Posts by Jeff Strowe

[rating=6.00] 28-year old South Carolina native, Chaz Bundick is a musician who likes to keep on the move. Over both his four-album career with Toro y Moi and his side projects, Les Sins and Sides of Chaz, Bundick has embraced an eclectic range of styles: funk, R&B, and psych-pop liberally mingling amongst the funky coolness […]

With “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross,” Sufjan Stevens hearkens back to the gently lilting, folk-inflected stylings of his masterworks, ‘Illinois’ and ‘Michigan.’

[rating=7.00] Near the close of the 1990’s and at the peak of their success, the gentlemen of 6 String Drag packed up their instruments and called it a day. Although respectively hailing from various Southeastern locales, the group called Raleigh, North Carolina their home, and for a few years proved to be one of the […]

[rating=8.00] As somewhat of a chameleon, Josh Tillman can be a daunting character for fans and critics to examine. His snarky quips and blunt provocations contrast often with his gleaming sincerity and rapt attention to the complexities and confusion of our 21st century lives. “White people problems” as the kids these days say, can often […]

[rating=7.00] Twenty-odd years into their career, Cracker is still going at it, as they return this month with an ambitious look into the dualities of their home state of California. Appropriately titled, Berkeley to Bakersfield, it’s a double album that offers forth two entirely separate takes on the Golden State sound and allows for a […]

[rating=9.00] Although singer Rhett Miller, himself, tends to look barely a day over 20, his band, Old 97’s, have used this past year to celebrate 20 years in the business. Not 20 years with a few hiatuses here and there or new members being shifted in and out, but instead a solid two decades together […]

[rating=8.00] For the first time since 2011, TV on the Radio are back with a new album Seeds, albeit under vastly different circumstances. The three year timespan has brought numerous changes to the band: the unfortunate passing of bassist Gerard Smith, the parting of ways with longtime label Interscope, and the members’ geographic relocation from […]

As someone who attends concerts on a regular basis, it can become fairly easy to lose inspiration or to simply slog through the evening’s proceedings with a bit of ho-hum nonchalance. The spectacle of live music is usually enthralling and it’s a joyful highlight to be able to check out bands and artists from across […]

Oftentimes, and especially in the fall months, sports and music will overlap. For fans of both, this means having to sacrifice the viewing of a baseball playoff or a Monday Night Football game when a good band is in town. Or perhaps it’s the opposite: eating purchased tickets to watch your team play. Fortunately, last […]

From 1996 to 2003, beloved Americana icons The Jayhawks cut and released three albums of material-Sound Of Lies, Smile, and Rainy Day Music without the services of founding member Mark Olson. Despite the music’s generally warm reception and the bevy of great song selections put forth, this period has traditionally been overlooked by many fans […]