Adam Kyriakou’s Department is a one-man band in the style of Neil Hannon’s Divine Comedy and Matt Johnson’s The The; others may pass in and out, but Kyriakou steers the ship.
Audacity Files proves to be the maiden voyage for what should be an interesting and impressive career in sonic development. “Shadow Play” embodies the freneticism of the Lennon-McCartney opus “A Day in the Life”: brass, loops, and percussion lunging at the unsuspecting listener. Incidentally, “Shadow Play” is the longest tune on the record: despite pushing the boundaries of pop, Department wisely keeps the runtime to a palatable two-minute average.
Purportedly inspired by a voyage to his ancestral Macedonia, Department incorporates…
Category: soul
Michael: Songs from the Motion Picture is the official companion album to the brand-new biopic, Michael. This album highlights 13 songs showcased in the film, spanning from The Jackson 5 to The Jacksons to Michael’s chart-topping solo success with “Off the Wall” and “Thriller.”
…Filling the superstar’s shoes is his nephew (and son of brother Jermaine) Jaafar Jackson, who reportedly will do some of his own singing in the film. Despite that, the soundtrack features only Michael’s original vocals. The movie’s screenplay has been penned by Academy Award nominee and Tony winner John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator on film; Red, Moulin Rouge! on stage) and also stars Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Kendrick Sampson…
Five years ago, Michael Cavanagh, long-time percussion expert for psych-rock powerhouse King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, made his solo debut under the CAVS moniker with a self-titled effort.
The ten-song drums-only effort was an exercise in the drummer’s ability to capture a listener’s attention with exclusively drum patterns, resulting in a groovy, atmospheric effort that ultimately didn’t catapult CAVS into the solo spotlight like similar artists of his ilk. The difficult transition from band member to lone musician is a bumpy, often misdirected endeavor that rarely seems to go well for the artist who dares undertake it. Still, in traditional Lizard Wizard fashion, Cavanagh wasn’t discouraged with the difficulties of his debut, but inspired.
Contains all the single recordings of the group from 1966–1969 plus a non-LP B-side released posthumously in 1972.
In the 1960s, the American music landscape was powered by a vibrant network of independent record labels. Many—like Motown, Stax/Volt, and Elektra—began as small regional ventures before their success propelled them into national prominence and, ultimately, partnerships with major labels.
Baltimore, Maryland was one of the era’s creative hotbeds. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, the city nurtured a distinctive musical identity, and local imprints such as Ru-Jac, Soultrain, and Pulse delivered radio favorites that defined the “Sound of Baltimore”—a gritty…
As listeners began to connect with her 2025 album Do It Afraid, Yaya Bey fell into a state of distress. She contemplated the commodification of Black grief, hers included, as well as the shorter lifespans of Black artists and the way their work receives overdue recognition after death. Her mind also remained freighted with anger and frustration over losses to Black communality, whether caused by gentrification or exacerbated by online infighting, aka diaspora wars (with white-owned social media platforms as the battlefields). While Bey might have been spiraling, her creative upswing continues with this close companion to Do It Afraid. Every bit as sure-footed and stimulating, the purposefully titled Fidelity is another invigorating modern synthesis of Black musical innovations.
Surprisingly, singer-songwriter/harmonicist Curtis Salgado has never released a live album until now. Legacy Rewind: Live in ‘25 was recorded just over a year ago on April 5th at the Triple Door, Seattle, WA, on Salgado’s home turf. The genesis for the project dates to 2019 (pre-COVID), when a fan and producer, Randy Maag, suggested it at the very same venue. Maag suggested older Salgado tunes that are rarely played in his current show repertoire. Maag didn’t forget the encounter and resurrected it six years later. Some songs had never been performed live, while others were two decades old. So, this recording, with a 9-piece band, encompasses R&B, Funk, Soul, and Rock n’ Roll, curated by Maag and Salgado. Interestingly, there is no mention of blues, but we all…
There aren’t many artists releasing two new albums per year, and even fewer doing that within three months. If you’re already a fan of blue-eyed soul man Marc Broussard, these two discs arriving close together is a surprise gift. Even though S.O.S. V: Songs of the 50s was yet another title in his ongoing cover series, the appearance of Chance Worth Taking with 14 new tunes predominantly co-penned by the singer with bassist Calvin Turner, confirms that Brossard’s work ethic and creativity is well-oiled.
