Glide Magazine

SONG PREMIERE: The Deslondes Plead For Another Chance with Soulful and Timeless Southern Rock Tune “Try Again”

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:12:34 +0000

Few bands working in Americana today understand the value of community quite like The Deslondes. The New Orleans outfit has always balanced reverence for tradition with a restless urge to keep the conversation moving forward, and on their upcoming release Don’t Let It Die Vol. 1, arriving May 22nd via New West Records (PRE-ORDER), they lean fully into both instincts.

The 12-track collection was tracked to analog tape at the band’s own studio in New Orleans, giving the record the kind of warm, lived-in spirit that has become a hallmark of their sound. Produced by band member John James Tourville alongside Ajaï Combelic of Sabine McCalla, the album follows the band’s widely praised 2024 LP Roll It Out and finds the group revisiting songs that helped shape them—while making room for the voices still shaping them now.

Rather than assembling a straightforward tribute album, The Deslondes approached Don’t Let It Die Vol. 1 as something more personal. The set moves easily between songs by heroes like Swamp Dogg, Shelby Lynne, Johnny Cash, and Clifton Chenier, and newer material from friends, collaborators, and fellow road warriors like Nick Woods and Pat Reedy.

Perhaps unintentionally, the record feels eerily in tune with the present moment. The first half of the album circles themes of collapse and survival, from Swamp Dogg’s nuclear-fallout meditation “The World Beyond” to Cash’s ghost-town narrative “The Ballad of Boot Hill” and Drunken Prayer’s small-town elegy “Cordelia.” It begins at the end of the world and gradually works its way toward renewal, with the title track landing as both a plea and a mission statement—a reaffirmation of the band’s values and the people around them.

That unity is what gives Don’t Let It Die Vol. 1 its pulse. The record crackles with the looseness and chemistry of a band built on instinct, full of hellos and goodbyes, departures and returns. It sounds like musicians chasing songs that matter—not just because they’ve lasted, but because they still have something urgent to say.

Today, Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the standout track “Try Again,” a beautiful song that the band first heard sung by The Kernal and one that feels like it could easily have been written and performed by The Band with its distinctively beautiful Southern soul. The Deslondes take this sentiment and push it even more with piano and their signature harmonies packing an emotional wallop. Their version feels almost spiritual, with the vocals capturing the song’s plea for another chance and the sharp guitar slicing through. As they pick up the tempo and burst into radiant, choir-like vocals, it almost sounds like you are listening to the spiritually enlightened 70s rock of George Harrison.

“I heard the Kernal and his band play this song for the first time many years ago. It was just this lost epic soul song, stuck into their set of mostly country numbers. It stuck with me. It’s got a very simple message of persistence, and maybe even redemption. It sounded like a plaintive plea for another chance. You wanna hope he got one.” -Dan Cutler

LISTEN:

LISTEN: The Tubs Sign To Merge & Share Jangle-Laded Cover Of Metallica’s “Fade to Black”

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:08:52 +0000

Merge Records has announced the signing of Welsh janglepop raconteurs The Tubs. The quartet — Owen Williams, Dan Lucas, Max Warren, and Taylor Stewart has shared a spirited cover of Metallica’s “Fade to Black” that transforms the seminal power ballad into the pastoral, jangle-laden epic it was always meant to be. Check it out below.

Owen Williams on “Fade to Black”:

“Signing to Merge is a dream come true for The Tubs…we’ve been huge fans since we were teens. They’ve put out some of our fave records of all time and we could tell you them all here but we don’t have the space. Call Taylor on +** **** ****** if you’d like the full list.

I’ve always been a big fan of a Metallica ballad. Obviously I like the riffs too but I think there’s a weirdly beautiful and singular quality to their ballads, even though the lyrics are basically always trash. We thought it’d be fun to jangle up Fade To Black and give it a sort of folk rock reinvented outro to announce the signing.”

50 Years Ago Today – The Ramones Start A Revolution With Loud & Brash Eponymous Debut

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 03:09:51 +0000

Released a half-century ago in the midst of mainstream dominance by so-called dinosaur rock acts, the Ramones’ eponymous debut (4/23/76) is the definition of a paradigm shift. With no guitar solos to speak of–the break on “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You” is one note repeated twice–and arrangements further lacking many tuneful vocal harmonies, the Ramones’ singing and playing betrayed not one iota of the blues, a fashionable style as prevalent in those days as progressive rock pretensions.

