Album Reviews

Reed Turchi may not be a household name, but for close to 10 years the guitarist and songwriter has been quietly leading something of a prolific career. At the core of every project and album he has taken on has been a devotion to the blues. Even though he is from North Carolina, Turchi has […]

The fourth full length from Denver based The Yawpers (Bloodshot Records) is a rollicking slice of shambolic rock and roll titled Human Question; this record rattles, shakes and riffs with a spirit reminiscent of The Replacements anything goes excitement. Where the groups last album (2017’s Boy In A Well) was a messy (in a good […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Communion In The Ashes, the new album from Americana troubadour M. Lockwood Porter, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

In late 2017, Stephen Wilkinson released his ninth Bibio album, Phantom Brickworks. A masterful ambient drone experiment in the vein of Eno and Stars of the Lid, it was a surprising change of direction for Wilkinson – despite the fact no one seemed particularly surprised. He’s consistently proved himself adept at spanning genres, the electronic […]

Big Search, the name given to the project by Matt Popieluch to his solo project, is releasing his sophomore release Slow Fascination. Having played with the likes of Cass McCombs, Glasser, and Sky Ferreira, Popieluch also used to front the band Foreign Born. While fronting the band they had the privilege to tour with Grizzly […]

Cris Jacobs, former frontman for the Baltimore-based group, the Bridge, and collaborator with Ivan Neville this past fall on Neville Jacobs, is releasing his third solo album, Color Where You Are. Jacobs is one of those triple threats– singer, songwriter and guitarist– blessed with a deep, soulful voice and able to traverse several genres. Along […]

Tyler Ramsey literally had nothing to prove when he opted to put his solo career in second gear and join forces with Band of Horses for a tour in 2007. That stint with the group became a decade long association, one that found him splitting his time between his individual pursuits and writing and recording […]

For Band of Skulls’ fifth LP, Love Is All You Love, the U.K. rockers made a conscious effort to record a happier and more optimistic album. In response to depressing and anxious times, the band decided to provide with its music the kind of euphoria that is in short supply in society. The result is […]

With apologies to their home-town festival name, this will be a “high water mark” year for the duo Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent aka Shovels & Rope. By Blood is their fourth studio release for the couple and parents, who are now expecting their second child. As if a new touring schedule behind this […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Missing Parts, the new album from Pittsburgh, PA punk outfit Nightmarathons, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

What you need to know about Bruce Hornsby’s Absolute Zero is summed up by how Hornsby describes its first single “Voyager One”- “Steve Reich meets Prince.” Yes, the album is unclassifiable and that’s the way Hornsby wants it. This array of musical contributors attests to it – yMusic, The Staves, Blake Mills, Jack DeJohnette, Sean […]

Think back to the sound of Roy Orbison and the writers of those classic country tunes – Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Whisperin’ Bill Anderson and Bobby Braddock. They’re the ones that John Paul White looked to for inspiration for his third solo album, The Hurting Kind, seeking out Anderson and Braddock, specifically. He drew on […]

“It’s a miracle I’m not a drug addict, but it’s a shame I’m still hard at it.” So sings John Vanderslice on ‘I’ll Wait For You’, lead single of his new record The Cedars. It encapsulates his ever candid and gritty approach to writing, and life in general. No stranger to writing music, The Cedars […]

Last summer, the Devon Allman Project toured with Duane Betts as a “special guest.” Looking back, those shows were a trial balloon for this year’s full-fledged album and tour. This reviewer was fortunate enough to catch them at the Great South Bay Festival in July and was really blown away with what was played. Before Betts […]

There’s something about those hills and woods in upstate New York that often breed engaging music. Certainly The Band and others from Woodstock come to mind. Think also of the Felice Brothers from the Catskills and Simone Felice specifically who produced this effort in his Sugar Mountain studio. Driftwood hails from an area a bit […]

Natalie Mering has spoken at length about Titanic Rising, her fourth release as Weyes Blood. There’s a sense she feels there’s something special in it, that she’s dug deep through the desert and knows she’s found a fountain. “An album is like a Rubik’s Cube,” she says giving weight to such assertions, “sometimes you get […]

Tim Bluhm’s fifth solo record, his first in ten years, Sorta Surviving, is the country record he’s always wanted to put out there. Most of his musical life has found Bluhm steeped in old country songs, particularly those that came out of the oil fields of Bakersfield, California back in the 1950’s and 60’s. He’s […]

Long before there was any such thing as jam bands, there was Max Creek. Road warriors who relish the possibilities of extended improvisation, the band’s current incarnation maintains the group tradition of the group and its longstanding adventurous approach. Recorded with stereo-spanning accuracy by Rich Mazur at eight stops during the group’s forty-fifth-anniversary tour, 45 […]

Maybe it was inevitable that Harry Manx and Steve Marriner (Monkey Junk) Canadians would team up but thankfully they have for an exquisite set of roots-blues-gospel tunes on Hell Bound for Heaven. This is their debut collaboration on record after years of sharing many stages and impromptu jams together. They have known each other for […]

Dom Mariani has been a staple of the Australian rock scene for a long time – dating back to his days in The Stems. Currently he is the frontman for the quartet Datura4. On the band’s previous two albums Demon Blues and Hairy Mountain, it laid down a mix of heavy rock and psychedelia that […]