Discologist

Israel Nash has never been afraid to flaunt his influences Drawing inspiration from legends such as Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Pink Floyd, he crafts a distinctive sound that's undeniably his own. On his latest LP Ozarker , the Missouri-born singer-songwriter takes that signature sound and weaves in traces of Springsteen and more to explore the stories of his family, their community, and the enduri...

Taja Cheek, the multi-instrumentalist behind the pseudonym L’Rain , is renowned for crafting rich, multi-layered songs that beckon listeners into a transformative journey when the needle touches wax. Her latest masterpiece, I Killed Your Dog , is a remarkable evolution of her artistry, that ventures into uncharted musical realms. Collaborating with the gifted Andrew Lappin and Ben Chapoteau-Katz,...

If the main ingredients of a great Country song are love and loss, singer-songwriter Jason Hawk Harris’s creative tank was overflowing when it came time to make his masterful new LP Thin Places . Part meditation on grieving the loss of his mother, career, and the global tragedy of the pandemic, and part raucous celebration of finding the joy of life despite those hardships Thin Places is a beautif...

On his debut album, Jalen Ngonda reminds us that wearing your influences on your sleeve can be a good thing. Ngonda's Come Around and Love Me, out now on Daptone Records, covers familiar soul terrain - think The Temptations or Marvin Gaye - with both an attention to detail and restraint that are all too uncommon these days. Hear us talk about this terrific record while we also try to figure just w...

In 2022, Raw Poetic, also known as Jason Moore, embarked on an expansive two-hour hip-hop odyssey with his LP Space Beyond The Solar System . Now, he returns alongside his frequent collaborators P-Fritz (guitarist Patrick Fritz) and the longstanding producer Damu the Fudgemonk with Away Back In . Clocking in at a “mere” thirty-seven minutes, Away Back In may be a briefer affair than Space , but it...

If To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals, Vol. 1 from 2020 served as a soothing sonic refuge at precisely the right moment, and 2022's GOLD stood as a powerful declaration that radical empathy can truly transform our world for the better, then Come With Fierce Grace , Alabaster DePlume's (aka Gus Fairbairn) latest album on the Chicago Jazz label International Anthem, emerges as a testament to how this em...

Forged in the crucible of the early days of the pandemic lockdown in 2020, Force Majeure , the inspirational collaboration between the incomparable harpist Brandee Younger and bassist Dezron Douglas, stands as a shining beacon among the jazz releases of the 21st century. Younger followed up this landmark release in 2021 with Somewhere Different , a powerful statement of talent and her first album...

For over a decade, Chessa Rich has been a driving force in the vibrant North Carolina music scene, offering her unique voice and exceptional multi-instrumentalist skills to support fellow artists. Now, the anticipation builds as she steps into the spotlight with her highly awaited debut album, "Deeper Sleeper." This remarkable release seamlessly blends elements of pop and folk genres, creating an...

This week on Discologist, we're revisiting an episode from the before times wherein Eduardo, Kevin, and Andre (IYKYK) delved deep into the monumental box set by the Grateful Dead called 'Get Shown The Light'. This box set captures the band's legendary four-night run at New York's iconic venue, Fillmore East in 1977. It includes what many consider to be the finest performances of their career, part...

Texas singer/songwriter Robert Ellis captivated audiences with his bombastic 2019 album, 'Texas Piano Man,' where he expanded his sound to stadium-level proportions without compromising his heartfelt introspections. However, in his latest release, Yesterday's News, Ellis takes a stripped-down approach, focusing on the bare essentials, often being accompanied by just a softly plucked nylon guitar....

Seán Barna’s An Evening At Macri Park’ has been a long time coming both figuratively and literally. Completed just before the world shut down in 2020, the album was the culmination of a decade’s worth honing his craft, finding his truest voice through his collaboration with producer and friend Dave Drago, and finding himself in the process. And while technically the setting for Barna’s tales of tr...

The Steely Dan renaissance (aka the Danaissance) shows no sign of abating in 2023, with good reason: it is clear now that history is the slow process of discovering that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have always been several steps ahead of the rest of us. This is a band that gave us memes before memes were a thing; a band whose tracks are recognizable to hip hop heads, jazz bros, and eminent hips...

