Archive: 2025

The February 28, 2025, passing of David Johansen compels memories of how joyous an experience it was to see the former New York Doll lead his group through an uproarious set at UVM in February of 1979. It was a sensation not unlike how stunned I left my UVM classmates by playing the first Dolls […]

“Sometimes I forget it’s fun to play because sometimes it’s not,” Santigold told the crowd at The Beacham in Orlando Wednesday night, March 5th. “But we’re having fun tonight.” The Philadelphia indie artist was one of many artists who canceled tours in 2022 over the unsustainability of modern touring, especially post-COVID, as costs rise and […]

Since 2004, Dew Claw has been the music project for which Stephen Hunking has released his meditations on life, love, parenting, personal themes, and other abstract musings. Stephen has created 4 full-length releases plus various singles and EPs under the Dew Claw umbrella over the last 20 years, while also being a member of the […]

The gear you choose to play for your band’s unique rock sound is important. The tone and atmosphere that make your music unique comes from each instrument, amplifier, and pedal. Every piece of equipment, from electric guitars to basses, amplifiers and effects pedals, contributes to your musical identity. We’ll break down the key essentials every […]

Very few bands get to cherish the success of an acclaimed debut, and back in the heyday of punk, even fewer made it into a studio to record. For a genre hellbent on crafting the most crude and awe-inspiring live performances, there are stories of hopeful bands simply being unable to capture their live sets […]

The second solo album, following 2014’s You Should Be So Lucky, from veteran Benmont Tench, The Melancholy Season, is aptly titled as the pianist/singer/songwriter delivers a record that ebbs and flows but never gets too high or too low. Known for his supportive sideman work, Tench takes center stage working with Jonathan Wilson (Dawes, Father […]

Alabaster DePlume is unlike any artist of today. He’s a singer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, and philosopher all at once. He recites his poems over a backdrop with some of the UK’s best jazz musicians, including John Ellis, Donna Thompson, Mikey Kenney, Macie Stewart, and Ruth Goller. Yet the music, though filled with improvisation, is at best genreless. This is […]

Recorded in an 18th-century farmhouse in Maine, these songs from singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kris Delmhorst (KD) about the ghosts of the past and present seem to fit the setting. She paints the kind of detailed character sketches that may haunt your dreams, too. She writes with exceptional detail yet stays pretty even-keeled emotionally. The emotions […]

The Lowtimers are a 5-piece Americana band led by songwriters Austin Smith and Mark Tegio. Formed through years of touring up and down the West Coast, the band blends soulful Americana with a contemporary twist. With their debut album Cracks, The Lowtimers offer fresh perspectives on timeless stories of love, loss, and redemption. The band […]

Paper Sister is a four-piece post-punk shoegaze band from Austin, Texas. It is influenced by the Smashing Pumpkins, PJ Harvey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pixies, At the Drive-In, The Sundays, Mazzy Star, and many others. The band blends heavy, layered guitars with dreamy and aggressive vocals to create melancholic, visceral ballads that are both evocative of […]

What began as an experimental live session in 2019 evolved through live play into an experiment-driven project called Main Steam Stop Valve, or mssv. The recording band and live band are currently the same group, including multi-genre songwriter and guitarist Mike Baggetta, mike watt (MINUTEMEN, fIREHOSE, Stooges), and Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, Mavis Staples, David […]

In life, art, and love, Erin Gibney is learning who she is and what she wants, and that she won’t settle for anything less. Recent experiences — her first big breakup, forging deeper connections with her fans through social media, watching artists she admires release exceptionally personal albums — have left her emboldened to share […]

A local of Western Australia’s Fremantle with a voice that feels like an old friend and lyrics that hit like a truth you’ve been avoiding, Shannon Smith blends folk, Americana, and soul into something uniquely his own. His collaborations with Grammy-nominated artists have solidified his reputation as a storyteller with a heart that beats through […]

While the late great David Johansen will always be synonymous with The New York Dolls, he went on to arguably greater pop-culture notoriety by reinventing himself with his kitschy alter-ego Buster Poindexter in the late 80s. Indeed, he accidentally scored a hit song via his cover of “Hot Hot Hot” in 1987, a tune he […]

Rock music has always been a microcosm of its influences. The way blues snuck its way into the genre’s most incredible songwriters, the punk attitude being determined by societal standards of what not to do, or the loose melodies of relaxed psych-rock coming from colorful hallucinations, the genre has found its voice through tireless toiling […]

Few vocalists can bring the sheer power and passion of Mike Farris. With his first album since 2018’s Silver & Stone, Farris continues to move further away from strict gospel by doing what he does best: merging his collective musical influences into one amazingly infectious stew of rock ‘n soul in The Sound of Muscle […]

Initially the brainchild of bassist Vlad Matveikov, whilst he was living in Brighton, Slung were sometime in the making. He tells of randomly meeting guitarist Ali Johnson at a campground in Australia in 2009, falling in love with vocalist Katie Oldham during lockdown, and hearing a demo of drummer Ravi Martin’s old band in his […]

Pynch is a genuine DIY band that has built up a dedicated global fan base through a combination of tenacity, wistful lo-fi, and life-affirming lyricism. On their debut album, Howling at a Concrete Moon, they followed through on the promise of their early singles and delivered ten stunning tracks that provide a snapshot of what […]