Album Reviews

[rating=8.00] On their latest record, Himalayan, the Band of Skulls, now with three albums on the shelf, continue sewing the thread of what has made both Baby Darling Doll Face Honey and Sweet Sour widely accepted records: dark tempered songwriting, the ability to quickly reveal an aggressive edge and the openness to unite vocal styles […]

[rating=6.00] John Frusciante comes full circle with Enclosure, completing what he calls a “musical statement” that began four years and several experimental recordings ago. Now half a decade removed from Red Hot Chili Peppers, the band he quit in 2008, Frusciante has exorcised the abstract-electronica monster he struggled to free upon his own liberation. He […]

[rating=6.00] Trafficking in gnarled punk, energetic rock squalor, and frenetic aggression, Cloud Nothings make a lot of aggressive noise and certainly leave a mark on the senses. With throttled determination, their music throws itself at the listener, demanding not just attention, but your complete involvement and focus. Equally suitable to soundtrack your workout as it […]

[rating=7.00] With Band of Outsiders, Mike Dillon made an album in a manner most befitting his maniacal quartet: all four members in one room, playing live, with a straightforward production approach. It’s hard to imagine that their barely contained maelstrom of funk, punk, jazz, and high-minded composition could have been captured any other way. To […]

[rating=8.00] If Bob Dylan in the 80’s: Volume One proves anything, it’s that even in his most fallow periods, the Bard of Minnesota has been capable of brilliant songs (if not always brilliant recordings–that’s a different thing). The revelations are few and far between here, but readily apparent: Hannah Cohen suffuses “Covenant Woman” with a […]

[rating=7.00] Despite some weather to the contrary, it is in fact true that baseball season is upon us. It’s that hopeful time of the year where fans of each of MLB’s 30 teams can believe that yes, “This could be the year we win the pennant”, where smaller towns can bask in the regional pride […]

[rating=7.00] Cosmos, the third album by Yellow Ostrich, finds the band exploring new territory sonically. For starters, it is now Yellow Ostrich’s second release as a full band. What started as a solo project by frontman Alex Schaff is now a four-piece rock band fleshed out by drummer Michael Tapper, bassist Zach Rose, and Jared […]

[rating=8.00] Your lyrics might have some mean cuisine references, but they are no match for the queens of “crazy food”, Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto. In a year that has seen an uptick in long-overdue returns to the national stage, from Neneh Cherry to the Afghan Whigs, for longtime fans of the […]

It’s not that she’s never played with blues/soul before, but it’s the mission statement of Joan As Police Woman’s fourth album “The Classic,” and serves as the record’s unifying vision.

[rating=6.00] With the promos and lead up to The Hold Steady’s newest album Teeth Dreams, the group has talked about taking their time and returning with “Big Rock” aspirations. While the songs seem to go down that path, the band paired for the first time with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Evanescence) who admittedly had not […]

A fantastic group effort, “Awake” begins a new chapter for Tycho, one fans of Explosions in the Sky and instrumental rock could certainly warm up to. Longtime Tycho followers certainly have something to debate, but they have something to bob their heads to as well.

[rating=6.00] More than once on his third album with the War on Drugs, Adam Granduciel sings about traveling in reverse and reckoning with the past. Both mirror his road-worn journey behind the making of Lost in the Dream; the group’s frontman visited six studios to experiment and produce this record after spending two years touring […]

[rating=7.00] The music on Luther’ Dickinson’s Rock and Roll Blues is every bit as earthy and organic as its cover art would suggest- a guitar planted in an expanse of verdant countryside. Teeming with the spontaneity of the moment, the album is a series of pithy vignettes extracted from every phase of this not-so-young man’s […]

[rating=6.00] Quest of the Big Drum is the second solo album by acclaimed drummer Yonrico Scott, following his 2012 debut, Be In My World. In his sophomore release, Scott doesn’t stray far from the formula he perfected over the years with various bands and on his debut. The album showcases the drummer’s rhythmic chops and […]

[rating=7.00] Despite what may be assumed, Mozes and the Firstborn are not a 90’s band from Seattle. The young group of friends hail from Eindhoven, Netherlands, and consist of singer, Melle Dielesen; drummer, Raven Aartsen; bassist, Corto Blommaert and guitarist, Ernst-Jan van Doorn. The band’s formation was almost backwards, with Dielesen coming up with a few […]

[rating=5.00] 311 has spent months promoting its first proper album since 2009, rallying the base with email blasts, even setting a March 11th release date to coincide with the concert tradition known as 311 Day. The first event happened in 2000, in pre-Katrina New Orleans, and has since returned every two years, with few exceptions. […]

[rating=7.00] Recorded over two days at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, Acoustic at the Ryman showcases the soft, melodic side of Band of Horses. The album is warm and inviting, a reimagining of ten tracks from each of the band’s first four albums, with an emphasis placed on the slow crooners from each. Considering […]

[rating=8.00] As founding members of Drive-By Truckers and long before that, as songwriting foils and kindred spirits amongst the Georgia and Alabama musical scenes, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, circa 2014, are survivors. Together, they’ve logged countless miles in planes, vans and buses, traded inordinate amounts of Jack Daniels swigs from the famous brown bottle, […]

Vibrate does contain some of his very best songs, and for the devoted fan, the deluxe edition is unbeatable. It’s a celebration of the unique, mournful, self-deprecating music of Rufus Wainwright, and, if you’re unfamiliar with his work, not a bad place to start.

[rating=6.00] Similar to the start of a one-night stand, Michael Ian Cummings met Josh Hubbard in 2011 at a party on a summer night in Los Angeles. Contrary to most intoxicated encounters, the relationship they formed would last much longer than just one night. Cummings and his friend, Noah Rubin, had been in a LA-based […]