Recorded in San Francisco on March 01, 2018 just before releasing their Black Heaven album, Earthless celebrated that occasion with this stunning show that, thankfully, was recorded for all of us.
From the West is a blistering set that starts with the Black Heaven title track that unloads so much power that you wonder if they’ll have anything left for the rest of the set (Hint: They somehow always do.). “Electric Flame” is a rare Earthless track with vocals by guitarist Isaiah Mitchell and it reminds me of something by Blue Cheer with its driving force and thick grooves from Mike Eginton‘s bass.
“Gifted By the Wind” always makes me think of Robin Trower and his influence on Mitchell’s playing. Its transition into the always transcendent “Uluru Rock” is great. Mario Rubalcaba‘s snare hits on “Volt Rush” sound like he’s going through drumsticks like faster than his drum tech can bring them. Their cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “Communication Breakdown” has become a fan-favorite and they somehow make it even fuzzier.
The album / set concludes with the hypnotic “Acid Crusher,” which highlights the band’s often-forgotten (or flat-out ignored) love of krautrock. Eginton and Rubalcaba combine to create a mesmerizing groove while Mitchell makes you think you might’ve accidentally inhaled crushed LSD with his phenomenal playing.
A live Earthless performance is always something special and difficult to describe. From the West is a close proximity to the experience, leaving you stunned that three people can produce that much power.
Soul to Soul, a vibrant and historically significant 1971 concert film — featuring performances by Ike & Tina Turner, Santana, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, Les McCann & Eddie Harris, and the Voices of East Harlem — will be available again on the concert’s 55th anniversary of March 6. Released by Liberation Hall in partnership with Reelin’ In The Years Productions, Soul to Soul will appear for the first time on Blu-ray. Additionally, Soul to Soul: Music from the Original Soundtrack will arrive at retail on vinyl LP, CD & digital on the same date. The film will also be released on DVD.
Pre-order all formats at Bandcamp. Pre-order Blu-ray & DVD at Amazon. Pre-order LP, CD & digital at Amazon.
In February 1971, several dozen African American soul, jazz, and gospel artists embarked on a journey that would change the lives of everyone involved. They traveled from New York City to Ghana, West Africa to take part in a 13-hour concert entitled Soul to Soul. The concert was a celebration of 14 years of Ghana’s independence from British rule. For most of these artists, it would be their first trip to Africa. For the African American musicians, this was a journey about personal roots, the ancestral homeland, history, discovery, loss, pain and joy.
Directed by Academy AwardⓇ winner Denis Sanders and produced by Tom Mosk and Richard Bock, the resulting concert film/documentary had a limited theatrical run in late 1971. In 2004, Reelin’ In The Years Productions President David Peck secured permission for a DVD release from the producer and copyright holder of Soul to Soul. With the help of a clearance specialist, he was able re-clear all the artists seen in the 1971 film.
Now, 20 years later, Soul to Soul will have another chance to connect with audiences via a partnership between Reelin’ In The Years Productions and Liberation Hall. Steve Scoville of Blue H2O Productions restored the original edit by reconstructing each scene using the high quality 2K transfers from the original film elements, which were shot in the 4:3 aspect ratio. The film’s soundtrack has been digitally remastered by Randy Perry.
Above all, Soul to Soul is an electrifying concert film that features its players at the peak of their powers. Over 100,000 Ghanaians attended the celebration of the meeting of the cultures of the two continents. The Ike & Tina Turner Revue, featuring frontwoman Tina furiously shimmying alongside the Ikettes, delivers fiery renditions of “River Deep-Mountain High,” the project’s first digital single; “Soul to Soul,” a cut specifically written for this concert; and a cover of Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” [The latter track appears as a special Blu-ray outtake]. Wilson Pickett, the most popular American artist known to West Africans at the time, took the stage at 4:30 AM to deliver a rousing finale of “In the Midnight Hour,” “Funky Broadway,” and “Land of a 1000 Dances.” Gospel, soul, and R&B family group the Staple Singers were on hand to perform “When Will Be We Paid” and “Are You Sure” just five months before they recorded their legendary hits “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” Pianist Les McCann and tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris introduced many members of the audience to jazz via spirited performances of “The Price You Gotta Pay to Be Free” and “Hey Jorler,” the latter featuring local Ghanaian artist Amoah Azangeo. The Voices of East Harlem, an ensemble featuring young gospel singers, contributed “Run, Shaker Life.”
