RiYL Brian Heater

What's a dozen or so years between friends? 2012's Tarnished Gold found Beachwood Sparks in fine form. Eleven years had passed since the band's first two records were released within a year of each other. It was a reunion of sorts, though this time 12 years would pass before the Los Angeles group reunited. Released earlier this month, Across the River of Stars marks another dreamy return to the band's alt-country ways.
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At 12, Joe Bonamassa was opening for the BB King. Twelve years later, his career was a at a crossroads. He's been through a pair of major label deals and suddenly found himself tasked with releasing his third album on his own. "There was no plan B," the guitarist says. Blues Deluxe, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, was precisely the shot to the arm his career needed.
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Like many of us, Tracy Bonham's been through it over the last couple of years. Her latest single, “Damn The Sky (For Being Too Wide)," processes some of those feelings of isolation and disconnect. It's also her first studio release since 2017's Modern Burdens, which found the musician reconnecting with the debut album that put her on the map back in the mid-90s. Throughout it all, she's managed to reconnect with the people and things that matter most.
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The Ukulele was a gimmick, as Dent May is the first to admit. It did the trick on the Mississippi-born musician's second album, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele. The LP -- his first for the Animal Collective-run Paw Tracks -- established May as a musical force. These days he continues his hunt for the perfect pop song. Nowhere has he come closer than on this year's What's for Breakfast? Transcript available here.
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Prior to Beat the Champ, Leela Corman hadn’t drawn much wrestling. The 2015 record would be the first two Mountain Goats covers drawn by the cartoonist. Corman’s passion for bodies in motion would resurface in this April’s Victory Parade, as wrestling plays a key role in the World War II era graphic novel. The book tells the story of personal and societal trauma of the era. It’s an important reminder of lessons our world is doomed to relearn. Transcript available here.
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It’s not easy being a pioneer, but Jim Skafish came out of the gate swinging. In the late-70s, the Chicago musician became the first American signed to Miles Copeland’s hugely influential IRS records. His band’s first LP, 1980’s self-titled Skafish, failed to catch fire, owing to delays and poor production. Three years later, Conversations, was met with its own pushback, as it marked a major sonic departure. Skafish, a classically trained pianist whose current work is more easily classified as jazz, is long overdue for a reexamination and a pioneering force in musical, political and non-conforming.  
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