VIA PRESS RELEASE | It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley arrives in theaters August 8, 2025.

Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil, Janis: Little Girl Blue, West of Memphis), the documentary covers the life of the rising young star with an otherworldly voice and boundary-pushing artistry, who left the ’90s music world reeling when he died suddenly, at age 30, after the release of his critically acclaimed debut album Grace.

Told through never-before-seen footage from Buckley’s archives and intimate accounts from his mother Mary Guibert, former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, Jeff’s former bandmates, including Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred, and luminaries like Ben Harper and Aimee Mann, It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley illuminates one of modern music’s most influential and enigmatic figures.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Buena Vista Social Club brings the thrill of music making to Broadway.” —The New York Times

The producers of the new hit Broadway musical Buena Vista Social Club™ and World Circuit Records have announced that the show’s Original Broadway Cast Recording will be released on CD on 1st August 2025. Produced by GRAMMY® Award Winners Dean Sharenow and David Yazbek, co-produced by Marco Paguia and Orin Wolf, and Executive Produced by Allan Williams, a vinyl version will be available later in 2025.

Winner of 5 Tony Awards, including Special Tony Award for Best Band (the first time this award has been presented to a band), Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations, Best Sound Design of a Musical, Best Performance by an Actress (Natalie Venetia Belcon) in a Featured Role in a Musical, Buena Vista Social Club™ is making history on Broadway as the first musical featuring its entire score sung completely in Spanish, with the show’s story and scenes performed in English.

The recording features the original Broadway cast as well as the Tony Award winning Buena Vista Social Club Broadway Band: Marco Paguia (Piano, Music Director), David Oquendo (Guitar), Renesito Avich (Tres), Gustavo Schartz (Bass), Hery Paz (Woodwinds), Eddie Venegas (Trombone), Jesus Ricardo (Trumpet), Javier Díaz (Percussion), Mauricio Herrera (Percussion), Román Diaz (Percussion), and Leonardo Reyna (Piano).

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings and Jazz Dispensary are thrilled to announce Dream a Dream with Studio G: Cratedigger’s Archive (1970–2009), a brand-new compilation culling 25 of some of the most compelling, sexy, and psychedelic mood-music cues famed UK music library production house Studio G ever produced.

Out August 22nd, on vinyl and hi-res digital formats, Dream a Dream assumes the role of a surreal soundtrack scene-setter, casting moods in two distinct directions: morning and night. The limited-edition Opaque Red LP set comes housed in a gatefold jacket and features commentary from Saint Etienne founding member Bob Stanley, liner notes by musician, producer, and dee-jay Ryan Jebavy (aka Leslie Saucer), and illustrations by renowned gig poster artist Ivan Minsloff—known for his work with New York Dolls, Willie Nelson, Queens of the Stone Age, and SXSW. Pre-order/pre-save the album today.

Established by John Gale in London in 1966, Studio G produced a wide range of genres and styles, geared toward local TV, sports programming, and adverts. As Ryan Jebavy, producer of Dream a Dream, explains in his liner notes, it unleashed “pastoral folk, maniacal horror, funk-spat jazz, quixotic pop, alluring electro and the usual novelty side spells of national anthems, children’s music and whatever other utilitarian cues society demanded of the moment” upon the commercial space.

Even as more sizable outfits such as KPM, Bruton, De Wolfe and Chappell consumed the majority of the marketplace, Studio G offered a truly fetching alternative—sleek, hip art not previously seen on mostly unremarkable album covers released by neighboring companies, not to mention bold, daring and adventurous music cues unique to Studio G.

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The music of the late Frank Zappa continues to be reissued at a breakneck pace. Whether reissues of previously released audio and video, or first-time releases of archival material, the quality of these projects matches the quantity.

Through the Zappa Family Trust, the amount of previously unreleased archival music now available is greater than the number of albums Zappa released in his lifetime. This newest project is the debut on Blu-ray/CD and vinyl of a concert recorded in 1974, entitled Cheaper Than Cheep. It was filmed at Zappa’s own California rehearsal space, with a small crowd standing, dancing, and sitting wherever they might find a place to take a load off their feet.

