scroll:

Upper Wilds, led by Parts & Labor co-founder Dan Friel, are offering up another track from their upcoming album Mercury. “Fever” is out now with a music video animated by Chris Mulligan and you can watch it right here!

The full album is out August 28. The track is a standout moment on the record, catchy and furious, inspired by a climate fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Upper Wilds tapped animator Chris Mulligan for a trippy, technicolor music video to accompany the track.

Stargazing Brooklyn noise-rock cosmonauts Upper Wilds have returned with another set of lean anthems filtered through a flamethrower. Their speediest, most explosive album yet, Mercury, is a meditation on death, with Friel expounding on his brush with skin cancer, climate change, funerals, Henry Kissinger, and a world seemingly on fire. Buoyed by recent tours with acts like Pelican, Uniform, Psychic Graveyard and Savak, the trio’s increased speed is met with a precision that gives every hairpin turn more wallop.

Upper Wilds’ space-rock adventures through their recent albums Mars, Venus, & Jupiter came replete with stories of the heavens and humanity alike. On this fourth installment, the closest planet to the sun, things take a darker turn. The small, barren planet Mercury was named after the gods’ speedy messenger and guide to the underworld, and the album syphons Upper Wilds’ fuzz-pop aesthetics into concise, scorched anthems about the brevity and fragility of life with the ferocity of a band playing on the edge of extinction.

As Upper Wilds have explored new horizons both thematically and sonically, the trio have remained grounded by a melodic flair that mirrors their tongue-in-cheek playfulness and an undaunted, fiery attitude. Even as they traverse the deep calderas of mortality, a fear of dying and the grief of being left behind, Upper Wilds’ Mercury revels in the thrill of defying death with ecstatic abandon.

Mercury is available for pre-order on a mercurial metallic silver vinyl and CD.

All versions come with download coupons— order and get any available singles instantly, as well as automatically the whole album on August 28th!

ORDER MERCURY

Rare material by The Body hits store shelves soon!

The hour draws near. The newly-expanded edition of The Body’s once super limited 2013 release Master, We Perish is hitting indie stores worldwide at the end of this month. Even if you’ve heard it before, you haven’t heard it like this - newly remastered by the original recording engineer Seth Manchester (who has all of Chip & Lee’s sonic signatures on LOCK), new depth and distortion have been pushed into a session that was so pivotal in the development of The Body’s sound. Sirens wail on the A and B sides, reviving stuff that hasn’t been widely available on any physical format.

Master, We Perish is expanded with rare bonus tracks from The Body’s early days, taken from a pair of rare 7” singles Cop Killer/Dead Cops as well as a split with Get Killed. These storied singles mark the first time the band truly pushed the boundaries of sound in the studio and on record. It also marks the beginning of The Body’s practice of wielding the studio as a veritable weapon to translate their gargantuan sound with deeper impact on LP. The results are not only pushing the capacity of the album format but are sonically riveting. The bonus material was recorded at Machines with Magnets. The band described them economically: “NASTY.”

Master, We Perish (expanded) is pressed onto some very nice looking Smoke vinyl (not scratch-n-sniff) and housed in a jacket featuring the original version of the cover art by Manifester aka Matt Brinkman. Grab a vinyl version from our site and get a digital download for free, too.

BODY & BIG BRAVE continue their tour after stopping by the TJ office to pick up more merch, including copies of their new records.

ORDER MASTER WE PERISH

GET THE BODY/BIG|BRAVE TIX!

Thalia Zedek on tour!

East coasters, rejoice! Thalia Zedek is heading out on tour, touring solo, with her band, and with Live Skull, Via, and Come.

Thalia is an absolute legend. A rocknroll fixture since the 80s, she’s toured with Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile, Indigo Girls, and so many other iconic rock bands. Her latest album The Boat Outside Your Window came out last year to critical acclaim:

“It’s a songwriting masterpiece, balancing her cutting lyrics and beautiful melodies while still containing her signature guitar dissonance sound. Such an underrated guitarist.” - NPR Music

“Thalia Zedek stays on the tipping point throughout [The Boat Outside Your Window], never resolving the tension, but constantly plunging into the heart of it with fearless verve.” - PopMatters, 8/10

“Proves that Zedek still has a lot to say — and is always coming up with new musical ways to say it.” - WBUR

“…one of the underground rock scene’s most reliable and yet consistently undersung figures.” - The Vinyl District

“Thalia Zedek is one of the most poetic voices from the ’90s underground, having spent an existence writing the kind of songs that eternally occupy the bloodstream.” - Sun 13

Listen to “Disarm”:

Thalia never hesitates to speak truth to power. A commanding presence, Zedek wields her band like a storm, hurling tempests and cutting through the mist with precision, the ensemble swelling and unspooling in sync with her every gesture. The Boat Outside Your Window finds Thalia Zedek contemplating absence and distance, with songs as spirited as they are profoundly moving.

Since the departure of violist Dave Curry and pianist Mel Lederman following the 2021 album Perfect Vision, the core band of Zedek (guitar and vocals), bassist Winston Braman, and drummer Gavin McCarthy (Karate) have been joined by pedal steel guitarist Karen Sarkisian. On The Boat Outside Your Window, Sarkisian’s counter-melodies and oblique augmentations created with nontraditional tools like an Ebow, add an otherworldly quality to songs. The grit of Zedek’s guitar and drive of Braman and McCarthy are met with synth-like swells and more harmonic density. As Zedek guides the ensemble towards more tender passages, melodies unfold gently, with ease.

