VIA PRESS RELEASE | Hallelujah! Melodic rock true believers Enuff Z’nuff bring their peace and love gospel to the masses at Hollywood’s historic Whisky-A-Go-Go with this breathtaking live performance!

Featuring highlights from the band’s massive catalog of divine hits, as well as a clutch of incredible cover versions, Live At The Whisky a Go Go is more than a simple live album. Recorded live on December 29 2025, it’s also an opportunity to wholly immerse yourself in the holy, hard rockin’ vibes of one of the most inspired groups around—and one that is still preaching the gospel of good times, good music, and good-hearted fun!
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The celebrations kick off today with the release of one of the most glorious cuts on the entire album, a truly Enuff Z’nuffed-out cover of The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour,” a Paul McCartney composition that also titled the Fab Four’s 1967 TV movie.

And there’s more Macca later in the set, as Enuff Z’Nuff drive into “Eleanor Rigby,” “Jet,” and a deceptively rearranged “Live and Let Die,” monster hits that are joined by a thrilling exploration of the band’s own smash-packed catalog.

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Celebrating Mike Cooley on his 60th birthday. —Ed.

Hot damn, I loves me some Drive-By Truckers. Anybody who’s ever seen ‘em knows they put on a kick-ass live show, and anybody who’s ever heard 2001’s Southern Rock Opera knows that it’s one of the most ambitious and brilliant concept albums ever recorded, period. And it includes one of the best love songs ever written to rock’n’roll, “Let There Be Rock,” which covers all the bases from Molly Hatchet to Bon Scott to Lynyrd Skynyrd and “The Boys Are Back in Town,” to say nothing of freaking out on acid at a Blue Oyster Cult concert, an event that I include on my own rock’n’roll resume.

Since then, they’ve continued to release strong album after strong album, despite personnel changes, including the defections of both the multi-talented Jason Isbell and Shonna Tucker, she of the amazing voice. And have I mentioned they have impeccable taste in covers? Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Kiss, Tom T. Hall—why, they even cover Warren Zevon’s fiery “Play It All Night Long” and beat him, no sweat, piss, jizz, or blood about it, at his own game.

Drive-By Truckers have always written smart songs, and many of them have been protest songs, on everything from the ruthless machinations of rapacious corporations to the murders of those four little black girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing by the KKK in 1963 to the still very much alive specter of hate-monger George Wallace. Still, on their newly released LP American Band, they go all out, tackling such hot–button issues as police shootings of young black men, school massacres, and gun control in general.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Lucy Dacus has announced the re-issue of her debut album No Burden in celebration of the album’s 10th anniversary.

Along with today’s news comes a previously unreleased song from the era, fan-favorite “No Thank You, I Love You, Goodbye.” The song was originally written during the No Burden era. Lucy has performed it live on several occasions over the years. This first official release has been recorded with fellow Richmond-native collaborators Adrian Olsen and Lucy’s guitarist Alan Good Parker.

Throughout the summer, Dacus headlined shows in Mass MoCa, Asbury Park and more, as part of her largest tour to date, while also stopping along festivals such as Newport Folk Festival, Outside Lands and Bumbershoot, and performing her first ever symphony show with the Chicago Philharmonic (at Millennium Park).

The tour concludes with one final symphony performance with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (at the Hollywood Bowl with Cat Power performing The Greatest) on September 13. It will feature never-before-heard orchestral arrangements of Dacus’ songs from her latest album Forever Is A Feeling and throughout her critically-acclaimed discography arranged by Phoenix Rousiamani, composer and member of Lucy’s band.

Remembering Steve Gaines, born on this day in 1949. —Ed.

Released just three days before Lynyrd Skynyrd’s problem-plagued Convair 240 plowed into the trees of a Mississippi forest and buried itself in a swamp some sixty miles short of their destination in Baton Rouge on October 20, 1977, Street Survivors instantly became notorious due to its macabre-in-light-of-subsequent-events cover, which had the band engulfed in flames on a city street.

There were no flames at the crash site—the band’s seemingly cursed plane ran out of fuel, which is why it ended up busted into pieces in the mud outside tiny Gillsburg, Mississippi, in the first place—but it didn’t matter. The flames were foreshadowing, as was Van Zant’s “morbid” (his word) “That Smell,” the eeriest song about death ever written by the band’s death-obsessed frontman and de facto dictator, who died in that Mississippi swamp along with guitarist Steve Gaines, Steve’s sister and backing vocalist Cassie, and several others.

