review Archive
11 Jul 2020
Album Review: The Limits – Garage Nuggets ‘65-’68
It’s nice when an important figure in music says nice things about your music. Even if that person is something of a cult figure like Alex Chilton, it counts. And […]
10 Jul 2020
Album Review: Jimmy Sweeney — Without You
Another in the (happily and) seemingly endless stream of unearthed gems, Jimmy Sweeney’s Without You is a collection of songs by a singer who was all but unknown. His claim […]
09 Jul 2020
Album Review: Holy Hive — Float Back to You
Combine crystalline, upper register vocals with a musical aesthetic that’s part Philly Soul, parts indie rock and relentlessly melodic, and the result – if it’s lucky – might sound a […]
06 Jul 2020
Album Review: Holsapple & Stamey — Our Back Pages
As wonderful as the dBs were during their original run (featuring Peter Holsapple with and then without Chris Stamey), the more acoustic-flavored efforts by Holsapple and Stamey – 1991’s Mavericks […]
30 Jun 2020
Album Review: Juniper Shelley — Juniper
I should admit right up front that I look with skepticism upon an album featuring a 15-year-old girl. It’s simply that I don’t expect the music to be aimed at […]
29 Jun 2020
Boxed Set Review: Mojo Nixon — The Mojo Manifesto
Years ago while watching some or other “madcap” comedy film, I came to a realization: drama is comparatively easy, but comedy is difficult. It’s a fairly straightforward affair to tug […]
27 Jun 2020
Album Review: Sonar with David Torn — Tranceportation (Volume 2)
In my April 2018 review of Vortex, the first collaboration between Sonar and guitar master David Torn, I likened the music to ‘80s-period King Crimson at its most accessible, citing […]
23 Jun 2020
Album Review: Iron City Houserockers – Have a Good Time … But Get Out Alive!
There’s a gritty, heartland strain of rock ‘n’ roll that has persisted through the decades. Bruce Springsteen’s best material is an exemplar of the style; shorn of artifice and filigree, […]
22 Jun 2020
Album Review: Be-Bop Deluxe – Modern Music
Be-Bop Deluxe was one of those bands that didn’t fit neatly into a genre classification. Variously classified as progressive rock, glam rock and art rock, in truth none of those […]
21 Jun 2020
Album Review: The Harmed Brothers — Across the Waves
Though it’s billed as rock/Americana, The Harmed Brothers’ fifth album Across the Waves is better described as heartland rock. There’s twang in the music to be sure, but the earnest […]