The Ledge (mp3)

As today is the first day of summer, putting together a show of summer-related songs seemed like a natural plan. Utilizing primarily new(er) releases, accompanied by a handful of old faves or covers, you have over two hours of songs about not only the season but the sun, baseball, surfing, and other similar seasonal higlights. Also, please head to YouTube and subscribe to our channel – Publi...

The second episode of this month’s new release series picks up right where last week’s ended. Bracketed by two wonderful singles by Hayley and the Crushers, the two hour broadcast features almost a dozen tracks from our friends at Rum Bar Records, a handful of tunes from a great new tribute to Dischord Records, returns from veteran artists such as The Loons, Pat Todd & The Ran...

I don’t think anybody is surprised that once again the monthly new release episode is a two parter. That’s the way this excellent year in music has gone, and will hopefully carry on all the way through December. This week’s episode kicks off with a “friends of the show” series of tracks. There’s the latest in White Rose Motor Oil’s “pre-owned songs&#...

Anyone who has listened to recent episode of The Ledge has heard me wax (somewhat) poetically about Steven H. Gardner’s four-part series of Another Tuneless Racket – Punk and New Wave In The Seventies books. They are quite possibly the greatest documents of late 70’s punk and new wave music. Gardner is a master at combining strong (at times atypical) opinions with deep,...

The May 7 death of musician/engineer/producer/ranconteur Steve Albini shocked music fans all over the world. What may have surprised fans even more is the discovery of just how much classic records he helped create in his four decade run. Besides famously successful records by superstars such as Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey, and others, Albini worked with a wide range of artists, big and small. The...

This month’s second part of the monthly new release series is bookended by a pair of…well, let’s be honest…pretty bizarre cover albums. The first set contains tracks from the “new” duets album by Glen Campbell. How can it be new when he’s been dead since 2017? Well, in 2011 he released an album, Ghost On the Canvas (his 61st!), that featured his versions o...

As we have done all throughout 2024, this month’s new release show is once again a two-part extravaganza. This thrills me, as that obviously means it’s a super great year so far, and I hope this is the case each and every month. This episode’s personal highlight is the first half hour or so of the broadcast, as it features “friends of the show” – artists that ro...

I know the event has plenty of naysayers, but I absolutely love Record Store Day. I love the ritual of standing in line with other record nerds of all ages, and discussing exactly what treats we’re looking for. Even standing in line to pay, a task I generally dread at any retailer, is full of great chats. And then there’s the actual music. As somebody who loves vault material – d...

Tomorrow (April 20) is a sort of unofficial holiday for those of us who are obsessed with music. It’s Record Store Day! To prime myself, and hopefully you fellow music nerds, tonight’s episode is devoted to songs about records, record stores, and the people like us who collect them! It’s another wide range of material, from classic beat sounds of the 60s (Tweeds) to late 70s powe...

Like all of the new release episodes, the second part of this month’s series features a wide range of styles – a little bit Americana, some power pop, a touch of psych, and plenty of good ol’ punk rock. There are bands whose careers go back almost 50 years (Cock Sparrer), along with quite a few who are spotlighting their debuts. From Omaha to Sydney, with a couple of stops in Fra...

I was close to finishing off the tracklists for this month’s two part new release series when I received an unexpected text message from an old friend. Rich Show, the legendary leader of three classic South Dakota bands (No Direction, Flag With Hank, and Violet), along with a number of side projects and solo releases, sent me the files for his upcoming record, Age Appropriate. I could not ha...

During the process of putting together tonight’s look back at the first three months of 2024 I suddenly realized that just by looking through the January and February releases I already had more than enough tunes for a two hour show. That’s without even taking a look at a jampacked March!  Obviously, that means I had to cut out quite a few fave songs for tonight’s show. My s...

