John K. Samson: Winter Wheat Samson is the voice of reason and reassurance we need in these increasingly tenuous times. Read More
Deafheaven: New Bermuda The musicianship on New Bermuda is far ahead of what the band has shown to date. Read More
Calexico: Edge of the Sun Edge of the Sun sounds consistent to a fault, foregrounding the easygoing nature of the Tex-Mex band to the point that the strides they make in their sound are nearly erased. Read More
Pops Staples: Don’t Lose This [xrr rating=4.0/5]Who would’ve thought Jeff Tweedy, of all people, would be the one to bring the Staple Singers back into the musical vanguard? Roger McGuinn, maybe, or Judy Collins, or someone else with relatively little melanin to boast of. Let’s be honest – while Tweedy himself is nothing if not a huge music nerd with knowledge and appreciation of both … Read More
Title Fight: Hyperview [xrr rating=2.5/5]A rising boxer preparing for the biggest bout of his life would be ill-advised to scrap what has worked for him in the past. In order to win fame, fortune and the belt, he must maximize his strengths, or lest his opportunity will go to waste. Pennsylvania quartet Title Fight’s name implies it is playing for keeps. Yet, on … Read More
Dr. Dog: Live at a Flamingo Hotel [xrr rating=3.5/5]The Flamingo Hotel is not an actual place. It’s a fictitious creation by Dr. Dog intended to evoke images of an era long since gone, delivering a mind trick that removes any sense of time or place from their first live release. They’re basically saying, “You didn’t have to be there to be there.” In many ways, the Flamingo … Read More