Posts by Jeremy Lukens

For nearly two hours on October 12th, The Growlers treated an Orlando crowd to its unique “beach goth” music. After canceling several recent shows due to frontman Brooks Nielsen’s illness, simply playing a show was an accomplishment. Though the band started a bit lethargic, they gained energy as the show progressed, playing a full set […]

[rating=7.00] Four years after its debut album, electronica duo Blue Hawaii returns with Tenderness, a hook-heavy pop album packed with sweaty dance beats and sing-along choruses. Co-DJ’s Raphaelle Standell and Alexander Kirby deliver an eclectic mix of electronica where an equal amount of care is given to song and groove. The overarching theme of Tenderness […]

  Thursday night Orlando’s Hard Rock Live on September 21st was the scene of three top pop rock acts showing distinctly different ways of performing catchy, crowd-pleasing music. Opening the night was New York indie rockers Joywave, with its unique blend of electronica and guitar rock. The energetic quintet delivered infectious grooves, dirty guitar riffs, […]

[rating=7.00] For Toadies’ seventh studio album, the Fort Worth quartet went into the studio without a plan, coming up with songs as they went with no roadmap in terms of the sonic terrain they wanted to cover. The resulting album, The Lower Side of Uptown, is a departure from the softer, more subdued aesthetic the […]

[rating=8.00] For its follow-up to 2013’s Negativity, Deer Tick has released two full-length albums, each showcasing a distinctly different side of the Rhode Island band. Volume 1 is a soft, mostly acoustic album that emphasizes Deer Tick’s twangier, country and folk-influenced sound. In contrast, Volume 2 is a loud garage rock album that is as […]

[rating=9.00] Jonny Lang’s seventh studio album, Signs, is his loudest and most rocking to date. Though rooted firmly in the blues, the Fargo-based guitar prodigy has always incorporated different styles into his sound. Lang has been able to transcend the clichés and limitations of standard blues music by incorporating gospel and R&B (Turn Around), folk […]

[rating=8.00] Over the last three decades, New York pioneers Living Colour have made a habit of defying convention, fusing unrelated genres, and blazing new trails for their unique brand of hard alternative music. Shade, the band’s first new album in eight years, continues that trend. Shade is a politically charged punch in the face – […]

[rating=8.00] Turning to trendy pop producer Mark Ronson for its seventh album, Queens of the Stone Age has again redefined its sound while still remaining true to the roots it planted with its 1998 self-titled debut. Ronson’s influence is apparent, as Villains is a bit more polished than previous Queens of the Stone Age efforts, […]

“It’s not easy for women in rock,” Garbage singer Shirley Manson told the capacity crowd at Orlando’s Hard Rock Live on August 9th. “You have to put up with a lot, but those who can deal with it are some of the toughest women.” She then spoke about what an honor it is to be […]

[rating=6.00] Eight albums into his decorated blues rock career, guitar virtuoso Kenny Wayne Shepherd is ready for a change. He is no longer the fresh-faced six-string gunslinger dropping jaws with his fretboard mastery. With Lay It On Down, Shepherd and the band deliver roots rock that is mostly devoid of the flare that once characterized […]

[rating=7.00] Manchester Orchestra’s fifth album is another unexpected detour from a band that seems to reinvent itself with each release. From the underrated excellence of their 2006 debut to the experimentalism of 2011’s Simple Math to the monotone crunching guitar rock of 2014’s Cope – which of course was followed by an acoustic reworking of […]

After an uninspired techno performance by Heathered Pearls and a grandiose yet bland performance by Tycho, Phantogram took over Orlando’s Hard Rock Live needing to carry the weight of the night’s entertainment. They were more than up to the task. Supported by a three-piece backing band, Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter took the stage to […]

[rating=7.00] Capacity, Big Thief’s follow up to last year’s critically acclaimed debut Masterpiece, is an indie folk gem that builds upon the themes and successes of the band’s previous work. It is moody, melodic folk that pays as much attention to storytelling as to song structure and rhythms. Many of the songs deal with the […]

[rating=8.00] For his follow-up to 2013’s impressive debut album, Dream, Ayron Jones turned to legends of the local Seattle scene. Mixed by Jack Endino (Soundgarden, Nirvana) and produced by Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, Mad Season), Audio Paint Job builds upon the eclectic mastery of Dream while adding a bit more raw intensity. Jones’s music is […]

One week after dropping a new album, Be Myself, that is stylistically more similar to her music in the 1990s than anything released in the last decade, Sheryl Crow treated the Orlando crowd on April 29th to a performance that was half nostalgia and half celebration of the new material. Over the course of the […]

[rating=6.00] For his tenth solo album Gargoyle, Mark Lanegan builds upon the sonic territory of his last release, 2014’s Phantom Radio, with a collection of gothic pop rock peppered with healthy doses of European electronica. There is no trace of the grunge roots of the former Screaming Trees frontman, though the album does incorporate some […]

Rocking blues jams were the order of the evening for Jonny Lang on April 25th at Orlando’s Plaza Theatre. Lang’s music has consistently evolved ever since bursting onto the blues scene as a guitar prodigy with 1997’s Lie To Me, whether it’s adding more of a pop rock influence with 2003’s Long Time Coming, going […]

[rating Though in some ways The New Pornographers’ seventh album is an album of transition, it is also a return to form and a continuation of where the Canadian indie pop band left off. Whiteout Conditions is the first album with new drummer Joe Seiders, who replaced longtime drummer Kurt Dahle in 2014, and the […]

[rating=6.00] For many fans, Cold War Kids peaked with their 2006 debut LP Robbers & Cowards. Others have come to appreciate the Long Beach band’s foray into pop music and the more radio-friendly sound that came with it. For fans on either side of the spectrum, L.A. Divine is likely to be a disappointment. Lead […]

[rating-8.00] As the tongue-in-cheek title suggests, Soundgarden’s Ultramega OK was always a pretty good but not great album. The Seattle grunge pioneers made the mistake of switching from Sub Pop to SST Records and working with a producer, Drew Canulette, who was unfamiliar with their sound or the Seattle scene in general. As a result, […]