Public Animal & Napalmpom launch split 12" @ Silver Dollar, Sunday

Public Animal cover "Don't Let Me" off Living Proof's unjustly overlooked 1985 album This Is For Real. 

Happy Birthday Mick Harvey

Celebrating Mick's birthday with a revealing chat and a delightful bit of bongo bashing. 

Sofrito takes a trip to Martinique with Michel Bagoé

Michel Bagoé's bangin' Oulé Collé out now is track 4 on Hugo Mendez's fab Cadence Fever! mix below.

One For The Weekend: Generoso "Tojo" Jiménez y su Orquesta

Hear Tojo y su Orquesta rip through José A. Castañeda's Maracaibo Oriental popularized by Beny Moré.

Blackalicious @ Lee's Palace, Friday

See Daniel Radcliffe rap "Alphabet Aerobics" right after watching Blackalicious tear it up in Brooklyn.

Dengue Fever @ The Garrison, Sept 8. Watch their new video for Tokay

LA's incredible Dengue Fever will be performing songs from their latest album The Deepest Lake. 

The Thanes vs. The Fleshtones

Watch The Thanes take on The Fleshtones in a battle over The Guess Who's It's My Pride.

Happy Birthday Ronnie Splinter

Remembering Outsiders songwriter/guitarist Ronnie Splinter on his day with a couple of Nederbeat gems.

Slim Twig gets sporty for new Fadeout Killer video

"Fadeout Killer" is off Slim Twig's hot new album Thank You For Stickin' With Twig out now on DFA.

Whaddya mean you don't know GT

'Bama bad boys GT just cut a whumpin' new album Beats Misplaced. Here's their clip for Get Tuned, Stay Tuned.

Leroy Sibbles and Jay Douglas rock the CNE Bandshell, Thursday

Reggae great Leroy Sibbles cut loads of amazing music outside of his memorable Heptones recordings.

Happy 61st Birthday Elvis Costello!

Watch Elvis go shopping for milk & avocados at an A&P with Geraldo Rivera in 1978. 

RIP Paulo Bagunça, 1943-2015

Joel Stones' Fumaça Preta have recorded "Apelo" in tribute to Brazilian psych great Paulo Bagunça.

Chubby Checker @ The CNE Bandshell, Tuesday

Don't count on Chubby to perform any of the scorching psych gems off 1971's Chequered! album.

Don't miss Barrence Whitfield & The Savages tear up the Horseshoe tonight

Here are a couple of blasts of Barrence Whitfield to prepare you for this evening's Horseshoe blow out.

Happy Birthday Roscoe Shelton

One For The Weekend: The Reprobettes

The ace "Danger" single from Melbourne's Reprobettes on Boppa do Down is available now at Parkdale Platters.

Kirk MacDonald Quartet feat. Harold Mabern @ Jazz Bistro, Thursday & Friday

Jazz piano legend Harold Mabern bolsters Kirk MacDonald's Quartet for a two-night stand at Jazz Bistro.

Abdominal & The Obliques take audience choice award at Open Roof Fest

Next trip to Buffalo's Anchor Bar, the wings are gonna be on T.O. rhyme ripper MC Abdominal. 

Long lost Miles Davis LP on Prestige found?

Happy Birthday Isaac Hayes

Remembering Isaac Hayes with his stellar 1974 soundtrack for Duccio Tessari's Three Tough Guys.

Bristol's ThisisDa releases the heat with Hotsteppa

The blazing "Hotsteppa" is off the forthcoming Based Off Black EP from 20-year-old Bristol rapper ThisisDa.

Royal Headache shows sensitive side with sweet "Caroline"

Don't miss the Toronto debut of Oz punks Royal Headache at the Silver Dollar on Friday.

Daptone launches Wick garage subsidiary with Mystery Lights single

The Mystery Lights' new seven-inch Too Many Girls b/w Too Tough To Bear is out August 21.

Al Hirt vs. De La Soul & The Roots

Green conscious De La Soul and The Roots both found use for Al Hirt's 1967 recording of Harlem Hendoo.

Blue Jean Committee performs Catalina Breeze on Late Night with Seth Meyers

Watch Bill Hader & Fred Armisen live out their yacht rock fantasy. Pre-order Catalina Breeze from Drag City. 

Watch Kamasi Washington blast Re Run Home on KCRW

Flying Lotus, Thundercat and Kendrick Lamar collaborator Kamasi Washington cuts loose small combo style. 

Gurf Morlix presents Eatin' At Me @ Cadillac Lounge, Thursday

Lackawanna-born singer/songwriter Gurf Morlix remembers Buffalo on his new album Eatin' At Me. 

Happy Birthday João Donato & Ed Motta!

Since João Donato and Ed Motta share a birthday today, here's their collaboration on Cal Tjader's Black Orchid.

Earl Sweatshirt @ The Phoenix, Sunday

Nardwuar gets the lowdown on Earl Sweatshirt's influential poet father Keorapetse Kgositsile below. 

