"Weir, Garcia, and their Dead bandmates evolved a musical language that has become a genre of American music unto itself. Weir’s idiosyncratic style is embedded in its core, a lysergic conversation between rock, bluegrass, folk, jazz, blues, global rhythms, and avant-garde experimentation."

Today's Tonal Treat ✨ #SongOfTheDay #NowPlaying #MusicSky #TonalTreat

"Lip Cream were equally wont to tear forward on 300 mph riffs as they were to suddenly stop and play a blues rock ambient piece, cut a song off midway through, or sandwich an album’s contents between excerpts of a self-composed radio drama." Kill Ugly Pop — A Guide to Lip Cream:

I mean is there anything Adam Driver can't do

Fugees collaborator John Forté dead at 50

Silvia Ryder of My Violence discusses her album 'Monday's Child', the unconventional instruments that define her music, and how leaving Sugar Plum Fairies led her to build a new identity from Omnichords and archival film. Poetry Kills — My Violence's Chapbook of Sound: #shoegaze

"Fellow polymath Jim O’Rourke once said that Parks’ debut album Song Cycle was like every idea he could have imagined already done on one album, and that about covers it." An Interview with Van Dyke Parks:

In this excerpt from the latest episode of our podcast, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan reflects on early experiences with Cuban marimba music and the influence of Japanese marimbist Keiko Abe. Hear more from Patricia Brennan on The Tonearm Podcast: podcast.thetonearm.com/patricia-bre... #JazzSky

The Sydney-based saxophonist's album 'Infinity II' emerges from fully improvised sessions with no charts, no discussion, and no overdubs—what Rose describes as humanist minimalism, in which four musicians function as a living system. Jeremy Rose and the Open Sound of Australian Improvisation:

"Don Was admits he had only a casual relationship with the Dead's music when he got the invitation to join Weir's new trio, but quickly fell in love with the philosophy that had guided the group for decades." Playing Grateful Dead songs with Bob Weir — Don Was remembers: www.npr.org/2026/01/12/n...

"It was a seedy hotbed of sex, drugs, edgy music and A-list celebrities where Lou Reed and Andy Warhol partied alongside Blondie and Bowie. How did Max’s Kansas City fall apart?" The debauched rise of New York’s wildest bar:

For drummer and composer Leon Anderson, the long-awaited 'Live at Snug Harbor' is a debut album that documents decades of performance, education, and preservation of jazz traditions. Professor Groove — Leon Anderson Takes the Lead: #jazzsky

"The range of the Tangerine Dream sound became its own definition, an operatic music that seemed to come down out of the cosmos and alternately rock, dance, drift, or punch." A Guide to Synthwave Pioneers Tangerine Dream:

"Perhaps no other 21st-century act has reveled more fully in the mythology of the electric six-string … the duo distills the power chord into a kind of primordial om, removing drums and favoring a symphonic scale over any conventional rock form." Sunn O))) Is Back, and Going Big (gift link):

Recording with legendary pedal steel player B.J. Cole, Jerry David Decicca created an album that uncannily foretold his upcoming heart surgery. 'Cardiac Country' captures both the anxiety of facing mortality and the renewed appreciation for life that followed. Jerry David Decicca + Cardiac Country:

"Now take Shane: one guy, one guitar, two hands. Six strings. Ten fingers. (Throw in a tapping foot for when the timekeeping gets tricky.) That’s the sum total of what he’s working with. These are not the kinds of tools you’d think would be equipped for Autechre’s music."

The Sydney-based saxophonist's album 'Infinity II' emerges from fully improvised sessions with no charts, no discussion, and no overdubs—what Rose describes as humanist minimalism, in which four musicians function as a living system. Jeremy Rose and the Open Sound of Australian Improvisation:

"I scrawled most of the lyrics down like a love letter, one of those frenzied things you do to find out what you’re really thinking. Then we tailored the words as if they were coming from Tom, because he’d be singing it." How Thompson Twins made 'Hold Me Now':

Today's Tonal Treat ✨ #SongOfTheDay #NowPlaying #MusicSky #TonalTreat

"Weir’s McCoy Tyner-influenced tonality allowed him to color jazzily outside the lines while maintaining an unusual inner pulse. If Jerry was the folky psychedelic sage, Weir was the soulful country squire …" Celebrating Bob Weir — 10 of His Most Essential Musical Moments:

just remembered this 1985 photo (from a SEVA benefit) of weir with jonathan richman, who looks like he's trying to figure out how he ended up onstage with a grateful dead. incidentally, weir is singing "ripple," i think maybe the first time he sang a garcia/hunter song outside the dead.

"In his book, 'What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle,' Jonathan Bernstein unravels the complex life of the late Justin Townes Earle, one of the most underrated songwriters of the 2000s." Artists Gone Too Soon — A Conversation with Jonathan Bernstein:

In this clip from the new episode of The Tonearm Podcast, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan describes being drawn to genres like salsa and Afro-Cuban music and how that shaped her musical path. Tune in to the full conversation: podcast.thetonearm.com/patricia-bre... #JazzSky

"Mr. Weir’s severed shorts became a piece of Dead lore. Cutoff shorts to Deadheads were not Daisy Dukes, they were 'Bobby Shorts.'" Bob Weir, a Virtuoso of Hot Pants (gift link):

"From 2Pac in the 90s to XXXTentacion and more in recent years, murder is frequent in the US rap scene. The men trying to protect the artists explain the physical and psychological toll." ‘Your favourite rappers are only alive because of our sacrifices’ — the secret life of rap bodyguards:

