Archive: 2018

The early, revolutionary days of Karl Marx are explored in a fascinating new film.

Heather Graham’s directorial debut is far from the movie it could have been.

Director Alex Garland produces another ambitious sci-fi epic that fails to live up to its own potential.

[rating=8.00] The Grateful Dead’s biographer and one-time publicist Dennis McNally has a deceptively brilliant style of writing, so in his essay accompanying GarciaLive Volume 10, he fully captures both the practical and ineffable virtues of this sublime double-CD set. This author, historian and music publicist is, at heart, like any music lover who can clearly […]

Minor Characters is a rock band in the truest sense. As lifelong Chicagoans, the men in Minor Characters carry with them that very American blend of wistful angst and ever striving hope. After their last record, the full length Voir Dire released in 2014, they collectively experienced more of the former. “Getting that out was […]

On May 4, Belly return with DOVE, their first full length album release in 23 years. The album was recorded and produced and recorded by band member Tom Gorman alongside longtime friend of the group Paul Q. Kolderie (Hole, Throwing Muses, Radiohead). Today, the band shared “Shiny One,” the first single to be released from […]

[rating=7.00] Caroline Rose boasts a quirky kind of persona. Where once she would have been branded as New Wave, now her sound fits firmly in the echelons of modern pop. Her new album Loner suggests she’s not as withdrawn as the title suggests; expressive, outgoing and obviously engaging, she casts a bold persona that’s flush […]

  [rating=8.00] By their seventh album, most bands are winding down into a comfort zone that will largely appeal to the core base of fans they developed earlier on in their career. Screaming Females buck this trend with their latest LP, All At Once, by deftly forging their most striking identity yet. All At Once […]

[rating=7.00] Its cover photo of the band radiating all the easygoing informality of a family get-together, Three From The Road is replete with the kind of easygoing exchanges of ideas that can abound at such events. And the expressive yet disciplined improvisation of John Mayall and his bandmates takes a variety of forms throughout the […]

[rating=8.00] This is a rather pleasant surprise, never having heard of Patrick Coman. Yet, when the producer credits denoted guitarist Peter Parcek and drummer Marco Giovino, Coman’s Tree of Life certainly seemed worthy of a listen. It’s an eclectic mix of roots and blues material that did not disappoint. Parcek also plays lead guitar and […]

[rating=9.00] Janiva Magness has tried many different styles across what is now her 14th album Love Is An Army. Acoustic blues, powerhouse blues, and Americana have all been staples for her. Her 2016 effort, “Love Wins Again” garnered a Grammy nomination. With no less than 26 Blues Music Award nominations and seven wins including Entertainer […]

Singer-songwriter enthusiasts take note: legendary songwriter James McMurtry and rapidly rising tunesmith John Moreland are teaming up for a nearly two-week tour throughout the Midwest and East Coast in March. The highly lauded troubadours will launch the run at Rose Music Hall in Columbia, Mo. and weave through Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia before wrapping […]

Today, Parquet Courts announce their fifth album, Wide Awake!, which will be released on May 18th via Rough Trade. Wide Awake! is a groundbreaking work, an album about independence and individuality but also about collectivity and communitarianism. Love is at its center. There’s also a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s a testament […]

In Suds & Sounds we turn the spotlight on breweries, focusing on the role of music in that brewery’s history, packaging, tastes, and in its city or town as a whole. The idea is to get beer and music lovers to connect with a side of the brewery that may often go overlooked, but one that we think […]

[rating=7.00] Like photos of Soulive on their website, Cinematics, Vol. 1 is a long way from the close-cropped haircuts with suits and ties of the trio’s early days. And other changes wrought over that passage of time are equally evident with the release of this title the debut of the band’s own imprint: it’s available […]

[rating=7.00] Creating something exquisite can require so many factors to serendipitously fall into place and fit just right. Right location, right time, right inspiration, right atmosphere. That was the case when three musicians came together to begin working on songs at a house outside Austin, TX after meeting on tour. Jonathan Meiburg, lead singer of […]

Dark Star Orchestra (DSO) rolled into Lake Tahoe, NV (Harrah’s) Sunday night (2/18) in the midst of a solid West Coast tour that ends later this week in San Diego, CA. No matter what DSO chooses to play on any given evening you are guaranteed to hear crispy musicianship, and energetic interpretations on the vast […]

The legendary Troubadour nightclub was buzzing early on a cold Valentines day evening in Beverly Hills. A seemingly endless line of enthusiastic music fans stretched around the block for the sold out concert. But this wasn’t the likes of Guns N Roses or Depeche Mode, both of which recently played much-hyped gigs at the tiny […]