Santana, with guest percussionist Willie Bobo, was the wild card. The San Francisco group only had one African American member but, paradoxically, given its reliance on Afro-Cuban and other Latin American rhythm constructs, played the most African-sounding music (“Black Magic Woman”/”Gypsy Queen,” “Jungle Strut”) of any of the American guests. In Rob Bowman’s expanded liner notes for the Blu-ray, he quotes musicologist John Collins as stating, “They had a big impact on the local guitarists. The students were really fascinated by what Santana was doing with Latin music and rock… The obvious equation was, if you can unite Latin music with rock, you can do the same with African music. That’s actually what happened.”
Interspersed between these stunning performances, the camera crew followed the American musicians as they visited local villages, met kings, and shared food and dance with the Ghanaian community.
In his August 19, 1971, film review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson wrote: “Soul to Soul will hook you. We defy anybody to watch the final half hour of this color documentary of a soul and gospel music concert, performed in Ghana, without tapping a foot. But it is the sea of rapturous black faces, those of the visiting American artists and their Ghana audiences, that makes this movie a haunting experience… Mainly and compactly, the film sticks to the concert, brilliantly evoking the performances and crowd reactions in a flow of closeups and panoramic shots, to the stabbing, pounding pulse of the music.”
CD & DIGITAL TRACKLIST (LIB-2192)
Ike & Tina Turner – 1) “Soul to Soul,” 2) “River Deep-Mountain High,” 3) “I Smell Trouble” | TheVoices of East Harlem – 4) “Run, Shaker Life,” 5) “Choose Your Seat and Set Down”/”Walk All Over God’s Heaven” | Les McCann & Eddie Harris – 6) ”The Price You Gotta Pay to Be Free” | The Staple Singers – 7) “When Will We Be Paid,” 8) “Are You Sure” | 9. “He’s Alright” | Santana – 10) “Jungle Strut,” 11) “Black Magic Woman”/“Gypsy Queen” | Wilson Pickett – 12) “In the Midnight Hour,” 13) “Funky Broadway,” 14) “Land of 1000 Dances”
LP TRACKLIST (LIB-2191):
Due to space limitations, the LP features 10 tracks.
SIDE A: Ike & Tina Turner – 1) “Soul to Soul,” 2) “River Deep-Mountain High” | The Voices of East Harlem – 3) “Run Shaker Life” | The Staple Singers – 4) “When Will We Be Paid,” 5) “Are You Sure,” 6) “He’s Alright”
SIDE B: Santana – 1) “Black Magic Woman”/”Gypsy Woman” | Wilson Pickett – 2) “In the Midnight Hour,” 3) “Funky Broadway,” 4) “Land of 1000 Dances.”
The Mojave Experience festival today announces the full lineup for the first annual event, which takes place from March 20th-21st, 2026 in Joshua Tree, California. The festival is the brainchild of organizer and High Desert native Patrick Brink, frontman of VOLUME and former lead singer of desert rock legends Fu Manchu. Tickets are on sale now for individual days. Tickets are available HERE.
Co-headliners Earthless and Dead Meadow top the bill, totaling 16 bands confirmed to perform over two nights. The lineup includes legends in explorative and countercultural music, as well as future ones now making waves.
The full lineup is: Earthless, Dead Meadow, John Garcia (ex-Kyuss), Acid King, Nick Oliveri’s Death Acoustic, Yawning Man, Hippie Death Cult, Rubber Snake Charmers feat. Sean Wheeler, Ecstatic Vision, Howling Giant, Early Moods, The Freeks, Arthur Seay and the Riff Killers, Borracho, Insomniac, Soft Sun
The Mojave Experience takes place in Joshua Tree, California at the Joshua Tree Lake & Campground. Attendees are encouraged to make use of the camping, hiking and rock climbing in the area while taking in the vast beauty and mystery of the region that birthed the Desert Rock movement.
The Mojave isn’t just a backdrop — it’s the raw, unfiltered stage where music, art, and chaos collide. Out here, under endless stars and brutal sun, the desert strips away the fake and leaves only what’s real.
The Mojave Experience was born from that spirit. It’s not another sanitized festival in a city park, it’s a gathering for the wild ones, the wanderers, the true believers who know the desert doesn’t hand out comfort, only freedom.
This is where local desert legends share the stage with national heavyweights, weaving new stories into the myth of the Mojave. No velvet ropes. No corporate gloss. Just artists, misfits, and seekers coming together for a weekend that won’t be forgotten.
We bring the sound. You bring the fire. Together we’ll carve something into the desert that echoes long after the amps shut down. This is more than a festival — it’s a ritual. A pilgrimage into the heat, dust, and sound that will rattle your bones and rewire your soul.
Come ready. Come raw. The Mojave Experience isn’t here to entertain you — it’s here to change you.
