Oh Susanna A Girl In Teen City Stella Records This album is a pleasant surprise. When I read the description of the record, I was a bit worried it would be full of angst and be self absorbed. I was wrong. It turned out to be a pleasant, [...]
SPOOKY ACTION OUT OF A BROOKLYN VACUUM A CONVERSATION WITH JASON LOEWENSTEIN (SEBADOH) Jason Loewenstein is getting set to release his second solo album, Spooky Action, on Joyful Noise Records on June 16, 2017. His last solo album, At Sixes and [...]
The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Anniversary Edition Apple Corps Ltd./Universal Music Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band may not be the best album ever made, may not even be the best Beatle album ever made (my nod goes [...]
VANCOUVER, YOKO ONO & CRICKETS A CONVERSATION WITH ORA COGAN Ora Cogan is a Canadian treasure. Her music defies labelling, it simply must be experienced. She has produced some of the most unique and truly brilliant albums over the past ten [...]
FOUR ON THE FLOOR STONER ROCK AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDRE SKINNER OF SLOW DEATH LIGHTS “Although our 2015 EP was a good showcase of our sound, it didn’t capture our full vision and songwriting ability of the band simply due to time and budget [...]
Blair Packham Unpopular Pop Blair Packham Records This is Blair Packham’s third solo release since leaving The Jitters, and his first album in 13 years. His last album was 2004’s Could’ve Been King. In the years between albums, it would seem [...]
Little Reader The Big Score Little Reader Music Little Reader is a pop duo consisting of , Kate Tucker (Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden) and Ross Flournoy (Broken West; Apex Manor). The Big Score is the debut album from this new band . Both [...]
My Friend The Chocolate Cake The Revival Meeting Independent My Friend The Chocolate Cake have been around since 1989. The two founding members, David Bridie (piano/keyboards and vocals) and Helen Mountfort (cello and vocals) came out of the [...]
Daniel Romano Modern Pressure New West Records Modern Pressure is solo album number seven for this prolific artist, and for the most part, no two albums sound the same. He has also been in a number of bands (Attack in Black; Daniel, Fred & [...]
Sufjan Stevens and Justin Peck – The Decalogue Ballet @ New York City Ballet – The David Koch Theatre @ Lincoln Centre, New York May 12, 2017 Sufjan Stevens is no stranger to writing music for many different settings. He is also no [...]
Larissa Tandy The Grip Thalassophile Records The Grip is Larissa Tandy’s debut solo album. Actually it is a wonderful title for this album, because it has so many interpretations, much like the songs inside the package. Larissa has earned a [...]
Manic Street Preachers Send Away The Tigers – 10 Year Collector’s Edition Sony Music It is hard to believe that Send Away The Tigers is now ten years old. This album, the eighth in their catalog, was seen as their return to form. [...]
ANOTHER ANOTHER AN IN-DEPTH TRACK-BY-TRACK ALBUM ANALYSIS WITH KURT SWINGHAMMER Kurt Swinghammer is set to release his first full length album since 2011’s Turpentine Wind. And a new release from Mr. Swinghammer is always cause for [...]
MOVE YOUR FEET A CONVERSATION WITH MAKER There is a great film clip of a reporter talking to John Lennon in America. The reporter has no idea who The Beatles are and certainly does not know who Lennon is. He asks John “Which one are you?” to [...]
HARLEM TO HOLLYWOOD A CONVERSATION WITH BILLY VERA “People have been bugging me for years, then I finally found an angle, just tell like it is” says Billy Vera on his autobiography, Billy Vera: Harlem to Hollywood (Backbeat Books). “I just want [...]
One In The Chamber The Boston Session: Bootleg Demos Independent This EP was released the same day as their debut live album, Live From The Rockpile. One in The Chamber is a Toronto based band who went to Boston to record with Scott LaFlamme [...]
READY FOR THE LONG ROAD AHEAD A CONVERSATION WITH GREENHOUSE Call it the Greenhouse effect if you like, but these four young (the eldest, lead vocalist Sacha Katz is 19, while the remainder of the band are still in High School), can win you over [...]
One In The Chamber Live From The Rockpile Independent One In The Chamber is anything but conventional. Their debut EP was a collection of demos (The Boston Session – Bootleg Demos) and their debut mini-album is a live set from two [...]
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Lovely Creatures – The Best Of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds (1984-2014) Mute Records Compilations are a funny things. When they are done well, they are like a new album in the artist’s catalog. McCartney’s [...]
Pond The Weather Marathon Artists This is Pond, from Australia, led by Nick Allbrook. Not the band from the ‘90’s who recorded for Sub Pop, this is a totally different band. Joining Nick is Jay Watson, Joe Ryan and Jamie Terry. Each member [...]
Various Artists Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of the Story (An Album to Benefit War Child) Columbia Records In 2007, Folk Artist Brandi Carlile released an album to initially little fanfare called The Story. But then through [...]
Mothlight Laika Independent This is the second album from this Southern California trio. This album shows a band that continues to mature and a band that knows how to achieve the sound in their collective heads. Laika is a brilliant, lush, [...]
Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell Live Asthmatic Kitty Records I was very fortunate to have seen two concerts of the Carrie & Lowell Tour by Sufjan Stevens. I did not go into the concerts as a fan, in fact I knew precious little of his [...]
Procol Harum Novum Eagle Rock This is Procol Harum’s first studio album since 2003 The Well’s On Fire, and their 12th studio album to date. Since their debut album in 1967 (the brilliant album Procol Harum) the band has been through many [...]