But for all the seemingly dismissive attitude implied via Joey’s nasally vocals and the frenetic guitars, bass, and drums of Johnny, Dee Dee, and Tommy, respectively, the quartet was a charming lot. That is, if the humor is not too self-deprecating, on, for instance, “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement”; this is, after all, a band that named itself after the surname pseudonym Paul McCartney used to camouflage his real identity in his early days as a Beatle.

Genuinely bitter disaffection is absent from Ramones, too. “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” for instance, is just an observation about life as the Ramones knew it. Meanwhile, “Beat On The Brat” is pure caricature, an element that runs through many of the tracks on the album.

The Ramones’ musicianship derives its impact largely via the breathless performances and unadorned production values of this album. Produced by Craig Leon (Talking Heads, Blondie), in association with Tommy (Erdelyi), the audio mix is a deliberate throwback to decades-old studio technique. More than a few cuts here are less than two minutes long, but taken together, the fourteen total the same number of tracks and the same overall playing time as early Beatles albums (no coincidence there!).

There’s no denying The Ramones knew full well that alienation, especially the self-styled kind, was/is a dead end. But this realization represented a grasp of (gasp!) maturity lost on contemporaries such as the Sex Pistols; this motley American foursome collectively display heart aplenty in numbers such as “Judy Is A Punk” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.”

At the halfway point of Ramones, namely “Loudmouth,” the songs began to (all) sound the same. But the similarity constitutes style rather than a lack of ideas, in part because the world of the four-man band was far bigger than just themselves and those immediately surrounding them (like the poor soul turning tricks in “53rd & 3rd”).

That’s why, within this record of otherwise all original material, composed by bandmembers in various combinations, there appears a cover of Chris Montez’ “Let’s Dance.” In the hands of the Ramones, this 1962 hit rises above its inherent banality to become an ode to all things possible, a corollary to the fitting climax of this LP, “Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World.”

Cheesy Farfisa organ strains there also mark a departure from the group’s basic instrumental lineup, one that foreshadows ever-so-subtle alterations in stylistic emphasis across their fourteen (?) studio albums. Not all so stripped-down as this first one–Phil Spector applied his lavish touch to 1980’s End of The Century–the readily-discernible elements of pop and metal distinguishing this eponymous debut remained a stable foundation for subsequent longplayers such as Rocket To Russia and Road To Ruin.

Pictured on the front cover in a black-and-white photo taken on New York City streets not far from their Long Island home(s), the Ramones look less threatening than ill at ease, lost souls yearning for identity and a passion by which they can develop it.

Luckily, they found one and, five decades later, it continues to echo as loudly as ever, all the way from the hurried count-offs of ‘1234’ to the exhortations of ‘Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!’

50 Years Later: On ‘Black and Blue’, The Rolling Stones Lay Into Reggae, Funk & Renewed Looseness

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 03:01:21 +0000

The Rolling Stones’ latter-day albums were frustratingly erratic long before the misconceived likes of 1997’s Bridges To Babylon. And the hit-and-miss designation applies even to those titles general consensus deems iconic: see 1968’s Beggars Banquet and Sticky Fingers three years later.

But, in marked contrast to those records–as well as Let It Bleed released upon the group’s return to the road at the end of the Sixties–the now half-century-old Black and Blue (released 4/23/76) is a patchwork album with a purpose, its eight tracks far more cohesive than the sloppy collage of salacious images on the outer cover.

Still, that artwork mirrors the fissures within the Stones as a unit at the time of recording the 1976 effort, beginning some two years prior. Schisms arose within the group after the arguable apex of their discography, Exile on Main Street, and fissures widened in the wake of Goats Head Soup and It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll. The departure of guitarist Mick Taylor was a natural extension of these fractures.

The sumptuous wealth of content within the late 2025 Black & Blue re-releases not only captures the essence of the Stones’ situation at the time but also the pragmatic means by which the group addressed their circumstances. The auditioning of new guitarists — including Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins, and the eventual new Stone, Ron Wood — ultimately kept the core ensemble fresh as a means to parlay a variety of material.

In that regard, it’s more than a little amusing to hear the assembled assay culls from the former Yardbird’s watershed Blow By Blow, i.e.,”Freeway Jam.” (little wonder the late El Becko demurred on joining.) More to the point, though, the somewhat tongue-in-cheek Jagger-Richards original “I Love Ladies,” plus a high-energy take on disco stars Shirley & Company’s “Shame, Shame, Shame,” illustrates the band’s collective mind.

The underlying rationale behind this project, that is, reconfiguring the Rolling Stones as a band, is unmistakable in hindsight. So slight a song as it is, “Hot Stuff” vividly demonstrates the mechanics of the Stones. Therein, too, the piano from Billy Preston and Nicky Hopkins returns that instrument to the forefront in the arrangements. (Not coincidentally, both Jagger and Richards worked the ivories during these sessions).

