Celebrating Jim Stafford on his 82nd birthday. —Ed.

The list of famous country novelty songs is a long one. There have been hundreds–probably thousands–of them. Just off the top of my head: Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue,” Loretta Lynn’s “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly,” Mark Chesnutt’s “Bubba Shot the Jukebox,” and my dad’s all-time favorite (he sang it all the time), Mac Davis’ “It’s Hard to Be Humble.” Any half-decent country fan could reel off dozens more.

But when it comes to country novelty tune artists, Jim Stafford could just be the king. I grew up listening to “Spiders & Snakes,” “Wildwood Weed,” and “I Got Stoned and I Missed It,” and while I’d never kissed a girl or smoked a joint in my life, I loved the obvious spirit of fun behind all of ‘em.

Stafford has released only three albums, and since 1990 he’s dedicated his energy to operating and performing at the Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson, Missouri (no vanity there, and by the way: should you find yourself in Branson, be sure to stop by Dolly Partons’ Stampede!). Don’t know if he’s plain lazy or doesn’t need the money, but Stafford hasn’t released an LP since 1993. (He has done some acting; he played the role of Buford in 1984’s immortal Bloodsucker from Outer Space.)

Jim Stafford spawned four Top 40 hits, and if there’s one word to describe the LP it’s versatility. You get some swamp rock, a faux-lounge number, a couple of good ole’ country numbers, a blues parody, a rockabilly pastiche, and a couple of songs that pack what can only be described as a hard rock punch. And that “variety” also extends to Stafford’s knack for creating personae; he’s a shapeshifter who is, by turn, a sly hayseed, an aging rockabilly fan, a very confused courter, a Louisiana oracle, and so on.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Jack White kicks off what promises to be another eventful new year with the official publication of Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1, available now at Third Man physical storefronts, thirdmanbooks.com, and booksellers in the United States; UK publication follows on February 2.

Edited by Third Man Records co-founder Ben Blackwell, the landmark new anthology features never-before-published poems and writings by White, rare and exclusive photos, and new essays written especially for this book by Blackwell, award-winning, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-nominated poet Adrian Matejka, and award-winning, Detroit-based filmmaker and writer dream hampton. It also compiles lyrics from both White’s solo recordings thus far, as well as his acclaimed work with The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and other collaborations.

The publication of Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1 follows what proved to be a milestone 2025 for White, including The White Stripes’ induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (streaming now on Disney+; a three-hour primetime special featuring highlights from the ceremony aired New Year’s Day on ABC and is available now on Hulu).

The event saw White accepting the honor with a poignant speech that included an original poem he’d written for Meg White, marking the occasion. November also saw White headline the Detroit Lions’ NFL Thanksgiving Halftime show at Detroit’s Ford Field with a special guest appearance by Eminem for a mashup of “Hello Operator” and “‘Till I Collapse,” before finishing with a searing “Seven Nation Army” for the hometown crowd. “Live at Ford Field,” a new EP capturing the historic performance in its entirety, is available now at all DSPs and streaming services.

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Nasty, brutish, and short—the ever chipper Thomas Hobbes could have been talking about New York City’s late Seventies/early eighties No Wave scene. He might have said “blessedly short,” because let’s face it, how much horrible noise (the phrase that Lester Bangs used to describe such short-lived No Wave bands like DNA, Mars, and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks) can anyone take?

No Wave was a scene that destroyed itself.

And luckily, the whole No Wave thing was largely (thanks to a military quarantine) confined to Downtown Manhattan, although I’ve heard scary rumors that outbreaks also occurred in Chicago (figures) and Japan (of course).

No Wave was all about making a dissonant, atonal racket, and some of it was produced by people who didn’t know how to play chords on their guitars, and what’s more, they thought chords sucked. Oh, and they liked to scream a lot. Much of it is funny, either on purpose or by accident, which is the only thing that attracts me to it. I like noise, but I like songs too, and good lyrics. No Wave was also (in most cases) about forming and breaking up in a real hurry, and not leaving much of a recorded legacy. The most important recording of the short-lived scene was the 1978 compilation No New York, “curated” by some producer named Brian Eno.

Deliberately primitive and defiantly nihilistic, No Wave was, but some of its bands were more listenable than others—James Chance and the Contortions weren’t exactly easy listening, but they played recognizable songs that fused free jazz and James Brown. And Glenn Branca’s Theoretical Girls don’t sound No Wave to me at all—sure, there’s a lot of dissonance and frayed nerves, but they played songs, cool songs with cool drones and lots of pounding drums. At times (listen to “Mom & Dad”), they sound like a wonderful fusion of garage rock and the early Talking Heads.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy Award-winning guitarist Peter Frampton is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his iconic album Frampton Comes Alive! Upon its original release in 1976, Frampton Comes Alive! became a cultural phenomenon and remains one of the top-selling live albums of all time, with nearly 20 million copies sold worldwide.

