Front-Porch Poetry and Quiet Heartbreak Define Josiah and the Bonnevilles’ Valiant ‘As Is’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
For the past ten years, Josiah Leming has been releasing music under the moniker Josiah and the Bonnevilles, steadily sloughing off the mortal coils of the pristinely produced pop/rock that marked his early work following his appearance on the seventh season of American Idol. What he has bequeathed to himself and his listeners is a […]
Weird Nightmare Turns Fuzz Into Power Pop Gold On ‘Hoopla’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
It’s probably no accident that Weird Nightmare is releasing its sophomore album, Hoopla, on May 1st via Sub Pop. If ever there was a record primed and ready to inhabit the experiences of a carefree summer (ideally the one after your senior year of high school), it’s this one. Even if your summer is full […]
Still Rolling: Ringo Starr’s ‘Long Long Road’ Finds Country Soul and Late-Career Grace (ALBUM REVIEW)
Ringo Starr approaches his 86th birthday in July indisputably at the top of his game. Underrated as a musician whose vocal expression, like his drumming, has always catered to the direct rather than the expansive, Starr nevertheless has been recording reliably and touring steadily ever since reigniting his career in the late 1980s. In 2025, […]
Banshee Tree Blur the Lines Between Dream and Reality on Lush ‘Bad Luck’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
On the last song of Bad Luck, Banshee Tree’s new sophomore release, lead singer and guitarist Thom LaFond sings what sounds like an off-handed comment on one of many absurd and surreal situations the album uncovers: “It’s a privilege to see what you can only believe.” What may be a wry truism in the context […]
With Gentle Fingerpicked Philosophy, Jose González Explores Sound & Self On ‘Dying of the Light’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
Just a couple of measures into the opening song of José González’s new album Against the Dying of the Light, you get the feeling that even if you had heard the percussive downbeat and the fragmentary guitar flourishes unannounced, you would know them for what they are. The years-long gaps between albums can’t dim the […]
Snail Mail Grows Up and Breaks Through On Ambitious ‘Ricochet’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
Ten years after debuting in 2016 with the lo-fi EP Habit, Snail Mail, a solo project for guitarist, singer, songwriter Lindsey Jordan, has released Ricochet. At a little over 41 minutes and full to the brim with layers of guitar, percussive elements, and strings, Ricochet is Jordan’s longest and most ambitious record to date, as […]
Tinariwen Returns With ‘Hoggar’ & The Eternal Pulse Of The Sahara (ALBUM REVIEW)
Every once in a while, you get the chance to hear an album that refuses to meet your expectations of what music should sound like, not because the band or artist is pushing boundaries, but because the culture that informed the record is completely different from the one you were born into. Hoggar, the tenth […]