Edan & Cut Chemist vs. Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza

Yes, that's Ennio Morricone playing trumpet on Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza's The Feed-Back. 

Pre-order a limited copy of Edan's remix of Rammellzee's Fight My Fire right here.

Get down tropical dancefloor style w/ Quantic @ The Garrison, tonight

Here's a 76-minute trip through Will "Quantic" Holland's 7" single box in advance of his Turning Point set.

Happy 90th Birthday Oscar Peterson!

Celebrating Oscar's 90th birthday with a 1979 piano lesson for Dick Cavett. 

Ola Belle Reed gets deluxe archival package treatment from Dust-to-Digital

Folklorist Henry Glassie's 1966 recordings of Ola Belle Reed are the main draw of the new 2-CD + book set.

The first in-depth look at the life of trailblazing North Carolina-born singer/songwriter Ola Belle Reed, Dust-to-Digital's deluxe package Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line presents some of her earliest solo recordings along with a companion disc of modern-day field recordings documenting her descendants and members of the Appalachian community she inspired. This thoughtfully assembled 256 page cloth-bound book and 2 CD set (out August 21) highlights Ola Belle’s deep repertoire – folk ballads, minstrel songs, country standards, and originals – and traces the impact her music made and is still making today.

Although Ola Belle Campbell Reed – best known to bluegrass fans today for penning High On A Mountain (recorded by Del McCoury, Marty Stuart, Tim O'Brien and others) – made two albums for Starday/King in the early 60s as Alex Campbell and Olabelle & The New River Boys along with a couple for New River Records, Essgee, Cabin Creek, Ken-del, then cut two more: Ola Belle Reed (1973), Ola Belle Reed & Family (1977) for Rounder and another informative solo document: My Epitaph (1976) for Smithsonian/Folkways, Dust-to-Digital's new compendium manages to avoid all of that crucial work to focus instead on the solo recordings that folklorist Henry Glassie made in the mid-60s to document Ola Belle Reed's deep repertoire of mountain ballads and hymns passed down from prior generations and her own revealing compositions like "I've Endured" (listen below).



Since those recordings have been heard by few people outside of Professor Glassie's lectures at Indiana University in Bloomington where the tapes currently reside in the Archives of Traditional Music, Dust-to-Digital have done a great service by making them available to wider audience.

However, instead of filling a second disc with even more amazing material Ola Belle Reed wrote and performed during the 25-year period from her final Rounder release in 1977 until her death in 2002, the label has somewhat oddly chosen instead to devote the entire second disc to the lesser-known players from Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania she inspired. So while it's nice to hear Burl Kirby's interpretation of High On A Mountain, I think most people who would consider purchasing an Ola Belle Reed archival package would much prefer hearing her best-loved song sung by the composer herself – even if it's a amateur live recording from a bluegrass festival.

Just off hand, I could think of a couple of better ways of filling a second disc – why not fill it with the 28 songs from the two albums Ola Belle cut with Alex Campbell and the New River Boys for Starday – they've been out-of-print for at least four decades and it doesn't seem like Ace UK has any burning desire to reissue them. Alternatively, they could've made the second disc a DVD containing rare Ola Belle Reed performance footage along with perhaps a better resolution version of this television documentary clip from 1985.



In any case, while you're waiting for Dust-to-Digital to drop their fancy book-bound package next week, grab a copy of Smithsonian Folkways' excellent Rising Sun Melodies retrospective from 2010 which compiles the best of Ola Belle's Folkways sessions  (1976-78) and adds eight great live recordings from the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife 1972 and 1976 you won't hear anywhere else.

Ola Belle Reed and Southern Mountain Music on the Mason-Dixon Line (Dust-to-Digital)
Disc One
1. Ola Belle Reed – Uncloudy Day
2. Ola Belle Reed, Alex Campbell and John Miller – My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountain
3. Alex Campbell, Ola Belle Reed and Burl Kilby 
- Bringing in the Georgia Mail
4. Ola Belle Reed – Train 45
5. Ola Belle Reed – The Worried Man Blues
6. Ola Belle Reed and Burl Kilby – The Worried Man Blues
7. Ola Belle Reed, Burl Kilby and John Miller – The Ranger’s Command
8. Ola Belle Reed, John Miller and Burl Kilby – Big Kid’s Barroom
9. Ola Belle Reed and Burl Kilby 
- The Miller’s Will
10. Ola Belle Reed and Burl Kilby 
- Black Jack Davy
11. Ola Belle Reed, Alex Campbell and John Miller – John Hardy
12. Ola Belle Reed, Burl Kilby and John Miller – Single Girl
13. Ola Belle Reed and Burl Kilby 
- Kitty Wells
14. Ola Belle Reed, John Miller and Burl Kilby 
- The Orphan Girl
15. Ola Belle Reed and Burl Kilby – I’ve Always Been a Rambler
16. Ola Belle Reed 
- Undone in Sorrow
17. Ola Belle Reed, Burl Kilby and John Miller – You Led Me to the Wrong
18. Ola Belle Reed – Absalom My Son, My Son
19. Ola Belle Reed and John Miller
- Amazing Grace
20. Ola Belle Reed, Burl Kilby and John Miller – Six Feet of Earth
21. Ola Belle Reed – All the Dark Places
22. Ola Belle Reed, Burl Kilby and John Miller – I’m Going Through
23. Ola Belle Reed, Burl Kilby and John Miller – I’ve Endured
24. Ola Belle Reed, Burl Kilby and John Miller – I’ve Endured

