Springtime Buried Treasures

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You're listening to sound opinions in this week. We dig up new but little known artists that aren't playing to the algorithms. I'm Jim D. Wurgatus. And I'm Greg Kat.

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And I'm Greg Kat. These are our latest buried treasures. Let's get right into it.

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It's the Chicago thing. This month we're asking listeners to go to soundopinions.org and leave us a voice message on the most Chicago thing you've ever seen or experienced.

Like this story from Ed on how he scored tickets to a Cubs playoff game in 1984.

Chicago Cubs, incredibly made the MLB playoffs for the first time in life forever. And I was really determined as a Cubs fan to go down to Riglyville and watch the game.

There was a place on the corner of Clark and Grace. I got there about an hour before it first pitch and it was really just me in the bartender there.

I ordered my first beer. And before you know it, I heard heavy footsteps right behind me. That is shuffling. It was this big Chicago beat cop and he goes,

Hey kid, you know what he wants a ticket for the game? I go, how much? Where is it at?

35 box, he says, box seat left feel. I'll take it. I tell the cop and in the back of my mind, I'm waiting for a detective to walk in any moment and arrest me. Never happened.

So I ended up watching the Cubs win big in that thrilling game, another beer in hand. And that's my most Chicago thing ever.

312 beer, it's a Chicago thing.

Greg, it is indeed buried treasure's time again.

You and I never have a shortage of contenders. I was counting the other day or something like 50 I had to win oh through.

Yeah.

So this episode I've decided to focus on physical product for the five of my treasures this episode are they sent me the vinyl or in one case a CD.

Now listeners, we welcome. We welcome buried treasures. I always feel a little bit of guilt. I mean I have my own indie man. I know what it's like.

I know it's expensive to send out a vinyl album to somebody who may just toss it in the slush pile. Right. And CDs are kind of pointless. I mean, vinyl is a beautiful thing. Don't get me wrong.

And I treasure the gifts of vinyl. But but a CD. Well, he just sent me the stream. Save yourself the money. Right. We do save these emails. We look at them.

And the other story I'll save for a little bit about history with buried treasures, but I'm going to lead off with somebody that I wrote about years ago at the Chicago sometimes Tim Cain.

Tim was an activist, a big presence in the gay world in Chicago, LGBTQ plus and started a band called Boys Entrance. Now it was inspired by a Chicago public school that had an old one of the old ones, you know, built in like the 1920s.

Yeah. Girls Entrance and boys Entrance had a photo on one of the albums about that. You know, a few years ago, Tim's, he's now based in Florida. Tim's mom died and COVID hit hard and boys Entrance came to an end.

After quite a few excellent albums, I went back to the first time I wrote about them in the sun times. I said, you know, this is this is a merger of glam rock like Roxy music, Brian, you know, and T-Rex, but with updated techno flavorings I wrote and sharp, funny, politically barbed lyrics.

Good stuff. It always was. And now Tim has done his first solo album. He thought he was done with music. He wasn't quite done.

Talk about ambitious. This album, chant for the hauntings, is the song I'm going to play, but it's two volumes, both called love. And Tim, according to the beautiful handwritten note that he sent, he was working at a warehouse and he met this drummer who used to play with Shaka Khan.

And they decided, maybe we can do something together. And then they connected with this African guitarist from Zimbabwe and another musician who had played, you know, as an auxiliary member of the Eagles and Jimmy Buffett. And it's like, wow, all of this. And then they, you know, he did a video for this record in Cairo.

And he got a fan out of Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo for that video. Mark Mothersbaugh, right. Tim's always been very ambitious musically. And in, in promoting the band, it is great to hear from him again. I love this. He wrote to me, said, oh, I thought you were going to hate it.

It's a little bit, imagine Nick Cave, fronting a modern soul R&B band in the mold of the weekend. Right. That's how I hear it.

Song is called, chant for the hauntings from Tim Cain's love, volume one and two.

Call it a bridge of light, do you think you're transible?

Tim Cain, good stuff, I thought. Really ambitious. A lot of different genres hit on. Yeah, it was a surprising selection for me, but was not expecting a chant for the hauntings selection for you.

I have depth, you know, I'm going to tell you that I reminded me a lot of a little early YouTube, really, sort of homecoming, that kind of vibe, kind of an atmosphere song with the emoting over the top, but it's got way more soul.

