Posts by Shawn Donohue

Tank and the Banga’s third release Red Balloon aims for broad appeal with modern hip-hop, R&B, and smooth soul coursing throughout the album. The talented New Orleans-based quartet used the pandemic to hone their sound delivering a strong album that flows out with ease.  ‘Radio TATB’ is a theme throughout the record as the core […]

Jazzfest in New Orleans brings together plenty of sit-ins, guest appearances, and a few late-night reunions. One of the latter took place on Saturday, May 6th in the Bywater living room known as BJ’s Lounge when the Rough Seven reunited for a gloriously powerful set of garage rocking, soul-fulfilling tunes.    Having been on hiatus for […]

Kicking off the late-night shows for weekend number two of Jazzfest in New Orleans, Samantha Fish blazed a set steeped in heavy electric blues across the stage at Howlin’ Wolf on Thursday night May 5th. Before the headliner, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears opened things with their mix of gutbucket blues and soulful rock […]

For the inaugural Daze Between Festival in New Orleans, on the grounds of the Faubourg Brewery, the overriding feeling was friendship and an easy-going sense of family as guest spots were all the rage on day one and the next generation of acts shined bright on day two. Under gorgeous clear skies and hot/humid temperatures […]

The newest release from Australia-based Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever is a grandiose blast of modern electro-pop/indie rock as the group used the pandemic lockdown to expand their sound. Endless Rooms is covered in layers of guitar effects, electro synths, and bumpin’ rhythms. The band was stir-crazy recording this album, chomping at the bit to take […]

After a full day at the Fairgrounds to celebrate the return of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival the NOLA Summit returned to the Howlin’ Wolf on April 30th after two years of cancellations. With a lineup of local players, the second running of the Summit showcased New Orleans bands playing originals and tributes […]

The Los Angeles quartet Warpaint has steadily moved from their more rock roots towards an electron-based, soft synth, dream-pop sound, and now on their fourth studio album, Radiate Like This, the transition is complete. Their first offering in six years is full of relaxed bass pulses, skittering beats, and restrained smokey soundscapes.  Emily Kokal (guitar, […]

On their debut, Seratones were a raucous garage rocking outfit with a side of boogie-woogie. For their follow up, Power, they moved towards a slick, experimental R&B, and electro-pop sound in the vein of the Alabama Shakes. Now on their third full-length release, Love & Algorhythms, the band has left the rock in the past […]

The mysterious garage punk outfit The Mummies played a searing sold-out set at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere on Saturday night (4/23) as the wrapped-up budget rockers tore the house down.  Before the California-based band took the stage though there were a few inspired opening acts. First up was Von Mons, a quartet from Asbury Park, NJ who […]

Last year the team at Black N’ Blue Productions kicked off the (semi-controversially) return of live music to NYC with a packed Tompkins Square Park show on the Lower East Side. This year the bands returned, and while the crowd was slightly less, the music was a killer collection of New York Hardcore’s finest to […]

The long-running, first major label release for Kurt Vile on Verve Records titled (watch my moves) finds the artist returning to his home recording roots while slipping even further into psych-pop oddball songwriting.  There is a hazy, loose, recording-in-the-afternoon, feeling throughout the album as Vile lets his inner thoughts seep out through synths, guitars, and […]

Following up on the fantastic, lost weekend-inspired, 2018 release, God’s Favorite Customer, Father John Misty (aka Jonathan Tillman) turns to old-timey big band/jazz orchestras of the 1930s for inspiration and these restrained sounds produce his most cohesive musical album yet. The soft tones, production, and black and white photos delivered on Chloë and the Next […]

One of the brightest young stars in the blues universe shined all over the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem on Thursday night March 31st as 22-year-old Christone “Kingfish” Ingram dazzled the crowd with his phenomenal talents – just days before earning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for his most recent album 662. Before […]

On the fourth album from San Diego’s Afro-Funk and Soul-Jazz nine-piece The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, the group digs into these turbulent times with instrumental power. The ten songs presented on Step Down from Colemine Records, all project confidence and a band in the zone.  The group of Tim Felten (organ/electric piano), Jesse Audelo (sax/flute), […]

From the opening upbeat notes on the jubilant song “The Rhythm We Want”, Charlie Halloran and The Tropicales prove that they have the goods to deliver a rollicking time via their New Orleans-based sound, directly influenced by 1950’s era Trinidad and the French Caribbean offerings.   Shake The Rum, released on Hi-Tide Recordings, presents eleven tracks […]

Over the last few decades, English R&B soul singer James Hunter has been finely tuning his retro style, releasing consistently strong records on Daptone and other labels as he and his Six deliver slick sounds.  Now comes With Love, a non-greatest hits compilation of love songs from recent albums and it is an odd, lacking […]

FREAKONS has delivered a self-titled, stirring studio album combining Midwestern Americana/folk with the English/Welsh traditional tunes, all based around soot-covered coal songs. The project combines two bands as Freakwater’s Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin join forces with The Mekons Jon Langford and Sally Timms. Both outfits have been running in the same punk/alternative/folk circles for […]

These are unprecedented times to be living through and the Philadelphia-based, experimental hardcore outfit Soul Glo are trying to therapeutically scream their way through the pain.  The four-piece (vocalist Pierce Jordan, guitarist Ruben Polo, bassist, vocalist, and programmer Gianmarco “GG” Guerra, and drummer TJ Stevenson) put punk, hardcore, screamo, hip-hop, and more into a blender, […]

Perhaps no band has embraced the weed life as much as Cypress Hill and with their newest release Back in Black, the group returns to the sounds and substances that made them famous. It has been a long time since 1993’s Black Sunday and “Hits from the Bong”, with the world-changing in unforeseen ways, but […]

Beginning sweetly via chirping birds, the peacefulness doesn’t last long as ferocity quickly rockets from the speakers during “Hellfire”, the cataclysmic opening track off of Haunted Shores newest release Void. Calamitous world events have led the duo down some dark paths which they express instrumentally throughout the eight-song offering. A side project of Periphery guitarists […]