Posts by Shawn Donohue

Dr. Dog kicked off their long winter tour Saturday night with a rollicking set of fluid playing, supporting the group’s diverse catalog. After taking a break in December from the road the group showed no rust and hit its stride in support of their most recent effort B-Room. Opening things on this national tour is […]

[rating=8.00] Written on both coasts between touring, Too True finds the Dum Dum Girls pushing off almost all their garage rocking ways and in turn trying on some shimmering 80’s pop for size; it sure fits well. Main songwriter Dee Dee Penny talked about an overall aesthetic (and a new guitar pedal) that links things […]

[rating=7.00] Hailing from upstate New York this organic four piece plays Americana folk with ease and grace on their self titled third release. Recorded in an old church with help from Grammy winning engineer Robby Hunter the group blends melodies and strings to create a warm sound. Opening with a stripped down sense on “High […]

Ahh, what could have been, but apparently Mother Nature isn’t a fan of funky stuff… On this frigid night in the Big Apple the NOLA phenom Trombone Shorty was billed to play NYC’s Terminal 5 with a special opening slot from Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Funkateer first class Bootsy Collins. However Bootzilla’s […]

[rating=6.00] The duo Psapp are back making quirky electro based tunes that play with found sounds and odd/invented instrumentation all structured around standard pop filaments; things aren’t artsy for art’s sake rather artsy for pop-sake. The band hadn’t made music in four years because life got in the way but there is no bad blood […]

[rating=8.00] When the original guitarist for the Rough Seven Michael Aaron passed away recently the band looked internally for solace. Aaron had not been in the band for some time but was vital in its construction and was still tight with the present day group. In tribute the band went back to an early session […]

[rating=6.00] The Melismatics have put together a spunky collection of tunes that run the gamut of upbeat disco flavored bubble gum rock. The four piece from Minneapolis has been honing their sound for most of the millenium and Rising Tide shows the band is still experimenting while bouncing along. The dueling male and female vocals […]

[rating=7.00] Having released an engaging solo record with 2012’s Between The Time And The Tides, Lee Ranaldo and company toured heavily, gelled, record a new disk, and added a moniker. The now titled Lee Ranaldo and The Dust four piece (Steve Shelley, Alan Licht, Tim Luntzel) have stretched out with songs routinely running seven plus […]

Three years ago The Black Crowes came through New York City on a tour that was leading to a hiatus for the band. At the time the group was on a creative highpoint and played a series of exhilarating shows that the band enjoyed so much they released parts of each officially as Wiser For […]

[rating=8.00] The key line on Graveyard Lovers’ fantastic first full length release comes early in the opening song “Manifesto”, when lead singer Zach Reynolds let’s you in on his one line credo, “Don’t let nothing ever get you low.”  This is uplifting, heavy hitting, rock and roll. Dreamers, however, is no digital ray of sunshine, […]

On a seasonably warm night in New York City some loud straight ahead rock filled one of the Big Apple’s best venues. Opening the night were Bass Drum of Death with the trio’s take on garage rawkin. John Barnett is the founder and front-man slamming away on his Fender as Len Clarke simply dominates the […]

[rating=6.00] On Pearl Jam’s 2006 self titled release the band found their angst-ridden past melding swimmingly with their middle age present. There was a President they could rebel against, wars they felt were unjust and an overall pissed off feeling that resulted in an excellent disk. Things gradually changed with wars ending, their candidate taking […]

[rating=8.00] Rambling around those swampy crossroads of punk/soul/rockabilly Barrence Whitfield and The Savages are creating that garage lo-fi R & B that just rattles and shakes like 50’s boogie-woogie on a three day bender. The Boston based collective throws down with abandon, teetering on the edge of the stage, but never collapsing off of it. […]

[rating=8.00] With each album the Arctic Monkeys experiment with their sound a bit more, stretching out from their high-powered storytelling pub rock that shot them to instant fame back in 2006 with the classic Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. They played up their aggressive late night drug fueled party vibe during […]

[rating=6.00] The new noise/drone/art-rock duo Body/Head is actually comprised of two elders on the scene, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth fame and Bill Nace who runs Open Mouth Records out of Northampton, Massachusetts. The pair has lived in these experimental waters all their lives combining forces on this dense, layered and challenging release that only […]

[rating=6.0] The second release from the NYC songstress is a complete cover album as Kendra Morris takes on some well known staples of classic rock (and other genre’s) putting her sultry touch upon them. All of the tracks will be instantly recognizable to even casual music fans giving Morris the extra weight of preconceived listener […]

[rating=7.00] With a resurgence of lo-fi punk rock over the last decade it is good to see one of the best from the 90’s strap it back on as the Oblivians return to offer up Desperation in 2013. The trio of Greg Cartwright, Jack Yarber and Eric Friedl gained an underground cult following with their […]

[rating=6.0] Today it is impossible to separate “Kanye the Celebrity” and “Kanye the Artist”. It would appear “the celebrity” has overtaken “the artist” by dropping an album on the birthday of his tabloid fuel child, naming said album Yeezus and including a track called “I Am A God”. All the events surrounding the release are […]

It was all about of power punk trio’s in New York’s Bowery Ballroom as the crowd was late arriving on this hot spring night. Opening up the show was New Jersey’s Black Wine who played a noticeably percussive form of pop-punk with the drums and bass leading the way. Jeffrey Schroeck on Guitar, J Nixon […]

The Nashville by way of Detroit Deadstring Brothers pulled into the East Village club Bowery Electric to play the 100th show of their current tour. These road warriors have surely played to larger crowds though as the Friday night early set time saw only a handful of fans in attendance. Playing as a scaled back […]