Well, that had soul. I like that song too. Just reminded me of that. And I like surprises, Jim. So go, I know you do. Keep going.

I'm going to start with a group from Australia. I think I've been in a little bit of an Australian kick the last six months. I mean, you went on vacation there.

And I kind of know where all these places are now. But it was kind of cool to visit. But Australia is like a hotbed of great music, I think, probably a little underrated because it is so far away.

And it's harder for these bands to get over here and tour. But I'd love to see this band private wives play a show.

They have a record called Three of Swords, the debut album from this group. They're from Wallingong, Australia. I hope I pronounced that correctly. It's just the just south of Sydney on the coast. It looks like a beautiful place.

Three of Swords, it's a reference to a tarot card, a symbol of heartbreak grief, and the piercing truth that comes with revelation.

But it's a hard-hitting record. Haunting harmonies over this driving groove. The fist pumpers, as they used to call it, back in the day.

I think that's also essential to the Australian bar scene. If you don't have the crowd into it, they can easily boo you off the stage or throw things at you.

You better be good. You better be able to deliver the goods live. I think that's as characteristics that a lot of Australian bands share.

They're running me a little bit of the Vivian girls. Interesting.

Who were guests on the show a while ago. But with maybe higher, a little bit higher production values.

Yeah. Anyway, the song I want to play from the debut album, Heymaker, from Private Wives, on Sound Depending.

I've slipped my foot in, I walked through my knees, dying standing, trying so hard to please you.

I can't always reap what I'm trying to sow. But so far I know I'm still trying to grow.

That's a little bit of Heymaker, Private Wives is the band. New record just out and it kicked my butt.

Ferocious female driven rock and roll. We've had so much great stuff in that mode lately.

So, you know, when I first came to Chicago to work at the sun times, I had to differentiate myself.

Anyway, I could from the better established music critic over at the Tribune. That would be you.

And, you know, given my fanzine roots, I started a column that they were eager to have the sun times called Demo 2D Row.

I did not name it. I was never a big fan of that silly name, right?

You know, the idea being you don't have to be, you know, the smashing pumpkins or Kanye West to get attention.

Yeah, right. Sometimes I'll listen to your cassette, you know, and I still have.

I have, you know, I have the first handwritten cassette I got from Veruch assault, for example, right?

But, you know, and people would stop me on the street and hand me their cassette.

I ordered pizza, as one is want to do in Chicago, and it came with a cassette and a note taped to the top of the pizza box.

That's the strangest, strangest submission I ever got from a musician named Corey Quinn.

And he reminded me of this and sent me the review. I mean, it meant a lot to him to get attention in the sun times when nobody had written about him.

And I said that the music was as tasty as the pepperoni.

And it was inspired by Harry Smith's anthology of American folk music, that old, weird American.

Yeah. Corey is still at it. He is teaching Latin for the day job, working in Houston, Texas, and putting out, you know, fantastic music.

His seventh album is due in April. Outlaw country blues is how he terms it.

And this is a song called oxy cotton blues, which, you know, speaks, I think, to the way that drug has ravaged America.

You know, talk about your hillbilly allergy. I think this is the real deal.

And Corey's got a fantastic voice. And you can just hear the emotion in, in every word he sings.

Oxy cotton blues by Corey Quinn.

And watch his veins come true.

Thanks to the oxy cotton blues.

Corey Quinn, oxy cotton blues. I didn't get a pizza this time, but I got some great music. Thank you, Corey.

You know, I got to say that this is a cool track. And there was a little line in there that I wrote down because it's so well written.

Your body wilts from emptiness. Yeah. That's a nice turn of phrase there.

Of a very terrible fate that that person is going through.

My next pick is, you know, I've been following this artist for a number of years.

Tamir Nefar. He's a Palestinian hip-hop artist. He's widely acclaimed as a pioneer of Arab hip-hop.

The first Palestinian rapper, according to him, and founder of the state's original rap group, Damn, which is where I got to know a little bit about him.

He wraps an Arabic Hebrew English. Apparently this is the debut solo English language record that he's put out.

He's got a couple of guests on this record. There's 12-year-old kid from Gaza, MC Abdul, who's really good.

I've seen some of his videos. And then there's a singer-songwriter, Noel Carmen, who adds some vocals to this track.

