Sometimes, you just have to let things go and while it can be uncomfortable, it can also be incredibly liberating – and the Embrace boys are championing this philosophy superbly in Avalanche, their ninth studio album and their first release in four years. When you stop anticipating the big moments and let it flow, the need to have your life figured out swiftly fades away. It becomes about the small things – the ones you’d otherwise miss. The name of the album is a metaphor for the force of feeling when the little moments all snowball together and how it’s important to celebrate those smaller imperfect moments of life as opposed to being laser focused on the ‘big picture’. It was conceived on the idea that life doesn’t pause for permission; it keeps on…
Category: rock
Bruce Springsteen has been opening his shows with a prayer. He and the E Street Band walk onstage quietly. He steps to the mic as they atmospherically play behind him. Before a single song is performed he simply speaks to the audience. “We begin the night with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas. We pray for an end to this conflict and for their safe return,” he begins, opening with a sentiment most anyone should be able to agree with. It continues: “The E Street Band is here tonight in celebration and defense of the American ideals and values that have sustained our country for 250 years. We are here to call upon the righteous power of art and music and rock ‘n’ roll in these dangerous times.” Then, he gets a little more pointed: “Our…
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band delivered nearly three hours of righteous and rocking music — and a tip for the summer of 2026 — at the group’s Tuesday, May 5 show at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. “Don’t go to the beach and play with any seashells,” said Springsteen, referencing the indictment of former FBI head James Comey for a social media post of seashells forming the numbers “86 47.”
The advice came during Springsteen’s This Is Happening Now speech, where the transgressions of the Trump administration is cited as the opening chords of “My City of Ruins” is played. “Our justice department has completely abdicated its independence and it takes its marching orders directly from corrupt White House,”…
Working with guitars, drum machine, sampler, self-built electronics, and all manner of percussion, BASIC, the trio of Chris Forsyth, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Douglas McCombs, synthesize the vast influences and distinct histories of each member, producing a boundary-less, rhythm-forward amalgam of art rock, trance jazz, collective improvisation, and humming electronics on their new eponymous full-length for No Quarter.
Philadelphia’s Chris Forsyth, known for his lyrical guitar compositions and mercurial improvisations as leader of the Solar Motel Band, founded BASIC in 2022 naming the project in homage to the 1984 Robert Quine/Fred Maher album “Basic,” yes, but also to indicate a desire to get down to fundamentals rhythmically and musically.
Founded in Long Island, New York in 1969, Mountain were one of the most influential American rock bands of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Their musical style fused blues, hard rock and progressive influences and was anchored around the virtuoso guitarist Leslie West, the producer, writer and multi-instrumentalist Felix Pappalardi, drummer Corky Laing and keyboard player Steve Knight.
Taking inspiration from the legendary British band Cream, West had approached producer Pappalardi (who had worked with Cream and Jack Bruce) with a view to him producing West’s first solo album. The resulting album ‘Mountain’ was released in July 1969 and saw West backed by Felix Pappalardi on bass and keyboards and drummer N.D. Smart.
Looking for a relaxing evening after a rough day? Turn the lights down, sit back in your favorite cushy chair and let the calming, soothing sounds of George Thorogood and his Destroyers, recorded in concert, waft over you for an hour’s worth of introspective, peaceful, tension-releasing music. OK…just kidding…. you’ve no doubt guessed, that’s not what we have here.
As the title The Baddest Show on Earth: Greatest Hits Live implies, this eleven song traipse through some of Thorogood’s roughest, toughest, sweatiest, most heart-palpitating music, recorded live at various venues from 1978 until 2024, is not for those looking to achieve a Zen meditative moment. The pounding beat of the opening cover of Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love,”…
When Samantha Fish plays your town, or someplace nearby, on one of her 250 or so yearly dates, it’s to do one thing; kick out the jams.
She makes that clear covering the MC5 classic starting most of the shows on last year’s ‘Paper Doll Live’ tour promoting her recent release. It was also opened her previous run, sharing billing with roots rocker Jesse Dayton. This document of a typical gig, recorded at Knoxville, TN.’s Bijou Theater, exemplifies why Fish has become one of the finest and most vibrant contemporary blues/rock acts, of either gender, currently grinding out endless one-nighters.
