Album Reviews

Perry Serpa’s latest, Laying Low in The Highlands, is definitely a COVID record. I mean, the first song that opens the record is called “Out of Purell.” But it’s also definitely not just a COVID album. It’s about acknowledging the fact that everyone is suffering, often times alone, and it took a global pandemic to […]

Some may react to the pairing of iconic singer-songwriter John Hiatt and dobro master Jerry Douglas as a bit surprising, but it makes complete sense in the consistent thread of Hiatt’s career since his breakthrough 1987 Bring the Family with Ry Cooder. Hiatt loves instruments that slide, be a resonator, an electric guitar, or, in […]

Daddy’s Home, the sixth solo St. Vincent album, marks another abrupt turn for the musical chameleon. Following two art-pop albums drenched in electronic influences, this release is Annie Clark’s most analog since 2009’s Actor. It is a retro album steeped in the musical styles of the 1970s, pop, and psychedelia melding with rock and world […]

As part of the rollout for Damien Jurado’s personal record label, Maraqopa Records, he is releasing a new album, one that, like creating a label, marks a revitalization for the singer-songwriter. That, along with the death of frequent producer/collaborator Richard Swift has led Jurado towards a different, more tempered period in his discography.  The Monster […]

It’s difficult to not look at the songs off of The Steel Woods latest record, All Of Your Stones, with added scrutiny after the sudden death of co-founder/guitarist Jason “Rowdy” Cope in January. The album, the band’s third, and easily their finest moment yet, is bookended by two unusually powerful tracks. “Out of the Blue,” […]

Blueanimal is a band that has its origins in an Orlando band called Redwax. Luke Elms (guitar, vocals) and Matt Lube (bass) branched out from Redwax nd got together to perform duo shows. Those duo shows grew into Blueanimal. The band’s new album is entitled Figment That Was Me and it is that rare entity: a […]

There’s nothing like ambient music to nurture the creation of mind-movies. Cases in point, John Morgan Kimock’s Hikikomori and Nainnoh’s eponymous work can conjure vivid mental imagery and, while these titles certainly work well on their own terms, they may well function best as a double feature of cerebral cinema. Each entrance in its own […]

Riley Downing, one of the lead vocalists and songwriters of the New Orleans-based roots rockers Deslondes is making his solo debut with Start It Over.  His bandmate, Sam Doores, has already pursued a similar course but Downing does a good job of “keeping it in the family.” His co-writer on all selections and co-producer is […]

Over the course of his nearly fifty-year career, Paul Weller has proven himself to be as fearless as he is prolific. Premature as it first seemed to dissolve The Jam and form The Style Council back in 1982-3, the move proved to be both wise and fruitful. And in his subsequent work as a solo […]

We should be used to this by now. As mentioned, a few times on these pages, blues harp master Bob Corritore essentially has his “pick of the litter.” As proprietor of Phoenix’s premier blues club, The Rhythm Room, he can sit in with any of the acts he books, and in this case, lure them […]

Access bluesman Eddie Turner on SoundCloud and you’ll note “Devilboy” and not “Eddie Turner” above the music.  Yes, Eddie Turner is to the blues what Dennis Rodman was to the NBA – inventive, mercurial, multi-faceted, and mostly misunderstood.  In musical vernacular, maybe a comparison to what Sun Ra was to jazz is as appropriate – […]

The newest release from The Black Keys finds them returning to one of their earliest influences as the band covers the Mississippi Hill Country blues legends R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough as well as others on Delta Kream.  The impromptu recording for the cover album took place at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studios at […]

You can hear traces of folk/Americana legends like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark weaved throughout the sophomore effort from Shay Martin Lovette, but just as obvious is the influence of his native North Carolina. Written primarily from a remote creek side cabin in the Appalachian Mountains, there is a stillness and serenity that knit […]

Felton Music Hall kicked off their summer music series at Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton, California (Santa Cruz County) in a BIG way on Friday. The series boasts upcoming performances by Ozomatli, ALO, John Craigie, Taj Mahal, The Brothers Comatose, and many more over the span of weekly shows that started May 7th, and will […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on When God Was Great, the new album from ska legends the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Exactly two decades ago, 17 years after their last album, The Go-Go’s surprised a generation of kids raised on “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got The Beat” with God Bless The Go-Go’s, their reunion record. And while it was not their best album to date (it’s hard to imagine most bands trying to compete […]

Saxophonist, composer, philosopher, and writer Shabaka Hutchings hails from Barbados and has been at the forefront of the UK London jazz scene for the better part of the decade.  Hutchings leads three bands – all now on the Impulse! label – Sons of Kemet, the South African-centered Shabaka & the Ancestors, and The Comet Is […]

Renowned and prolific saxophonist Chris Potter follows up his 2019 Circuits Trio Circuits as pianist/keyboardist James Francies and drummer Eric Harland, both bandleaders themselves, return in one of today’s high-profile trios. Last year Potter delivered a solo effort, There is a Tide, in which he played all instruments. This time out, he surrenders most of […]

It’s hard to miss the distinct ‘70s vibe of Stranger Again, the second album from North Carolina duo Blue Cactus. During that decade, Willie, Waylon and their buddies flipped the middle finger to Nashville’s Music Row and headed to Texas; Cosmic Country brought together the rednecks and hippies; and Fleetwood Mac managed to win over […]

Iceage has never had a formula, a rarity for most bands dabbling in post-punk these days. Instead, the Copenhagen quartet has pushed themselves to be more adventurous on each release, stubbornly insisting on distancing themselves from the sound that made them famous. In the process, the band has released four critically acclaimed albums, each record […]