Evil pervades in the fifth collaboration between writer and director Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station, Creed). We’re in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1932, which is where identical twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return after seven years away. They were part of the Chicago gangland scene,…
Ohio Players is The Black Keys’ twelfth studio album. It’s hard to imagine how far this band has come since the scuffed-up blues-rock on their debut in 2002 with The Big Come Up. Now in 2024, the band have collaborated with artists such as Beck, Noel Gallagher, Dan The Automator, Juicy J, and Lil Noid….
David Nance & Mowed Sound is the self-titled debut record of David Nance’s latest group and recording project. Led by Nance on vocals and guitar, the album features a crew of veteran Omaha musicians, including Kevin Donahue on drums, James Schroeder on guitar, Derrick Higgins and Sam Lipsett on bass, with guest appearances from Megan…
Durand Jones is the lead vocalist of the modern soul band Durand Jones & The Indications, which has released three solid studio albums including their self-titled debut in 2016. Wait Til I Get Over is his debut release as a solo artist that showcases Jones’ smooth and emotive vocals, while exploring worth and belief through…
For the last 20 years, the duo that make up The Black Keys have been refining their own take on the blues and R&B influences that are the underpinning of early rock icons like Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton’s Cream. Guitarist and vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney were so enamored with potent musical…
On her solo debut album, Outside Child, Allison Russell finally gets around to telling her own story, in her own unique way. Previously in the Vancouver roots music group Po’ Girl, Russell migrated to the American midwest where she formed Birds of Chicago with her now husband JT Nero, mixing her roots, gospel and blues…
With three jazzy piano albums under his belt in the last couple years, it’s no surprise by now that one of Phil Madeira’s musical heroes is jazz icon Thelonious Monk. That may be a surprise to anyone who’s only heard Madeira at his day job, playing backup to one of country music’s best-loved female vocalists…
Robert Finley is a classic late bloomer. As the title of his sophomore album for Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye label suggests, he’s a “Sharecropper’s Son,” who grew up singing Gospel music in the church, playing guitar and acting as bandleader in an Army band while serving in the 70’s. A carpenter by trade, he was…
Ten studio albums and two decades into their career, any fans of The Black Keys who’ve dug in past their string of rock hits, like “Lonely Boy,” “Fever,” and “Lo/Hi,” is well aware of the band’s interest in the Mississippi delta blues music of artists like Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. They covered a song…
Art and capitalism can be uneasy bedfellows. In our society each depends on the other to some extent. The exploitation of art in the name of money is nothing new, but things could be changing. Critical examinations are now happening around their relationship, particularly as it intersects with issues of race and power. Steven Soderbergh…