As part of the celebration, Frampton will release a Vinylphyle edition of Frampton Comes Alive! on January 22 via A&M/UMe. One of the greatest rock albums of the 1970s can now be heard on vinyl again, presented as it was originally intended to sound. The limited Vinylphyle double LP pressing is sourced from the original 1975 Doug Sax 1/4″ production master, with lacquers cut by Joe Nino-Hernes, and pressed on 180g black vinyl at RTI. The package features a four-panel insert including a new interview with Frampton and Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop; preorder HERE. In addition to the Vinylphyle release, the album is also available to experience in Dolby Atmos, following its 2024 immersive audio debut.

“I can’t believe it’s now been 50 years since Frampton Comes Alive! was released, but that record still feels like a living, breathing moment in my life,” says Frampton. “When we decided to do this Vinylphyle edition, it was important to me that it be done the right way. I personally asked that the audio be sourced from the original 1975 Doug Sax production master because I wanted it to sound exactly as we heard it back then. This album was born onstage, and hearing it presented this way on vinyl feels like bringing that energy back to life for longtime fans and new listeners alike.”

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Due for release this March on Outer Battery Records, Live 1982 is a newly unearthed and ferocious live album capturing cult anti-heroes Void at the height of their power—raw, chaotic, and utterly uncompromising.

Formed in Columbia, Maryland, just north of Washington, DC, Void emerged from unlikely surroundings to become one of the most confrontational bands of the early DC hardcore scene. Their debut in 1980 at the first-ever Wilson Center show—a legendary 15-band marathon largely organised by the Bad Brains—immediately marked them out as a band apart.

Featuring vocalist John Weiffenbach, guitarist Bubba Dupree, Chris Stover on bass, and drummer Sean Finnegan, Void’s sound defied structure, with songs threatening to fly apart at any moment. Every member played at maximum speed, the resulting discord and controlled chaos elevating the quartet to a more dangerous and extreme plane.

Containing pivotal live recordings, Live 1982 professionally captures two crucial moments in the band’s history. The A-side documents Void’s incendiary April 1982 performance at the Wilson Center, recorded just months before the release of the legendary Faith/Void split LP. Sharing the bill with Minor Threat, The Faith, Iron Cross, and Double O, the band delivered a set packed with hardcore classics such as “Ignorant People” and “Who Are You?”

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Celebrating Chris Desjardins on his 73rd birthday. —Ed.

Any shelf dedicated to classic California punk requires representation by The Flesh Eaters of Chris Desjardins, aka Chris D. Never a bad record has he made under that moniker, but the finest of them remains the talent-drenched and enduringly brilliant 1981 LP A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die. 

I first learned of Chris D.’s work in the latter portion of the 1980s, my discovery largely aided by the diligent underground music press of the era, in particular the scribbling of Byron Coley. While numerous zines featured reviews of both the Flesh Eaters and Chris D.’s band of the period The Divine Horsemen, it was really Coley that helped to put Desjardins’ art in context.

In fact, Coley’s such a determined champion of the man’s work that his new liners for this reissue aren’t an extra so much as a prerequisite. And the insight was found in more than just reviews, articles, and prior sleeve notes, as Coley and Forced Exposure publisher/writer Jimmy Johnson conducted an extensive interview with Desjardins for issue #12 of their reliably hefty “quarterly” mag. The duo also provided space in the back for “Chris D.’s Video Guide,” an enjoyable and extremely enlightening tour of the guy’s VHS collection.

I’d already sized Desjardins up as a major part of the USA’s roots punk brigade, his output landing in the same rough region as The Cramps, X, The Blasters, The Plugz, and The Gun Club, but the conversation in FE presented him as an uncommonly astute member of the punk community (especially when compared with the average Flipside chat).

Furthermore, his movie writings offered a vibrant critical viewpoint, one that blended a love of low-budget American flicks categorized by Michael Weldon as Psychotronic with a healthy dose of early auteurist perspective (lots of Hitchcock and films noir), considerations of New Hollywood (Polanski, Schrader) and global art cinema (Buñuel, Fassbinder, Makavejev).

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Kishi Bashi has announced a 10th anniversary reissue of his critically acclaimed 2016 album, Sonderlust, which will be released on February 27th, 2026 via Joyful Noise Recordings.

To celebrate, he’s shared the previously unreleased B-side “Harpsi Chords,” a song that captures the balance of melancholy, introspection, and searching optimism that defines his music. “I was always excited about this song, and went as far as to record the strings on it,” Kaoru Dill-Ishibashi, AKA Kishi Bashi, says of the song. “I don’t think it matched the tone of Sonderlust, and so it was a difficult decision to leave it off.”

