Album Reviews

Back in 2003, a rumble in the New York post-punk scene began to boil over into the mainstream. A new band was emerging and sending shock waves through the city with their sublime combination of punk power chords and pop-centric songwriting, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were on the cusp of taking over. Led by singer/songwriter […]

The seven-track album Without A Throne serves as the perfect postscript to Matthew Check’s The Bridgeford Sessions EP released earlier this year. And while this latest solo effort is not as stripped down musically, it does still put the focus squarely on Check’s lyrics. Based in New York, Check recorded this one in Nashville with […]

Those familiar with singer-songwriter Mary Bragg’s 2017 Lucky Strike and 2019’s Violets as Camouflage know the raw, sometimes unhinged honesty and resulting beauty of her songs. It’s as if we share in our pain, accept the voyage through the emotional, sometimes eviscerating lyrics, realizing that there will be a silver lining, and if not, we’ve […]

On the newest release from Lambchop, titled The Bible, Kurt Wagner is as far removed from his late-night outcast Nashville days as he has ever been, both physically and sonically. Recorded in Minneapolis in 2021 the songs are ominous iterations of pandemic life. Working with predominately two main artists/producers, Andrew Broder (Piano, Arrangements, Programming, Electric […]

Past releases from Titus Andronicus have included, an overblown triple album punk opera based around depression (The Most Lamentable Tragedy) and a brilliant pairing of New Jersey millennial malaise and Civil War reckoning (The Monitor), thus proving they are never short on audacity. Main man Patrick Stickles digs into that adventurous spirit again, amping it […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Clutch’s new album Sunrise On Slaughter Beach, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Every music fan has their dream collaborations. The idea of supergroups within a genre is always a fun conversation for music nerds to dive into, imagining what it would be like if their two favorite artists worked together on one song. When it comes to punk, it’s hard to dream up a more eclectic lineup […]

Four-time Grammy winners, genre-crossing Snarky Puppy is releasing Empire Central, a tribute to the band’s hometown of Dallas, recorded over the course of eight nights in front of a live-in-studio audience at Dallas’ Deep Ellum Art Company. The album also features the last recorded performance of ‘80s funk pioneer and major inspiration Bernard Wright, who […]

Fans of the former piano-bass-drums trio The Bad Plus, who had two incarnations under that musical configuration have transformed into a quartet without a piano. This is, of course, not new news to their fans, some of whom may have already seen the lineup in live performance. But, for most of us, there’s quite a […]

Sure, the Sun Ra Arkestra, led by 98-year-old Marshall Allen is still performing and recording but recordings from the originator, the iconic visionary Sun Ra, are also growing in volume in recent years. Heck, the artist has one of the most extensive discographies in history with over more than 100 albums (live and studio) and […]

Belgian-Egyptian singer, Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad, better known as Tamino, is still relatively under-the-radar in North America. However, in Europe, he regularly sells out shows to fans eager to experience the singer-writers fresh sounds. After releasing two Eps, Tamino released Amir in 2018 which brought a lot of attention with his unique take, combining Western singer/songwriting […]

As the road warrior, Todd Snider states during one of his many wonderful stories on his newest release, Live: Return of the Storyteller, this album was recorded on his second-ever tour, the first started when he began playing live in 1994 and ended because of the pandemic. Snider only paused the touring life because the […]

When talking about an artist like Alex G, you’d be foolish not to mention diversity. The Philadelphia-breed singer/songwriter has built a discography filled with sharp sonic turns and complex melodies that create his one-of-a-kind approach to indie bedroom rock. Alex G began his career like many others, recording himself in his home and handling everything […]

On Wednesday night (9/21/22) at Orlando’s Hard Rock Live, indie rock fans fought their way through Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights traffic and crowds to pack Hard Rock Live for Jack White’s Supply Chain Issues tour. Most fans arrived early to catch opener Cat Power. If the opening act’s job is to hype up the audience […]

Since their debut in 2015, the trio that makes up Khruangbin has been laying down intricately-structured psychedelic funk music that draws influences from around the globe. Their melting-pot approach to their instrumentals has become world-renowned, landing them on the top of the charts in multiple countries throughout their career. In recent years their output has […]

On his latest solo effort, Benjamin Tod lays bare some of his rawest personal struggles yet in the beautifully stark Songs I Swore I’d Never Sing. Across 10 tracks, the Lost Dog Street Band singer touches on his own experience with addiction and self-harm, cutting off contact with someone close and having to shoot his […]

Ali McGuirk is a singer-songwriter whose smooth, soulful vocals have earned her some renown, particularly in the Boston area. On her first album Slow Burn, she teamed up with Jeffrey Lockhart and other musicians to produce a jazzy album that showcased her vocal talent.  Her new album Til It’s Gone is, like many recent albums, […]

A companion piece to Grateful Dead’s Lyceum Theatre 5/26/72, this New Riders concert album from the same venerable British venue is an equally celebratory piece of work. Its release supplies a missing link in that now-legendary tumultuous tale of psychedelic warriors on tour through England and the European continent fifty years ago. That distinction noted in […]

For Charles Lloyd and Pythagoras alike, three is the perfect number. Spiritual force and living legend, the prolific saxophonist Lloyd, delivers the second of the three planned trio albums with Ocean, his collaborator’s pianist Gerald Clayton and guitarist Anthony Wilson, thus dubbed the Ocean Trio. The album takes its name, as did the previous Chapel […]

Sometimes it’s hard to argue with success, and an artist chooses to keep the winning formula intact. Other times restlessness takes over. Such is the case, a decade into her career with outlaw country singer-songwriter Nikki Lane and her new offering, Denim & Diamonds. You hear a heavier, almost throwback rock sound from inception on […]