The Ledge (mp3)

The covers folder is full so, yes, it’s time for yet another show of nothing but remakes. And what a lineup we have this time around. Chrrisie Hynde doing The Doors. Velocity Girl doing The Jam. Dwight Twilley’s last studio recording remaking Bram Tchaikovsky. Sharp Pins with some of his favorite Mod revival tunes. Yet another fabulous reimagining of The Undertones! All sorts of tracks...

Maybe I should stop calling part one of my monthly new release series the “friends of the show” episode, as part two is inevitably full of just as many pals as the first one. Come on, Rum Bar Records is probably the best friend of The Ledge, and there’s a lengthy set of great new tunes from that label. There’s new submissions by Dany Laj and The Looks, The Hellflowers, the...

If the first part of the monthly new releases series is lovingly called the “friends of the show” broadcast, then tonight’s show is sort of a reunion of sorts. You see, besides the usual contributors to this show (Numb Surprise, Rob Moss, The Rockerati, Phil Cook & The Fall Dogs, etc.), we have the great returns of many other regularly featured artists. There’s great ne...

This being the last show of September also means it’s the last show of the third quarter of the year, and what a great three months! Tonight’s show recaps 35 of the best albums to come out over this period, and there’s something here for everybody! From longtime faves to brand new bands, it’s a great collection of power pop, Americana, punk, and all sorts of other mini-genr...

Once I learned of the death of legendary guitarist Cheetah Chrome last Sunday (9/13), it became pretty obvious that he deserved a special show devoted to his great career. The first half of the broadcast is devoted to his time with not only the Dead Boys but also the infamous Rocket From The Tombs. The second half deals with his post-Dead Boys tenure, which varied between solo recordings, other pr...

It’s my birthday show!!! Yes, September 11 is a terrible day to celebrate a birthday, but one can’t help when they were born. But what better way to kick off a birthday show with a brand new cover of “Teenage Kicks”. Oh, yes, I was so excited when Malibu Lou sent me the file straight off the Rum Bar presses. I’ll never tire of this song, especially when artists such a...

We are now in the greatest month of the year (September), and once again we have two straight weeks of nothing but new music. This week is the “friends of the show” episode, and well over half the show consists of music submitted by the artists themselves (or their representatives). There’s the monthly new track by Numb Surprise, another split single from Rob Moss and Skin-Tight...

1996 was a great year for me. I had a comfortable day job, I still worked a couple of nights a week at the record stores, and I was the music editor for a local newspaper. This was quite possibly the peak year for live music in my city. Local bands were selling out clubs and releasing great albums, and more national acts were hitting town than ever before. Besides the local upswing, it was a great...

I ended last week’s new release episode with a good dozen or so songs I did not find time to air. How could I handle that? That’s not enough new tunes for a third show of new tunes? Should I just keep them in storage for the September series? But then I remembered that today (8/21/26) was a momentous day for rock and roll. It’s the day that Gravest Graves by The Cramps was coming...

I may call the artists in my first part of the monthly new release series “friends of the show” but this month’s second part heavily features two of my longest serving buddies of my years broadcasting The Ledge.  First off, I have the privilege of debuting around half of the brand new album by Jeremy Porter and The Tucos, Sell Their Souls. Set to come out next week (August 2...

Last month may have been a little shy of new music, but this month’s two-part new releases series may be the best ever. Tonight’s part one, as always, is pretty much a “friends of the show” episode as it’s filled with artists who regularly supply the show with new tunes. There’s not one but four new tracks by Vista Blue, and new tracks from Numb Surprise, The Ro...

One of my favorite occasional theme for this show is the “Hudson Compound” series, where I play nothing but tracks from records I’ve been listening to in my humble abode. It’s been awhile, so I figured it was the perfect time to do this again. The core of this week’s tracks comes from a little personal theme I’ve been following for the past week, where I have be...

