Album Reviews

Going back to 2015, the duo Shovels & Rope have a habit of sneaking out a brilliant collection of covers under the moniker Busted Jukebox to fans when they least expect it. Coming four years after the second version, Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent stealthy put out Busted Jukebox Volume 3 last week, complete […]

Singer-songwriter Joyann Parker turned heads with her 2018 debut Hard to Love and returns with even more fervor on Out of the Dark. Minneapolis-based Joyann Parker is a classically trained pianist with a degree in music from the University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse. She sang in church and in wedding bands before she was struck […]

Paul Leary’s first solo album, The History of Dogs, was released way back in 1991 and now the follow-up Born Stupid arrives during the strange haze of early 2021. The Butthole Surfers guitarist waited 30 years to use his dark humor, creepy carnival vibes, and orchestrated sweeping sounds to address everything from mass consumption to […]

Singer/songwriter Mat Weitman, operating under the moniker Hotels on Mars, is releasing his first solo album, Grief Museum, on February 12th from Styles Upon Styles Records. The first single released into the wild, “Worst Year on Record” gives a pretty accurate preview of the ideas and musical approaches you’ll find on the album, but I […]

Led by keyboardist Robert Glasper the super group R+R=NOW turned heads with their 2018 studio debut, Collagically Speaking (covered on these pages) for its unprecedented blend of jazz, R&B, electronica, and hip-hop grooves. In October of that same year Glasper had a month-long residency at the Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC, on several nights […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Can’t Complain, the latest album from ska-punk rockers Kill Lincolk, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Renowned vocalist and guitarist Allan Harris’ Kate’s Soulfood is a series of spirited, soul-drenched ten tracks that pay emotive homage to Harris’ home of Harlem, NYC. Showcasing his brisk baritone and deft songwriting ability, Harris’ fourteenth release as a leader paints a vivid portrait of his vibrant neighborhood that draws heavily from a deep well of childhood memories, as […]

This is Beth Lee stepping out on her own four years after the release of her critically lauded album, Keep Your Mouth Shut, with her roots rock ‘n’ roll band Beth Lee & The Breakups. She left her comfort zone behind, this being her fourth album recorded in California’s East Bay area. With a similar Americana filter […]

The late beloved actor Harry Dean Stanton appeared in well over 30 films but musically, other than a few cameos, there’s only one of his albums available.  The same company, Omnivore, who delivered the 2014 Partly Fiction, now finds a bit more Stanton material in collaboration with the band, The Cheap Dates, for a combination […]

As with the first two albums, Capitol/UMe is issuing the 50th anniversary of The Band’s classic third album, Stage Fright, with a suite of newly remixed, remastered, and expanded 50th Anniversary Edition packages, including a multi-format Super Deluxe Edition (2CD/Blu-ray/1LP/7-inch vinyl). All the Anniversary Edition releases were overseen by principal songwriter Robbie Robertson and boast a new stereo […]

Okay, this writer gravitates toward any recording where Steve Dawson is at the helm producing and/or playing. And one of those such projects was his work with Canadian Dr. Kat Danser (Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology) on 2018’s Goin’ Gone.  One Eye Open is the follow-up.  If you are unfamiliar with Danser, she is a three-time nominee […]

Aaron Lee Tasjan is the epitome of versatile. Over the years, he’s played guitar with everyone from folkie Peter Yarrow (a long, long time ago) and Sean Lennon to The New York Dolls, but it’s his solo work that is beyond classification. From record to record he’s been agnostic to genres, dipping in and out […]

Catching a listener’s attention isn’t an easy chore simply because so many bands exist. One thing a band can do to catch the attention, even before the listener hears a note of their music, is to have a description that is more descriptive than “alternative”. Chicken Snake’s music is described as southern voodoo-psych blues, which […]

Many musicians in their eighties pare back their activities but this is not the case with the irrepressible progressive Black music icon, Gary Bartz. Just last year he recorded an acclaimed album, Night Dreamer – Direct to Disc Sessions with the funk unit Maisha. IN 2019 he teamed with fellow altoists Vince Herring and Booby […]

Juana Everett’s first full length, Move On, is a mostly great take on folk rock, infusing the genre with piano and soulful vocals for an inspired update. The two strongest tracks on the record also happen to bookend it, with the upbeat, seemingly autobiographical “Drifter of Love” kicking off the collection: The record closes on […]

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets newest release SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound opens with a bizarre (brief) introduction to their freaky world. The track is titled “Big Dijon” and it does just enough to disorientate, before blasting the listener off into the cosmos with what follows.   The Perth, Australia based band, lead by Jack McEwan on guitar/vocals, have […]

In a setlist that covers artists from Neil Young to Brian Wilson to Billy Preston, Sam Cooke, and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, among others, pianist/guitarist/vocalist A.J. Croce puts his own soulful spin on a dozen covers, tunes he has familiarized himself with over the years entertaining friends at his home. The effort is aptly […]

The landscape of alternative music has changed frequently over the 27 years that Foo Fighters has been around. Over the course of the band’s ten albums, Dave Grohl and company have taken their own roots and incorporated various influences. Over the last three decades, Foo Fighters has been one of the few bands to consistently […]

Montreal-based indie psych-rockers The Besnard Lakes are back with their new album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings, after a five-year break. The album title may sound pretentious but is in line with past albums like their sophomore release The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse and the 2010 follow-up […]

Two jazz giants of two generations have come together for a collaborative project. Let My People Go, a duo recording by saxophonist Archie Shepp and pianist Jason Moran, compiled from a series of duet performances from 2017 and 2018. The 83-year-old Shepp has been a force in the jazz world for six decades. A collaborator […]