KEVIN COLEMAN TOUR STARTS THIS WEEK

Guitarist Kevin Coleman takes to the road later this week to celebrate and promote the release of Imaginary Conversations, an album whose merits have been spreading quickly. Coleman’s tour will start off in the South and work its way up into New England before concluding in the Midwest. Notable stops include a radio station appearance on April 27th at WTJU (91.1 FM) in Charlottesville, VA and an appearance at Rhizome DC on April 29th with guitarist Jordan Perry. Kevin will have copies of his new album available, as well as a limited number of Blind Willie McTell t-shirts he designed and had prinited up. Check out the dates below and follow Kevin on Instagram for more information.

A magical album that seamlessly moves from guitar soli to country fried fiddle stomps to the extended kosmische/motorik outing of the last song. If the Autobahn took you through a portal to Tennessee, this would be the soundtrack. Favorite track: Imaginary Conversations on Fish Hatchery Rd. - Stefan Beck (Golden Brown, Prairiewolf)

Amazing that Kevin has been able to craft an album that is firmly rooted in a variety of acoustic guitar playing traditions, yet manages to sound so utterly unique. An absolute feast of finger-picking glory, and the most beautiful album I've heard in 2024! - Duncan Park

Pat Sansone on The Ambient Country Podcast

Check out the latest episode of the Ambient Country podcast, as Patrick Sansone joins Bob Suss for an engaging discussion of instrumental music, including his new album Infinity Mirrors. Pat also discusses his choices for this episode’s guest playlist (which includes some great surprises), as well as the various other projects that he’s involved with.

The episode just dropped today, and you can find it wherever you typically listen to your podcasts.

Ambient Country Episode 29: Pat Sansone by Flow State

An exploration of the instrumental landscape with Bob Holmes of SUSS

Read on Substack

Gold Dust is Gearing up to Come Back

Stephen Pierce, leader of the Western Mass band Gold Dust, has been on a self-imposed social media exile for the past 10 months or so, but he popped up on Bandcamp today to give a couple of updates. One of the updates has to do with a wonderfully wild t-shirt design the band has unveiled (see below), as well as news of new material being written and recorded. Gold Dust may have been quiet since the middle of 2023, but folks who enjoyed The Late Great will soon be treated to a large dose of new sounds and musical directions. They have been feeding me a number of demos, and I can confidently say that folks will be excitedly awed. 2023 was a tough year for Stephen. I’m glad to have him back. Here’s what Stephen had to say:

Hey all. Been a while. I hope you’re well - it’s been a strange and interesting year for me, to say the least, and I’ve mostly disengaged with the digital world. I guess as good a return as any is to show up with a ludicrous new shirt design. It’s an improvement on a similar theme I used for my old band, Kindling, and we’ve done it on tie dye, as well as white on black.

Things have been rolling along excitingly over here. A lot of change. Been writing, recording… you know, all those things bands do.

Here are the shirts:

If you’ve been trying to get ahold of me via socials, I’m sorry to have missed you. Someone will start posting there again at some point, but it won’t be me. You can find me at stephen.e.pierce at gmail dot com. Thank you so much for your patience and kindness through this difficult journey this past year has taken me on.

SOMA To Tour With Grails in July

SOMA has announced that they will be opening for Grails this summer on a string of dates that will take them through the Northeast and into Canada. Silkscreened copies of the Robert Ryan designed tour poster (seen above) will be available at the shows, as will be copies of SOMA’s Burning is Leaning, which is expected to be in its second pressing. Follow SOMA on Instagram for updates.

Jun 29 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar

Jun 30 Philadelphia PA @ PhilaMOCA

Jul 01 New York NY @ Le Poisson Rouge

Jul 03 Boston MA @ Crystal Ballroom

Jul 05 Montreal QC @ Bar Le Ritz

Jul 06 Toronto ON @ The Monarch

Luke Schneider California Dates

Luke Schneider will be visiting California’s Bay Area later this month and playing a string of shows throughout the area.

The first will be in San Francisco on March 20 with Oakland’s Aux Meadows, whose Dust Kingdom on Perpetual Doom was a highlight of 2023. The show will be at Et al Gallery, located at 2831 Mission Street. Showtime is 7-9PM.

On Thursday March 21 Luke will celebrate the Spring Equinox in Santa Cruz with an extended sound bath composition. This will take place at Indexical and is being presented by Centripetal Force. Information and tickets for the Santa Cruz sound bath can be found here.

Luke will travel to Oakland for a show with the Danny Paul Grody Duo on Friday, March 22. The event will take place at The Green Room at Royal Coffee, located at 2523 Broadway in downtown Oakland. The Green Room have established themselves as a premiere venue for instrumental and experimental music.

On Saturday there will be an afternoon house show in San Anselmo. Details for this show are forthcoming.

Luke will be playing with William Tyler and The Impossible Truth on the West Coast between April 17 & 27. He will also have dates in the upper Midwest around the time of the Milwaukee Psych Fest.

Bandcamp Friday Recommendations for March

Bandcamp Friday is upon us once again. And while no one really knows what kind of changes are in store for the indie artist and labels who rely heavily upon the platform for exposure and sales, I ask that you support where you can on March 1st.

I put together a playlist of artists and releases that I feel deserve some of that support. It’s on the BNDCMPR platform, which I’m quite grateful is still around. You’ll find the links you need right there in the playlist. You can find it here. Enjoy!

Centripetal Force to Host First Santa Cruz Event

Centripetal Force is hosting their first event in Santa Cruz, CA in March. It’s going to be a sound bath, a celebration of the Spring Equinox with an evening of rejuvenation, community, and music. The event will take place Thursday, March 21 from 6-8 PM at Indexical, a non-profit arts and community space located in Santa Cruz’s Tannery Arts Center.

