Archive: 2016

At its core, soul music that is actually good is music that dwells on heartbreak and pain yet translates to a sense of pleasure and redemption for the audience. This is something that is often lost in the “modern” soul music that infatuates so many hipsters today when they fall in love with bands who […]

Dan Hicks, the Arkansas-born musician known for his wide-ranging musical and personal style, the wit and outright humor of his songwriting, and his role in the San Francisco folk and ’60s rock scene, died Saturday in Mill Valley after a long battle with throat and liver cancer. He was 74. News of his death was […]

Andrew Bird has always been highly respected and has held a captive audience with his story telling prowess, but it’s with his new album, ‘Are You Serious’, that he has made a breakthrough record. Coming April 1st via his new label home Loma Vista Recordings (Spoon, St. Vincent, HEALTH) and produced by Tony Berg, the […]

Pokey LaFarge played a sold out solo show at Off Broadway in St. Louis on 2/4/16.  The show featured the live debut of ten songs, plus a variety of other compositions reaching back through his entire catalog. Photos by Nate Burrell.

After the usual rat race of rumors and speculation, Phish has announced a 2016 Summer Tour that will begin on June 22 with the band’s first concert in the Twin Cities since 2000, and culminates with its sixth year of summer-ending shows in September at Dick’s Sporting Good Park in Commerce City, CO. The tour will include the […]

Zombies go Victorian in this not-as-bad-as-it-looks send up of the Jane Austen classic.

[rating=8.00] Lik last album, Fourth Corner, 2016’s Porta Bohemica reflects the strength and confidence of a performer that possesses an extended resume. Indeed, on initial encounter, several striking forebears come to mind – Annie Lennox, Betty Levert, Aretha Franklin, and any number of other revered divas. Whitley’s doesn’t attempt to imitate those icons, but she does […]

Georgia’s Nate Currin is no stranger to the road. This singer-songwriter and all around troubadour has spent the better part of a decade criss-crossing the country playing shows at any joint with a stage and a microphone. With his dusty vocals and nomadic bluesman mentality, Nate Currin is a storyteller hellbent on sharing his tales […]

[rating=7.00] Dr. Dog have never been an easy band to put a ready handle on. Their aggressive posture and penchant for psychedelia finds them akin to a spontaneous jam band in some regards, and has given them a populist kind of precept as well and classified them as indie insurgents overall. It’s a baffling mix […]

Maurice White, co-founder and co-lead vocalist of Earth, Wind & Fire through their 70 and 80’s period, died in his sleep Thursday morning at age 74. White died in L.A. after a long battle with Parkinson’s. He was diagnosed in 1992 and his condition deteriorated in recent months. The disease had progressed to the point he […]

Parquet Courts have announced their new record, Human Performance, will be out 4/8 on Rough Trade. Recorded over the course of a year against a backdrop of personal instability, Human Performance massively expands the idea of what a Parquet Courts record can be. They’ve been one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the last 5 years; this is the […]

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association announced today that Jeff Lynne’s ELO is set to perform three shows at the Hollywood Bowl for the Fireworks Finale on September 9, 10 & 11. Joined by the strings of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, these concerts mark the first time the band has played at the […]

All at once a hilarious send up and loving homage to Hollywood’s Golden Age, Hail, Caesar! is classic Coen Brothers.

[rating=7.00] Sunderland, England’s Field Music have been nominated for a Mercury Prize (for their 2012 release Plumb) and satisfied music aficionados with four albums from 2005 – 2012, each more impressive than the previous. Yet, you’d be lucky to find an American with which to share stories about this considerable catalog. As their tour dates […]

[rating=7.00] A Benji Hughes album is like a seed in transit. If it winds up in the right environment, it will eventually bloom. But it could just as easily land on concrete. In the case of Songs in the Key of Animals, the success of the album depends largely on whose ears in which it […]

Much like craft beer and beards, newgrass music is something of a ubiquitous presence in Portland, Oregon these days. Portland’s newgrass bands are not to be confused with pioneering “progressive bluegrass” acts like the New Grass Revival, John Hartford and Leftover Salmon, yet those acts definitely serve as influences. More commonly, these groups take a […]

The Reverberation Appreciation Society has announced new additions to the lineup for LEVITATION, taking place at Carson Creek Ranch in Austin the weekend of April 29-May 1, 2016. The lineups per day and single day tickets have also been released, with more information included below. Weekend passes, single day passes, deluxe passes, camping passes, and camping rentals are […]

Influential band The Jayhawks have announced the April 29 release of their long-awaited new album Paging Mr. Proust (Thirty Tigers). The 11-song new album finds the 2016 Jayhawks still remain one of America’s foremost rock bands: based around leader Gary Louris’ gift for melody that has made them such a respected and seminal group for almost three […]