Reviews

To say that things have changed for jam band darlings Goose since the 2022 release of their previous studio album, Dripfield, would be a stark understatement.  A startling rise in the Connecticut-based ensemble’s popularity has seen the quartet – now consisting of Rick Mitarotonda (guitar), Peter Anspach (keys/guitar), Trevor Weekz (bass) and Cotter Ellis (drums) […]

Julien Baker, one of indie rock’s most consistently solid musicians for the past decade, is no stranger to sharing the spotlight, most recently as a member of the brilliant trio Boygenius. So, it’s no surprise that she opted to share the marquee once again, this time with fellow indie rock peer TORRES. What is a […]

Tunde Adebimpe’s debut solo album, Thee Black Boltz on Sub Pop, opens with the poetic spoken word title track, setting the scene. What follows is a mix of lo-fi indie rock, electro dance-ready beats, industrial banging, and 80s synth pop as Adebimpe sings about loss, love, and an uncertain future over varied backgrounds.  Not too far removed from […]

In keeping with its title (and the striking cover graphic by the famed Kelley/Mouse artistic team), Robert Hunter’s second solo album resides squarely in the oeuvre of the Grateful Dead, to which he contributed so much. This double-disc milestone edition of Tiger Rose illustrates that this placement was a purposeful decision on the part of the erudite lyricist […]

Inspiration can come from anywhere. A painter can catch the glimpse of an off-colored autumn leaf and create a world around its shades, a photographer can capture the innocence of a picnic with one snapshot of an entire afternoon; The art we consume and fill us with hope was once a dwindling moment of passion […]

Philly-based indie pop outfit The Tisburys have slowly been evolving their sound record to record and have landed on a particularly inspired form of modern power pop with Still Life Revisited, their fourth effort. Musically, the songs are punctuated with horns, synth, and stellar harmonies throughout, while lyrically, the band manages to tackle some pretty […]

Los Angeles indie rockers Cheekface brought its quirky music to The Social in Orlando on Monday night April 14th, celebrating oddball narratives and danceable grooves. Pacing, singer-songwriter Katie McTigue’s project, started the night with a thirty-minute set of eccentric folk rock. Backed by a drummer and a multi-instrumentalist, McTigue sang stories with a tongue-in-cheek delivery […]

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Heart is back on tour and celebrating fifty-plus years since their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, was released to critical acclaim. Helping to define the hard rock sound of the 1970s, the rock and roll outfit fronted by the exceptionally talented sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson is still a force to be […]

The fiddle-banjo duets of Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson in “What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow is a statement of defiance, a reunion, and a bold assertion of freedom all at once, without being the least bit overt. The two former members of the trio Carolina Chocolate Drops haven’t played together on record […]

Deep in the Saharan desert in the country of Niger lies Agadez, a city that is known for its mysterious desert rock music. After many years playing weddings and other gigs throughout Agadez, Etran De L’Aïr has caught fire internationally and now spends much of their time bringing their Saharan rock to increasingly larger audiences […]

A sold-out crowd packed into the House of Blues Orlando for a night of unique alternative metal led by Los Angeles singer Poppy. The duo House of Protection opened the show with a thirty-minute set of energetic Prodigy-influenced industrial. Guitarist Stephen Harrison and drummer Aric Improta jumped, flailed, and flipped onstage while serving up frenzied […]

When two titanic figures of modern jazz like baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and pianist-composer Thelonious Monk come together, expectations naturally soar. Released in 1957 on Riverside Records, Mulligan Meets Monk isn’t just a meeting of two jazz masters—it’s a meeting of two distinct musical worlds. Mulligan, the suave architect of West Coast cool jazz, and […]

Before the Vince Guaraldi Trio became synonymous with holiday nostalgia and the sound of childhood reflection, they were already sketching the emotional world of Peanuts. Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, recorded in 1964 to accompany an abandoned Schulz documentary, isn’t just a precursor to A Charlie Brown Christmas—it’s a complete artistic statement […]

When the legendary Bootsy Collins releases a record, you know it will be a funky party and Album of the Year #1 Funkateer is no exception. Collins maybe 73 years old at this point, but he still plays multiple instruments and brought in a bunch of A-list friends and a few newcomers to deliver a […]

When the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas, first recorded with the funk outfit Galactic in 2010, the resulting single “Heart of Steel” became a staple in both of their respective live sets. While it took a while, they have pared back up for a whole album’s worth of goodness titled Audience with the […]

By the mid-90s, U2 were caught in a beautiful identity crisis. Fresh off the ironic, hyper-modern glitz of Zooropa, and years before their “back-to-basics” 2000s reinvention, they took a left turn so hard it nearly slipped past the mainstream radar. That detour was Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1, a curious, ambient-leaning collaboration with Brian Eno credited […]

Last month, prolific journeyman rocker and Hüsker Dü member Bob Mould released his fifteen solo album Here We Go Crazy. This is his first new album in five years and one that finds him embracing more of a guitar-pop sound, marking a slight but welcome departure from his punk roots. Just a couple of weeks […]

Hailing from Ocala, Florida, A Day To Remember has carved out a career by a unique fusing of pop-punk and metal-core. A Day To Remember’s Attack of the Killer B-Sides might wear the label of a stopgap release, but this four-track EP punches far above its weight. Released in 2010 as a collector’s gem and […]

When Justin Vernon returned to his Bon Iver project in 2024 with his four-track EP, Sable, most thought that would be the end of it. It is so rare to receive new music from the art-folk-pop genre-bender that it felt selfish to expect anything more. The EP is stunning and vulnerable, and Vernon can be […]

Singer-songwriter Valerie June, who began her career as a blues singer, has moved pretty far away from that with her fourth album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles. Call it Americana, but there are heavy tinges of pop and indie, with lighter hints of gospel and neo-soul. Here, she explores the many aspects of love but celebrates the joy of […]