Dive into the world of Thalia:

Watch the music video for “Boat”:

Thalia is heading out on tour at the end of the month! Check out the dates and head to our website to snag your tickets:

• 7/31 Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, MA - Thalia Zedek (solo) with Sarah Borges and Field Day

• 8/14 - Notch Brewery at the Speedway, Boston, MA - Thalia Zedek (solo) with Hilken & Melissa

• 8/21 - The Lilypad, Cambridge, MA - Thalia Zedek Band w/ Winged Wheel (trio)

• 9/06 - Mama Tried, Brooklyn, NY - performing in Via w/ Live Skull and Subskin Cables

• 9/08 - Dromfest, Kingston, NY - performing in Via

• 9/09 - Dromfest, Kingston, NY - performing in Come

• 9/10 - Deep Cuts, Medford, MA - performing in Via w/ Nice Strong Arm and Astral Bitch

ORDER THE BOAT OUTSIDE

GET TIX NOW!

Setting, more eaze & Magic Tuber Stringband are Bandcamp’s improvisational bands of the month!

Grayson Haver Currin’s Side Door column was 0 degrees of separation from Thrill Jockey, highlighting Setting, Water Damage (featuring more eaze), and Magic Tuber Stringband.

The entire piece is fantastic, and well worth a read. We picked out some highlights for you here:

Setting and Magic Tuber Stringband both released albums earlier this year and are touring this summer. Get tix to see these incredible bands do what they do best live in concert!!

GET TIX TO SETTING

GET TIX TO MAGIC TUBER

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

DO LOOK BACK: Black to Comm’s Before After

Originally released hot on the heels of the monumental Seven Horses for Seven Kings, Black to Comm’s Before After has long been lumped in with its immediate predecessor. Immediately prior to the release, Marc Richter said the album could best be thought of as an “afterthought / postscript / annex / appendix to Seven Horses,” but the album carves out its own unique place within Black to Comm’s discography nonetheless.

For the uninitiated, Black to Comm is the musical project of one Marc Richter, a German sound artist who has been deftly navigating the under-explored corners of acousmatic, electroacoustic, drone, and ambient music for over 20 years. On January 25th 2019, after nearly 5 years away from the Black to Comm moniker, Richter released Seven Horses for Seven Kings, which The Quietus called “a masterpiece of sound design”, and Exclaim described as “quite possibly the most demonic and most fully realized material he’s released thus far”. Falling firmly within the legacy of the “dark ambient” music of Organum, :Zoviet-France:, P16D4 or Coil, Seven Horses broadened and deepened the range of Black to Comm’s music.

Listen to “États-Unis”:

Richter noted that the composition of this record was strongly influenced by his experiences creating multichannel acousmatic music for INA/GRM in Paris and ZKM in Karlsruhe. This influence can be felt throughout the record, particularly on the massive soundstages of tracks like “Asphodel Mansions” and the deft granularity of something like “The Deseret Alphabet.” Never overshadowing the “typical” sounds of previous Black to Comm releases, these touches tastefully integrate new techniques and approaches to composition.

In many ways, the sounds of classic musique-concrete and acousmatic music reach their apex on the follow up to Seven Horses. On July 12th of the same year, Black to Comm released Before After, which picks up immediately where Seven Horses left off. The opener “États-Unis” blends medieval hymnal with what Richter described as “violent pseudo-field recordings”, calling to mind Parmegiani and Sunn O))) in equal measure. This seemly bizarre balancing of “high-minded” tape composition and the primal emotionality of drone and noise music continues throughout the record, with tracks like “His Bristling Irascibility (Mirror Blues)” blending Shaeferian noise with freakout lounge jazz, directly alongside the positively peaceful piano-and-synth of “Océans.”

Listen to “Océans”:

The real trick of the record comes not in the immediately clever and nuanced compositions within the tracks (this may as well be taken for granted at this point in the BtC discography), but in the masterful sequencing and emotional arc of the record as a whole. Somehow, this record of essentially outtakes is able to take on its own emotional character, one that is almost diametrically opposed to the furious noise of its predecessor. Before After serves as a counterweight to the anger and darkness of Seven Horses; by the time we reach the placid ambience of the closing track “Perfume Sample,” Black to Comm has been renewed. Upon release, Richter noted “It could also be seen as a closure/conclusion of a certain phase in BtC - I’m sure I will explore different things in the future.” Looking back from the vantage point of 2026, it seems hard to imagine how a record like “At Zeenath Parallel Heavens” could have been made without the compositional range and creative freedom Richter mastered on the tracks which comprise Before After.

Watch the unboxing video for Before After:

ORDER BEFORE AFTER

Upper Wilds have caught a fever and they’re burning up. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the power-trio led by Parts & Labor co-founder Dan Friel have a new album coming out. It’s their latest since 2023’s Jupiter. The first single “Mercury” has been out for a while, you can listen to it below if you haven’t already.

We’re giving you a taste of what else is to come… check out the video above, animated by Chris Mulligan, and read about the next offering from Mercury below.

The album is available for pre-order on a mercurial metallic silver vinyl and CD.

All versions come with download coupons— order and get any available singles instantly, as well as automatically with the whole album on August 28th! Stay tuned for the full music video for “Fever” next week!

