The Band Stage Fright (50th Anniversary Edition) Capitol Records The latest reissue from The Band Stage Fright, is a prime example of many things. Firstly, it is example of an album that was unjustly quite down-rated by critics when it was first [...]
Aaron Lee Tasjan Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan! New West Records Aaron Lee Tasjan is certainly a name that is somewhere in the back of the memory files of music fans. After all, as his official biography describes, he went from “his glam rock [...]
Tele Novella Merlynn Belle Kill Rock Stars Smart pop music with engaging lyrics is not just the sole property of British bands like Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura. Latest proof–Texan duo Tele Novella and their brilliant album [...]
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah New Fragility CYHSY, Inc./Secretly Distribution For a while now, we haven’t heard much about Clap Your Hand Say Yeah. There could be a few reasons for that. First of all, they’ve had no proper album release [...]
Belle And Sebastian What To Look For In Summer Matador Records Those that did not have the chance to see Belle and Sebastian live might question how both their musically and lyrically intricate material would transfer to a live performance. [...]
Coco Reilly Coco Reilly Golden Wheel Records The number of current artists trying to channel music from the bygone years of rock grows by the day. In most cases, they try to mimic certain genre or genres concentrating more on style than [...]
Nils Frahm Tripping With Nils Frahm Erased Tapes Saying these days that the music of an artist belongs to the category of modern classical doesn’t mean much, mainly because the word ‘category’ sticks out. Many of such artists, [...]
Smudge All Stars Smudge All Stars Pegdoll Records Back in the ‘90s, an Australian rock band called Smudge, was raved about by Lemonheads main man Evan Dando. Frankly, quite a good band that should have had more exposure. Smudge All Stars? [...]
Luca Wilding Luca Wilding Abbey Records Another new day, another singer/songwriter, another debut EP. Sounds too familiar? In most cases, yes. In others, however, you sense that there might be something substantial on its way. Luckily for London [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Live In San Francisco ’16 ATO Records It has become standard in modern music to say that a certain artist or band is “on a roll”. Usually that means that they have issued a series of releases or have [...]
Blinker The Star Juvenile Universe Independent Jordon Zadorozny is one of those one-man musical operations that always surprises but never lets down. Juvenile Universe, his latest album as Blinker the Star, is no exception in either of those [...]
Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth (40th Anniversary Edition) Domino Records There are only two questions concerning Colossal Youth, the seminal album by the British trio Young Marble Giants. The first one is asks “was this album evolutionary or [...]
Billie Holiday Billie: The Original Soundtrack Verve Records What can you say that has not already been said about Billie Holiday, one of the best–if not the best—singer, male or female, ever? Maybe that there’s an upcoming documentary [...]
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 [...]
Stephen Becker Nothing Sun Under The New NNA Tapes The so-called bedroom artists are becoming ‘dime-a-dozen’ these days. After all, quite a few are stuck in their bedrooms and make music there. Literally. But with all the faded or not so faded [...]
Other Infinities Smaller Than Some Independent What if you tried to combine the smart synth-pop of LCD Soundsystem with the more boisterous side of heyday Britpop bands like Blur, throwing in vocals that range between those of David Bowie and [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Garcia Peoples Nightcap At Wits’ End Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Have you been hiding all those faves you have from the psych/prog era, particularly those that have folkish tendencies and vocal harmonies that do not overtly show off their [...]
Anne Malin Waiting Song Independent How does a combination of Cowboy Junkies and Coco Rosie, both at their most imaginative, sound to you? If the answer to that question is an emphatic yes, then Waiting Song, the second album from Anne Malin, is [...]
Bendrix Littleton Deep Dark South NNA Tapes Initially, many music fans didn’t realize what kind of a gap was left when late great Sparklehorse, aka Mark Linkous, left us prematurely. These days that left-of-center nether space between roots, [...]
