My ambient queen of LA cynthia bernard, aka marine eyes, is celebrating the 2-year anniversary of her debut solo release, idyll. idyll is a pivotal album for me – right when I was getting into ambient music, cynthia’s music pushed me over the edge. I’ve compared her sounds to enya-like as far as scope of soothing and ethereality. In reality, the music is gentle, comforting, heavenly. Using field recordings, her Mexican stratocaster, synth, and her angelic vocals, cynthia created a masterpiece that i’ve continued returning to anytime I’m in need of some sonic solace. I remember riding a citibike around…

This morning, the consistently solid and beautifully blossoming Ruination Record Co. announced Solo Guitar Improvisations , a collection of instrumental experiments by Lilah Larson (Cassandra Jenkins, Thao). Any announcement of solo guitar instrumentals is always good news here, and Lilah’s incredible work does not disappoint. Dive in now with the first track, “i” – which I interestingly read as the article at first, rather than the roman numeral. The collection of songs is a mixture of edifying electric and gorgeous, intricate acoustic meditations. Solo Guitar Improvisations by Lilah Larson I set parameters and let myself loose within them: one take…

Better late than never, we’re sharing Jeffrey Silverstein’s new single from the upcoming Western Sky Music, out 5.12.23 on Arrowhawk Records. Jeffrey ceases to shy away from twang with the new record, both in nomenclature and in sound. The new single has Barry Walker Jr. at his Sneakiest Petiest, and Silverstein at his Bermaniest. Unsurprisingly, its awesome. Jeffrey gets better and better with each release and his songs are taking a turn from the serene to the complex and country-fried, and we are here for it! Western Sky Music by Jeffrey Silverstein Pre-order the album through Arrowhawk Records or Bandcamp.…

Nashville Ambient Ensemble’s debut release Cerulean in 2021 was pivotal in its collaborative, compositional nature. Headed by the visionary Michael Hix, the ensemble featuring Deli Paloma-Sisk (vocals), Jack Silverman (guitar), Kim Rueger (piano), and Luke Schneider (pedal steel), with the addition of violinist Alicia Enstrom, returned to score Nashville’s Frist Museum’s exhibit Light, Space, Surface: Works from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. NAE’s music moves you immediately, with its diaphanous layers, thoughtful composition, and sublime beauty. The new album is out on Centripetal Force Records on April 14th. I am envious of anyone who got to see the…

Good news! The always enchanting Bobby Lee returns with a third album, Endless Skyways, out this spring on Tompkins Square. Endless Skyways is Bobby Lee’s third full album and second release on Tompkins Square. Returning to the full band sound of his debut, the name Endless Skyways is borrowed from a line in Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land, one of the cornerstones of American music. That song’s mix of the terrestrial (“ribbons of highway”) and celestial consciousness encapsulates Lee’s brand of widescreen cosmic americana; a duality also evident in the album’s split between deep-fried rural rock and ambient country. Dusty boots but third eye open. …

Goooood morning! Nothing like waking up to an announcement that Eric D. Johnson has been at it again. “Over the years there’s been a lot of geography in my music, a lot of landscapes,” Johnson says. “Sometimes the places are real, sometimes they’re emotional. I’ve always liked the idea of songs and albums that exist in a continuum with one another. I’m not talking about some kind of deep series of concept albums, mind you. More like the idea that my songs are all pretty much tributaries of the same river. Which makes a lot of metaphorical sense because my…

Today, Petal Motel is pleased to share the last single from Gold Dust’s LP The Late, Great Gold Dust, out 11.4 on Centripetal Force. Gold Dust’s Stephen Pierce gives his heavy-yet-shimmering treatment to what’s arguably his most introspective song about the connection of the inner and outer world, how they coalesce, and searching for acceptance throughout it all. The B-side of this song is a stunning cover of our beloved Gene Clark’s “In A Misty Morning,” which is one of my favorite songs by our shared hero. Listen and read about it in Stephen’s own words here. Mountain Laurel by…

From the album Easy Payday out 11.11.22 on Moonlight Cypress Archetypes, droneroom shares his heavier, pensive side with a meditative composition along with a video featuring shots familiar and unheimlich. The album Easy Payday is a full on collaboration with Nashville’s Josh Byrd. Josh was given 4 pieces with the instructions to ‘destroy them’ and he did so in the most beautiful way. Guitars are processed, reversed, dragged through a time machine, and more resulting in droneroom’s strangest release yet. A perfect foil to the earlier this year album, Whatever Truthful Understanding which showed droneroom at his easiest and most…

I followed Tino first for his stunning visual artworks, but became captivated by the way his sound collages provided an essential complementary component for them, most recently Interpreting Clouds from Sound as Language, so I’m extremely honored to present the video for “For the Stratus Family,” a sound collage that might echo our benevolent space brothers calling to us. “Here, fragments of forgotten VHS tapes and the kind of video effects used by public-access television collide over the instrumental track. Frenetic synths and field recordings morph into a passage of garbled poetry and looping windchimes, while documentaries on flying saucers…