PREORDER MERCURY

The Body hit the road, iconic collabs + a sneak peek at some art…

The Body are hitting the road NOW along with friends and collaborators BIG|BRAVE! This summer tour is a hot commodity: two killer bands and both with some incredible new music out this year! The Body’s Master, We Perish reissue is out later this month!!! In stores July 31st, shipping direct via mail order NOW!

Listen to “The Ebb and Flow of Tides in a Sea of Ash”:

The long out of print 2013 EP, Master, We Perish, includes material from two super coveted 2005 7” singles. Whether you’re a discography completionist or this is your first time hearing the colossal EP that developed the sound The Body would come to be known for on later records (like No One Deserves Happiness and I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer), this record is an ESSENTIAL.

The Body’s landmark record Master, We Perish found the acclaimed duo at a crossroads in their career. Recorded just before the duo of drummer Lee Buford and guitarist/vocalist Chip King were leaving their longtime home of Providence for Portland and released in between their breakthrough albums All the Waters of the Earth Turn to Blood and Christs, Redeemers, Master expanded on the duo’s love of layered worldbuilding with more precision and a stronger emphasis on percussive samples than ever before. The seeds of the duo’s celebrated collaborative inclination are evident as the album features Assembly of Light Choir leader Chrissy Wolpert, choir member Reba Mitchell, Otesanek vocalist Leslie Weitz, and guitarist David Lifrieri. With the expanded edition, the album’s striking cover painting by Providence mainstay Manifester aka Matt Brinkman (Mindflayer, Forcefield) is finally rendered in its original form.

Master, We Perish is expanded with rare bonus tracks from The Body’s early days, taken from a pair of rare 7” singles Cop Killer/Dead Cops as well as a split with Get Killed. These storied singles mark the first time the band truly pushed the boundaries of sound in the studio and on record. It also marks the beginning of The Body’s practice of wielding the studio as a veritable weapon to translate their gargantuan sound with deeper impact on LP. The results are not only pushing the capacity of the album format but are sonically riveting. The bonus material was recorded at Machines with Magnets. The band described them economically: “NASTY.”

Master, We Perish (expanded) is pressed onto some very nice looking Smoke vinyl (not scratch-n-sniff) and housed in a jacket featuring the original version of the cover art by Manifester aka Matt Brinkman. Grab a vinyl version from our site and get a digital download for free, too.

ORDER MASTER, WE PERISH (EXPANDED)

We’ve also got plenty of The Body & BIG|BRAVE merch still in stock. BIG|BRAVE’s Thrill Jockey debut Leaving None But Small Birds has been repressed multiple times over the years to LP and CD, and a super nifty hat made by Lee is available.

SNAG THE HAT

We’ve also got some final overstock of B|B’s Lee-printed in grief or in hope hoodies - one hoodie available in size M, L, and XL.

SNAG THE HOODIE

Super grungy cyberpunk styles matched over a love of deep bass, distorted electronics and sampling when The Body and Dis Fig collabed for Orchards of a Futile Heaven.

With Chip at a noise / pedals table rather than his usual guitar setup & Dis Fig’s Felicia giving a super intense performance with shouts, shrieks, ethereal singing, and vocal manipulations, it translated into one of the best heavy live shows we’ve seen in recent years.

SNAG THE LP & CD

The Body & Thou. You Whom I Have Always Hated. You already know all you need to know about this. Two of the most influential titans of heavy music for the past 20 years, two CDs remain!

SNAG THE CD

The Body + Full of Hell just wrapped up tour in Europe together in April - if you missed a chance to grab a CD at the merch table, get it now!

SNAG THE CD

Always looking forward, what could be next for The Body….?

GET TIX NOW!

Marisa Anderson The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music back in stock!

The praise for Marisa’s phenomenal new record The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music has not stopped, and for good reason… Marisa has clearly touched us all with her new record. We especially felt it when she visited Chicago and had everyone in the audience in tears. You can tune in to her latest interview with NPR on Think Out Loud here. You can listen to her interview on NPR’s New Sounds here.

She was also featured on ’s best country albums of 2026 for the month of June!

Volume 1 of the Anthology sold out of the gorgeous Green Lion vinyl, but fret not! We repressed this highly coveted variant and it is back in stock and ready to ship as soon as you place your order!

All LPs come with a 4-page 12x24 booklet, CDs with a 12 page booklet, filled with cover images of the records that inspired it and details about the source material and overall creative process documentation by Marisa getting into the details of tracks’ origins, her interpretations and more.

LPs and CDs all come with a download coupon. Get an instant download of the whole album for keeps.

ORDER THE ANTHOLOGY

A Doug McCombs Cratediggers Throwback

Elena Setien’s son made a wonderful short video for her latest single with Black Duck, “Connects by water” and we can’t get over how sweet it is! Watch it above.

“Connects by Water” was composed by the legendary Doug McCombs for the collaborative album Black Duck with Elena Setien that will be out on August 28th later this summer.

In honor of the very Doug track, we dug back into our playlists and found a favorite of ours–the inspirations for the multi-talented guitarist and Bass VI lover Douglas McCombs. Dive into the musical world of Doug and his past inspirations!