I remember hearing the news of that plane crash, and I remember feeling real sorrow, because Lynyrd Skynyrd was a great band, one of the best rock and roll bands America ever produced, and one minute they were there and the next, finis. Go ahead, call me crazy, but if it were up to me, America would declare October 20 National Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash Remembrance Day, and you wouldn’t have to go to work, and even if you don’t give a shit about Lynyrd Skynyrd and can’t even spell their name, wouldn’t that be great?

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Friends Of Jesse Malin–I Would Do It For You Vol. 1, a 26-song celebration of the music of Jesse Malin, arrives September 11, 2026 via Wicked Cool Records, bringing together an extraordinary cross-section of Malin’s friends, collaborators and musical community.

Produced by Lyle Hysen, the collection reaches across generations and scenes, with contributions from Gogol Bordello, Dead Milkmen, Bebe Buell, Sami Yaffa, Valley Lodge, Trapper Schoepp, James Maddock, Cat Popper & Sasha Dobson, Danny Sage, Prima Donna and many more, each taking on a song from Malin’s extensive catalog. The album also marks the return of influential New York alternative rock band Das Damen, whose version of “Don’t Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day!)” is the band’s first newly released recording in 35 years.

One of the album’s focus tracks is Prima Donna’s “Everybody Wants To Rock And Roll,” a fast, loud take on a song that feels right at home in the Los Angeles band’s world.

For Prima Donna frontman Kevin Preston, the connection to Malin goes back years. Preston has cited seeing Green Day with Malin’s D Generation opening as a formative rock show, and the relationship eventually came full circle: Preston, who has toured as a guitarist with Green Day, recently joined Malin onstage in Los Angeles to perform “Everybody Wants To Rock And Roll.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | In 1997 Bruce Dickinson released his fourth solo album, Accident Of Birth, a swaggeringly confident collection of powerful songs that saw the acclaimed singer return to his hard rock and metal roots, following the more experimental sound of the previous Skunkworks project.

Co-produced by LA musician Roy Z and featuring Adrian Smith on guitar—while both he and Bruce were on hiatus from Iron Maiden—the album has long been admired as one of Bruce’s most essential releases, and features a host of fan favourites including “Man Of Sorrows,” “Darkside Of Aquarius,” “Road To Hell,” and the title track itself, “Accident of Birth,” all of which have been performed live on Bruce’s recent solo tours.

The album title and album cover, designed by Derek Riggs, is a defiant statement on Bruce Dickinson’s resilience and determination, referencing the fact that, due to a medical procedure his mother had, he was not meant to be born but survived against the odds and by the time of the album’s release had more than made his substantial mark on the world.

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Celebrating Arvo Pärt on his 91st birthday. —Ed.

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is considered to be one of the greats in the broad spectrum of 20th-century classical music, and he’s further distinguished as a trailblazer of “holy minimalism.” Befitting a composer of his stature, the discography of Pärt’s recorded works is vast, but from inside that number there resides a smaller group of releases holding particular import. Silentium joins the list of essential Pärt recordings. 

Arvo Pärt came to prominence in his home country in the 1960s with a handful of recordings spanning the decade, but these are formative works that precede a long period of woodshedding after which Pärt reemerged with his tintinnabuli style of composing, a method where he utilizes two distinct voices (i.e. instruments), a tintinnabular voice restricted to the notes of the tonic triad and a melodic voice that can roam around freely.

Für Alina, first performed in 1976, introduced Pärt’s tintinnabuli style. It was eventually documented on one of the numerous recordings made for the ECM label, a label whose releases comprise a significant chunk of his essential discography. The first recording of Pärt’s compositions released by ECM was Tabula Rasa in 1984, the title piece dating from 1977, scored for two solo violins, prepared piano, and string chamber orchestra (consisting of two violins, viola, cello, and contrabass).

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | TidalWave Comics proudly honors the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of music icon Dolly Parton with the release of Tribute: Dolly Parton, the newest installment in the publisher’s acclaimed Tribute biography series, out this week.

