SET FEUX SET FEUX INDEPENDENT Officially, this is Set Feux’s debut, self-titled album. But, Toronto singer songwriter Diana Planche, who is behind the Set Feux moniker is also a member of The Paint Movement as the band’s [...]
DOG PARK FESTINA LENTE GÉOGRAPHIE Nominally, Paris-based quartet Dog Park is labeled as a dream pop band. Yet, these days, music labels (genres) are losing much of their sense as artists are blending in elements in their music that seemingly do [...]
MICHAEL FEUERSTACK ETERNITY MONGERS FORWARD MUSIC GROUP/BACKWARD MUSIC Michael Feuerstack is no stranger to talk about delicate things in life through music, nor to having a concept run through his albums. And, judging by his latest, Eternity [...]
PEARL JAM DARK MATTER MONKEYWRENCH RECORDS/REPUBLIC RECORDS/UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA Four years following their underrated, and unfortunately seemingly forgotten, 2020 album, Gigaton, Pearl Jam has returned with Dark Matter. The album marks one of [...]
LOCAL NATIVES BUT I’LL WAIT FOR YOU LOMA VISTA RECORDINGS But I’ll Wait For You is the latest album by indie rock band Local Natives. It is a companion piece to their 2023 album Time Will Wait For No One. The vocal harmonies are stunning, [...]
BRIAN ENO ENO (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) UNIVERSAL MUSIC/UMC Eno (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), as the title suggests, is the official soundtrack to the 2024 Gary Hustwit documentary Eno. Brian Eno has been making music since [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS REIMAGINING THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING CLEOPATRA RECORDS Tribute albums are always a tricky thing. When artists cover a much-loved album, there are some very high expectations for the covers. Recording a tribute album with [...]
BONNIE TYLER IN BERLIN earMUSIC Bonnie Tyler made her recording debut in 1977 with the album The World Starts Tonight. But it was her second album, 1978’s Natural Force, which was released as It’s A Heartache in North America, that made her a [...]
UB40 UB45 SRG RECORDS/UNIVERSAL UB40 formed in 1978, with the Campbell Brothers, Ali and Robin, being two of the founding members. To say their history is nothing short of fascinating does not do their story justice. The By 1980 the band was [...]
SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN MYSTIC HITS ROYAL OAKIE Sugar Candy Mountain’s Mystic Hits is an album that has been out of print for a while now (a decade or so), and in the meantime has earned that mystic tag from its title. Starting out as duo of [...]
ASHA JEFFERIES EGO RIDE NETTWERK If you are of the opinion that well-crafted, sophisticated pop is not worth your time, you just might as well move on and pass on Asha Jefferies’ new album Ego Ride. On the other hand, even if you do have [...]
ISKWĒ NĪNA INDEPENDENT iskwē’s highly anticipated new album, nīna, stands as a pinnacle of empowerment and artistry in her discography. Delving into intimate themes, iskwē invites listeners into her world through the mesmerizing inflection [...]
TORN BOYS 1983 INDEPENDENT PROJECT RECORDS This is a very interesting album that has shades of the “what could have been” vibe, as it is not an album per se, but a collection of songs by a band that seemed to have a brief blast in the music [...]
EMERSON, LAKE & POWELL COMPLETE COLLECTION SPIRIT OF UNICORN MUSIC/CHERRY RED RECORDS Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) formed in 1970 when Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (bass, guitar) and Carl Palmer (drums) came together to form a [...]
BLUE ÖYSTER CULT GHOST STORIES FRONTIERS MUSIC One has to love and respect Blue Öyster Cult. When they decided to assemble and release an album of tracks recorded for but left off their albums from 1978 to 1983 (with one exception of “If I Fell” [...]
JADE BIRD BURN THE HARD DRIVE GLASSNOTE RECORDS Expressing your personal life, feelings, and observations would be quite a double-edged sword for singer-songwriters. To make it work, the artists who take that route have to make a solid [...]
KHRUANGBIN A LA SALA DEAD OCEANS/NIGHT TIME STORIES, LTD. Khruangbin has returned with A La Sala, their fourth studio album and first since 2020’s Mordechai. Over the course of 12 songs, the nearly instrumental trio continues to develop their [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS UNDER THE BRIDGE 2 SKEP WAX RECORDS Sarah Records is one of those stories in pop that long-lasting fandom is made of. The artists recording for the label at the time it was active were dubbed twee, and the whole scene surrounding [...]
FLUNG ALL HEARTBEAT GET BETTER RECORDS With All Heartbeat, her third album, Kashika Kollaikal, aka Flung has just confirmed that she is currently one of the more inventive artists using electronic music elements in their music. She already [...]
PHILLIP LAMMONDS COWBOY THINGS CURB RECORDS The name of Phillip Lammonds might not be so familiar, even for some avid fans of Americana/country music, even though Lammonds has been on the scene for decades now. The reason for that might simply [...]
STILL CORNERS DREAM TALK WRECKING LIGHT RECORDS A dusty old cowboy in a dusty old saloon finishes the dregs of his now warm beer and rises up off of the bar stool. He steps out into the day, hot as hell, the intense sun casting a glare of white [...]
KABIR DALAWARI LAST CALL SHIFTING PARADIGM RECORDS Having made an impressive debut with 2022’s Awareness, Kabir Dalawari has returned with his second album. Featuring the performances of Dalawari on drums, Kyle Brooks on alto sax, Chris Maden on [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS MOVING AWAY FROM THE PULSEBEAT: POST-PUNK BRITAIN 1977-1981 CHERRY RED RECORDS When ‘punk rock’ exploded on the scene in 1976, the bands (and fans) had to know that there would be a ‘best before’ date on that music. It either [...]
CREATION REBEL HIGH ABOVE HARLESDEN 1978-2023 ON-U SOUND After being quiet for a while, dub innovators Creation Rebel returned last year with a new set of dub delicacies, again under the helm of Adrian Sherwood and his On-U-Sound titled Hostile [...]
