"Trust your gut, just make sure you put in a few decades of practicing your craft beforehand." -- Luka Nikolić, from today's Ink 19 interview with Randy Radic

"On his new single, 'Chaos,' West Coast artist Reese Weil teams up with Bay Area artist Nef The Pharaoh and shapeshifting utility player Derek King, resulting in a radio-ready song that amalgamates hip-hop bounce, pop-hook gloss, and alt-rock grit—all under a sun-bleached sheen." -- Randy Radic

"The Charmer is the Toadies in the raw, naked and unafraid to be completely authentic, sinfully simple, and even a little vulnerable." -- Peter Lindblad

"On Halcyon Week, his debut album, Ian McArdle reveals his gifts for amalgamation and arrangement, ricocheting between elements of jazz, blues, R&B, and prismatic sounds." -- Randy Radic

"Throughout In Times of Dragons, the politically charged narrative of the fight for democracy over tyranny is delivered with grace, emotion, atmospheric layers and myth-meets-realism that few can master." -- Judy Craddock

"Lifted from their debut album, Something to Consume, 'American Porn' finds the band at their most explicit and least interested in being affable." -- Randy Radic

"Betty Moon is back with Strangely Beautiful, a six-track EP that arrives like a neon postcard from the ‘90s, when rock, soul, and electro-pop never stopped merging their distinctive textures." -- Randy Radic

Congratulations to @stephenking.bsky.social for this well-deserved honor!👍 (Novels/Novellas: Approximately 65 to 67 Non-fiction books: 5 books. Short Stories: Over 200 Pseudonyms: 7 novels were published as Richard Bachman. Frequency: He has published at least one book almost every year since 1974)

"No trace of a premeditated show or overproduction, just songs, stories, and the kind of real music that keeps people coming back year after year to a basement in Iowa City." -- Jeremy Glazier

"Many Disappeared makes its case through understatement. In a time when authenticity often means maximal disclosure, Thin Lear finds a quieter truth." -- Randy Radic

"I’d wager a bet that [Purple State] will resonate best with a 20-to-30-something female audience. Fortunately, in this case, I’m not like the other boys. Hence, I glided through the lip-glossed rom-com with the ease of the savviest Sephora shopper." -- Christopher Long

"Huey’s deliciously weathered vocals imbue the lyrics with the aching loneliness of his roving way of life." -- Randy Radic View the Music Video Premiere today at Ink 19.

"The vast Rockpalast archive has been mined over the years for commercial releases, and the latest offering is a funky set by Dr. John and the Lower 911, recorded at the Loreley Amphitheatre on Lorelei Rock in Sankt Goarshausen, Germany." -- Bob Pomeroy

"In the midnight hour, Penny Arcade retires to more intimate spaces, where darkness encroaches and James Hoare... makes sonic slurries of titian organ ooze and varied guitar flurries while typing out drum machine codes of soft clacking and airy puffs." -- Peter Lindblad

"Jersey Town reveals Karp as an artist running on hard-earned momentum." -- Randy Radic

"Stacy Mitchhart sounds like an artist fully aware of his place in the blues genre — and determined to make the most of it." -- Randy Radic

"On To Love Is To Perform, New Orleans–based Nu jazz singer-songwriter Jada Di’Larosa delivers a captivating album that favors nuance over spectacle." -- Randy Radic

"A new personal favorite, 'queremos rock (go thru the motions)' reveals ET Boys harnessing their creativity in ever more innovative ways." -- Randy Radic

"Children have been vampire victims in film at least as far back as Bela Lugosi’s Dracula (1931), but having a child be turned into a bloodsucker was a bold choice and one of the elements that makes this film so terrifying and memorable." -- Phil Bailey

"Don’t toss the skinny ties just yet. If Hope and Fury is simply Jackson’s direction du jour or the beginning of a lengthy experimentation in sound, I’m here for it." -- Judy Craddock

"Philly-based RW Hellborn releases his new single, 'Morbid Curiosity, a snarling, potent punk song lying somewhere in-between self-annihilation and introspection." -- Randy Radic

"If We Could, Would We zings throughout as a result of subtle, yet Schick-sharp production... Yet conversely, it’s the stripped-down vocal track, 'Run Dry,' that arguably deserves MVP honors for possessing the courage to arrive at the banquet completely naked." -- Christopher Long

"While there’s certainly no shortage of highlights, Nightmare Tripping does own a few particularly tall standouts, including the powerhouse leadoff video / single 'Cellophane' and the surprisingly legit, unholy union with Nickelback on the title track." -- Christopher Long

"Almost every bit... bristles with deliciously ominous, blazing urgency and nervy immediacy, and there is terrifying beauty underneath all the trashy turbulence, with A Place to Bury Strangers occupying liminal spaces and spraying the walls with feedback-laced graffiti." -- Peter Lindblad

