pop Archive
04 Mar 2026
Hundred-word Reviews for March 2026: Archival
This roundup of new(ish) archival releases features five albums, all available on good ol’ back-to-vinyl. Jeffrey Runnings – Piqued Though the label is bandied about with reckless abandon, Lo-fi is […]
20 Feb 2026
Book Review: Derek Shulman – Giant Steps
I’ve known for a very long time that Derek Shulman is a remarkable musical force. His work co-leading Gentle Giant represents an exemplar of what we like to call progressive […]
03 Feb 2026
Book Review: Carole King: She Made the Earth Move
Carole King is a towering figure in popular music. Even had she never embarked on a solo recording career, her work as a songwriter in the early 1960s would have […]
28 Jan 2026
Album Review: Eternity’s Children – Timeless
For their second album, Mississippi’s Eternity’s Children upped the ante. While the first album’s production team of Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen was gone, in their place came Gary Paxton […]
27 Jan 2026
Album Review: Eternity’s Children — s/t
One of the idiosyncratic qualities of pop music – or at least of the critical examination thereof – is the post-dated creation of subgenres. I’m thinking here of freakbeat, garage-punk […]
15 Jan 2026
30 Days Out, January 2026 #2: Mike Mattison, The Ocean Blue, Pete Yorn, Say She She
Nationally-touring artists are the focus of this edition of 30DO. Off we go! Artist: Mike Mattison Venue: Asheville Music Hall Date: Saturday, Jan. 17, 9 p.m. Door: $18.65 Grammy winner […]
06 Jan 2026
Colbie Caillat: A Sustained Overnight Sensation (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from Part One… You mentioned MySpace. When MySpace launched, it was touted as the Next Big Thing for artists. But for most of them, it wasn’t. Yet it worked […]
05 Jan 2026
Colbie Caillat: A Sustained Overnight Sensation (Part 1 of 2)
The term “overnight sensation” describes a phenomenon that rarely ever happens. But to some degree it applies to Colbie Caillat. She seemingly came out of nowhere, becoming a bona fide […]
15 Dec 2025
30 Days Out, December 2025 #2: Jon Stickley Trio, Amanda Anne Platt & the Honeycutters, A Swannanoa Solstice, The Cheeksters
It’s time for an all-local edition of 30 Days Out. I’ve been running this twice-monthly roundup of live music in Asheville for twelve years now: six for Mountain Xpress, six […]
12 Dec 2025
The Lingering Legacy of Dolores O’Riordan and the Cranberries (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from Part One… Finding the Magic Street concedes that effective production sometimes means making edits to bring the pieces together effectively. But when crafting No Need to Argue, The […]