Shana ClevelandManzanitaHardly Art Records [2023] Manzanita is the common name for a kind of small evergreen tree endemic to California which has strong medicinal properties. It is a fitting title for the newest solo album from La Luz’s Shana Cleveland as the record displays a gorgeousness that will instantly change your state of mind in … Read more
Gramercy ArmsDeleted ScenesMagic Door Record Label [2023] Gramercy Arms is a NYC musical collective brought together around the songwriting of Dave Derby, who keeps the focus of this third album locked in on polished power/pop that’s inspired, as the band bio says, “by the artistic heyday of the 70’s and 80’s-era.” Derby sings, plays guitar … Read more
Jack Harlon & The Dead CrowsHail To The UndergroundBlues Funeral Recordings [2023] I will fully admit that I am a very hard sell on cover albums. I have always felt that this type of record, no matter who the artist, has novelty act qualities automatically built into its creation because you can go to any … Read more
LuceroShould’ve Learned By NowLiberty & Lament/Thirty Tigers [2023] If that sturdy, fast drumbeat that opens Lucero’s new album doesn’t convince you they mean business by the time the crunchy rhythm guitars fall into place, perhaps that cowbell will do the trick. That sound, which conjures the classic rock ghost of “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain, is … Read more
Narrow HeadMoments Of ClarityRun For Cover Records [2023] Moments Of Clarity is the third long player from Houston’s Narrow Head. The record continues the heavy alternative rock and shoegaze mix the band is known for that transports you back to the 90’s while dealing with the world’s issues of today. Right from the opening track, … Read more
Neutral Milk HotelThe Collected Works Of Neutral Milk HotelMerge Records [2023] Neutral Milk Hotel made two modest lo-fi releases in the mid to late 90’s that over time proved far more influential as the band’s cult status grew in spite of singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum’s reclusive radio silence. Loosely described as psychedelic folk and indie rock, … Read more
FranLeavingFire Talk Records [2023] The sophomore release from Chicago-based band, Fran, finds vocalist and principal songwriter Maria Jacobson reflecting on the underlying philosophical values and thinking that people rely on to help make sense of their experiences. Inspired by reading Alan Watts’ “Wisdom of Insecurity,” which suggests a Zen-like acceptance that “impermanence and insecurity are … Read more
CIVICTaken By ForceATO Records [2023] Melbourne-based five-piece CIVIC are back with their biggest rock album to date. The group lead by the power singer Jim McCullough takes their fiery punk to a new level that is more melodic than previous efforts but delivered with the same take no prisoner passion. After a quick intro track, … Read more
QuasiBreaking The Balls Of HistorySub Pop Records [2023] It appears to have taken a global pandemic to get Portland, Ore. power duo Quasi back into the studio 10 years after their last release. Surrounded by numerous end-of-the-world scenarios with no touring happening, it seemed the perfect time for the combined talents of Sam Coomes and … Read more
Yo La TengoThis Stupid WorldMatador Records [2023] This Hoboken, N.J., indie-rock trio have been faithfully plugging along for nearly 40 years, with a new release every few years offering their assessment of what was going on in the world around us. For instance, in 2020 as the pandemic was kicking all of our asses, Yo … Read more
The DrinToday My Friend You Drunk The VenomDrunken Sailor/Feel It Records [2023] Today My Friend You Drunk The Venom is the third long player from Cincinnati’s post-punk group The Drin. The group blends a darker edge of the genre with an overall cold vibe that pulls you closer into the album’s 10 songs. Their sound … Read more
The MenNew York CityFuzz Club Records [2023] Brooklyn’s The Men put out several fantastic punk records back in the early 2010’s and then over the last 10 years have expanded their sound into more indie friendly areas that even included a touch of Americana. Their recent material has been solid but I fully admit that … Read more
The Bad EndsThe Power And The GloryNew West Records [2023] According to their bio, three of the guys in this so-called Athens, GA super-group formed while they were picking up their kids from school, or something like that. In a music town best known as the breeding ground for R.E.M., as well as the B-52’s, … Read more