Perhaps the input of longtime supporter Joe Bonamassa and shotgun riding producer/right hand man Josh Smith (they also helped write four tunes) pushed Broussard to pen extra material. It’s also more organically blues-based than…
In overseeing Club d’Elf since its inception over 25 years ago, founder-leader-bassist Mike Rivard has maintained a core lineup around which has revolved a colorful cast of collaborators as eclectic as the music they have played.
Loon & Thrush is no exception, yet its creation took place in the shadow of the passing of vocalist- multi-instrumentalist Brahim Frigbaine, not just an artistic contributor, but a practical point of reference for the group’s exotic pursuits. Much as Rivard collected himself to rally in the wake of serious illness prior to the gestation of the preceding Club d’Elf studio album, You Never Know (2022) so has he, with the customarily adventurous ensemble in tow, soldiered on in the wake of their departed comrade.
The satisfyin’ soul-pop group from the UK Mamas Gun are poised to follow up Cure The Jones with another collection that recalls what was great about American R&B in 60s and 70s. DIG! is their sixth studio long-player, featuring more of songs that take you back to the Motown, Philly Sound and Hi-Hat Memphis soul of the Impressions, Marvin Gaye, Spinners and Al Green, but with a contemporary vibrancy. It’s led by a gifted singer-songwriter and instrumentalist in Andy Platts (Young Gun Silver Fox) who has a limitless knack for hooks and blending vintage styles into a familiar but fresh approach.
Andy Platts’ got a gift for songcraft but even he get writer’s block sometimes. When he had the concept for a song mostly…
Khruangbin did not know if they were actually making an album. All they knew in the first frigid days of 2025, as they shivered in the Central Texas barn where they’ve recorded almost all of their music, was that the 10th anniversary of their debut, The Universe Smiles Upon You, was steadily approaching. Months earlier, they’d bandied about ways to mark the occasion, debating orchestral arrangements or compendiums of bonus materials and alternate takes. Thing was, back before Khruangbin helped establish a new modern idiom of semi-instrumental and gently psychedelic American music, there had been no bonus material, no unused songs. And how interesting would alternate takes or symphonic extravagance really be for a band whose aesthetic-essential vibes…
Joyann Parker’s Life Lines embraces soul and grit over perfection. In place of overly polished production are genuinely heartfelt efforts, complete with powerful vocals from Parker. Simply, Life Lines is not an album you hear every day in modernity.
Parker started in music much later than many of her peers, which has profoundly influenced her career. Moreover, her success has been largely fan-driven, keeping her music genuine and earnest.
“I started doing this when I was older,” Parker recently told American Songwriter. “And so I felt like I had missed out on a lot. I thought, ‘I’ve got to fit in this box.’ I wasn’t very happy for a while; I don’t feel a lot of that pressure anymore.”
This raw, real approach is evident even in the simplest parts of this ’70s-tinged album,…
From joyful dancefloor productions to funky Afro-pop, reggae and gorgeously melancholic numbers, David Walters’ new album is an expansive affair. With a gang of guest producers including Captain Planet, Blundetto and Art of Tones onboard, the Franco-Caribbean multi-instrumentalist continues along the vein of his 2023 Soul Tropical album: a maximalist channeling of eclectic Afro-Caribbean themes, so brightly coloured that it often masks the personal burdens carried in his lyrics.
Always a great collaborator, Walters is joined by Fatoumata Diawara, Keziah Jones and Philo, who add their wonderful vocal talents to standout songs. However, the soul of the record remains Walters’ clear voice and guitar, the full-bodied production never obscuring how…
Glorious Mahalia is Kronos Quartet‘s third release for Smithsonian Folkways. It follows 2020’s Long Time Passing: Kronos Quartet & Friends Celebrate Pete Seeger, and 2022’s Mỹ Lai. It’s an homage to gospel singer and activist Mahalia Jackson’s work, music, life, and friendships. The idea for the album appeared to Kronos founder David Harrington in 2013 after seeing Clarence Jones, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s lawyer and speechwriter on TV discussing King’s “I Have a Dream” speech from the 1963 March on Washington. Jones provided King with written thoughts, about 15 paragraphs’ worth. As King spoke what he had been provided, Jackson, who had sung before him, was sitting near King and said, “Tell them about the dream. Tell them about the dream, Martin.”
Six years to the date of his last LP, Thundercat release his fifth studio album, Distracted, coming out via Brainfeeder. The new album features contributions from A$AP Rocky, WILLOW, Tame Impala, Channel Tres, Lil Yachty and a previously unreleased collaboration with the dearly departed Mac Miller.
