Album Reviews

[rating=9.00] For a celebrated rock band that’s by now old far enough to order a Miller at the bar, Guided by Voices have always had a weird shyness about releasing a big-time, polished rock record, start to finish, full stop. Space Gun, the group’s most consistent album to date, is that record. It’s not that […]

[rating=7.00] Neil Young has something of a checkered past when it comes to films—see Journey Through the Past and Human Highway—but it still might be accurate to say virtually all of the Canadian icon’s albums serve as backdrop for mind movies, even if the title in question is not an actual soundtrack as is Paradox. […]

[rating=8.00] Here’s a fresh new voice, singer-songwriter Logan Magness making his first full-length recording, Memphis on My Mind.  Magness recorded the album in San Francisco, where he lived for several years, before returning to his hometown of Memphis. Prior to this recording, he can claim only the EP Magnolia Demos   One of the first […]

[rating=9.00] This one has been in the works for some time and now it’s here in all its resplendent glory. Working with the Blind Boys of Alabama, The McCrary Sisters, the Preservation Hall Jazz Horns, and Bonnie Bishop, Paul Thorn delivers his life-long dream, a full gospel album, Don’t Let the Devil Ride. If you’re at […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Fire Dream, the debut solo album from J.D. Wilkes of The Legendary Shack Shakers, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Even if the names Delaney and Bonnie may not sound readily familiar to modern musiclovers, the style of music they forged during their relatively brief time together certainly should. (Re)discovery of the late Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen project would serve such a purpose as would the ongoing efforts of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, […]

[rating=8.00] Looking back in retrospect, NRBQ’s eponymous debut seems like a remarkable feat even now. A stunningly uncommon collision of styles and sounds, it was amazingly adventurous, exploratory and wholly beyond definition when it was originally unleashed without warning in 1969. Even at a time when artists were given complete license to experiment and adapt […]

[rating=7.00] With the third installment in their annual “Myths” series – a joint effort with the Marfa Myths festival in Texas – indie label Mexican Summer has finally realized the potential of the series’ concept. Putting two likeminded artists together in the desert conjures romantic visions of brilliant spontaneous creation, but the real-life nature of […]

[rating=6.00] Just to get it out of the way, Scott Weiland was always the best part of Stone Temple Pilots. His bombastic stage presence, soulful scratchy baritone, keen ear for catchy melody, and lyrics that shifted between introspective and enigmatic helped the San Diego quartet become more than the sum of its parts. New singer […]

[rating=7.00] Almost two decades on from the release of their debut EP, 5 Songs, The Decemberists have finally decided to take their sound in a new direction. Up to this point, the band has garnered quite the following with their mostly acoustic-based indie songs that, more often than not, center around lyrics that tell tales […]