Most people first heard of Asher Gamedze when he contributed drums to Angel Bat Dawid's acclaimed 2019 release The Oracle. Now, the South African drummer is back, this time as bandleader, crafting a powerful statement on colonialism and his country's history with his debut album Dialectic Soul, a record many have called the best release of 2020.

Bruce Hornsby returns with Non-Secure Connection, his most out-there set of songs in years, and Madeline Kenney is reminding us how awkward love can be on her sugary new LP Sucker’s Lunch.

PLUS! New music from garage rockers L.A. Witch from their upcoming LP Play With Fire!

On an all-new episode of Discologist, we’re taking you on a musical journey with three great releases from three completely different genres. The first stop is the refined folk of North Carolina’s The Dead Tongues and their new album Transmigration Blues. Next, we’re moving on to the London scene and Ego Ella May’s uplifting Honey For Wounds. And finally, it’s back home for a history lesson with saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins’ stirring Blue Note debut, Omega.

Ripley Johnson’s Rose City Band project started as an act of wish fulfillment. One of the creative minds behind Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo just wanted to “start a country-rock band so I can retire and just play down at the pub every Thursday night during happy hour.” The resulting first album in 2019 was a hazy stroll through the morning dew of a not yet technicolor world. With hints of psychedelia and twang, it was a peak at the source of a style of music before it heads further out into the cosmos.

One year later, Johnson is back with Summerlong, an album that echoes Rose City Band’s quiet beginnings but imbues its primal sound with brightness and warmth that is worthy of its title. Brokedown Pod’s Jonathan Hart joins us to discuss this latest chapter in Ripley Johnson’s wild trip across the universe.

On her latest collection of songs, The Balladeer, Lori McKenna is continuing to prove that she is one of the all-time songwriting greats, and Country Music legends The Chicks return with the triumphant, genre-busting Gaslighter. Tune in as we dig into both of these releases, discuss the current dysfunctional state of country music, and more on an all-new episode of Discologist.

Jazz is American culture’s greatest gift to the world. More succinctly, it is one of African-American culture’s greatest gifts to the world.

On this episode of Discologist we’ll be discussing the art form’s importance, sometimes daunting legacy, and helping you ease into a new life of jazz appreciation through the lens of three spectacular 2020 releases: Nduduzo Makhathini’s Modes of Communication Letters From The Underworlds, Ambrose Akinmusire’s On The Tender Spot of Every Calloused Moment, and Daniel Carter’s collaboration with Matthew Ship, William Parker, and Gerald Cleaver, Welcome Adventure! Vol 1.

You’ve made enough sourdough in your quarantine. Now it’s time to feed your head.

As it was in 2017, Aaron Abernathy's Dialogue is a call to resistance and revolution. Revolution for people of color. Revolution for marginalized and oppressed communities here in America. Revolution that is is now playing out in the streets across our nation.

In solidarity with those protests and, more importantly, to not just celebrate the art of people of color but make space for their voices and stories, we've "remixed" our 2017 conversation with "Ab" about the creation of Dialogue, the state of existing while black, and more.

Photo by Brian Guido

Milwaukee native Chris Rosenau has been making forward-thinking music for over 20 years as the guitarist for bands like Rosenau & Sanborn, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Volcano Choir, Pele, and more. We’re sitting down with this local hero to talk about the magic of Milwaukee, the power collaboration, and why the arts community needs our support now more than ever.

Photo by Graham Tolbert

Based in Durham, North Carolina, The Glow Management is rapidly becoming one of the most prestigious artist representation agencies in the world. Featuring acts like Bowerbirds, Phil Cook, Wye Oak, Sylvan Esso, and more, they have helped build and support a community of musicians that puts their humanity before commerce and that strive for sustainability over brief flirtations with success.

Rusty Sutton, one of the principles and founders of The Glow, sits down with us to talk about the state of the industry, how to build a scene in the 21st Century, and why supporting your community isn’t just how we are going to make it out of this crisis intact, it is how we can build a better music industry heading into the future.