Meanwhile, “Hey Negrita” is largely a rhythmic vamp and nothing more. Similarly constructed, the reggae-derived “Cherry-O Baby” clearly suggests that the songwriter team of Jagger and Richards—known as ‘The Glimmer Twins’ in their dual roles as producers here—relied more on craft than on creative inspiration at the time.

Still, the guitar-centric riffing of “Hand Of Fate,” like the rousing conclusion of Black and Blue that is “Crazy Mama,” betrays no lack of fire, instrumentally or vocally. And “Memory Motel” and “Fool To Cry” are both superior to some of Mick Jagger’s previous efforts in a soul/r&b-oriented style; the lead singer’s passionate delivery, as well as his restrained use of falsetto, conveys the emotional import of the lyrics.

Hearing the relative vigor in the official studio recordings, not to mention the ferocity of the musicianship in a live recording from their 1976 Earls Court show, bespeaks the Rolling Stones’ commitment to themselves as musicians and recording artists a half century ago. The group could ill afford to experiment much, an approach that foreshadows the enduring legacy the group drew upon for 2023’s Hackney Diamonds.

The first Rolling Stones album released in the wake of drummer Charlie Watts’ passing two years prior is marked by a tangible self-consciousness that undercuts both the swagger and the vulnerability inherent in the group’s best moments. As a result, those attributes become even more palpable with five decades retrospect on Black And Blue.

Swirling Soundscapes & Subtle Hooks: Evolfo’s ‘Of Love’ Finds the Sonic Sweet Spot (ALBUM REVIEW)

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 02:56:06 +0000

The seven-piece psych-rock outfit Evolfo returns with the most relaxed, mind-expanding album of their career, Of Love. The Ridgewood, Queens-based players sifted through hundreds of hours of jams developed in their new studio to piece together the thirteen swirling tracks presented here.

The group, Ben Adams – Guitar, Synthesizer, Vocals, Matthew Gibbs – Guitar, Vocals, Ronnie Lanzilotta – Bass, Dave Palazola – Drums, Kai Sorensen – 12-String Guitar, Rafferty Swink – Keyboards, Sound Manipulation, Vocals, and Jared Yee – Saxophone, took the last few years to build a studio and work out their relaxed, hive mind jamming style. Produced, engineered, and mixed by Swink, Evolfo took full control of their sound, which never moves into jamband or prog territory, but rather tinkers on the edges of pop perception.

The record opens with two short, superfluous numbers, “Am I the Butterfly” and “City Mind,” that feature chanting vocals tough to pin down amid echoing layers of sound. The group comes into better focus on the album highlight “Rest Your Head on the Stone”. The smooth psych rock eases out into stratified layers that mesh and flow like a rainbow river.

Gone are the days of their ‘rat rock’ youth. Of Love sounds very far removed from the off-kilter garage tunes of their debut and is much more in line with Site Out of Mine, aiming for a full-length collective psychedelic experience. The vibe sounds like Khruangbin hanging out with Syd Barrett, especially on efforts like the slowly swelling “Restless Seed,” which pulses and is echo-laden, with ominous pop hints flowing throughout.

“Silver Dog” is heavily inspired by Captain Beefheart, while “Anywhere But Here” is a sonic collage with modern jazz touches. The acoustic-based psych-folk effort “Adrian” at the heart of the album threatens to drift into blandness but is saved by an end-of-song shift towards warbling static-laced rock that kicks the energy up. “Detach” is a bit motoring, but the group is much more comfortable zoning out these days.

The album ends with a run of these songs via the la-la-la laced “Under The Eye Of The World”, the slight groove of the philosophically bent “Modern Prometheus”, the warbling R&B adjacent “Aquarian Blue”, the bubbling/babbling oddball “The Committee”, and the breezy exhaling closer “Wandering Wondering”.

Very Flaming Lips in flavor, Evolfo keeps the extended jams at bay but still manages to infuse their psych-rock with a lot of hallucinogenic elements throughout the hazy Of Love.

‘Peter Case At McCabes – My Life To Live’ Reclaims Artists’ Often Overlooked Songbook (ALBUM REVIEW)

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 02:50:41 +0000

Peter Case At McCabes – My Life To Live is not the usual career retrospective of a veteran artist. Granted, the former leader of the Plimsouls spans his canon here, but in doing so over the course of the seventy-one-plus duration of this twenty-two cut sequence, he plays, sings, and speaks with a tangible sense of rediscovery.

