Album Reviews

Lost albums invariably bring with them compelling stories. Try this one – from the liner notes. A master tape sits in an Atlantic Records warehouse in Long Branch, NJ for 13 years, the music it contains never released to the public. And then in 1978, the warehouse is engulfed in flames. A huge volume of […]

Show Me How You Disappear is a complex tapestry of rock and pop that offers introspective tales through dreamy melodies and a juxtaposition of musical styles. Ian Sweet began as a Los Angeles noise-rock band before becoming Jilian Medford’s solo project. On the third album, Medford deviates from the rock aesthetic of the previous two […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Little Oblivions, the latest album from Julien Baker, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Jaz Elise is an upcoming singer from Jamaica. Her contemporary style has led her to become part of the In.Digg.Nation Collective (founded by Protoje) alongside other artists like Lila Iké and Sevana. With a Jamaican artist and Protoje behind the project, you might expect a reggae album, and though her debut EP The Golden Hour, […]

It’s clear that French alto saxophonist Pierrick Pédron was inspired by Charlie Parker. After all, his first album, released in 2001 is entitled Cherokee. Now some eight albums later, we find Pédron in the company of some of New York’s finest, namely pianist Sullivan Fortner, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Marcus Gilmore for the fully […]

Jay Gonzalez of the Drive-by Truckers has more in common with polished sounds of The Beatles and The Beach Boys in his solo efforts than he does with the gritty, loud rock of his main employer. As this writer offered on Gonzalez’s first solo album, 2011’s  Mess of Happiness – Gonzalez is an excellent translator. […]

Punk-country rocker Jason Ringenberg returns untypically quickly for this solo, socially distanced, masked up solo effort Rhinestoned, which follows 2018’s Stand Tall, which had marked his first solo album in 15 years. While that album had a clear focus, as he was commissioned as the artist-in-residence at Sequoia National Park in northern California, the subject […]

Soul-jazz guitarist Dave Stryker is one of the most prolific artists on the scene.  Last May we brought you Blue Soul where he performed with the WDR Big Band. Baker’s Circle will be his eighth album in six years. A good part of Stryker’s appeal and success owes to his ability to put his distinctive […]

After a three-year solo album hiatus, Julien Baker has returned with a new LP Little Oblivions out on Matador Records. Baker’s last album Turn Out the Lights was released in 2017, in it, she focused on themes of depression, worthiness, and religion. Baker’s lyrics have always been devastating with minimal instrumentation — Little Oblivions doesn’t […]

Brijean’s new album Feelings is an exciting lush and layered sophomore effort. Brijean is a collaborative effort between Brijean Murphy and Doug Stuart. Murphy plays percussion in a plethora of different projects including U.S. Girls, Poolside, and Toro y Moi. Feelings was inspired by the diverse music of Murphy’s childhood, she was immersed in jazz, […]

Bob Dylan’s 50th Anniversary Collection 1970 might well have been titled  Another New Morning. That is, if it was deliberately intended as a sequel to The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971). Instead, the rationale for the original release in December 2020 was to retain copyrights to the seventy-four recordings. It’s become available […]

One month out of every year, everyone from local TV stations to billion-dollar brands give minimal acknowledgement to the accomplishments and occasionally the struggles of black Americans. And in most instances, it’s to let you know that George Washington Carver developed a slew of projects using peanuts.  Chris Pierce, meanwhile, has decided to use the […]

One of the great things about music is that you never know where your next favorite artist is going to come from. Sara Petite is a singer-songwriter who was raised in a tulip-farming town in Washington. She now calls San Diego home. But more than just calling it home, she has found it to be […]

Room Enough, Time Enough is Iowa- native and Minneapolis-based singer-lyricist & folk activist David Huckfelt (formerly of The Pines) second solo album. The theme of this record, like 2018’s Stranger Angels is environmentally oriented but also about redeeming the marginalized, and remembering the forgotten, especially indigenous peoples.  Fans of The Pines are certainly familiar with […]

Alt-rock veterans The Melvins has returned to its roots with its twenty-ninth full-length album. Working with God reunites what the band calls Melvins 1983, the almost-founding lineup  – original guitarist Buzz Osbourne, original drummer Mike Dillard, and bassist Dale Crover, who joined the band when Dillard left in 1984. While the band has gone through […]

It’s borderline startling to watch the video portion of Way Down in the Rust Bucket. Neil Young and Crazy Horse play with naturally fluid chemistry that belies the physical exertion and mental concentration they bring to bear on stage in Santa Cruz on November 13, 1990. But close observation also reveals the foursome knows very […]

The Amsterdam-based Altın Gün’s newest album, Yol was written and recorded with its members scattered all around Europe. This distance allowed them to experiment for their third studio release, adding sleek synths and more dancefloor-ready cool jams to their established worldbeat sounds which earned them a Grammy nomination in 2019. In the Anatolian rock style, […]

Jason Weinheimer’s Little Rock-based Fellowship of Sound studio has heard its share of stellar modern Americana records. Everyone from John Moreland and Hayes Carll to Shinyribs and John Fullbright have recorded there. Add Faded, Weinheimer’s own record, to that list of impressive Americana albums. Recording under the moniker The Libras, as he’s done in the […]

While the name may not be familiar, realize that singer/songwriter Randy Lee Riviere (pronounced “Ri-VEER) up until now has been recording under the moniker Mad Buffalo, via which he released four albums. So, he breaks free of that and now delivers a sweeping and lyrical soundscape of the American West with an eye toward preserving […]

It has been over ten years since the Menahan Street Band have released an album but The Exciting Sounds of Menahan Street Band is an aptly titled return for the group.  Consisting of members of The Roots, The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields and the Expressions, The Black Keys, and Budos Band, Menahan Street Band’s Thomas Brenneck […]