A journey into the raw and visceral origins: from the demo sessions mixed by Steve Albini to the night of the very first secret show on December 20th, 1988. In the heart of Chicago, Geordie and Martin Atkins turned frustration and distance into pure creative energy, recording the now-legendary “Black Cassette” demos at Albini’s house. Distorted, menacing bass lines, unruly oscillators, and Albini running endlessly up and down the stairs between the basement drum room and the pantry control room defined a sound that was brutally direct and uncompromising. The first interactions with the Yamaha drum machine foreshadowed elements that would later shape parts of the album. Those sessions sparked essential ideas, while the future studio — purchased from Steve and moved to Wabash Ave — would soon become the core of Invisible Records and Killing Joke’s operations.
On the other side, a truly rare document: excerpts from Martin Atkins’s very first show with the band, at Burberries in Birmingham on December 20th, 1988.In a small, mirror-lined club filled with tension, adrenaline, and inevitable collisions with the walls, Extremities, The Fanatic, Intravenous, and The Beautiful Dead were performed publicly for the first time. It was the night when everything ignited: the blast beat still in its embryonic stage, the controlled fury Geordie demanded — “can you go a bit more Moonie on it?” — and above all Jaz’s theatrical yet strikingly genuine laughter. Not just joy, but a declaration: a giant “f*ck off” to the doubters and a prelude of what was about to come. A raw, essential, indispensable testimony: the birth of an era.
The release will have the following variants: – Classic Black; – White – for independent record stores only; – Red – Invisible Records Exclusive; – Overdrive Store Splatter Exclusive – limited to 350 copies worldwide.
Mosswood Meltdown, “the Bay Area’s coolest music festival” (SF Gate), returns to Oakland’s Mosswood Park July 18th & 19th, 2026. Following last week’s announcement of a pre-party on July 17th featuring Pavement, Wednesday, and Vivian Girls, the festival reveals its official lineup today, with tickets on sale now. Saturday is headlined by the “Godfather of Punk” Iggy Pop, following fierce Japanese quartet Otoboke Beaver, Santa Cruz’s hardcore heroes Scowl, skate-punks The Spits, garage rock Detroiters The Dirtbombs, always-unpredictable Tokyo troublemakers The Fadeaways, and LA-based power trio Primitive Ring. Legendary feminist punk pioneers Bikini Kill will cap off an epic Sunday, which also features The Return of Jackie & Judy aka Fred Armisen, Corin Tucker &Carrie Brownstein playing tunes by The Ramones, Philly’s seasoned punks The Dead Milkmen, the electrifying Frankie and The Witch Fingers, cult favorites Frightwig, and Miami rockers Las Nubes. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mosswood Meltdown without the terrifically transgressive John Waters, who will be the wonderfully wicked host.
Get your tickets now, before prices rise! And stay tuned to more news from Mosswood Meltdown — additional artists and afterparties will be announced in the coming months.
Friday, July 17th (Pre-Party) Pavement Wednesday Vivian Girls
Saturday, July 18th Iggy Pop Otoboke Beaver Scowl The Spits The Dirtbombs The Fadeaways Primitive Ring
Sunday, July 19th Bikini Kill The Return of Jackie and Judy The Dead Milkmen Frankie and the Witch Fingers Frightwig Las Nubes
General Admission Tier 1 Weekend Pass – $179 Day 1 Ticket – $129 Day 2 Ticket – $89
VIP Admission (VIP comes with festival ins and outs privileges, access to VIP viewing areas, & VIP Swag bag) Tier 1 Weekend Pass – $299 Day 1 Ticket – $199 Day 2 Ticket – $159
Mandy, Indiana — “one of the decade’s best new bands” (Bandcamp) — present “Cursive,” the latest single from their new album, URGH, out February 6th via Sacred Bones.
On URGH, Mandy, Indiana is a force of uncanny nature, grafting together a record that is as much a call to action as a parlay into oblivion and transcendence. It finds the band expanding their far-reaching sound with each member — vocalist Valentine Caulfield, guitarist and producer Scott Fair, synth player Simon Catling, and drummer Alex Macdougall — actively taking part in the songwriting process.
Following the “noisy, harrowing” (The Needle Drop) lead single, “Magazine,” today’s “Cursive” is a bristling techno track that recoils and unfurls, garnering drama from the juxtaposition of quiet moments and explosive commotion. The song’s accompanying video was directed by Stephen Agnew.
Catling comments: “‘Cursive’ is probably our most collaborative track to-date. Whilst Scott and Valentine often offer the initial impetus behind most of our songs, ‘Cursive’ was built up from a number of Alex’s rhythmic sketches and my bass sequence. Valentine added her vocals later and Scott worked to sculpt these elements together. It was exciting having everyone bring their own ideas to the table from the off, throwing them together and seeing what could come out of it — a bit of a step into the unknown for us as a band.”
