ALBUM REVIEW: THE LOCALS, “Minutes, Seconds, Degrees”
The rock/pop mix of Chicago’s The Locals is instantly appealing on this new album, Minutes, Seconds, Degrees – a clean production, melodic guitars with a solid rhythm and tight harmonies…
Review: BATTLES – “Juice B Crypts”
BATTLES’ syncopated loops may circle triumphantly around the drains of the mind but its lineup has not fared as well. Vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Tyondai Braxton exited after 2007’s Mirrored, leaving the group…
Review: Tomeka Reid Quartet – “Old New”
Most of us know or associate with the cello as a staple of the classical and post-classical world, an instrument whose deeper breaths can elicit comparisons to the bowels of…
Album Review: Pitfalls by Leprous
These are songs from the inside, a discovery of hope in understanding one’s own hopelessness.
ALBUM REVIEW: POPULUXE, “Beauty In The Broken Place”
This is not a band to be taken lightly – the name “Populuxe” should be self-explanatory. While the melody and song structures are of a “poppy” nature (versus abrasive and…
Review: Brat Curse – S/T
Brat Curse writes in earworms. That’s the only logical conclusion you can come to after listening to the Columbus, Ohio quartet’s new self-titled outing, which features hooky blasts of noisy…
Review: The Zells – “No More Heroes” EP
The Zells’ No More Heroes EP – the six-song follow-up to 2018’s excellent Failure to Slide, out today via Pittsburgh indie Crafted Sounds – starts with reverby, almost spacy guitars…
Mary Fahl Releases Christmas Set, Winter Songs and Carols
With Christmas (and other assorted holidays) just around the corner, it’s expected that holiday-themed recordings begin to make their way to the marketplace. The cool thing about holiday albums is…
Review: Eric Bachmann – “Misinformation Age”
Only Eric Bachmann could make rage over the Trump era’s alienating 24-hour-a-day mind-fuck seem elegiac. His new, one-off single, “Misinformation Age,” out yesterday via Merge for $1 on Bandcamp and…
Profile: Composer Rachel Grimes leads listeners ‘forth’
It starts, appropriately, by rolling on the seams of piano keys. “There is something/ got ahold of me/ and it won’t let go,” the singer coos, among a forest trail…
Review: Bertling Noise Laboratories, “The Frodis Tape”
Yeah, yeah, I know, these are the songs you've always known, but can I interest you in a little bit of this over here?
Ten Questions: Phil Madeira
Singer/songwriter Phil Madeira is approaching a new record with an Open Heart.