Some voices carry a country on their back. Ziggy Marley has been doing it for forty years, and the weight has only made the man more graceful, more centered, more himself. Nine Grammys and a lifetime spent stewarding a global musical inheritance, and he still sounds like he has something to prove—not to us, but to the work. Brightside, his ninth solo studio album and his first new material in eight years, arrives as a quiet act of defiance against the noise of the moment.

A pre-release review copy landed on my doorstep ahead of Record Store Day, and what I pulled from the mailer was a stripped-down version of what fans would soon find in shops—a clean, uncluttered cover, a plain white inner sleeve, no insert, no handwritten note from Ziggy, no colored wax. Just a black-labeled disc spinning in those classic Tuff Gong colors, the way the originals always looked. Sliding it out of the sleeve, that unmistakable new-vinyl smell hit me first, that warm petroleum-and-paper perfume every collector knows. I dropped the needle and let it ride. A faint crackle, a whisper of static, then the music breathed in.

Eight tracks total, co-produced by Ziggy and his brother Stephen at the newly built Rebel Lion Studio in Los Angeles, all of it tracked at 432Hz—that warmer, slightly detuned frequency reggae heads and meditators alike swear by—and you feel it. The low end sits lower in your chest. Trombone Shorty’s horns breathe instead of blare. Sheila E.’s percussion, Nikka Costa’s vocals, Jake Shimabukuro’s ukulele—this is a deep bench playing soft, and the restraint is the whole point. There are tiny imperfections in the pressing on my copy, a little surface noise here, a barely-there pop there, and somehow it makes the record feel more alive, not less. Reggae was always meant to be heard this way.

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First there was The Churchills, followed by a switch to Jericho Jones and then simply Jericho, essentially the same band in different stages of development. Formed in Tel Aviv, Israel, with a transition to the UK, an album was cut under all three names, and all three albums have been reissued on vinyl by the ever-dependable Guerssen Records of Spain. We give proper consideration to this trio of platters below.

The story here begins with the legendary UK producer Joe Meek. A new version of the Meek-affiliated band The Tornadoes (of “Telstar” fame), notably with no original members but formed through the auspices of Meek, were doing that “struggling in the 1960s” thing when they secured a six-week run of gigs in Israel.

After arriving, the arrangement fell through (naturally), but they still managed to play some shows and crossed paths with an Israeli band, The Churchills (or Churchill’s). At this stage in this region, all successful rock-oriented bands were essentially cover bands, and Tornado Robb Huxley began dishing a 30-minute set of soul belters live with The Churchills.

During this period, Huxley also met Canadian Stan Solomon, who became a musical collaborator who convinced Huxley to remain in Israel. Guitarist-vocalist Huxley and lead vocalist Solomon eventually joined a version of The Churchills with guitarist-mandolinist-vocalist Haim Romano, bassist-vocalist Miki Gavrielov, and drummer Ami Triebich.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | When you’re gathering guests for a Rainbow tribute album, who better to invite than some of the people who made Rainbow such a great band in the first place?

That’s what Cleopatra Records have done. Ride The Rainbow is an absolutely star-studded journey through the many faces of the Ritchie Blackmore-led legend, with stunning performances from no fewer than six Rainbow alumni: Bob Daisley, Graham Bonnet, Don Airey, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White, and Ronnie Romero! Plus Blackmore’s Night vocalist Candice Night, and Ritchie’s successor in Deep Purple, Steve Morse. As the subtitle says, it truly is “The Ultimate Tribute To Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.”

And to get the ball rolling, here’s the fantasy league line up of Bonnet, Airey, and Daisley reuniting for the first time since the dawn of the eighties, to perform a song that Daisley first recorded on Rainbow’s third album, also titled Long Live Rock’n’Roll, in 1978. The late Ronnie James Dio was the frontman on that record, but of course Bonnet and Airey know it well… they joined the band for its next album, Down To Earth, but “Long Live Rock’n’Roll” remained a concert favorite throughout their own time with the band.

The rhythm section here, too, is legendary. Bob Daisley is here, of course. But there’s more. Back when Ritchie was first starting out with Deep Purple, Vanilla Fudge were one of the nascent band’s biggest influences. Keyboard player Jon Lord caught the American group’s first London performance in 1967, and was convinced, “we were going to be an English Vanilla Fudge.” Drummer Carmine Appice, here taking a break from his current duties with Cactus, was a founder member of the Fudge.

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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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