When Calexico’s primary members and writing team, Joey Burns and John Convertino convened at the home studio of their keyboard player Sergio Mendoza last summer it may have seemed unlikely that the rock press would be discussing an 18 year-old album track off their Feast of Wire album by the end of 2021. Turns out…
At this point in Father John Misty’s career I feel like his unpredictability is part of his musical mystery. I also feel like it is a given that his output will be witty, complex and challenging. Chloë And The Next 20th Century, his fifth album and first new material since the release of God’s Favorite…
Midlake, a band a UK reviewer described succinctly as “the Texan masters of folk-proggy-Americana”, return nine years after their last album, Antiphon, recorded six months after the departure of their previous frontman and singer/songwriter, Tim Smith. And if early listens of For the Sake of Bethel Woods feel mysteriously haunted, it’s worth noting that the…
While Life On Earth is Hurray for the Riff Raff’s debut on the Nonesuch label, it’s the 7th studio album from singer/songwriter Alynda Segarra, who currently dwells in New Orleans and also fronted the “hobo band” Dead Man Street Orchestra. Segarra’s last album, 2017’s The Navigator gave Segarra a chance to explore their Puerto Rican…
We all know “Things Are Great” is what you say, when you don’t want to tell people that you’re really going through a challenging time. It’s the more grandiose version of “I’m fine.” And like many of the songs here by Ben Bridwell and his Band of Horses, the overall effect is uplifting and liberating,…
Although Joan Osborne has kept recording solo albums, touring, and collaborating with the likes of the Funk Brothers, Phil Lesh and other members of The Dead, she’s no doubt best remembered for her biggest hit, the quirky folk pop of “One of Us” from her debut album, Relish in 1995. And while I’m a fan…
While it’s only natural to look for echoes of The Smiths in Johnny Marr’s solo work, he was only with that band for 6, albeit, very productive years, and in the decade that followed he cut a wide musical swatch playing in bands as diverse as Modest Mouse, The The, and Electronic, while played guitar…
Frank Turner has always been a punk rocker at heart, even his “folk” albums are roiling with punk attitude and energy, or as he describes “punk adjacent.” Of course, Turner only started working as a solo act after the break-up of the hardcore punk band Million Dead, naming his first EP, Campfire Punkrock, an apt…
Ever since their debut album Close But No Cigar dropped in 2018, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio has been one of the most consistent bands on the Colemine Records roster, pumping out instrumental jazz-funk that recalls the greats from the 60s and early 70s. The deceptively simple setup—which also features guitar slinger Jimmy “Scratch” James and…
On her third album, singer/songwriter Erin Rae is making an effort to Lighten Up, with help from her new producer Jonathan Wilson. After establishing herself as a songwriter in the Joni Mitchell school of folk/Americana, Rae works to stretch herself here, bringing that Laurel Canyon touch of psychedelia to give her that cosmic country vibe….
