Rhythms Magazine

Out today, Blues Now brings together two generations of blues musicians, pairing Boston trio GA-20 with harmonica great Charlie Musselwhite for a 10-track set that looks to classic Chicago blues without treating it as a museum piece. Produced by GA-20 guitarist Matthew Stubbs and recorded at Rare Signals in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the album is the latest chapter in a relationship that stretches back to the GA-20’s 2019 debut single, which also featured Musselwhite.

Tributes are pouring in for Oscar-winning Irish singer-songwriter and The Frames frontman Glen Hansard, who was killed in a motorcycle crash in the early hours of Wednesday July 29 near Dublin. Hansard was 56. Hansard’s career crossed three decades and included the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008 with Marketa Irglova, which featured in the film Once. The duo released three albums as The Swell Season, and Hansard also encountered success as a solo artist.

There have been many music-related books published in the first half of 2026. Below are some of those recommended by our writers: Brian Wise (BW), Des Cowley (DC), Michael Goldberg (MG) and Ian McFarlane (IMC). If you would like to recommend some additions to the list then please email us at: admin@rhythms.com.au AFTER THE FLOOD: INSIDE BOB DYLAN’S MEMORY PALACE – By Robert Polito (Liveright) This does something I’ve wanted from a Dylan book for like forever.

The latest episode opens with the passing of saxophonist Plas Johnson, 94, a player whose name might not mean much outside musician circles but whose sound is embedded in popular culture. Johnson’s cool, slinking work on Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther theme is his best-known contribution, but the wider CV is properly formidable: Frank Sinatra, B.B. King, Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, The Beach Boys, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville all appear on the roll call.

Ed Kuepper is marking 50 years as a recording artist with three releases arriving today via Remote Control Records: the new live album The Exploding Universe – Live alongside expanded reissues of Today Wonder (1990) and Autocannibalism (1992). Recorded at Melbourne’s National Theatre in 2023, The Exploding Universe – Live documents Kuepper’s first full-band tour centered on his solo material in more than a decade.

There are few things more reliable in popular culture than a World Cup penalty shootout inspiring arguments about fairness, a Rolling Stones album being handled carefully, or Bob Dylan inspiring precisely no usable information from anyone who has worked with him. Episode 32 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie covers all three, plus a handy mid-year listening list, a salute to two much-loved cultural figures, and Daniel Lanois production lore.

Out today is the first anthology dedicated to the late Australian songwriter’s remarkable solo career. Named after a track from Savage’s 1993 debut EP, the 24-song collection spans nearly two decades of recordings, tracing the evolution of an artist whose understated songwriting and weathered voice made him one of Australia’s most distinctive musical storytellers.

The Bamboos July 16, 2026: Queenscliff Music Festival today unveiled 18 new acts to an already stacked bill for the beloved coastal festival, held on Wadawurrung Country from 27 – 29 November. Leading the charge is Matt Corby, the ARIA Award-winning voice behind ‘Brother’ and ‘Resolution’, touring his fourth studio album Tragic Magic, featuring his iconic liquid basslines, soaring falsetto and ever more sophisticated soul.

Episode 31 of On The Record ranges from Spielberg’s latest extraterrestrial spectacle to Icelandic cocktail jazz, via Australian festival programming, political songwriting, BBC football commentary and the fragile magic of shellac records. It is a wide-ranging conversation, but not a random one. Beneath the digressions sits a recurring question: what makes art endure when fashion, technology and attention spans keep moving on?

Crow’s first album in more than 15 years arrives today carrying a weight few records could have anticipated. Hold Sway, released via Cheersquad Records & Tapes, marks the long-awaited return of one of Australia’s most revered underground rock bands while also serving as the final recording to feature founding guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Peter Archer, who passed away in May.