My latest spiel links to a short, killer playlist of grooving guitar-based acid-rock from Ghana.

Greg writes about Angélica Garcia, who has had first-hand experience with multiple cultures. In marking her return to Los Angeles during the pandemic, "Gemelo" finds her singing primarily in Spanish on album for the first time, which presents a challenge - bit.ly/3LmJI19

From one of my favorite artists of recent years, a perspective on the pluralism of American music and its makers. Some spiel here: bit.ly/3LmJI19

It's a day to say #ThankYouSteveAlbini. Albini was Chicago, as integral to what made this city so vital for artists, activists, motivators, workers, doers as anyone over the four decades I knew him and his band(s). Here's one reason why: shorturl.at/PE4gA

Martin Phillipps is gone, RIP. He was the driving force in one of the great if unsung bands of the last 40 years, the Chills, from the unlikely musical hotbed of Dunedin, New Zealand. I once spoke to Phillipps about the Dunedin scene. Here's an excerpt: shorturl.at/mH9Zv

Recent trip to Portugal a whirlwind of music in the streets & bars. Fado, music of the people since the 19th Century, is thriving in the cafes thanks to a new generation of dedicated singers & guitarists. Folk-meets-street-opera tales of longing and perseverence, here in Lisbon:

There are always more quality songs than room on the charts for hits, so Jim and Greg make a habit of sharing new batches of buried treasures as often as possible. This time around they’re joined by their producers and include picks from around the world: bit.ly/3LQ7TFv

Wow, I'm the most dangerous little old lady of 84 you've ever heard of! Was it the blue XXXs? Too hot to read? Adult entertainment only? I wonder which satirists of ancient Rome would be banned there? And I'm banned from Russia, too! Oh alas, whatever will I do? Hit Utah with my

A Chicago blues two-fer this week on Sound Opinions . Alligator's Bruce Iglauer on the label's half-century legacy and a rare acoustic performance and interview with Buddy Guy . Check it out: bit.ly/3YG6JE6

This is the correct answer.

We talk w/ author & Lou Reed aficionado Jim Higgins about what matters most about Lou: the music -- the good, the not so good and the occasionally confounding. Plus reviews of the new LPs by Common + Pete Rock & Jack White. On Sound Opinions : bit.ly/4dDhn2X

Michelle Obama’s full speech at the DNC

After the DNC, Mavis Staples performed "Freedom Highway" the song her father, Pops Staples, wrote 59 years ago about the Selma-to-Montgomery march for civil rights in 1965. Here's how it went down last night and 59 years ago in Chicago: shorturl.at/KOufi

Dero and I pick some of our favorite songs from a watershed year in rock/hip-hop on this week's Sound Opinions. Let us know your picks and give the show a listen: bit.ly/3MnvWMk

I love Redd Kross . But Kurt Cobain didn't. I dig into why: bit.ly/4dusT0O

The anniversary of the late, great Sterling Morrison's birthday prompted me to dig out one of my old interviews with the Velvet Underground's guitarist and, boy, did he unload on the bands that got rich singing about the Summer of Love. Here's the link: facebook.com/greg.kot.56/

We've been attending Chicago Jazz Fest for decades, & what a treasure it is for the city. I saw countless great artists perform live there for the first time. This year, it was Philly DIY pianist Orrin Evans & the 13-member Spanish Harlem Orchestra, jazz salsa in full effect.

I'll be riffing at the Evanston Folk Festival at 5:15 p.m. Sunday on The Soundtrack for Changing the World: Mavis Staples, Bob Dylan and the civil rights movement. Lineup of speakers that day also includes Mark Guarino and Jeff Tweedy.

As an MC, JPEGMAFIA might just piss you off. But he'll also make you think. He's also an idiosyncratically gifted producer. His latest LP is yet another reminder of why he's such a force in hip-hop who doesn't play by anybody else's rules: bit.ly/3ZekUkf

BREAKING: Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris after this debate, signed a “Childless Cat Lady”