While previously never aired due to technical issues, those problems have now been fixed. It’s a very informal affair befitting the blue-denim bonhomie of the time. The show came at the end of a long and successful tour to mark the 10th anniversary of the Mothers of Invention. What the concert makes clear is that, for all of Zappa’s sly anarchy and pushing of the envelope, he was the consummate musician and a guitar god, who surrounded himself with the finest musicians. While some other groups thrived on revolution, anarchy, occasionally poor but amusing bad taste, and sticking it to the man, they often burned out quickly and never developed beyond the agitprop anger and anarchy of the ’60s and early ’70s.

Zappa made albums that explored many styles and, as exhibited by this project, along with many others, presented his experimental and satirical music, along with his guitar prowess, in new musical forms. He was a rock artist who helped define, shape, and expand the possibilities of jazz rock and jazz fusion, two labels Zappa himself might have rejected. There’s a similarity between Zappa’s approach in this period and that of other guitar gods such as Brits John McLaughlin and Jeff Beck.

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I recently sat down with my partner in music and life, Pablo Martin. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pablo is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, engineer, and master mixer. He’s been making music since he was sixteen years old, starting with Argentinian goth heroes El Corte.

We spoke about his early musical life and journey to New York. First working with R&B icons like Mary J. Blige as an engineer, to joining the Tom Tom Club as lead guitar, to forming The Du-Rites and Lulu Lewis, and making ten full-length albums between both of these last two acts over the last decade.

He has worked with an array of artists as a producer, mixer, and engineer. J-Zone, Atmosphere, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sergio Rotman, Kid Cudi, and Ghost Face Killah are some to note. I’m amazed at Pablo’s abilities, which I have watched up close for a decade.

Coming up next for him will be yet another Du-Rites EP entitled “Tenement.” Lulu Lewis just released our first single in a bit, which we slaved over for some time, as we always do. It came out last week. It’s called “Sinner.” Proper ’70s disco with a twist. Upcoming is a live album which we recorded in May 2025 at The Bridge Studio in Brooklyn.

Catch Pablo on Instagram to follow along.

Radar features discussions with artists and industry leaders who are creators and devotees of music and is produced by Dylan Hundley and The Vinyl District. Dylan Hundley is an artist and performer, and the co-creator and lead singer of Lulu Lewis and all things at Darling Black. She co-curates and hosts Salon Lulu which is a New York based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

Editrix is the contempo power trio of guitarist-vocalist Wendy Eisenberg, drummer Josh Daniel, and bassist Steve Cameron, and with the July 25 release of The Big E, their third full-length record is complete. It’s the band’s first for Joyful Noise Recordings after two for Exploding in Sound Records, and it maintains the precise intensity and elastic heaviness of their prior efforts while marking progress in development. If mathematically progged-out and with occasional raucous outbursts, The Big E is also a fun album to experience. Experimental intricacy is rarely this engaging.

Before there were any Editrix LPs, there was a cassette of four songs titled “Talk to Me,” issued by the band in 2019, the release still available via Bandcamp. Next came Tell Me I’m Bad on vinyl and digital in 2021 and then Editrix II: Editrix Goes to Hell the following year. A few years have elapsed since, but as The Big E unwinds, the ten songs evince no traces of rust.

Eisenberg and Daniel have remained busy musically as Cameron focused on scholarly pursuits. Within the community that’s clued in to such happenings, Eisenberg has the highest profile, playing in the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet and numerous other outfits along with delivering key contributions to the albums of others (e.g. Jon Irabagon’s Server Farm earlier this year) and her own solo efforts, with records released on Tzadik (The Machinic Unconscious, 2018), Ba Da Bing! (Auto, 2020), Out of Your Head (Bloodletting, 2021), and American Dreams (Viewfinder, 2024).

Daniel plays in Landowner, with that band’s most recent set, Escape the Compound, issued in 2023 on Born Yesterday Records (his earlier bands include Hot Dirt and The Leafies You Gave Me). Daniel has stayed back in Massachusetts, where Editrix was formed, as Eisenberg and Cameron have moved to New York City.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Cat-O-Log Records, in partnership with A&M/UMe, is proud to announce On The Road To Findout: Greatest Hits, the definitive and first-ever career-spanning collection of Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ profoundly emotive and moving songs from his near 60-year recording career, for release on September 5, 2025.

