VIA PRESS RELEASE | Following the 1975 Relayer tour, the members of Yes took a hiatus for each of the five members to produce solo albums.

For lead vocalist Jon Anderson, it meant bringing a mobile recording unit to his home in Buckinghamshire, UK, to create a self-produced album where he played all of the instruments, assisted by Yes sound engineer Mike Dunne. The result was Olias of Sunhillow, which was released by Atlantic Records on July 9, 1976, debuting at #8 on the UK album charts and #47 on the Billboard top 200.

Jon comments on the upcoming release: “The dream of Olias was to spend time learning how to play the numerous instruments I had collected over a period of time—which I kept in my garage—ranging from guitars, Koto and ethnic flute instruments, harp and percussion, to modern electronic keyboards. I had sketched out the framework of a story relating to the power of music and connected to the Seven Sisters star system, The Pleiades.

All very simple, really. The evolution of the idea took me on an everlasting mission, driving me a bit crazy but nonetheless a satisfying experience which has stood the test of time…hoping you enjoy the journey! Best wishes.” —Jon

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It’s a wondrous time to be a fan of the music of Yes. The group’s classic period albums (The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge) have recently received mammoth reissue box sets, and there have also been some excellent live albums, including much-coveted Record Store Day releases.

The album that followed Close to the Edge, 1973’s Tales from Topographic Oceans, has now also been released in a fulsome reissue box. Unlike the three aforementioned albums from the group’s most beloved period, Tales from Topographic Oceans has its fans and its detractors. Some of those detractors even include members of Yes, most notably keyboard player Rick Wakeman.

Up until Close to the Edge, prog was a commercially successful musical genre, and many critics applauded its imaginative, ethereal, and conceptual approach, as well as the musicians, who were true instrumental craftsmen of the highest order. Tales from Topographic Oceans was an album that was, for some, an album that unfortunately reflected too much of what the genre’s critics considered the worst aspects of the sound; its indulgent, long musical passages and sometimes nearly incomprehensible lyrical flights of fancy that would make C.S. Lewis blush had them questioning whether two full LPs was overkill.

For some, the album was a symptom of how music was losing its way as the mid-’70s approached and may have even been signaling the first stirrings of listeners looking for something more immediate and simpler that harkened back to the roots of rock, which would eventually lead to punk and new wave and, much later, indie and grunge.

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Today on Radar, I spoke with Genre is Death, an uncompromising noise duo made up of Ty Varesi (guitar, vox) and Tayler Lee (bass, vox).

They moved to NYC in 2023, looking for something beyond what small-town Georgia had to offer. They hit the ground running. A chance encounter with ’80s underground stalwarts Live Skull pulled them into the city’s noise scene and into orbit with Lydia Lunch and The Art Gray Noizz Quintet. In 2025, they toured with Gogol Bordello and shared stages with Bush Tetras and Jon Spencer.

Their debut LP, Attractive People, is out this Friday on In the Red Records, recorded by Martin Bisi at BC Studio in Gowanus. We spoke about their beginnings, their journey to New York, and the making of Attractive People. Tune in.

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.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, and currently living in Brooklyn, NYC, DoYeon Kim sings and plays the Korean instrument the gayageum, an ancient Korean zither. She’s also a composer and improviser of considerable skill, with all of her talents driving the brilliance of her debut album as leader Wellspring, which is available on vinyl, compact disc, and digital May 1 through the TAO Forms label. Featuring creative cyclones Tyshawn Sorey on drums, Mat Maneri on viola, and Henry Fraser on bass, the record’s contemporary resonance is abundant. It will assuredly be among the best of the year.

As a fan of free jazz, avant-improv, and associated exploratory musics, it can be a treat to hear instruments from outside of the standard sphere of reeds, valves, keys, drums, and bass. Mallet axes, guitars, and bowed-string contraptions (such as the viola as heard on this album) are less prevalent but still common enough that they don’t deliver a level of anticipatory excitement that’s comparable to sitting down at a quality restaurant and unexpectedly dining on a rare delicacy.

Accordions, hurdy-gurdies, mbiras, harps, synthesizers, Theremins, harpsichords, didgeridoos, bagpipes, sitars, harmoniums, gayageums: what ultimately elevates these unusual timbres and textures far above mere novelty is heightened ability combined with the sincere desire to express.

DoYeon Kim’s journey to the strikingly powerful Wellspring is an interesting one. She began playing the gayageum as a hobby before moving on to serious study that eventually led her to the New England Conservatory. It was there that Kim’s initial encounters with free improvisation left her perplexed and unimpressed.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Recordings celebrates the 20th anniversary of Hawthorne Heights’ Gold-certified sophomore studio album If Only You Were Lonely with a vinyl reissue. Set for release on July 17 and available for pre-order, the LP includes the Dayton, Ohio-bred rock band’s chart-climbing single “Saying Sorry” and essential hits like “This Is Who We Are,” “Pens and Needles,” and “I Am on Your Side.”

