Al Cisneros carries a solid rep as the singer and bassist for two of the finest bands to have churned and thudded at the intersection of stoner rock and doom metal, Sleep and Om. However, Cisneros also has a rewarding string of solo forays into the hissing, echo-laden realms of dub, with the new “Dragonaut Dub” EP his latest dive into this heady style. The set is out now on vinyl with an absolutely splendiferous cover illustration by Arik Roper via Eremite Records.

Prior to Sleep, there was Asbestosdeath, a gang of doom crushers who released a pair of 7-inch slabs in the 1990 timeframe that were later compiled by Southern Lord on the “Dejection Unclean” 10-inch in 2007. With some personnel changes, Asbestosdeath quickly morphed into Sleep, releasing Volume One in 1991 through Tupelo Recording Company, and then Sleep’s Holy Mountain the next year through Earache Records. From there, the band became a defining outfit in the slowly unfurling stoner rock scene.

It was Dopesmoker (originally Jerusalem) that really put Sleep on the map when it was released after a hiatus in 1999 by The Music Cartel and then in an updated version with the band’s preferred title in 2003 by Tee Pee Records. Subsequent expanded editions have hit racks through Southern Lord and Third Man, as the latter label has released Sleep’s last two albums, The Sciences from 2018 and Hemispheres from earlier this year.

In one of Sleep’s dormant stretches, Om was formed by Cisneros and Sleep drummer Chris Hakius, though through a slew of studio and live recordings Om released between 2005- ’14, Cisneros has been the constant member. Such is obviously the case with his solo output, which commenced in 2012 with the “Dismas” 45 on his own label Sinai.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Rhino’s Quadio series revisits the rich musical landscape of the mid-1970s with four new quadraphonic releases: Carly Simon’s Hotcakes/Playing Possum, Gordon Lightfoot’s Cold on the Shoulder, Hot Tuna’s Yellow Fever, and the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band’s self-titled debut and Trouble in Paradise. They arrive today on Blu-ray.

Each disc pairs the original quadraphonic mix, sourced from the analog four-track quad master tapes, with a hi-res 192 kHz/24-bit stereo transfer. Available exclusively through Rhino.com and select Warner Music Group stores worldwide, each title lists for $24.98, or $79.98 as a four-disc bundle. Order HERE.

Hotcakes/Playing Possum (1974/1975) brings together two albums from Carly Simon’s remarkable run of three consecutive Top 10 albums. Hotcakes (#3) delivered a pair of Top 20 hits: “Mockingbird,” her duet with James Taylor, and “Haven’t Got Time For The Pain.”

The following year, Playing Possum (#10) explored erotic themes on songs like “Slave” and “Waterfall,” while “Attitude Dancing” became its biggest hit. That provocative spirit extended to the artwork, with Norman Seeff’s photograph of Simon appearing on the cover, which earned a Grammy® Award nomination and a place among Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest album covers.

Cold on the Shoulder (1975) was Gordon Lightfoot’s 10th album and followed the chart-topping success of 1974’s Sundown. It reached #10 and introduced “Rainy Day People,” a song about friendship that topped the Adult Contemporary chart. Lightfoot’s storytelling shines throughout, including the title track, “Fine As Fine Can Be,” and “Cherokee Bend,” a haunting tale of prejudice and violence against Native Americans.

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Remembering Richard Lloyd. —Ed.

Sometimes I flabbergast myself. I think I know what I like and what I don’t like, only to find out I don’t know a damn thing about anything, least of all my likes and dislikes. Take KC and the Sunshine Band. I hated them with a passion for like 30 years, and now I think they’re great. Or Elton John’s Caribou, which I liked for like 80 years, only to realize just yesterday that it has only two good songs, although to Captain Fantastic’s credit, they’re two really great songs.

But occasionally I get it right the first time, as with Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” which I hated when it came out and still hate to this day. And the same goes for Television’s sophomore LP, 1978’s Adventure. People—as in every sentient human breathing air the year it came out—wrote Adventure off as a lackluster follow-up to the band’s 1977 debut, Marquee Moon. Everybody but me, that is. Because I had never heard of Marquee Moon. I didn’t even know it existed. Hell, I can’t even remember how or why I came to buy Adventure, because I had no clue as to who Television was and absolutely no inkling that they were an integral part of a musical revolution in progress at a ratty club in New York City called CBGBs.