King TuffSmalltown StardustSub Pop Records [2023] On his sixth album, Kyle Thomas who performs under his original band name King Tuff, steps away from the guitar-driven garage-band power-pop that dominated their 2014 Sub Pop debut, Black Moon Spell, and the self-descriptive single “Headbanger.” Created as a love letter to the rural smalltown where he grew … Read more
The TubsDead MeatTrouble In Mind Records [2023] London group The Tubs formed in 2018 after the dissolvement of UK post-punk band Joanna Gruesome by former members Owen ‘O’ Williams and George ‘GN’ Nicholls. Their debut, Dead Meat, finds the group leaving most of that early post-punk distortion behind and embracing a classic British folk guitar … Read more
Margo PriceStraysLoma Vista Recordings [2023] When Nashville singer-songwriter Margo Price made her debut in 2016 with Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, on Jack White’s Third Man label, the album went to No. 1 on the UK Country Album Chart, and she earned a Best New Artist Grammy nomination. Here on her fourth studio album, Price, her co-writer … Read more
Jeff Johnson & Brian Dunning Coming, GoingArkMusic [2022] Flautist Brian Dunning, who died last February at the age of 70, had a solid recording career before he collaborated with Jeff Johnson on the Celtic-influenced jazz/new age/progressive instrumental music for the Songs From Albion trilogy in the early 90’s, a series offered as a soundtrack to … Read more
Iggy PopEvery LoserGold Tooth/Atlantic Records [2023] Iggy Pop, sometimes called “the Godfather of Punk” for his role as frontman/vocalist with The Stooges, an early proto-punk band that formed in Detroit in 1967. Notorious for his over-the-top, shirtless, self-mutilating performances, it’s a wonder that Pop is alive at 75; the fact that he’s still releasing new … Read more
Dead MeadowForce Form FreeBlues Funeral Recordings [2022] Formed in the fall of 1998, Dead Meadow rose out of the Washington, D.C. indie/punk scene and have continued to evolve their sound through each record into the heavy modern psych you hear today. This psych path was highlighted on their Levitation Session album that was released in … Read more
Bill CallahanYTI⅃AƎЯDrag City Records [2022] I think one could easily build an argument that Bill Callahan is one of the stronger singer/songwriters of the past 25 years. The Smog band leader had a multitude of great albums and then his solo career has been a fascinating journey to hear through his lens. He does not … Read more
Brendan BensonLow KeySchnitzel Records [2022] Brendan Benson released his seventh solo album, Dear Life, early in 2020, and even though he played all the instruments when recording he’d put a band together and was ready to hit the road and introduce fans to his latest songs, when the pandemic upended touring for everyone. And while … Read more
Various Artists (Kribo Records)Sounds Of Lecak Vol. 1Guruguru Brain [2022] Even with the internet connecting us with people all over the world, it’s often easy to look past music scenes in other countries. Whether it’s because of a (perceived) language barrier, genre pigeonholing (“world” music), or just the sheer amount of music there is to … Read more
Too Much JoyAll These Fucking FeelingsPropeller Sound Recordings [2022] It seems that when the members of Too Much Joy pulled their instruments out of mothballs to make last year’s Headphone Approved 2021 release Mistakes Were Made after their 25 year hiatus, they were clearly having too much fun. A year later, they return with another … Read more
ElderInnate PassageArmageddon Shop [2022] When Elder’s previous album Omens was released in 2020 it was my number three album of the year for good reason. Elder constructed a muscular tower of doom metal, prog rock, and psychedelics with nods to groups such as Rush, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, and Yes. Omens showed the group even more … Read more
Big JoanieBack HomeKill Rock Stars [2022] It has been four years since the debut album from Black feminist punk band Big Joanie. The UK trio of Estella Adeyeri, Stephanie Phillips, and Chardine Taylor-Stone had a solid post-punk direction but now have branched out into new sound territories on their sophomore album, Back Home. While guitars, … Read more