Reviews

Jazz Dispensary’s compilations tend to work best when they lean into a specific mood, and Magia Brasileira takes the listener to the Samba-filled Brazil of fifty years ago. This set spans the late ’60s through the ’70s, focusing on Brazilian artists and adjacent players who blurred samba, jazz, and funk in a way that feels […]

Released in 2012, Just Tell Me That You Want Me brings together a wide range of indie and alternative artists to reinterpret Fleetwood Mac’s catalog. The compilation doesn’t just revisit the band’s biggest songs; it draws from multiple eras, from the early blues years to the more polished pop records of the late ’70s and […]

Arriving as part of Third Eye Blind’s 30th anniversary run, Rarities & First Drafts pulls material largely from the band’s first three albums: Third Eye Blind (1997), Blue (1999), and Out of the Vein (2003), and presents it through demos, alternate takes, and acoustic versions. Instead of revisiting these songs in their familiar form, the collection strips back some of the studio layering […]

Coming off the stripped-down intensity of Hallowed Ground, Violent Femmes pivoted in a noticeable way with 1986’s The Blind Leading the Naked. Produced by Talking Head’s Jerry Harrison, the album expands the band’s wiry folk-punk foundation into something more layered and polished. It still carries that anxious energy that defined their early work, but adds […]

For over forty years, Brooklyn’s They Might Be Giants have been crafting earwormy art rock that toys with genres, targeted age groups, and educational endeavors. For their 24th album, The World Is to Dig (whose title was inspired by a 1952 children’s book), TMBG continues their quirky style, with the two Johns just keeping up their idiosyncratic […]

Coming off the buzz of their debut United, Phoenix returned in 2004 with Alphabetical, a record that trades some of that scrappy indie energy for a more controlled, polished approach. The Versailles band leans harder into groove here with tight basslines, clean guitar tones, and a subtle nod to R&B that gives the album a […]

Released as a companion piece to 2001’s Greatest Hits, Acoustic Hits strips The Cure’s catalog down to its core and puts the songwriting front and center. Recorded at Olympic Studios in London during the same sessions, these versions remove most of the band’s signature production (no dense synth layers or effects), just acoustic arrangements that […]

By the time The Cure released Greatest Hits in 2001, they had already built one of the most recognizable catalogs in alternative music, moving from scrappy post-punk minimalism to lush, radio-ready pop without losing their identity. Owing one last album to Fiction Records, Robert Smith agreed to put out a greatest hits under the condition […]

By 2001, Stone Temple Pilots were in a different place than their early ’90s peak. Shangri-La Dee Da had just come out, and instead of chasing the heavier sound of Core or Purple, the band leaned into something looser and more varied. Live at Rolling Rock pulls from across their catalog, and you can hear […]

Years before Primal Scream bridged the UK’s rave and rock cultures with their landmark album Screamadelica, the Scottish group’s debut, Sonic Flower Groove, was decidedly more jangle pop than acid house. Pulled from a pair of 1987 singles tied to their debut 1987 EPs collects Gentle Tuesday and Imperial for the first time on a single pressing, […]

Since forming around 2012 with something of an all-star lineup, The Delines have been making waves with a steady output of music that blends the literary voice of accomplished author Willy Vlautin with the soulful nuance of singer Amy Boone. With their roster solidified by Cory Gray on keys and trumpet, Sean Oldham holding down […]

Originally released in 2000, United finds Phoenix at the very start of their run, before the polish and global recognition of later albums. At this point, they’re still figuring things out, but the core of their sound is already there with clean guitar lines, understated grooves, and Thomas Mars’ conversational vocal delivery. It sits somewhere […]

On April 9, the Two Tours Collide tour stopped at the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, Florida, for a night celebrating guitar mastery and blues roots. For two months, Samantha Fish’s Paper Doll Tour and Tab Benoit’s I Heart Thunder Tour combine for co-headlining shows without an opener. The show […]

Chicago has long been a bastion of insurgent country and cowpunk, and that fertile breeding ground has given us the twangified rockers Ratboys. Though the group has been chugging along for around 15 years, they have been making buzzier waves as of late with their latest album Singin’ to an Empty Chair. This collection, an […]

On the first two Fantastic Cat records, the quartet of singer-songwriters (Anthony D’Amato, Brian Dunne, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali) brought their own styles successfully into a band setting. However, on their third album, the cheekily titled Cat Out of Hell, Fantastic Cat feels like a long-running, well-oiled, veteran outfit. Things are more fluid as individual […]

In 2016 and 2025, Washington alt-rock innovators The Melvins toured as co-headliners with UK grindcore veterans Napalm Death under the banner Savage Imperial Death March. The tours showcased contrasting heavy styles. The Melvins, pioneers of the grunge and sludge metal movements, bring intricate riffing at various tempos and odd time signatures, while Napalm Death, pioneers […]

Having recorded her first album in 1990, Dar Williams is a folk legend. Her appeal lies in a combination of brilliant, approachable storytelling conveyed via an airy voice with a disarming sense of honesty. Her self-effacing, humble style was on full display at her April 3rd show at Seattle’s Neptune Theatre, the beautiful venue full […]

David Byrne is drinking from the fountain of youth and dosing it with joy juice. At 73, the Talking Heads frontman seems to be experiencing boundless creativity with the 2025 release of his solo album Who Is The Sky? (REVIEW) along with a supporting tour that is taking him across the world. The performances on […]

With the release of Great As Ever: Live In Philadelphia ’86, a theme is beginning to emerge in the chronological issues of this archival series. Notwithstanding how this package lives up to its title–it’s actually a reference to the loyalty of the audience from the leader of the band–Gregg Allman’s self-assurance and pride in his […]

Staying positive is an incredibly difficult skill to maintain. With all the negativity and palpable tension thickening the air, stirring up a fog so dense we sometimes forget to look at our fellow humans and share a smile, being the one to break the mold and share a technology-free moment with someone, or anything, is […]