Paper Doll is the first album she has recorded with her road band, the same three musicians on these shows. They are not only tight and…
Ever since a 2024 reshuffling of band members, one which saw drummer Cotter Ellis added to the fold, Goose has experienced something of a creative renaissance. In addition to a pair of 2025 full-length studio album releases, the critically-acclaimed Everything Must Go and the stealthily released Chain Yer Dragon, the Connecticut-based quartet has also undergone some stylistic changes. While the group’s primordial years focused more on an “indie-groove” sound (think Fleet Foxes song structures meet Phish’s extended, improv-laden jams), there has recently been a concerted effort to lean more toward a dance-party vibe at their live shows. That trend continues in full force on BIG MODERN!, Goose’s sixth full-length studio effort out via No Coincidence Records.
…Cream’s third album Wheels of Fire was originally released on 14 June 1968 in the US; less than a month later, the three-piece – Ginger Baker (drums, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, lead vocals) and Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals) – announced that they were going their separate ways…
The 5CD super deluxe edition features a 2026 remaster and a previously unreleased phase-corrected version of the entire album. The latter version was achieved by using software to reverse the Haeco-CSG effect originally applied to the album. This was a ’60s audio processing technique intended to make stereo recordings compatible with mono turntables but had a side-effect of ‘blurring’ the stereo imaging. The first CD offers the remaster of the original…
After three excellent but generally underappreciated albums in what is more or less the Americana/singer/songwriter genre, Sam Morrow was ready for a change.
On his simply titled fourth release, and first in two years, he leaves most of the country influences that informed those discs, cranks up the guitars and charges into a stronger, sonic punch implied by the collection’s name.
While there are plenty of Southern red clay guts here, he sells himself short on the “boogie” part. Like Blackberry Smoke, which this resembles in the best ways, Morrow is too sharp of a songwriter to delve into the clichéd beer, booze and broads mode most associate with the title. Even when name-checking the “party all night/…
Meltt is a psych-ish rock band from Canada that is set to drop its third album, Pathways, on June 12. The 13-song album is preceded by the release of no fewer than eight singles, the earliest of which, “Hesitate,” dropped almost a year ago, in July 2025. All eight were collected in the order of appearance on the “In Good Time” single, the last one released on May 28 of this year.
There’s a method here of giving each single the chance to capture the attention of the non-album-oriented public before releasing the complete album, a strategy the band began experimenting with for the rollout of Eternal Embers in 2023. If album-oriented folks tilt their heads in anti-climactic wonder, well, that’s too bad. They’re not a big part of the music-streaming…
“Been all around the world, at least once or twice” barks Mike Campbell on the roaring “My Mama Told Me” from Mission of Mercy. It’s the fourth album with his post-Petty outfit, the Dirty Knobs. A continuation of the remarkably eventful career from a well-traveled guy who proudly stood by Tom Petty’s side for the better part of 50 years, Campbell was a trusted wingman who could have retired living off royalties from the many hits co-written with his world famous pal.
Campbell not only toured extensively last year, but penned ‘Heartbreaker,’ an expansive 450 page autobiography. He also recorded these dozen tracks with a recently minted backing band, now officially including another Petty alumnus, drummer Steve Ferrone.
Legendary space rock band Hawkwind return with a brand new collection that blurs the lines between studio album, archive excavation and future transmission. Drawing together unheard recordings, newly reworked classics and fresh material from the current line-up, this latest release stands as a vital and evolving chapter in the band’s ever-expanding sonic universe.
Rather than a retrospective, this forward-facing release presents a snapshot of Hawkwind in motion. Featuring brand new studio recordings alongside previously unheard material from ongoing and unreleased projects, the album captures multiple facets of the band’s creative output, from cosmic psychedelia to driving space rock and experimental electronica.