• Tom Verlaine - The Blue Robe

• Bill Orcutt - The Sun and Its Horizon

• Jamie Branch - Theme 001

• Richard Hell - Another World

• Duane Eddy - Summer Kiss

• The Cure, Mark Saunders - A Forest

• Public Image Ltd. - Poptones

• Rob Mazurek Pulsar Quartet - Spanish Venus

• Ritchie Valens - Stay Beside Me

• Broadcast - Tears in the Typing Pool

• X - The Unheard Music

• The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck

• Sun City Girls - Esoterica of Abyssynia

• Wipers - When It’s Over

Black Duck is Douglas McCombs (Tortoise, Brokeback, and so many more), Bill MacKay (BCMC with Cooper Crain) and noted jazz percussionist Charles Rumback (who you may know from his LPs with Ryley Walker). Based in Spain, Elena Setién has composed for film (Mirande) and television (Altsasu) and collaborated with Mary Lattimore, Steve Gunn, and Glenn Kotche. Together, they bring you their self-titled debut collaboration.

The cover of Black Duck with Elena Setién features the painting “Miller Beach with The Ladies” by Leslie Baum. It is available on limited Coke Bottle Clear LP and limited CD, cased in mini- gatefold package, and both versions include a digital download card. Buy it now and get two singles “Land of Many Eyes” and “Connects by Water” instantly, as well as the full album on the day of release.

ORDER BLACK DUCK W/ ELENA SETIEN

Listen to “Take Me With You”:

Midori Hirano has announced her new album The Juniper Tree, a brand new score for the debut film by Nietzchka Keene, out October 2 in collaboration with Viernulvier Records. Commissioned by Kunstencentrum Viernulvier for their acclaimed Videodroom series, in which contemporary experimentalists reimagine the musical accompaniment of classic arthouse cinema.

The Juniper Tree premiered to critical acclaim at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival, starring Björk in her first on-screen role. Shot in haunting black-and-white on location in Iceland, it follows two sisters who flee after their mother is executed for witchcraft, standing as a powerful allegory of misogyny and its consequences.

Two tracks from the newly reimagined score are out now: “Take Me With You” and “Spell On You,” which reveal two respective sides of the score—piano and synthesizer compositions, both imbued with the same sense of restraint as the film. On the former, Hirano explains: “This is a piece played in the scene where Margit (a medieval witch played by Björk) is searching for her mother on the shore. A simple ambient synth tone repeats at regular intervals, slowly changing in timbre, reflecting Margit’s quiet calls for her mother.“ On “Spell On You,” she adds: “A simple piano piece, evoking a sense of both eeriness and sacredness. This appears multiple times throughout the film whenever Margit’s sister Katla casts a spell.”

Listen to “Spell On You”:

The Juniper Tree is available to order as a digital release. Pre-order it now to receive “Take Me With You” and “Spell On You” in your inbox today. You’ll also get the full digital album on the day of its release.

Midori also let us know that she’ll be performing an early album release concert at Silent Green on September 2, and - REMINDER - she’s performing at the Heroines of Sound Festival in Berlin next Friday!

ORDER THE JUNIPER TREE

Midori Hirano’s critically acclaimed OTONOMA is back in stock!! Get it now, along with The Juniper Tree, while you can:

ORDER OTONOMA

Black Duck with Elena Setién new single “Connects by Water” + in the studio

Listen to “Connects by Water”:

Chicago’s own Black Duck (bassist/guitarist Douglas McCombs, guitarist Bill MacKay and drummer Charles Rumback), together with Basque singer and keyboardist Elena Setién, share “Connects by Water,” a glorious new track from their album Black Duck with Elena Setién.

Fans of McCombs’ work in projects like Tortoise and Brokeback will recognize “Connects By Water” as one of his compositions, though the ensemble reshapes it into something more airy and expansive, colored by gently sloshing waves of feedback. Setién says, “Somehow for me, this track is a great respite. Like finally coming to a beautiful quiet beach, knowing you can relax.”

Black Duck and Elena Setién’s combined ability to converse at the boundaries of improvisation and composition makes for fertile ground in which every subtle gesture carries weight. Their collective compositional acumen makes for an exquisite diversity of sounds and movements that all cohere into a singular album only they could make.

The glowing album previews are already rolling-

Snag your copy first on either CD (in a lovely gatefold package with a download card) or limited Coke Bottle Clear vinyl, with a lovely jacket and a photo filled inner sleeve shots taken at their recording session. All versions come with downloads— order and get any available singles instantly, as well as the whole album on August 28th!

ORDER BLACK DUCK W/ ELENA

The Body & Big Brave US tour starts next week + Dark Days Bright Nights announced

BIG|BRAVE are embarking on their first US tour in 2 years with friends and collaborators The Body NEXT WEEK!!! If you haven’t secured your tickets yet, what are you waiting for???

The two bands’ previous tours together bore fruit in the form of an acclaimed collaborative album, Leaving None But Small Birds. Although there is no plan for BIG|BRAVE and The Body to perform together, it is without a doubt a pairing of two of the most forward-thinking, and exciting bands working in heavy music today. We personally can’t wait until they finally hit Chicago and Portland, Maine…

In case you missed it, you can head back to our newsletter from last week to check out all the incredible reviews BIG|BRAVE have received so far for their INCREDIBLE and GROUNDBREAKING new record in grief or in hope.

Listen to “Skin Ripper” by BIG|BRAVE:

ORDER IN GRIEF OR IN HOPE

The Body are returning with an absolute classic–reissued this July–Master, We Perish. This groundbreaking album now comes with an entire new side of rarities. The artwork is now as the band originally conceived of it. A must have for any fans of The Body.

