Album Reviews

With the release of  Making A Door Less Open Car Seat Headrest subsequently announced a decisive shift in their overall sound. Without completely abandoning the staples that have turned a niche audience into an international following, they have still established a previously unheard aspect with this album, which is reminiscent of bandmates Wil Toledo and […]

Anyone who complained that American Aquarium’s 2018 album Things Change was “too political,” should probably sit this new one out as well. Lamentations is BJ Barham’s strongest work yet lyrically, fighting against the stereotypes of Southern men clinging to the stars and bars and genuflecting to statues of Robert E. Lee. The result is also, […]

It’s a measure of the profound influence Jerry Garcia continues to wield that contemporary musicians remain so inclined to exhibit the results of his inspiration. And such displays, like The Garcia Project’s Spirit,  manifest much the same range of style(s) the man himself explored over the course of his multi-faceted career within the Grateful Dead, […]

Venezuelan pianist and Latin Grammy nominee Gabriel Chakarji augments his trio for his studio recording debut New Beginning, redefining the relationship between jazz and Afro-South American/Caribbean music with eight original and innovative compositions. He features several fellow Venezuelan musicians who are equally connected to the Afro-Venezuelan lineage: vocalist Carmela Ramirez, percussionist Daniel Prim, and percussionist Jeickov Vital.  Longtime […]

In Pokey LaFarge’s own words, “the man singing these songs isn’t exactly the same man that wrote them.” And that’s probably a good thing. As the album title indicates, LaFarge was going through a dark period when he wrote a bulk of the songs on this, his ninth record and first for New West. He […]

Should you be counting, this is the fourth review in this weird year of 2020 for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) and their label, Blue Engine Records, which like all but the Wayne Shorter album, are being delivered only digitally. While leader and spokesman Wynton Marsalis deservedly receives most of the accolades and […]

Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, the sixth album from experimental indie outfit Man Man, follows the same path laid out by 2013’s On Oni Pond. Like that previous release, this album is a bit tamer than the band’s more feral earlier work, but retains the band’s gift for eccentric stories, unique compositions, […]

Chicano Batman’s 2017 release Freedom Is Free was a breakthrough for the band, blending tropicalia, psych-rock, 70’s looking R&B, and sweet retro-soul sounds. Their 2020 follow up Invisible People is a digitally laced late-night victory lap, steeped in chilled-out, get-down love jams as the band kicks it up a notch; it is an evolution of […]

Legacy Holder is the second album for drummer, composer and bandleader Jonathan Barber who leads a quintet comprised of pianist Taber Gable, guitarist Andrew Renfroe, alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, and bassist Matt Dwonszyk.  Vocalist Mar Vilaseca sings the R&B tinged opener, “The Call.” The album delivers a truly cohesive sound with the emphasis on ensemble playing. The New York City-based, Hartford, […]

Chicago blues veterans, vocalist/guitarist John Primer and harmonicist Bob Corritore, collaborate for the third time on The Gypsy Woman Told Me, the title and song from Muddy Waters famed catalog. Both headliners have won BMAs and have joined before on 2017’s Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do and 2013’s Knockin’ Around These Blues. While Primer tours with […]

Pianist and bandleader Orrin Evans (The Bad Plus, Tar Baby), has long used “The Village” to refer not only to his family-like cohort of fellow musicians in the Captain Black Big Band (CBBB), but also to the extended family of fans, supporters and inspirations that have carried the ensemble to a Grammy nomination and its status as […]

The challenge of writing about what makes Heather Anne Lomax’s All This Time so good is that her recipe is so simple. She has a huge voice, great songs, and unadorned production. But there’s nothing basic about this beautiful album which is built upon perfect performances that don’t waste a note, while also making you […]

It’s a perverse statement on the music world that Andrew Gold is best known for penning the theme songs to The Golden Girls and Mad About You (and the members of The Rembrandts, best known for the Friends theme, nod in agreement). Gold was signed to Asylum Records in the 1970s, home to everyone from […]

John Doyle is regarded as one of the best Irish guitarists but even that accolade sells him way short. Doyle is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist as well. The Path of Stones is his follow-up to 2011’s Shadow and Light. If by chance, you’re wondering why Doyle records on a U.S. label, Compass, it’s likely since […]

When people discuss music, it’s interesting how many different avenues can be explored – from technical expertise to genre to a band’s name. You might think it an unusual choice to begin a band name with a hashtag. Certainly, it’s not something you see every day, but it was probably a matter of time before […]

Dating back to Glenn Danzig’s earliest releases with The Misfits there were comparisons to Elvis Presley, as he has been dubbed “Evil Elvis” by fans in the past. Danzig has always been heavily influenced by the King, even covering him previously on Thrall: Demonsweatlive EP in 1993 and his more recent Skeletons covers album. Now […]

If you’ve spent enough time in the music world, you come to learn what you can expect from certain record labels. In the case of Small Stone, you know that you can expect some heavy grooves as well as a lot of volume and tempo. With that in mind, Lord Fowl is the perfect Small […]

At least upon first glance, Garcia Live Volume 13 seems like a welcome return to fertile territory after the sharp left turn of the previous edition with its gut-wrenching performances from the bandleader, along with the courageous and creative caterwauling of Sarah Fulcher. But a close inspection of this booklet’s action photos reveals a daunting […]

Hailed as the greatest jazz singer of all time, any tribute to Ella Fitzgerald demands a pull-out-all-the-stops production which is precisely what we get with this live show from Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater, the very venue where Ella got her start at age 17 in 1934. This spectacular almost 80-minute long recording, Ella 100: Live […]

Casey Van Beek adds to an already impressive resume with Heaven Forever. With his appropriately-named Tulsa Groove aggregation in tow, the man who’s crossed paths with members of the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Leon Russell’s Shelter People fully validates what a wise man once said about how good it is to have history. Producer/recordist Walt […]