Co-produced and co-mixed by Fair and Daniel Fox of Gilla Band, much of URGH was written during an intense residency at an eerie studio house in the outskirts of Leeds and recorded across Berlin and Greater Manchester. The process was shaped by adversity with both Caulfield and Macdougall undergoing multiple rounds of surgeries in the same time frame as the album was being written and recorded. The harrowing experience and the exhaustion of their respective recoveries bleed into the surreality of Caufield’s writing, blurring the line between inner turmoil and external chaos.
URGH is deeply personal,yet also reflects the violent, fractured state of the wider world as Caulfield’s lyrics grapple with sexual assault, systemic indifference, and the omnipresence of pain. While most of the lyrics are in her native French, the emotional clarity cuts through regardless of language. Caulfield still uses her voice as a distorted instrument and a weapon, oscillating between equal parts playful and eviscerating.
Following their acclaimed 2023 debut, i’ve seen a way, URGH sees Mandy, Indiana interpolating their own unconventional language into a mantra for self-determination and resilience, forging a template for a brighter future before it fades to black.
Mandy, Indiana will tour across Europe next year with shows in London, Paris, Berlin and more. All dates are listed below.
Mandy, Indiana Tour Dates Sat. Jan. 31 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz * Wed. March 25 – London, UK @ Heaven Fri. March 27 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Sat. March 28 – Glasgow, UK @ Room 2 Wed. April 8 – Dunkirk, FR @ Les 4 Ecluses Thu. April 9 – Paris, FR @ Petit Bain Sun. April 12 – Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn Tue. April 14 – Copenhagen, DK @ Huset Wed. April 15 – Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree Thu. April 16 – Hamburg, DE @ MS Stubnitz Fri. April 17 – Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Sat. April 18 – Rotterdam, NL @ Motel Mozaique
Mosswood Meltdownreturns to Oakland’s Mosswood Park on July 18th and 19th. And while the beloved festival “is known to traffic in legends, popular punk and punk-adjacent groups, and highly anticipated reunions,” (KQED), this year they’ll be kicking off with an indie-rock drivenpre-party at the park on July 17th. The evening will feature the endlessly inspirational rock legendsPavement, Wednesday, “one of the best indie rock bands around” (Pitchfork), and reverb-loving and cool as hell punks Vivian Girls. And, it wouldn’t be a proper Mosswood Meltdown without its fearless and subversive host, John Waters.
Mosswood Meltdown is an eccentric, one of a kind weekend. As SF Gate kindly sums it up, “at Mosswood Meltdown, the concept of a beautiful world looks quite different from other festivals, and it’s better for it.” Tickets for the pre-party are separate from the regular festival tickets and go on sale today (Tuesday, January 6th) at 10am PST. The full festival lineup will be unveiled in the coming weeks and won’t disappoint.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announce the return of their festival, Field of Vision II which will take place once again at Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, Colorado on August 14-16. The band will also perform at a three night residency at Forest Hills Stadium in New York on August 20-22. These are the only dates the band are announcing in the US for 2026.
Earlier this year was Field of Vision’s inaugural event (aka Field of Vision I).
“Field of Vision I was so special. Anyone who was there would tell you there was some magic in the air. Or maybe the creek water… So grateful to party with you all again. Love, The Gizzards”
Field of Vision II welcomes Blood Incantation, Die Spitz, DJ Crenshaw, Earth Tongue, Etran de L’Aïr, Folk Bitch Trio, Lisa Bella Donna, Pattie Gonia, and Upchuck. King Gizzard will perform each day. More announcements to come in 2026. Tickets are available here.
Immediately following Field of Vision II, the band will return to their New York stomping ground, aka Forest Hills Stadium, for a three-night residency featuring two full ROCK sets comprised of songs from their impressive 27 album catalogue and a RAVE set on the third night. Tickets for those shows are available here.
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD 2026 TOUR DATES
Friday, August 14 – Sunday, August 16, 2026 – Buena Vista, CO @ Field of Vision II, Meadow Creek (w/ Blood Incantation, Die Spitz, DJ Crenshaw, Earth Tongue, Etran de L’Aïr, Folk Bitch Trio, King Gizzard (every day), Lisa Bella Donna, Pattie Gonia, Upchuck)
Thursday, August 20, 2026 Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium Friday, August 21, 2026 Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium Saturday, August 22, 2026 Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium (RAVE)
I saw over 50 bands last year, so these five had to bring it to make the top of the list.
