Archive: 2020

Speed the Plough is a New Jersey-based chamber pop/indie rock band that has been playing since 1984. The band rose out of the ashes of The Trypes, a mainstay of the early ’80s Hoboken scene, which included most members of The Feelies, many of whom continued with STP through the band’s first decade. Speed the […]

Matt Lovell’s debut, Nobody Cries Today, is an album that couldn’t have happened without a fair amount of heartache. The lead single “90 Proof” with the line “I’ve been trying to lose your number, but my fingers won’t forget” is sung with the emotion of someone excising some ghosts. The record itself, a consistently satisfying […]

Today (9/10), Django Django make an electrifying return with the new single “Spirals,” (below) their first new material since the “Winter’s Beach” EP in 2018, and an utterly compelling glimpse at what’s to come.  Sounding invigorated and more energized than ever, “Spirals” doubles as a tantalizing return to form as well as a rousing call […]

If you’ve been privileged to see an acoustic piano concert by Chick Corea, you can’t help but be struck not only by his creative improvisations but his playfulness, rapport with the adoring audience, and sheer joy of playing his instrument.  All those attributes are on display in this scintillating, breathtaking performance entitled simply Plays as […]

Sometimes a writer can exhaust the accolades for an artist covered countless times and this writer is beginning to feel that way about today’s premier blues guitarist, Ronnie Earl. So, we’ll begin with this excerpt of mine from the last Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters album, words that are equally applicable to his new effort, […]

New West Records will release an archival Drive-By Truckers live recording as a part of its acclaimed Live From Austin, TX series on October 23rd, 2020. The 13-song performance was originally filmed for the legendary PBS television series Austin City Limits and will be issued on vinyl for the first time as 180 gram double LPs housed in […]

It’s not as if any such reaffirmation was really necessary at the time, but 1990’s Ragged Glory (released 9/9/90) proved Neil Young’s return to form the previous year on Freedom was no fluke. The 1989 album was grounded in the acoustic/electric dichotomy the Canadian had long since mastered and effectively concluded a decade of experiment, misconception […]

The Underestimated Music in Games When video game music comes to mind, it’s usually the iconic soundtracks of classic games like Street Fighter 11, Tetris, and Super Mario Bros that we hear. Of course, these soundtracks are considered to be among the greatest in the history of gaming. However, thanks to technological advancements, there have […]

Amanda Palmer and Rhiannon Giddens have joined forces for a cover of Portishead’s much adored song, “It’s A Fire.” Palmer and Giddens recorded from several continents during lockdown in the midst of one of the most turbulent times the world has ever seen. “It’s A Fire” can be heard below and is available now on […]

Today, Painted Shield, the new band consisting of Stone Gossard, Mason Jennings, Matt Chamberlain and Brittany Davis have released their debut song “I Am Your Country.” The band’s self-titled debut album arrives on November 27 via Gossard’s revived Loosegroove Records. “The song tries to encapsulate what a country might say to its people,” Gossard tells Rolling Stone, who announced the project this morning. “It’s the least worked-over […]

Bob Mould has released “Siberian Butterfly” off of his explosive upcoming album Blue Hearts, which arrives via Merge Records on Friday, September 25. Pre-orders are available HERE. Mould released this statement about “Siberian Butterfly”: The genesis of “Siberian Butterfly” spoke to the notion of “collectors” – people with excessive means who gather the works of […]

The Grateful Dead will be celebrating its most lauded studio masterpiece with a 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. Available on October 30th, the three-CD set will feature the original album (“Truckin’,” “Candyman,” “Sugar Magnolia”) with newly remastered audio, plus one of the most requested archival recordings in the Dead’s vault – the unreleased concert recorded on […]

Guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela have shared a new song from their soon-to-be-released Mettavolution Live, an all-new double album recorded during last year’s Mettavolution World Tour. The 13-track collection arrives as a 2LP, 2CD, and digital download via Rubyworks/ATO on Friday October 2; pre-orders are available now. The song, “Electric Soul,” just premiered today- check it […]

To celebrate their twentieth year, the metal behemoths Mastodon have released Medium Rarities, an odds and ends collection of covers, live tracks, instrumentals, and rarely heard originals.   The opening song is an unreleased thundering maelstrom written and recorded in 2019 titled “Fallen Torches”. A pummeling low-end is augmented by expansive guitar work and guest vocals […]

The heralded roots band Delta Spirit took an extended break after supporting their 2014 Into the Wide. It took some time for the originally Southern Californian-based band of five independent, divergent thinkers to find common ground again. On the band-produced What Is There, the acclaimed Tchad Blake (U2, Black Keys, Richard Thompson, Los Lobos) was […]

The open road has beckoned to generations of artists, writers, and seekers of authentic experience. For acclaimed singer/songwriter Ryan Hamilton, jumping into a minivan with his pup Peaches and driving from home near Fort Worth, Texas through the Southwest out to California last fall was not just catharsis, it was an unexpected impetus to create […]

Bruce Watson’s acclaimed Memphis, TN-based label Bible & Tire Recording Co. has confirmed The Last Shall Be First: The JCR Record Story, Volume 1, out September 18. The collection features seventeen tracks recorded in Memphis during the 1970s along with complete liner notes by music historian/musician Michael Hurtt. Watson and JCR Records head Juan D. […]

The Joe Stamm Band makes countrified roots-rock with an emphasis on the roots, drawing on Stamm’s small-town upbringing in rural Illinois for a sound that blends heartland hooks with Nashville twang. It’s a sound that’s taken the songwriter from the college apartment where he strummed his first chords to venues beyond the Midwest, sharing shows […]