Album Reviews

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Help Us Stranger, the new album from The Raconteurs, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Trojan Jamaica is a brand new label co-founded by Zak Starkey and Sharna “Sshh” Liguz whose first release is the compilation album Red, Gold, Green & Blue. That blue is added to the title of the record as Starkey and Liguz worked with reggae legends to record some classic blues numbers in their own style. […]

This mainstream, hard bop session led by legendary funk and jazz drummer Mike Clark and his top-shelf ensemble, Indigo Blue, hearkens back to those great Blue Note live albums of Art Blakey or Freddie Hubbard’s Night of the Cookers. Clark assembled a “can’t lose” lineup of bassist Christian McBride, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., tenor […]

Jackie Greene was well-established, if not exactly famous, when Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh tapped him to become one of his Friends in 2007. The youthful California singer/songwriter went on to distinguish himself as a performer during his tenure with that ensemble, the strengths of which translate directly to Live From Throckmorton Theatre.  Within the […]

Darkly whimsical multi-instrumentalist Erin Elizabeth Birgy has been excavating art-pop gems as Mega Bog for her devoted coterie of fans for nearly a decade. On Dolphine, Mega Bog’s fifth album and first for Paradise of Bachelors, Birgy has created a collection of eleven ethereally shimmering oddities comprising an oracular guide into a hazy aquatic underworld […]

Today Billy Branch arguably holds the title that Little Walter held in the ‘50s, “Chicago Blues Harmonica Master.” It’s only fitting that he pays tribute to the iconic bluesman, Little Walter Jacobs, who established the blues harp as a cornerstone of the Chicago blues sound. When viewing the song list from this tribute of sorts, […]

What is it with indie-rock and the wild animal names? Tame Impala, Fleet Foxes, Mountain Goats, Deerhunter, Grizzly Bear, Panda Bear, Minus the Bear, Bear in Heaven, Message to Bears…a lot of bears, really. Perhaps it’s steeped in the nostalgia the genre in all its breadth often embraces. A longing to return, to reconnect to […]

The way bands come and go, you have to be impressed when a band has been at it for more than 20 years. Pepper is one such band. Along the way, the band has branched from touring and recording to having their own wine and a cannabis strain. On their new album, Local Motion, Pepper shows […]

2019 marks the twenty-fifth year in the existence of Gov’t Mule, but Bring On The Music doesn’t exactly represent a formal recognition of that milestone. Nor does it constitute, in any of its multiple configurations of audio and video, a career-spanning cross-section of their music. The two-CD set, however, is an accurate depiction of this […]

Dave Alvin’s King of California, first issued in 1994, marked a pivotal point in Alvin’s career.  Known primarily as a rocker from his days with X, The Blasters, and even his own solo material up until this point, the singer-guitarist found himself in an acoustic folk-like setting with multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz at the helm as […]

Antidote from Chick Corea and his newly formed Spanish Heart Band revisit songs from his classic albums My Spanish Heart and Touchstone. The Spanish Heart Band is a multi-cultural octet playing both these classic and new compositions with guest appearances by vocalists Ruben Blades, Gayle Moran Corea, and Maria Bianca. Corea, who claims his genetics […]

Given its principals’ forebears, The Allman Betts Band exhibits no small amount of courage in its decision to pool talent for recording and roadwork. Still, the first fruits of its efforts on both fronts have been promising, including this initial studio project. Recorded in Muscle Shoals in what seems nothing less than a deliberate gesture […]

The draw of the lo-fi, garage-rock influenced bands of the late 90s (White Stripes) and early aughts (The Black Keys), was the energy they created using sparse instrumentation—just guitar, drums, and vocals. It was an antidote to the funereal bombast of grunge. However, both bands quickly discovered the limitations of the format, and gradually expanded […]

There is a vibrant sunset shimmering through Night Moves most recent album Can You Really Find Me as the songs breathe in the summer dusk and exhale soothing retro radio-friendly pop and indie folk rock, all weaving through modern electro flourishes as they unwind. The band is the main focus of John Pelant (vocals, guitars, […]

Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers have harnessed their power and approach, moving from what this writer felt was rather overdone, way-too-loud blues rock into a more electrifying, captivating, just-enough-restrained sound to deliver a combustible but accessible album with No Good Deed. The musicians come from very different backgrounds and this is only their album. Sometimes […]

The last time this writer heard an artist describe his music as “American Music” was the late Clarence “Gatemouth” Btown who shunned the blues label people ascribed to him. Now we have Minnesota folk-rocker Erik Koskinen taking issue with the label “Americana,” describing his music instead as “all American roots music.” He expounds, “It’s not […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Tales of America, the new album from folk singer-songwriter J.S. Ondara, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

The Small Glories are a Canadian duo making their U.S. debut on an album that celebrates the Canadian prairies, titled for the convergence of two rivers, the Assiniboine and the Red. Cara Luft was an original member of the Wailin’ Jennies and JD Edwards in a multi-instrumentalist, the two having met serendipitously, at an anniversary […]

The title should give you pause. These are new songs but for an older time. The inside jacket has the album title emblazoned over a typewriter no less. Chris Stamey built his stellar reputation primarily on infectious power pop and loud rock n’ roll so it’s a bit shocking (unless one is hip to Stamey’s […]

On their last record Patrick Stickles took his punk outfit Titus Andronicus on a stripped down piano lead detour, A Productive Cough, which was messy, yet ultimately interesting and successful. Now for An Obelisk he retreats back, mining familiar caves of loud guitars and lots of cascading verses with galvanizing choruses around bar rock and […]