Archive: 2025

Ballad of a Starving Artist, the debut LP from New Jersey’s The Modbeats, serves both as a love letter to the early days of rock and roll and a candid reflection on modern life in the business. On Friday, October 10th, at Kung Fu Necktie, in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood, the Asbury Park-based quartet delivered a […]

Joyer formed in New Jersey in 2017. After releasing two self-recorded demo collections, they released their first studio album, Sun Into Flies, in 2020, followed by Perfect Gray in 2021, and Night Songs in 2024. Now based in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, the duo of multi-instrumentalist brothers Nick and Shane Sullivan is constantly evolving their sound. […]

Waldo Witt’s musical evolution is as expansive as the geography he’s covered. His 2019 debut EP, Randall, introduced listeners to his dreamy bedroom pop sensibilities, followed by the introspective Inner Paths. But it was his 2022 full-length album, Long Daze, Dark Nights, that marked a significant shift. Trading electronic beats for lush, phased-out guitar riffs […]

In the burgeoning late 1970s punk scene in New York, there were dozens of bands, maybe even a hundred, as the decade moved towards its close. Some music magazines helped spread the word, though not always those most allied with mainstream music, and the British flavor of punk had not yet really arrived or been […]

Ever watch a sports movie and just… feel it? That rush when the underdog pulls it off. But it’s different when the story is real. Suddenly it’s not just a movie. It’s history. It’s proof that the impossible can, and does, happen.  Horse racing is full of these moments. Forget the fiction cooked up in […]

Mobile entertainment has evolved since the days we played Solitaire and Snake on our phones. Nowadays, we can do so much more, to the point where it has transformed the way we connect, play, and consume content in our daily lives.  Thanks to cloud technology, advancements in smartphones, and high-speed internet, mobile devices now serve […]

As we descend deeper into the pit of October, certain artists and bands that suit the season can’t help but come to mind. Some of those artists are more obvious (some might say “cliché”) than others, but a good subversive pick that probably deserves a bit more attention is Dax Riggs, who, not coincidentally, has […]

It is always hard to believe how quickly these New Music Fridays creep up on us, but this is the type of week music fanatics dream of. This week’s Caustic is a sprawling one, with wildly exciting returns sitting next to artistic feats of immersive experimentation and conventional bliss. From soul that soars over mountaintops […]

2025 is the year of Turnstile. With the release of their fourth full-length studio album Never Enough in June and the deluge of press and praise that came with it, the Baltimore hardcore outfit successfully managed to cross into the mainstream after several years on the cusp. Give or take a few grizzled and grumbling […]

Whenever an established group releases a self-titled album in the middle of their career, it acts as a symbol of rebirth, a new direction, course correction, or perhaps a last gasp. St. Paul & The Broken Bones’ self-titled release finds them centering their sound and style, as frontman Paul Janeway states, “I think the band […]

For nearly two decades, The Antlers have occupied a rare space in indie music: crafting hushed, emotionally charged records that balance intimacy with atmosphere. With Blight, their first full-length in four years, Peter Silberman sharpens his lyrical focus outward, channeling ecological unease and collective fragility into a set of stark but deeply human songs. Recorded largely […]

Attitude, spontaneity, and dynamism are some of the words that describe Poor Bambi’s expression. With rock as the foundation, the trio fuses a wide range of genres and draws from many sources of inspiration. Poor Bambi is full of punch and attitude, but moves you through your entire emotional register on the way. The result […]

Following their acclaimed debut Howling at a Concrete Moon, a coming-of-age record that captured the disaffection of youth in austerity-era Britain, Pynch return with their second album Beautiful Noise, released via their own Chillburn Recordings label. Less concerned with making sense of the world around them, their second full-length shifts its gaze inward, taking a […]

At some point, one might ask which veteran jazz musicians did not play in the “university of jazz” called Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. Familiar names abound through this review, but so many more go unmentioned.  Here we present a short-lived version of a group deep into Blakey’s fourth decade. We associate Blakey’s great […]

There were probably at least a few people who thought that NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd’s 2024 double LP The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow might be his last comprehensive work. Yet, the sound searcher, 87-year-old Lloyd, shows no signs of slowing down in terms of recording or touring. He returns with another double-LP, […]

Led by one of the most powerful frontwomen of all time, The Avengers are one of the more interesting punk bands to emerge from the West Coast. Outside of the fact that Marvel made it difficult to find footage of this band, and that they were the opening band for the Sex Pistols on the […]

While other stops on her current tour are billed as a “Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets Show” featuring stories, songs, and visuals, Lucinda Williams’ stop at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, October 7th, was more or less a straight-up Lucinda Williams show. There weren’t any visuals, and even the storytelling was minimal, […]

RUSH Co-Founders Geddy Lee [bass, keys, vocals] and Alex Lifeson [guitar, vocals] recently announced their return to the stage for a very special 2026 headline tour, Fifty Something, in celebration of RUSH’s music, legacy, and the life of late drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. Today, due to incredible demand, the band announces additional dates in most cities. The band are adding two […]