Not coincidentally, there’s also a palpable sense of pride arising from the reimaginings of songs like “I Shook His Hand” off Case’s eponymous solo debut. Recorded over two nights at his home-away-from-home venue in Santa Monica, CA, the performance bristles with energy because Peter’s self-penned songs, much like the traditional “Flying Crow Blues,” have aged so well over time.

And not only does the artist seem to know what’s happening, but he’s also relishing the sensation. Adding to the nurturing atmosphere, the feeling is altogether mutual between Peter and the lively audience: the attendees inspire Case as he reaches even further back for the best-known ‘Souls’ number, “A Million Miles Away” (made famous for its inclusion in the 1983 film ‘Valley Girl’).

Playing acoustic guitar, piano, and harmonica by himself most of the time, Peter Case nonetheless enlists additional accompaniment just often enough to avoid any sameness of presentation. For instance, the compact ensemble Cash and Skye adds harmony vocals, bass, and pedal steel on “Oldest Story in the World.” There too, Buddy Zapata’s electric guitar punctuates yet another number by Peter’s former group.

Meanwhile, the latter’s short take on the ivories for John Coltrane’s “Naima” adds to the unpredictable progression of songs as much as the lusty audience singalong on “Somebody Told The Truth.” Peter Case hardly sounds like he’s just going through the motions in rendering his repertoire with such gusto, and those present respond in kind.

At McCabe’s certainly doesn’t supplant Peter Case’s body of work–the quintessential folk of “Ain’t Gonna Worry No More,” from 2007’s Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John, resonates with contemporary relevance–but it should pique the curiosity of both fans and novice listeners about all the other entries in his lengthy discography.

By the same token, becoming familiar (again) with efforts such as the now twenty-five-year-plus Flying Saucer Blues will not render My Life To Live redundant. On the contrary, this selection of material, as well as six spoken word interludes generally more focused than his stream-of-consciousness liner notes (and the final story here called “One For The Road”), will solidify At McCabes as a statement of purpose.

In that sense, this collection is comparable to all the best entries in Peter Case’s lengthy body of work.

Jesus and Mary Chain’s Mark Crozer Crafts Shadowy Alt-rock Soundscapes on ‘Homecoming’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 02:01:13 +0000

As a longtime member of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Mark Crozer is no stranger to dreamy goth rock, and through several solo records and other projects, he’s explored everything from guitar pop to indie rock. But his latest solo effort, Homecoming – which delves into deeply personal issues of loss and grief – is crammed with loops, samples, and effects, making for his most compelling record yet.

“Entertainment Is Dead” opens the album on an ominous note, with a pulsing bass line and a gloomy, almost industrial synth line, before Crozer’s deep, almost whispered vocals come in. The following track, “The Days of Song Are Gone,” hits a softer note but is equally dark, propelled by an almost metallic effect on the vocals.

The album almost wasn’t, with Crozer asserting as recently as last summer that he was no longer releasing new music. But after reflecting on his childhood in Oxford, England, his songwriter instincts kicked in, and he wrote the autobiographical “Everything Must Change.” Considering the rest of the album came about because of this song, it surprisingly sounds unlike anything else in the collection. While it has some wistful, dreamy qualities, it is far less atmospheric and hews closer to his earlier guitar pop work. The next closest song is the title track, which is probably the weakest one here, suffering from lyrics that seem almost didactic and simplistic. It stands out simply because the rest of the album is so strong. “You and Me on the Astral Plane,” for example, is a mix of The Cure and Love and Rockets, with layers of sonic texture. Elsewhere, “The Blight” is moody and stripped down in comparison, but just as compelling.

The album ends on one of its strongest songs, “Feels So Cruel,” featuring droning synths and Crozer pleading for it not to be over. The track deftly ties back to the opening song, once again exploring the theme of loss.

With Homecoming, Crozer threads grief and memory through layers of shadowy soundscapes, crafting a record that lingers long after it fades out. It’s proof that even after decades in the margins of alternative rock, he’s still capable of making something quietly powerful.

Homecoming by Mark Crozer

Golden Age Thursday Samples: The Mighty Tom Cats’ “Love Potion-Cheeba-Cheeba” (1973) Becomes Gritty Hip-hop Via Company Flow (1997) & DMX (1998)

Glide Magazine — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 02:00:00 +0000

Samples in Hip-hop can double as maps to wild, breathtaking places. Sometimes, it’s the sample itself that opens your eyes to a new band from the past with a wealth of releases to dig through; other times, it’s the fact that two artists from different eras of Hip-hop found the same spirit in an old record and flipped it into two completely different atmospheres. Sometimes, the sample leads to an alien place, and a band that never received its proper glory gets put on the proper pedestal.

