We’ve closed TVD’s HQ this week for the Fourth of July holiday. While we’re away, why not fire up our Record Store Locator app and visit one of your local indie record stores?
Perhaps there’s an interview, review, or feature you might have missed? Catch up and we’ll see you back here on 7/7.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Time for livin’, time for givin’ / No time for makin’ up a monster to share / Time for livin’, time for givin’ / No time for breakin’ our own fairytale
Ain’t, ain’t, ain’t nobody’s got to spell it for me / Ooh, ain’t nobody got to yell, I can see / Ain’t nobody got to think, I can hear / But if I have to, I will yell in your ear / Aah, ooh
Where did June go? Did summer jump the gun?
Most of you know I became hooked on rock ‘n’ roll at a young age. Along the way, I’ve experienced several “magical moments.”
To be “astonished” has kept me on my journey. Like this moment, I reposted on Facebook.
I remember as a kid in NYC when twenty thousand people and I simultaneously realized we were in a room with The Rolling Stones on stage playing “Honky Tonk Woman.” Reflecting on that moment, that feeling of shared group adulation, brought tears to my eyes.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | “I wish I read more people who talked about Jack White as a writer of lyrics, or as a narrator of a very specific kind of interior…Evil and optimism wrestle with each other, longing and a hunger for loneliness tussle in the same bed. Cynicism and desire, rage and tenderness. All of these things seamlessly stitch together and come alive on the page.” —Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil In America
Third Man Books is proud to announce the publication of Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1 by Jack White and edited by Ben Blackwell. The upcoming collection compiles lyrics from White’s solo recordings thus far, alongside his acclaimed work with The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and other collaborations.
The anthology further includes selected poems and writing by White, rare and exclusive photos, and new essays written especially for this book by award-winning, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-nominated poet Adrian Matejka, award-winning, Detroit-based filmmaker and writer dream hampton, and Third Man Records co-founder Ben Blackwell. Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1 arrives at Third Man Records digital and physical storefronts and booksellers in the United States on Tuesday, October 21. Pre-orders are available now at thirdmanbooks.com.
Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1 follows 2023’s The White Stripes Complete Lyrics (Third Man Books), definitively collecting White’s extensive and acclaimed lyrical work. In addition, the collection also gathers rarely seen poetry written by White throughout his life, along with assorted writings on such diverse subjects as music, art, politics, and more.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Officially available for the first time in 40 years, Swell Maps’ The John Peel Sessions will be released on CD and digitally on September 12, 2025 via Mute. Listen to “Midget Submarines” from the band’s second Peel Session, recorded just before the release of their 1979 debut, A Trip To Marineville below.
Noisy, chaotic, and defiantly experimental, Swell Maps may not have found commercial success in their time, but their impact on music is undeniable, they went on to be an inspiration to bands such as R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, The Pastels, Stereolab, and Nirvana (Kurt Cobain was often seen sporting a Swell Maps t-shirt). A democracy within the confines of punk’s “anything is possible” maxim, members Biggles Books, Jowe Head, and brothers Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks, helped shape the landscape of post-punk and DIY music.
Formed in the early ’70s and fully realized by 1976, Swell Maps embodied the DIY ethos, launching their own label and self-releasing the jagged, frenetic debut single “Read About Seymour” in 1978. Peel was an early supporter, playing their record as soon as it landed on his desk, a moment the band described as one of disbelief and elation. His regular airplay of their music helped solidify their cult status, and these sessions capture the raw energy, off-kilter melodies, and boundary-pushing creativity that defined them.
The John Peel Sessions brings together all three of their recordings for John Peel’s sessions—from October ’78, May ’79, and March ’80—that were originally broadcast on his show on BBC Radio 1, a vital document of Swell Maps at their most unfiltered—three sessions of unpredictable, exhilarating noise.
Remembering Jeffrey Lee Pierce, born on this day in 1958. —Ed.
I had a gun once. And if you have a gun, you might as well hold up a liquor store. So I went to the liquor store, panty hose over my head, and pointed the gun at the clerk. Turned out he was an old high school friend who recognized me immediately, panty hose notwithstanding. I lowered the gun and said, “Well, shit,” and pulled the panty hose off my head. “Way to go, fucktooth,” he said, “you just performed a cameo for the security cameras. Just go. I’ll fuck them up somehow.”
