Posts by Shawn Donohue

The first Grandaddy album of new material in over six years, Blu Wav finds Jason Lytle returning to his melancholy indie-rock ways around swelling strings, synths, and dour lyrical observations on life.   Blu Wav as a title is a portmanteau of bluegrass and new wave, the two genres Lytle feels currently most at home in. […]

Just in time for Mardi Gras, Tipitina’s Record Club releases Earl King’s Street Parade for the marching masses in the Crescent City and funky vinyl collectors everywhere.  Originally released in 1981, the album was recorded in the early 70’s with producer/arranger Allen Toussaint helming the session and The Meters supporting King. Just reading those names […]

The Los Angeles, CA-based soul/funk/rock outfit Orgōne’s newest release Chimera has shifted gears a bit for the group as they work with new vocalists, incorporate new genres, and leave some others behind.  The band has been busy (working as the backup players for Say She She) but dive into their sound with ease as the […]

This past weekend Carnival season got into full swing. The parades rolled and the rains poured with biblical force as the dive bar kings, Morning 40 Federation, rocked the stage uptown at the Maple Leaf in New Orleans on Saturday night February 3rd.  The band, Josh Cohen, Ryan Scully, Bailey Smith, Steve Calandra, Mike Andrepont, […]

In 2019, Brittany Howard’s fantastic debut solo record Jaime was a genre-defying coming-out party, and that exciting sense that anything can happen at any moment is alive and vibrant throughout the even better follow-up, What Now.  Gone is the retro rock of The Alabama Shakes and in its place is a radiating neon kaleidoscope of […]

On his solo albums for the Sub-Pop label, (2011’s Several Shades of Why, 2014’s Tied To A Star and 2018’s Elastic Days) J Mascis has gone the basic acoustic guitar route, focusing on stripped-down songs and tones. However, for his newest solo effort, What Do We Do Now, the sonic structure is altered by drums, […]

Their first album in ten years finds Seattle’s Brent Amaker And The Rodeo driving their wagons through spaghetti western sunsets as Philaphobia toys with outlaw country music conventions, heartbreaking cowboy laments, theatrical swells, revved-up country howling, and heavy doses of gallows humor.  Amaker fronts The Rodeo and he is the clear focal point as the […]

The eleventh studio album from the dynamic Sleater-Kinney, LIttle Rope, finds the band grappling with grief and the recent directions they have been exploring as a duo.  Little Rope is shrouded in tragedy. While writing/recording Carrie Brownstein found out through bandmate Corin Tucker that her mother and stepfather had died in a car crash while […]

The debut record from The Hypos is an easy stroll through pastoral Americana as the group use layers of sound and a laid-back, light-hearted sense of joy embedded in their songwriting. These ten original tracks take their inspiration from classic sounds of late 60’s folk rock, specifically the classic era of The Band. The group […]

The power trio legends Dinosaur Jr. have set up shop in the Music Hall of Williamsburg for an extended run to pay tribute to their fantastic album Where You Been which turns thirty years old this year. On Thursday night December 7th, the group continued their ferocious playing and welcomed a few friends to the […]

The amazing acoustic confines of New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark played host to the first of two sold-out shows from the legendary Bob Dylan on Monday night November 20th.  With a setlist focusing heavily on 2020’s Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan and his band (Bob Britt – guitar, Tony Garnier – bass, Donnie […]

The Polyphonic Spree return for their first album of original material in almost a decade as Salvage Enterprise contains the bombastically positive pop the band was known for, but also adds some quieter acoustic outings to the mix.  Formed in 2000 by the group’s creative focal point, Tim DeLaughter, as a way to carry on […]

Jesse Kivel’s newest offering, Life and Death at Party Rock, is a contemplative reflection on fatherhood, relationships, and the natural world in softly focused indie rock.  Combining Kivel’s natural acoustic strums with layers of synths and expansive instrumentation, Kivel and multi-instrumentalist/producer Joey Genetti paint with restrained sonic watercolors. The Maine-based artist brings us out to […]

Ian Sweet’s newest offering, and fourth studio album Sucker, deals with relationships in various stages as the lithe vocalist whispers and weaves around electro intrusions and pop-focused sounds.   Feeling stuck in her home base of Los Angeles, Jillian Medford (who is the lone person behind Ian Sweet) crossed the country to an artist retreat in […]

The 50th anniversary celebration tour of The Headhunters pulled into New York City for a packed set of funky jazz in a historic Greenwich Village venue on Wednesday night October 25th, exactly 50 years to the day that the album Headhunters was released. Café Wha? was sold out for the early show as the classic […]

For The Kills‘ sixth studio album, the duo took their time (working on other projects, and dealing with a pandemic) until God Games emerged; a dark album that pushed Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince even further as artists.      Hince started writing with the intention of doing a side project, so the songs wouldn’t sound like […]

The New Orleans-based, blues-roots-rock quintet Honey Island Swamp Band has released their sixth studio album Custom Deluxe, and it is the most robust, confident, album of their long career.  The main strength of the quintet has always been their ability to seamlessly cross genres and that is on full display here as the hard-to-label band […]

Legendary bassist Ron Carter’s annual October takeover of the famous Times Square jazz club Birdland is in the stretch run, as the final weekend of his residency began with a sold-out early show on Thursday night October 19th. Over the course of the last month Carter has played at the NYC club in a variety […]

On a cool fall Tuesday night in lower Manhattan, The Beaches pulled into town, sold out the Mercury Lounge, and rocked faces with bouncing energy on October 17th.  The Toronto-based power-pop group had the crowd in a frenzy to end the night, however, The Thing from Brooklyn started everything off with some home cooking. The […]

The overarching feeling floating through the packed Brooklyn Bowl on Thursday night October 12th, was that the blues were in great hands as a younger generation of incredibly talented ax wielders were on full display for the sold-out crowd.  Opening the night was Mathias Lattin, the 21-year-old Houston, Texas showman who sauntered confidently onto the […]