Album Reviews

After flashing glimpses of their Latin Jazz prowess over the course of their previous six recordings, the 17 years running Spanish Harlem Orchestra (SHO) goes full boat on The Latin Jazz Project, remarkably their first full-length Latin jazz release, especially considering that almost any measure they are today’s top salsa band. That’s the fine difference, […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Color TV, the new album from New Jersey rockers Dramarama, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Tessy Lou Williams was born to be a musician. Her parents started the band Montana Rose as a way to engage their three children in music. Tessy Lou has not only stuck with it, but admits, “There is nothing else in the entire world I’d rather do.” That’s a lucky thing for her fans and […]

Every so often it’s good to step out of your comfort zone. Rather than siding with his usual social causes and left-wing leanings, Steve Earle decided to make an album “that spoke to and for people who didn’t vote the way I did.” Ghosts of West Virginia focuses on the Upper Big Branch coal mine […]

Portland, Oregon has always been a groovy place and musicians like Ripley Johnson are the reason why. Best known as one half of droning psych funkers Moon Duo and the leader of spacey cult favorites Wooden Shjips, Johnson has called Portland home for years now. Fittingly, his aptly named side project the Rose City Band […]

Leon Michels first appeared on an album when he was in high school. The album was Thunder Chicken by The Mighty Imperials, and it is filled with songs that provide the perfect soundtrack for a session at the roller rink. From there, he toured with Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings among many other projects. It’s […]

This is one loud but musically finessed rocking party and all are invited. As leader, keyboardist/singer/songwriter Victor Wainwright, says, “Everyone’s welcome aboard the train.” The “Train” is the name of conductor Wainwright’s core sextet, augmented by one as co-producer/guitarist Dave Gross becomes the caboose.  Meanwhile, 11 guests climb aboard as passengers for this live studio […]

Pacific Range is a promising young band whose second album (and first for Curation Records) was produced by Dan Horne, multi-instrumentalist of Circles Around The Sun. High Upon The Mountain is a mutually empathetic collaboration that illustrates that, while the quartet’s playing transcends its own material, that doesn’t undermine their potential. It’s a perfectly natural […]

Since the new wave of artists like Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah, Derrick Hodge, Terrace Martin, and so many others have meshed R&B, electronica and hip-hop with jazz it may seem like we are approaching the point of a new genre.  But hold on. Arguably, each of these artists are creating such […]

Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, the fifth album from Perfume Genius, is a collection of emotionally charged chamber pop that draws the listener in with its catchy pop hooks and then rewards repeat listening with empathetic tales of introspection. Reteaming with producer Blake Mills, Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas) shares poetic musings about love, […]

Steve Kimock & Friends’ mini-EP Point of No Return whets the appetite for more as much as it satisfies on its own terms. Issued (in digital form only) more or less in lieu of a string of pandemic-plagued shows, this fifteen minutes of live performance was recorded in February of 2019 and subsequently produced for […]

Saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Matt Stevens are taking their successful 2018 project In Common to another round, this time surrounding themselves with three different players on In Common 2. It’s the same process with Smith III and Stevens writing the compositions and then seeking out like-minded musicians to join them. As in the […]

With its debut self-titled album, LaMP does justice to the musical pedigree of its members. Russ Lawton has long drummed in the Trey Anastasio Band, that is when he is not teaching or touring/recording as the duo Soule Monde with keyboardist Ray Paczkowski. The latter is a linchpin of TAB himself, but also co-founder and […]

For the past forty years, Willie Nile has been writing love letters to his adopted home base of New York City. And New York At Night, his 13th studio record, shows that his love is clearly not fading any time soon. The album sets the tone with the opening track, “New York Rockin,’” which name […]

Caitlin Cannon was given her first guitar at the age of 13 – a gift from her grandmother. It was then that Cannon realized playing guitar wasn’t just for boys. That epiphany was a good thing not only for her, but for her new album The TrashCannon Album. The album is filled with references to […]

These ears are hearing Ben de la Cour sing in graphic detail about a suicide in “Swan Dive” and while in almost every other case, that would be a reason to stop listening, his album, Shadow Land, is instead captivating and riveting. After all, that song comes eight tracks in, well after being deeply immersed […]

Pianist/composer/ and now bandleader for his fifth outing, Art Hirahara delivers an album of explorative self-discovery through evocative statements as he splits the selections between a trio and quartet format. The name should be relatively familiar to jazz fans, as Balance Point marks what appears to be his 59th album in total. All his albums […]

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down didn’t lose any of its creative steam in the four years since its last release. Temple, the fifth album by the San Francisco indie band, is a wonderfully eccentric collection of off-kilter pop rock that melds various eastern and western influences into its distinct sound. Following 2016’s excellent […]

2020 was feasibly setting up to be the year that Sparks, the 50 years plus Los Angeles based art-pop brother duo was set to break completely out of their “cult band” status and show the rest of the world just how hip and influential they really are.  With yet another album finished, a movie score […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Always Tomorrow, the new album from California rockers Best Coast, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):