review Archive
05 Apr 2020
Album Review: Trees Speak — Ohms
Using the term krautrock is – at least among those who are familiar with the term – a handy shortcut to explaining that the subject matter is minimalist, droning, sometimes […]
04 Apr 2020
Album Review: Roomful of Blues — In a Roomful of Blues
There are a handful of retro (or, if you prefer, classic-minded) acts that transcend nostalgia, doing something special. They trade in forms that had some great popularity in the past, […]
03 Apr 2020
Album Review: Pop Co-op — Factory Settings
It was more than a decade ago when the Spongetones released what would turn out to be their final album, Scrambled Eggs. The group went out (recording-wise) on a high […]
31 Mar 2020
One (More) Time: King Crimson’s ‘THRAK’ at 25
As guitarist and founder Robert Fripp likes to say, King Crimson is less a band and more “a way of doing things.” Throughout its long and storied history, that has […]
30 Mar 2020
Album Review: Anna Lynch — Apples in the Fall
Singer-songwriter Anna Lynch is originally from Sebastopol, California; she led bands in Alaska before settling in Western North Carolina. Her self-titled debut album was released in 2013, and now Lynch […]
22 Mar 2020
Album Review: Michael Roach — Tryin’ Times
The album opens with a loping, country-blues feel, with just a single guitar. But like a curtain slowly being drawn back to reveal the musicians onstage, the arrangement builds, adding […]
21 Mar 2020
Album Review: Big Dave McLean — Pocket Full of Nothin’
All of the ingredients required for a successful contemporary blues album are present on Pocket Full of Nothin’, the seventh album from Canadian-born singer-guitarist Big Dave McLean. There are plenty […]
20 Mar 2020
Album Review: Early Day Miners — Placer Found
When I think of shoegaze, I tend to conjure up thoughts of gauzy, heavily layered music with a somnabulant, faraway vibe. But of course the subgenre has more variety than […]
19 Mar 2020
Album Review: The Bye Bye Blackbirds — Boxer at Rest
It’s been nearly three years since the release of The Bye Bye Blackbirds’ previous album, Take Out the Poison (see below for a link to my review of that record). […]
18 Mar 2020
Album Review: Smoke Fairies — Darkness Brings the Wonders Home
The influence of American blues forms upon the music of Led Zeppelin is widely acknowledged; though they took it in a heavier direction that sometimes tended to exaggerate its more, […]