Order it on LP and CD and get an instant download of the entire album.

ORDER MASTER, WE PERISH

See these incredible bands live in concert at a city near you this summer:

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Marisa Anderson on WNYC Soundcheck

Marisa Anderson visited the WNYC studios earlier this month as she’s been embarking on her extensive summer tour, making her way all over the country. She’ll be heading to the UK and Ireland later this fall.

Check out her session of UnAmerican Folk Music, in time for us to reckon with our country’s 250th anniversary. At what seems to feel like an all-time high of upheaval and disappointment, Marisa offers up a poignant perspective on music from regions around the world constantly overlooked and misunderstood. Listen to the full episode including live performances and an interview with John Schaefer HERE.

Taqsim For Guitar:

Hamd:

Sarvi Simin:

GET TIX NOW!

ORDER THE ANTHOLOGY

Cratediggers: Colleen’s playlist of energetic synthesis and genre-bending gems

• Orion Sun - Back, Baby (cover) [only available on bandcamp]

• Loraine James - Ending Us All ft. Le3 bLACK X Fyn Dobson

• Céline Gillain - Never Easy

• The Soft Pink Truth - We

• Sam Prekop - Light Shadow

• Dario Zenker - Timeline 402

• Speaker Music - Techno-Vernacular Phreak

• Sons Of - A Ghost at Noon

• Francis Harris - Leland

• Jessica Pratt - Back, Baby

ORDER LIBRES ANTES DEL FINAL

Jules Reidy’s “Shadow Symmetric,” a work they developed with JACK Quartet over two years, is out NOW! The new song is a side-long epic that Jules and James Ginzberg (of emptyset) edited into a lovely single excerpt, a delicious tease if you will! Dive in while you read the official announcement of their new LP, Clerestory, in stores everywhere on September 25.

Moving effortlessly between harmonic planes, the quartet creates a sound world that is at once familiar and uncanny, a kind of chorale unfolding according to dream logic.

Listen to “Shadow Symmetric for JACK Quartet (excerpt)”:

A clerestory—etymologically a bright or ‘clear’ level or ‘storey’—is an upper section of wall, most often in a church, punctuated by windows. It is a powerful image for grasping this luminous new music, which presents a side of their work quite distinct from the dense song-constructs of their Thrill Jockey debut Ghost/Spirit. Light casts shadows, of course, and logics of shadowing, mirroring, and distorted reflection—of key importance for Reidy’s work as a whole—inform the sumptuous surfaces of Clerestory and the interplay between its two contrasting sides.

“Shadow Symmetric” is a string quartet commissioned by the celebrated JACK Quartet as part of their JACK Studio program. JACK are one of the preeminent new music ensembles working today, with a particular interest in just intonation (for many years an important component of Reidy’s music). The piece makes use of two pitch sets, beginning from the same starting point but expanded using different scaling to produce what Reidy describes as “two offset spectral layers.” The two sets of intervals are close, but not identical; when heard together, they produce uncanny effects of near-unison, of perfect consonance grasped in a warped reflection.

Like all of Reidy’s music, Clerestory is no mere formal exercise, but a meditation on fundamental dynamics of human experience: orientation and disorientation, the hazy borders between the material and the spiritual, and the instability of identity.

Clerestory is available for pre-order on CD and metallic gold vinyl, both of which include an insert that includes the original score and diagram of the fundamental frequencies of just intonation used by the composer and performers. Pre-order now and get “Shadow Symmetric for JACK Quartet (excerpt)” instantly, as well as the full digital album on release day.

ORDER CLERESTORY

International acclaim for BIG|BRAVE

In the few days since BIG|BRAVE’s TENTH album in grief or in hope has been out in the world, it has been met with love and praise from fans like you. Critics have also had A LOT to say about it. Praise has rolled in from Bandcamp. Stereogum, Our Culture, Exclaim! and more… Read what your favorite music journalists have been saying and snag tickets to see them as they tour the US & Canada with The Body! We will see you at least in Chicago, and in Portland, Maine–probably more shows than that. Can you smell a road trip?

“BIG|BRAVE has built a rich discography on an exploratory sound–their latest goes even deeper, with hovering clouds of distorted guitar” - Bandcamp

“A striking funereal lullaby that’s delivered through an ocean of noise and feedback. It’s soothing and abrasive at the same time” - Stereogum

“BIG|BRAVE’s attention to detail remains both heaven sent and claustrophobic, pairing together droning distortion, atonal dissonance, and Robin Wattie’s beautiful voice emerging from the rubble…” - Post-Trash

“While Montreal’s BIG|BRAVE may share SUNN O)))’s abiding love of shifting drone tectonics, they’ve become ever more adept at shaping those angry swells of noise into compelling song forms…” - Uncut

“...curdles into a wall of noise in a way that’s strangely calming.” - Our Culture

“the most texturally detailed, sonically overwhelming BIG|BRAVE record to date… With in grief or in hope, BIG|BRAVE blow their sound up nearly to the point of combustion…” - AllMusic

“BIG|BRAVE convene a sonically radical critical mass.” - Exclaim

“At the album’s heart, however, is a constant call to persevere, with moments of ugliness fighting against beauty and almost always coming off second best.” - Music OMH

“This is an extraordinary record, a lesson in how to craft dark and dystopian textures into something that is emotionally tangible. It is one of the best albums of the year so far.” - Nine Hertz