Distracted was primarily created in close collaboration with a new creative partner for Thundercat – the superproducer Greg Kurstin, known for his work with some of the biggest names in pop like Adele, Paul McCartney, Sia, Beyoncé, Beck and more – with additional production turns on the record from Flying Lotus, Kenny Beats (Kenneth Blume), and The Lemon Twigs. Distracted vividly captures…
Arlo Parks has long made a home in vulnerability and poetic lyricism, and on Ambiguous Desire, she doubles down on that instinct with confidence. The album is full of psychedelic textures, punchy basslines, and dreamy vocals that blur together into something hypnotic but anthemic.
While the coherence of the record sometimes lends itself to monotony, the darker sonic undercurrent, coupled with a newly found more intricate and explorative sonority, has a sensation of quiet and dreamlike absorption.
Across the whole record, Parks’ vocals are soothing and ambivalent. ‘Get Go’, one of the album’s singles, is definitely the record’s most euphoric moment. Punchy but shimmery, its broadness conjures the feeling of dancing and…
The Beatles are a singularly iconic rock band. While plenty of classic rock groups, like the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and, most successfully, Queen, continue to rack up tens of millions of monthly Spotify streams, no other band remains as relevant as the Beatles. Many YouTubers build popular channels by explaining musical theory through their songs or by delving into the supposed mysteries of how their music was created.
That makes it increasingly more challenging to find a new perspective on the group. With a Little Help from My Friends: Covers of the Beatles 1967-1970 may well provide some interesting new points of discussion. Does it make for an equally enjoyable listening experience?
This 3-disc box set from Cherry Red Records…
Reverence for the organ trio tradition of 1970s soul jazz remains Parlor Greens’ guiding light on sophomore album Emeralds. The trio was founded when Tim Carman-whose heavy blues rock trio, GA-20, releases music through Colemine’s catch-all subsidiary Karma Chief-told Colemine founder Terry Cole about his aspirations for an organ trio after which Cole called up guitarist Jimmy James and organ player Adam Scone. James did a seven-year stint in the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, while Scone played an integral role in the late ’90s soul revival as a member of The Sugarman 3 and as a session player with Daptone. Not only had James and Scone played in organ trios in the past, but they’d previously collaborated on Brooklyn to Brooklin, the 2022 full-length…
Paul Carrack is releasing a concert album recorded at Royal Albert Hall in London on Oct. 24, 2024, in celebration of 50 years of his first hit, “How Long,” recorded with Ace in 1974.
For One Night Only (Live in London) comprises two halves with Carrack joined by special guests SWR big band and orchestra playing songs from the album Don’t Wait Too Long and the second half featuring Carrack with his own band playing all his big hits. They’re joined on two tracks by a 150-piece choir, Funky Voices.
Dubbed by the BBC as “The Man With the Golden Voice,” Carrack’s breakthrough moment came when he wrote and sang “How Long” from his days with Ace. Paul also enjoyed great success as the voice behind numerous hits for…
Hopes and Dreams is the title of the brand new compilation series from Tramp Records. This new series draws on the music selection of ‘Praise Poems’, not only in terms of obscurity, but also in terms of genius. Similar, but anything but a poor copy, the focus is on rare grooves from the 1970s. The album contains genuine rarities that definitely deserve more attention. Take, for example, the opener by Guamanian Frankie & the Karter’s Peanut Organization. The protagonist comes from Guam, a tiny island in the western Pacific, a good 5000km north of Australia. The previously unreleased ‘Back In Time’ comes from an acetate pressing. As far as we know, it is the only existing copy. Easy and Carrie Chaplin & Mark Perron delight us with light folk soul, and fans of Terry Callier will…
Dr. John – Live at Rockpalast 1999 is a powerful live document capturing one of New Orleans’ most iconic musical voices in full command of his craft. Recorded on July 9, 1999, at the legendary Loreley open-air stage in Germany.
Known worldwide as The Nighttripper, Dr. John—born Malcolm “Mac” John Rebennack Jr.—was far more than a performer. He was a musical high priest of New Orleans culture, blending blues, funk, R&B, Creole traditions, and voodoo mysticism into a sound that was entirely his own. A six-time Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, his influence reaches far beyond genre boundaries.
Dr. John’s recording career began in 1968 with the haunting debut album Gris-Gris, a spellbinding…