originally published: 09/03/2025
NYC-based singer-songwriter Brian Dunne shares "Max's Kansas City," a stream-of-consciousness track about the unseriousness of a serious world. The song comes just before releasing his new album Clams Casino gets released on September 5, 2025 on Missing Piece Records.
Dunne will celebrate with a special album release show at Mercury Lounge in New York City on Friday, September 5th before heading out on a fall tour next month with stops in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Nashville, Philadelphia and more.
"This song is stream-of-consciousness lyrical madness about all the things that drive me nuts,” Dunne explains. “I truly wrote it for myself. I was completely alone on a hellish tour of Europe, and it rained like 17 days I was there. I was like, 'What does it all mean?!' I wrote this song to be like, 'It means nothing.' Loosen up! Have a beer. Talk to some strangers. So your fate has been predetermined, and you aren’t the bourgeoisie? That’s alright."
Clams Casino is the rare rock record that manages to inspire without ignoring the darkness, whose subject matter feels authentically universal yet allergic to cliche, whose characters are equally clever and open-hearted. While the lyrics describe scenes of modern despair, the music is the most uplifting and hard-hitting in Dunne’s catalog.
Recent singles – "Rockland County," "I Watched The Light," "Clams Casino" and "Play The Hits" – have garnered early acclaim from press including Pitchfork, Atwood Magazine, and Rolling Stone, who called the album "an indie-rock, Paul Simon-evoking gem of a record.”
Self-produced at his home in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Dunne's fourth solo album follows his 2023 release Loser on the Ropes and two word-of-mouth successes from his cheeky supergroup Fantastic Cat. Accompanying himself on nearly all instruments, Dunne sought inspiration from an era of classic rock that tentatively embraced the new wave sound of the late-’70s, incorporating keyboards and synths without delving fully into the digital gloss of the CD era.
Brian Dunne has shared bills with everyone from Cat Power to Caroline Rose, performed on songs with Lizzie No ("Lagunita") and Caitlin Rose ("The Kids Are All Grown"), and in 2021 landed an unexpected hit in the Netherlands with his standalone single “New Tattoo,” which led to him performing to an audience of 17,000 at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome. Named on "Best Albums" lists by SPIN and Boston Globe, Loser On The Ropes also garnered attention from Paste, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, and even led to his solo national television debut on CBS Saturday Morning.
Clams Casino Tracklist
1. Clams Casino
2. Rockland County
3. Graveyard
4. Play The Hits
5. Fake Version Of The Real Thing
6. Some Room Left
7. Gracie Mansion
8. I Watched The Light
9. Max's Kansas City
10. Living It Backwards
Brian Dunne 2025 Tour Dates
September 5 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
October 8 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin' Java
October 9 – Durham, NC @ Rubie's on Five Points
October 10 – Charlotte, NC @ Evening Muse
October 12 – Atlanta, GA @ Eddie's Attic
October 13 – Nashville, TN @ The East Room
October 15 – Indianapolis, IN @ Duke's / Freeform Series
October 16 – Columbus, OH @ Woodlands Tavern
October 17 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Warhol
October 18 – Lake Orion, MI @ 20 Front St
October 19 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
October 21 – Northampton, MA @ Parlor Room
October 22 – Portsmouth, NH @ Press Room
October 23 – Boston, MA @ Rockwell
October 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ WCL Upstairs
October 25 – Hudson, NY @ Park Theater
COLUMNS
BlowUpRadio.com's New & Notable NJ Music 2/16/26
Lazlo, founder of BlowUpRadio.com (an online radio station based around New Jersey artists), shines a light on some of the many new releases from NJ based musicians each week with this column. This week Lazlo takes a look at new releases by Above The Moon, Teen Idle, Jason Didner and the GSP's, Brian Erickson, and Kay Roman. Plus a look back at "All Very Well In The End" by The Baby Seal Club.
