American Thread is the kind of band this blog exists for. Beautiful songwriting, honest-to-goodness rock’n’roll, and oblique John Mellencamp references will always capture my heart. In short, American Thread is the only good thing to come out of Boston. Songs…
The latter end of 2014, it turns out, has delivered a fine crop of vocal powerhouses (tune in tomorrow for Sulfur City.) If you found Faith Evans Ruch too twangy for your taste, I guarantee you’ll fall in love with…
Longtime favorite of the blog, Whitney Lockert, has released his first album. Only one song has made the jump from the EP to the album, Lockert’s scathing satire “Rupert Murdoch.” The other eight are brand new and music to my…
I always appreciate songs that are simple enough for even me to figure out how to play on guitar. It’s sort of like watching movies from the ’40s — forcing yourself to work around restrictions ends up making for more…
Have you guys been watching The Flash? The showrunners have achieved something truly magical — the show is about good people doing good things. It’s not cheesy, ironic, hokey, sentimental. Yes, the characters have their inner pain, but it doesn’t…
It’s hard to say which caught my attention first: Jackie Venson’s guitar playing or her gorgeous voice. But at the end of the day, it’s Venson’s songwriting chops that take the prize. While Venson’s specialty is her blues guitar, her…
The cover art on William Pilgrim’s new album shows Will and PM Romero — both men of color — getting beaten by white cops. It’s a chillingly prescient photo given current events, but the fact is it’s a fact of…
While the title of the album sounds bleak and high-concept, Bee Caves is neither of those things. “Running Home to You” and “Black Mason Hills” are probably the most radio-friendly tracks on here, and they were the friendliest to my…