“Big|Brave’s act of deconstruction proves both fascinatingly innovative and emotionally powerful.” - Treble

“in grief or in hope stands as one of the boldest and most realized albums of their career, a dense and meditative work that feels alive in the spaces between notes that many acts dare not enter.” - Everything is Noise

“Big|Brave continue sur sa lancée d’excellence avec in grief or in hope.” - La Canal Auditif

“in grief or in hope is beatless, though very definitely not weightless; it rumbles and drifts rather than explodes, the listener caught up in the shifting quicksands of crackle, distortion, drone and decay. ” – Buzz Magazine

“Ten albums in, the band continues to push boundaries and explore new directions.” – Heavy Music HQ

“It is a journey into the depths of the self – a consistent development of the band’s musical language, thanks to which Big|Brave cement their position as artists who are always able to offer something new in the realm of heavy sounds.” – Mint Magazine

“Minimalist in form yet maximalist in execution, Big|Brave perhaps encompass the grand scope of all they’ve created before, with one eye still on the future. Ever the artisans, it’s an alluring offering from one of Canada’s most sublime bands ” – NOIZZE UK

“finds them taking minimalism to radical places… yet another triumph” – Sun-13

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in grief or in hope is available on a very limited edition Translucent Pink and classic Black wax, not to mention the affordable and portable CD. If you snagged the Northern Lights edition you are a lucky duck as they are sold out! Artwork features special photography by guitarist Mathieu Ball and an insert with handwritten lyrics. Buy now and get an instant download of the album.

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Unboxing: Mercury

Upper Wilds continue their journey through space, dropping this sweet deluxe LP package off on Earth before heading back into the vacuum. Where will they go next?

Mercury features a cover designed by Nolen Strals, who designed Upper Wilds’s previous planetary album covers, and also worked on Future Islands album artwork!

For more fuzz rock of the planetary variety, have a listen of Mars, Venus, and Jupiter and pre-order your copy of Mercury on CD or Mercury Silver vinyl. Whichever you order for your physical collection includes a digital download code as well.

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Cratediggers: Colleen’s playlist of energetic synthesis and genre-bending gems

This Monday, Colleen wrapped up her spring touring with a MASSIVE set closing out Portugal’s Waking Life. Over 6000 attended the final show of the festival at the main stage as Cécile performed her album Libres antes del final, and closed with a new song called “Amor”.

Here is a playlist of musical inspirations and energizers that Cécile made for you to enjoy, featuring artists like Loraine James, The Soft Pink Truth, and Jessica Pratt. Stream them on your platform of choice below, and spin a copy of Libres antes an extra couple times to celebrate Cécile’s hard work!

• Orion Sun - Back, Baby (cover) [only available on bandcamp]

• Loraine James - Ending Us All ft. Le3 bLACK X Fyn Dobson

• Céline Gillain - Never Easy

• The Soft Pink Truth - We

• Sam Prekop - Light Shadow

• Dario Zenker - Timeline 402

• Speaker Music - Techno-Vernacular Phreak

• Sons Of - A Ghost at Noon

• Francis Harris - Leland

• Jessica Pratt - Back, Baby

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Catalog Highlight: Luke Roberts

Silver Chain featuring Kurt Vile singing and playing banjo, from Luke’s 2016 album Sunlit Cross

“Roberts’ vocals (which contain all the cackle of J Mascis and all the plaintiveness of Townes Van Zandt) are tender and bruised, and their smallness can be legitimately heartbreaking.” - Pitchfork

“An immediately gripping voice that projects a fallible confidence sympathetically relatable.” - Stereogum

“Comfortable and soothing, something to appreciate, embrace, and sink into... It’s blues and folk and heart—so much heart.” - Under the Radar

A mellow dark horse of Tennessee, Luke Roberts doesn’t fit the mold and doesn’t quite like to. His folk-country instrumentation of plucky fingerpicking, bright acoustic strums, and rough-edged singing harmonize melancholically with blue lyrics - each album is a deep and bittersweet drink.

Thrill Jockey met Luke through Harvey Milk / Music Blues’s Stephen Tanner - we were visiting Stephen in Brooklyn and Luke was working as a cook in the same kitchen. He could not only make some tasty fried chicken—he made the most vulnerable music we had heard in ages. It was not long before we re-issued his debut record Big Bells and Dime Songs, which was first released as a limited press by Thurston Moore, you know, of Sonic Youth… We are still enamored by his deceptively rich songwriting. Simple song structures and simple chord changes leave room for each song to tell its own story, a deep impression to lay in.

You can see Luke’s charmingly understated and tongue-in-cheek nature on tracks like “Cartier Timepiece” off of his second record The Iron Gates at Throop and Newport. After moving from Montana to Nashville, Iron Gates… is fuller with blues and straight-up country arrangements including harmonica, fiddle, and mandolin.

“Unspotted Clothes” dir. James Clauer (When the World’s on Fire 2014, Gummo 1997, The Aluminum Fowl 2006).

Luke hopped trains out of Nashville, lived out of a car, traveled New York state, and Cambodia, and Kenya, borrowing from all his experience for his latest recorded work Sunlit Cross.

