Album Reviews

There has always been a warm, welcoming familiarity to Thundercat’s voice. The innovative contemporary multidisciplinary artist expresses a charming humanity through his dream-like falsetto, and more of the world takes notice as time goes by. The artist’s jovial approach to the harshness of reality and expert jazz fusion work has led him to A-list collaborations, […]

Bruce Hornsby didn’t want to record this album. After a five-year run of musically intrepid and critically acclaimed studio LPs – Absolute Zero, Non-Secure Connection, ‘Flicted, Deep Sea Vents – as well as entire albums’ worth of still-unreleased material, the virtuoso pianist suddenly found himself “creatively fried.” Despite his best, well-intentioned efforts to step away from songwriting […]

Maria Taylor started working on Story’s End—her latest LP—six years ago, beginning with a handful of quiet, stripped-down demos in her home studio. There was no real rush to follow up her 2019 self-titled effort, but fractures in both her marriage and a close friendship found her leaning back into these songs once again. The […]

Following so closely on the heels of the January 2026 concert piece One Moment in Time – Live In The USA, the re-release of Robin Trower’s 1975 Live! might seem a bit suspect. Instead, it serves as a template for such expansive archival projects (not just for this artist’s discography). Issued in an elaborate two-CD […]

Third Man Records is re-issuing Connie Converse’s only known collection of songs on vinyl, cassette and CD so that a new generation can learn her story and sounds. How Sad, How Lovely is an atmospheric collection of folk songs that contain a lingering sense of what could have been.   Her backstory is fascinating as she […]

Just a couple of measures into the opening song of José González’s new album Against the Dying of the Light, you get the feeling that even if you had heard the percussive downbeat and the fragmentary guitar flourishes unannounced, you would know them for what they are. The years-long gaps between albums can’t dim the […]

The newest release on Alligator Records from the Tampa-based artist Selwyn Birchwood is a confident blast of modern blues. Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues is rich with ripping riffs, emotionally honest lyricism and strong vocals as Birchwood has delivered a studio record on par with his top-notch live shows, GRAMMY voters take note.  One key to […]

Call it luck for being in the right place at the right time, or the result of a hard-fought journey, but how the electronic duo, Fcukers, ended up as one of the most anticipated young bands in a burgeoning New York City scene is nothing short of cinematic. Since the duo of Shanny Wise and […]

Seattle four-piece the Young Fresh Fellows have long blended garage rock, power pop, and indie rock, building a career out of weird references, inside jokes, and offbeat characters. Four decades on, they’re still committed to that same trademark sound. Loft, the band’s first record in nearly six years, picks up right where 2020’s Toxic Youth […]

Robben Ford’s 2021 solo album, Pure, is arguably the pinnacle of his storied career, a lucid, wholly instrumental distillation of the technique he’s used so effectively in his work with the Yellowjackets, Miles Davis, and the band he led backing Chicago blues icon, Charlie Musselwhite. The versatile guitar hero impresses mightily on Two Shades of Blue […]

Few artists left a mark on Latin music like pianist Eddie Palmieri. Born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, he came up playing in Tito Rodríguez’s orchestra before forming Conjunto La Perfecta, a group that helped redefine salsa with a heavier, trombone-driven sound. By the late ’60s, Palmieri was moving in a more […]

Ten years after debuting in 2016 with the lo-fi EP Habit, Snail Mail, a solo project for guitarist, singer, songwriter Lindsey Jordan, has released Ricochet. At a little over 41 minutes and full to the brim with layers of guitar, percussive elements, and strings, Ricochet is Jordan’s longest and most ambitious record to date, as […]

There aren’t many rootsy blues artists who record in Italy. There aren’t many who primarily write about Spain, either. Luke Winslow-King (aka LWK) does both of those and more on his ninth album, Coast of Light, where he and the band indulge in some playful risk-taking that works surprisingly well, a blend of blues, jazz, […]

For all the adversity Wolf Jett has faced, they have earned the right to musically brood in their new releases. No one would blame them for putting out dark, moody jams that might make us listeners count our blessings and consider how lucky we are. When a 2020 wildfire wiped out the band’s newly minted […]

The twelfth album from Los Angeles metal veterans Black Label Society has all of the band’s trademarks. Loaded with pummelling riffs, blazing guitar solos, bluesy licks, and a southern rock twang, Engines of Demolition is undeniably heavy without sacrificing hooks or accessibility. Frontman Zakk Wylde broke into the industry as Ozzy Osbourne’s new guitarist in […]

Flea is a man of many talents, none of which need a proper introduction at this point in the artist’s career. The famed multi-instrumentalist has seen the pinnacle of success in music with Red Hot Chili Peppers, navigated side projects that allowed his more eccentric side to flourish, as if it was ever subdued, and […]

The newest studio album from multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriterSon Little finds the fluid artist touching on a wide range of genres. CITYFOLK uses synths, soft beats, acoustic strums, and much more as Little delves into his history, love life, and modern-day societal hardships for inspiration across the eleven tracks presented here.  Little was dealing with severe flooding in […]

The pressures an artist or band faces when releasing a debut album have been discussed in countless articles. Still, when it comes to young shoegaze hopefuls Ringing and their Julia’s War Recordings-released LP Another Cycle in the Cosmic Wash, there are even more layers of stress for the band to deal with. What started as […]

John Hollier hails from Louisiana, and though there are hints of his roots in his sound, it is mostly easy-flowing Americana music.  After all, he and his band, John Hollier & The Reverie, wrote much of and recorded Rainmaker in Nashville. The band name stems from the French word, ‘rever,’ which means ‘’to dream,” a […]

There’s an understated brilliance to Spencer Thomas’ sophomore effort, Cynical Vision. the former Futurebirds member’s writing balances subtle, dry humor with a sweetness that never slips into cloying sentiment, all delivered over a stripped-down soundscape that dips from folk to indie pop. It’s clear from the opening track, “This Is Your Life Now,” an introspective […]