I truly believe that Jazz is the greatest gift American culture has given the world. Having that said, it is also a daunting and sometimes intimidating genre due to the wealth of styes, personnel and sheer output. Up until the recent vinyl explosion, jazz vinyl collecting could be expensive and quite difficult due to the age and scarcity of a lot of the pressings. One definite upside of vinyl’s renewed popularity is the interest of labels to remaster and reissue great recordings and often in audiophile quality. Here are a few recent jazz reissues that I highly recommend, as well...

For me, spending a lot of time immersed in the process of writing music often means that I don’t listen as widely or as intentionally as I’d like. The balance between making and consuming music is a funny one, because although I spend more time in my everyday life swaddled in noise than not, some part of me worries that if I’m too singularly focused on what I’m listening to I might rip it off unintentionally. Like many people, I’m also often using music as a backdrop or mortar for the cracks in the days rather than something I’m fully...

Allen Epley is surrounded by music. The Chicago resident is a member of the Blue Moon Group, known for his work with Shiner and The Life and Times, as well as his music-centric podcast Third Gear Scratch.  Not to be outdone, he found the time to cut a nine-song solo LP for Spartan called Everything. We wanted to dive into the approach to this solo outing, especially given Epley’s love and admiration of the AM Gold he grew up on in the 1970s. From Bread to Carole King to James Taylor, what was cheese to angsty teenagers and 20-somethings at...

We all get into listening ruts with music. Your favorite songs are still your favorite songs but inevitably, you slowly lose some of the excitement. Songs you’ve worshipped your whole life aren’t as shiny after hundreds of listens when you know what’s behind every corner. My own silly, decades-long journey with this has led me to one unshakeable truth: sometimes you just need to hear something new that sounds old. And I’ve searched a lot. With that, here are a few ancient songs, ranging from not very obscure to pretty obscure, that I've found myself returning to recently for fresh inspiration.

On the heels of their captivating debut album Existing The Dream, Low Coast re-entered the studio to record their contribution for the upcoming The Replacements tribute compilation, Let The Bad Times Roll.  Along with Low Coast, the album also see features cover tracks from The Color Fred, Crossed Keys, Mikey Erg, Tired Radio, Neckscars and more. You can click here to grab a copy of the release through Philly based Creep Records. Let The Bad Times Roll Replacements Compilation · Low Coast - Here Comes A Regular