The crew that worked on Sunlit Cross (including Stephen Tanner and Creston Spiers of Harvey Milk and John Neff of the Drive-By Truckers) would sit on the deck and eat and look out on the Georgia pines with birds and crickets echoing all around. “It feels like you’re in a billionaire’s office in a treehouse, making music with some real pros.” Kurt Vile became enamored with the music and invited Luke on tour, and they’ve recorded a couple songs together since including “Silver Chain” above.

You can see more from Luke Roberts including music videos, live performances, and all of his albums on his artist page here

LEARN MORE ABOUT LUKE

Listen to the first single, “Shadow Symmetric for JACK Quartet (excerpt)” EXCLUSIVELY HERE:

We’ve been celebrating Jules Reidy’s phenomenal multichannel guitar playing and visionary microtonal compositions for years—we first heard word of new music from Jules last year when she was commissioned by the JACK studio to compose for them. We have been dying to tell you about it since! Now we can finally announce with our subscribers (before anyone else!) Jules’s fantastic new album: Clerestory.

A clerestory—etymologically a bright or ‘clear’ level or ‘storey’—is an upper section of wall, most often in a church, punctuated by windows. It is a powerful image for grasping this luminous new music, which presents a side of their work quite distinct from the dense song-constructs of their Thrill Jockey debut Ghost/Spirit. Light casts shadows, of course, and logics of shadowing, mirroring, and distorted reflection—of key importance for Reidy’s work as a whole—inform the sumptuous surfaces of Clerestory and the interplay between its two contrasting sides.

“Shadow Symmetric” is a string quartet commissioned by the celebrated JACK Quartet as part of their JACK Studio program. Reidy’s pairing with the quartet is felicitous: JACK are one of the preeminent new music ensembles working today, with a particular interest in just intonation, for many years an important component of Reidy’s music. The piece makes simultaneous use of two pitch sets, beginning from the same starting point but expanded using different scaling to produce what Reidy describes as “two offset spectral layers.” The two sets of intervals are close, but not identical; when heard together, they produce uncanny effects of near-unison, of perfect consonance grasped in a warped reflection.

The piece’s gentle pacing and constrained dynamic range invites us to become immersed in its distinctive language of static resonance, complex beating tones, and subtle harmonic surprise. It is primarily a music of harmony, but rhythmic organisation is key to its effect: arranged as successive harmonic blocks that at times overlap, with staggered introductions of the quartet’s four voices often serving to key the listener’s attention into the blurring of the near-unison pitches, the music moves with the stateliness of an early Baroque chorale. Through it, there threads a melodic theme, passed between instruments and tuning systems, almost at the threshold of perception but with the same yearning quality familiar to listeners of Reidy’s guitar works.

On the flipside, “Clerestory Windows” offers up a distorted mirror image of the string quartet, arranged as a series of episodes that each remake the material in their own way, as if seen through individual panes of stained glass. It begins with an arrangement of the string quartet material for MIDI strings and voices, repositioning its rigorous harmonic exploration somewhere between the Lovely Music Ltd universe and a 90s RPG soundtrack. This episode derives from Reidy’s installation Inside, Crystals and Circuitry, held in Stockholm in 2025, made up of multi-channel sound broadcast by transducers in suspended sheets of glass illuminated by spotlights, producing a mysterious effect where shadows appear more palpable than the sheets themselves. The piece moves into a lyrical 12-string acoustic guitar air performed at the installation opening, before the strings from the first side reappear, now frozen and stretched into slow-moving waves, with electric guitar tones rippling across. From this emerges flickering arpeggios, achieved by arranging the string quartet material for the RMI, an early digital synthesizer. This cues a move into more active terrain, preparing the way for the delirious final episode, where the string quartet material is re-arranged once more, this time for staccato patterns of stuttering electric guitar notes, eventually giving way to spacious chords shadowed by a pair of ringing sine tones.

Like all of Reidy’s music, Clerestory is no mere formal exercise, but a meditation on fundamental dynamics of human experience: orientation and disorientation, the hazy borders between the material and the spiritual, and the instability of identity.

Clerestory is available for pre-order on CD and metallic gold vinyl, both of which include an insert with the original score and diagram of the fundamental frequencies of just intonation used by the composer and performers. All formats come with a download coupon. Pre-order Clerestory now and get the first single delivered to you INSTANTLY before it’s officially released.

PRE-ORDER CLERESTORY

Peals share “Believers” with live performance clip!

Peals, the duo of Baltimore mainstays William Cashion (Future Islands) and Bruce Willen (Double Dagger), have shared the patiently unfolding new track, “Believers,” taken from their special LP release of The Compound 76 available everywhere on July 31st. Accompanied by the companion album Le Pantoum 46, the two albums capture unique snapshots in the band’s ever-evolving practice, each performance responding to the distinctive performance environs. “Believers” has taken on a number of shapes across the band’s output, and The Compound 76 embraces a more direct, close-sounding palette with drones slowly forming new chords as static and distorted hiss crack along the edges. Watch a clip of the duo performing “Believers” below:

Grayson Haver Currin describes The Compound 76 in an excerpt from his liner notes:

“Four years near the beginning of the last decade, William Cashion and Bruce Willen created quietly radiant instrumental music from two tessellated guitars, a few modest synths, and a slew of percussive and noisy toys, like walkie-talkies or the things that gave the pair their handle, bells. This 2016 live recording is taken from the band’s next-to-last show, at least for now, cut in an artist-run space called The Compound in their hometown of Baltimore. Peals is the project of two bassists known best for their other livewire and loud Baltimore bands: Future Islands for Cashion, Double Dagger for Willen. Technically, Double Dagger—an absolutely electrifying post-punk trio—had reached its end just as Cashion and Willen began talking about trying to make music together, but that context never really mattered.

