Reviews

Multi-instrumentalist ZZ Ward, born Zsuzsanna Eva Ward, is celebrating a whirlwind year of accomplishments, which includes releasing her new album Til The Casket Drops and headlining a national tour. ZZ brought her Down and Dirty Shine Tour to the intimate Paradise Rock Club in Boston. With a minimalist stage production, outside of her black and […]

[rating=8.00] The genius in indie rocker Cass McComb’s latest effort Big Wheel and  Others lies in the intricate musical arrangements.  The opening, driving “Big Wheel” starts the listener on a musical journey filled with catchy guitar fills poured over a variety of bass lines and back beats.  Perhaps the album’s strongest track “There Can Only […]

[rating=6.00] Something About Knowing is the perfect album to listen to on a downer day when you need a serious pick-me-up. The tones and moods that fill the album are warm, rich and easygoing, and if you are looking for something to lift your spirits, then it is hard not to see the beauty in […]

A charmingly lonely and eerie sustained harmonica note beckoned the crowd closer to the stage as Joe Pug solo entered calling everybody closer like a dinner bell. The set opener consisted of a down tempo rendition off the EP “Nation of Heat” but with deep rooted soul. Pugs eyes were a squint into the crowd […]

[rating=6.00] If you are familiar with The Devil Makes Three then you know the type of energy they are capable of, and they bring more of that on their latest release. At ten tracks and just over 30 minutes, this is a quick album that wastes little time getting to the meat of things. With […]

[rating=5.00] Despite its provocative title, Tim Kasher’s second full-length album, Adult Film, has little, if anything, to do with pornography. Instead, the Cursive and Good Life frontman’s latest offering merely revolves around complicated grown-up themes such as relationships, death and money. This litany of topics is familiar territory for the veteran singer-songwriter. Since his earliest […]

There appears to be a new surge in British indie rock bands hitting the scene, but which one will break through to carry the torch and lead the way has been a heated debate. If you buy into the hype created by the UK press, then next in line to the country’s music throne is […]

As a loyal listener to the long-running Sound Opinions podcast, I’ve heard co-host Jim DeRogatis rave on and on about Savages, for the better part of a year now. His hagiographic odes to the all female London quartet have interspersed themselves into much of the show’s dialogue as he takes no hesitation in his praise […]

[rating=8.00] The key line on Graveyard Lovers’ fantastic first full length release comes early in the opening song “Manifesto”, when lead singer Zach Reynolds let’s you in on his one line credo, “Don’t let nothing ever get you low.”  This is uplifting, heavy hitting, rock and roll. Dreamers, however, is no digital ray of sunshine, […]

As the grounds opened up on Saturday, many festival-goers headed to the Barton Springs Beer Hall where you could find a 100-foot-long bar with 16 adult beverages on tap. But the key details here were the large flat-screen televisions where the faithful could quench their college football thirst. Austin is a college town, after all. […]

Austin is the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World,” and as you look around town, the evidence mounts up quickly. Any night of the week live music streams from any number of bars, clubs, and entertainment venues. The state capital of Texas, the city plays host to the Austin City Limits television show as […]

[rating=9.00] Sunshine Daydream is an instance of magnificent serendipity. Originally conceived as a benefit concert that would fill a space in the Grateful Dead’s summer 1972 tour schedule, the endeavor blossomed into a film project that, some four decades after it happened, has come to fruition as yet another splendid archive project from this iconic […]

It was a disappointing crowd turnout for the electronica pop outfit Octopus Project at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix but it didn’t affect the band’s mindset in providing quality despite the small quantity in attendance.  The band has put in the work, winning a “Moog Award” for musical innovation and subbing in for wounded guitarist […]

On a seasonably warm night in New York City some loud straight ahead rock filled one of the Big Apple’s best venues. Opening the night were Bass Drum of Death with the trio’s take on garage rawkin. John Barnett is the founder and front-man slamming away on his Fender as Len Clarke simply dominates the […]

[rating=7.00] It is easy to appreciate the beauty of a record like Let’s Be Still. It has a generally even pace to it with some perfectly placed rousing moments, the songs are crafted meticulously with regard to structure, sing-ability and theme, and the vocals are top-notch. In short, Let’s Be Still is everything a solid […]

A 17-piece orchestra took its seats in darkness, minutes before a snippet from a tennis match — sampled from a commentator announcing a score of “thirty-thirty” — introduced Deltron 3030. For its second New York show this month, the hip-hop trio packed Highline Ballroom to promote Event II, the long-in-the-works sequel to the group’s apocalyptic, […]

Yonder Mountain String Band, hit Charlotte for the first time in a few years delivering their definitive blend of the classic, the rocking, and the interpretive. The first set kicked off with “East Nashville Easter,” from their self-titled 2006 album, into offerings from their other studio releases, like Town By Town’s “Loved You Enough,” and […]

[rating=9.00] The latest edition of Bob Dylan’s ongoing archive project, Another Self-Portrait (1969-1971) The Bootleg Series Vol. 10, will probably have great appeal to those music lovers who found pleasure and insight in the man’s return to his folk roots in the early 90’s with World Gone Wrong and Good As I Been to You. […]

[rating=7.00] In an open letter to fans earlier this year, The Avett Brothers  said their new album, Magpie and the Dandelion, would have a strong feeling of “youthful wonder” about it, and they weren’t kidding. The album is filled with questions, defiance, romanticism and even something of a lone-wolf mentality that anyone can relate to. […]

[rating=10.00] In lieu of the more lavish five disc collection within a hard-bound book with additional photographic and written content, the two CD edition of The Band Live At The Academy of Music 1971 may suffice, especially as it is not what it appears on the surface: merely a reissue of the expanded version of […]