So it's a nice collaboration between these three people. And it's really a track about resilience in the face of 24-7 violence.

I mean, that's the world that they're living in. You know, because the beat never goes off. Basically saying, we're going to keep on keeping on through the struggle.

Here is Tamir Nefar with the beat never goes off.

It's Tamir Nefar with some collaborators, MC Abdul, Noel Carmen with a track called The Beat Never Goes Off.

Good one, Greg. I was really impressed by that. You know, it's some of the best hip-hop we've been hearing in recent years is coming from, you know, not from the US anymore.

And we're going to dive into Chinese hip-hop in an upcoming episode. But right now, we're going to hand Mike over to Max Hatlam, our assistant producer, Max.

You always come up with an interesting buried treasure whenever we turn to you.

Well, thank you for that. Yeah, my buried treasure this week is the electronic artist Clark. He released an album late last year called Steep Stims and I've really been digging it.

I was actually considering Clark for my late career encore when we did that episode recently because he totally fits that bill.

Came out in the early 2000s, a warp records artist alongside some very talented peers like Apex Twin, Boards of Canada, Square Pusher.

I've been waiting for that warped revival. You know, there was so much great music in that period.

And they're still putting out some great records. I think they did one of the recent Danny Brown records.

But yeah, back in the day, just a murderer's row of the experimental electronic musicians, not the straightforward stuff you're going to hear like in a typical dance club environment, right?

So Clark has always played around with found sounds, samples, harsh noise, glitchiness, stuff that's like kind of mainstay at this point, but you know, was a bit different in the early 2000s when he got started.

Typically a more chaotic sound. If you want to think in genre terms, EDM is electronic dance music, music that's made with the intention of being danceable.

Clark is often categorized as IDM, intelligent dance music, which, you know, a pretentious genre name if I've ever heard one.

But that was the one downside to the whole electronic movement that started, you know, in the Ray of Era is the, you know, forever subgenre name, you know, creation.

It's like, yeah, yeah, it's electronic music. Let's just call it that.

Right. Yeah. So he's also dipped into working with vocal artists a bit more soundtrack work, which I think is kind of like a common an apt pivot for someone in his realm.

What I think is really cool about this new record is that it feels like a reflection of his earlier work, kind of taking what he's learned from these ventures into soundtracks and stuff and reapplying it to like early sensibilities, kind of a full circle album.

It also feels like one of those albums that leans into genre, like you've got some very classic EDM tropes and like familiar sounds that I think stand out a bit more when they're utilized by like a more experimental artist.

It's almost like a victory lap, but not in the sense that he's, he's like getting complacent or resting on his laurels because it's still bursting with creativity.

It does feel like a more danceable record, but again, I don't think that's like ever the objective for this guy.

You can tell he's focused on just making cool unique tracks. Yeah. So I had a little bit of a hard time picking a track here, but I went with this one called Janice Motel.

I think it does a good job of conveying what I'm trying to say, but I would recommend the two sides, the two sides. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Yeah.

But if you're into experimental electronic music, I highly recommend the entire album. There's just a lot there.

It's hard to do it justice with a single track, but we're going to try. So here's Clark with Janice Motel on Sound Opinions.

Music

Max Hattlem's pick Janice Motel by Clark. I love it. I love it too.

It gets denigrated, but to me, it's like the modern version of ambient. Yeah.

And it's great music for all occasions. Let me tell you. Yes, I've seen, I've heard it in clubs. It is incredible because it's so hypnotic, but then you can just slap on the headphones and get lost in it.

And this guy's actually one of the best in the business doing it. So I'm really glad you highlighted him. I'm not even going to mention Brian Eno. Well, you just did. Oh, sorry.

Well, when we come back, even more of our latest underground finds on Sound Opinions.

Sound Opinions is an independent production supported by listeners like me on Patreon. Join us in keeping independent music criticism in the world.

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And we are back and this week we're digging into one of our favorite traditions buried treasures. Spotlighting new music you won't hear everywhere else.

Up next is producer Andrew Gill with his pick Andrew. How's it going guys?

There's an artist named Hudson Freeman who I was very interested in highlighting as a buried treasure.

And he is not buried in any way. He is like bubbling forth. And they just he just announced that he's going to be opening for Jesse Wells on his tour in the fall.

