Album Reviews

On the first two Fantastic Cat records, the quartet of singer-songwriters (Anthony D’Amato, Brian Dunne, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali) brought their own styles successfully into a band setting. However, on their third album, the cheekily titled Cat Out of Hell, Fantastic Cat feels like a long-running, well-oiled, veteran outfit. Things are more fluid as individual […]

In 2016 and 2025, Washington alt-rock innovators The Melvins toured as co-headliners with UK grindcore veterans Napalm Death under the banner Savage Imperial Death March. The tours showcased contrasting heavy styles. The Melvins, pioneers of the grunge and sludge metal movements, bring intricate riffing at various tempos and odd time signatures, while Napalm Death, pioneers […]

With the release of Great As Ever: Live In Philadelphia ’86, a theme is beginning to emerge in the chronological issues of this archival series. Notwithstanding how this package lives up to its title–it’s actually a reference to the loyalty of the audience from the leader of the band–Gregg Allman’s self-assurance and pride in his […]

Staying positive is an incredibly difficult skill to maintain. With all the negativity and palpable tension thickening the air, stirring up a fog so dense we sometimes forget to look at our fellow humans and share a smile, being the one to break the mold and share a technology-free moment with someone, or anything, is […]

Closing in on four decades of blending folk, Americana, and Southern rock, Drivin N Cryin can still effortlessly churn out a remarkable record. On their 11th album, Crushing Flowers, the band still splits the difference between Bob Dylan’s introspection and the Ramones’ punch. “Mirror Mirror,” written after singer Kevn Kinney’s visits with his mother during […]

Escapism is a fickle beast to control. When used properly, it can serve as a meditative retreat in your day-to-day life when a minute is all you need, but when it overtakes you, you become distracted and detached from your sense of reality. For Rachel Lime, the singer/songwriter/producer, time seems to be suspended in her […]

Joe Pernice has been playing an uncompromising brand of indie music for more than three decades now. He dug into alternative country with the Boston-based Scud Mountain Boys before switching to a more indie rock/pop sound with the Pernice Brothers. But it’s his latest—and first—solo studio effort, where he strips it all down for a […]

Charley Crockett has always been a prolific artist, stretching the limits of his imaginative approach to country, which toes the line between tradition and the lofty. Recently, though, the long-standing troubadour has been releasing distinct, genre-altering releases, starting with 2025’s Lonesome Drifter and Dollar A Day, which arrived a few short months later. These two […]

The long-running, Seattle, Washington-based drone metal act Sunn O)))))) returns with their first new music in seven years, as their tenth album is a self-titled offering and their first for new label Sub Pop.  The duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson has been performing for over thirty years, pushing avant-garde metal and noise rock […]

There has always been a warm, welcoming familiarity to Thundercat’s voice. The innovative contemporary multidisciplinary artist expresses a charming humanity through his dream-like falsetto, and more of the world takes notice as time goes by. The artist’s jovial approach to the harshness of reality and expert jazz fusion work has led him to A-list collaborations, […]

Bruce Hornsby didn’t want to record this album. After a five-year run of musically intrepid and critically acclaimed studio LPs – Absolute Zero, Non-Secure Connection, ‘Flicted, Deep Sea Vents – as well as entire albums’ worth of still-unreleased material, the virtuoso pianist suddenly found himself “creatively fried.” Despite his best, well-intentioned efforts to step away from songwriting […]

Maria Taylor started working on Story’s End—her latest LP—six years ago, beginning with a handful of quiet, stripped-down demos in her home studio. There was no real rush to follow up her 2019 self-titled effort, but fractures in both her marriage and a close friendship found her leaning back into these songs once again. The […]

Following so closely on the heels of the January 2026 concert piece One Moment in Time – Live In The USA, the re-release of Robin Trower’s 1975 Live! might seem a bit suspect. Instead, it serves as a template for such expansive archival projects (not just for this artist’s discography). Issued in an elaborate two-CD […]

Third Man Records is re-issuing Connie Converse’s only known collection of songs on vinyl, cassette and CD so that a new generation can learn her story and sounds. How Sad, How Lovely is an atmospheric collection of folk songs that contain a lingering sense of what could have been.   Her backstory is fascinating as she […]

Just a couple of measures into the opening song of José González’s new album Against the Dying of the Light, you get the feeling that even if you had heard the percussive downbeat and the fragmentary guitar flourishes unannounced, you would know them for what they are. The years-long gaps between albums can’t dim the […]

The newest release on Alligator Records from the Tampa-based artist Selwyn Birchwood is a confident blast of modern blues. Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues is rich with ripping riffs, emotionally honest lyricism and strong vocals as Birchwood has delivered a studio record on par with his top-notch live shows, GRAMMY voters take note.  One key to […]

Call it luck for being in the right place at the right time, or the result of a hard-fought journey, but how the electronic duo, Fcukers, ended up as one of the most anticipated young bands in a burgeoning New York City scene is nothing short of cinematic. Since the duo of Shanny Wise and […]

Seattle four-piece the Young Fresh Fellows have long blended garage rock, power pop, and indie rock, building a career out of weird references, inside jokes, and offbeat characters. Four decades on, they’re still committed to that same trademark sound. Loft, the band’s first record in nearly six years, picks up right where 2020’s Toxic Youth […]

Robben Ford’s 2021 solo album, Pure, is arguably the pinnacle of his storied career, a lucid, wholly instrumental distillation of the technique he’s used so effectively in his work with the Yellowjackets, Miles Davis, and the band he led backing Chicago blues icon, Charlie Musselwhite. The versatile guitar hero impresses mightily on Two Shades of Blue […]

Few artists left a mark on Latin music like pianist Eddie Palmieri. Born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, he came up playing in Tito Rodríguez’s orchestra before forming Conjunto La Perfecta, a group that helped redefine salsa with a heavier, trombone-driven sound. By the late ’60s, Palmieri was moving in a more […]