new release Archive
27 Feb 2021
Album Review: D-Town Brass — Demiurge
Much of what passes for avant garde music tends toward a kind of seriousness, a dour approach that screams, “this is art!” and all but insists that the listeners revel […]
21 Feb 2021
Album Review: Robert Jürjendal – Water Finds a Way
Keeping up with such matters as I do, I’ve learned that there are quite a few different ways of coping with the realities of 2020 and beyond. That’s especially true […]
20 Feb 2021
Album Review: The David Angel Jazz Ensemble – Out on the Coast
Unless one was an aficionado of the style during its heyday in the 1940s, there was little reason to predict that the form would endure far into the future. It’s […]
17 Feb 2021
Hundred-word Reviews: February 2021, Part 2
These five fall loosely – okay, sometimes very loosely – into the progressive and jazz categories. The Mastelottos – Too Much Happiness Though Robert Fripp’s recent video series with pulchritudinous […]
16 Feb 2021
Hundred-word Reviews: February 2021, Part 1
The majority among these five lean in a powerpop direction. Rob Fetters – Ship Shake If Fetters’ name strikes you as familiar, that may be because you fondly remember The […]
14 Feb 2021
Album Review: John Magnuson – Barely Noticeable
It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I take notice: every now and then, one or another friend sends me an album with a Post-it affixed, sporting a message […]
13 Feb 2021
Album Review: The Justin Rothberg Group – Hurricane Mouse
Too often, when an artist makes music that starts with a jazz foundation and leans in an “accessible” direction, the result is smooth jazz. Ugh. It’s the rare artist who […]
12 Feb 2021
Not Your Father’s Terry Gross: Post-rock Trio Gears Up for a ‘Soft Opening’
Some of the most innovative and creative recording artists — Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Brian Wilson chief among them — have used the recording studio as an instrument. But […]
10 Feb 2021
Creativity During COVID
Note: This story started as an assignment for Mountain Xpress about one artist — Chris Tullar — and grew into a larger story looking at a wider range of creatives […]
09 Feb 2021
Album Review: Ron Thompson – From the Patio
For more than a decade, guitarist Ron Thompson was a regular fixture at San Jose, California’s famed Poor House Bistro. As this album’s brief liner note essay by the club’s […]