Album Reviews

[rating=5.00] Best Coast is so SoCal it’s impossible not to listen to them and envision palm trees, white sand and sun-drenched neon. Bethany Cosentino is undoubtedly talented. Her voice is strong and emotional, and she has that mastered combination of laissez faire melancholy and swooning romance. As a band, she and her band mate Bobb […]

[rating=6.00] There is a ramshackle shagginess that wafts off of Banditos self titled debut album where electric boogie, folk picking and the blues all are warped through their distinct southern barroom lens. The band is fronted by by three voices (Corey Parsons-singer/guitarist, Stephen Pierce-singer/banjo and Mary Beth Richardson-vocals) who aren’t afraid to harmonize the group […]

[rating=6.00] You might not immediately know it’s him when you hear The Tallest Man on Earth. His brand of folk music is nothing new or different, and it isn’t entirely unique. But on his latest record Dark Bird is Home, the man also known as Kristian Matsson has taken a turn for the dreamier, and […]

[rating=6.00] Two years after their magnetic debut, 180 generated enormous buzz, British rockers Palma Violets have returned with Danger In The Club, their eagerly anticipated, high-stakes sophomore release. With the famed John Leckie handling production duties, the band sounds a little more polished this time around, but not glammed up to the point that it […]

[rating=8.00] Charlie Parr’s latest album  (roughly the *sixteenth* from the Minnesotan roots mainstay) is a fascinating feat of fine songwriting and quality production work. Recorded at Down Yonder Farm in North Carolina, it shows a complex maturity while simultaneously harkening back to Parr’s earlier, primitive-style recordings. Still, there is a progressivism in its eleven tracks that both compliments and defies the […]

[rating=8.00] It’s been over a decade since It Still Moves, the arguable pinnacle of My Morning Jacket’s discography, and in the interim (with the benefit of that proverbial hindsight), the experimentation on Z and Evil Urges  might well has been left for titular leader Jim James’ solo effort Regions of Light and Sound (or the […]

[rating=9.00] Dustin Kensrue is known primarily for his role as lead singer and guitarist for rock band, Thrice. Thrice is a popular post- hardcore band formed in California in 1998. Dustin Kensrue has released two solo albums in his career, Please Come Home is an Americana influenced album and The Water and the Blood is […]

[rating=6.00] The mantle of “experimental pop” is a pretty heavy one for a band to carry in the year 2015. For one thing, the line between margin and mainstream has been collapsing for at least a decade now, and arguably since grunge broke in the early ‘90s and “alternative” became another word for “cash cow.”  […]

[rating=9.00] The North Mississippi Allstars’ World Boogie Is Coming served at once as a recapitulation of their roots as well as a harbinger of things to come. The multiple and diverse partnerships which filled that record (including a guest appearance by Robert Plant) have now crystallized into Freedom & Dreams, the first full-length project along […]

[rating=8.00] “Some things you will remember/Some things stay sweet forever,” the Mountain Goats sing on “Animal Mask” off their new record Beat the Champ. A quirky, lovable collection of oddball beauties, Champ is a record that’s a joy to listen to from beginning to end. It’s warm, but dark, and simple, yet intricate. An ode […]

[rating=8.00] The Waterboys’ Modern Blues is an excellent execution of leader Mike Scott’s concept to emphasize the unity of his chosen musical ensemble for the album. This conscious decision in turn led him to  a Nashville recording studio with musicians  in tow  including tried and true sidemen like Steve Wickham as well as a long-time […]

[rating=9.00] Nashville band Turbo Fruits have experienced a bit of an evolution. Even though they’re less than 10 years old, I can’t recall a time before hearing them. Their sound can feel like being with an old friend, and there’s something so deeply satisfying about their chill brand of grungy guitar rock. It’s like zen […]

[rating=9.00] Low Cut Connie made their wacky and weird debut in 2011 with the truly fantastic record Get Out the Lotion. With its oddball album artwork and throwback soul songs like “Full of Joy” and “Johnny Cool Man”, no one knew what to make of them. It seemed the Philly-based band had just popped up […]

[rating=8.00] Keller William’s Vape marks his twentieth album over a span of twenty-one years. Often referred to as a one man jam band, Keller has been heavily influenced by The Grateful Dead and played with The String Cheese Incident in the late 90’s culminating with the Keller Williams Incident release Breath. Vape features Keller with […]

[rating=9.00] Ever since Alabama Shakes knocked us over the head with their 2012 release Boys & Girls, we’ve all been waited with bated breath for their follow up. Now that it’s here in the form of Sound & Color, we are reminded what made us fall so hard for them only a few short years […]

[rating=8.00] Filled, as usual, with both tautly constructed melodic fills and wildly improvisational guitar freak-outs, Portland via Idaho rockers Built to Spill are back with a new album, the delightfully potent ten-track collection, Untethered Moon. Twenty-some odd years into the business, Doug Martsch and Co. are like a warm bowl of your mother’s homemade soup; […]

[rating=8.00] Rocky Votolato has always won points, at least in the ears of this reviewer, for the intense honesty and emotional transparency of his music. Votolato’s recent work has been tinged with sadness which can be described as weariness translating to the sound of a man who had traveled a long road.  All that changes […]

[rating=8.00] Ryley Walker is not ashamed of the bevy of influences who inform his sound. Primrose Green – his third solo album – finds the folksy singer/songwriter fully embracing the weight of those heavy hitters on his own sound, right down to the early 70s Van Morrison cover art.  The success of the album is […]

[rating=3.00] If nothing else, the California rock outfit the Mowgli’s will always have “San Francisco”. That tune, a jubilant ode to “being in love with love”, is no doubt guilty of pressing all the standard pop music buttons, but it does so exceedingly well, to the point that it’s no wonder that this seven-piece group […]

[rating=8.00] For most people who love them, Calexico can do no wrong. And over their twenty years or so as a band, they’ve continued to evolve while simultaneously remaining consistent. Which is why it’s unbelievably impressive that they’re still able to bend and flex their sound until it’s new and different and fresh. Perhaps their […]