Phantogram Up Close & Candid At The 2024 Innings Festival
Phantogram was one of many performers at last weekend’s (Feb 23/24) Innings Festival at Tempe Beach Park in Tempe, Arizona. The psych-pop duo made their daytime set feel like a late-night extravaganza with a striking eleven-song set. Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter were cool enough to give photographer Becca Greenberg, who was on assignment for […]
Manic Monday: Power Trip Live At House Of Strombo 2018
News that Power Trip will reform for this year’s No Values festival (which features an absurdly stacked lineup) can’t help but be met with mixed feelings for many longtime fans of the band. While, on the one hand, it’s great they have decided to keep their music alive and persevere despite Riley Gale’s death, it […]
The Kills Command Boston’s Royale With Swaggerish Bravado (SHOW REVIEW/PHOTOS)
It’s been a long time coming, roughly eight years or so since the electrifying rock and roll duo commanded any stage in Boston. This past Friday night on February 23rd at Royale, The Kills finally returned in support of their new album ‘God Games’ and delivered a frenetic and mesmerizing performance full of genuine rock […]
45 Years Later: The Allman Brothers End Capricorn Records Run With Overlooked ‘Enlightened Rogues’
The Allman Brothers Band’s Enlightened Rogues (released February 1979) is the result of the seminal Southern band’s reunion following their tawdry, fractious break-up of 1976. Produced by Tom Dowd, who had also provided studio supervision for Idlewild South, At Fillmore East, and Eat A Peach, the modified 1979 lineup of Brothers hews close to the blues-rock roots upon which they […]
55 Years Later: Jefferson Airplane Document Its Psychedelic Expeditions On ‘Bless Its Pointed Little Head’
Released over a half-century ago, Jefferson Airplane’s first live album, Bless Its Pointed Little Head, (released February 1969) offers a stark contrast to its studio predecessor Crown of Creation. The latter release of 1968 carried more folk overtones than the psychedelic expedition it followed, After Bathing At Baxter’s, though hardly so many as the effort preceding that LP, Surrealistic Pillow. […]
LISTEN: Molly Horses Lead The Charge On Scorching Post Punk Anthem “King Dundalk”
Molly Horses is a four-piece noise-punk band formed in 2023 in Los Angeles, CA. Combining elements of post-punk, krautrock, and Albini-esque noise rock, Molly Horses released their first self-recorded single “Beatty” in December of 2023. Members Harry James and Cormac Brown (members of FonFon Ru) Tim Wright (Founding member of Wilderness) and Malcolm Watts utilize their production and engineering backgrounds […]
LISTEN: N8! Keeps The Rhymes Criminally Smooth On “Destroy and Rebuild”
N8! is a Harlem Born and Bred God MC. He is One half of the NYC duo Mankind and the founding member of the New Rap Order Collective. With a booming voice and criminally smooth rhyme schemes, N8! is not another rapper to skim by. “Destroy and Rebuild” has the emcee crafting intricate flows over a warping instrumental […]
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real Balance Country Craftmanship and Big Rock Sounds in Portland, OR (SHOW REVIEW/PHOTOS)
There’s no shortage of nepo babies in the music world, many of whom lack the creative talent of their famous parents and deliver mediocrity at best. Lukas Nelson is the opposite. The son of Willie Nelson could have easily adopted a persona similar to his father and, with a voice that is close enough, had […]
Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir/Kate Wolf/Rosalie Sorrels & More Highlight ‘Sing Out – Berkeley Community Theater April 25, 1981’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
Far from sounding dated, the content comprising this edition of Bear’s Sonic Journals vividly and accurately captures a moment in time worth revisiting. Notwithstanding its title as homage to the groundbreaking organization devoted to folk music, such a retreat is not just a nostalgic end in itself, but a self-renewing means of rediscovering the profundity of community. […]
CAUSTIC COMMENTARY: Erick the Architect, Real Estate, Liam Bailey, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Mary Timony & More
It is hard to tell if being excited about Fridays will ever be outgrown. As a child, we would sprint through the school week so we could get to our Gamecubes and recreational sports games and now as an adult, we power through the workweek to make it to bars, dinners, or hopefully, just go […]