Butthole Surfers Are BACK and Paul Leary Explains How

We interviewed Paul Leary, guitarist and founding member of the Butthole Surfers, and he walked us through each of their albums, one-by-one. Made up of core members Paul Leary, Gibby Haynes, and King Coffey, the Butthole Surfers are one of the most beloved and extraordinarily weird bands in history. But after some major-label drama in the early 00s, they are finally releasing the original version of their final album as it was intended by the band (After the Astronaut, out June 26).

The Reason Why Older Records Sound Better

“And it wasn't just the gear either—it was the high-stakes environment that no longer exists.” That’s the kicker IMO. You had to be very very present when playing to tape. You only had like 16 minutes a reel I think and everyone wanted to get it right. You could do it again and again, but not as easily as today. So there was just this build up of “Intent” in the playing.

Yup.

Just a doodle in Karma tweaking on displacement and another band show with a 3 piece version of New Not Normals.

Just trying to avoid the news ya know? I have a cubic fuck ton of portfolio updates to get to at some point, but I have always had such a distaste for the, “look at me, lookat me, LOOKATME” hustle. I dunno, I should get to that eventually. Fairly busy oddly, which we take as a indicator that the AI slop is not actually getting traction like the corpos hoped. Bonus, “FUCK AI” shout out.

Extended Interview: Jeff Tweedy

In this web exclusive, Jeff Tweedy, front man of the rock group Wilco, talks with correspondent Anthony Mason about his solo project, a triple album called "Twilight Override."

The making of Z by My Morning Jacket - featuring Jim James

Really interesting interview that made me go back and give this one a deeper listen.

“For the 20th anniversary of the fourth My Morning Jacket album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. The band originally formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky by Jim James, Johnny Quaid, Tom Blankenship and J. Glenn. After signing with Darla Records, they released their debut album, The Tennessee Fire in 1999. Danny Cash joined on keyboards before the release of their second album, At Dawn, in 2001. Patrick Hallahan took over on drums as they signed to ATO Records. Their third album, It Still Moves, was released in 2003. At this point, Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash decided to leave the band so they held auditions and recruited Bo Koster and Carl Broemel. For their fourth album, they hired producer John Leckie and began recording outside of their home studio for the first time. Z was eventually released in 2005.”

Music Fridays: Khruangbin!

Khruangbin brought hypnotic “ii” reimaginings to KCRW’s Annenberg Performance Studio, weaving melodic bass, shimmering guitar, and deep-pocket drumming into an intimate, transportive flow. Posted Jan 12, 2026

More on Bandcamp

I have been a big fan of Bandcamp for years now. I love that I buy my music and most the money goes to the artist direct. I was worried when they were bought out, but it seems like they are staying true to goal of “artists first”. And now they have banned AI from Bandcamp as well which is freaking awesome.

Keeping Bandcamp Human

“Today we are fortifying our mission by articulating our policy on generative AI, so that musicians can keep making music, and so that fans have confidence that the music they find on Bandcamp was created by humans.

Our guidelines for generative AI in music and audio are as follows:

  • Music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp. 

  • Any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles is strictly prohibited in accordance with our existing policies prohibiting impersonation and intellectual property infringement.

If you encounter music or audio that appears to be made entirely or with heavy reliance on generative AI, please use our reporting tools to flag the content for review by our team. We reserve the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI-generated.

With this policy, we’re putting human creativity first, and we will be sure to communicate any updates to the policy as the rapidly changing generative AI space develops. Thank you.”

This comment from Hacker News I think sums up AI art pretty well.

“Whenever I see defences of AI "art" people very often reduce the arguments to these analogies of using tools, but it's ineffective. Whether you use MS Paint, Photoshop, pencil, watercolor etc. That all requires skill, practice, and is this great intersection of intent and ability. It's authentic. Generating media with AI requires no skill, no intent, and very minimal labor. It is an approximation of the words you typed in and reduces you to a commissioner. You created nothing. You commissioned a work from a machine and are claiming creative authorship.” - frakt0x90