This is another of those shows inspired primarily by what I’ve been listening to around the house. But it’s not just records this time, as the inspiration is coming from all sorts of media forms. The first main set, for instance, was inspired by the “Great Plains” section of Steven H. Gardner’s excellent Another Tuneless Racket: Punk and New Wave In the Seventies, Vol...

Ten inch records are the forgotten treasures of my library. They’re housed in a little side section of my entertainment center, and most are rarely touched. This is why a couple of weeks ago I decided to have a marathon listening session of those very records.  These sort of releases generally form a handful of different types of material. They can be extended singles filled with previo...

This week’s continuation of last week’s new release episode features, once again, no drop off in quality. There’s plenty of great new music from both relatively new artists and longtime veterans. I mean, who could have guessed that we’d still have vital tunes from two of America’s first punk bands, T.S.O.L. and Nervous Eaters? Let alone the return of The Bevis Frond,...

Once again, the monthly new release show has to be expanded into a two-part extravaganza. 2023 is seriously shaping up to be a wonderful year for new music, as evidence not only by tonight’s show but all of our new release broadcasts so far this year. As always, we have some tracks by “friends” of the show (Rob Moss, Dave Strong, Robbie Quine, Friends of Cesar Romero and others),...

As I’ve said before, I have a folder on one of my laptops that I keep around just to acccumulate cover tunes for episodes like this one. Once that folder is full, it’s time to broadcast! This version of that theme includes sets devoted to primarily new versions of songs by The Clash, The Undertones, The Rolling Stones, and MC5. There’s also one-offs of tracks by a wide variety of...

Anti-love songs is a rock and roll specialty. From the very beginning of the genre, writers with a poison pen have created a plethora of material that is not exactly Hallmark card material. Tonight’s show celebrates tracks of this time, highlighted by a number of more recent tracks of that sort. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for oldies, as there are garage rockers from t...

This may be the second part of this month’s new release series, but there is no letdown in quality. Once again, there’s an intriguing mix of styles, ages, and even home locations. There are brand new acclaimed artists such as Liquid Mike and Sprints. There’s the returns of veterans such as Paul Collins Beat, J. Robbins, and Sham 69. There’s also the usual trademark of quali...

Once again the music gods have bestowed so much great new tracks that the monthly new release show must be expanded into two episodes. That is a great sign for 2024, and especially so because not only is there quality and quantity, but there’s a great mix of classic artists and brand new acts. There’s 18 year old Owen Adamcik’s plan for a new EP every month this year. There are L...

The “odds and ends” series is an opportunity for me to mix all kinds of material. This week’s version mixes a bunch of new releases with a ton of material I’ve been playing around the house in recent weeks. There’s also a tribute to Mary Weiss, the leader of The Shangri-Las who passed away a few days ago. Otherwise, there’s classics by The Clash, X, The Birthday...

1979 was an important year for rock and roll, but it was a bigger year for my musical journey. This was the year that the real obsession with buying records began. I had a job. I had a car. And I had put together a pretty awesome sound system in my bedroom. This was the first year I was buying new music AS it was coming out. I was no longer saving up for a record I read about in Creem Magazine. I...

Two weeks ago, I counted down my 40 favorite records of 2023. This week’s broadcast is a showcase for 35 other records that just barely missed the cut. There’s no letdown of quality, though, as each and every one of these picks could have easily made my main list. But combining the two shows, you now have my official list of the 75 best albums of the year. Think of these shows as a mas...

It may be a new year, but there’s no change to the first episode of each and every month. Once again, I present to you over two hours of brand new music. Ok, there are a handful of tracks that actually came out a few months ago, but these are new discoveries for me. So in my convoluted set of self-created rules, they’re still new releases to me.  But as always, this show features...

Choosing my favorite records of the year is always a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s great fun for a music nerd like me to revisit the hundreds of releases I’ve checked out the last twelve months. But it’s also frustrating trying to thin down those picks into a list that truly represents the past year. Many records that initially seemed a lock are suddenly eclipsed by n...