You guys all know my rules about the cover version episodes – once the folder is full it’s time for a show. This time around, it’s also perfect timing. As I was putting this week’s show together, I discovered that Trash Kickers had put out a live video of them covering “Can’t Hardly Wait” at their May album release show. Oh, yeah, I had to include that. He...

I wish I could say I have vivid memories of 1986, but I really don’t. Look, it was the year after I graduated from college, and life was a party. I was working in a record store during the day at night I was a club DJ. Quite often the club followed me to the home I shared with a couple of friends with similar lifestyles. I do remember the music, though, and tonight’s show celebrates th...

Before we get to a description of this week’s episode, I received a wonderful notification earlier this week that this show had hit #31 on MillionPodcast’s Best 100 Midwestern Music Podcast chart! Wow! This is quite an honor.  If I’m going to be honest, I believe it’s these monthly new release episodes that have helped get this sort of attention. What other radio show featu...

It’s that time of the month once again! It’s another set of new release episodes, and this one includes a lot of familiar faces. There are the usual submissions by the likes of Numb Surprise, Phil Cook & the Fall Dogs, Ricky Rochelle, and others, but there’s also some great covers from The Routes and the latest Drunk Dial Records’ Fake series. There’s also strong...

With tonight’s show the final episode of June, it’s time to look back at the new music released over the past quarter year. These three months have been simply fantastic. There’s been followups to records that were at the top or near the top of previous year end lists (The Sleeveens, Memo PST, The Bevis Frond, etc.) There’s surprise albums by veteran bands (Eddy Current Sup...

A little over two years ago, I put together a show based only on songs released on the ten inch EP format. I’m still wondering why there aren’t more ten inchers released these days. It’s the perfect format for the EP’s that waste way too much space on most twelve inch releases.  Anyway, since that previous show, I’ve not only acquired a few more of these type of...

The second part of the monthly new release series is generally dominated by the latest records Malibu Lou has put out on his legendary Rum Bar Records label. This month is no different, and it’s a perfect kick off to over two hours of great new tunes. The Hollywood Stars, The Amplifier Heads, Stop Calling Me Frank, Gene Champagne and Girl With a Hawk are this month’s Rum Bar representa...

I have long described the contents of the first episode of my monthly new release series as “friends of the show” Well, that is more true than usual this month. Yes, there are the usual suspects (Numb Surprise, Phil Cook & the Fall Dogs, etc.) but there is also the debut single from an upcoming album by my hometown friends Off Contact. “Heart and Mind” is the first look...

In the days following last month’s Record Store Day extravaganza I spent hours digitizing a number of titles I purchased that day. I also went through my archives to grab tracks from the many reissues that came out. A couple of weeks later, I was all set to do a show based on this work. Unfortunately (for the show at least), I had a last minute family function to attend, so I had to set that...

With this being a holiday weekend, I was determined to do a very listener-friendly “fun” episode. Of course, when I say listener-friendly, I’m not talking about the sort of nonsense on commercial radio. Not, what that means for The Ledge is the sort of legendary bands and songs that all Ledge listeners enjoy…or should. The actual theme came together this past Sunday when I...

The “covers” folder is full. Overfull, to be honest. So tonight’s show is a supersized show of great remakes, and many of them are quite surprising. The Tubs covering Metallica? Social Distortion doing Chris Isaak? White Fence remaking Simply Red? The Hollywood Stars retaking their own song back from Kiss? Hell, even Ty Segall’s version of The Doors could be considered a su...

On last week’s new release episode I highlighted an entire section to the new album by The Sleeveens. This week I do the same thing to my good friends High On Stress, but instead of adding my own description of how great they are I’m going to leave it to the legendary Twin/Tone Records founder Peter Jesperson – “With album #6 – Still Here – Minneapolis band High...

After a week off due to a family meal, The Ledge is back this week with the first part of the May new release series. And what a show to kick off the month. A good portion of the show consists of submissions from bands (Numb Surprise, Ricky Rochelle, etc.) and labels (Big Stir Records, I-94 Recordings, Spaghetty Town Records, etc.) that regularly support the show. Also included is a couple of grea...