In addition to standard wide black vinyl, If Only You Were Lonely will also be available in several exclusive colorways, including “Blue and Purple with Black Splatter” (via Hawthorne Heights), “Pink Swirl” (via Urban Outfitters), and “Ink Swirl” (Via Craft Recordings/Victory Records). The band is celebrating the album all year on their If Only You Were Lonely anniversary tour, with dates throughout Australia, Asia, Europe, The UK, and North America.

Formed in 2001 under the name A Day in the Life, Hawthorne Heights quickly emerged as a defining force on the scene thanks to their arena-ready collision of pop punk, hardcore, and emo. Known for their signature interplay of melodic vulnerability and visceral catharsis, the band began with a lineup comprised of lead vocalist/guitarist JT Woodruff, guitarist Micah Carli, guitarist/unclean vocalist Casey Calvert, bassist/backing vocalist Matt Ridenour, and drummer Eron Bucciarelli.

In 2004, the five-piece caught the attention of Victory Records—the influential rock, metal, punk, and hardcore label whose roster has included seminal acts like Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, and more. Following Concord’s 2019 acquisition of Victory Records, its three-decade-spanning catalog is now managed by Craft Recordings.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Supertramp continue to celebrate their 50th anniversary with the third batch of vinyl reissues from their epic catalogue—Brother Where You Bound and Free as a Bird. Both will be released on June 19, 2026.

As per the previous releases, both have been remastered at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. Previous releases have been met with great gusto. Classic Rock magazine giving Breakfast In America, Even In The Quietest Moments…, and …Famous Last Words a 10/10, 8/10 and 7/10 respectively, while Mojo rated Crime Of The Century a 10/10 with Prog magazine calling it, alongside Crisis? What Crisis? “…even more evocative.” All are available to buy now from HERE.

Brother Where You Bound was the band’s first release without Roger Hodgson and reached number 20 on the UK Albums Chart and number 21 on The Billboard 200.

Released in May 1985 the album spawned the single “Cannonball” that became a hit, but it is the sixteen-and-a-half-minute title track – which the band deemed too densely prog rock for the preceding album …Famous Last Words…—for which it is remembered. The star-studded track features Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham on rhythm guitar, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on the guitar solos, and readings from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

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Celebrating Jacques Dutronc on his 83rd birthday. —Ed.

Who says the French can’t rock? I do, mon ami, I do. They can write like mad motherfuckers, as anybody’s who’s ever read Arthur Rimbaud or Louis-Ferdinand Celine or Alfred Jarry knows, and I would never impugn their oral skills (“The French they are a funny race; they fight with their feet and fuck with their face”) but rock? As in roll? Don’t make me le har har har.

But if the French can’t rock per se—and I know there are exceptions such as Les Négresses Vertes, whom I saw once in Philly and got hit in the head with a filled water bottle—they can do something every bit as interesting, it’s just I don’t have a word for it. It’s what Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot do on “Bonnie and Clyde” and Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin do on “Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus” and Francoise Hardy does on “Il Vaut Mieux Une Petite Maison Dans Les Nuages” (my rough translation: “I Live in a Small House with Ted Nugent”) and it’s cool as shit. Chanson modifié? Whatever you label it, it beats most rock by a hasty French retreat.

And thanks to my Dutch pal Martijn, I have a new name to add to my list of superchic French pop-toners. Martijn suggested I give the coolly named Jacques Dutronc a listen, so I did, and I’m sold like the Eiffel Tower for 10 Euros to a rube. Dutronc may look like Le Lurch de la France on the cover of his self-titled 1966 debut—either the most arrogant or least imaginative l’homme in the world, Dutronc’s following six LPs were self-titled as well—and he’s wearing a shirt so bright green I suspect it’s a product of photosynthesis, but the rad hair says it all. This man is all French, and he means business.

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Maisy Owen is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in that musical hub of Nashville, TN. After debuting with a 7-inch last October, she is releasing her debut long-playing record on classic black vinyl on May 1 through Tompkins Square. Dark on a Sunny Day is an assured set that excels through nimble fingerpicking, sturdy string bowing, and boldness of voice. The connection of folk music’s rich, long tradition is readily apparent.

As Dark on a Sunny Day unfolds, the songs are engaging and fresh while avoiding the tentative. Opener “My Youth Is All for You” connects like a tune that’s been passed down from older generations while eschewing the dustiness of a relic. Unsurprisingly released as Owen’s first single on a vinyl 45 in stereo and mono versions (copies still available), the track establishes a timelessness the artist alternately embraces and keeps at arm’s length.

“Letters” sounds like it could’ve been dished out solo for a few coffeehouse diehards on a slow, chilly New England weeknight, but this guitar and vocal core (this idyllic folk vision) gets fortified with bass played by the album’s producer Robin Eaton and viola that’s credited to Owen. The title track is a sturdier strummer, with some gentle electric fuzz tones in the weave. The drumming of John Radford gives the song a folk-rock feel that’s appealingly casual.

“The Rest of Me” exudes the gorgeous fragility of the best of Brit-folk, wispy gal picking and intoning on a haybale division, but sorta miraculously without affectation. “On My Way Down” is a more forceful affair, Owen strumming alone in singer-songwriter mode save for Eaton’s bass.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | On June 14, 1970, the Grateful Dead released Workingman’s Dead, an album that was unlike anything they’d ever done, one that showed the world a new side of the Dead.

