Album Reviews

[rating=7.00] Catching fire last year across the pond, Catfish and the Bottlemen release The Balcony in the US early in 2015 hoping to take the country by storm via its power pop rock. Equipped with an album cover that says pretty much everything (without words) regarding the teen angst-y tunes the band plays once the […]

[rating=3.00] When Zooey Deschanel paired up with beloved indie musician M. Ward to create She & Him nearly six years ago, it was easy to get on board. Their sound was sweet with a throwback simplicity, and songs like “Sweet Darlin’” and “Ridin’ in My Car” were deliciously fun. But things have changed with their […]

[rating=9.00] Despite the fact all the numbers on Jimi Hendrix’ The Cry of Love  and Rainbow Bridge have been issued in different contexts many times in the past, it’s tribute to the lasting power within the music that, sans historical content or additional numbers, the (re)issue of  these titles on vinyl and CD (the latter […]

[rating=9.00] Because Legacy Music has done such splendid work in the archiving and reissuing of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan’s music, The Complete Epic Recordings Collection‘s main selling point is, at least superficially, the inclusion of Live At The El Mocambo previously available only in video form. Packaging this heretofore promotional-only item along with eleven […]

[rating=9.00] Face the Music makes an ever so convincing case for Nils Lofgren as the unsung hero of  contemporary American rock and roll. Documenting his forty-five year career in great detail through music, video, text and photos, this uniquely-designed ten-disc box set portrays the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter as a self-motivated artist on his own terms […]

[rating=9.00] The Incredible String Band’s evolution is well-documented from its origins fifty years ago on the Edinburgh folk scene with Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer, the joining of Mike Heron for the debut in ’66 then leaving of Palmer for India and a solo career, to the expansion of the successful duo to a quartet […]

[rating=8.00] Music has always played such a massive role in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. He had the foresight and the knowledge to recognize the genius of Jon Brion well before he became Kanye West’s homeboy, enlisting the former Til Tuesday/The Grays auteur to score his directorial debut Hard Eight, which then led to […]

[rating=9.00] Reconfigured into a more compact design from its original issue in 2009, the 2014 edition of Big Star’s all-encompassing box set Keep An Eye on the Sky retains all the content in the original package including pre-formation demos as well as a live CD from a quasi-reunion of the band. Almost as much as […]

[rating=7.00] Twenty-odd years into their career, Cracker is still going at it, as they return this month with an ambitious look into the dualities of their home state of California. Appropriately titled, Berkeley to Bakersfield, it’s a double album that offers forth two entirely separate takes on the Golden State sound and allows for a […]

‘Black Messiah’ broadens the range of black pop, sometimes by rendering it unrecognizable, sometimes by stretching its limits, and sometimes simply by reintroducing elements to it that we had forgotten. It’s a mission statement on black pop’s past, present, and possible futures.

[rating=9.00] Gov’t Mule has never performed material without as much emotional resonance as musical validity and that goes for the covers they choose as well as their originals. And because every song the group plays carries some meaning, this single album of a set devoted entirely to the music of Pink Floyd, Dark Side of […]

Any music critic worth his salt fears the year-end list where it’s time to go back and sift through that bottomless collection of promos to produce a list of the year’s “best” albums. For one that obsesses over music and listens to just about everything, this is no easy task. This year saw more than […]

[rating=7.00] For Ronnie Fauss, a musical career came after he’d already racked up some life experience. And it shows in the best way on his new record Built to Break, a follow up from last year’s I Am the Man You Know I’m Not. His songs aren’t overly produced or fanciful. They’re just classic sounding […]

[rating=10.00] When original Byrds Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman oversaw the 2006 box set There Is A Season, they made a concerted effort to highlight the contributions of their band-mate Gene Clark and, in so doing, may well have begun the groundswell of well-deserved recognition the late musician and songwriter is now receiving. This deluxe […]

[rating=9.00] With the release of 2013’s Time Off, Brooklyn-based guitarist and musician’s musician Steve Gunn expounded upon his years of collaboration – raga/blues experimentation with drummer John Truscinski; biting improvisational rock with Cian Nugent; and psychedelic folk with the members of Hiss Golden Messenger – to produce a cohesive yet varied, at times sprawling album. […]

[rating=9.00] Although singer Rhett Miller, himself, tends to look barely a day over 20, his band, Old 97’s, have used this past year to celebrate 20 years in the business. Not 20 years with a few hiatuses here and there or new members being shifted in and out, but instead a solid two decades together […]

[rating=5.00] From its title to the cover graphics and to the music inside, Bob Seger’s Ride Out has all the earmarks of a swan song. Of course, that’s probably not in the offing given the level of success Seger’s nurtured since his break-through in 1976 with Night Moves, including continued sold-out concert tours, but subsequent […]

[rating=9.00] Bloodshot Records is so deeply ingrained in the hearts of its followers that it’s hard to imagine a time when it didn’t exist. For their 20th birthday, they’ve collected 38 favorites from their catalog and divvied them up amongst a diverse group of artists to create While No One Was Looking: Toasting 20 Years […]

[rating=8.00] For the first time since 2011, TV on the Radio are back with a new album Seeds, albeit under vastly different circumstances. The three year timespan has brought numerous changes to the band: the unfortunate passing of bassist Gerard Smith, the parting of ways with longtime label Interscope, and the members’ geographic relocation from […]

[rating=7.00] Twelve years since his first full-length album, Andrew McMahon still does not disappoint. He is now under a new moniker, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, and the self-titled release dropped on October 14. The annoyance from fans and critics alike about yet another name change can be justified, but at the same time it […]