Now available for pre-order, the Sonderlust (10th Anniversary Edition) features updated artwork from Ssin Kim, the South Korean artist behind the original cover. “The first piece was called End of the Beginning. It was dark, pessimistic; about the end of life,” Dill-Ishibashi explains.

“The new one, made post-COVID, feels more optimistic. It’s interesting that she’s changed, just like I have. When you’re younger, the world can feel overwhelming. As you age, you start to see your place in it, become more pragmatic, less anxious. I think that’s what this new art captures, a sense of perspective, of hope.”

Last fall, Kishi Bashi announced a 2026 headlining tour around Sonderlust’s anniversary, during which he’ll perform the album in full. The run begins in late March with performances at Boise, ID’s Treefort Music Fest and Knoxville, TN’s Big Ears before taking him across the country—including an April 3rd stop at Chicago, IL’s Thalia Hall and an April 11th show at New York, NY’s Irving Plaza.

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Born in Busan, South Korea, and currently based in New York City, pianist Haeun Joo releases her second album, Just Gravity, on compact disc and digital January 16 via Brooklyn’s unstoppable fount of heightened improvisation, 577 Records. Alternating Joo solo with trio interactions of sharp, vibrant depth featuring bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Steven Crammer, the set is highly effective in showcasing Joo’s range of emotions and technical ability. This is assured music that holds promise for further growth.

Haeun Joo has cited Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, and Fred Hersch as primary influences. All three tangibly inform Joo’s playing on her debut We Will Find, which came out in 2021 on the Next Level label. Its eight selections offer a warm, contemplative quartet that stays largely inside (while not playing it safe) through the prowess of Matt Holman on trumpet and flugelhorn, Doug Weiss on bass, and Ronen Itzik joining Joo, who plays exceptionally well along with singing in a wordless style that’s joyousness is highly pleasurable to the ear.

There is no singing by Joo on Just Gravity, but the absence doesn’t register as a lack, as her latest builds a distinct temperament by taking big improvisational plunges without losing the lyrical quality that stood out on her debut. While this current of expressive beauty is most pronounced in the solo pieces, it is not lost amongst the trio action that widens the album’s musical reach.

Opening track “Salt and Silence” is, in some ways, Just Gravity in miniature. It starts calm and pretty and essentially solo (there are some subtle bowed accents by Tordini underneath), only to gradually unfold into a glorious thicket of three-way exploration. The interactions become considerably intense without tipping over into the harried.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MoFi), the renowned leader in high-fidelity audio reissues, is proud to unveil the 40th Anniversary 180g 45RPM 2LP edition of Stevie Nicks’ platinum-certified 1985 album Rock a Little. The vinyl is available for order on January 16 (here), with the SACD to follow at a later date (pre-order here).

Mastered at MoFi’s California studio, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, the platinum-certified album was recorded for a reported one million dollars and teems with a head-spinning array of colors, textures, and dreamscapes. Sourced from the original analog tapes (1/4” / 15 IPS Dolby A analog copy to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe), this reference-grade reissue is the first time the music is conveyed with proper balance, dimensionality, and positioning. The degrees of spaciousness, headroom, and dynamics are nothing less than inspiring.

Nicks’ boundless enthusiasm for the project helped cement the album as an essential piece of ‘80s pop lore. The sonic advantages of the reissue extend to the statement-making opener “I Can’t Wait,” shot through with serious drama, and the snapping rhythmic pace and big hooks of “Imperial Hotel,” a standout moment in her solo catalog. The record, crafted by the likes of Benmont Tench and Waddy Wachtel, explores loneliness and the secrets we keep to ourselves. The album features her passionate performance of Chas Sanford’s “Talk to Me,” a Top 5 smash.

Moreover, surrender to the gravitas of the closing “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You,” a piano ballad composed about the death of Joe Walsh’s three-year-old daughter. As Nicks asserts earlier on the album, she sings for things money can’t buy. So, rock a little, yes, but dare to feel even more.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | After their 1993 release Betti-Cola ruled the campus airwaves for three consecutive months, cub came out with this quirky gem: Come Out Come Out. The purveyors of cuddlecore lit the fire with Betti-Cola, but this one burned the house down and solidified cub and Mint Records in indie record land.

Longtime fans of cub may still have their own copy of the charming triple 7” vinyl that Come Out Come Out was originally released on in 1995, likely picked up during the band’s extensive touring where they shared stages with artists such as They Might Be Giants, Sebadoh, Elliott Smith, Yo La Tengo, Sloan, The Muffs, Magnetic Fields, DOA, Rancid, NOFX, Seam, The Coctails, Sun Ra Arkestra, De La Soul, The Evaporators, and Zumpano.

