Charlie Watts Anthology BMG Legend has it that The Rolling Stones knew they needed Charlie Watts if they wanted to make it to the next level in their local scene, they just couldn’t afford him. Watts, an in-demand session musician, eventually [...]
Frank Zappa Funky Nothingness Zappa/Universal Music In 1969, Frank Zappa released his second solo album, Hot Rats. Over time, the album has become a landmark, a classic, and one of Zappa’s most loved. Hot Rats was also the first album to be [...]
Danny Michel Ghost Town Independent Toronto singer-songwriter Danny Michel hasn’t been heard from in a while, at least as far as official recordings go. Actually, it has been five years to be exact, but now he’s back with his latest, [...]
JD Pinkus & Tall Tall Trees Ponder Machine Shimmy Disc Telling you that this is a collaboration between Butthole Surfer’s bassist, JD Pinkus, and Tall Tall Trees (Mike Savino) is only scratching the surface of this collaboration titled [...]
Erin K Sink To Swim Independent Singer-songwriter has become such a broad category these days, even though that with quite a few listeners the first thing that comes to mind is a single artist with an acoustic guitar or behind a piano. Does [...]
SLIP~ons Heavy Machinery Scamindy Records Punk or post-punk, if you consider the more modern form of the genre, even in its primal form in the 60s, always touched on another genre or two, even if you were the Ramones, Vancouver’s SLIP~ons [...]
Estrella Del Sol Figura De Cristal Felte Records Dream pop has become such a musical phenomenon that you can find (or stumble upon) a great release within the genre from practically any corner of the world. So it is not a great surprise that the [...]
Nothing But Thieves Dead Club City Sony/RCA/AWAL Nothing But Thieves prove they are one of the freshest rock bands working today with their latest album Dead Club City. Dead Club City is far from perfect, but is it ever exhilarating. The album [...]
AMANDA SHIRES AND BOBBIE NELSON LOVING YOU ATO RECORDS As a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Amanda Shires was and still is one of the stalwarts on the roots/americana music scene for all the right reasons. Her musicianship, singing, [...]
Sleepy Gonzales Mercy Kill Light Organ Records Some of the best pieces of music take you on journeys outside of musical genres and reality. Bands such as Sleepy Gonzales make it their business to transport listeners into a slumber-like state, [...]
Amy Stroup Since Frank Independent What constitutes pop, or good pop for that matter, is a debate that will probably not end, at least not soon. In his great (and very voluminous) book on the story of modern pop titled Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, the [...]
Various Artists Shine On: A Tribute To Pete Ham Y & T Music Pete Ham was a genius. He was an incredible songwriter and performer. Of course, he was one fourth of Badfinger, one of the finest power pop and rock bands of all time. Sadly, the [...]
Valley Lost In Translation Universal Music Canada The latest album from Canadian indie pop group Valley, Lost in Translation, might not be their best work, but it is still somewhat enjoyable. The acoustic folk-driven songs are far superior to [...]
Dallas Burrow Blood Brothers Soundly Music Now if any images you see of Dallas Burrow indicate you are in the roots/Americana land, they might distract non-believers from the fact that Burrow and his latest album Blood Brothers are a true [...]
Killer Mike Michael Loma Vista Records Half of Run The Jewels and perhaps the most underrated and overlooked solo artist in hip-hop, Killer Mike has released what should, without a doubt, be considered his breakthrough solo album, Michael. [...]
Queens Of The Stone Age In Times New Roman Matador Records After six years, a messy public custody battle, and a recently revealed cancer diagnosis, Josh Homme has returned triumphantly with In Times New Roman, the first album from Queens Of The [...]
Pickle Darling Laundromat Father/Daughter Records Is it something in the water or air way down under in New Zealand, or do they simply just love their left field, gently (or not so gently) quirky pop rock in all its shapes and forms? After the [...]
Far From Saints Far From Saints Ignition Records Quite a few decades ago, Fleetwood Mac proved that coming up with sophisticated pop is a specific art in itself where the artist(s) has to abide by the strict rules and formulas of a pop song [...]
Clara Engel Sanguinaria Independent Toronto singer-songwriter Clara Engel (they/them) says that they are not writing the same song over and over so much as writing one long continuous song that will end when they die. Dark? Sure, but the point [...]
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse; Or, Dawn Of Eternal Night: An Annihilation Of Planet Earth And The Beginning Of Merciless Damnation KGLW Here we go again. And again. And again. Here comes another King Gizzard & [...]
Peter Lewis Imagination OMAD Records San Francisco’s Moby Grape released their debut, self-titled album in 1967. They had formed in 1966, and what made the band unusual was that all five members, at that time, sang lead and wrote songs for the [...]
The Parlophonics Dying Of The Light Kool Kat Records Meet The Parlophonics, an interesting pop-rock band with a rather unique history. The Parlophonics are Robert Horvath (Guitars, Bass), Fernando Perdomo (Guitars, Drums), and Hugh Macdonald [...]
John Mellencamp Orpheus Descending Universal Music I am not sure that John Mellencamp has always received the credit and respect he deserves. He has a heavy body of work that has somehow not received the critical acclaim that is offered to [...]
Deer Tick Emotional Contracts ATO Records Deer Tick, the Providence, RI quartet, has released its first album since 2017. Emotional Contracts showcases a band at the peak of their songwriting and performing abilities, which isn’t surprising [...]