He's playing the salt shed. It's like four time nominated Grammy. Jesse Wells. He is blowing up just as I suspected he would after I saw him in concert a couple of weeks ago.

So instead of talking about Hudson Freeman, I will plug his best friend to open for him when I saw him a few weeks ago.

His best friend is named Brian Gerald Bulger. It's this guy up on stage with two female vocalists along with him. And they were just killing it.

The harmonies, the confidence on stage, the self-assured songwriting. I was just like wow. This is a guy who I bet no one here has ever heard of before.

And then later in the set he mentioned that most of his songs are about grief and religious trauma. And I was like this is my guy right here.

So the song I wanted to play today is called Thinking of Her Again. And it's off of his new EP called Thank God I'm Far From Heaven.

And you go on his bandcamp or Spotify or whatever. He's already got like I don't know eight releases or something. He's he's from Kansas City, Missouri.

I feel like Brian is very much in that sort of 70s singer-songwriter introspective mode. Brian Gerald Bulger is his name and the track is called Thinking of Her Again.

It's about his sister who died. He's one of 10 kids and he's got two deceased siblings already in his 20s.

Anyways, it's a it's a good track and an interesting guy.

Andrew Gill's pick Brian Gerald Bulger thinking of her again. I didn't realize it was about his sister who passed but the lyrics were nonetheless really moving.

Yeah, I liked it too. I liked how sparse it was. That sort of episodic guitar in there and then that drizzle of piano is very really cool arrangement.

My next pick Greg is the opposite of sparseness. Again, physical product. You know, beautiful vinyl arrives with a handwritten letter. Big fans of your podcast would love you to give this a listen.

One reviewer called it quote a mashup of Towns Van Zan to narrow in. Yeah, wean deaf punk and pink Floyd, you know, so somebody spent, you know, five, six, eight bucks to like mail this vinyl to me. It's beautiful.

Yeah, it comes with, you know, an intriguing enticement like that and it delivers, you know, fired up the turntable.

This is a weird project. Two friends meet at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007. Tom Borden and Eric Gibbons, it's Tom who wrote me the letter and they almost get kicked out for their final project of the San Francisco Art Institute because they invented a third partner.

A fictional artist named Mustardu and they did a 90 pound meatloaf as their final project.

Okay, so there's park performance art here over the course of 12 albums, all self-released, all Indy up in Northern California.

And, you know, this fascinating mixture of world rhythms, exotic instrumentation and, you know, electronic trans music, some of it, a lot of it in the realm of Max Hatlam, IDM stuff.

You know, I'm going to play a track called Monsoon, M-O-N, S-O-O-N, obviously upon there.

The new album that they just released after 15 years, because this is number 13, is K-T-W-E.

And I think the conceit or the concept is you are listening to a true freeform radio station flipping dials and there's a little bit of a radio announcer intro to each song.

And they are very, they're all incredibly different sounding and yet this weird, I mean, this is kind of like if Zappa had made EDM Circa Apex Twin in 2000, which I don't, usually I'm Zappa allergic, but I don't know, Monsoon by Mustardo Collective.

I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reaching you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you only, I try to reach you

I'm so glad that the Fink Radio announcers say the name of the band throughout this album

because otherwise I'd have no idea how to pronounce it.

Yeah, you're right.

It's hard to categorize that one.

Yeah.

And that's a good thing in my mind.

I'm knocking you for a loop this week.

I like that.

Yeah, that's very good.

I'm going to go to Washington DC from my next pick, Jim.

This band, Echo Astral.

It's EKKO Astral.

Co-ed punk band, post punk.

It's hard to categorize what they, specifically what they do.

The first album, Pink Balloons, came out in 2024.

It's basically two members, two key members.

J.L. Holzman, she's a journalist who's

done some top shelf work on the environment, environmental

reporter.

She's all over the internet.

You can check her out.

And then Liam Hughes is a collaborator in this project.

The name Echo Astral was derived from a lyric in a death

grips song.

So you can certainly get an idea where they're coming from.

It's not a, there's going to be an element of political and social

commentary here.

It's very striking.

Holzman says she's said that the primary audience for their music

is those who are struggling, who are at their absolute lowest.

And I found out a lot about them through Chris Richards,

the very, very good now former critic at the Washington Post.

He was one of the casualties of that latest round

of horrible layoffs at the post.

Gunning, one of their great institutions.

