Locust Land, is Bill MacKay’s first album since 2019. It’s a mix of folky vocal melodies and transcendent instrumental reveries, intricate in execution but sublimely easy to listen to. We caught up to talk about MacKay’s life in guitar; the way that structured, sung songs and open-ended improvisations can say the same things in different ways, and how he hopes his music will land with people.
Search Results for: Bill MacKay
Bill MacKay :: Movie House/Sala de Cine
When improvisor Bill MacKay spoke with Aquarium Drunkard before, he evoked the dim of the movie house in his work. “Cinema’s always been important, and music that has that cinematic edge to it especially interests me. I think a lot of the things that have hit me really heavily have some of those filmlike qualities to them.” Now American Dreams Records releases Movie House | Sala de Cine, a book of poems from Bill MacKay. The noted Chicago musician wrote in English and then translated each to Spanish, with editorial assistance from Luis Jorge Boone. Today, AD presents “Oddly colored sunsets.”
Bill MacKay on New York Tendaberry
As a guitarist and improviser, Bill MacKay specializes in collaboration and openness. He’s that way as a listener too. Today he joins us for an essay about Laura Nyro’s third album, 1969’s New York Tendaberry.
Bill MacKay and Nathan Bowles: Keys / Black Twig Pickers: Friend’s Peace
As its title suggests, Keys unlocks all kinds of musical doors, welcoming the listener into spaces that are alternately joyous and mournful, weird and deep. Make yourself right at home.
Bill MacKay & Katinka Kleijn :: Stir
On the heels of the excellent Fountain Fire, Bill MacKay returns with his second LP of 2019, this time alongside “Chicago’s first lady of the cello,” Katinka Kleijn.
Bill MacKay: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Chicago guitarist Bill MacKay returns with another winningly eclectic solo LP for Drag City. Fountain Fire sneaks up on you; its songs are unassuming at first, with a loose, conversational feel to them. Ahead of the album’s release, MacKay joined Aquarium Drunkard to discuss his shifting approaches, cinematic inspirations, and establishing his own musical language.
Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker :: Lonesome Traveler
The stellar Chicago duo of Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay return next month with SpiderBeetleBee , a collection of fluid acoustic freedom flights, floating from Britfolk excursions to hazy rambles into unclassifiable zones. Walker and […]
Bill MacKay :: Esker
In recent years, guitarist Bill MacKay has served as Ryley Walker’s six-string sparring partner , built luminous soundscapes with Rob Frye (Bitchin Bajas, Cave) and led the jazz-inflected Darts and Arrows collective. A varied resume! MacKay maintains this healthy sense of adventure on Esker , […]
Dynamic Duos :: James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg / Bill Mackay & Ryley Walker
With John Renbourn passing into the great unknown this year to join his six-string brother in arms Bert Jansch, it’s a good time to be reminded of the wonderful sounds two acoustic guitarists in joyous communion can make. These […]
Bill Callahan :: Cowboy
For the track “Cowboy”, off last year’s Gold lp, Callahan tagged up with filmmakers Anthony Gasparro and Mikey Kampmann to bring the song to visual life.
Below, we flip the script as Callahan catches up with the pair to discuss their working relationship, storytelling, synchronicity, rippling kindness and the power of the tuna melt as edible nostalgia.
BCMC :: Foreign Smokes
Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain run in the same Chicago circles, MacKay tilting, maybe, a little further towards folk and blues and Crain of Bitchin Bajas and Cave leaning harder into krautish experimental drone. There’s certainly plenty of common ground, however, judging from this four-track collaboration, as both work to find magic in still, pooling reservoirs of sound that do not move so much as they glisten in unearthly light.
Aquarium Drunkard Presents: The Drop Bear’s Song
At 44 tracks, the digital relief album serves up a massive helping of AD compatriots including, but not limited to, Steve Gunn, Mary Lattimore, James Toth, Sarah Louise, Maston, Bill MacKay, MV & EE, Andrew Tuttle, and loads more.
Mute Duo :: Lapse In Passage
As Mute Duo, pedal steel guitarist Sam Wagster and percussionist Skyler Rowe drift and rage with unusual grace. Best known for collaborations with Ryley Walker, Bill MacKay, Ben Lamar Gay, and Tim Kinsella, the two players stretch out gloriously on their latest, Lapse in Passage, which twists and churns within the heady post-everything frame work that has flourished in their hometown of Chicago, evoking loose-limbed spiritual jazz, inverted exotica, and ragged improv.
Catching Up With Peter Prescott
Author and artist Dmitry Samarov’s new book, Music To My Eyes, was released last month via the Chicago based Tortoise Books. A 264 page love letter to independent music, Samarov’s words and minimalist illustrations flow in tandem, presenting a portrait of fandom and appreciation, from Nick Cave to Bill MacKay. Below, Samarov catches up with one of the subjects of his new book, Mission of Burma’s Peter Prescott.
Various Artists :: Save the Waves: People for Public Media
In June, the House of Representatives voted to eliminate all $1.1 billion in Federal Funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the next two years. Mike Horn, who records as the cosmic ambient Seawind of Battery, is fighting back, raising money to support public radio and TV through this 19-track compilation. It’s a worthy cause, and you could justify the purchase strictly on philanthropic grounds. However, Save the Waves is also an excellent compendium of the current state of ambient, (mostly) instrumental psychedelia, topped up with contributions by Takoma-style pickers, experimental droners, slowcore dreamers and improvising guitar heroes. Don’t buy it because you should. Buy it because you want to.