But buy it I did, just as I bought Kill City without having ever heard the Stooges, which just goes to show you how isolating rural living was back in the days before the internet gave you access to all kinds of information, including who was who on the rock circuit. About all you got exposed to back in those days were hoof and mouth disease and square dancing, which is why I spent my teen years doing my level best to do as many drugs as I could get my greedy paws on, while trying to wrap my vehicle around a utility pole, which I finally accomplished on March 1, 1980. You’ve got to have goals, even in the boondocks, or life isn’t worth a damn.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The history of punk is full of arguments. Who invented it? Which band mattered most? Which scene came first? Ask ten fans, and you’ll get ten different answers. But there is far less debate about one thing: 1977 was the year punk exploded.

In Punk ’77: The Year and Music That Revolutionized Rock, Martin Popoff revisits the twelve chaotic months when punk rock burst from clubs, fanzines, and underground scenes into the mainstream. Moving through the year month by month, the book traces the records, personalities, controversies, and cultural flashpoints that transformed punk from a provocation into a global force.

Rather than retelling the familiar argument over punk’s origins, Punk ’77 focuses on the year everything accelerated. From the interconnected scenes of London and New York to emerging hotspots across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, the book follows punk’s rapid expansion as new bands, new sounds, and new ideas reshaped rock music.

Drawing on interview material with key figures from the era, including members of the Damned, the Dictators, the Dead Boys, the Sex Pistols, Generation X, the Buzzcocks, the Patti Smith Group, Talking Heads, and more, Popoff builds a chronological portrait of a movement in motion.

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They shoulda been somebody. Country rock band Poco featured players with impeccable pedigrees, including two former Buffalo Springfield members and two future Eagles members. The band was a refuge for stars on the wane and a testing ground for stars in the making, and how could you go wrong, right?

Well, it didn’t help that one member (Richie Furay) would end up in the Titanic-class “supergroup” The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, while another (Jim Messina) would later be half of the execrable duo Loggins & Messina until being “Garfunkeled” by Kenny Loggins. And what did the future members of the Eagles (Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmit) really have to be proud about? The Eagles’ moral repugnance was only matched by the gargantuan egos of Don Henley and Glenn Frey.

So maybe they shouldn’t have been anyone after all. It didn’t help that they specialized in watered-down country rock, with the occasional forays into other genres including third-rate rock and (yes) jazz, which prevented the band from establishing a consistent “brand” that buyers could depend on.

Still, they managed to put out a very small handful of decent songs during their long career, including the hardly chart-busting singles “You Better Think Twice” (1970) and “A Good Feeling to Know” (1972). That should certainly count for something. It doesn’t count for much.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Stooges’ self-titled debut lit punk rock’s fuse in 1969, long before it exploded in 1976. Today, a new audiophile edition of The Stooges is available on reel-to-reel from Rhino High Fidelity.

The Stooges (Rhino High Fidelity R2R) was duplicated in real time from a 1:1 copy of the original flat analog master tape. The result is a master-quality listening experience that captures the recording’s full dynamics. The 15 i.p.s. half-track 1/4” tape is produced to the IEC equalization standard on premium RTM LPR90 tape stock and stored on a 10.5” metal reel. The Reel-to-Reel edition is limited to 350 copies worldwide and available exclusively at Rhino.com.

Iggy Pop (aka Iggy Stooge on this album), Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, and Dave Alexander left Ann Arbor, Michigan, to record their debut in New York with producer John Cale. Across eight tracks, the band’s visceral rhythms and roaring guitars fused with Iggy’s confrontational vocals, forging an elemental sound that was ahead of its time.

“1969” opens the album with a sneer, while “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “No Fun” bristle with the quartet’s primal power. Cale, who played viola on the Velvet Underground’s first two albums, also plays it here on the eerie, experimental “We Will Fall.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Phantogram today celebrates a decade of their acclaimed album, Three, with a limited-edition Smoky Sky Blue color vinyl pressing, an immersive Dolby Atmos mix of the album, and an explosive new remix, all out now. Featuring alternate artwork and a new metallic foil cover, the anniversary LP is available exclusively at Phantogram.com and uDiscover Music.

“We made this album over six months in Echo Park during one of the heaviest periods of our lives. It came out of grief, heartbreak, noise, and the need to keep moving through it all,” says Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter. “Ten years later, these songs have taken on lives of their own thanks to all of you. You’ve danced to them, cried to them, screamed them back at us, and carried them with you in ways we never could have imagined when we were making the record.”

Originally released October 7, 2016, Three debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200. The album brought Phantogram’s signature blend of electronic production, hard-hitting beats, gauzy guitars, Barthel’s crystalline vocals, and Carter’s brooding delivery into sharper focus. Informed by the loss of Barthel’s sister, Becky, the record balances its deeply personal subject matter with a more direct approach to songwriting. Across 10 tracks, the duo turns turmoil into music that invites both movement and reflection.