Shout out to Chris for the heads up on Echo Astral.

He wrote about them a couple of years ago.

And their phrase, you know, I was like, what do you call them?

Postpunk or whatever.

They call themselves mascara mosh pit.

And I love this song.

Lil Zan goes to Washington.

And really the recurring phrase throughout it, but what's real?

And just go, you go to Washington.

And it's almost like they're on another planet

when it comes to the political system that's operating there.

And I think that's what this is a commentary on.

Echo Astral with Lil Zan goes to Washington.

But I don't say I want to Washington thinking he could save a life.

But as far as I can call him, who's spiked our cages out.

And I'm full of ranges for the castles.

They are the people who deal with it.

Six sucks to run out of land sometimes.

So what's real?

That's Lil Zan goes to Washington from Echo Astral, mascara mosh pit.

You know, it makes perfect sense because my scroll notes on hearing that track were a little

PJ Harvey, a little Diamanda Galas.

Yes.

Well, it's not a bad place to start.

Not at all, for sure.

All right, continuing my handwritten notes of love with physical product.

I got on vinyl the latest from the Chicago band Time Thieves.

And Jonathan, the singer, the front person of Time Thieves reminded me,

I didn't even know that I had played with his old band in 2013

with my silly punk rock trio.

Man, that was a long time ago.

Yeah, absolutely it was.

Not why I like this record.

I wouldn't have cared.

I'm the played with a lot of bands.

If it wasn't such great midwestern power pop, you know,

that tradition Greg that just never ends cheap tricks, shoes.

A million other bands.

But with a little bit of a twist here.

Unless when Time Thieves came together some years ago,

Jonathan was listening, Jonathan Poole, front person,

was listening to a lot of rentals and granddaddy,

which you know are kind of power pop, but they got something a little off

in both of those bands.

Decades worth of experience in the underground bands of Chicago,

all the members of this group, and are just turning out great stuff.

This song, key example.

Remember I forgot by Time Thieves.

We made it come to stay.

It's always like this.

I should recall the things that I think are.

But I always seem to remember that I don't make the guy.

So it'll happen again.

No same reaction.

And it'll happen again.

Remember I forgot by Time Thieves.

See I saved the piece of cardboard.

You know these notes.

It's so nice to have that personal.

When Big Black debuted, Steve Elbini would put a little gift in every copy

of the first Big Black EP that somebody ordered.

It's like this is coming from artists who are making this music.

Yeah.

And you can feel the passion.

You know there's a million bands in Chicago that are really good.

A million.

And every city in America.

In the world.

I know.

No it's a very vibrant scene.

And we're justly proud of it.

As most cities still have great scenes I think.

But as I always feel compelled to point out,

if we highlight a local artist, it's because they're worthy of the national attention.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Speaking of worthy of national attention, I want to focus on this band from L.A.

Rio Costa.

Mike Del Rio and Costa Galenopoulos are the two artists in the group.

I would describe them as multi-ethnic musical vagabonds who have settled in L.A.

Costa's got this Greek background, spent some time in the Bahamas.

His partner is being inspired.

You know he's got Spanish and Italian roots.

He grew up in New York with a Puerto Rican grandmother.

All that stuff gets mixed into their music.

I've caught up with their LP from last year.

And I just loved it.

And here's a track from it that has been remixed by a pal there as Vandalox.

Who's another multi-instrumentalist from Canada.

And it's not a part of the San Francisco scene.

This track's originally on their album from last year,

Rio Costa's record.

It's a reggae track.

It's a mellowed chill.

It's cool.

Now they've given it this sort of club makeover.

And I love it too.

The group is a mix of many different influences.

And you know, you hate to lay cinematic on anybody's music.

But these guys do that very well.

They create little moving pictures in your head with the way they put together a music.

And again, it's suitable for the dance floor or the headphones.

The 2025 album by the way is Unicorn in case you're interested.

Here's a track from it.

Remixed.

Follow the river from Rio Costa.

That is Rio Costa with follow the river.

That is Rio Costa with follow the river.

The Vandalox remix.

A new club smash to beat.

I love those Afro beat polyrooms.

Okay.

You know, every time.

I love it too.

More buried treasures are on the way.

That's in a minute.

Unsound opinion.

And we are back.

We've got a few more buried treasures to share.

