Archive: 2020

Doo Crowder has pleasantly surprised us with perhaps the quarantine song of the year aptly titled “Livin in a Bubble.” Crowder effortlessly picks out a complicated guitar part as he gently delivers spot-on lyrical wordplay and cadence, calling to great songwriter/guitar playing tunesmiths Dan Reeder, Ted Lucas, and Blaze Foley. Crowder croons softly and enters our […]

If Grateful Dead’s Workingman’s Dead represents the first seedlings in a new strain of their music, American Beauty (released 11/1/70) is the ripe fruit at peak maturity. Recorded by much the same efficient means as its predecessor, this second studio work of 1970 coalesced from no little turmoil in the band’s world: Garcia’s mother died […]

Louisville, Kentucky-based hip hop/r&b duo Otis Junior & Dr. Dundiff released their new EP ‘Rising With It’ on 10/23 and it’s now available digitally and on vinylvia Jakarta Records. Smooth is a massive understatement when describing the title track from Otis Junior & Dr. Dundiff’s latest EP. Junior brilliantly navigates this track chock-full of hooks […]

On Catspaw, Matthew Sweet’s 15th studio album, due out January 15, 2021 on Omnivore Recordings, Matthew Sweet cranks his vintage amplifiers and steps into a role previously played by some of his generation’s most unique and incendiary lead guitarists from Richard Lloyd (Television) to Robert Quine (Lou Reed) and Ivan Julian (Richard Hell & the […]

Music history is littered with under-appreciated, undervalued and under the radar artists who could have been, might have been, should have been a bigger deal. Going by decades, one of the most obvious examples from the 1970s is Van Duren. A Memphis-based musician and bandmate of post-Big Star’s Chris Bell and Jody Stephens in the […]

The Hold Steady are announcing plans for a very special 2020 edition of Massive Nights, the band’s legendary multi-night celebration of music and community held each year at Brooklyn, NY’s Brooklyn Bowl. Set for December 3, 4, and 5, Massive Nights will be livestreamed around the world, allowing everyone everywhere to raise a glass and sing a favorite […]

It might be scary to go outside this Halloween, but it’ll be scary in your living room with these ten haunting movies.

Cory Henry is trying to stay optimistic. You can hear it on the first half of his impressive new album Something to Say, which finds him once again teaming up with his talented band the Funk Apostles. With his “future soul” sound front and center, the keyboard master eases into a danceable groove with uplifting songs […]

Over the course of the last two years, Sour Ops — led by guitarist, songwriter and singer Price Harrison — has mined a rich lode of glammy power pop. Their flair for addictive guitar pop marks their 2018 album Family Circuit and 2019’s Tinder Flame, a superb EP. In addition, they’ve released a cool half-dozen singles in 2020. Each shows a […]

In 2017, Midnight Oil returned from its lengthy hiatus with a vengeance, traversing the globe on The Great Circle Tour, rousing audiences, and raising consciousness along the way. In keeping with that extended effort, and in follow-up to the live content released in the wake of those efforts, Armistice Day, this powerhouse outfit from Down […]

When Craig MacArthur started the recording process of his band The Casual Coalition’s new record, The Rendering Of A Ghost, he had a veritable “who’s who” roster of some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s best working musicians in his pocket. Over seven years of working at Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads as […]

Mogwai has announced the release of their tenth studio album, As The Love Continues, due for release on February 19, 2021 via Temporary Residence Ltd. (North America) and Rock Action Records (UK/EU). The album is available to pre-order and pre-save now in various formats, including Digital, CD, Double Vinyl, and a special edition box set that includes the CD, Colored […]

Johanna Samuels has recently announced her signing to Mama Bird Recording Co. with the first single from her forthcoming album, slated for Spring 2021. “High Tide for One” was written in response to watching Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The Los Angeles based artist’s song delves into the hopelessness she […]

Tash Sultana today (October 29) announced the official release date for their forthcoming sophomore album Terra Firma. This album is set for release on February 19, 2021 on Mom + Pop Music and is available to pre-order NOW. With a title inspired by the need to slow down and re-ground Terra Firma is the work […]

Puscifer has always been the hardest of Maynard James Keenan’s nuts to crack. It’s a joke, but it’s completely serious. It’s a solo project, but it’s a group effort. It’s different from any of his other works, but it’s the same. Dichotomy and duality have always been part of the game when it comes to […]

“I think the stories behind these songs are almost what’s most important,” says Sweetlove. She sighs. It’s a heavy sigh––the kind that makes the person listening suddenly feel their own chest tighten. Sweetlove knows what she’s just said isn’t what a singer-songwriter would typically say about her new EP. But Goodnight, Lover––the EP in question––was […]

Austin Lucas certainly wasn’t the first punk rock kid to put away the distortion pedal and pick up an acoustic guitar, leaning more into country and folk influences. But he’s always been among the most consistently solid. His latest, Alive In The Hot Zone, continues that streak. Written and recorded in the early weeks of […]