Album Reviews

[rating=8.00] Delta Rae, the dynamic folk-rock sextet from North Carolina, returns with a sophomore release that is even more ambitious than their debut. After It All is a diverse collection of theatrical folk that plays to the band’s strengths while carving a unique niche in what can be a rather bland genre. After It All […]

[rating=7.–] The hardworking Americana/Roots performer Pokey LaFarge is back with his seventh full length release and his first on Rounder Records titled Something In The Water. The disk continues LaFarge’s throwback sound, coming straight out of the early 20th century with everything from barroom pianos, deep tubas and washboards coloring the tracks. The title tune […]

[rating=8.00] Who is Jessie Baylin? Is she a country artist? Pop, rock, or folk? The only thing that’s certain is she can’t be pegged down. She’s got a gorgeous, interesting voice that’s flawed and magnetic, and on her new album Dark Place, she will almost definitely bewitch you. Her songs are like that – a […]

[rating=8.00] Two years ago the Scottish musician Gary McClure released Wreaths, an album he’s convinced that no one ever heard, under his actual name. He has since become someone else. He left the U.K. for the U.S., got a wife and two dogs, cut a handful of songs to 8-track tape, and blasted copies to […]

[rating=8.00] Dub Side of the Mule deserves its release in recognition of Gov’t Mule’s twenty-year anniversary in 2014. Their New Year’s 2006 appearance at the Beacon Theatre within this complete package of three CDs plus a DVD stands a turning point in their career because, in contrast to previous appearances at the Broadway venue , […]

[rating=7.00] It’s impossible to hear a Josh Rouse song and not know immediately it’s him. His sound has been so consistent since the start of his career, and though I personally favor his early 2000s catalogue (1972, Dressed Up Like Nebraska, Nashville, and Under Cold Blue Stars), I can still always appreciate whatever he puts […]

[rating=8.00] It’s not always imperative to hunt for meaning when considering the virtues of an album. Sometimes, the situation in which a band finds itself is enough justification for a release. That’s certainly the case with Umphrey’s McGee’s The London Session. Recorded in 12 hours at the famed Abbey Road Studios, the album finds the […]

[rating=3.00] No Pier Pressure answers a lot of questions, many if not most of which the world probably didn’t need to ask in the first place. These include: “What if Carnival Cruise Lines hired Brian Wilson as their songwriter-in-residence?” “Should a Brian Wilson/Tiësto collaboration ever be a thing?” And, most tellingly, “What’s the worst corny […]

[rating=7.00] Lord Huron burst on the scene in 2012 with the blustery dream-folk sounds of their debut record Lonesome Dreams. A gorgeous flowing stream of clean harmonies and angelic guitars, Dreams made a deep footprint, and the band sold out countless shows on that tour. And they’ll likely follow suit with their follow up record […]

[rating=6.00] 28-year old South Carolina native, Chaz Bundick is a musician who likes to keep on the move. Over both his four-album career with Toro y Moi and his side projects, Les Sins and Sides of Chaz, Bundick has embraced an eclectic range of styles: funk, R&B, and psych-pop liberally mingling amongst the funky coolness […]

[rating=7.00] Composed of multi-instrumentalists Brian Beken, Dennis Ludiker, Noah Jeffries and Jesse Dalton, Austin-based jammers MilkDrive have been nourishing their local bluegrass scene for a little while now. The group is known for swapping instruments and laying down hot rhythms with tight vocal harmonies. Beken, Ludiker and Jeffries met while competing in fiddle contests in […]

[rating=8.00] The eponymous debut of Tomás Pagán Motta is a feat of honest writing, earnest singing and beefy but subtle instrumental arrangements. The eight tracks are tight, yet spacey; poignant and pronounced, yet ethereal and mysterious. With this album, Motta has consciously tackled the idiom of progressive folk head-on, displaying an adept knowledge of the […]

[rating=9.00] Joe Bonamassa has rightfully earned the title as one of this generation’s greatest blues singers and guitar players. Bonamassa’s music career began as a child guitar prodigy when at 12 years old he opened for blues legend, B. B. King in 1989. Since then he has released over 15 solo and live albums with […]

[rating=7.00] AWOLNATION is officially now simply Aaron Bruno at this point. The pioneering mastermind nearly single-handedly crafted and recorded the entirety of Run, though he still has a core group of musicians adding their immediacy in the form of a solid rhythm section. Still, it ultimately feels as if it’s Bruno at the helm, more […]

[rating=7.00] Radium Death is William Elliott Whitmore’s eigth studio album and a departure of sorts for the Iowa based roots/folk musician. On his last offering 2011’s Field Songs, Whitmore went as sparse as possible using sometimes just his distinct voice to get his rustic yearning tunes across. Now the man with the dirt laden (in […]

[rating=7.00] Characterized as a break-up album, Death Cab for Cutie’s latest, Kintsugi, follows in the footsteps of 2011’s Codes and Keys, a mostly forgettable record from a band that specializes in memorabilia. Death Cab’s signature songs are like little memory time capsules that explode vividly in your ears as you listen to them. Front man […]

[rating=10.00] Of all the many ventures of Sufjan Stevens, it seems he’s rarely faced inward toward himself. 2003’s Michigan and 2005’s Illinois were deeply intelligent, beautiful, wacko records, but mainly historical works. And 2010’s The Age of Adz was somewhat forgettable, another thematic (and very experimental) piece of work. His latest is on the complete […]

[rating=6.00] Across six albums, twin brothers Gary and Ryan Jarman, with younger brother Ross on drums, have channeled fuzz and melody from the Weezer and Flaming Lips records they worshipped as teens. That’s nothing new. But what’s remarkable about the Cribs, an English trio now living in Portland, is that they’ve attracted many of the […]

[rating=6.00] Notwithstanding a theory that the standard album would be more potent with a third of its sixteen tracks subtracted, Van Morrison’s new album Duets: Re-working the Catalogue isn’t quite as cynical a ploy to widen his audience as the subtitle suggests. Nevertheless, in collaborating on a selection of songs suggested by the man himself […]

[rating=8.00] From the electric guitar licks that give you your first taste to the chaotic percussion that kicks in shortly after, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s new record will have you in a vice grip so funky, you’ll submit willingly to its force. Freedom Tower – No Wave Dance Party 2015 is just that: a force, […]