new release Archive
24 May 2021
Steep Canyon Rangers: Arm in Arm with Their Fans
This feature appeared previously in Bold Life Magazine. Steep Canyon Rangers have been on a roll of late. Over the last decade, the North Carolina group has released an album […]
22 May 2021
Album Review: Last Days of April – Even the Good Days Are Bad
If one were to combine hooky songwriting, a lush pop landscape and a bit of shoegaze, the result might approach Last Days of April’s Even the Good Days Are Bad. […]
21 May 2021
Album Review: The Armoires — Incognito
There’s a proud and creatively fertile tradition in rock’n’roll: playing dress-up, assuming an alter ego. The Beatles may have done it first with Sgt. Pepper, and six months later The […]
20 May 2021
Retired Fire Eater Seeks Doom/stoner Metal Band: Slow Machine, the Craigslist Quintet
An edited version of this feature appeared previously in SF Weekly. How does a new band – combining a Portuguese-speaking former fire eater and an instrumental quartet that plays stoner […]
19 May 2021
Album Review: District 97 — Screenplay
Like, I suspect, more than a few potential listeners, I looked askance at District 97 when I first heard of them more than a decade ago. What possible skill could […]
18 May 2021
Album Review: Chris Church – Game Dirt
Chris Church is that rare musical auteur who succeeds at most everything to which he applies his talents. And his body of work resolutely resists pigeonholing; he’s done everything from […]
17 May 2021
Album Review: Your Academy
At the risk of over-indulging in generalities and attempting to make things neater than they really are, when one thinks of American powerpop, the style can – to some extent […]
16 May 2021
Album Review: Scott Helland — Guitarmy of One
I’m very much a fan of spy/detective/crime/noir-style music. I was over the moon when I discovered someone – Derrick Bang – had written a book about it. I was every […]
14 May 2021
Book Review: Rudi Protrudi — As Times Gone
I’m on record as being an ardent Fuzztones fan. And while the band has created plenty of music to satisfy fans’ cravings for garagefuzzpunk, those similarly inclined are apt to […]
11 May 2021
Album Review: The Milk and Honey Band – Songs From Truleigh Hill
The Milk & Honey Band first came to my attention well more than a decade ago when Andy Partridge (formerly of XTC) released their album Dog Eared Moonlight on his […]