“How can it be that you can do everything right and still end up emotionally devastated and financially destroyed? My friend John Anderson and his wife Amanda are monuments to this truth.” Matthew Ryan has given us a lot the past few years — just listen to songs like “Your Museum,” “And It’s Such a … Read more
Check out songs 100-76 and 75-51. Keep up with our ever growing list on Spotify! 50 The Black Keys – Lonely Boy [buy the album] [more Black Keys on Speakers] 49 Steve Earle – Waitin’ on the Sky [buy the album] [more Earle on Speakers] 48 Frightened Rabbit – Fuck This Place [buy the album] … Read more
Time’s a shark and in a hurry It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Well, for some people. For others, it’s the most hurried, nervous, pressure-filled time of the year. A time when we miss people, when family gatherings don’t always come to be. A time when we can’t always get what we want. … Read more
Album art credit: Nate Burrell and Kristin Dennis 1 The Cool Kids | When Fish Ride Bicycles (Green Label Sound) Release Date: July 12th Listen: “Bundle Up” 2 Sleepy Kitty | Infinity City (Euclid) Release Date: July 12th Listen: “Gimme a Chantz!” 3 William Elliott Whitmore | Field Songs (ANTI-) Release Date: July 12th Listen: … Read more
Peter Wolf Crier | Image courtesy of Jagjaguwar The Radio Cure provides you a smattering of great tracks (all at once!) to cure you of your radio blues. Burn ’em on a mix CD, and there you have it. Peter Wolf Crier – Settling It Off A down tempo footstomper (is that an oxymoron?), “Settling … Read more
I want to know what it’s like To live with you To give to you To not be without you My mind wanders aimlessly. (Convoluted translation: I get easily excited and tend to think anything is possible no matter the circumstance or distance between myself and what I want.) I blame songwriters such as Matthew … Read more
It looks like rain And that’s fine with me It’s like we’ve been living On the sun lately If I had to pick one artist that always seems to get to the heart of the matter with his or her lyrics, that artist would probably be Matthew Ryan. The last time we heard from Ryan, … Read more
That, my friends, must be the saddest album cover of 2012. And Glen Hansard: I love you, man, but you’re a sad bastard. And so am I. But let me clarify: sad music makes me happy. I have heard your calls to not listen to sad music when I am down. But I ask you … Read more
She’ll say your name again but it’ll never sound the same Some things we lose are lost but never go away They never go away Oh, it’s been a painful year. And it’s been a beautiful year, full of memories, songs, and moments that I’ll never forget. Still, it’s a bittersweet life, full of questions … Read more
And who can make you laugh and smile like that? And who could break your heart at the drop of a hat? Who paid the rent before you were famous? Who warned you that it steals? Matthew Ryan once wrote a song called “Everybody Always Leaves.” It’s on an album called From a Late Night … Read more
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco | Photo by Jason Gonulsen Our Best of 2014 continues with a look back at the interviews we conducted in 2014, from Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy to Grouplove. Here are a few snippets, with links to the full interview. Jeff Tweedy on creating set lists, emotions I think that we strive to … Read more
To understand and appreciate Matthew Ryan’s music, you have to be a little lucky, at least that’s what I’ve come to believe. If you’re introduced to his catalog via the “wrong” song or album, you might not make it past the first minute or so. You might be scared off by his voice. You might … Read more
I love a song That doesn’t care what you want “Hustle up starlings,” Matthew Ryan sings on the title track of his latest release. “The bats are coming.” Death is nothing new; we expire, we disappear. Life is today. It’s also tomorrow, and the day before yesterday, and it’s sometimes taxing, brutal periods of time … Read more
All photos by Tim Bottchen I wish you were here I wish you could see this First off: “The Queen of My Arms.” Matthew Ryan didn’t include this on Boxers, the superb album he released in 2014. But he played it in my living room, and you can now buy it and listen to it, which … Read more
ALL PHOTOS BY TIM BOTTCHEN I had to let it go I had to let it slip Funny how it all works out Once you’ve given up on it I hadn’t hosted a house show in over four years because, mainly, I lost my house. Well, I suppose I didn’t lose my house — I’m … Read more
“This is an invisible song/ From an invisible man…” Thanks to Jack Spencer, Matthew Ryan’s got a new video, and it’s a beauty. And it wouldn’t surprise me if this particular song, “The World Is…,” which can be found on Ryan’s latest, Dear Lover, is featured in a movie down the road. It’s got that … Read more
Sometimes I close my eyesAnd hum the songs we lovedYour dress was blue and you Were as bright as ChristmasAnd down through all the streetsThe air was cool and sweetAnd all we knew was briefBut seemed eternal The first time I heard this song, I saw Matthew Ryan perform it live, solo-acoustic, at Off Broadway … Read more
“Remember when we met/ We were so innocent/ I was so cautious, you were so cool/ The world was brand new…“ Those words come from the first Matthew Ryan song I ever heard, which was was “Devastation” off his 2001 album Concussion. That tune happens to be a duet with Lucinda Williams, another one of … Read more
Halloween is once again upon us. Yes, it’s that time of year where “grizzly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom.” RIP, MJ. Sometimes, though, it’s not the music video zombies or the ax-wielding goalies that raise the hairs on our arms and tingle our spines. Very often, we are fully … Read more
To me, the best Matthew Ryan songs are the ones where you’re left feeling exposed, like he’s written something about you, something secret. Ryan is one of my favorite songwriters because of songs like “3rd of October,” “Your Museum,” and “It Could’ve Been Worse” – songs that are courageous because they tell the truth, even … Read more
“I want the dream that we never had.” Matthew Ryan does the “sad bastard” songwriting thing pretty well. Ok, he does it extremely well. But you know what? The artist from Chester, Pennsylvania, can also rock, and on his latest album, Dear Lover, he takes a few electric chances that shake the surrounding trees of … Read more