To mark Three’s 10th anniversary, English DJ, producer and composer Aaron Hibell has remixed “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore,” transforming one of Phantogram’s defining songs into an explosive, tension-filled banger. Hibell’s remix amplifies the original’s dark intensity with cinematic scale and momentum.

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Remembering Doug Sahm, born on this day in 1941. —Ed.

Hank Williams’ very last performance in this life was at the Skyline Club in Austin, Texas, in December 1953. On stage with him was an unusual figure; the 11-year-old Douglas Wayne Sahm, a prodigy who had made his radio debut at the age of five. Come 1965, Sahm became the frontman of The Sir Douglas Quintet, whose “She’s About a Mover” is nothing less than one of the greatest songs ever. (Yeah, that’s right.) Now jump forward to 1973 and Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, produces Sahm’s debut solo LP, Doug Sahm and Band.

That “band” was misleading; the folks in that studio were nothing less than a supergroup, and had no intention of hitting the road together. Bob Dylan, Dr. John, David Bromberg, and the Tejano Mexican accordionist Flaco Jiménez were all involved, as was famed saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman and ex-Sir Douglas Quintet keyboardist Augie Meyers, who produced that great organ sound on “She’s About a Mover.”

It could have turned into a self-indulgent fiasco, as so many sessions crowded with big names do, but instead it was an instant classic—energetic, ecstatic, and in general the kind of LP guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Its mix of Tex-Mex, blues, and rock’n’roll means it’s all over the place, but the band put their magic touch on whatever genre they turned their heads to. Sahm wrote only 3 of the LP’s 12 songs—other contributors included Dylan, Willie Nelson, and T-Bone Walker, amongst others—but he managed to make them his own.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Twenty years ago, Cold War Kids introduced their distinctive blend of soulful storytelling, blues-infused indie rock and unforgettable melodies with their acclaimed debut album, Robbers & Cowards. Fueled by breakout singles “Hang Me Up to Dry,” “We Used to Vacation,” and “Hospital Beds,” the album landed on the Billboard 200 and launched a career that has since generated more than one billion streams worldwide.

Today, Cold War Kids celebrate the album’s 20ᵗʰ anniversary with Robbers & Cowards / Complete Cowards (20th Anniversary Edition), available now via UMe. The expanded collection completes four songs written during the album’s original era but left unfinished at the time, and adds six live recordings captured in 2007 as the band toured in support of its breakout debut.

Robbers & Cowards / Complete Cowards is available as a 2LP on black vinyl or limited-edition Brick Red vinyl, both featuring alternate and new artwork, and as a 2CD set. The Digital Deluxe Edition adds Phantogram’s newly reimagined version of “Hang Me Up to Dry,” which transforms the Cold War Kids classic with heavy electro beats, layered atmospherics and bewitching vocals. The collaboration offers a first glimpse of a further 20th anniversary celebration, with more artist reinterpretations of songs from Robbers & Cowards coming in 2027.

The four newly completed songs—“Loyalty,” “There Goes The Night,” “Jesse Latour,” and “She Can Do No Wrong”—all date back to the Robbers & Cowards era. Cold War Kids returned to the material two decades later to finish and record the songs for the anniversary collection.

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For decades, Lynyrd Skynyrd fans had to make do with only one live album—1976’s adequate but flawed One More from the Road. I’m a Skynyrd fan to the bone, but I never felt the need to own it. Did I really want to hear covers of the tired “Crossroads” or Jimmie Rodgers’ blues yodel “T for Texas”?

Or a bunch of other songs that sounded EXACTLY (frontman Ronnie Vant was a real stickler on this point) how they sounded on record? Only not as good? Then came 2009, when Geffen Records released a pair of live shows from 1975 (Live at the Cardiff Capitol Theatre) and 1976 Authorized Bootleg: Live in Winterland, San Francisco, CA, 3/07/76. It was cause for rejoicing, right?

Well, yes and no. What I love about Authorized Bootleg: Live in Winterland, San Francisco, CA, 3/07/76 is its raw power. What I don’t like so much about Authorized Bootleg: Live in Winterland, San Francisco, CA, 3/07/76 is its raw power. Let me explain. The songs on the LP are wonderfully rough around the edges, and don’t sound like replications of the studio versions for one simple reason—Lynyrd Skynyrd’s much vaunted “three guitar army” had been reduced to a two-guitar army.

Why? Because the album was recorded during the interim between the departure of Ed King (who’d finally had enough of Van Zant’s alcohol-fueled violence) and the addition of Steve Gaines, who would only play on One from the Road and 1977’s great Street Survivors before dying in the October 20 plane crash that also took the lives of Van Zant and Gaines’ sister Cassie Gaines.

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