Written by Michael Frizell, illustrated by Ramon Salas and Pablo Martinena, with a striking cover by Martinena, Tribute: Dolly Parton is a heartfelt and visually powerful 28-page celebration of one of the most beloved and influential entertainers of all time.

Dolly Parton was more than a country music legend. She was a songwriter, actor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and one-of-a-kind cultural icon. Tribute: Dolly Parton celebrates her remarkable journey from East Tennessee to global superstardom, including her music, Hollywood career, Dollywood, and extraordinary philanthropy. Featuring additional pages honoring her passing, this special edition remembers Dolly’s warmth, humor, generosity, and unmistakable spirit. Her butterfly wings may have grown tired, but her legacy will keep flying.

“Dolly Parton is one of those rare figures whose songs, humor, generosity, and personality have connected with generations of people,” said writer Michael Frizell.

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Paul Simon called the German band Dissidenten the “true godfathers of ethno-beat.” Robert Christgau wrote disparagingly of them, “So German pop-rock isn’t your stein of beer? And Middle Eastern music still seems a little alien? Now imagine a fusion.”

I wrote of Dissidenten [this very minute] “What we have here is shallow world beat hokum that could use a good world beating.”

Dissidenten have traveled the globe releasing continent-spanning ethno-beat records in exotic locations with non-Western musicians, which is admirable. But the results have been uniform wherever they go—they invariably release dance music albums with local music flavoring, which might pass muster if the dance music didn’t always sound the same. Or the exotic trappings weren’t such a vapid collection of low-rent cliches.

This is easy-listening stuff for people whose idea of great fusion is Japan’s Hiroshima. Or, to stay closer to home, Weather Report. About whose 1980 album Night Passage, Christgau wrote, “At last it is revealed they want to be Henry Mancini.” With Dissidenten, that would be Henry Mancini on a dromedary.

Dissidenten got together as a band in India and have recorded albums in India, the Middle East, and North Africa, and while I won’t accuse them of cultural appropriation, I am prepared to say that they haven’t made the music of any of those places proud. Oh, and their 2000 album The Memories of the Waters is a “documentary opera” about the Danube River, so I’m guessing they haven’t made the lovely Danube proud either. In fact, I’m guessing it’s holding its wet blue head in shame.

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Alexandria, VA | Alexandria’s Newest Record Shop To Open This Weekend With Music And Freebies: Mobius Records’ Del Ray location will open with a party on Saturday. Mobius Records will open its new Del Ray location on Saturday with a party promising a DJ, giveaways and more. The new shop at 2016 Mount Vernon Avenue will be a sister to Mobius Records in Fairfax, which opened in 2014. It’s a collaboration with Neighborhood Restaurant Group, the organization behind dozens of local restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops and more. The group announced that it wanted to open a record store in Del Ray in June, the Alexandria Brief and others reported. Dempsey Hamilton of Mobius Records tells Patch the Del Ray location will be more than just a record shop.

Chelmsford, UK | Chelmsford Intense Records store on the vinyl revival: A record shop which began in a university bedroom has grown into a staple of Chelmsford’s music scene. Intense Records, founded by John Smith in 1999, started as a mail-order business when he was 21 years old. The first shop opened in 2003 under a railway arch on Viaduct Road, specialising in dance music. Two decades later, a second shop launched in the Meadows Shopping Centre, offering a wider range of new and second-hand music on vinyl. …James credits the vinyl revival for the shop’s continued success, especially among younger customers.

Chicago, IL | Chicago store Bridgeport Records unveils new outpost, Onion City Records: The West Town location will officially open this Saturday. Chicago is getting a new record store courtesy of the team behind Bridgeport Records. Onion City Records will hold its official grand opening this Saturday, September 12th, following a soft launch of the store in mid-July. Located on Chicago Avenue in West Town, the store is owned and operated by Bridgeport Records co-owners Vick Lavender and Jerry Morrison. “We’re gonna function as a neighbourhood record store,” Morrison told the Chicago Reader. “There’s a lot of record stores there—we’re not gonna do what these other guys do. They don’t do what we do.”

