Album Reviews

Each successive release in the Grateful Dead Dave’s Picks series has generated its own level of expectation, but there’s been an increasing level of anticipation since a wealth of work from recordist extraordinaire Betty Cantor-Jackson has come to reside in the band’s archives (having taken quite a circuitous route). As illustrated by the reproductions of […]

[rating=8.00] From the charged up opening licks of her new album Psychotic Melancholia, it’s clear as day that Hayley Thompson-King is here to kick ass and take names. You’d hardly know this fiery rock and roll queen has a formal education in music (she graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music) as her music feels […]

In the newest installment of Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle reviews Rainbow, the new album from Kesha, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

[rating=7.00] Tom Brosseau has the kind of voice that makes you lean in just a little closer to hear it. It is arresting and beautiful, completely unique. At once delicate and grounded, Brosseau is creating some of the more compelling traditional folk music at the moment, and his latest record is no exception. Treasures Untold […]

[rating=7.00] After a period of loneliness and depression on tour, Adam Granduciel wrote and recorded the third album for his band The War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream, which received universal acclaim and increased exposure for the band. The release of A Deeper Understanding still adheres to a lot of the same introspective themes […]

[rating=8.00] It has been four years since Gogol Bordello’s last album Pura Vida Conspiracy and during that time main Bordello keeper Eugene Hütz bounced between Brazil the Ukraine and New York City. So the title of the newest release Seekers and Finders is appropriate however Hütz describes the record not as a travelogue, but a […]

[rating=7.00] Lukas Nelson and Promise of The Real features a kinder, gentler version of the band that barnstormed concert stages and so ably accompanied Neil Young in the studio the last few years. On this, their self titled third full-length studio album, the ensemble appears in an expanded six-piece form, a reconfiguration focused on the […]

[rating=9.00] Granted, it’s tempting to simply identify Lilly Hiatt as John Hiatt’s daughter. After all, it’s not uncommon for any offspring of a renowned artist to inevitably be bound to the family lineage. Just ask Sean Lennon, James McCartney or Rufus Wainwright. Each is an accomplished artist in his own right, but when talk turns […]

[rating=9.00] Perpetually bedraggled, nothing but skin and bones, Ian Felice is hardly the picture of the titular leader of the band of brothers he fronts on stage with sibling James. But the initiative it takes to compose, perform and produce an album under his own name belies the elder of the two Felices’ persona as […]

[rating=7.00] As indie music exploded into the forefront of the music scene in the early aughts, the nerds, misfits, and aspiring banjo players found a musical home. One of the artists at the forefront of the indie vanguard was Sam Beam. Performing under the moniker Iron & Wine, Beam made a name for himself with […]