Reviews

The Dirk Quinn Band didn’t just play the Beatles’ Abbey Road at the Zlock Performing Arts Center in Newtown, PA on January 31st, 2025; they inhabited it, exploring its hidden corners and presenting a fresh perspective that both honored the original and showcased their own unique musical identity. The show constituted a conversation between generations […]

The New Orleans long-running funk outfit Galactic pulled into Brooklyn Bowl on Friday, January 31st, for the first gig of a two-night stand in Williamsburg that wrapped up their mini Northeast winter tour. The group was firing on all cylinders as they played new jams, tasty covers, and tried and true crowd favorites.  Opening up this night […]

David Quinn emerged as a recording artist in April of 2019 with his debut album, Wanderin’ Fool, a Dylan-esque record reminiscent of The Band era, with a turn-of-the-century vibe featuring Boogie-woogie shuffles alongside country ballads. Quinn became known for his authentic storytelling and traditional sound, which continued to resonate on follow-up recordings.  2020’s Letting Go was characterized by […]

In this increasingly fast-moving world, most of us should be so lucky to find a job we love doing and stick with it for thirty-five years. This is exactly what the members of Moe. have done, taking a steadfast, working-class approach to being in a band that has allowed them to persevere for over three […]

Hootie & The Blowfish are undeniably an essential part of the 90s musical landscape. Stretching across rock, pop, and adult contemporary radio, their unpretentious, feel-good songs were as ubiquitous as conversations about the newest episode of Friends or Seinfeld. Whether they love, hate, or feel indifferent, one would be hard-pressed to find someone born between […]

With six albums out in the span of just over a decade, Liverpool’s post-New Wave acolytes Circa Waves are clearly on a prolific streak. Their last effort, 2023’s Never Going Under, was still finding new fans across the globe as they prepped to release Death & Love Pt. 1. Part of the reason for the […]

The week leading up to your debut album must be a daunting one. With suits pushing you from one press requirement to ensuring every video and promotional photo perfectly fits the aesthetic of the music you’ve put years into. It’s a long road to land at your debut, but for Animal Collective member Brian Weitz, […]

There aren’t many ass-kicking live records from 75-year-old punk rockers to reference when reviewing Iggy Pop’s newest offering, Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2023. It’s safe to say Pop is one of a kind, still raging hard, swearing like a drunken sailor, and delivering the smoking (and shirtless) goods onstage.    Arriving in Switzerland with a […]

The duo of Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have done it again – revived the music of a long-forgotten legend. Their 22nd installment is a truly special one, featuring the music of Ghanaian Highlife pioneer Ebo Taylor. While artists such as Fela Kuti and King Sunny Ade were highly recognized here in the States […]

Will Oldham has become one of the most elusive and prolific singer-songwriters Americana has encountered in the past two decades. The artist has been toiling away at his craft, combing through life, searching for the poetry in it all, and tracking his progress through an expansive discography filled with folksy storytelling and nimble acoustics. With […]

The cliché says what’s old is new again. It’s not often that we see a gap of 51 years between albums, but the legendary British funk and R&B band does just that, following up 1974’s Promised Heights with 2025’s Renascence. Chances are, however, unless you’re among those in the know from the Baby Boomer generation, you’ve never heard of […]

Seven years after their last record, The Davenports – a revolving line-up band anchored by Scott Klass – is finally back with new music, having self-recorded the latest batch of songs in Klass’s own house. The result is a mix between some of the brilliant lo-fi bedroom tapes of the 1990s and a more polished […]

If you want to experience the warm embrace of music, go to a Railroad Earth show. There isn’t a better way to sum up the feeling of catching the New Jersey jam grass outfit, which has been stirring up good vibes for well over twenty years now. Though the group’s last album (All For The […]

In our current moment of marketable nostalgia and an almost relentless amount of tours with bands using the anniversary of a landmark album to drive ticket sales, one could easily assume that the band who released at least one of the most celebrated albums of the early aughts would do just that. This was certainly […]

Thanks to MTV’s Unplugged series, there was about a decade-long run where acoustic albums were en vogue. Arguably, Nirvana’s Unplugged is the crowning achievement of the movement (with Arrested Development’s entry also up there), but there were a slew of also-rans that, while interesting at times, were not as memorable (who knew 30 Seconds To Mars and […]

Rose City Band, led by guitarist and vocalist Ripley Johnson, has carved a unique lane for themselves in modern country. While the burgeoning scene crashes pop charts and intertwines with pop more than ever, the band’s lighthearted, psychedelic take is a welcomed change of pace. Since the band mysteriously appeared in 2019, their sun-drenched approach […]

On his first release of new music in over 15 years, Dax Riggs returns with 7 Songs For Spiders, a collection of ominous meditations on spirituality, love, death, and what lies beyond. Having started his career with the death/sludge outfit Acid Bath (who are also returning this year) and branching out to more blues rock with […]

It has been seven years since we heard from Benjamin Booker. The NOLA-based multi-hyphenate weaves through sonic realms with an air of mystique, putting his auto-biography across several warping albums that challenge genre norms and place Booker in a league of his own. His soulful yet eerie approach to nostalgic blues is drowned in dense […]

Following up their 2024 Grammy-winning Blood Harmony, the southern rock/blues/roots sister duo Larkin Poe brings us, Bloom, with all songs a collaboration between Megan and Rebecca Lowell and their co-producer Tyler Bryant. The duo, backed again by their touring bassist and drummer, Tarka Layman and Caleb Crosby, respectively, have Bryant (bass, electric guitar, 12-string guitar), Michael Webb (B3), and Eleonore Denig (strings) joining them in the studio. It’s an […]

Coming four years after her last record, Forever is Lilly Hiatt’s strongest blend yet of alt-rock guitars with Americana sensibilities. You can hear it in the chugging chords on the album opener “Hidden Day,” a stellar driving song that foreshadows what’s to come. Forever is an ambitiously experimental record that’s still anchored by Hiatt’s strong, […]