Jackie Venson has been hitting the road and shredding it up for quite some time. Venson’s songs have a gentle charm that is accented by her face-melting blues solos. While each of Venson’s successive recordings has highlighted her guitar work,…
We can’t build time machines, but sometimes a band does such a good job of hitting the nail on the head that it’s just as good. The Duke of Surl does just that — enthusiastically and confidently transporting us back…
Nick Ferrio is no stranger to this blog. His previous album, Amongst the Coyotes and Birdsong, was one of my favorite albums of the year, even though it didn’t make it to the top 10 (sorry.) Trust me — it’s…
I’d like to issue a formal apology to all of the artists who are waiting for me to review their work, but I’m packing it in. Between Survival Pop and Worriers’ first album, Imaginary Life (which I thought I’d written…
This is post 1100-something and it is still a truth universally acknowledged (by me) that Tivel’s previous album, Heroes Waking Up, is one of the best albums I have listened to in the past five years. That album tells larger-than-life…
I owe a lot to Sonia Tetlow, and if you’ve been reading the blog for a while, then you do too. This whole thing pretty much exists because I got tired of harassing Ninebullets to feature her work. (Now that…
1. Carver Commodore — “Ring Ain’t Free” is a meditation on maturity that brings the funk without the masturbatory solos. 2. Captains of April — “Groovy Tuesday” leads from an expansive intro into a crisp pop-punk banger. 3. Dar Stellabotta…
Rocky Bottom’s latest EP, Modern Machine, takes a much harder stance than American Man. While the previous album was good-natured, Modern Machine takes a bluesier approach to tackle the ennui of modern life and the quest for self-satisfaction. “Someday” picks…