Then he said, “I can give you a bottle and a pack of cigarettes. Like tequila?” I said, “Man, this is ridiculous.” He said, “You’re disappearing ink. I never saw you. Take the tequila. It’s some expensive shit. And I recommend heartily that you find another way of getting paid, because you’re too nice a guy for this business.” By this time there was a customer standing behind me. I didn’t even know he was there. I turned to him and said, “I’m sorry for the hold-up, no pun intended,” and bolted. And heard him say behind me, “It takes all kinds of idiots to make a world.”
None of that is true, but it reminds me of The Gun Club, whose 1981 debut LP blew my mind. “Sex Beat,” “She’s Like Heroin to Me, and “For the Love of Ivy” opened up new possibilities in post-punk; for one The Gun Club was heavy on the blues, and the songs were dark, dark as Robert Johnson dark. No 57-second tantrums directed at that bitch Ronald Reagan for The Gun Club; they played a deviant hybrid of punk, rockabilly, country, and blues, and lyrically were mining an ancient vein of a haunted America, where spirits and ghosts wandered the highways and lightless trains rode the trestles at night, along with one Jack on fire. I listened to that album for six months straight, then I discovered the Minutemen and the Meat Puppets, and The Gun Club just sorta slipped off my radar.
It was my loss, because front man Jeffrey Lee Pierce came on like a man possessed by some cursed spirit from South of the Border, like he had voodoo in his blood and sex in his guitar, and it surprised virtually no one when he died at age 37 as a result of alcohol and drug abuse. He founded The Gun Club in the happening Hollywood scene in 1979, with a line-up that included Brian Tristan (aka Kid Congo Powers) on lead guitar, Don Snowden on bass, and Brad Dunning on guitar.
Suzi Ronson is a stylist, writer, musician, and the woman who helped shape one of the most iconic eras in music, first by co-creating David Bowie’s groundbreaking look for Ziggy Stardust.
Her memoir Me and Mr. Jones describes this along with the wild and interesting journey she shared as a part of the core group of people who propelled Bowie and themselves into history without expecting it. Suzi and I spoke about these times, her career, life with her husband Mick Ronson, and the aftermath of the Spiders from Mars ending.
This episode is unvarnished and human, as we like to keep Radar. Bowie was no saint, but we all love him, including Suzi, who tells her tales of these times from a deeply clear-eyed place.
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.
Bill Fisher, founder of Nottingham, England’s Church of the Cosmic Skull, has called the band a “twofold entity: a new religious movement … and a 7-piece supergroup.” What do you make of that? I’ll tell you what I make of it, having listened to said twofold entity–Church of the Cosmic Skull are by turns majestic and hilarious, bring back the glory days of seventies’ American progressive pop, and in general are the most transcendentally joyous thing to come along since “Dust in the Wind.”
Church of the Cosmic Skull are campy, write great pop songs with great pop hooks, dress in white robes like angels, and sing like angels too. They sound like a cross of Styx, Kansas, Queen, Electric Light Orchestra, and Abba. They make uproarious videos and pose on spaceships and live in the past and the future at the same time, which is what great progressive pop has always been about.
They also know how to rock out with blazing guitar solos, cool Hammond organ riffs, stacked and glorious mock-baroque tongue-in-cheek neo-gospel vocal harmonies, and lots of driving instrumental passages that occasionally cross the line into arena rock and heavy metal. And have I mentioned they write great songs? Just like the songs that kept me alive in the seventies.
Fisher has lots of things to say about music. “The song must come first. I am not interested in meaningless displays of technical ability.” Which is the essence of progressive pop. He also has lots of things to say, and I think he’s being serious, about his group’s spiritual mission. “We are a rock band and a spiritual organisation,” he told an interviewer, “who welcome all living beings with open arms.”
Watch Out Vinyl, Tariffs Are Coming For You: As we all know, one of the many bright spots in the music industry recently has been vinyl sales. Even though the sales figures can be deceptive as to the actual number, it’s still a large revenue source for the just about everyone in that particular food chain. That said, the growth of vinyl is threatened today thanks the the new tariffs the government has recently put in place, thanks to increased production costs. It turns out that the raw materials required to press a record in the U.S., which include nickel, PVC, paperboard, and steel, are directly affected by these extra fees. Not only that, lacquer disc production (the master disc that make the stampers) are only made outside the United States these days since the Apollo Masters fire, and there are no Direct Metal Mastering machines operating in the U.S.
Golden Valley, MN | Down in the Valley: Four Minnesota businesses, four different tariff tales. All four of these businesses are weighing uncertainty. …Back up to Golden Valley, at Down in the Valley record store, tariffs are striking a blue note. “The problem is as a small retailer, we can’t just absorb these small added costs,” said Scott Farrell, general manager of Down in the Valley. “We are already running on thin margins the way it is. So, we have to pass that onto the consumer.” Sixty percent of the products he sells are imported. Suppliers of action figures, toys, incense and turntables are already charging higher prices. “The entry-level turntable retailed at 129. Now it’s at 179,” said Farrell.
Victoria, AU | Record Store Profile: Dutch Vinyl VIC. The Music’s search for Australia’s best record store is on. If this is your favourite, or you’d like to discover more great shops to visit, head to vote.themusic.com.au and go into the draw to win a $200 voucher to spend at the store. …We have about 12 staff members at Dutch Vinyl, forming a dynamic and diverse team. Our crew is a mix of shop staff, secondhand record pricers, a new record buyer, and the online order team, among other roles. Everyone brings their own unique skills and passion for music to the table, making Dutch Vinyl a vibrant and welcoming place for both customers and staff alike. …The store opened in 2016. After arriving in Australia with just a bundle of CD’s in my backpack I soon moved on to MP3. Within a few years I had such a large iTunes library that it became difficult to choose what to play. This led me back to vinyl records and I fell in love with them all over again.
Tokyo, JP | A music lover’s guide to Tokyo: Shop for your favorites at a record store. Ask anyone who has visited Tokyo about record shopping and they will all mention Disk Union. The behemoth music retailer has been around since 1967 and has multiple stores across the city. In Shinjuku alone, we’re talking four separate buildings within a three-block radius, containing various levels that cover 18 different genres. Music lovers will need a map—and fortunately, you can find one online or at the front of any of their stores. Tokyo is also home to several independent record stores. Shimokitazawa is a neighborhood revered by crate-diggers, and you’ll find plenty to peruse at Pianola Records, Jet Set, Flash Disc Ranch (featured in the Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days), and City Country City—a bar, café, record store, and small venue owned by Keiichi Sokabe, the frontman of revered Japanese band Sunny Day Service.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Diamonds & Rust, Joan Baez’s introspective, poetic, and musically lush 1975 album, returns in a definitive 180-gram 45 RPM edition to be released July 11 via Analogue Productions, the esteemed imprint of Acoustic Sounds.
Strictly limited to 2,000 individually numbered copies, this collectible reissue is cut from a ½” flat tape copy of the original analog master tape by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab and pressed at Quality Record Pressings. It delivers the most vivid, tonally rich listening experience of Baez’s timeless classic to date.
This deluxe reissue is housed in a tip-on old-style gatefold jacket with textured stock, crafted with care by Stoughton Printing, offering both a stunning visual and tactile presentation to match the sonic excellence within. The 45 RPM format allows for deeper grooves and greater fidelity, capturing Baez’s pristine voice and evocative arrangements in their most natural and immersive form.
Originally released at a pivotal point in her career, Diamonds & Rust bridges Baez’s folk roots with the sophisticated production of the mid-’70s, bringing a new sonic dimension to her songwriting and interpretations. Anchored by the iconic title track—a bittersweet reflection on her past relationship with Bob Dylan—the album finds Baez at her most personal and expressive, balancing intimate storytelling with bold sonic ambition.
The record also showcases Baez’s interpretive power on tracks like Jackson Browne’s “Fountain of Sorrow” and Stevie Wonder’s “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer,” both rendered with striking emotional clarity and nuance. “Winds of the Old Days” and “Dida” reveal Baez’s evolution as an artist and her willingness to explore new textures and lyrical perspectives.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Joni Mitchell introduces Joni’s Jazz, a passion project years in the making. This career-spanning collection features recordings chosen by Mitchell that reflect jazz’s profound influence on her music.
The release arrives September 5 as an 8LP vinyl box set and will also be available as a 4CD edition and across all digital and streaming platforms. Both the vinyl and CD versions include liner notes with rare and previously unseen photos and original artwork by Mitchell. Pre-order HERE. An exclusive Joni Mitchell Archives fine-art print is available as a gift-with-purchase exclusive from jonimitchell.com.
Spanning 61 tracks, Joni’s Jazz includes studio recordings, live performances, rare alternate takes, and material drawn from multiple decades and record labels. Among them are two previously unreleased 1980 demos, including one for “Be Cool” that is available today digitally.
