Silkworm veteran Tim Midyett finally drops the first Mint Mile full-lengthon March 24, 2020 at 6:20 pm

Calling Mint Mile singer and guitarist Tim Midyett an underdog is a bit silly, because he’s spent three decades cranking out jams in some of America’s best guitar bands, including Silkworm and Bottomless Pit, and now plays bass in Sunn O))). All the same, he’s never gotten his due as a songwriter! Mint Mile have released a string of tasty EPs since 2015, and on Friday, March 20, they dropped their full-length debut, the double LP Ambertron, via Comedy Minus One. It’s a stunner, with a cast that includes singer Kelly Hogan, bassist Matthew Barnhart, Songs: Ohia drummer Jeff Panall, and Palliard pedal steel guitarist Justin Brown. The music mixes up choppy country rock, folky instrumentals, and even a Christmas song, and on “Likelihood” Midyett and Brown kick up a booming Crazy Horse thunder. Mint Mile’s release show at the Hideout on Friday, April 24, has been postponed, like most other gatherings on Earth.

Tired of album-anniversary think pieces but still want to commemorate, say, Genesis’s 1980 album, Duke? To celebrate the record’s 40th anniversary, Steve Reidell of Air Credits and the Hood Internet has remade its first nine songs! He had help from his Air Credits bandmate ShowYouSuck, rapper Auggie the 9th, Mike Lust (Tight Phantomz), Johnny Caluya (Verma), Tobacco (Black Moth Super Rainbow), and Stacey Marquardt (Reidell’s spouse). Marquardt also did the artwork, casting Reidell as the lonesome figure in a green suit on the album’s cover, staring out the window at the moon. Reidell released his version of Duke on Tuesday, March 24–40 years to the day after the original.

Sweet-voiced Chicago soul man Doug Shorts led soul-funk unit Master Plan Inc. from the early 70s till 1980, then re-formed the band in the 2010s, after soul collectors and labels began flocking to his early recordings. Last week the group released the full-length Master Plan Inc. 3, and they sound as smooth as ever. v

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