new release Archive
03 Oct 2016
KT Tunstall Knows the Score
Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall burst onto the international scene in 2004 when she scored a last-minute performance slot on the influential UK television program Later … with Jools Holland. Her […]
30 Sep 2016
Gringo Star: Giving Pop-rock a Good Name
Coming out of the diverse Atlanta music scene, Gringo Star makes hooky pop-rock that – while informed by sounds of the 1960s – doesn’t rely on aping vintage sounds. Their […]
29 Sep 2016
David LaMotte: Bringing it All Back Together
Prior to 2006, David LaMotte was an extremely busy musician. “In those first 18 years, I kicked out 10 records,” he says. But in the decade that followed, he would […]
27 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: Starling Electric — Electric Company
File next to: Pete Yorn, Bob Pollard, Bob Mould In 2008, Michigan’s Starling Electric released Clouded Staircase, one of the best albums of that decade, and one that almost nobody […]
23 Sep 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for September 2016, Part 5
My week-long barrage of brief reviews wraps up with these last five. Look for more soon. Professor Longhair – Live in Chicago In 1976, New Orleans legend Professor Longhair played […]
22 Sep 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for September 2016, Part 4
Five more quick ones. All these albums bear further investigation. Wild Man Fischer – An Evening with Wild Man Fischer Conventional wisdom holds that while Gail Zappa was alive, she […]
21 Sep 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for September 2016, Part 3
Cutting a swath through the pile of CDs in my inbox, here I present five more quick reviews. Maynard Ferguson – Complete High Voltage The 1980s aren’t generally thought of […]
20 Sep 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for September 2016, Part 2
Five more quick reviews, presented in random order. The Bangles – Ladies and Gentlemen … the Bangles! This Los Angeles group never got the serious recognition they deserved. Chalk it […]
19 Sep 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for September 2016, Part 1
This week, I’m publishing 25 album reviews, each a tidy 100 words. In no particular order. Asia – Phoenix For most listeners, Asia was a one-and-done proposition; their self-titled 1982 […]
16 Sep 2016
PRIX: The Band that Never Was
In March 1974, Jon Tiven had just turned 19 and was living in New York City. In the next two and half years, he’d find himself deeply enmeshed in a […]