The set features contributions from some of Mitchell’s most important collaborators in jazz, among them Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, and Charles Mingus. Mitchell, who calls Shorter her favorite collaborator, dedicates the collection to him following his passing in 2023. “It was a joy to play with him,” she writes. “He will be missed, but he will remain alive for me in this music.”
Remembering Big Bill Broonzy, born on this date in 1893. —Ed.
Born on June 26, 1903, William Lee Conley Broonzy, aka Big Bill Broonzy, was a giant of the blues. Cutting his first sides for Paramount in 1927, an extensive stretch of recordings followed across the next two decades. After a break in the late 1940s, he experienced a career resurrection that lasted until his untimely death in 1958, a sustained second wind that carried him to Europe, where he cut records for the Vogue label in France and was captured in performances of astonishingly high fidelity in the Netherlands. Grooving into vinyl a substantial portion of Broonzy’s shows in the titular city, Liberation Hall’s Live in Amsterdam 1953 arrived for Record Store Day Black Friday in 2022.
To appropriately comprehend the level of Big Bill Broonzy’s popularity, please consider his prolific output across the decade of the Great Depression. The brutal 1930s economic downturn decimated the young record industry, which had been thriving before the crash, and snuffed out recording opportunities for dozens of bluesmen, with a handful of those musicians later “rediscovered” in connection with the folk music boom of the 1950s-’60s. Broonzy was an early catalyst-beneficiary of that boom, and would’ve surely experienced further success had he not died in ’58.
Broonzy’s late ’40s sabbatical from touring (reportedly through doctor’s orders) found him working as a janitor at Iowa State University. It didn’t take him long to return to activity, and when he did there was a comfortable shift into folk blues mode as he kept company with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Pete Seeger.
That Big Bill choose to hang around with ol’ Pete and Studs Terkel as he pivoted into a somewhat easygoing style no doubt ruffled the feathers of many a subsequent blues purist, particularly as the two Yazoo volumes of his early stuff, The Young Big Bill Broonzy 1928-1936 and Do That Guitar Rag: 1928-1935 are loaded with hokum smokers, wicked rags, and uncut bluesy oomph. Columbia’s Roots N’ Blues comp Good Time Tonight is also an excellent survey of his more urban 1930s motions that benefit from the cleaned up sound that was the Roots N’ Blues series specialty.
VIA PRESS RELEASE | Lou Bond only made one album but what an album it was.
Politically charged, deeply introspective, and wonderfully lyrical, 1974’s Lou Bond is reminiscent of the Eugene McDaniels releases Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse and Outlaw (both out previously on Real Gone) in its outspoken, idiosyncratic social commentary. But there is a sensitivity here that’s devastating; Bond’s falsetto soaring over his strummed acoustic guitar brings to mind Bill Withers (whose “Let Me into Your Life” he covers) at his most affecting, while the arrangements summon What’s Going On vibes.
With comparisons like those, you know this record is special, but Lou Bond is a one-of-a-kind album that really defies comparison (despite our best efforts). For this ALL-ANALOG reissue, we had our friends at Well Made Music cut lacquers directly from the original tapes and pressed the record at Gotta Groove Records.
Available either in black vinyl or clear yellow. Both Outkast and Mary K. Blige sampled Lou Bond…that’s because it’s one of the lynchpin albums of Memphis soul.
Skullcap is a DMV-based trio consisting of Janel Leppin on cello and Minimoog, her husband Anthony Pirog on electric guitar, and Mike Kuhl on drums and percussion, longtime collaborators whose debut album Snakes of Albuquerque is out now on vinyl, compact disc, and digital through Cuneiform Records. Described as a power cello trio, Skullcap combines elements of jazz (improvisation and a thoroughly contemporary swing), classical (compositional fortitude), and rock (raw collective firepower). The results, often outstanding, aren’t easily comparable to anything else currently on the scene.
Along with four solo discs and two as leader of Ensemble Volcanic Ash, cellist and composer Janel Leppin has recorded three albums in duo with electric guitarist Anthony Pirog. The nature of Leppin and Pirog’s musical relationship, which has been assessed by the pair as telepathic, should be considered as a main root factor in Skullcap’s success through heightened interaction.
Pirog is also wildly prolific as a player, having recorded solo and as the organizing force in groups of various sizes; he, Leppin, and drummer Mike Kuhl first played together in a sextet assembled by Pirog. Leaderless collectives are also a Pirog specialty, most notably the Messthetics with the Fugazi rhythm section of drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally, a trio recently augmented with the saxophone brilliance of James Brandon Lewis.
