Archive: 2014

Whenever you hear about the end of a band, no matter how great they are, it’s more than just common to hear about angry disputes and oceans of bad blood between group members. In fact, the longer a band has been together, it seems that the chances for bitterness and anger grows proportionately. Rare is […]

[rating=8.00] For the first time since 2011, TV on the Radio are back with a new album Seeds, albeit under vastly different circumstances. The three year timespan has brought numerous changes to the band: the unfortunate passing of bassist Gerard Smith, the parting of ways with longtime label Interscope, and the members’ geographic relocation from […]

The dates for U2’s upcoming iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour 2015 have been announced today by Live Nation. The iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour, which begins in 2015, will see U2 play indoor arenas for the first time in a decade and will visit 19 cities worldwide during its first year with pairs of shows in each […]

How do you tell a story or express an emotion without using words? That’s the challenge that composers of instrumental music face. I talked to steel pan jazz artist and composer Jonathan Scales about Lurkin’, which appears on the 2013 album “Jonathan Scales Fourchestra.” Of this album, Modern Drummer says, “Inventive steel pan player Jonathan […]

Red House Records has announced a new solo release, Ain’t In No Hurry, by Jorma Kaukonen, set for release on February 17, 2015.  The album is a collection of classic American songs, blues, rockers and Jorma originals including a lost Woody Guthrie lyric set to music by Jorma and Larry Campbell. All tracks frame his life, development as an artist and […]

Mayer Hawthorne and producer Jake One (Drake, Snoop Dogg, Fun.) are teaming up to release their self-titled debut album Tuxedo (Stones Throw Records) on March 3, 2015. The duo unveiled the cover art + track listing y and recently gave fans a sneak peek of the upcoming funk record with the video for “Do It” (below). Tuxedo is Mayer Hawthorne (Aquarius) and Jake […]

At the end of December 2013, Christmas looming and the New Year just around the corner, Phosphorescent played a four-night stand at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg in Brooklyn; and for four-nights running, blew the roof off the place.  Matthew Houck, fronting his seven-piece band, plus an auxiliary string trio deployed throughout the set, played […]

Bobby Keys, longtime saxophonist for The Rolling Stones, has died.The legendary musician had been battling cirrhosis and passed away at his home in Franklin, TN early Tuesday morning.  He was 70 years old. A Texas native who’d lived in Middle Tennessee since the early ’90s, in addition to his 40-plus-year tenure with The Rolling Stones, […]

Warren Haynes has had a busy year to say the least. The 54-year-old guitarist has spent much of 2014 celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his band Gov’t Mule with a tour that has crisscrossed the U.S. and hit the UK, Europe, Australia and Japan. In between touring with Mule, Haynes also managed to close the […]

Diamond Rugs are set to release their rowdy new record, Cosmetics (Sycamore Records/Thirty Tigers/RED), on February 24, 2015. John McCauley (Deer Tick), Robbie Crowell (Deer Tick), Ian Saint Pé (ex-Black Lips singer), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Hardy Morris (Dead Confederate) and Bryan Dufresne (Six Finger Satellite) have come together once again to tap into the […]

Free’s legendary bass player Andy Fraser really doesn’t consider himself a bass player. He began his musical noodlings on a piano when he was around five, moved on to the guitar before his teens and ended up taking up the bass simply because no one else wanted to do it. He is one of those […]

In what may be an unprecedented set of concerts, Peter Hook and The Light performed six New Order and Joy Division albums in their entirety, during four concerts across Southern California, on the week leading to the Thanksgiving holiday. The band began their week long odyssey with a concert on November 22nd at The Fonda […]

Jeff Beck will headline a string of solo dates, beginning April 16th with a pair of intimate engagements in Huntington, New York before wrapping up on April 26th in Greensburg, PA.  Beginning April 30th in Cedar Park, TX, Beck and ZZ Top will make-up the rescheduled dates from this past September when the hugely successful […]

On January 13th DR. DOG will release Live at a Flamingo Hotel, the first ever bottling of the band’s live performance. Check out the album trailer below “That’s always what we’ve wanted to do,” says bassist/vocalist Toby Leaman. “We’re one thing on a record and a different thing live. Somebody goes to a DR. DOG […]

When it’s all set and done, who knows what type of legacy 2014 will hold in the history of rock albums.  Anyhow, once again our staff writers narrowed down the list to our top 20 albums of the year along with a list of honorable mentions.  We’re confident that this is a definitive list of […]

Jessica Lea Mayfield is like a little woodland sprite, all soft-spoken, tiny and fair-haired, until she sings. Her voice is rich and full-bodied, sometimes sultry and always a little sullen. At a recent performance at Brooklyn Bowl, she haunted the crowd with this voice, and though there weren’t many in attendance on a bitter cold […]

Renowned Bassist Christian McBride joined Banjo player extraordinaire Bela Fleck and the classical quartet Brooklyn Rider for a night of eclectic music, that ranged from bluegrass to jazz to classical crossover at the intimate Victoria theater in NJPAC, Newark. The first set was a duo performance of Bela Fleck and Christian McBride, who per Christian […]

[rating=7.00] Twelve years since his first full-length album, Andrew McMahon still does not disappoint. He is now under a new moniker, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, and the self-titled release dropped on October 14. The annoyance from fans and critics alike about yet another name change can be justified, but at the same time it […]

A few years ago, I came upon the following pronouncement in a rock critic’s snarky column: “Listening to Primitive Radio God’s ‘Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand’ on YouTube is the equivalent of watching child pornography.” Obviously, this jerk takes his music too seriously — or child abuse not seriously […]

King Tuff has expanded his 2014/2015 tour schedule in support of Black Moon Spell, his critically acclaimed new album.  King Tuff will resume touring with late winter/early spring North American run, which spans January 7th in Santa Ana, CA at The Observatory through April 8th in Omaha, NE at Waiting Room. Along the way, he’ll […]