From the Big Stir Records Facebook page:

It is time for Big Stir Records to begin rolling out our Cast of Characters for our 2020 album release slate! And what a cast it is, having started with Anton Barbeau and soon to cross oceans from the UK to the California coast and back to Germany with points Midwestern looming large in between. So let us first introduce you to: DOLPH CHANEY, whose Artist page can be found at www.bigstirrecords.com/dolph-chaney ... so let's meet the man, shall we? 

In June of…

I'm thrilled to announce that a slight return of my song "Christmas" (written in 2000, re-recorded for LOUDNESS 2 11), which has now been rigged up with a new rhythm section and guitars, is included on the BIG STIR HOLIDAY MAXI-SINGLE for 2019! 

Order NOW!

What else is there, you ask? Well, for your $4, you get 8 songs total, on which I'm honored to be joined by Anton Barbeau, the Bobbleheads, Kai Danzberg & Scott McPherson, the Decibels, the Forty Nineteens, Alison Faith Levy + Karla Kane, and the…

For Giving Tuesday 2019, "It's OK" and "I Am The B-Side" will make their physical debut on BIG STIR SINGLES: THE FOURTH WAVE -- the newest in the ongoing series of quarterly roundups from Big Stir Records. The Ed Asner Family Center gets $5 for every copy (CD or download) of THE FOURTH WAVE.  This incredible organization provides support to families of those with special needs, and I have never been prouder to be associated in some small way (alongside my Big Stir buddies, particularly acknowledging Joe…

Both tracks of the single ("It's OK" b/w "I Am The B-Side") are now available to preview and pre-order for Friday e-delivery.

www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles

Here's what Big Stir has to say about it:

Big Stir Records’ 40th Digital single release (out Friday, August 23 and available for pre-order now at www.bigstirrecords.com/big-stir-digital-singles) comes from Illinois-based lo-fi mastermind DOLPH CHANEY. Dolph’s roots in the Big Stir massive trace back to the ’90s when Chaney and BSR…

On August 23rd 2019, Dolph is proud to present the IT'S OK single, as a summertime pre-taste of the REBUILDING PERMIT album to follow in the fall.  Making this extra special, the release is part of the Big Stir Digital Singles series from venerable Burbank melodic-rock / power-pop institution Big Stir Records (helmed by Rex Broome and Christina Bulbenko, a.k.a. the core of The Armoires).

The single includes two of Dolph's best and brightest…

1. Juliana Hatfield, PUSSYCAT
- In 2017, where an up-to-the-minute protest album was needed more than ever, how many of us guessed it would come from Juliana Hatfield? Coming out when it did, directly between the Women's March and #metoo, it's pointed, hilarious, caustic, and yet as singalongable and well-crafted as the best of her 30-year career. Makes me wanna go fuck shit up.
(purchase at Bandcamp)
2. Thundercat, DRUNK
3. Nicole Atkins, GOODNIGHT RHONDA LEE
4. The War On Drugs, A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING
5…

Well, folks -- though I didn't put out new music myself in 2015, and though my weekly blog RELEASED THIS DAY went to sleep 3 years ago, I still did a pretty fair amount of listening to new stuff, and here are the albums I enjoyed the most.

WHAT REALLY HIT ME WERE THESE:

1. Girlpool, BEFORE THE WORLD WAS BIG
-- This record makes me want to run around flapping my arms with the biggest grin I can muster, except that I don't want to miss a word or a detail. It leaps out of the speakers, partly thanks to the…

Another in the holiday calendar series, this is of and for Kerry my sweetest. Not so afraid of love songs after all, I guess.

Sweetest Day

On one 3rd Saturday of October
the candy came to those with none
A generous spirit trumped being sober
And Sweetest Day had just begun.

This is the 15th day of July
New message here, a bell has rung
It's a sweet day to become your new guy
My sweetest days have just begun

I was sure I would never do this again
And I was wrong and I am blessed
So let's go out and pay…

In those dark pre-Christina-Hendricks-on-MAD-MEN days of 2006, I spat this song out of frustration with a culture that seemed to be literally starving out a generation of the young and talented. But... a straight guy ranting about female body image issues in pop culture is automatically suspect, isn't it? Also, I probably should've known better than to go topical about young Hollywood -- the references date the song immediately. Hopefully it's taken in the spirit it's given: that real women are awesome…

The 32nd piece I worked on with my digital 16-track is an instrumental using the Moog MG-1 into the Boss GT-3 "riff" setting, while also recording a raging thunderstorm through the window.  "32" is also the title because of a reference dating back to the first band I was in during college (Gordian Knot).  Our drummer, Steven Cherry, wrote a beautiful lyric about space and titled it "32" because 32 is the ASCII numerical code for a single space.  I set that to music (which is completely unrelated to this…