Drummer Mike Kuhl is a Baltimore guy who has played and recorded with a variety of esteemed musicians both in and outside of jazz. In the jazz context, he drummed on the 2022 album KRAFT alongside trumpeter Dave Ballou, multi-reedman John Dierker, and bassist Luke Stewart. Outside of jazz, he’s contributed to albums by Arboretum (and that band’s guitarist Dace Heumann) and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez.
New Orleans, LA | Indie Record Store Camp Coming in July: Hotel Monteleone will be busy July 28-Aug. 1 hosting Record Store Day Camp, a conference for indie record stores and those who keep them spinning. 33 1/2 Record Distribution, AudioTechnica, Rhino Records, Sub Pop and Victrola are just some of the companies confirmed to attend. Record stores including Amoeba Records (Los Angeles), Criminal Records (Atlanta), Epitaph (Los Angeles) and locally loved Euclid Records will be attending, as well. The indie record store event will kick off at The Black Penny on 700 North Rampart. Special rates will be available at The Hotel Monteleone. The conference is organized by Redeye Distribution which aims to “connect independent artists and labels to an expanding global marketplace through sales and marketing expertise along with impactful customer relationships.”
New York, NY | ‘Vinyl NYC: 33 1/3 of the Best Record Stores Across All Five Boroughs’ Celebrates the Soul of Music Shops. Perhaps there is nothing so modern as the vinyl record, its streamline design elegantly enclosed in a dazzling 12” cardboard sleeve that promises untold pleasures. For record collectors like the husband and wife photography team of James T. and Karla L. Murray, it all begins with the thrill of the hunt: a trip to the local record store. Following the success of Store Front NYC and Great Bars of New York, the Murrays now team up with music journalist and critic Hattie Lindert for Vinyl NYC: 33 1/3 of the Best Record Stores Across All Five Boroughs (Prestel, September 9, 2025), the newest volume by husband-and-wife photography team James T. and Karla L. Murray devoted to the indelible Mom & Pop shops that form the heart and soul of New York.
Munich, DE | Munich’s Riviera Records raising funds to cover costs of relocation: The record shop hosted a farewell in-store event earlier this month. Riviera Records is raising money to cover the costs of relocating to a new space. The Munich record shop has launched a crowdfunder, aiming to raise €10,000 “to create a financially viable foundation for the future,” the team shared. “It strengthens our ties to the community, increases Riviera’s visibility and ensures we can get off to a great start in the new location.” A farewell in-store event at the current Rosental space took place on June 13th. Launched in 2020, Riviera Records stocks a wide range of first and second-hand vinyl. Some of its equipment and records were damaged during a warehouse flood last May. The shop’s new location is yet to be revealed.
Philadelphia, PA | The Free Library of Philadelphia is Launching a New Vinyl Record Listening Club With a New Theme Each Month: There’s no doubt that streaming platforms have made listening to music easy and accessible. However, there’s just something about holding a physical copy of an album that just hits different. For those that enjoy listening sessions, especially with vinyl there is now a club that meets monthly. The Free Library of Philadelphia just launched their Vinyl Record Listening Club that will gather once-a-month starting on June 25th at the Parkway Central Library (1901 Vine Street). Headed by the Music Department, the club is “for folks to listen to and discuss vinyl records. We welcome music lovers of all levels, whether you are brand new to vinyl records or an old hat at crate digging,” states Jane Lippman of the Music Department.
DECATUR, IL | On a sweltering summer night in Decatur, Illinois, classic rock fans packed the Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater for a high-energy show headlined by Tesla. The heat didn’t stop anyone from having a great time—not the crowd, not the band, and not the boats idling behind the stage on Lake Decatur, hoping to catch a glimpse of the action.
Opening the night was Kurt Deimer, who delivered a set of mostly original songs with a gritty, modern rock edge. He brought solid energy to the stage and connected with the crowd, sharing that he had appeared in the latest Halloween movie and was proud to have been killed by Michael Myers.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Tesla hit the stage to thunderous applause. They sounded as tight and powerful as ever, ripping through a setlist packed with classics and fan favorites. Their musicianship and energy kept the crowd on their feet all night long.
The setting couldn’t have been more perfect—the stage backed by the shimmering waters of Lake Decatur, boats drifting just offshore, and fans singing along under the stars. As the night came to a close, Tesla returned for an encore and brought the house down with their iconic hit “Signs,” leaving the crowd cheering and fully satisfied.