On The Road To Findout: Greatest Hits welcomes you into the imaginative universe of one of the world’s stellar musical talents: Yusuf / Cat Stevens. This phenomenal collection of songs highlights the depth and inventive style of his unique musical storytelling. Featuring timeless hits that have transcended the era of their original releases, including “The Wind,” “Peace Train,” “Where Do The Children Play?” and “Wild World,” with songs from his debut 1967 LP, Matthew & Son, through to his last 2023 King Of A Land album. The new record features a 24-page booklet containing all the incredible lyrics and never-before-seen reflections on the music by Yusuf / Cat himself.

Yusuf / Cat Stevens says: “I’m pleased that, at last, a collection of recordings includes some important songs I wrote after my evolvement, ‘Take The World Apart’ and ‘Heaven / Where True Love Goes’ for instance, reflecting the peace and happiness which has since changed my life. Thank you one and all. It’s really humbling to think about how many souls have been traversing this journey with me.”

Cat Stevens was launched to fame in the swinging sixties, with chart-topping pop hits like “Matthew & Son” and “The First Cut Is The Deepest.” His early career was interrupted by a near-fatal battle with tuberculosis—a turning point that ignited his quest for peace and understanding.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | After announcing a robust new 16-LP box set in 2024, Harry Potter: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and four individual Motion Picture Soundtrack LPs from the franchise, Rhino announces the final four remaining individual soundtracks on clear vinyl for the franchise.

Out August 15, 2025, this collection includes the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack albums for the fifth through eighth films in the franchise, including Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. These Original Motion Picture Soundtracks will be available as 2LPs each on Crystal-Clear vinyl and will be available at participating brick-and-mortar stores. Select US retailers will have exclusive Harry Potter glasses as a gift with purchase.

Award-winning composer Nicholas Hooper crafted the scores for both Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (2007) and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009). Hooper’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Original Motion Picture Soundtrack debuted at no. 29 on the Billboard Top 200, making it the highest charting soundtrack among all six soundtracks released in the franchise, while additionally gaining a GRAMMY® Award nomination for Best Score Soundtrack Album.

Legendary, Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat notably crafted the scores for the first three films in the series, as well as the last two films in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. The saga concludes with Desplat’s GRAMMY® Award and BAFTA-nominated score, featuring music from the Battle of Hogwarts.

Remembering Roky Erickson, born on this day in 1947. —Ed.

The late, great Roky Erickson saw dead people. He also saw zombies, vampires, demons, Lucifer, two-headed dogs, a creature with an atomic brain, alligators, and Sputnik. For all I know he saw unicorns too, but if so he didn’t tell anybody.

The former 13th Floor Elevators frontman was both a survivor and a hero; he struggled with mental illness for over 50 years, but never let it defeat him. He was forced to undergo electro-convulsive therapy, had thorazine shoved down his throat, and lived to tell the tale. Anybody who suffers from mental illness or knows someone who does understands just what a hard road he traveled. The man had spirit.

Given this back story, it can be difficult to distinguish Roky’s mental illness from his love of Grade B horror and science fiction movies, especially on 1981’s The Evil One, a veritable parade of all of the beasties, ghastlies, and ghoulies enumerated above. Produced by Creedence Clearwater Revival bassist Stu Cook (who played on two cuts), The Evil One’s songs are surprisingly catchy, mainstream even–take away the Halloween themes and dress ‘em up a little, and many of these songs would have sounded right at home on FM radio.

The songs on The Evil One stick with you–listen to the LP a couple of times and you’ll be able to hum along to most of ‘em. You may know all of the lyrics too. Erickson had a lot in common with Blue Öyster Cult, who also mated surprisingly melodic rock ’n’ roll with outré subject matter: Godzilla, extraterrestrials, Nazi fighter jets, flaming telepaths, and I think you get the idea.

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Salem 66 was formed in 1981 as a trio by guitarist-vocalist Judy Grunwald, bassist-vocalist-songwriter Beth Kaplan, and drummer Susan Merriam. Over the course of a decade a few members came and went as the lineup grew and the band recorded a 12-inch EP, two 45s, four LPs, and a compilation CD before breaking up. Now, 35 years later, Don Giovanni Records has dished SALT, a fresh collection of ten previously released songs by the band on vinyl, compact disc, and digital, as an overview to the Salem 66 catalog, becoming available digitally for the first time. Tapping into the zone where jangle pop mingles with post-punk, SALT finds their sound holding up spectacularly well. It’s available now.

