You’d be hard pressed to find a recent musical genre that’s been dissected more in the past two decades than Grunge. Countless books, articles, documentaries, and radio and TV interviews dig into the Seattle-based phenomenon and just about every single discussion on the topic eventually comes around to the ground-breaking indie label Sub Pop. So, it’s surprising there was any new material left to report about the label, let alone…
The Germs may have only released one proper studio album before frontman Darby Crash died, but you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of more influential hardcore/punk rock bands to come out of that era. Everyone from the Minutemen and L7 to Soul Asylum and Pennywise owe a debt of gratitude to that Southern California band of nonconformists. So, it’s frustrating just how few songs the band managed…
Paul Kelly is a national treasure in his native Australia, but like Colin Hay or Graham Parker, he’s perpetually on a list of woefully under-appreciated musicians here in the States.
The sophomore record from the Texas-based Power Pop band Fastball is likely remembered by most for the lead track and ultimate earworm “The Way.” The ridiculously catchy song about an old couple who goes out for a drive and gets lost forever, was endearing for the first few weeks of it’s release… but seven weeks in, the amount of time it spent on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart, it had more…
It’s been more than four decades since country/honky tony legend Lefty Frizzell passed away but his music inspired a slew of musicians that are still around today, a diverse group that includes everyone from Willie Nelson to John Fogerty. His music was also a key ingredient that helped launch the careers of The Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison (who was so inspired by the singer that he took the name…
Much like Tom Waits or Nick Cave, Ed Hamell (better known as Hamell On Trial) is one of those extremely rare musicians that have somehow managed to go decades ignoring conventional wisdom and norms of the restrictive music industry, and focus purely, instinctually on churning out remarkably creative records in pursuit of entertaining vs. simply selling a shitload of records. And have confusingly been able to make a living at…
Long before Dan Wilson became the go-to songwriter for an incredibly diverse range of musicians from Adele and Taylor Swift to Weezer and Nas, he was known as that guy who sang that earworm “Closing Time.”
Becky Warren’s semi-autobiographical debut drew a lot of attention for the intriguing story of the relationship between an Iraqi War vet and his girlfriend. But, not to take away from the beauty and brutality of War Surplus, on her follow up, Warren uses a much larger canvas and turns in a wonderful, genre-stretching album for her effort.
It’s been seven years since R.E.M. officially walked away, but thankfully folks are still digging into their vaults to pull out some remarkable, unreleased music. The MTV Unplugged series last year was a nice surprise, but this latest from the BBBC is an even more impressive find.
While The Clash, The Damned and the Sex Pistols all justifiably get their due in just about any discussion around the origins of punk rock, Cock Sparrer is almost always inexplicably left off the list by many in this country. Which is odd considering the London band had several years head start on all of the aforementioned peers, dating all the way back to 1972. And as influential as the…
Jason Isbell surprised many when he walked away from cult favs Drive By Truckers 10 years ago. What were the chances of an Americana artist that bristled against modern country music making it beyond a record or two. Turns out, the chances were a hell of a lot better than most thought. It helps that Isbell also happens to be one of the best songwriters to come around in a…
The idea of revisiting someone else’s album is fraught with plenty of downsides. The idea of covering an iconic Ray Charles record is down right ballsy.
Five albums into it, Boston’s Sarah Borges has perfected that mix of alt country with punk influences; like Willie Nelson in a worn-out Sex Pistols shirt.
Just two years after his last release for Yep Roc, legendary songwriter and swamp rock/country funk pioneer Tony Joe White is back again and he’s doubling down on the Blues with this offering.
Like a better-behaved version of The Kinks, without the complicated family bond and on-stage fisticuffs, Brother Reverend deliver a remarkably addictive debut with “The Tables Turn Too Often.”
Just over a year after Indiana’s Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band turned in their last record the trio is back with another full album of sublime, stripped-down American Blues.
For more than two decades, Canada’s long-running punk band Knucklehead put out a slew of ferocious, tight punk rock anthems. So, it’s no surprise that Territories, the new outfit comprised of alumni from Knucklehead, would be just as impressive.
It’s been less than six months since the wildly prolific/national treasure Willie Nelson last put out a record, so of course he’d have another one out before 2018 ended. But unlike “Last Man Standing,” an album of new originals, “My Way” finds Nelson sidelined by another covers album, this one dedicated solely to the music of Frank Sinatra (much like 2016’s Gershwin album, 2011’s Ray Charles album, 2006’s Cindy Walker…
It probably wouldn’t have been surprising if “TPC,” Tokyo Police Club’s fourth and latest record was never made. Members of the band, originally based in Canada, have scattered to different parts of the continent since their last release with singer/bassist Dave Monks settled in New York, drummer Greg Alsop now calling LA home and guitarist Josh Hook and keyboardist Graham Wright staying put north of the border. Adding to the…
Lenny Kravitz’s 1989 debut, Let Love Rule was an impressive win for rock. Aside from, Guns ‘n Roses and a few others, radio and music charts were dominated for most of the year by mediocre R&B singers, stale soft rock holdovers like Phil Collins and Billy Joel and legitimately fake music acts like Milli Vanilli. So, when Kravitz, with his rock swagger meets hippie vibe came out with the soaring…