Such is the case for The Mighty Tom Cats, the soulful afrobeat group whose name lives on through the Hip-hop history books. With only one official LP under their belt, 1974’s Soul Makossa, a stunning 8-song must listen for jazz fusion fanatics, the relatively mysterious group came and went, except for a loose single that arrived even before the group’s lone LP. In 1973, The Mighty Tom Cats released a 7” single featuring the more sultry “Finger In It,” and the infectious, drum-pounding funk of “Love Potion-Cheeba-Cheeba.” Underneath its silly name, the A-side to the 7” held a drum pattern that flicked the lights on for Company Flow and DMX, who used the nuances of The Mighty Tom Cats to express their own creativity. You can hear the original sample and how Hip-hop welcomed the song with open arms below.

Original Sample: The Mighty Tom Cats – “Love Potion-Cheeba-Cheeba”

Produced by Paul Winley & Ann Winley

Company Flow – “8 Steps to Perfection”

Produced by El-P

DMX – “N****z Done Started Something” (Feat. The LOX & Ma$e)

Produced by Dame Grease

Boogie Down Productions – “South Bronx”

Produced by Boogie Down Productions & Partner Lee Smith

LISTEN: Hockitay’s “buttons” Is Slow-Burning Indie Rock Tackling Complex Emotions

Glide Magazine — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:32:46 +0000

Guatemalan-born, Montreal-based artist Hockitay returns today with his most conceptually ambitious work to date: “buttons.” Following the breakout success of his single “over/over”—which earned critical acclaim from Stereogum and The Line of Best Fit alongside 11 Spotify editorial placements—this new release marks a significant evolution in his “unsettled” pop sound.

Classically trained at Concordia University, Hockitay uses his signature hazy production to create a soundscape that feels both futuristic and deeply anxious. He continues to bridge the gap between the organic and the synthetic, cementing his status as a vital voice for the current cultural moment. “buttons” is the second glimpse into his upcoming 2026 EP.

Hockitay is quickly becoming a name one can’t ignore, bursting onto the indie scene with an individuality that seemed to exist before the artist began recording. “buttons,” the latest single from the young, exciting voice, plays like the end of a long day. Exhausted, emotional vocals carry the weight of the ever-shifting human experience, expertly navigating the juxtaposition of a blissful arrangement. Hockitay’s voice steals the show here, even when it slides into the same atmospheric space as the instrumentation, resulting in a cacophony akin to the rushing thoughts of an over-thinker. “buttons,” though, is the antidote to those cascading worries, a kindred spirit also burdened by the heaviness of the day-to-day. Hockitay’s latest single is a companion meant to be taken with you, a waving flag indicating that you’ve had enough, while doubling as yet another enthralling release for an artist who seems to be on the brink of a breakthrough year.

LISTEN: Tracy Bryant Pairs Longing With Hypnotic Percussion On “Window”

Glide Magazine — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:29:37 +0000

Los Angeles-based post-punk musician and tunesmith Tracy Bryant has made a name for himself with a style that’s at once adventurous and melodic, writing songs that boast pop hooks but explore musical nooks and crannies, giving his work a contemporary psychedelic subtext. Bryant first gained recognition in 2011 as founder and frontman of the Los Angeles group Corners. The band became a staple of the underground L.A. music scene with their highly regarded live shows and three well-received releases. Corners toured extensively across the U.S. and Europe before Bryant decided to end the band in early 2016 to focus fully on his solo endeavors.

Bryant now has a collection of solo releases under his belt, and another one is primed to go. The Well, the artist’s first project since 2019, is set to be released on May 22.

“Window,” along with “Cold Feet,” is our first preview of the artist’s highly anticipated return. “Window” is a maze of a single, a collection of false turns with mirrors at the end of these hallways that force self-analysis. There is a lost soul in Bryant’s vocals, as they’re thrown around by hypnotic percussion breaks and driven by hard-hitting piano keys, as if the vocal performance stumbled into a mosh pit of downtrodden tones. During the verses, though, Bryant’s poems on helplessness burst out of the speakers, wandering around the room looking for answers. The vague yet potent lyrics settle in the depths of the listener, forcing us to face questions we would typically run away from, while Bryant sits in and explores these moods throughout “Window.” Reporting live from uncertainty, Bryant delivers “Window” as a preview of his long-awaited The Well, an album that is shaping up to be something special for the veteran musician.

The Well by Tracy Bryant