Collection of various live & improvised experimental practice recordings from Boston psych-rockers Ghost Box Orchestra

Mike Wallace, recognized as a DJ with a passion for uncovering hidden gems and an ear for timeless beats.
Mike's the creative force behind dozens of mixtapes including an LP compilation of film composer Piero Umiliani’s work with record label Nature Sounds. Since 2020, Mike has been studying various acoustic & electronic instruments to record a new series of original background music.

Josh Berwanger could easily be considered a veteran of the rock and roll wars. He first made a name for himself as a member of The Anniversary, a seminal Kansas band that released two glorious albums (2000’s Designing a Nervous Breakdown and 2002’s Your Majesty) and selling over 100,000 records before imploding in a breakup of Fleetwood Mac-style proportions while attempting to tour Japan. Undeterred, Berwanger put together a new band—a country-rock outfit called The Only Children--and would go on to release two criminally underrated records (2004’s Change of Living and 2007’s Keeper of Youth) before pulling the plug on that project and taking a job doing the next most logical thing possible-- coaching high school basketball in Lawrence, Kansas.

Having experienced the highest highs and lowest lows involved with chasing his musical dreams for the better part of two decades, Berwanger found himself at a crossroads—should he finally hang up his guitar for good or should he soldier on, pulling together his best tunes and working with a group of friends to make the best music possible? Luckily, he chose the latter. 
Such sentiments make sense coming from a guy who, as a child, used his first communion money to buy Motley Crue’s Shout At The Devil on cassette. On his new record, Strange Stains, Berwanger manages to balance what have always been his primary influences—the spirit and ethos of classic rock with the kind of pop sensibility and knack for hummable melody that made The Anniversary such a great band back in their heyday. Tracks like “Time Traveler” and “I Can Feel the Moon” rank among some of Berwanger’s loveliest (and catchiest) tunes, while “Baby Loses Her Mind” is the kind of sing-along jam that wouldn’t have been out of place on a classic FM radio playlist.

For the recording of Strange Stains, Berwanger joined forces with old pal (and original drummer for The Anniversary) Michael Hutcherson, who brought not only brought the rhythm to the record, but a wonderful familiarity as well. “Josh and I met in 1996 while playing in local Kansas City pop punk bands,” recalls Hutcherson, “I am honored to be making music with Josh again. For all that’s changed in our lives over the years, we’ve still got a symbiotic musical relationship. No questions, no egos, just rock and roll. “

The new record—which also features additional playing from The Breeders’ Jim Macpherson—speaks not only to Berwanger’s tenacity as a musician, but also to his sense of humor as well. Even though his musical path has been strewn with a few left turns (and a couple of cliffs), he has always retained his ability to turn lemons into sweet, sweet lemonade. Regarding the origins of Strange Stains, he has this to say: “I started dating a girl and she said the only way she would continue to date me was if I got a job in corporate America that involved sitting in a cubicle. I said a quick ‘Fuck No’ and instantly started writing this new album.”

Berwanger’s songs are born out of love, heartbreak, fear and frustration. They sound as big and open and honest as a Kansas skyline and speak to the struggle, unique to someone trying to slug it out in the music business for most of their adult life. Berwanger is, any many ways, a visceral statement about what it means to keep doing what you love—even when it feels like you are doing so against all odds. ”It’s an honest and truly sincere rock and roll record,” he says. “It’s a record that speaks about love, heartbreak, idiots, and continuing to pursue what you love to do, no matter how hard that shit is.”
-T.Cole Rachel

Yellowbirds is the moniker for the latest musical exploits of Sam Cohen (guitarist / songwriter / vocalist in the psychedelic collective Apollo Sunshine).  Cohen grew up in Houston, Texas, and while the Texas of his teens may have been home to Big Oil, Enron, the Bush family, and the drab grey Astros jerseys of the 90's, he prefers to think of it as the Texas of yore- home to Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, the Space Program, and rainbow orange Astros jerseys.  It stands to reason, then, that his current home of New York City must be the mythical Empire City - Rocky Mountains of architecture, epicenter of modern art, home to Charles Mingus and The Velvet Underground.  

It was with these timeless inspirations in mind that Cohen created Yellowbirds' The Color', his "solo" debut.  Double-speed auto-harp glissandos, glowing backwards pedal-steel, bubbling echo and fuzz guitars coalesce into a warm wall of sound.  As existential lyrical themes emerge, delivered nonchalantly over psyched-out aural landscapes, the picture emerges of a dust-blown, 4th dimensional Future West.  This is Cohen's quixotic world where "only the purist tones can be heard".  

We dig through crates so you don't have to.

Polyrhythmic sonic explorations. New LP "EARTH SCIENCE FICTION" out now.

yourreflection is following