Album Reviews

[rating=8.00] Mind the sparks that will no doubt pop from your speakers like little fireworks when you hear opening track “It’s So Cruel” off Ruby Boots’ new record Don’t Talk About It. It is an electrifying introduction to an artist that will knock your socks off with her smart, unpretentious rock and roll. A self-assured […]

[rating=7.00] MGMT continues the inside joke of their satirical songwriting on their latest album,Little Dark Age, with a tip of the hat to convention. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden wrote their mega-pop hits “Kids”, “Time to Pretend”, and “Electric Feel” as tongue in cheek, but the songs ended up changing the pop music landscape and both […]

[rating=8.00] Campfires and the cosmos feel like they share something fundamental at their core. Mysterious and elemental, they can conjure great loneliness and deep belonging; an eternal catharsis lying in the beauty of their steadfast indifference to the affairs of humans. One often burning in futile defiance beneath its colossal heavenly cousins, the two join […]

[rating=8.00] Riding the success of last year’s critically acclaimed Chris Hillman’s Bidin’ My Time (produced by Tom Petty), Omnivore Records now weighs in with their 20-track compilation of Hillman’s first two solo albums from the mid- ‘70s. This, of course, was after Hillman had made his mark with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, and […]

[rating=9.00] Nina Simone is being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in April. Hardly a rock ‘n roller, Simone’s influence stretches across multiple genres and awareness of her work is probably as strong today as it ever was given some recent highly acclaimed documentaries. For this occasion, and to mark the 6oth […]

[rating=6.00] There’s no denying the 1990s were an especially great decade for guitar-centric rock music. So great, in fact, that many of today’s young, up and coming rockers are reverting back to these not so distant golden years as a source of inspiration. Windang, Australia’s Hockey Dad is one of these bands. Zack Stephenson (guitar/vocals) […]

[rating=8.00] James Hunter has been a staple on the UK Soul scene since the mid-80’s and even while singing backups/touring the world with Van Morrison in the mid-90’s it seems that he is just now hitting his career heights in the late-2010’s. He has recently had songs featured on NBC’s Superstore and now The James […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle takes a look back, Hard Love, the 2017 album from Strand of Oaks, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

[rating=8.00] The Wood Brothers’ One Drop of Truth should have the same wholly positive effect on the fans who hear it as on new listeners to the group. This seventh studio record offers so satisfying an experience, it will whet the appetite to hear the earlier efforts of this now certifiably great band. To be […]

[rating=8.00] We Rise Up is the acoustic trio, Raven and Red’s, first album of original music. Originally from Georgia and Pennsylvania, they are now based in Nashville. Members are Brittany Lynn Jones – lead and harmony vocals, 5-string violin, tenor guitar, mandolin and banjolin; and brothers Mitchell Lane – lead & harmony vocals, 6 and […]