SpyderPop Records (the Texas-based parter label to Big Stir Records) proudly announces the return of power pop legends 20/20, with a new album – their first in over 25 years – on the way in 2025. It’s well-nigh impossible to find an informed assessment of the true giants of power pop that doesn’t prominently feature 20/20. Be it an audio compilation like Jordan Oakes’ classic Yellow Pills (named after a classic song by the band) or a definitive guidebook like John Borack’s Shake Some Action (which ranks their self-titled 1979 debut album as the genre’s very best), it’s guaranteed to cite the band among the very finest practitioners of the hooks-and-harmony sound.

For bandoneonist and composer Denis Plante, tango evokes the old-fashioned melancholy of the bandoneon, an instrument that whispers melodies of bygone elegance. Stéphane Tétreault‘s Stradivarius cello infuses tango with another layer of deep vibrations. With the new album Stradivatango, Plante presents original tango compositions including Stradivatango, Tango romance, and Ménage à trois, paired with tangos by such emblematic composers of the genre as Astor Piazzolla, Carlos Gardel, and Ángel Villoldo.

There are labors of love and then there are obsessive passion projects that we can only marvel over. For Another Mississippi Sunday Morning, Tinariwen producer Ian Brennan took on the arduous task of obtaining permission to record a Sunday service at the notorious Parchman Farm prison. Though recorded separately, it is presented in the order of a church service. The result is a revelation, as it does not sound like a field recording at all, and it mixes traditional and contemporary numbers beautifully. For obscure prison system reasons, the artists were not allowed to be identified or photographed, so the listener is forced to focus entirely on the music, which shows off the deep variety of traditional gospel.