British trio Maxïmo Park combine the big guitars of modern rock acts with the catchy electro-pop melodicism of 80’s new wave on their solid seventh full-length album, Nature Always Wins. With the departure of long-time keyboard player Lukas Wooller, the remaining trio of players have regrouped to create a record that showcases their strengths at…
At this point, with seven studio albums under their belt since debuting on the scene in 2004, The Hold Steady have locked down a pretty reliable piece of rock & roll real estate around the storytelling narratives of singer/songwriter Craig Finn. The band’s 2019 album, aptly titled Thrashing Thru The Passion, featured five new songs…
With the pandemic postponement of the Hella Mega Tour with co-headliners Green Day and Fall Out Boy, Weezer has delayed the release of their promised Van Weezer record designed to re-visit the big noisy guitars of their hard rock and metal influences a la the likes of KISS, Sabbath, and of course, Van Halen. In…
French psychedelic trio SLIFT started things off back in 2017 when they released their debut EP, Space Is The Key, via one of our favorite labels in Howlin’ Banana Records. Their debut LP, La Planète Inexplorée, then followed in 2018 and found the band exploring their garage psych sound and taking more time to experiment…
After releasing a handful of live releases earlier this year, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have now returned with the new studio album K.G., their sixteenth since they formed in 2010. It represents a collection of songs that saw the six members of the band home isolating and creating the record remotely. What could…
Richard Hamilton (aka Ricky Hamilton or Ricky Hell) is the formal name of the founder of the criminally under-the-radar label Quality Time Records. His new long player, My Perfect World, is a 180 degree turn in sound from his past gutter pop bands like Fascinating and Ricky Hell & The Voidboys. Right from the opening…
Bruce Springsteen, the very guy who wrote “Glory Days” about folk who spend their adult years looking back to the time when they were in their prime and their star shone brightest, should probably have seen this time in his life and career coming. Maybe it’s a little bit easier to spot nostalgia in a…
Since their formation in 2016, Sydney’s psych-rock band Kimono Drag Queens have released a string of singles, and have been slowly leading up to finally releasing their debut, Songs of Worship. It’s taken the seven-piece two years to record but I believe it was worth the wait as Songs of Worship is full of surprising…
The Mountain Goats’ singer/songwriter John Darnielle may be thought of by some as the poet laureate of all things nerdy due to entire albums drawn from the world of wrestling (Beat the Champ), Dungeons & Dragons (In League With Dragons), 80’s post-punk art rock (Goths), and obscure Bible verses (The Life of the World to…
Described as a reflection on singer Wayne Coyne’s youthful upbringing in Oklahoma City, The Flaming Lips’ 16th album, American Head steps away from the bombastic sci-fi rock opera visions of 2002’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and last year’s King’s Mouth to make a record of more reflective, often tender ballads akin to 1999’s The…