Dorothy Lawson, co-founder of string quartet ETHEL. discusses Carnegie Hall, Ron Carter, and why classical music needs to shed its sacred robes and return to its role as cultural glue. Her journey through New York City's musical landscape mirrors the evolution of contemporary classical music itself:

"Auction houses are hawking it. Collectors are hoarding it. One New Jersey man has the market cornered." Inside the Booming Business of Punk Rock's Past:

"As the characters face danger and the emotional anguish mounts, the score shifts into an ambient vibe. It was that shift that Ray admits was the most challenging to nail down." ‘Sirât’ Composer Kangding Ray on How Synths Helped Craft the Film’s Techno Score and Create Desert Sounds:

New "What's in My Bag?" episode with Nels Cline! The Wilco guitarist, composer & bandleader goes record shopping at Amoeba Hollywood and talks about some of his favorite jazz musicians and how the Minutemen changed his view of punk rock. Watch: youtu.be/KUt0djH2Rdk

Discussing his 'walking memoir,' Things Become Other Things, writer and photographer Craig Mod reveals how walking thousands of kilometers across Japan generates the mental space where his ideas develop. Focused Technology—The Deliberate Practice of Craig Mod: @craigmod.com #booksky

"As a vocalist, he sang 'Truckin’,' harmonizing with Garcia on one of the group’s most quoted lyrics: 'What a long, strange trip it’s been.' Here’s a look back at his own journey." Bob Weir — A Life in Pictures (gift link):

"The 145 notebooks in the collection hold lyrical drafts, dreams, film script ideas, and song sketches, along with personal notes scolding himself for not practicing his instrument more." Tom Verlaine Was a Mystery. His Archives Reveal More of His Story (gift link):

Today's Tonal Treat ✨ #SongOfTheDay #NowPlaying #MusicSky #TonalTreat

"We know that so many people are just now starting to come up for air through this disaster. They're just now starting to figure out what they need and what kind of assistance they might benefit from." After the LA wildfires, musicians still face a long road to recovery: www.npr.org/2026/01/09/n...

Absolutely horrible news. Matt was a major contributor to the unique sound that helped Black Midi's debut shine through. RIP. faroutmagazine.co.uk/black-midi-m...

Some quick words for Morton Feldman’s 100th.

Today's new episode of The Tonearm Podcast features vibraphonist, marimbist, and composer Patricia Brennan discussing her stunning new album 'Of The Near And Far' on which she uses constellations as the foundation for compositions that blend jazz, classical, and post-rock … #JazzSky

"Through six decades with the Grateful Dead and its latter-day incarnations after the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, Weir contributed just as much when he wasn’t the player in the spotlight." Bob Weir Was the Dead’s Invisible Thread (gift link):

From producing Galaxie 500 and Low to his new ambient masterwork '...and the crimson moon whispers goodbye,' Shimmy-Disc founder Kramer reflects on spontaneous composition, the spiritual dimensions of reverb, and finally achieving his personal 'Rothko Chapel.' A Conversation with Kramer:

"Over time, Sinéad O’Connor would come to recognize 'The Holy Spirit' as music itself, an animating oversoul bringing the piano to life, a direct channel to the divine." I Want to Be Haunted by the Ghost:

"… [doomgaze] can refer to My Bloody Valentine-esque stunners performed at a snail’s pace; depressive, faintly grungy lo-fi racket; post-metal enshrouded in pot smoke; or something else entirely. Even the bands’ guesses are as good as ours, even among those who self-identify …"

As the lines between mainstream and underground continue to dissolve online, artists carrying the "vibe of the internet" create music that reflects the web's original wild freedom rather than its corporatized present. Postmodern MCs — What Makes a True Internet Rapper?:

"For me, the world is often auraculous or 'ear-marvellous' – full of noises, which, to cite Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, 'give delight and hurt not.” How to enjoy the music and sounds of the world that surrounds us:

"Equally devoted to cowboy story-songs as much as he was to zigzagging melodies, Weir, who died at 78, was a creatively restless soul who helped flesh out the Dead’s music in multiple ways." Bob Weir — 10 Essential Songs (gift link):

On the album 'Won't Believe In Dust', Alta Vista moves past the country songbook that sparked their formation, embracing everything from calypso bounce to free-flowing post-bop and the belief that laughter belongs in the creative process. Highbrow Meets Lowbrow in Alta Vista's Musical Blender:

"Flo is in the greenhouse today with avant-garde artist, musician, + filmmaker Laurie Anderson. … As the pair plant out crocus sativa bulbs they compare strange counting habits, their very different takes on AI, and Laurie’s time hanging out with Andy Kaufman." Digging with Laurie Anderson and Flo:

Posted this a few times on the Bowie anniversary but not over here so here’s one of my favourite tributes of that day, from the organist at Kelvingrove Museum.

"Unbelievably, it’s been 10 years since David Bowie died … Then came Prince in April and Leonard Cohen in November, and there wasn’t enough left to hold the world together after that. If everything seems off, it’s because we’re living in the posthumous." A decade after David:

Today's Tonal Treat ✨ #SongOfTheDay #NowPlaying #MusicSky #TonalTreat

“Country music aims straight for the heart and when it misses, it misses really badly. And that’s the stuff that makes the most noise and takes up most space… There’s a soulfulness to country music that can elude you if you just look at the big picture.” Emmylou Harris on her garlanded career: