“Nothing is impossible.” That was Susan Alcorn’s assessment of the potential of the pedal steel guitar, the peculiar instrument that she made her own. Alcorn passed away at 71 in January 2025 as possibly the world’s pre-eminent pedal steel player, driven by a vision to bring as much out of it as possible and, in doing so, to gracefully apprehend and interpret whatever music caught her interest. In her final years, Alcorn joined forces with Nomad War Machine, the Philadelphia duo of drummer Julius Masri and guitarist James Reichard; Contra Madre is her first posthumous release, and her first documented foray into metal-adjacent spheres after a lifetime playing country, jazz, and free improv. Her first album with “these metal guys from Philly” is an unconventional…
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Inspired by the writings of Mark Fisher, Present Tense is about “mourning an imagined future.” xor (Asheville, North Carolina’s Matthew Boman) cites “old space age photos” as a prime example, lamenting that “there used to be so much optimism about what humans were going to achieve.” The feeling is common, as a seemingly unending barrage of bad news has caused a worldwide malaise. And yet, Boman ~ who saw his own community flooded during Hurricane Helene, but was also part of the rebuilding ~ does more than lament; he also plunges forward in hope. Building a community around the album, he commissions seven different filmmakers to produce videos for the tracks, underlining the value of collaboration and the possibility that things…
May the spring of amazing music sourced from the original UK DIY scene never run dry. Similar to other widespread, years-long U.S. macro-scene equivalents like mid-’60s garage rock or early 1980s hardcore punk, the well of UK DIY seems to be an inexhaustible resource. We owe a debt of gratitude to labels like Minimum Table Stacks, whose first foray into archiving UK DIY yielded a superb EP from long-lost Welsh group Violin Sect. It’s not an easy process tracking down band members, securing the rights, digging up unheard material, remastering the audio and presenting it with just the right amount of reverence — but not too much. After all, this cheeky, arch music was made by a generation that grew up watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus and…
Although she slightly narrows the eclectic range of influences exhibited over the years by colorful Elephant 6 affiliate Dressy Bessy, fans of the long-running band won’t want to miss the solo debut of their leader, Tammy Ealom, now operating under the moniker the Tammy Shine. Landing on a freewheeling indie pop injected with the spirits of strutting glam, punk, and outsiders in general, the 12-track OK Shine OK was written, recorded, and mixed entirely by Ealom, who also D.I.Y.’d the artwork, and promotional material like music videos and portrait photography.
The resulting album sounds like it was all a lot of fun as she kicks things off with the clap-along tune “Shaky Shaky” and the spoken sentiment “Hey, it’s springtime, let’s go.” The hooky riffs,…
Bruce Springsteen is out to save America with rock and roll. On Friday night, in a Moda Center packed with screaming, singing fans, it felt like he might just do it.
At 7:30 p.m., long lines still snaked around the Rose Quarter. So it was about 10 minutes after the planned start time that Springsteen and the E Street Band took the stage for the second stop of their Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour.
It was the only hiccup in what became a high-intensity all-American political-musical-spiritual experience for the rapturous crowd.
The show began with a thesis statement. “The America that I love, the America that I’ve written about for 50 years, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world is…
It is hard to believe that Oxis, the marine-based electronic singer/songwriter/producer, only started her series of self-titled releases three years ago. Her music reaches a level of intimacy and vulnerable storytelling that makes listening to it feel like a chat with an old, prophetic friend, someone you never forget but can never pin down for too long. All this, despite her production percolating with alien-like textures derived from nimble drum patterns and palpable ambiance. Oxis’s pop-tinted, experimental approach has been stretched out across seven projects so far, and the next installment is finally here.
Oxis 8, the latest addition to the multi-hyphenate’s beloved album series, is another quick yet potent and fun exploration into…
Under myriad monikers and as part of other bands since the late ‘80s, Düsseldorf-based musician Stefan Schwander has followed his nose for finest blends of Pan-African and Mid-Eastern rhythm threaded thru the lens of Ruhr region machine music minimalism.
His 9th LP proper as Harmonious Thelonious, Grumpy Pieces naturally continues his custom-built trade with no major alteration to the formula; just eight tracks of infectiously hypnotic swing, shuffle and parry for dancers who like to get right into it, either physically or in their own heads, where they’re the greatest dancer you’ve never seen (or is that just us?).
