Reviews

With Black Horses, Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody succeed at creating an album of depth that can be enjoyed repeatedly from start to finish. The evolution of this seasoned musician and his supporting group will undoubtedly continue to intrigue as they bring Black Horses on the road in the near future.

Despite two evacuations (one which included a couple of drops of rain, the other of which included a ton of rain), soaring temperatures and an Animal Collective cancellation, 2013 still proved to be Forecastle’s most impressive year.

On Saturday night, Sanders Bohlke closed out his tour as special guest on Rachael Yamagata’s “Dealbreaker Heart Tour” with a bang, stepping onto the stage at the Bowery Ballroom, capturing the undivided attention of several hundred strangers, and lulling them into a state of wonder and amazement with his music. This was undoubtedly a common […]

[rating=8.0] Born Sinner may be the strongest album of the summer, despite it still being the start of the season. J Cole simply mesmerized the rap nation with this piece of work, which is only his second album under Roc Nation.  A natural storyteller, Cole captured the entire spectrum emotion from partying to mourning to […]

One of the most prestigious double bills of the concert season appeared at the Santa Barbara Bowl, Friday June 28th, featuring two blues master vocalists, representing multiple generations. Opener Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, played a hastened forty minute set to a half full bowl. In the eight years since their debut album Nothing But […]

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center has long been a favorite venue for Phish to play and never more so than in recent years where the quartet have offered some absolutely scintillating performances. The first two nights of three this year vividly illustrated again how the quartet functions, the group essentially starting up and revving its […]

You know a concert is going to be good when the music coming from the sound-check has fans huddling with their ears pressed against the glass, soaking up every note as if their rock & roll life depended on it, then walking away with a look of pure astonishment. Several went back over to friends, […]

[rating=6.0] By far the very best track on John Fogerty’s Wrote A Song For Everyone is “Long As I Can See the Light” recorded with My Morning Jacket.  Jim James’ voice turns him into something a younger version of Fogerty when he sings, while the prominent piano and organ echo the arrangement of the Cosmo’s […]

For 26 years now, Portland, Oregon’s Waterfront Blues Festival has brought top-notch musicians from all around the world to perform to the masses with the idyllic cityscape and Willamette River as the perfect festival backdrop. All of the proceeds raised during the festival, which was more than $1.3 million dollars, benefited the Oregon Food Bank. […]

[rating=8.0] If you’ve been longing for a return to the jam-heavy, free-wheeling, good-time tunes which marked Robert Randolph & the Family Band’s debut, Unclassified, and the live albums which preceded it, your prayers have been answered. After a mild misfire in Colorblind and the band’s decision to explore the roots of soul, blues and rock […]

On a beautiful night in Boston, Fitz and the Tantrums brought their foot stomping Soul/Pop combo to a sold out Paradise Rock Club. At exactly 9:45 PM, the band hit the stage in front of a giant neon heart backdrop and a sea of LED lights. Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick (vocals) and Noelle Scaggs (vocals) danced […]

Over the course of the night, Gnecco and the rest of OURS rarely missed a note, and their near perfect show served only to draw the audience in even more.

The dark lighting at the Paradise was a perfect match for Eisley’s dramatic, yet powerfully melodic music. This incredibly talented family from Tyler, Texas held its audience captively from start to finish. They put together a well-structured set that conjured a mashed-up jam between the Cardigans, Pixies and the Beatles. The band walked on to […]

[rating=7.0] Normally when your lead singer dies, that spells curtains for a band. But Alice in Chains was always more about Jerry Cantrell than Layne Staley arguably speaking. And the guitarist’s decision to resurrect the name 11 years after the enigmatic and troubled original vocalist for the Seattle grunge titans succumbed to his crippling narcotic […]

[rating=9.0] Packaged with a collector’s loving eye for, the 25th Anniversary edition of Green recognizes a most significant milestone in the career of R.E.M. Notwithstanding the nay saying of the alternative music community of the time, the Athens GA quartet’s signing with Warner Bros was a logical extension of their career path to that point. […]

Though Fever Dream slows quickly following its title track, as an overall effort it transcends its flaws, standing as a promising EP from a young band with the capacity to wrap emotional, heavy lyrics inside a catchy accessible synth-pop casing.

It was all about of power punk trio’s in New York’s Bowery Ballroom as the crowd was late arriving on this hot spring night. Opening up the show was New Jersey’s Black Wine who played a noticeably percussive form of pop-punk with the drums and bass leading the way. Jeffrey Schroeck on Guitar, J Nixon […]

The Nashville by way of Detroit Deadstring Brothers pulled into the East Village club Bowery Electric to play the 100th show of their current tour. These road warriors have surely played to larger crowds though as the Friday night early set time saw only a handful of fans in attendance. Playing as a scaled back […]

A sense of camaraderie and joy that is increasingly elusive pervaded Raleigh’s Red Hat Amphitheater when Warren Haynes led the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration into town. A perfectly cool evening lent itself to a relaxed, musically invigorating experience that elicited reflection, laughter, sporadic dancing, and emotion. Haynes, playing Garcia’s iconic “Wolf” guitar, was joined by […]

On a busy June weekend that found musicians, comedians, and media moguls heavily gathered in middle Tennessee for Bonnaroo or north of the border in Toronto for NxNE, the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods of North Brooklyn found time to host an event of their own with the music and technology portion of the annual Northside […]