review Archive
25 Apr 2020
Album Review: Shplang — Los Grandes Excritos
It’s always a bit of a head-scratcher when a band I’ve never heard of releases a best-of set. But then I remember that – try as I might – for […]
24 Apr 2020
Album Review: Seiche — Demo Press
By the dawn of the 1980s, progressive rock was decidedly out of fashion. Neither mainstream radio – which never really embraced the genre, save for free-form FM stations – nor […]
19 Apr 2020
Album Review: The Black Watch — Brilliant Failures
John Andrew Fredrick is one prolific artist. It seems that every few months a new album from his group, The Black Watch, appears on my desk. And he stands apart […]
18 Apr 2020
Album Review: Paul Shaw Quintet – Moment of Clarity
There’s an old joke that has long made the rounds in rock circles: What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? “A drummer.” Good-natured ribbing aside, few make […]
17 Apr 2020
Album Review: Death Nebula — Ghost of Cassiopeia
If one were to make some sweeping generalizations about doom metal, first among those might be that the artists making it build a sound around a core of guitar/bass/drums, and […]
16 Apr 2020
Album Review: Dave Kerzner — Breakdown
I’ve come across Kerzner’s music before; he made a quite-good Yes tribute with frequent collaborator Fernando Perdomo, and I reviewed his concept album Static just over two years ago. This […]
14 Apr 2020
Prepare Yourself: Porcupine Tree’s ‘The Sky Moves Sideways’ at 25 (Part 2)
Continued from Part One … The nature of the music on The Sky Moves Sideways gives bassist Colin Edwin comparatively little to do as well: while he’s an instrumentalist of […]
13 Apr 2020
Prepare Yourself: Porcupine Tree’s ‘The Sky Moves Sideways’ at 25 (Part 1)
Today, Steven Wilson is widely known –and acclaimed – as one of the busiest and most creative figures in music. Though he came to wider notice as a kind of […]
12 Apr 2020
Album Review: Stutter Steps — Reeling
Remember college rock of the ‘80s? When hair bands like Bon Jovi were crowding out more interesting music on commercial FM radio, college-based radio stations like WRAS (at my alma […]
11 Apr 2020
Album Review: Albert Cummings — Believe
Albert Cummings began his recording career in 2000 with The Long Way; his latest, 2020’s Believe is the eighth release from the blues guitarist/singer. The album mixes originals with classics; […]