Archive: 2020

 The Flaming Lips have released another new song and video for “Will You Return / When You Come Down” from their highly anticipated new album American Head set for release on September 11th via Warner Records. Once again, the video was filmed during quarantine in their home state of Oklahoma and directed by Wayne Coyne and George […]

Who better to soothe our frayed nerves in such chaotic times than Arlo Guthrie. He has been doing just that practically his whole life. Born to a dust bowl minstrel who fed the everyday people words of hope and truth, the son of Woody Guthrie spoke his mind in such a way that you connected […]

With the retrospect of fifty years, The Band’s Stage Fright may be the greatest object of fascination in the iconic group’s entire discography, this despite the fact it’s the most conventional of all their records (except perhaps for the final release by the original quintet, the execrable Islands). Their third studio album reveals more about […]

Jerry Joseph’s The Beautiful Madness could just as easily be titled “The Brilliant Madness.” Yes, this should be a contender for Album of the Year in roots-rock circles. It is stunning. Produced by his friend, and now fellow Portland, OR resident Patterson Hood, who recruited his own Drive-by Truckers to back Joseph. The album is […]

At the start of his third album, RISE, in the song “Carry Me,” Roger Street Friedman confesses that, “You know a man just can’t change his stripes/I will ride this road the rest of my life…Mixing notes and words with piles of dust, One part obsession, one part sacred trust.” Translation: The man is a […]

A modern duo rooted in the old-school twang of the country singers, outlaws, and roots-rockers who came before them, The Jensen Sisters are torchbearers of a sound they proudly call “new wave retro country.” It’s a timeless sound built for honky-tonks, highways, and all places in between, and it’s taken the harmony-singing siblings from their small […]

On the fiftieth anniversary of Eric Clapton’s first solo effort (8/16/70), the Deluxe Edition of the eponymous album provides a comprehensive perspective on a pivotal piece of work in the man’s oeuvre. This package includes not only the original album, but a long-unavailable mix by Delaney Bramlett, as well as ancillary recordings of alternate takes, […]

Today, Neil Young has released a video for “Lookin’ For A Leader 2020” from the recent Porch Episode of his acclaimed Fireside Sessions livestream series. “Lookin’ For A Leader 2020”is now viewable on YouTube and can be seen below. The original version of the track appeared on Young’s 2006 LP Living With War. This timely 2020 update targets the problems we currently face. “Lookin’ For A […]

Buzz Osborne and Trevor Dunn have crafted a masterful, intimate acoustic record.

Chris Stamey’s collaboration with the Fellow Travelers, A Brand-New Shade of Blue, was inspired by the intimate small-combo sound of the late ’50s and early ’60s — a time when the “cool jazz” compositions of such luminaries as John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk lived alongside the expanding pop vocabulary of Burt […]

The return of New York Cities hardcore punk legends No Redeeming Social Value finds them continuing their party hard blasts of raw adrenaline on Wasted For Life while also dealing with pain and societal issues. Their first studio full-length in over a decade proves the long-running NYHC crew hasn’t lost a step. The dynamite title […]

It’s rare when the lead-in to an album is a cello solo. That lets you know right away that Sheridan, Wyoming’s The Two Tracks are not your average Americana band. Their unique sound has earned the respect of versatile musician and producer Will Kimbrough who produced their previous effort Postcard Town and returns for Cheers […]

Cuban pianist and composer Kemuel Roig may be better known in Christian and New Age music circles but the pianist has toured with the renowned Arturo Sandoval for eight years. So, although Genesis is his fifth album, it’s his first jazz album as a leader. He’s tapped quite an impressive array of talent that join […]

On October 2nd, 2020, Demon Music Group will release Distortion: 1989-2019, a chronicle of the solo career of Bob Mould and his band Sugar. This massive anthology compiles for the first time the entirety of Mould’s recorded work from 1989 onwards: 18 studio albums, plus four live albums and two albums of rarities and collaborations. Assembled with Bob Mould’s full involvement and featuring new sleeve […]

Don’t even try to tag a label onto the music of the Boston based band, Twisted Pine. The group’s bass player, Chris Sartori gave it a try and the best he could come up with was ‘neo-folk indie soul avant jazz jam grass-icana’  -a phrase he admitted doesn’t easily roll off the tongue. If you […]

Cover albums tend to be a product of a foundering career. At a point when critical appraisal has dried up and popularity is about to follow, musicians can count on releasing a few covers to bide their time and prolong the inevitable. Even in the best-case scenarios, when more successful artists employ an album of […]

Bruce Hornsby has come a long way since the halcyon days of the Range & the Noisemakers. Where once there were catchy hooks and thumping John Molo-fortified beats, there now lay atonal études atop of dissonant soundscapes. While casual fans of the Williamsburg, VA native, yearning for the familiar strains of “The Way It Is” […]