RiYL

Sixteen years is a long time between solo albums, but Ben Nichols’ role fronting Lucero has kept him plenty busy. In that time, the Memphis-based punk-country band has released a half-dozen albums, three live records, and a pair of EPs. In the Heart of the Mountain finds the musician delving into the deeply personal, expanding his approach to songwriting and releasing what he calls, “the closest I’ve come to making an album completely on my own terms,”

Books, World War I pigeons, queer dating, bygone New York City haunts – Checked Out has a bit of something for everyone. Katie Fricas’ first book is a kind of, sort of memoir about a young cartoonist navigating her way through life in the big city. It’s a delightful and delightfully idiosyncratic take on lengths we go to make our art.

Siouxie And The Banshees, The Psychedelic Furs, R.E.M., Cyndi Lauper -- Knox Chandler's resume reads like a who's who of late-20th century pop music. These days, however, the Kentucky-born musician is taking a decidedly more experimental and meditative approach to music making. His latest, The Sound, build on Chandler's unique "sound ribbon" approach to song construction.

There are two distinct phases during the writing of Hue Mirror: before and after. Course’s third album is a product of pain, uncertainty and eventual diagnosis. The latter arrived in the form of ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disease resulting in body-wide inflammation. Despite the initial uncertainty, however, Jess Robbins never shies away from the truth.

Holy Lacrimony is a book about turning sadness into art. Also aliens, interpretive dancing and – in an unexpected way – the Scream franchise. Each component has a special meaning to Michael DeForge, not the least of which is Ghostface, the iconic antagonist from the latter. Released by Drawn & Quarterly in March, the book is surreal, funny – and much like DeForge’s art – more complex than it appears at first glance.

In the bifurcated world of comics, Paul Pope has never pledge allegiance to the superheroes of indies. The New York-based cartoonist’s move between storylines and mediums is every bit as fluid as his immediately recognizable linework. On June 19th, Manhattan’s Philippe Labaune Gallery will do its best to encapsulate that career, with a retrospective on Pope’s decades-long body of work, ranging from the John Spencer Blue Explosion to Batman.

Well into his fourth decade as a professional musician, David J Haskins refers to The Mother Tree as, "my most personal work yet.” With such an expansive catalog, including the works discographies of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets, it's quite a claim. It is, however, a difficult one to refute, given its subject matter. A tribute to his late mother, the five-track album is centered on Haskins' poetry, set to a musical backdrop. Fittingly, it finds Haskins adding his surname, after a career of simply being "David J."

In 2017, Save Ferris released the Checkered Past EP , the band’s first collection of new music in nearly two decades. Plenty had changed over the years, resulting in frontwoman, Monique Powell, retaining sole rights to the Orange Country ska band’s name. The revived Save Ferris has continued to release new music and tour under Powell’s leadership. The musician joined us to discuss 30 years in the music business.