Posts by Shawn Donohue

The Invisible Light: Spells is the second installment in The Invisible Light trilogy, following 2019’s The Invisible Light: Acoustic Space. The album finds T Bone Burnett continuing his avant-garde style, furthering his sense of desolation, end of times despair, and unflinching pessimism.  Burnett is again augmented by percussionist Jay Bellerose and multi-instrumentalist Keefus Ciancia forming a doomsday trio […]

When the Covid shutdown hit, Amanda Shires felt like that was the end of her musical career, however, she slowly started piecing together confessional journals which eventually formed the spine of the ten songs on Take It Like A Man, her seventh solo album.    Inspired by Lawrence Rothman (who co-wrote, produced, and played on the […]

Four talented songwriters have joined forces to create Fantastic Cat, whose debut The Very Best of Fantastic Cat out via Blue Rose Music, winningly showcases upbeat folk rock-around lyrics searching for meaning in this thing called life.  The quartet of Anthony D’Amato, Brian Dunne, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali all have their individual bonafides but […]

Entering Heaven Alive is the second album Jack White has released in 2022 and is the clear companion piece to the previously delivered Fear of the Dawn, so much so that closer  “Taking Me Back (Gently)” is gypsy jazz, rambling revision of the earlier released punk slamming, speaker rattling banger. That juxtaposition is at the […]

In 2019 the Buffalo Killers core of Andrew Gabbard – guitar and vocals and Zachary Gabbard – bass and vocals, joined The Black Keys touring band. After circling the globe behind Let It Rock the world shut down and The Gabbard Brothers decided to record their first album together at each other’s home studios during […]

The veterans Screeching Weasel have not been as active since their peak 90’s releases but the songs and style (mostly) remain the same on their 14th studio album The Awful Disclosures of Screeching Weasel.   The band this go around, Ben Weasel – Lead Vocals, Mike Hunchback – Guitar, Mike Kennerty – Guitar, Vocals, Zach Brandner […]

Tons of artists have knocked down genre walls in the past, yet few have done it with as much confidence and swagger as Nova Twins on their explosive sophomore album Supernova. Everything from trap, industrial, nu-metal, hip-hop, arena rock, pop, grunge, punk, EDM, and more gets tossed into a blender, served in a tall cocktail glass complete with […]

After the prog/metal band’s bestselling album, 2009’s The Incident, Porcupine Tree went on hiatus with rumors that the English outfit was done forever. Recorded in secret, Closure/Continuation is the group’s surprise return and the title is a clue that they are in a state of flux as some things evolve and some remain the same […]

After a series of shows over the winter/spring at The Maple Leaf to work on some new material, Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen brought their national tour back to their hometown with a show at the Zony Mash Beer Project in New Orleans, Louisiana on Friday night June 10th.  With the addition of The Absolute Monster […]

The title of Vieux Farka Touré’s fifth solo studio album, Les Racines, translates to “the roots” as Touré digs deep into the Songhai music of Northern Mali for this sturdy collection of ten songs. Touré is no stranger to these sounds having grown up with them, but on past solo efforts he drifted to some […]

While the title may call to mind pandemic-induced paranoia, Andrew Bird’s newest album, Inside Problems, delivers a welcoming sense of openness as lush, acoustic-based indie-pop flows throughout this ever-evolving artist’s stout offering.  Supporting Bird on this outing are Alan Hampton & Mike Viola (bass/guitar/vocals) Abe Rounds (drums) and Madison Cunningham (supporting vocals) all matching winningly […]

After a double shot of political inspired anger on 2020s two releases (The Unraveling and The New OK), the Drive-By Truckers have promoted this new album as looking into their past to craft a tribute album of sorts to a venue Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley started their career at with Welcome 2 Club XIII.  […]

When Pete Townshend walked onstage, he thanked the crowd while mentioning he wasn’t sure The Who would ever play Madison Square Garden again. There was a palpable sense of joy in the air of the World’s Most Famous Arena on Thursday, May 26th as the band, augmented by a full orchestra, dove into “Overture”, and […]

The debut release from the Portland, OR-based Slang has been a long time coming as Drew Grow and Janet Weiss formed the outfit over a decade ago and now deliver their first studio offering, Cockroach In A Ghost Town.  Grow (guitar, vocals) and Weiss (drum, keys, vocals) form the foundation, crafting a quirky nine-song offering […]

Even before the release of The Frightnrs well received debut, 2016’s Nothing More To Say, the group was dealing with tragic loss as lead singer Dan Klein passed away from ALS. When the band re-entered the studio with producer Victor “Ticklah” Axelrod they used vocals Klein had previously laid down for a new album, the […]

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has covered everyone from the Reverend Gary Davis to Stealers Wheels, and now the long-running folk outfit has turned their attention to the most famous folkie of them all with their newest album, Dirt Does Dylan. Tackling ten tracks written by the poet laureate of rock and roll, the group predominantly […]

When Delta Spirit returned from hiatus in 2020 with What Is There, the self-produced album contained every over-the-top indulgence. The result was garbled, but now with Jason Kingsland (Band of Horses, Belle and Sebastian) on board to help produce, the band has kept their pop-rock grandiose but also scaled back when needed, leaving One is […]

After wetting his feet as a solo artist with 2012’s Clear Heart Full Eyes, Craig Finn put together what works out to basically a strong, thematically linked, a triple album on his next three releases, Faith in the Future (2015) We All Want the Same Things (2017) and I Need a New War (2019). He […]

The newest album from the Bay Area-based psychedelic soul band Monophonics, Sage Motel on Colemine Records, is a collection of retro-looking workouts that shimmer and drip in cosmic fashion.  Frontman, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Kelly Finnigan runs the show but there are a host of musicians helping out, including the core group: Austin Bohlman – […]

The Philadelphia based artist Don McCloskey sums it up pretty well in the opening lines of the excellently exuberant “Open The Door” when he sings “So how can I possibly say/That everything is gonna be right?/When I can hardly say if everything’s right tonight”. These fast-changing times, fears, lost and found love and more are […]