When Peals started, their Baltimore scene was known for paroxysms and energy—Dan Deacon, Ponytail, Ecstatic Sunshine, Future Islands, Double Dagger, and on and on. This was a calming project, a comedown for band and audience alike. The world hasn’t slowed or softened in the last decade. And Peals, heard here just before what we can hope is only a decade-long pause, still offers another option, a way out, an antidote.”

The Compound 76 is available on limited Clear Pink LP. The cover designed by Bruce features a photo by Baltimore artist Nicholas Wisniewski. The LP comes with a download coupon–preorder it now and get released singles instantly and the entire album on release day. Don’t forget the companion digital-only release Le Pantoum 46.

LIMITED SUBSCRIBERS EXCLUSIVE: if you preorder The Compound 76 & Le Pantoum 46 by June 25th, you can enter the code “Peal” at check out and receive $5 off!

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more eaze & Wendy Eisenberg cover Ween during a power outage

Last week Wednesday, Mari and Wendy visited us from New York City for a show at the Empty Bottle.

Sounds normal right? but not quite! - Chicago was going through a week of intense and unpredictable storms. Mari and Wendy caught the worst of it the very evening of their show. A 15-minute storm knocked the power out of Ukrainian Village (the neighborhood Empty Bottle lives in), sent siding flying off buildings, and felled trees all throughout the city.

There was no power to put on a show, much less turn on a light, or power an amp or a sampler. Undaunted, these two Brooklyn musicians, the staff of the Bottle (+ their borrowed generator), Sam Prekop & one of our own who loaned their acoustic guitars, came together for an unforgettable evening. A badly timed storm turned into a sweet reminder of the power of community, the incredible adaptability of these two artists, and the power of music to transcend.

Wandering into the Empty Bottle's candlelit interior, we were greeted by the heat—remember, there was no power for AC! The sparse lighting did have an upside: we could hide the fact that we were all sweating like champs. After the sun went down, the entire neighborhood went pitch-black, and Mari & Wendy took the stage for an ultra rare unplugged set. The room was packed—a true feat considering the unusual circumstances and unreliable transportation that night. Despite it all, we managed to capture some moments to share with you: more eaze’s performance of “bad friend” and a cover by the duo of Ween’s “She’s Your Baby.”

Watch more eaze & Wendy Eisenberg cover “She’s Your Baby” by Ween:

Watch more eaze perform “bad friend”:

It was an amazing evening considering chaises were flying off hotel roofs, fallen trees turned roads into obstacle courses, and yet still fans showed up and the artists played a show <3

Stay tuned for some exciting news coming from more eaze pretty soon… For now, grab your copy of sentence structure in the country if you haven’t already!

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UNBOXING: Black Duck with Elena Setién

Black Duck is Douglas McCombs (Basic, Tortoise, Brokeback), Bill McKay (solo recordings for Drag City, BCMC with Cooper Crain) and noted jazz percussionist Charles Rumback (duo albums with Ryley Walker). Elena Setién has composed for film (Mirande) and television (Altsasu) and collaborated with Mary Lattimore, Steve Gunn, and Glenn Kotche. Together, they bring you their self-titled debut collaboration. The cover of Black Duck with Elena Setién features the painting “Miller Beach with The Ladies” by Leslie Baum. It is available on limited Coke Bottle Clear LP and limited CD, cased in mini- gatefold package, and both versions include a digital download card. Buy it now and get “Land of Many Eyes” instantly, as well as the full album on the day of release. Check out the gorgeous LP unboxed in the video above.

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Thrill Jockey Artists on Tour NOW!

We’ve got a bunch of our fantastic artists touring all over the world this summer! Matmos, Sam Prekop + John McEntire, Magic Tuber Stringband, Marisa Anderson, The Body & BIG|BRAVE, and more!!!

Setting have announced that they will be performing for the opening ceremony at Justin Vernon’s (of Bon Iver) Eaux Claires Music Festival! Bonus to the heads that know he also collaborated on Mouse on Mars’ Dimensional People! And please stay tuned to this Substack for more news soon about Justin…

We also have a TON of one-off shows:

Midori Hirano is performing across Germany at Pastiche International, with Bruder Selke, and at Heroines of Sound Festival. Keep following up with our newsletters for some super exciting news from Midori coming soon!

Plankton Wat is touring down the West Coast. These are some rare shows as Plankton Wat haven’t toured in a hot minute. If they’re headed to a town near you, act now and make it out to a show!

claire rousay will be headed to Australia from Syndey to Melbourne to Brisbane, bringing some enchanting electronics and piano playing down under.

OOIOO will be making an EPIC return to London. Their recent return to the US sold out completely across California. This London date will likely sell out… grab your tickets while you still can.

Coming up very soon, Marielle V Jakobsons is bringing The Patterns Lost to Air to Seattle and Portland very soon and Colleen will perform in Madrid and at Waking Life Festival!

You can find the full list of artists on tour and links to buy tickets on our site. Head there now:

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BIG|BRAVE’s in grief or hope is out TODAY! They’ve wrapped their EU tour playing the new material, made two inventive and moody music videos, designed some exclusive merch, and will be starting their North America tour with THE BODY in less than a month!!