Posts by Shawn Donohue

Since 2018, guitarist Joe Marcinek has delivered unique live shows under the title of Dead Funk Summit, bringing together Melvin Seals (Jerry Garcia Band) for the ‘Dead’ and George Porter Jr. (The Meters) for the ‘Funk’. Now they enter the studio together for the first time, as Marcienck wrote eight originals for the group to get down with.

With the weed smoke wafting around the Lower East Side, as tokers of all persuasions celebrated their high holy day of 4/20, the Bowery Electric was overtaken by a trio of ska/punk bands kicking up the stoner energy. 

The self-titled debut from Blondshell is an unfiltered look at a modern life littered with late-night self-reflection, bleakly humorous malaise, and poor romantic choices. Heavy doses of ’90s-tinged alternative rock mix with pop affections to create one of the more impressive debut albums in some time. Sabrina Teitelbaum started her recording career as BAUM but […]

The newest effort from the English rock band Temples is a sixteen-song affair, produced by Sean Ono Lennon, that mixes psych-rock with glam-influenced dance grooves, allowing Exotico to float free, partying amongst the cosmoses.  The opening duo of the elongated, big blaring bass, synths, and loping grooved “Liquid Air”, paired with the new wave, neon […]

The Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based folk artist and ethnomusicologist Mike Tod brings traditional songs (along with a new original written in the same vein) to life on his self-titled debut record.  Tod (Acoustic guitar/Harmonium/Vocals) reworks historical songs, keeping the folk feelings attached as he uses a core band (Vocals – Opal Retzer, Percussion – Travis Miller, […]

On The Price of Progress, The Hold Steady is fully locked in as they deliver an evolved, cinematic offering of their barroom tales of relationship hardships around broken hearts calcified by more than recreational drug use. 

Jesse Malin pulled into his local surroundings on Saturday Night March 25th to play Webster Hall celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut solo album, The Fine Art of Self Destruction.  The sold-out crowd was full of old friends and family as the East Village mainstay was warmly welcomed home. 

Andrew Gabbard’s Cedar City Sweetheart. The country/folk-rock leaning effort is a slight departure from the touring guitarist of The Black Keys, but the sounds are sweet and soothing all the same.

When California-based singer/songwriter Nic Russo dips into his alter ego Dick Stusso things get bizarre. On his most recent offering, S.P. the artist delivers Attention Deficit Disorder folk-rock that, like a toddler, the songs enter the room, causing disturbance/joy before quickly departing, farting as they exit.

One word kept coming up when going through the forty songs of U2’s mammoth release Songs of Surrender, and that word was: why? 

The retro-rocking, Boston-based, GA-20 deliver their first-ever live LP on Colemine Records as the group captured this set in front of a vibrant crowd in Loveland, Ohio.

King Khan’s The Nature of Things balance free jazz with an engaging groove

Colemine/Karma Chief Records are re-releasing Kendra Morris’ 2016 EP Babble and adding three new tracks to mark the occasion. The record’s mix of soul, hip hop, and jazz all support Morris’s strong voice as Babble does more than just ambulate along

Death Valley Girls have softened musically with each release, adding more pop influences, and digging more into the spiritual hippy cosmos of the we-are-all-in-this-together vibe. They also have continually improved, as Islands in the Sky is their best album to date.

The Secret Machines’ newest release actually dates back to 2010 when the group started recording it in a unique, real-time fashion using a ‘first thought being the best thought’ rule for the session.

The New Brunswick, NJ-based trio Screaming Females have always straddled the genres of punk, indie, metal, and arena-ready jams, but on their newest album Desires Pathway, they deliver their most accessible musical offering with splashes of power pop and polished alt-rock.

Dreamy vocals and layers of fuzzed-up strings are the cornerstones of the newest release from Black Belt Eagle Scout on Saddle Creek Records titled The Land, The Water, The Sky.

Take a random handful of both early 80’s hard rock and power pop, toss that in a blender, garnish with a slice of Blink-182 and the resulting cocktail would be called White Reape

Having started his career as a garage-rocking party man, Kyle Thomas instantly transformed into his stage persona King Tuff. Now, deep into his solo career, Thomas eases back and luxuriates in the natural world and memories of his hometown, two vitally important pieces to this personal album, Smalltown Stardust. 

The Oakland, CA-based Orchestra Gold combine afrobeat with psych rock, reggae and more on their third album Medicine. Singing in the Bambara language, the band delivers unique soundscapes over the course of these eight tracks. The seven-piece fuse a sixties garage/psych rock sound onto the afrobeat formula with mixed results.