rawk Archive
05 Feb 2023
Album Review: Richard Öhrn – Sounds in English
Some of the best and most inventive pop has come out of Sweden. Tages, for example, were never well-known in the US, but they made some sterling music. Much more […]
04 Feb 2023
Album Review: Librarians with Hickeys – Handclaps & Tambourines
Their name might be on the unfortunate side, but Librarians with Hickeys know how to craft a winning tune. The trio engages in some straightforward truth-in-labeling on their latest release, […]
03 Feb 2023
Album Review: The Shoe Birds – Southern Fables
It’s unusual – and unexpected – to receive a CD with an accompanying press sheet describing that album as the artist’s final release. But that’s the case with Southern Fables, […]
01 Feb 2023
30 Days Out, February 2023 #1: Mike Dillon, G. Love, Ron Sexsmith, Dandy Warhols
Critical success doesn’t pay the bills; commercial success can.Each of the artists featured below – all of whom are visiting Asheville in the next 30 days – has earned the […]
31 Jan 2023
Album Review: Richard X Heyman – 67,000 Miles an Album
There are few artists as capable of such consistently wonderful songwriting mastery as Richard X. Heyman. A master of jangle, the NYC-based multi-instrumentalist has a seemingly inexhaustible well of creativity, […]
29 Jan 2023
Album Review: Bird Streets – Lagoon
John Brodeur is Bird Streets. Last time around – on 2018’s self-titled debut – he collaborated with Jason Falkner; the result was excellent. This time there’s no Falkner, and the […]
28 Jan 2023
Album Review: Crossword Smiles — Pressed & Ironed
Breezy, tuneful and possessing enough grit to set the music apart from standard-issue power poppers, Crossword Smiles craft solid, memorable tunes. The arrangements are uncluttered on these guitar-based riff rockers. […]
19 Jan 2023
Album Review: Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Celebration
When Mike Oldfield debuted with his album-length 1972 work Tubular Bells, it was a momentous occasion. The piece – essentially instrumental save for a bit of emceeing by The Bonzo […]
17 Jan 2023
Album Review: GA-20 — Crackdown
The guitar-and-drums duo format is one with a long and rich history in the blues idiom. That stripped-down setup has also found success in rock acts, from Flat Duo Jets […]
16 Jan 2023
Joel Selvin and ‘Sly & the Family Stone: An Oral History’
In 1998, Joel Selvin was well into his third decade as pop music critic/journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle; he had also authored several books. But his 1998 book, Sly […]