Album Reviews

The 2022 debut from Kansas City duo Katy Guillen & The Drive (led by music and life partners singer/guitarist Katy Guillen and drummer Stephanie Williams), Another One Gained, offered a solid indie rock record that leaned into a variety of influences from roots to garage rock. But on their follow-up, Make That Sound, the pair wanted to […]

An album as universally adored and critically acclaimed as The Last Dinner Party’s debut album, 2024’s Prelude to Ecstasy, doesn’t come around too often. The London-based, genre-pushing alt-rock five-piece proved to be a creative force from the start, building up to their stellar debut by generating a strong buzz as a must-see live act. It […]

On paper, Militarie Gun should be in a celebratory mindset heading into God Save The Gun, the highly anticipated follow-up to their critically acclaimed, monstrous Life Under The Gun LP from 2023. That album propelled the band, centered around songwriter/vocalist Ian Shelton, to the forefront of an exhilarating and burgeoning post-punk movement, a scene filled […]

Sudan Archives, the project of singer/songwriter/producer/violinist Brittney Parks, has been quietly crafting one of the more diverse discographies in contemporary music. Since her signing to the illustrious Stones Throw Records a few years back, Parks has proven to be a restless creative spirit with a stubborn refusal to repeat herself sonically. This approach forces the […]

Last year, Joshua Ray Walker was in the middle of intensive chemotherapy treatment for stage 3B colon cancer. Given where his head was at, it would be understandable if his latest LP, Stuff, were a collection of songs questioning mortality, life after death, and what we leave behind; a themed record about the final days. What […]

Cohesive and fluid are not words one would associate with the wild, spontaneous collective Bright Dog Red (BDR). Yet, relative to their seven preceding albums (all on Ropeadope), the upstate New York-based band seems to settle into a relentless groove on “Never Would We,” their tenth album overall. That’s one view.  First-time listeners will likely […]

Whenever an established group releases a self-titled album in the middle of their career, it acts as a symbol of rebirth, a new direction, course correction, or perhaps a last gasp. St. Paul & The Broken Bones’ self-titled release finds them centering their sound and style, as frontman Paul Janeway states, “I think the band […]

For nearly two decades, The Antlers have occupied a rare space in indie music: crafting hushed, emotionally charged records that balance intimacy with atmosphere. With Blight, their first full-length in four years, Peter Silberman sharpens his lyrical focus outward, channeling ecological unease and collective fragility into a set of stark but deeply human songs. Recorded largely […]

At some point, one might ask which veteran jazz musicians did not play in the “university of jazz” called Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. Familiar names abound through this review, but so many more go unmentioned.  Here we present a short-lived version of a group deep into Blakey’s fourth decade. We associate Blakey’s great […]

Now ten albums into his solo career — while still keeping his day job as frontman for The Old 97’s — Rhett Miller delivers his most stripped-down and confessional work yet with A lifetime of riding by night. This darker, more introspective tone can potentially be attributed to Miller’s recent gig teaching a songwriting class […]

Released in 1965, Farewell, Angelina marked an important step forward for Joan Baez. By her fifth studio album, she had already established herself as the defining voice of the folk revival, but here she began to expand her sound and repertoire. For the first time, Baez included electric accompaniment, courtesy of Bruce Langhorne’s subtle guitar […]

Guitar, the Portland-bred indie rockers, centred around songwriter and producer Saia Kuli, have always been up for a challenge. From fighting for their spot in a burgeoning art scene in their home city, to toying with the limits of their lo-fi aesthetics to achieve colorful compositions, Kuli has never shied away from the complexity of […]

Empty your minds and open them up to new ideas. Princess Nokia has arrived with a new project. Following the animated, hyperpop-tinted I Love You But This Is Goodbye, Nokia emerges with Girls, a venomous, daring, and vulnerable LP that challenges established norms and fearlessly transforms pain into uplifting anthems and heartfelt poetry. If you’ve […]

Don Was is arguably music’s greatest multi-tasker. Who else has handled all these roles – producer, songwriter, recording artist, music supervisor, documentarian, musical director, radio host, multi-instrumentalist, and President of Blue Note Records? You’ve seen him play bass with Wolf Bros, and his name has been associated with artists from the Rolling Stones to Willie […]

Robert Finley has always wanted to do a gospel album, yet like his previous melding of blues, soul, R&B, and gospel, he’s not content to stick too closely to the pure genre. Finley works again with Dan Auerbach on his fourth album for Easy Eye Sound, and essentially gets free rein on Hallelujah! Don’t Let […]

When A Perfect Circle released Mer de Noms in 2000, the band immediately stood apart from the crowded rock landscape of the era. Formed by guitarist Billy Howerdel, with Maynard James Keenan stepping outside of his role in Tool to provide vocals, the group fused heavy riffs with atmosphere and restraint in a way that […]

For her third album, Nashville-based Kashena Sampson pivots away from her more traditional folk-leaning roots toward a moodier, psychedelic folk-rock sound that gives her music a darker edge and continues to add to her appeal. You can hear influences as varied as Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux, and Tori Amos woven throughout the nine tracks that […]

Over the past few years, Nashville DIY punk heroes Snooper have experienced the transition from young hopefuls to rising stars. With the release of their stellar debut album, 2023’s Super Snõõper, the frenetic chemistry between co-bandleaders Blair Tramel and Connor Cummins burst onto the modern punk scene, forcing their peers and critics alike to stop […]

Nicki Bluhm relocated from California to Nashville in 2017 at the end of a tumultuous period in her life. She had just divorced her husband and former bandmate, she parted with her group The Gramblers, and set out on reviving her solo career. Nashville has clearly been good to her, yet she even namechecks the […]

First released in 1956, Kenny Drew’s self-titled Kenny Drew Trio has long been one of those records that says more than its reputation suggests. Drew, who would later settle in Copenhagen and build a life in European jazz circles, is heard here in New York with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, two […]