Album Reviews

When an artist gets a good producer it can usually elevate his career; when the artist gets an acclaimed producer, the trajectory often climbs to an even higher level. That may well be the case for Asheville-based finger-picking guitarist, singer-songwriter Christopher Paul Stelling who teams with Ben Harper on Best of Luck, Stelling’s fifth album. […]

Dan Deacon’s newest full-length release opens with “Become A Mountain” which contains the lyrics which are the true heart of this release: “I’m so lucky, yet I forget I’m still hungry for the future. On this day before me will I seize it or scroll? All of time is right here, is right now”. Mystic […]

Mortimer is a reggae artist who gained some recognition when he appeared on the last two Protoje albums. It attracted enough recognition that he was able to work with Grammy-nominated producer Winta James. When Fight the Fight was released digitally, it debuted at #3 on the Billboard reggae chart and at #1 on the iTunes […]

Garcia Live Volume 12 offers some of, if not the most spirited, edgy performances yet released in this archival series. And while it’s not quite accurate to assign all the credit to vocalist Sarah Fulcher as the catalyst for this combustible content, it is no coincidence she is featured prominently in photos within the twelve-page […]

The fourth full-length offering from Brooklyn based artist TORRES (aka Mackenzie Scott) is her first self-produced effort and as she states, it is “the exact record I wanted to make”. The end product is a mix of confessional synth/art/pop numbers which can both challenge and sooth as Silver Tongue flows along.    The album opens with […]

One of roots music’s best bands returns as leader Eric Brace rounds up his bandmates in Last Train Home for the band’s tenth, perhaps most fully realized album on Daytime Highs and Overnight Lows. It’s quite a cast, numbering eleven with three additional guests. The three principals, Brace, bassist Jim Gray, and drummer Martin Lynds […]

The iconic 86-year-old Wayne Shorter is revered in the top echelon of jazz greats both as a player and composer.  Wynton Marsalis, the Artistic and Managing Director said it succinctly, “Wayne Shorter is at the highest level of our music- you can’t get any higher than him. Everybody strives to have a personal sound. Wayne’s […]

It’s interesting to ponder on what kind of music Miles Davis would be making today if he were alive. Perhaps the latest effort, Absurd in the Anthropocene from widely hailed L.A. -based prolific trumpeter, composer, and producer Dan Rosenboom provides one possible answer to that unanswerable question. While Rosenboom often leads his own quintet or […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Watch It Burn, the new album from Washington D.C. punk rockers American Television, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Calibro 35 is an Italian combo that labels itself as “cinematic funk”. Generally, it’s a good thing when bands create their own label to describe their music because it shows that the band is hard to fit into well-known categories. The trouble with a band creating its own genre is that it’s hard to define. […]

Having seen one of America’s very best rock bands, Drive-by Truckers (DBTs), the day after the 2016 Election, their performance was inspired, ferocious, and angry at times as one would have expected. Yet, the collective vibe both onstage in the audience was collective release from the shocking numbness still felt by the election result. As […]

The six core members of the ensemble Dustbowl Revival knew it was time to make changes. Perhaps this was just a matter of becoming bored with their signature sound the marks the intersection of folk, soul, and swing. Maybe the departure of two bandmates played into this change in direction. In any case, this is […]

With so many of his hits on the radio for such a long time, Sam Cooke is a familiar artist and a titan of soul. However, on the new collection The Complete Keen Recordings (1957-60): The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke, you can rediscover Cooke’s music and his wonderful voice. The first disc begins with […]

It’s been ten years since New York bassist, composer, producer, and bandleader Massimo Biolcati released his first solo album Persona but now he’s back with Incontre, featuring nine compositions, four of which are originals. Biolcati stays busy, making it difficult to find time for his own work. He is a founding member of Gifema, the […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on 20/20 Vision, the new album from legendary punk rockers Anti-Flag, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

The cover art for the Wood Brothers’ Kingdom In My Mind may not be so stylish as that which adorned its 2018 predecessor, the Grammy Award-Nominated One Drop of Truth, but the title is just as provocative and the music itself follows suit. This eighth Wood Brothers studio album may be the most fully integrated […]

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker release Suite for Max Brown, dedicated to Parker’s mother, following up his acclaimed 2016 The New Breed. The album was produced by Parker alongside Paul Bryan, who also plays bass; additional featured are Josh Johnson (known for work with Kiefer, Leon Bridges) on alto sax, Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes, M. Ward) […]

Terry Allen is a Texas country legend from the same town, Lubbock, TX, and with similar songwriting tendencies as the more famous Flatlanders – Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock. Allen is also a visual artist with drawings and paintings on display at some of the world’s most famous museums. Called by many […]

You may recall the evocative debut album from Petra, Rachel, and Tanya Haden, the daughters of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden, and/or you may be familiar with Petra Haden’s work with Bill Frisell, most recently on his acclaimed Harmony. The Family Songbook, the sophomore release from the three sisters, offers a similar sound to the debut, with stellar guests, […]

Algiers previous album, 2017’s The Underside of Power, was a career highlight and one of the best albums of the year.  Their follow-up doesn’t reach those lofty heights; There Is No Year is an artistic collection of industrial synth-laden restrained music with slight gospel/soul/punk/protest flourishes. The band, Franklin James Fisher, Ryan Mahan and Lee Tesche […]