Although many will romanticize it as the worst of times, the 1980s underground was loaded with high-quality music that’s diversity thrived through the individual stamp of regional scenes. Too often, the tendency when synopsizing the stretch of time between punk’s stylistic splintering and the Alt-rock explosion is to boil it down to the same dozen or so bands, but there was so many more worthwhile records in the store racks across that span, and too much of it has fallen into true obscurity, rather than cultivating a fanbase that’s modestly sized but in the know.

This is essentially the case with Salem 66. Ahead of their time but a persevering presence on the Boston scene, the band released the entirety of their output (excluding a few compilation appearances) on one of the cornerstone indie labels of the era, Homestead Records. That Salem 66 stuck with Homestead and vice versa is indicative of the band’s success while extant, and as mentioned above, a prior comp, 1983–1987 (Your Soul Is Mine, Fork It Over), dropped 18 songs from their pre-CD catalog onto the format; that wouldn’t have happened if Salem 66’s output was languishing in the cut-out bins.

As Don Giovanni points out in their promotion for SALT, Dinosaur Jr’s first show in New York was opening for Salem 66. But what’s important to note is that Salem 66 was not a buzz band a la Sonic Youth or abrasive in form and content like Big Black; with each successive release, their music became less linked to post-punk and university-friendly jangle pop in favor of a sound that’s more recognizable today as being proto-indie.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Smashing Pumpkins have formally detailed the long-awaited reissue and reformation of their 2000 masterpiece, Machina/The Machines of God, and its companion album, Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music. This reimagined project, featuring extensive remixing and remastering, will be out in multiple formats on August 22 via UMe and through Madame Zuzu’s Tea Shop.

Billy Corgan’s Madame Zuzu’s tea shop in Highland Park, IL is exclusively offering an expansive 80-song vinyl box set featuring a 48-track Machina plus an additional 32 bonus tracks of demos, outtakes, and live performances, marking the first time these two records will officially be united. This vinyl box set is the only format available to listen to all 80 songs in its entirety. Preorder the box set HERE.

Additionally, the rock band will release a 16-song reissue of the original Machina/The Machines of God vinyl on August 22, and pre-orders will begin on June 27. UMe will also be releasing various 25th-anniversary remastered formats of Machina/The Machines of God, including a black 180g 2LP vinyl reissue; a 180g limited-edition color 2LP in corona red/black, as well as CD and digital formats on August 22. Preorder Machina/The Machines of God HERE.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Platinum-selling, post-industrial/alternative rock pioneers, Filter are set to release their remixed and remastered new album, The Algorithm: Ultra Edition, on August 8 via the band’s No Pulse Records. The album features re-imagined cuts from The Algorithm—the tight conceptual statement heralding career-best songwriting from Filter mastermind Richard Patrick—with 9 additional tracks.

On July 11, the new album’s first single, the speaker-shattering “All The Good,” was released to radio and on all digital platforms. The epic track—featuring that classic Filter sound with a modern sonic edge—is pure existential chaos, heavy psychotic riffs, and a soaring, anthemic chorus. It’s not so much a loud-quiet-loud dynamic as a loud-quiet-monstrously loud one. From out of the blocks, Patrick’s vocals are pushed into the red, and from there… things only get heavier. Produced by Patrick and long-time collaborator Brian Virtue, “All The Good” was co-written by Zach Munowitz, the guitarist who co-wrote “For the Beaten,” “Up Against the Wall,” and “Say It Again.”

The Algorithm: Ultra Edition also delivers four remixes of previously released tracks, including former Nine Inch Nails member Charlie Clouser, producer/mixer Sean Beaven (NIN, Marilyn Manson), and Patrick’s mixes of “Obliteration” and Julian Gray’s version of “Burn Out the Sun.” There are also two covers: Patrick offers his take on U2’s “A Sort of Homecoming” and Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy.”

Available on all music streaming platforms August 8th, with exclusive physical versions to be released in the future.