"Fay operates at the intersection of folk, Americana, and Indigenous storytelling, but ᎠᏫᏒᏅ feels especially grounded. Their voice—warm, steady, and quietly commanding—highlights songs that meditate on place, identity, and belonging without slipping into abstraction." -- Randy Radic

"Ghalia Volt has it going on. 'Let Yo’ Hair Down' is soaked in grimy, grungy, stripped-down roots guitars that are so raw, they ooze blood." -- Randy Radic

"It’s hard to imagine a more cathartic form of therapy than erecting epic wailing walls of shoegazing, post-punk sound with The Twilight Sad." -- Peter Lindblad

"Each song unfolds like a stepladder, allowing the listener to anticipate the view, from heartbreak ballads to solid reasons to be thankful for the little things." -- Judy Craddock

"With his wonderfully tattered voice at the forefront, on Coast of Light, Luke Winslow-King blends blues and tinges of other genres into a glorious album." -- Randy Radic

"A mid-tempo, throbbing rhythm infuses the melody with the feeling of a beating heart, balanced on the precipice of making a life-changing decision." -- Randy Radic

"Are there so many ideas are packed into All Clouds Bring Not Rain that it runs the risk of becoming an amorphous, overly complex hodgepodge of mismatched sounds? Not a chance." -- Peter Lindblad

NYC Friends! Awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at Berlin and one of our top films from last year, Radu Jude's Kontinental '25, opens this Fri. 3/27 @filmforumnyc.bsky.social! Our capsule review for @ink19.bsky.social is here: ink19.com/2025/12/maga... @12special.bsky.social

"She Shoots Straight mixes terrific action sequences with familial melodrama in a delightful mix of styles for a modern reworking of the Women Generals of the Yang Family legends." -- Phil Bailey

"Seattle-based Filipino American artist Pol Sembrano unveils the music video for “Anywhere,” a polished reintroduction that also serves as the lead single from his recently released self-titled debut album." -- Randy Radic

"Vocalist Mark Zowie offers a track-by-track breakdown of how NOVABLOOD stretches the tension on You’re New To This Aren’t You — sometimes tightening the screws, sometimes letting the whole thing begin to collapse under its own weight." -- Randy Radic

"Crawling out of the woodwork with King of the Dogwoods, their 12th album and first full-length since 2008’s Silver, the venerable Boiled in Lead stages an eclectic Celtic-punk revival steeped in rustic, folky darkness. What a time for their new release to be alive." -- Peter Lindblad

"The audience... politely listens to 'Little Gears,' my favorite so far... a new song about another little creature. Case is the queen of minute observation, immortalizing the intense little life of a being so generally unnoticed, derived from an internalized one-hour glance."

"Ultimately, the book provides DiFranco another vehicle in which to wrestle with people’s projections onto her versus her true self." -- Blake R. Bickham Photo by Shervin Lainez

"Vaguely reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen, only better, with Rainmaker, John Hollier & The Reverie deliver a restlessly, wickedly superb album." -- Randy Radic

"Nashville guitarist/singer-songwriter Ben Brandt unveils his debut album, Solid Ground, an exploration of the confluence of indie elements and the pulverizing muscularity of blues rock." -- Randy Radic

"Generous of spirit, with a heart full of humanity, The Notwist does battle with the forces of fearful misery and oppressive cynicism." -- Peter Lindblad

"Sweet Petunia’s most lethal weapons are their palate-pleasing lead vocals, soul-piercing harmonies, heart-tugging lyrics, AND rib-cracking collision of banjos, fiddles, and acoustic guitars." -- Christopher Long

"A feast of fantastical imagery and visionary storytelling populated by uniquely formed characters, the post-punk puppet masters’ latest LP goes on nostalgic reveries, Bid employing various literary devices to reassess and reflect." -- Peter Lindblad

"Although the band is currently on tour supporting their recently released 21st album, All Washed Up, tonight’s set list was a career-spanning, meat-and-potatoes cavalcade." -- Christopher Long Photo by Christopher Long

"Much like short-form video trends are changing film, I think we’ll see technology influence how people consume books. However, I think storytelling and escapism will always stay in demand." -- Amaris Emersleben via Randy Radic Photo by Claudia Reinert

"In a fashion similar to such iconic artists as David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, and Elvis Costello, the music of Harry Styles continues to mature and evolve while remaining fresh and exciting..." -- Christopher Long

"Beautifully staged on the rocky shores of Greece, which really helps to open up the stage-bound source material and keep it from feeling stodgy, director Cacoyannis stays true to Euripides while still creating a modern, entertaining film." -- Phil Bailey

The Japanese Godfather Trilogy "is a distinctly Japanese reinterpretation of The Godfather films, absorbing their essence yet transforming it into something unique." -- Phil Bailey

"Instant Comfort is visited by the ghosts of shoegazers past, present, and future." -- Peter Lindblad

"[Westworld] is a cultural touchstone, and it is a bit alarming how relevant it still feels as we enter the AI age." -- Phil Bailey