review Archive
17 Sep 2020
Album Review: Venus Furs — s/t
If you’re going to launch a musical project that evokes memories of a Velvet Underground song (“Venus in Furs” from 1967’s The Velvet Underground & Nico) you had better deliver […]
16 Sep 2020
Album Review: Maceo Parker — Soul Food: Cooking with Maceo
Maceo Parker is a towering figure in the soul/jazz/funk universe. He would be important if only for his work with James Brown, documented on many live and studio releases from […]
13 Sep 2020
Album Review: Staring Into Nothing – Love
The album opens with an understated track (“Winter”) that’s not especially indicative of where things will go musically. It’s part of a four-song suite, and “Spring” is (perhaps as expected) […]
12 Sep 2020
Album Review: Bonnie Whitmore – Last Will & Testament
Bonnie Whitmore earned her stripes as a bassist for a number of acclaimed Americana artists including Hayes Carll and Eliza Gilkyson. But if you know me and my writing to […]
11 Sep 2020
Album Review: Louis Armstrong – Live in France
One of the most important and influential figures in the music of the 20th century, Louis Armstrong had a recording career that spanned from the early 1920s through 1970, the […]
10 Sep 2020
Album Review: The Brothers Steve – #1
Following a proud rock ‘n’ roll tradition of misleading band names, The Brothers Steve aren’t brothers, and none is named Steve. The L.A.-based band plays its own brand of powerpop, […]
09 Sep 2020
Album Review: Wipers – Is This Real?
Often held up as the first punk band of consequence from the Pacific Northwest, Wipers (no article; just Wipers) played against type and – unlike so many others of the […]
08 Sep 2020
Album Review: Tyler Keith – The Last Drag
Do you like rock ‘n’ roll? I mean the sweaty, greasy, sloppy, noisy stuff, the kind of music that gets your heart pumping and makes you want to get involved […]
07 Sep 2020
Album Review: Wolfgang Lackerschmid and Chet Baker – Ballads for Two
In an odd way, it’s entirely fitting that nowhere on the sleeve or label does Ballads for Two indicate when the album was recorded or originally released. It’s fitting because […]
31 Aug 2020
Album Review: The Hollywood Stars – Live on the Sunset Strip
In the mid 1970s, The Hollywood Stars were charting a musical path not wholly unlike Sweet: super-catchy bubblegum-meets-glam rock. But they didn’t earn success commensurate with the quality of their […]