The first producer Alex Clayborn has got something for us.

Alex, what do you got?

Hey guys, how's it going?

I chose the artist Susanna Jaffy.

She was born and raised in Austin, Texas.

She went to the University of Texas at Austin for college.

And she is an openly queer artist.

And she makes kind of indie music.

And I would describe her as a little bit of chapel-roan.

She's got a little bit of the quirkiness or the campiness of Sabrina Carpenter.

But really, I feel like she's a daughter of Dolly Parton in some way.

Like they're in that same family.

And so, so far Susanna has opened for Lola Young, King Princess.

And the song I want to play is called Texas Baby.

And it is about her being from Texas, loving it.

But also, she sort of compares her relationship to the state as, like, an abusive relationship.

Where she, yeah, she loves it.

But Texas is not the safest place necessarily for women or queer people.

Based on policies, you know, governmental policies.

And so for her, it's a lot of, like, I love this place so much.

And it might not be safe for me to be there.

And so, you know, there's a line in the song.

I love when you call me a lady, then run me over on the freeway.

Like that kind of, it's got a slight humor to it.

And vocally, she reminds me a little bit of, like, Sharon Venet.

And something about their vocal qualities feel very similar to me.

But I came across this song and have really been enjoying it.

So this is Susanna Jaffy with the song Texas Baby on Sound Opinions.

I love when you call me a lady, then run me over on the freeway.

You burn so bright, so I love you when you turn the blind eye.

And keep coming, and keep coming, my dear.

And so keep coming, my dear, keep coming, my dear.

And so keep coming, my dear, keep coming, my dear.

Fine pick from Alex Clayborn, Texas Baby by Susanna Jaffy.

I think it's really inspiring, Alex, the Rhodes that Chapel Rowan is paving for other artists.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think, you know, she's showing other people that they can also make music on a broader scale.

And I also think she's talked about how COVID really influenced her to start making more music and really going for it.

And so even though obviously COVID was horrific, I think it pushed a lot of people to go,

okay, if not now, then when?

Yeah, you know, good stuff.

Two more picks, Greg, from you and me.

I'm really excited about this one.

I saved it for last intentionally.

You know, it always astounds me after 17,000 shows or whatever it is we've done.

1061 for public radio.

This is that I've never talked about some bands that meant so much in my life.

Boyled in lead was one of those bands.

When I lived in Minneapolis, I've lived in Minneapolis twice.

And all the world's eyes have been on Minneapolis of late.

So I've been thinking a lot about that period there, the first period.

I must have seen this band, Boyled in Lead, a dozen times.

Back then, they called themselves the world's only Celtodalic rock and real band, right?

A lot of Andrew Gill in there, a lot of traditional Celtic music.

But a lot of world beat as well.

You know, touches of you name it, Serbian music and the Bulgarian and Klesmer and American Roots,

all with a punk attitude back in the early 2000s.

The group which has gone through numerous lineups had the best song I'd ever heard about the AIDS crisis.

The way we were all living in the mid to late 80s and early 90s in fear of both desiring in a very violent Femme's way,

sexual contact with another human being and being aware that it could cost us our lives.

That song, the micro organism, is captured that better, I think than any tune I've ever heard.

Boyled in lead is still at it.

12 album strong, new record coming out this spring, The King of the Dog Woods.

As is often the case with them, a mix of traditional music heavily rearranged and rearranged and revamped and originals.

The title track is by longtime vocalist, guitarist, mandolinist, bodron player, whistle player, Todd Metin.

The Drew Miller is really the heart and soul of the band, a longtime bassist, guitarist, dulcimer player.

They have a new violinist who replaced David Stential, died in 2021.

One of the most amazing, vaguely rock violin and multi instrumentalist I've ever seen.

And like I said, I saw them a dozen times.

They have a new drummer as well.

The album's really strong.

Again, they sent me a physical product.

Oh, I'm so happy to have this.

Thank you, Drew Miller and Boyled in lead.

And this song is just really grabbing me.

The King of the Dog Woods by Boyled in lead.

In the poison garden, he signed the castles, the guide of the skepticals of season's trial.

A Minneapolis institution, Boyled in lead.

I am so glad they're going strong and making music this great.

Still.

Andrew Gil, you got to listen to this album.

Did you like it, Greg Cutt?

Well, I did.

And I was happy to see it.