Los Angeles, CA | Los Angeles’ Sound Platters Looks To Ignite A Change In Record Collecting Through Educated Sincerity: With vinyl’s resurgence in recent years, it hasn’t escaped the pitfalls of popularity. Much like shoes or trading cards, when a product like vinyl becomes popular, a slew of scumbags get cartoon dollar-sign eyes and pollute the once pure hobby with malicious, capitalistic intent. Thankfully, though, the art of collecting vinyl is so ingrained in people’s hearts that for every greedy person looking to resell collectibles, even more pure-hearted participants keep the spirit of vinyl collecting alive. …With just two years under its belt, Sound Platters is a shining example of a record shop committed to enriching its customers and community, and Scott seems to be just getting started.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | World Circuit Records will release Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela’s celebrated album Rejoice on 30th October. Originally released in 2020, the universally acclaimed record is being reissued on special edition orange, pink and white splatter vinyl. Rejoice is the fifth in a series of re-releases celebrating the label’s 40th Anniversary and is available now for pre-order.

Rejoice is a very special collaboration between Tony Allen, the legendary drummer and co-founder of Afrobeat, and Hugh Masekela, the master trumpet player of South African jazz. Having first met in the ’70s through their respective close associations with Fela Kuti, the two world-renowned musicians talked for decades about making an album together. When, in 2010, their touring schedules coincided in the UK, the moment presented itself, and producer Nick Gold brought the giants together in the studio.

Shortly after the very sad passing of Hugh Masekela in 2018, and with renewed resolution, Tony Allen and Nick Gold, with the blessing and participation of Masekela’s estate, unearthed the original tapes and finished recording the album in summer 2019 at the same London studio where the original sessions had taken place.

Rejoice can be seen as the long-overdue confluence of two mighty African musical rivers—a union of two free-flowing souls for whom borders, whether physical or stylistic, are things to pass through or ignore completely. According to Allen, the album deals in “a kind of South African-Nigerian swing-jazz stew,” with its roots firmly in Afrobeat.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Orbital are set to reopen a defining chapter in electronic music history with the first-ever official release of their now-legendary Glastonbury 1994 performance. Available on September 25th via London Records, this definitive document of a landmark show captures the exact moment electronic music proved it could command the main stage alongside rock’s biggest acts. The release is available for preorder here.

Originally broadcast by the BBC to a generation discovering electronic music in real time, Orbital’s Glastonbury ’94 set became a watershed moment for both the band and UK dance culture. Just six years after the Second Summer of Love and at a time when rave culture was still viewed by many as a fringe movement, Orbital brought electronic music out of the clubs and onto one of the world’s most prestigious festival stages.

Their performance demonstrated that two musicians armed with synthesizers, sequencers, and samplers could hold tens of thousands of people spellbound with the same emotional weight and intensity as any traditional live band.

Orbital’s Phil Hartnoll says, “All I remember is the energy from the crowd, this love… oozing out, like it was vibrating from them. It was just an amazing feeling.” And Paul Hartnoll says, “At the time, you were either an indie kid or you were a raver, but they came and saw our set and the penny dropped. It made that connection between indie music and dance music.”

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Celebrating Don Powell, born on this day in 1950. —Ed.

These lovable Wolverhampton cheaters at Scrabble certainly never won a spelling bee. One of ‘em (guitarist Dave Hill) walked around in a mullet so hideous it could even get you evicted from an Alabama trailer park, and come to think of it, the whole bunch of ‘em looked pretty silly in their Glam clobber. Still, we’re talking about the great Slade here, so—cum on feel the noize! Because when it comes to irresistibly catchy (and irreducibly simple) rabble rousers (they perfected the whole stomp and clap thing long before Queen came along with “We Will Rock You”), Slade can’t be beat.

Slade may have abandoned their braces and boots, Oi roots to climb aboard the Big Glam Bandwagon, but they never forgot their rowdy West Midlands yob origins—“Cum On Feel the Noize,” “Gudbuy T’ Jane,” and “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” are all rafters-shaking boot boy anthems. Not for nothing did Hill wear the words “Super Yob” on the breastplate of his pointy-shouldered space doofus stage costume.

The “Brummie oiks” (thanks Barney Hoskyns!) in Slade were the friendliest bunch of Wulfrunian lager louts you’d ever want to meet, preferring cheery sing-alongs in the great English pub tradition to sticking a broken bottle in your mug. They also had a quiet side and a sentimental streak a mile wide, not that you’d know it if you lived in the States, which only got to meet Slade’s crazee Mr. Hyde persona.

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