The pure pleasure of syncopated subtlety guides the groove, alliterating lop-sided loops…
The Colin Currie Group formed 20 years ago to honour Steve Reich’s 70th birthday with a performance of Drumming. This year, the great American composer turns 90, making this, the group’s fourth Reich album on Currie’s own label, a double celebration.
Sextet, hailing from 1985, features two keyboardists playing piano and synthesisers alongside four percussionists on marimbas, vibraphones, bass drums, crotales, sticks and tam-tams. Shifting patterns interlock with the precision of a Swiss watch across one of the composer’s typical fast, slow, fast, slow, fast arcs. Currie’s recording flickers with subtle nuances with a naturalistic sound less closely mic’d than in Reich’s own classic accounts.
Bands are like the people in them; they tend to get set in their ways. But not Cleared. The sole fixed part of their method is that guitarist/electronic musician Michael Vallera (Luggage, Maar, numerous solo recordings and a swell duo with Lee Ranaldo) and drummer/electronic musician Steven Hess (RLYR, Haptic, Locrian, Slow Bell Trio) are both involved. They have the potential to like an instrumental rock combo and have often done so on previous recordings. But Lustres, their first for the Australian Room40 label, continues a process of ping-ponging material into diffusion.
One of the musicians collects, plays or synthesizes some audio, then sends it to the other. He works on it, adding and subtracting and atomizing the sound, then sends it back. The work gets…
South Africa’s BCUC – Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness – have been channeling the spirit of Soweto for over twenty years. Indigenous funk, hip-hop consciousness, and punk rock energy fused into something utterly original and deeply rooted. The road is never easy is BCUC’s fifth album and their debut on Outhere Records. The album was largely recorded in Munich, Germany during tour breaks over two sessions, each three days long. It took place in a small studio located in a German WW II bunker converted into rehearsal spaces. The songs were recorded in one take altogether in one room, with only a few overdubs added, mainly backing vocals, by BCUC at Fourways studio in Johannesburg.
…Its ten new songs are rooted in the unique…
…19-track deluxe album, with four new songs.
The emergence of Laufey, the Icelandic-Chinese singer-songwriter who has become one Gen Z’s chief flag-waver for throwback pop, is largely attributable to her abundant talent. She has a sculptural alto that easily curves into her heart-on-sleeve lyrics, a knack for marrying 21st-century problems with fishhook melodies that recall standards from previous centuries, and a keen sense for framing those vocal lines in arrangements that highlight the tensions lurking underneath.
She’s also a product of her time, when critical masses in pop can develop away from the expected places. TikTok has the lipsync-showcase app Musical.ly in its DNA, and cuts from old Broadway hits, honky-tonk jukeboxes, and…
…The anniversary edition expands the original 11-track record with three bonus tracks.
Portland rockers Summer Cannibals step up their game on Full of It, their label debut for Kill Rock Stars. A solid pair of self-released LPs and countless touring miles have earned them plenty of respect in the Northwest and beyond, and they make the most of their heightened exposure by delivering their tightest outing yet. Led by singer/guitarist Jessica Boudreaux, the group sports a streamlined new sound courtesy of both producer Chris Woodhouse (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees) and a retooled lineup that features bassist Jenny Logan and drummer Devon Shirley alongside longtime guitar man Marc Swart. There are certainly elements of fuzzy garage pop in…
It is always fascinating recognising influences in a band or artists style, but noting how they have been adapted, morphed into something different and new. For the Brighton based three-piece rock band Tigercub, influences like Nirvana and Queens of The Stone Age are easy and obvious to grasp, but it is also apparent how the trio push through into their own style and making.
For those not in the know, Tigercub consist of Jamie Stephen Hall (vocals/guitar), Jimi Wheelwright (bass) and James Allix (drums). For the last 15 years they have honed and refined their alternative rock sound, and their albums so far – particularly with 2021’s As Blue As Indigo – have seen them build upon the shifting, quiet-loud dynamics that Cobain and co helped spread across the airwaves.