It was clearly the same band as before, but now with a distinctly different sound and approach to the music, pivoting from psychedelic improvisation to folk-rock storytelling for the “everyman,” as the album’s title suggests. Today, Rhino High Fidelity presents new audiophile editions of the album on reel-to-reel and vinyl, plus Mickey Hart’s 2023 Atmos mix, available on Blu-ray for the first time.

Workingman’s Dead (Rhino High Fidelity) was cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Optimal in Germany. It features glossy gatefold packaging with newly written liner notes by author and Grateful Dead historian David Gans. The album is limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively at Rhino.com and select Warner Music Group stores internationally.

In the liner notes, Gans says the songs reflect a more direct, stripped-down approach, calling them “concise, countrified, and catchy as hell.” As bassist Phil Lesh recalled in his autobiography Searching for the Sound, the shift moved the Dead “from the mind-munching frenzy of a seven-headed fire-breathing dragon to the warmth and serenity of a choir of chanting cherubim.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Subtext, in association with Rolling Stone Films, proudly announces the highly anticipated domestic theatrical release of Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul on Wednesday, June 17, including one-week engagements in Los Angeles and New York as well as one-night exclusive screenings across the country. Directed by GRAMMY® and Golden Globe Award-winning filmmaker James Keach, the full-length feature documentary explores the life and work of Gregg Allman, one of the most distinctive voices in American music and, as co-founder and frontman of the Allman Brothers Band, a groundbreaking architect of Southern rock.

Two premiere events will take place ahead of the film’s theatrical release. The first, on June 9 at New York City’s Gramercy Theatre, will feature a special acoustic performance by Devon Allman and Duane Betts. The second will be held on June 11 at the Grand Opera House in Macon, GA, and will include a special appearance by Chuck Leavell. Both events will include a screening of the film along with a Q&A with members of the filmmaking team.

Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul offers a profound portrait of Gregg Allman, a luminous figure whose life and songs mirror his struggles and salvation. This visionary music documentary traces Allman’s turbulent, transcendent journey through profound personal tragedy and hard-won redemption—from a childhood ruptured by his father’s murder to the soulful emergence that birthed Southern rock and permanently reshaped American music.

Told through archival recordings, candid interviews, and electric live performances, the film weaves an intimate portrait of Allman, honestly reflecting on the death of his brother and bandmate Duane, his battles with addiction, and the personal demons that shaped both his life and his blues-driven music. The documentary is anchored by rarely seen concert footage that captures the Allman Brothers Band at their creative peak, offering audiences an immersive, front-row view of one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most powerful live outfits.

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Remembering Ace Frehley, born on this day in 1951. —Ed.

The passing of Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley on October 16, 2025, marks the perfect time to take stock of a band that was more than a band—they were a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, like Elvis or The Beatles or Wang Chung’s “Everybody Have Fun Tonight.” Yet their best album was a double live album; they recorded only a small handful of songs that the average person can name off the top of their head, and even an easy sell such as myself would not call them a great rock ’n’ roll band.

No, what made Kiss the most famous band in the world was spectacle, and in the rocket’s red glare department, humanity has never seen anything like them. In their stage make-up and outrageous outfits, they conquered the planet, thanks in equal part to a shock-rock stage show that included fire-breathing, blood-spitting, pyrotechnics, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, and a levitating drum kit. They took Glam Rock and turned it into a cartoon, and by so doing made David Bowie and Alice Cooper look like underachievers.

Why, the boys themselves told a story about how their seven-inch stack-heeled boots were so skyscraper high that one of the guitarists (I forget which) was always toppling over on stage, and how they actually had to make his falling flat on his ass part of the stage act. And the one time I saw them, it didn’t matter that their music didn’t do anything for me—I was so caught up in the blood and the explosions and the rest of the extravaganza, the music was an afterthought.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Fifty years ago today, the Ramones ignited the punk rock revolution with the release of their debut, self-titled album, Ramones.

Fast, loud and relentless, Joey Ramone (vocals), Johnny Ramone (guitar), Dee Dee Ramone (bass), and Tommy Ramone (drums) cut through the era’s excess with a brash attitude and a set of songs; “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Judy is a Punk” and a dozen other short, combustible, stripped-down but groundbreaking blasts—that were like nothing else at the time.

“Punk rock started in 1976 on New York’s Bowery, when four cretins from Queens came up with a mutant strain of blitzkrieg bubblegum,” said Rolling Stone, when naming Ramones the #1 Greatest Punk Album of All Time (later naming it the #1 Best Debut Album of All Time). “But even if punk rock began as a kind of negation—a call to stark, brutal simplicity—its musical variety and transforming emotional power was immediate and remains staggering.”

In the five decades that have passed, “the album’s influence has been incalculable” (The New York Times), and the Ramones’ music reaches more ears today than ever before. To mark the occasion, the Ramones and Rhino are beginning a series of year-long festivities to not only celebrate the record’s generational legacy, but to honor the birth of a genre and the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers’ enduring impact on this global grassroots movement. From punk to pop to the perennially cool, music and style have never been the same since.

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