Album Reviews

[rating=8.00] With their new, bold and powerful release, San Francisco’s Two Gallants have created an album which glares – not peers – into the abyss and draws on its contents to create songs of serious emotional weight. We Are Undone is an excitingly diverse collection of songs that exceeds in upsetting expectations right from the […]

[rating=7.00] The Packway Handle Band got much more than they bargained for when they asked beloved blues singer-songwriter Jim White to produce their new record. What began as a simple request turned into more than just your average collaboration, with White joining the band and adding his own songs, too, for Take it Like a […]

[rating=9.00] Indiana-bred band Murder By Death is the epitome of alternative rock, in the sense that they never stop evolving and playing with alternative sounds. Their new record Big Dark Love is both big and dark, and finds the band exploring everything from country rock to folk rock, pop rock, punk rock, classic rock, Southern […]

[rating=8.00] Nashville soul singer, Mike Farris has a multi-faceted musical career starting as a front man for a 90’s rock band, Screaming Cheetah Wheelies but over the last decade his career as a soul singer has what has brought him legions of fans, music awards, and critical acclaim.  Farris live performances at Bonnaroo, SxSW Festival, […]

[rating=7.00] Polished and clean vocals and instrumentals are what you’ll find on the new record from folksy darlings Run Boy Run. Something to Someone is light and sweet, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in depth or certainty. Made up of brother and sister Matt and Grace Rolland, sisters Bekah Sandoval Rolland and Jen Sandoval, […]

[rating=6.00] There is a fine line between homage and all out copying of style. There are only so many notes you can play and of course pop music has filtered things down even more, but on Moonlight – Hanni El Khatib’s third release –  that dangerous line is blurred to the point of detriment. El […]

[rating=6.00] With its sixth album in as many years, Pond, an Australian band with members who also play in Tame Impala, has kicked its love affair with blues-metal riffs. Still hell-bent on pursuing a stadium-size psychedelic sound, Pond is now taking things slower, embracing synth-heavy, sleepwalking songs that seem to float a galaxy away from […]

Can the world afford to wait every two years until Dengue Fever release another album? The more I delve into their music, the more insatiable my ears become, eagerly awaiting the next psychedelic spy thriller soundtrack set to frontwoman Chhom Nimol’s uber confident vocals. Like a slow drip of the sweetest pressed coffee, their spurts […]

[rating=5.00] The Lone Bellow’s sophomore effort Then Came the Morning is a mixed product.  The album strikes out as a synthesis of various traditional styles, but filtered through a modern lens. The result is an ambitious series of songs that maintains a consistent style alchemizing all of these ideas but often underwhelms in their execution. Early on […]

[rating=9.00] In their campaign to revivify the power trio concept originated by Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Gov’t Mule always emphasized improvisation. Five years into that initiative, the band in its initial configuration of guitarist/vocalist Warren Haynes, bassist Allen Woody and drummer Matt Abts, began to alternately fine-tune and expand their approach to jamming […]

[rating=8.00] Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors release of Medicine may mark their biggest success yet. Holcomb’s ninth album is from Magnolia Records, and it is a slight change-up from the 2013 release Good Light, slowing the tempo on a majority of the tracks. Not to mention, wife Ellie Holcomb has begun a solo career as […]

On their fourth LP, Punch Brothers continue to push themselves compositionally, balancing the cerebral and emotional aspects of their music.

[rating=8.00] “The Singer Addresses His Audience” begins the Decemberists’ seventh album with the narrator defending his band against claims of selling out.  “We know you threw your arms around us in the hopes we wouldn’t change, but we had to change some,” sings front-man Colin Meloy. Though Meloy’s lyrics are rarely autobiographical, this can be […]

[rating=10.00] For some, when it comes to digging new music, especially from an established act, it tends to be quite difficult to get the pre-release rock critic slobber out of your ears in enough time to actually take in the album caked with a thick layer of the stuff. Such is the case of the […]

[rating=7.00] Alberta-based Viet Cong pairs two members of the defunct band Women with two guitarists from associated groups. The first album from this mutated collective is heavier than past projects, driven by dark-sunshine hooks and jarring mid-song maneuvering. The seven songs that make up Viet Cong feel like twice as many, not because of their […]

[rating=7.00] Through the creation of delectable and utterly infectious tunes, Guster have forged a pretty impressive career. Flying the flag for mainstream indie-pop, tracks like ‘Satellite’, ‘Architects & Engineers’, and ‘Do You Love Me’ are prime examples of the band’s unflustered style and mellow music. On the go for the best part of 24 years, […]

[rating=8.00] Lacking any large, distinctive black patches around his eyes, over his ears, or across his body, this panda bear is very different to your bamboo eating friend. Noah Benjamin Lennox, the experimental musician and founding member of the band Animal Collective, has a unique ability to combine crooning vocals with haunting harmonies and psychedelic […]

[rating=4.00] Imagine, for a second, being an artist overflowing with things to say. As a creator, it sounds like a dream, but as a listener, it can muddy things up a bit. This is the case with Justin Townes Earle’s new record Absent Fathers, the quick follow up and counterpart to September’s Single Mothers. Earle’s […]

[rating=7.00] Over the past few years Dr. Dog has morphed from a shaggy bunch of road warriors into a must see live act who are known to throw down 25+ song set lists, fluctuating between wild abandon and laser precision. Their fan base has expanded primarily on the backs of these infectious shows and Live […]

[rating=9.00] To put it simply, if you’re fan of classic outlaw country, you’ll really dig Whitey Morgan and the 78’s. Their new record Born, Raised and Live from Flint is pure honkytonk goodness, with lap steel that’ll run circles around you and harmonica that sounds like it’s leaving flames in its wake. Recorded live in […]