The evening will begin with some springtime signature mocktails and esoteric tarot card readings from Gatisa Noble. There will be the opportunity to connect with your intentions for this coming spring season with a meditation circle led by Eve Mannix.

The evening’s main event will be the ambient pedal steel guitar sounds of Nashville’s Luke Schneider. Luke will take take listeners on a meditative sonic journey.

Space is limited for this intimate event. Please bring a yoga mat, blanket, and eye mask (if desired). The goal is for you to be comfortable while lying down and taking in the sounds, so bring what you need. Centripetal Force Records is committed to making our events accessible to everyone. If you require an accommodation or service to fully participate, please contact centripetalforcerecords@gmail.com or 615 933 1955, at least 24 hours before the event. A limited amount of floor chairs will also be available. The space is wheelchair accessible.

Tickets can be purchased here.

Indexical is located at 1050 River St. #119
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

REPRESSES FROM PRAIRIEWOLF AND THE MYRRORS TO GO ON SALE MARCH 1.

On March 1st represses of Prairiewolf’s debut album and The Myrrors’ Live at Exploded View will go up for sale on the label’s Bandcamp site. Demand for both releases has been high, and both records will be available at approximately 8:30 AM Pacific Time. Cardinal Fuzz will also have copies of The Myrrors release going up for sale on March 1st.

This is the third repress of the Prairiewolf album, with this edition being presented once again on Hot Springs Green vinyl. The band will have copies of the record with them at their upcoming Denver appearance with TENGGER, as well as their show with Color Green and Rosali. There will be an announcement soon regarding some additional out-of-state dates coming up in May.

Prairiewolf is currently in the studio putting the final touches on their second album, with hopes of having it released in the fall. Work is being done to ensure the album will be available in the UK and Europe.

The demand was high for last year’s Altered States edition of The Myrrors’ Live at Exploded View, so Dave at Cardinal Fuzz and I got the band to design a new sleeve. I’m not sure if there’s anything left in The Myrrors’ archive, so this may be it.

"With this incantatory live recording, Myrrors create a sound that feels drawn out of the soil. Drone calls, avant-squall, swells of devotional psychedla—whatever you want to call this music, it's entrancing and spiritually voluminous, rising and falling in majestic arcs, soundtracking an imaginary Herzog documentary playing exclusively in your mind's eye." — Jason P. Woodbury 

Both releases are limited and will go quickly. Combine with other new releases of the day (Patrick Sansone & Jack Silverman) and save on shipping.

Announcing SOMA's 'Burning is Learning'

The fourth release on Centripetal Force for this first quarter of 2024 stands quite uniquely on its own. It's a collection of sacred hymns, spellbinding dirges, and a little bit of mystical meandering. It's as heady as it is heavy and as ancient as it is modern, like an old spirit awakened anew. 

Burning is Learning is the second album from SOMA (Sacred Order of Mystic Apogees), a group of multi-instrumentalists from New Jersey with deep roots in the DIY music scenes of the area. They consider their music to be eclectic and sacred, with much of their musical approach grounded in traditions most associated with Pakistan and India. The drone of the harmonium is omnipresent, as is the ambience of the tanpura (a sitar-like instrument) and the reverberations of the mridanga (a percussion instrument). Devotion is at the core of SOMA's ethos, and the group holds various spiritual traditions and devotional practices that inform their sound and style, most clearly heard in the many call and response (kirtan) mantras found throughout the album.

"Shivranjani" is the first track to be released from Burning is Learning.

In quite appropriate New Jersey fashion, Burning is Learning was recorded by Phil Caivano of Monster Magnet and mastered by fellow Monster Magnet alum John McBain (QOTSA, Wellwater Conspiracy). Noted tattooer and painter Robert Ryan is responsible for the album's front cover, and Kevin Craig designed and created the back cover. A limited number of preorder editions of the album will come with artist prints of both pieces. 

Burning is Learning is being presented in a 200 copy vinyl pressing. The album will also be available digitally. The release date for Burning is Learning is March 19. Preorders are now live, on the Bandcamp.

SOMA’s record release show will be April 7th at Jack’s Music Shop in Red Bank, NJ.

Front cover by Robert Ryan

Back cover by Kevin Craig

Getting to Know Kevin Coleman

Listen to Imaginary Conversations.

Kevin Coleman moved to Nashville from Virginia a few years ago to study music at Belmont University. He became frustrated with the program and left, focusing his energy on guitar playing and creating unique compositions. I saw Kevin play a few times around town. He always played solo, and his style reminded me of early Peter Lang. Eventually, I asked him to send me some music when he had some. Shortly after, he sent me some demos. I was blown away. This was no Peter Lang type of affair. It was much more full, something I describe as a collage of fingerstyle guitar, progressive composition, Appalachian vibes, and motorik drive. 

Imaginary Conversations is certainly a release that exists in the same musical conversations being carried out these days by the likes of Jon Camp, Magic Tuber Stringband, and just about every project involving Mike Gangloff.

Jon Camp is actually someone who has been familiar with Kevin’s playing for a few years. Camp believes,

"Imaginary Conversations is an important album for Kevin. It’s exploratory, expansive, and fun, tapping into Kevin’s wide-ranging influences while making sense as a cohesive statement that is uniquely Kevin. It’s an album that will get repeated listens from me." 

Imaginary Conversations goes up for preorder on February 8th, with "Mammut Americanum" serving as the lead single. The album will be released March 19th on cassette, CD, and in digital format. 

I recently sat down with Kevin to discuss his music and craft, his influences, and how this album came together. Check out the conversation below, as well as the accompanying playlist Kevin curated for the occasion (Tidal / Spotify).