Staying positive is an incredibly difficult skill to maintain. With all the negativity and palpable tension thickening the air, stirring up a fog so dense we sometimes forget to look at our fellow humans and share a smile, being the one to break the mold and share a technology-free moment with someone, or anything, is a scary undertaking. It is much easier to fall victim to the downtrodden nature that seems to plague the world around us, and thankfully, Scott Kinnebrew has never been fond of the easy route. The road-tested veteran and member of the beloved country rock outfit Truth and Salvage Co has always brought a complexity to his art that is both welcoming and compelling. On the other hand, his solo work under the moniker Sounding Arrow is getting…
There is a pervasive scepticism that shadows any artist whose rise is catalyzed by the weirdly unforgiving, blistering algorithms of social media. When someone builds an audience through 60-second clips of virtuosic bedroom playing, the industry immediately asks: “Can they write a song, or can they just play the instrument?”
With the release of her debut full-length, Evening Star, Emma Harner doesn’t just answer the question; she completely dismantles it. Arriving in the wake of her breakout 2025 EP Taking My Side and a string of sold-out international dates, Harner‘s debut is a masterclass in tension and release, proving her to be one of the most formidable architects of modern folk and math rock working today.
In parts of Southern Italy, the separation between music and everyday life has only grown, as traditions have been flattened and “folklorized” into postcard versions of themselves. On their self-titled debut, Palermo collective Lero Lero push against that logic. Drawing from 20th-century Sicilian sound archives, they treat this material not as something to safeguard, but something to work through, asking what it means to inherit a tradition that has been interrupted or distorted.
Alessio Bondì, Donato Di Trapani, and Fabio Rizzo pull from agropastoral songs, laments, lullabies, and canti di sdegno, holding onto their emotional weight while driving them into new terrain. Though their process starts at the source — learning the songs, the shapes of the melodies,…
Thirteen years is too long between Telecaster expert Tom Principato’s studio releases (his previous one was 2013s terrific Robert Johnson Told Me So). It’s especially frustrating because he was prolific for so many years, especially during the ’90s – early ‘00s, recording many albums on his own Powerhouse label. In 2001 alone there were three titles. He also penned two books; a guitar instructional in addition to a 2020 gathering of memoirs, wryly titled ‘They Tell Me I Had a Good Time.’ So it’s refreshing to welcome the guitarist back, undoubtedly inspired, on Twangin’s eleven-track instrumental collection of obscure covers and fresh originals.
As the title implies, Principato aims for a lighter but no less arresting approach. He was…
Tenor saxophonist Javon Jackson brings out the soulful side of Bob Dylan on his 2026 covers album, Jackson Plays Dylan. One of the final members of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Jackson plays with a big warm tone and lyrical harmonic style that evokes a pure balance of both John Coltrane and Joe Henderson. While he’s never been shy about underscoring his influences, he’s been deliberate about tribute projects, releasing one Coltrane album in 2012 and unexpectedly pairing with poet/activist Nikki Giovanni for two covers albums that creatively expanded the format. Tackling Dylan feels less out of the blue, yet no less inspired, as Jackson takes on some of the iconic folk singer’s best-known songs, transforming them into something that feels as earthy…
Described as a “musical poem”, Mount Analogue is a lengthy meditation on the works of avant-garde poet and writer René Daumal that’s passed from Bill Laswell and P.St (plus an ensemble featuring Nils Petter Movaer, Anna Clementi, Hideo Yamaki and others) to guitarist Henry Kaiser.
Mount Analogue is named after Daumel’s most well-known book, the self-styled “Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing” that emerged almost a decade after his early death at just 36 in 1944. That text is excerpted here on the album-length title composition, that Czech experimental sort P.St leads on electronics alongside Laswell, Kaiser, vocalists Clementi and Percy Howard, percussionist Yamaki, cornet player…
But a single listen to Heart Songs is required to recognize how natural a fit Cassie To is for Nat Bartsch’s Amica Records imprint. As the eight pieces featured on the thirty-three-minute album reveal, the Sydney-based To composes music possessing many of the same qualities that distinguish Bartsch’s own: heartfelt, intimate, elegiac, and harmonious neo-classical settings that couple piano, strings, and painterly dashes of woodwinds, synthesizers, and electronics into transporting chamber wholes.
Both artists produce spiritually replenishing music of humanity, integrity, and authenticity. Consistent with To’s own comment that “running through all of it is a thread of hope,” her music chooses uplift over resignation. It’s not…