In 1985 Norway’s A-Ha conquered the airwaves with their debut album Hunting High And Low, and its groundbreaking video for the single “Take On Me.” One year later, they released Scoundrel Days — a darker, and in many ways more innovative, record — which charted here in America but was quickly forgotten even as the band's popularity continued to explode throughout the rest of the world.

Was it a simple case of the dreaded sophomore slump or something else? Tune in as we search for answers.

Metal band Elder is revered by their fans but has always existed just outside the mainstream. With the release of their new LP Omens, their moment in the spotlight may have finally arrived.

Fusing the massive riffs that they're known for with prog keyboards and a seemingly endless imagination for melody, the newly invigorated quartet has crafted an album that isn't just a high point of the band's career, but one that puts them in the prog/psych pantheon alongside bands like Rush, Yes, and Pink Floyd.

Tune in as we explore "dad metal," head-trips, and how a long time favorite has become an all-time-great on an all-new episode of Discologist.

For his 18th album (and second in as many years), Damien Jurado is moving on from the stripped-down rawness of 2019’s In The Shape Of A Storm, but losing none of the power inherent to his songs. What’s New, Tomboy? finds the venerable songwriter exploring the power of love for things and people both present and lost, and proves yet again that Jurado’s songs/words are one of our most vital conduits to understanding our humanity in this modern world.  

On an all-new Discologist, we’re clocking in for a solid (e)hang with keyboardist/songwriter Michael Hesslein from Mail The Horse. Tune in for a frank discussion about their new album, making music in a pandemic, thoughts on what the future may hold for the music industry, and much more.

2017’s Semper Femina found Laura Marling examining the power of femininity and feminism in the modern age and was a breakout hit of that year. On her new LP, Song For Our Daughter, Marling continues that journey of discovery, exploring the tolls romantic relationships (and their dissolution) can have on women in today’s unrelenting patriarchy. Over ten songs, Marling firmly establishes herself as one of the songwriting giants and sets yet another high-water mark for her career.

Bursting at the seams with certified gold from up-and-comers INXS, The Smiths, Echo and The Bunnymen, and an instant classic from Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark, the soundtrack to 1986’s Pretty In Pink spoke to a generation of under-the-radar music fans as much as it did to the themes of the John Hughes-produced film that it was curated for.

On an all-new episode of Discologist, special guest Rick Ivy heads back to High School with us to discuss the history of this landmark album, how music helps us cope, and why the ‘80s was ground-zero for these high-profile "mixtapes" that have stuck with us long after the pains of youth have faded into distant memory.

In 2016, Skylar Gudasz released Oleander, a collection of songs that garnered deserved comparisons to the works of songwriting giants Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and more. Now she’s back with Cinema, a forward-looking, empowered exploration of the feelings that we often hide away to make it through the theatre of our day-to-day lives.

Tune in as we chat with Gudasz about great songwriting, releasing an album into an isolated world, and more on an all-new episode of Discologist.

Jazz has long been one of the most potent musical languages that we have, and on their second album, Irreversible Entanglements are wielding it like a righteous sword.

Who Sent You explores injustice and resistance with cacophonous horns, warped bass-lines, and the barely-contained rage of poet Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother). The album's greatest triumph though, lies in the revelation that there can be exaltation in struggle and grace to be found in our common humanity if we're willing to receive it.

Join us on an all-new episode of Discolgist as we dig into one of the most important albums of 2020 from one of the fiercest jazz outfits in history.

On all-new Discologist, we’re taking a look at a few of the releases that flew under the radar for us over the past few weeks with new music from Torres, Brian Fallon, and the ultimate chill of Jeffrey Silverstein.

When people hear the term "southern rock," they are likely to think of the Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, or even more modern outfits like Drive-By Truckers. But when was the last time you thought about The Marshall Tucker Band? Grab a cold one and head down south with us as we dig into Carolina Dreams, an album that's not just the high point of this legendary group's career, but one of the best rock and roll albums ever made, period. 

Morphine’s unexpected swan song, The Night, is a sophisticated, bittersweet gut-punch of a record that found the Boston trio continuing to evolve even as the loss of Mark Sandman (the band's heart and soul) signaled a definitive end of the road for the legendary outfit.

Tune in as we go deep into this oft-overlooked career-capping masterpiece, Morphine’s legacy today, and much, much more.