You know, thank you for alerting me to the existence of a new Boyled in lead record.

I remember them from the 80s, very well, terrific band.

And glad to see their back.

That ties in very nicely to my selection here.

Brother Ali, another artist who has been around for quite a while.

Not quite as long as Boyled in lead.

But basically the entire 20th, 21st century.

Brother Ali's been putting out records.

Very good ones.

Ali Douglas Newman.

Born in Madison, Wisconsin.

And then Minneapolis, where he was a key part of that rhyme sares.

Collective, right?

I don't think he's ever gotten the recognition.

He's been one of those under the radar artists for decades.

But people who know hip-hop, the heads.

You know, they know Brother Ali.

So people may say, well, he's not really a very treasure.

If you know him, you have everyone of his albums, all 11.

Right.

If you don't, time to get acquainted with him.

He has come out with a song that would fit in very well, Jim, with our recent wave of new protest songs.

And I expected nothing less from Brother Ali, who's been very direct.

His social and political commentary has always been a part of his skills as an MC.

He's a terrific MC.

Great of putting words together.

I remember seeing him blive for the first time.

I go, man, this guy is incredible.

The way he was able to string words together.

And the mix of voices and textures in that.

Just being alone on stage as a rapper was truly impressive.

Continues to this day.

The track I want to play is called Another Country.

And the opening lines sort of summarize what it's all about.

Welcome to the divided states.

And it's basically his own state of the disunion address here.

Brother Ali with another country, on sound opinions.

They want to raise the stakes so they killed all the dreams and they danced on the grave.

Another country.

Brother Ali, another country.

Excellent.

Brother Ali, another country, excellent, excellent choice, Greg. Minneapolis continues to remain

a hotbed of just incredible sound and our hearts have been with our many music

loving friends there. That wraps up this round of berry treasures until next time,

but as always we want to hear from you. Leave us a message on our website

sounddependence.org and share your thoughts, like these listeners did.

New messages.

I didn't mean to be falling for you. I didn't mean to be falling for you.

Hey sound opinions, I was just listening to your 25 singles recap, which was excellent.

I wanted to call out a band that I've been into for a long time that doesn't get nearly

enough love. It's a duo from Detroit called Junior Junior. They used to be called Dale Earnhardt Junior Junior

and they mercifully shortened their name recently. They've been around for about 15 years,

putting out just excellent albums over and over. Last year they released an album called Back to the Land.

The song I want to call out is called Stuck in My Mind. It reminds me of Mirage,

a Fleetwood Mac with their harmonies and sparse arrangements.

Stuck in My Mind.

It's aptly titled since it's been stuck in my mind for the last six months.

Keep up the good work and thanks.

Hi, my name is Verna Simon and I'm calling for Rochester, Minnesota.

I was listening to the sound dependence desert island jukebox

where you talked about Danny Hathaway.

It took me back to when I was a little kid, about 9 or 10,

unfortunately, when he passed away in the late 70s.

But I've always loved his music and I immediately went to my little MP3 player

and pulled up all the music that I had already of his.

And so you got me kind of listening to Danny Hathaway pretty much the whole day.

So I wanted to thank you because it was a really, really nice, a good listen, beautiful voice,

and wonderful songs and very melancholy but really very beautiful.

So thank you so much for recognizing and take care.

I got a great show on the best records of the year so far.

Jim, you got to stop with this background boys.

That band is terrible.

All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right.

All the way freaks right around on wheelchairs motorized by electric motors

made by goblins and a factor overseas.

Anyway, love the horse girl.

Love that roughly eight twigs.

Yeah, have a good day.

No more messages.

Thanks to all our listeners who left a message at soundopinions.org.

Greg Kot, what is on the show next week?

Next week, Jim, we've got an interview with the former owner, co-owner of Bloodshot Records, Rob Miller, who's written a memoir about his experience running an independent label.

A laugh out loud, memoir, yes, indeed.

And don't forget to check out our bonus podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.

And join us on Patreon for our Monday podcast, everything else.

Thanks as always to that Patreon community that keeps us going.

And especially John Magriso from Nashville, Tennessee, who listens to WPLN.

Soundopinions is produced by Andrew Gill, Alex Claiborne, and Max Hatlam.

Our business development manager is Gary Youngker, and our social media consultant is Katie Kot.

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