Despite having a career that spans 20 years, 10 iconic albums, and stints in some massive indie and folk bands (The Shins and Bonny Light Horseman, respectively) you might be amazed to discover that he still doesn’t quite feel like he’s “made it.” But one listen to A River Running To Your Heart , his latest album with Fruit Bats should dispel any doubt that Johnson has slowly but surely become one...

Sometimes it is best to let the music to the talking, and on this all-new episode of Discologist taking quick look at four new/upcoming releases that we think you’re gonna love. Whether you’re a fan of indie rock ( Wednesday ), banjo with a side of Beatles ( Alison Brown ), countrified ambient ( Nashville Ambient Ensemble ) or some wild electronic/guitar vibes ( Rachika Nayar ), we’ve got you cove...

Technology can be both isolating and empowering, but the gulf between the two gets wider every day. On their debut full-length Follow the Cyborg , Miss Grit (aka Margaret Sohn) is wading into the liminal space that separation has created to explore themes of identity, alienation, and acceptance through a future-pop lens. A heady, often unsettling ride that touches on everything from how Sohn relat...

Lonnie Holley’s Oh Me, Oh My is a continuation of his exploration of the darker rooms of our history that were the centerpiece of his 2018 album Mith. On that release, Holley seemed content to simply illuminate for the sake of awareness. Oh Me, Oh My finds the lauded artist/poet/musician settling for nothing less than carrying the listener to a home in the light that everyone, Holley seems to argu...

On Oceanator's latest, "Nothing's Ever Fine," Elise Okusami dishes out riffs and feelings from morning to evening. No, literally: "Morning" and "Evening" are the opening and closing songs on the record, which is structured to to feel like the emotional arc of a day. After wrapping up her US tour, we caught up with Elise a few weeks ahead of a jaunt to Europe, to sci-fi, guitar gear, and, uh, baske...

On the latest episode Discologist, we’re discussing the remarkable glow of Arun Ghosh’s Seclused In Light, the award winning clarinetist/composer/music educator’s “lockdown” album. In his exploration of the universal fear and isolation of the past few years, Ghosh was able to find pull inward and find that beauty still remained - not just in himself, but in all of us. A welcome hug from the end of...

Brad Allen Williams may not be a household name, but having spent years backing up some of your favorite performers both on stage (Brittany Howard, Bilal, Ce Ce Winans) and behind the console (José James), there is little chance that you haven’t heard his work. On this year’s œconomy (pronounced like “economy”) the lauded jazz guitarist is stepping out as the front man for the first time since 201...

On the latest episode Discologist, we’re exploring Kamakiriad, Donald Fagen’s (Steely Dan) misunderstood masterpiece. Join us as we reveal some of the album’s subtle triumphs and try to suss out where all of this Steely Dan hatred is coming from, why it is misguided, and where it might lead. PLUS! Eduardo and Kevin are spinning tracks from folkster Alan Wachs, and NOLA based dance punks, Special I...

When Nabil Ayers set out to write his memoir he could have focused on a long list of personal and professional accomplishments. He’s been a drummer in bands on major labels. He opened and ran a record store in Seattle that is known and revered worldwide. He has had his writing published in the New York Times , NPR and more . He has run a division ( 4AD ) of one of the world's most revered indie re...

Welcome back to an all-new season of Discologist!  New beginnings can be exciting and full of surprises, but one thing you can always count on is that if we’re kicking off a new season of Discologist, we’re talking about one of legendary saxophonist Sonny Stitt’s albums.  This time we’re digging into Never Can Say Goodbye , Stitt’s 1975 release that featured covers of some timely “hits”...

In our final episode of the year (and final post for ChunkyGlasses) we’re talking about some of the music that meant the most to us and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bill Frisell’s latest LP Four is a masterclass in subtlety and connection. To celebrate the release, we’re dishing up a brief history of Frisell’s work and what it means to the American songbook. Then we’re digging into the new album to find out if his latest fits comfortably alongside his earlier releases or if maybe he’s starting to go a radical new direction. PLUS! Some great new music from the...

On 2016’s The End Of Comedy and its 2019 follow up Raw Honey, it was clear that Drugdealer, the LA-based musical project led by Michael Collins had one foot firmly planted in the era of AM smooth-rock glory. On Hiding In Plain Sight, Collins and his semi-rotating cast of co-conspirators fully embrace that aesthetic and in doing so not only accept their destiny as the inheritors of Steely Dan’s leg...