In 2007, Come Out Come Out was reissued with bonus tracks, and now Mint Records is finally releasing the album on a 12” vinyl, with the track list and original artwork by Fiona Smyth totally reimagined. “I was considering the ways that Come Out Come Out could be reimagined for a special 30th Anniversary edition,” says guitarist Robynn Iwata.

“We wanted to design the release around a single vinyl 12″ in a gatefold sleeve, and that led to the necessity of a remaster specifically tailored to wax. While working through some experiments in my studio for suggestions to the mastering plant on how those remasters might sound best, I also hit upon the idea of a track re-ordering that differed from the original triple vinyl 7″ and CD—one that attempted to make the listening experience a bit more consistent and impactful.”

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Pink Floyd’s album Wish You Were Here was released in 1975, and listening to it today, it sounds like the soundtrack for these times. At the end of 2025, it was given a big box archival release, and the quality of this new reissue is commensurate with the importance of the album.

The release came two years after the group’s monumental Dark Side of the Moon. Following up on that album was nearly impossible, but Wish You Were Here is a strong record. While Dark Side of the Moon reflected a variety of emotions and themes that tackled growing old, dying, the passing of time, greed, a world out of control due to rapid advances in technology, and so much more, Wish You Were Here, while still touching on some of these themes, was very different.

The central theme of the album was very much about loss. It was about loss of innocence, a planet out of control and, on a very personal level for the group, the loss of their original guiding light, Syd Barrett, who left the band due to severe mental problems from drug abuse while they were making only their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets in 1968, with original members Roger Waters, Rick Wright, and Nick Mason joined by new guitarist David Gilmour. And, strangely enough, Barrett made a surprise appearance in the studio one day while the group was making the album.

There is an unsettling, eerie, almost post-apocalyptic feel to the music. The music is filled with longing, regret, and sadness. While delving even further into the use of synthesizers, there is also beautiful acoustic guitar work by Gilmour, as well as subtle jazzy touches. In fact, it is the subtleties and jazz tinges that are more pronounced on this new remaster of the album, particularly on the vinyl records.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Not many artists record two highly collectible, self-titled albums 10 years apart. But singer-songwriter-keyboardist Leon Ware pulled off that unlikely feat, first with his debut solo record for United Artists in 1972, and then with this one, released by Elektra in 1982.

What he did in between was almost as noteworthy, writing and producing material for Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Minnie Riperton, and Marvin Gaye, for whom he helmed the classic I Want You record. So, the pump was primed for Ware’s 1982 release, which featured Ware’s soaring falsetto (which some compared to Gaye’s) over arrangements by the legendary Marty Paich, with fiery contributions by saxman Gato Barbieri and vocalist Flora Purim (duetting with Ware on the classic “Somewhere”).

As is often the case with cult classics, Leon Ware didn’t sell initially, and in fact got him dropped from Elektra; but it’s emerged as a key early-‘80s R&B release, with “Why I Came to California” a particular latter-day favorite. For its first US vinyl reissue, Real Gone Music is pressing this cult classic on orange crush vinyl.

Among numerous shifts in personnel, Jamie Stewart is the founding and constant member of Xiu Xiu since the outfit’s formation in 2002, but for their last pair of albums, the core lineup has solidified into Stewart, Angela Seo, and David Kendrick. It’s this trio that shapes, with various additional contributors, the dozen cover songs heard on new album Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, which releases January 16 on vinyl in various color configurations, compact disc, and cassette through Polyvinyl. Collecting a project that began in 2020, the finished works are adventurous yet cohesive.

Covers albums from a single act, when corralling material from assorted sources rather than pinpointing one artist or band (as Stewart did with Nina, their 2013 tribute to Nina Simone) or focusing on a theme (such as the 2016 Record Store Day release Xiu Xiu Plays the Music of Twin Peaks) are most often hit and miss affairs. Occasionally, a set of covers that’s dedicated to various artists can be consistently bland, and less frequently, an utterly disastrous, embarrassing affair.

There’s likely something about stylistic source range that allows for peaks and valleys of inspiration. A collection of micro tributes is also possibly less burdensome when compared to a large-scale single artist salute. But even so, a covers album from a single act that’s focused on material from diverse sources that ultimately shapes up as steadily superb is as rare as, indeed rarer than, the unmitigated catastrophes.

Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1 gets in the ballpark of being consistently excellent, perhaps in part because the songs were released individually and then collected as an album after completion and satisfaction rather than conceived as a single release from inside a short timeframe. There are also some thematic realities to consider, including a pocket of songs that fit into an electronic/industrial framework.

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