Disc Two
1. Hugh Campbell – Undone in Sorrow
2. Dave Reed – Plucking the Strings
3. T.J. Lundy, Danny Paisley, Ryan Paisley – Cherokee Shuffle
4. Danny Paisley, Ryan Paisley, T.J. Lundy – I’m Longing for a Love I’ll Never Know
5. Burl Kilby – Sally Goodin
6. Hugh Campbell – Story of Tom Moore, the Gravedigger
7. Hugh Campbell – Footprints Left Below
8. DeBusk-Weaver Family – Leave It There
9. DeBusk-Weaver Family with Dave Reed – Six Hours on the Cross
10. Dave Reed – John Hardy
11. Zane Campbell – Cherokee Eyes
12. Burl Kilby – High on a Mountain
13. Hugh Campbell – Fiddle on the Wall
14. T.J. Lundy, Ryan Paisley, Danny Paisley – Rachel
15. 
Danny Paisley, Ryan Paisley, T.J. Lundy – The Old Swinging Bridge
16. Dave Reed – John Hardy/John Henry
17. 
Zane and Hugh Campbell – Stolen Love
18. 
Burton DeBusk – The Buzzard and the Monkey
19. 
Burton DeBusk – The Pussycat and the Bulldog
20. Dave Reed – Preacher and the Bear
21. Burl Kilby – Turkey in the Straw
22. T.J. Lundy, Danny Paisley, Ryan Paisley – Ryestraw
23. Hugh Campbell, Dave Reed – The Butcher Boy
24. Dave Reed – Simple Man
25. Dave Reed – 1,000 Light Years Away
26. DeBusk-Weaver Family with Hugh Campbell – I Feel Like Traveling On
27. Danny Paisley, T.J. Lundy, Ryan Paisley – New River Train
28. Ryan Paisley, T.J. Lundy, Danny Paisley – Salt Creek
29. Burl Kilby – Cumberland Gap
30. Hugh Campbell – Boxes Full of Memories
31. Hugh Campbell – Father, Listen
32. Danny Paisley, Ryan Paisley, T.J. Lundy – My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
33. Zane Campbell – Family Graveyard
34. Zane and Hugh Campbell, Dave Reed, the DeBusk-Weaver Family – Over in the Gloryland

The Burning Hell @ Junction City Music Hall, tonight

Here's The Burning Hell's entertaining clip for Amateur Rappers.

Cate Le Bon releases new Drinks album August 21

Drinks aka Cate Le Bon & White Fence's Tim Presley have an album called Hermits On Holiday and like dogs.

New album from Bottle Rockets due October 2

Pre-order The Bottle Rockets' South Broadway Athletic Club from Bloodshot. Hear two new songs below.

Introducing Erin Rae & The Meanwhiles

Erin Rae McKaskle's new album Soon Enough is out September 4. Watch her perform Clean Slate below.

Royal Headache @ The Silver Dollar, August 21

There are rules against spontaneous dancing at the Sydney Opera House, even at Royal Headache shows.

Royal Headache's new album High is out Aug 21 via What's Your Rupture? to coincide with their T.O. gig. 

Royal Headache Tour Dates:
08/11 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
08/13 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop w/Total Control
08/15 Los Angeles, CA @ Berserktown Festival
08/17 Austin, TX @ Red 7
08/19 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle w/Sheer Mag
08/20 Detroit, MI @ UFO w/Sheer Mag
08/21 Toronto, Ontario @ Silver Dollar w/Sheer Mag, Black Baron
08/22 Montreal, Quebec @ La Vitrola
08/24 Boston, MA @ The Great Scott w/Sheer Mag
08/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade w/Sheer Mag
08/27 Baltimore, MD @ Windup Space w/Sheer Mag
08/28 Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA w/Sheer Mag
08/29 Brooklyn, NY @ Palisades w/Sheer Mag

Watch the trippy clip for A$AP Rocky's Jukebox Joints

The Kanye West-produced track Jukebox Joints is off the album At.Long.Last.A$AP.  

Happy Birthday Heidi Happy!

Here's Heidi Happy and crew performing live on Friesland's Omrop Fryslân.

Happy Birthday Master Henry Gibson

Remembering master percussionist Henry Gibson on his day with three stellar studio performances.

Junior Reid fires up Irie Music Fest @ Fort York, Sunday

Dancehall don Junior Reid hits the Fort York stage at 7pm followed by Inner Circle at 8:30pm. 

Kardinal Offishall kicks off Caribana "OG" style

Download Kardinal Offishall's new joint OG right here. He'll tear up Harbourfront's main stage tonight at 8:30pm.