rawk Archive
03 Aug 2016
James McMurtry: It’s Complicated
Many of the songs on James McMurtry‘s albums feel like vignettes from larger stories. The listener can feel that he or she is coming in on the middle of the […]
02 Aug 2016
The Yawpers: Chronicling the American Experience, One Character at a Time
“Hey, I’m sorry I missed your call,” says Nate Cook of the Yawpers. “I didn’t hear the phone; I was vacuuming.” He laughs when I suggest that activity is “not […]
01 Aug 2016
Album Review: The Long Distance Relationship
I sometimes joke (or as Senator Al Franken says, “kid on the square”) that I avoid reviewing music made by artists local to Asheville NC “because I gotta live in […]
29 Jul 2016
Album Mini-review: Steve Gunn — Eyes on the Lines
File next to: Kurt Vile & the Violators, Hiss Golden Messenger, Grateful Dead Though his stated influences variously suggest that his own music might be experimental, avant-garde or folk-leaning, Steve […]
28 Jul 2016
KISS’ Paul Stanley: “Vomiting out songs is not for me.”
I recently interviewed KISS’ frontman and guitarist Paul Stanley for a short print feature that appeared in the Colorado Springs Independent. The whole interview was interesting, so here’s the full […]
26 Jul 2016
Ron Gallo: Heart Over Head
The primitive side of rock ‘n’ roll informs Ron Gallo‘s music as showcased on RG3 – EP, a three-song preview of his upcoming album Heavy Meta, due out in August. […]
25 Jul 2016
The Sheepdogs Get Back to Where They Once Belonged
The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Sheepdogs started out as an indie band, briefly flirted with the majors, and then returned to their indie roots. But they’ve held onto the popularity they gained along […]
22 Jul 2016
David Bazan: Just Like the Record, Almost
“We wanted to make a record.” That may sound like the most obvious of statements for a recording artist to make, but David Bazan is trying to convey a deeper […]
21 Jul 2016
The English Beat: Life is Difficult, but Life is Good
The English Beat (known in the UK simply as The Beat, and in Australia as The British Beat) were at the forefront of the late 1970s and early ’80s musical […]
20 Jul 2016
Album Mini-review: Melvins — Basses Loaded
File next to: The Sword, Black Sabbath, Sunn O))) Loosely – and really only geographically – associated with the Pacific Northwest grunge scene, The Melvins long have stood apart from […]