It was unreasonable to expect Duane Betts’ second full-length long-player, Isle of Hope, to match the passionate match of musicianship and material of its predecessor, Wild and Precious Life. And, in fact, this Sun Records release only comes close and ultimately falls short because the bright moments, most of them instrumental, merely interrupt the mainly sluggish performances of somewhat formulaic arrangements overseen by studio supervisor Dave Cobb. The man who’s produced Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell certainly has a recognizable style that includes pristine audio quality. But this Betts record, recorded in just five days at Cobb’s studio in Savannah, GA, suffers from too many ponderous instances like “Best Wishes.”
Legacy bands must straddle a line between the musical approach that originally brought them to fame and trying something new. With some fans, either choice – if made outright – dooms the latest release. But what of bands that undergo radical lineup changes over the years? Are they still beholden to what came before? And what of those that emerge with no remaining original members? Are they doomed to a life of caricature?
That’s Yes’ basic conundrum. They never had a lineup for longer than two consecutive albums. Well, until now. The current grouping of Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood and Jay Schellen has lasted longer than any other. Aurora is their third album together, though the late Alan White also appeared on…
District Five’s Glut continues the Zurich band’s push into a sound that pulls equally from art-rock, jazz, post-punk, and experimental noise without fully settling into any one category.
The four-piece has spent over a decade developing a sound that feels loose and spontaneous without losing focus, and this album captures that balance particularly well.
Recorded with minimal overdubs, the record has the tension and unpredictability of a live performance, but the band’s control over dynamics and texture keeps it from spiraling into chaos. Instead, Glut feels like a document of a group constantly reacting to one another in real time.
“Seed” opens the record with uneasy momentum as scattered guitar lines, pulsing bass,…
…compiled by Robert Fripp, including Brian Eno, David Sylvian, Andy Summers, The League of Gentlemen and more.
“[Panegyric label head] Declan Colgan told [Fripp’s manager] David Singleton: ‘Robert has more ampersands in his professional life than anyone I know!’ We went through three iterations of this CD – a David version, a Declan version, and then I made my own comments, and we have this CD that you have. Primarily this is stuff that I want to sit down and listen to. How do we begin? How do we get drawn into this? And then in the middle, when everything sags, what do you do there? And then at the end, well, how do you complete and wind this all up in such a way that the beginning and the end have gone full circle? And there you are.”
Ramshackle Swedish folk, medieval jam sessions, home-spun hymns recorded straight to tape, and albums named after revolutionary communist bands: The world of Gustaf Dicksson’s musical project Blod may seem unbearably esoteric. But a little context helps; Dicksson is a spiritual descendant of Swedish Progg movement of the 1960s and ’70s — not to be confused with prog rock, it was a left-wing, anti-commercial music movement that encompassed a wide range of styles, from psych-rock bands to nationally beloved singer-songwriters. Blod is indebted to the mossier, more experimental ends of the movement, including bands like Träd, Gräs & Stenar. This is the anti-capitalist, DIY heritage which Discreet Music — the record store and label…
Sunflower is the debut album of German/British artist Paul Holland. It features a number of very enjoyable characteristics, from West Coast soft rock to out-and-out folk, via some quite interesting world music. Above all, it has a very relaxed and personal feel to it, making it the perfect sound for relaxing in the sunshine.
It opens with a rocky number, ‘Clouds of Haze’, which jogs along very nicely indeed, with a live feel about it. The track explores the on/off nature of some relationships and certainly encourages the listener to explore the rest of the album, which tends to mellow out as it goes along.
It’s followed by a slower, jazzier track, ‘Feels Right’, which undoubtedly highlights his ability as an astute, talented songwriter.
Dea Matrona have returned to the limelight with their sophomore album Hate That I Care. Written, self-recorded and self-produced entirely on the road, this 12-track body of work vocalises the 10-year history of Mollie McGinn and Orláith Forsythe – from busking on the streets of Belfast to opening for The Beaches, and every story in between. Hate That I Care represents the intrusive thoughts that haunt every listener; the self-reflection, the self-assessment and the choice to stay silent or do something with that self.
Immediately, the feeling of nostalgia is ignited. The beauty in this album is the pure ’80s rock and alternative sound at the core of every song, reminding listeners of The Cranberries or Fleetwood Mac. The title track, ‘Hate That…