Tomorrow, we publish our Best Jazz Albums of 2019 list. But first, we thought it'd be dope to have a look back at this year's top ten most-read blog posts. Let's just say that when Brad Mehldau shares one of your links on social media, shit goes viral... But in all seriousness, 2019 was a pretty outstanding year for jazz music and we're so proud to have been a part of the … [Read more...]
Mike Baggetta / Jim Keltner / Mike Watt – “Hospital Song” (Video)
It's always exciting to see what Chris & Adriana Schlarb are coming up with from their Big Ego Studios. Lately, they just announced the releases of some new works, one of which includes an interesting trio that doesn't exactly align with jazz (though what from Big Ego exactly does?) but does manage to fit the chill vibes that you would definitely dig. One of those releases … [Read more...]
Psychic Temple ‘Plays Music for Airports’
Brian Eno's 1978 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports is Capital "I" Important. It's a landmark album for what was at the time a fledgling genre, ambient. It's an album open to contemplation. It settles on the ear and has done so for almost forty years, so it's understandable that it's an album apt for reinterpretation by a certain brand of musical weirdo. Chris Schlarb is that … [Read more...]
Psychic Temple – ‘III’
I was worried a couple years ago when Chris Schlarb, the band/cult-leader of the Psychic Temple, told me he was going in a more folk/pop direction in the next album. I was doing a lot of juggling of balls back then when I was hosting Schlarb's show in San Antonio in 2014 in support of his solo album, Making the Saint, but I'm not sure if Pet Sounds entered into the conversation … [Read more...]