LÉNA BARTELS THE BRIGHTEST SILVER FISH GLAMOUR GOWNS Does being a solo artist these days mean that you have to stick to the quieter, gentler realms of music? Not if you are Portland transplanted to NYC artist Léna Bartels, as her second album [...]
CARSON McHONE PENTIMENTO MERGE RECORDS Some intriguing music brewing over in Ontario when it comes to the very broad category of singer-songwriters these days. Carson McHone’s latest album Pentimento is here to show us why. The reason is [...]
SILVERSTEIN PINK MOON UNFD Silverstein has been one of those bands that, when you feel time has dulled their edge, comes roaring back to silence the doubters and prove their creative fire still burns as bright as it did two decades ago. When [...]
CHAMELEONS ARCTIC MOON METROPOLIS RECORDS A new album by Chameleons is big news. It has been 24 years since their last studio album, 2001’s Why Call It Anything, and although they have toured a great deal in the past quarter century, their [...]
ARJEN ANTHONY LUCASSEN SONGS NO ONE WILL HEAR INSIDE OUT MUSIC I love concept albums, especially when the music, story and lyrics all come together and tell a complete story. This is the case with Arjan Anthony Lucassen’s album Songs No One Will [...]
EMMA SWIFT THE RESSURECTION GAME TINY GHOST RECORDS In 2020, Emma Swift released her album. She had released her self-titled debut mini album in her native Australia in 2014 (she has since relocated to Nashville), but Blonde On The Tracks was [...]
DIE SPITZ SOMETHING TO CONSUME THIRD MAN RECORDS Following a pair of EPs – 2022’s The Revenge Of Evangeline and 2023’s Teeth, Die Spitz have returned with their debut, full-length album, Something to Consume. Hailing from Austin, TX, the [...]
IVY TRACES OF YOU BAR/NONE RECORDS After Adam Schlesinger passed away in 2020, Andy Chase and Dominique Durand assumed that Ivy was in the rearview mirror. However, after working on recent reissues of their back catalogue, Chase and Durand [...]
ANNE MURRAY HERE YOU ARE UNIVERSAL MUSIC I grew up in the 1970s, and to be honest I have always had a big soft spot for Anne Murray. I could never admit it at the time, but I always loved her voice and choice of songs. She was huge in the 1970s [...]
GRANDSON INERTIA XX RECORDS It’s been two years since the last release from Los Angeles-based singer, rocker, and rapper grandson (aka Jordan Benjamin). On his third album, INERTIA, he has plenty to say, delivering 10 politically charged tracks [...]
ALEXEI SHISHKIN GOOD TIMES RUE DEFENSE Artists dabbling with all the variants of lo-fi/bedroom pop and all closely connected musical forms, seem to be having a sort of a hard time these days for no apparent reason, as quite a few of them are [...]
GWENIFER RAYMOND LAST NIGHT I HEARD THE DOG STAR BARK WE ARE BUSY BODIES Making an instrumental album is a tough prospect to start with, when it is a solo instrument affair even harder, and you can triple that if that instrument is an acoustic [...]
SAINT ETIENNE INTERNATIONAL HEAVENLY RECORDINGS After 35 years of reshaping British pop with wit, warmth, and club-ready elegance, Saint Etienne, the trio of Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs, and Sarah Cracknell, return with International, their 13th and [...]
YUSUF/CAT STEVENS ON THE ROAD TO FINDOUT: GREATEST HITS CAT-A-LOG RECORDS/A&M/UNIVERSAL Steven Demetre Georgiou, better known as Cat Stevens and now known as Yusuf Islam, released his first single in 1966 (“I Love My Dog”) and from that [...]
DAVID BYRNE WHO IS THE SKY? MATADOR RECORDS David Byrne is best known as the frontman of the legendary band Talking Heads, who helped shape the landscape of music in the ‘80s. He is also a prolific solo artist and, with his unique artistic [...]
RHYS FULBER MEMORY IMPULSE AUTONOMY ARTOFFACT RECORDS Memory Impulse Autonomy is Rhys Fulber’s eighth solo album since his solo self-titled debut album in 2018. He is, among other things, a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium (both [...]
TCHOTCHKE PLAYIN’ DUMB INDEPENDENT Tchotchke is based in New York City and consists of Anastasia Sanchez (drums, vocals), Eva Chambers (bass, piano, keyboards vocals) and Emily Tooraen (guitar, vocals). If anyone wanted to know what The [...]
SHAME CUTTHROAT DEAD OCEANS From the very first seconds of the album, the listener knows that Cutthroat, the punchy fifth studio release from UK post-punk band shame, won’t be the album you put on at Sunday brunch. In order to grasp the full [...]
WHITEHALL NATIONAL FINALS RODEO ENCI RECORDS Big record companies seem to be always giving up on something, and these days it might be that melodic, guitar-driven pop/rock. People over at ENCI Records don’t seem to think that is a good [...]
SUEDE ANTIDEPRESSANTS BMG Britpop legends Suede are back again with their newest record, Antidepressants. It is their first album since 2022’s Autofiction. Fans of the band will be delighted with Antidepressants. Antidepressants sees Suede [...]
GEORGIA MAQ GOD’S FAVOURITE TERRORBIRD MEDIA Georgia Maq’s latest EP, God’s Favourite, presents a blend of Americana folk elements with honest and thoughtful lyrics. This EP consists of five tracks, spanning 17 minutes, and [...]
X AMBASSADORS VHS(X) VIRGIN MUSIC GROUP X Ambassadors have always had a gift for creating music that’s both anthemic and deeply personal, and their latest release celebrating 10 years together is a shining reminder of that talent. Instead of a [...]
THE HIVES THE HIVES FOREVER FOREVER THE HIVES [PIAS] For three decades, The Hives have delivered high-octane garage rock anthems with a loud, hard-hitting sound, tenaciously-punky energy, and an electrifying cool swagger. Their newest album, The [...]
THE STORY SO FAR I WANT TO DISAPPEAR IN THE USA OAK GROVE RECORDS There is something magical that happens when a band comes back from a lengthy hiatus. For modern pop punk legends The Story So Far, that tale of success transpired with their [...]
