This is the kind of music 80s college radio used to gobble up with a spoon, and well they should have.
Rykarda Parasol’s dark, rich voice, weathered as if by tragedy and time, leaves you weeping and grinning til the end as she drags you through the dusty back alleys of Gothic Americana.
The album is a flat-out gorgeous set of psych-tinged shoegazer pop tunes.
Jawbox’s distinctive combination of noisy, angular postpunk and tuneful, textured rock & roll reached a peak on this record.
Denver-based singer/songwriter OTIS TAYLOR has been expanding the boundaries of the blues for over a decade now.
TIN HUEY is the redheaded stepchild of Akron’s underground rock scene in the 70s.
A collaboration between old friends and a way to kill time between projects, 801 was a project set into motion by guitarist PHIL MANZANERA during ROXY MUSIC‘s mid-70s hiatus.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years since KING CRIMSON essentially invented progressive rock.
It may not be Forever Changes, but it’s still great rock & roll.
Fielding a set of tunes from the band’s studio albums, Wilson and Geffen test their chemistry on stage in front of an adoring audience.
A spectacularly intense yet intimate performance by a still-hungry young artist on the rise.
The band freely mixes pop, prog, folk, psychedelia and jazz in ways that highlight the tension between styles as much as the compatibility.
Bluesy classic rock, no muss, no fuss and straight from the 70s.
Referred to as an “agnostic gospel” record by the group, the album collects tunes from the gospel tradition.
The eight song album (five originals, three covers) is, to my ears, her strongest release yet.
The Thief skillfully balances widescreen progressive rock structures with Bruce Soord’s heart-on-sleeve yearning.
The band cranks everything up: the volume, the jangle, the crunch and, most importantly, the melodies.
Saving soul and rock & roll from the histrionic hordes.
¡Let Freedom Ring! is his most stripped-down record in several years.
With Never Been, Lincoln’s FOR AGAINST continues down its chosen path, eschewing commercial rewards for more consistent and fruitful artistic ones.
Continuing on the same punked-up garage pop path of the Nerves, Peter Case and Paul Collins bang out a baker’s dozen power pop gems.
The latest album from Chicago instrumental rock quartet continues the trend begun on its last couple of records.
Not only does Reilly speak clearly, with close attention to the little details that always stand out in our minds, but his songs are damned catchy, full of old-fashioned hooks and melodies.
My series on Middle Eastern black metal continues with a look at Bahrain.
In fact, Speed is Everything may be the Lp of JEFF PEZZATI’s life and as a huge NAKED RAYGUN fan, I don’t say that lightly.
The second album from New York’s A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS doesn’t much expand on the sound of the first.
The idea of IDM is vague bordering on absurd, but when I first heard San Serac, somehow no label was more apt than Intelligent Dance Music.
Les Années’ hazy, shimmering acid pop nails the lysergic sensuality of the original wave of neo-psychsters.
The watchword for London’s CLIENTELE is consistency.
Australia’s LITTLE MURDERS was one of many mod revival hopefuls in the late 70s/early 80s.
Consisting of Hungarian, Polish and Italian natives living in London, OBIAT takes a non-regional approach to metal on Eye Tree π.
The music here is denser, heavily grounded in low drones; its thrums and buzzes are more genuinely industrial in tone than the Industrial genre ever was.
10 Neurotics has fourteen songs and revolves around themes of alternative sexuality.
My series on Middle Eastern black metal continues with a look at Saudi Arabia.
The band’s dramatic, melodic pop/rock – like anthems scaled down for coffeehouse listening – shines with intelligence, compassion, poetic weight and heart.
JOHNNY SPITTLES, AKA JOHNNY CASINO, is a legend in the Australian underground rock & roll scene.
The Vancouver quartet lays down a supreme riff-rocking groove on its self-titled debut album as if it has no choice.
Dirty power chords and raspy vampire screeching are often the only things connecting the record to black metal; much of the music revolves around cosmic atmospheres, epic song structures and sonorous violin.
GRANT HART has scattered gems across an intermittent solo career, of which Hot Wax is the latest.
Ross makes music that swirls samba and other Latin rhythms around while retaining a melodic essence intimately familiar to most Americans.
For those who’ve followed the impish psych popster over the course of his career, it’ll be no surprise that this is a strong record.
My series on Middle Eastern black metal continues with a look at the United Arab Emirates.
Supergroups often come with diminished expectations these days – there have been way too many instances in which I’d’ve rather have had new albums by the principals instead of a mediocre group effort that just waters down individual strengths.
Pentland Firth Howl is a song cycle about Connelly’s native Scotland that strips down to just voice and guitar.
The Salem band wasn’t the first to combine hardcore punk velocity with sizzling heavy metal riffs, but its particular blend solidified into a form much copied by other, inferior acts, and it’s easy to hear why.
Joined by a strong backing band, the duo carried an excellent sheaf of songs into the studio and recorded what may be their most accessible album.
Peroni has the remarkable ability to absorb his influences without regurgitating them.
This album often suggests the feelings from a nerve stretched taut and sawed at. Don’t put this on for a comfortable listen; put it on for intense and disturbing catharsis.
A STORM OF LIGHT is a side project for members of avant-garde underground metal acts, but Forgive Us Our Trespasses is more accessible than the parts of which it is the sum might indicate.
Like far too many ultra-talented individuals, KEVIN JUNIOR is a major cult artist still waiting for his cult.
