The Smashing Pumpkins Cyr Sumerian Records The latest double album release by The Smashing Pumpkins, Cyr, featuring 20 new songs written by leader Billy Corgan, was bound to be a hit-and-miss affair with a recording project this ambitious and prolific. Produced by Corgan at Nowhere Studios in Chicago, and [...]
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The War On Drugs Live Drugs Super High Quality Records When The War On Drugs released their rightfully acclaimed Lost In a Dream album back in 2014, they were confirmed as certainly one of the best bands of the last decade. A Deeper Understanding from 2017 only confirmed that status. Since then, the band have been [...]
JORDAN REYES SAND LIKE STARDUST American Dreams Records Ambient country might be a relatively new category for some, and it seems to be developing in popularity. After listening to Sand Like Stardust, new album by experimental artist Jordan Reyes, there are some really good reasons why it should. On Sand Like [...]
AC/DC Power Up Sony Music Despite the running joke that all of their albums sound the same, AC/DC remains among the biggest bands in the world, a seemingly unwavering position they’ve held since ‘80 that has survived over 10 records, countless tours, a frequently changing lineup, and, sadly, the passing of [...]
Elton John Elton: Jewel Box EMI/Universal Music Canada Elton: Jewel Box, a newly-released boxed set, delves into Elton John’s extensive back catalogue. Containing 148 songs, including 60 previously unreleased ones, Sir Elton curates this sprawling compilation, unearthed from the archives, spanning 1965-2019 of his [...]
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Cranberries No Need To Argue (Remastered) Island Records/UMe Irish alt-rock group The Cranberries have released a reissue of their second album, No Need To Argue. Along with various B-sides, demos, and live tracks, it features remastered versions of 1994’s songs, including the band’s most well-known hit, “Zombie”. [...]
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Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos Live At The Hollywood Palladium Mindless Records It’s a special occasion when Keith Richards decides to step out on his own. While these moments are increasingly rare, they almost always stand as highlights among a truly legendary career. The Rolling Stones’ guitarist and [...]
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Brian Eno Film Music: 1976-2020 Universal Music This compilation has been long awaited by Eno fans. Film Music: 1976 – 2020 is a fairly comprehensive package of Brian Eno’s soundtrack work for the past four decades. For fans, such as I, this meant having to buy a lot of different albums to obtain that one [...]
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Small Town Titans The Ride AntiFragile Music Perhaps best known for their viral covers – from rock classics like Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” to their most viewed video, “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” – Pennsylvania’s Small Town Titans have been releasing a steady stream of music for a better part of the last [...]
Alter Bridge Walk The Sky 2.0 Napalm Records Having released Walk The Sky last year, Alter Bridge embarked on a short-lived North American tour in January and February of this year. Salvaging what they could from the canceled tour, the band has returned with Walk The Sky 2.0, a seven-track EP consisting of six [...]
Jeremy Inkel Hijacker Artoffact Records Jeremy Inkel was a musical scientist whose work featured prominently in his roles with Frontline Assembly and Left Spine Down. He also offered significant contributions to Delerium and Noise Unit. He spent many years on the road with bands like Ministry and Skinny Puppy and [...]
Thelonious Monster Oh That Monster Immediate Family Records 16 years ago, Thelonious Monster released their last album, California Clam Chowder, a collection of interpretations, but not quite covers, from some of the most iconic artists ever. Now, the alt rock pioneers from the days of Jane’s Addiction are back [...]
Various Artists Brown Acid: The Eleventh Trip RidingEasy Records There could be a few reasons why RidingEasy Records have had 11 runs with their ‘Brown Acid’ series so far, but two pop out as key. One is that their crate diggers have had great knowledge and luck to come up with some true gems out of the piles of [...]
Motörhead Ace Of Spades (40th Anniversary Box Set) BMG 1980. Year of the Rubik’s Cube. CNN launches this year and we can now leave reminders on Post-It Notes. Light pop acts such as Captain and Tennille, Olivia Newton-John and Blondie dominate the billboard charts. Synth bands like Depeche Mode are about to usher [...]
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The OBGMs The Ends Black Box Music Following a series of singles released throughout this year, Toronto-based alternative punk band The OBGMs have returned with their latest album, The Ends. The 10-track record, clocking in at just over 23 minutes, hits like a sledge hammer to the side of the head, making up for [...]
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Tom Morello Comandante Independent With only a few days’ notice, Tom Morello’s latest surprise EP, Comandante, has arrived. It is his first true follow-up to 2018’s The Atlas Underground – save a string of singles and an instrumental version of said record. The five-track EP delivers five tracks in which Morello [...]
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Ice Nine Kills I Heard They KILL Live!! Fearless Records The Boston-based metal core band Ice Nine Kills has released a live album titled “I Heard They KILL Live!!” just in time for Halloween. They sold out a 3,000-capacity venue headliner show on November 30, 2019 at the Worcester Palladium, and recorded the [...]
Puscifer Existential Reckoning Puscifer Entertainment/BMG Maynard James Keenan, a name synonymous with otherworldly experimental music, is back with his personal playground project Puscifer and their fourth studio album Existential Reckoning. Described as akin to being abducted by aliens, this album is a drifting [...]
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GWAR Scumdogs of the Universe (30th Anniversary Edition – Remixed and Remastered) Metal Blade Records/Slavepit On the 30th anniversary of Scumdogs of the Universe, GWAR is rereleasing the album but this time it is remixed and remastered. Unless you have been under an interplanetary rock for the last 30 years GWAR [...]
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Rage Against The Machine The Battle Of Mexico City Sony Music It was as if the stars had aligned. Next to a reunion of Appetite era Guns N’ Roses, the return of Rage Against The Machine is often coveted as one of the most hoped-for reunions, and then it happened. A tour was booked with Run The Jewels announced as [...]
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Plants And Animals The Jungle Secret City Records Hailing from Montreal, indie rock trio Plants and Animals has released their fifth studio album, The Jungle, an eight-track collection of songs that showcase the breadth of the band’s sonic abilities, and a willingness towards some experimentation that, despite its [...]
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Melody Gardot Sunset In The Blue Verve Records Some music reviewers try to be critical and stay polite at the same time. One of the ways to do so is to lump together into a subgenre a few artists they think are similar but not up to their taste, and that they also don’t seem to like. In most cases, it doesn’t [...]
Palace Winter …Keep Dreaming Buddy Tambourhinoceros Electronic music these days has been used and abused. Unfortunately, more the latter than the former. That is why good exceptions shine through like some sort of musical jewels. This is particularly true if the accent is on the melody and some intricate [...]
Dex Wolfe Lightness Independent Usually, there is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde side to musical polymaths. They are certainly extremely talented people, but often, with all their abilities, they tend, well, to show off. Minneapolis artist Dex Wolf, is one such polymath, but on the evidence of his four-track EP [...]
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