Reviews

With the well-received new album The Crux released earlier this month, Djo – the musical project of Joe Keery – embarked on the Back on You World Tour. With the band’s sold-out run continuing in Detroit, the hype was palpable: Interest in the show resulted in the Michigan stop moving up from Royal Oak Music […]

Metal titans Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium teamed up to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of some of their fan-favorite records: BFMV’s The Poison and Trivium’s Ascendancy. Together, the bands dubbed their current run The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour, which stopped by a packed house at the Fillmore Detroit, with strong support from Bleed From Within […]

2025 started terribly for Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, the brothers who form the core lineup of folk-rock outfit Dawes. They both lost their homes in the Altadena fire in Los Angeles in January, as well as their recording studio with pretty much every piece of equipment they owned. In a twist of tragic irony, it […]

Philadelphia is home to one of the most vibrant art scenes the States has to offer, and April 27 saw the homecoming of one of its most unsung heroes. Domenic Palermo, Philly-native and frontman of shoegaze titans Nothing, brought the second installment of Slide Away Festival home for a one-night fest of legendary comebacks. The […]

Face Down in the Garden is an apt swan song for Denver indie pop duo Tennis. After fifteen years and nine studio albums together, married duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley announced the retirement of this project to focus on other endeavors. “It became clear that we had said everything we wanted to say, and […]

Anticipation was shattered the second song of set two last night. The highly hoped for notes of “Tweezer” were not simply teased as they were during the first set “Gumbo” but sent in a rather wild manner, catapulting the sold-out Bill Graham Civic Center into a frenzy that only “Tweezer” can bring. But that was […]

The newest album from Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti, Journey Through Life, finds the 62-year-old examining his past while re-recording some of his older songs and delivering a few new jams with personal lyrics.   Kuti has lived a full life, fighting against political corruption, working with Global Citizen, running The New African Shrine in Lagos with […]

The highly versatile vocalist Joan Osborne, who excels as both a songwriter and song interpreter, returns with the live album, Dylanology, eight reimagined, well-known Bob Dylan songs. Her road band and her arrangements add plenty of fire to most of these tunes, and she invited guests Jackie Greene, Robert Randolph, and Amy Helm for additional […]

Walkin’ by Miles Davis was released in 1957 but brings together two sessions from 1954 that were previously released in a 10” format. It includes Miles Davis All-Star Sextet in its entirety and most of Miles Davis Quintet. What makes Walkin’ special is that it doesn’t sound stiff or overly polished. There’s a looseness to […]

Released in 1955, The Musings of Miles finds Miles Davis in a thoughtful, reflective mood. This was his first session for Prestige as a leader since kicking heroin the year prior, this album feels like a quiet reset, less about showing off and more about settling into his own voice. It’s a small, focused session […]

For two decades, Canada’s Matt Andersen, equipped with an impressive, booming voice, has been delivering pristine modern blues across more than a dozen albums. But his latest, The Hammer & The Rose, is a far more intimate collection. Across 10 tracks, Andersen not only tones down the blues and a lot of the fiery solos […]

Virginia’s Fly Anakin is primed to be the next great hope for Hip-hop. The prolific and innovative vocalist/producer possesses the type of restless creativity that is palpable. This work ethic is evident throughout the artist’s expansive discography and resonates directly in the soul. The artist’s wide-reaching prowess has yielded listeners multiple stellar LPs, positioning Anakin […]

At this point in their career, the Swedish metal outfit Ghost has built something undeniable. With a short yet potent discography and a seemingly ever-growing cult following, the band has established itself as one of the strongest and most dominant forces in modern rock. With every new Ghost album comes a new identity for the […]

New York indie rockers Sunflower Bean almost broke up after touring behind its experimental 2022 album Headfull of Sugar. All three band members spent time on other projects, and guitarist Nick Kivlen moved to California. Instead, Kivlen and bassist Julia Cumming wrote new songs on separate coasts and the trio reunited in Los Angeles to […]

The last time this quartet was together was on Polish pianist Marcin Wasilewski’s trio recording 2020’s Arctic Riff (ECM), where the masterful reeds playing elder, Joe Lovano, was the invited guest. This time, Lovano takes the lead on Homage (ECM) with this same backing trio, which has been intact as a unit since 1993. They are, in […]

It’s been said that in space, no one can hear you scream; but sometimes you can feel the echo of vibration. From the outer reaches of the star Melodious, a spectral sound alchemist known as Blanc du Blanc has partnered with dub pioneer Scientist (a.k.a. Hopeton Overton Brown) to reimagine dub music as an interstellar […]

On Saturday, April 19th, Djo brought his electric energy to Phoenix’s Van Buren. Lead singer Joe Keery, known for his acting roles in films such as Free Guy, Spree, and Stranger Things, fronted the band with his confident demeanor, opening the show with the band’s 2022 track, “Gloom”. Starting with an older song isn’t a calculated move, but it […]

Billy Idol has never been afraid to pivot. With his band Generation X, he was among those at the forefront of the late ‘70s British punk movement. After the group dissolved and punk started to cede ground to New Wave, Idol’s sound evolved with the times, and while he remained an MTV and radio staple […]

Tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist David Murray’s Francesca (Intakt), was lauded by most outlets as one of the top jazz albums of 2024. Murray returns with that same quartet for just the second time for his Impulse! debut, Birdly Serenade. Supporting Murray are pianist Marta Sanchez, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Russell Carter. Murray, who […]

The last time the four members of Phish all set foot in Portland, it was a different century. September 12, 1999 at the now-gone Portland Meadows, to be exact. In the more than twenty-five years since that date, a lot has happened. The Vermont jam legends played a marathon show to usher in the new […]