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 [...]
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
Church Of Trees Progression Independent It is hard to believe that Church Of Trees is only four years old, given the quantity (and high quality) of music that has been produced under that banner. Church Of Trees is more of a project than a band. [...]
Tobacco Hot Wet & Sassy Ghostly International Hot Wet & Sassy, the newest album from Portland-based experimental AND electronic outfit Tobacco, saunters through dripping, eclectic beats and saturated synthesizers. Anyone who’s seen a [...]
Elvis Costello Hey Clockface Concord Records Over the last 40 plus years, Elvis Costello has produced some of the most influential and varied work known to pop music. His virtuosity and willingness to change have given him legendary status that [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Lemonheads Lovely (30th Anniversary Edition) Fire Records Marking the 30th anniversary of The Lemonheads major label debut, the reissue of Lovely is still as charmingly devoid of meaning as it was in 1990. Including tracks with a hint of [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Local Natives Sour Lemon Loma Vista Recordings Local Natives has been busy since the release of Violet Street in 2019. They are back, and their newest project is a four-song EP called Sour Lemon. The opening track, “Lemon,” features [...]
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Rendition Was In) Daptone Records After passing away following a battle with cancer in 2016, Sharon Jones and her backing band, The Dap Kings, left behind a legacy of [...]
Bruce Springsteen Letter To You Sony Music Bruce Springsteen has returned with Letter To You, his 20th studio album, and follow-up to his 2019 dive into the Americana music of the 1970s on Western Stars. The album also marks Springsteen’s first [...]
Beastie Boys Beastie Boys Music Universal Music The last two years have seen a revival of interest in the Beastie Boys. Starting with their 2018 memoir and one of the best music books you’ll find, Beastie Boys Book, the group has since reunited [...]
Sevendust Blood & Stone Rise Records Atlanta-based Sevendust has released their 13th studio album, Blood & Stone. There is a little bit of a heavier vibe on this record, but they stay true to their sound. They put the hammer down with [...]
Hawksley Workman Less Rage More Tears Isadora Records/The Orchard Hawksley Workman’s newest release, Less Rage More Tears is an absolute departure from 2019’s Median Age Wasteland. While the latter was more conventional guitar-based folk rock, [...]
