LOS RETROS ODISEA STONES THROW RECORDS Summer waits for no one. People out and about on the beach soaking up the sun, playing volleyball, or having a picnic. Summer also means the city comes alive. For 26-year-old Oxnard, CA-based artist [...]
GOOD KID CAN WE HANG OUT SOMETIME? GOOD PEOPLE RECORDS CO. Good Kid’s new album feels like both a homecoming and a leap forward. The band stays true to the bright, guitar-driven sound that first drew fans in, including tight rhythms, infectious [...]
SPACEPORT CUT THE LAKE AURA VORTEX RECORDS Minneapolis trio Spaceport is back with their second album Cut the Lake, with many missing their first offering Window Seat (2023). Maybe this time around that initial slip will be corrected, as the [...]
ELIZABETH AND THE CATAPULT RESPONSIBLE FRIEND COMPASS RECORDS The oh so sophisticated and fluid sound Responsible Friend, the new album by Elizabeth and the Catapult, might come as a surprise to the uninitiated, but Brooklyn-based Elizabeth [...]
THE WEDDING PRESENT MAXI HHBTM RECORDS The Wedding Present made their debut in 1985 and were once known as ‘the least complicated band from Leeds’. I say they still are the least complicated. They continue to play excellent alternative rock. [...]
CODEFENDANTS LIFERS THIS IS CRIME WAVE/REGIME MUSIC GROUP Trying to define the essence of a Codefendants release is akin to trying to nail jelly to a wall. They’re openly ‘genre-fluid,” and they seem to have set out to make each song as [...]
JENNIFER FOSTER POWERLINE INDEPENDENT Powerline is the latest album from Toronto singer-songwriter Jennifer Foster. Her releases have been a bit sporadic of late, so it is a treat that she has gifted us with a new collection of songs. And what a [...]
KATY PINKE WONDER GLAMOUR GOWNS Sometimes you wonder, and it seems so does Katy Pinke on her new 4-song EP, with such a title, why do artists bother to release EPs that barely scratch over 6 minutes – is it just teasing ahead of something [...]
THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS THE FORMER SITE OF NEW PORNOGRAPHERS MERGE RECORDS Despite the initial controversy with its name when the band first appeared, The New Pornographers made it big instantly, and it was the quality of the music, lyrics and [...]
TIGERS JAW LOST ON YOU HOPELESS RECORDS Tigers Jaw sound has always felt like a soft reawakening, a breath that one takes before admitting something that you’ve kept hidden away in the dark, avoiding what might surface if you bring it to [...]
FLEA HONORA NONESUCH RECORDS Whispers of Flea, the jazz musician, have persisted for decades. While it is commonly known that before picking up the bass, his first instrument was the trumpet, and he regularly expresses his love for jazz and [...]
SNAIL MAIL RICOCHET MATADOR RECORDS If you’ve been with Lindsey Jordan and Snail Mail since her first full release Habit, then this record is for you. Jordan opens with a steady, energetic farewell to a relationship she’s parted ways with, [...]
TRUE GREEN HAIL DISASTER SPACECASE RECORDS Minneapolis-based novelist/songwriter Dan Hornsby is not the first to lead a band, but might be among the first ones to set his lyrical vision through jangly guitar rock with his band True Green. Hail [...]
MARNIE WEBER RETURNING HOME: THE MUSIC OF MARNIE WEBER PHANTOM LIMB RECORDS Wikipedia defines art rock as “ a subgenre of rock music that aims to separate the genre from popular entertainment, with the term typically being applied as the middle [...]
JACKIE WEST SILENT CENTURY RUINATION RECORDS Some would say that singer-songwriters are dime-a-dozen these days (again!), and the proliferation is certainly there, but there seems to be a deeper thematic shift compared to the initial [...]
NINA HAGEN HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN GRÖNLAND RECORDS If you’ve ever dreamed of watching late-career Marlene Dietrich play an enigmatic preacher in a European arthouse rock musical, you’re in luck! Nina Hagen’s new gospel album, HiGHWAY TO HEAVEN, is [...]
JON ANDERSON SURVIVAL& OTHER STORIES | EARTH MOTHER EARTH FRONTIERS MUSIC Jon Anderson has released 16 solo studio albums. His catalogue of music is astounding and with his new band, The Band Geeks, he continues to record and tour. These two [...]
CHARLOTTE CORNFIELD HURTS LIKE HELL NEXT DOOR RECORDS/MERGE RECORDS Big life changes impact everybody, but such changes are more visible, or to be precise, more audible with musicians. Motherhood is one such big change in life, and it had its [...]
EM SPEL BIRD OR SNAKE BIRDWATCHER What would be experimental folk exactly? As with any other genre, it would approximately mean that you as an artist are not taking the usual routes associated with such a genre, and it could be anything from [...]
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY ENGINES OF DEMOLITION MNRK Having played a significant role in the recent Pantera reunion, Zakk Wylde has returned his attention to Black Label Society to deliver Engines of Demolition, the first record from the band since [...]
ROBYN SEXISTENTIAL KONICHIWA RECORDS Swedish songbird Robyn has been in the pop game since age 16. Her 1995 debut album included hits like “Show Me Love” and “Do You Know (What it Takes),” co-written with the legendary Max Martin. With a more [...]
JAH WOBBLE AND JON KLEIN AUTOMATED PARADISE DIMPLE DISCS Since leaving Public Image Ltd, Jah Wobble has been a remarkably prolific artist. He has recently teamed up with Jon Klein, former Siouxsie and The Banshees and Specimen guitarist, for [...]
LEVEL 42 THE LATER YEARS – 2001-2020 CHERRY RED RECORDS Level 42 had a huge career in the 1980s, combining modern jazz, funk, pop, prog and pure rock to create their own sound. Their own distinct genre. However, by the 2000s, they were not [...]
THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT THE TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD | EYE IN THE SKY | AMMONIA AVENUE (REISSUES) COOKING VINYL Once, when FM radio mattered and was a little underground, The Alan Parsons Project dominated the airwaves with their concept albums. [...]