#5: Osees – Old National Center – October 22, 2025 – Indianapolis, IN
I’m not sure it would be proper for me to not see Osees at least once a year by this point (or The Black Angels, for that matter). This show was in a small ballroom in the basement of the Old National Center that didn’t have much airflow but did have rock-sold pillars at the four corners of the dance floor / mosh pit. It was a sweaty, loud affair, which is just what you want for an Osees show. They hadn’t played in Indianapolis in a few years, so the crowd was eager to see them — and many hadn’t seen them until that night. They were either shocked or delighted by the end.
#4: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – August 09, 2025 – Ravinia – Highland Park, IL
I almost didn’t include this show by King Gizzard (another band I seem to catch every year) because our seats were too far back to see the actual stage. However, this show teaming KGATLW up with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was too neat of a show to pass up and, what put it into the top five, they sounded great. No joke, this is probably the best sound engineering I’ve experienced at a KGATLW show, and I’ve seen many (and all of them are recorded and released by their highly skilled sound crew). I’d never heard them so clear in a live setting.
#3: TV on the Radio – September 27, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX
I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see TVOTR live, so I was bouncing when my suspicions were confirmed and they were booked for Levitation Austin. The show was everything I’d hoped for — high energy, great sound, and powerful messages. It felt like a blessing to see them after so many years without a tour.
#2: Nine Inch Nails – August 20, 2025 – United Center – Chicago, IL
Here’s a show I almost didn’t attend because the first night at Chicago’s United Center sold out so fast that I couldn’t get tickets. Luckily, Trent Reznor and his pals decided to book another show the following night and I scored tickets for that. The set included three different stages, great new versions of classic tracks, new tunes, and NIN looking and sounding like they’d never taken a break to make Oscar-winning film music.
#1: Underworld – May 17, 2025 – Radius – Chicago, IL
Here’s the other band I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see live. They don’t make many trips to the U.S., and the closest they’d come in recent years was Detroit (four hours from where I live). Seeing them in a relatively small venue half the distance away was an immediate priority, and then I learned they were playing two sets with no opening act. It was a stunning performance that had everyone jumping for hours with only a short intermission and left everyone floating by the end.
Who do you want to see this year? I’m already looking forward to catching The Hives, Dry Cleaning, LCD Soundsystem, Gary Numan, Failure, Shame, Alison Krauss, and (of course) Osees, not to mention a return to Levitation Austin. Levitation France is taking a hiatus this year, so perhaps Austin Psych Fest will take its place?
So…many…concerts. They’re my favorite way to spend my paychecks, really. Which were among the top ten I saw last year? Read on, my friend.
#10: Frankie and The Witch Fingers – September 28, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX
FATW never disappoint live. This set at Levitation Austin felt like they were playing in a hurry in the best possible way. They wasted no time on the stage and had the whole place going bonkers the entire time.
#9: Kadavar – June 27, 2025 – Levitation France – Angers, France
I hadn’t seen Kadavar since they played at the first Austin Psych Fest I attended back in 2013. They even mentioned how they hadn’t played a Levitation festival since then. They sounded great and played a great showcase of their evolving sounds from doom metal to psych-rock.
#8: The Limiñanas – June 28, 2025 – Levitation France – Angers, France
Speaking of great shows in France, seeing The Limiñanas on their home turf was the top priority for me at Levitation France last year. It was a great set that even included a cover of The Cramps’ “TV Set.” I still don’t know why they didn’t close the night and the festival. That honor went to Boy Harsher, who did a fine job, but The Limiñanas were a tough act to follow.
#7: Castle Rat – September 26, 2025 – Levitation Austin – Austin, TX
If you’re looking for a band to open your festival, you can’t do much better than Castle Rat because they set such a high bar on Day One of Levitation Austin that all the other bands that day were scrambling to catch up to them. The set included a swordfight with the Grim Reaper, a resurrection performed by a Plague Doctor (the bassist), and an eternal quest to keep a book of souls from an evil wizard. The line at their merch booth was at least twenty minutes long for several hours afterwards.
#6: Viagra Boys – September 17, 2025 – The Salt Shed – Chicago, IL
The last time I saw Viagra Boys at the Salt Shed, it was at a sold-out show inside the main building. This time it was a sold-out show on the exterior stage and it was just as bonkers. People in shrimp costumes, custom Shrimptech jackets, and wiener dog shirts were everywhere. They sounded wild and weird, which is exactly what you want from them.
Who’s in the top five? Two longtime favorites, a reunion tour I almost didn’t get to see, and two bands I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see live. Come back tomorrow!
