Of all the different types of americana, bluegrass can be one of the most challenging to review – but some might say that’s an unintended consequence of one of its most elemental qualities. After all, like the earliest rockabilly and rock’n’roll, bluegrass was originally mainly intended to be a form of popular, grassroots entertainment, so it would typically rely heavily on formulaic, intentionally repetitive musical structures. Those predictable structures were great for keeping the dancehall public on side – most of whom were just there to dance, not focus too hard on the intricacies of the music – while simultaneously allowing musicians to show off their technical virtuosity, one of bluegrass’ stand-out features. But with lyrical originality often not a top priority either, compared to…
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While much of Josh Halper’s notoriety likely stems from his work as a sideman and lead guitarist for artists like Tommy Prine, Peter One, Lily Hiatt, and Teddy and the Rough Riders, there’s no mistaking the fact that combining his ample guitar skills with his abilities as a singer/songwriter make for the best possible way to experience this fascinating, multitalented, Tennessee-raised “New York Jewish Deadhead”, as he describes himself on his Bandcamp page. Halper’s latest album, Schlemiel, pairs incisive songwriting with his brilliant, moving skills as a guitarist.
The follow-up to 2020’s Alrightnik, Schlemiel takes the first album’s dazzling qualities – sublime guitar playing, witty wordplay, and unique arrangements – and continues to build on them.
A beautifully curated collection of music, Pōpoloheno: Songs of Resilience & Joy doubles as a powerful moment of acknowledgement of a largely unknown part of African and Hawaiian history. The album addresses the presence and history of African people in Hawaii via traditional mele inoa (name songs), songs of love, songs of heritage and, perhaps most importantly, songs of tribute when it comes to the longevity of the African experience. Pōpoloheno, named after the pōpolo (a black-coloured berry found in Polynesia; also used as a pejorative term against people of African descent), is a compilation of songs and stories that reclaim the term, highlighting the vibrancy and legacy of this community.
Notable creative visionary Māhealani Uchiyama…
Great albums tend to make an impact from the get-go. Even greater albums hit the mark when they make an instant impact in a modest way. This is how Belfast-born Matt Benson’s debut album opens with an astonishingly accomplished song, ‘The London Line’. With a feel that mixes the best of Randy Newman and Dr John, this song is an instant classic. Opening with a gentle piano tinkling, we then hear Benson’s majestic vocals start telling a fascinating story. It’s a barroom romance set on the day that Benson moved back to Ireland after 10 years in London. It opens with the arresting line “She had a lust for irreverence and a loathing for the self”. Having grabbed your attention in the most subtle yet effective way possible, the song develops with a little help from his band…
The music of Estonian composer Toivo Tulev has been described as minimalist, and it has been conducted by the likes of Paul Hillier, who might seem ideal for getting its sparse, precise textures. However, the music on this 2025 release really isn’t minimalist (and nor is it nationalist music of the old Soviet type). It is more or less programmatic, for one thing, with each of the four works on the album having specific extramusical references; the album’s title work is clear enough in what it depicts, and the colors of the music, though they emerge slowly, are highly varied. Two folk flutes appear on the album, the ney in the solo title work and the kaval in Black Mirror, which is written for an entire symphony orchestra. The final Fana is for the unusual combination of voice and viola.
Remastered from the original tapes by Matt Colton.
After releasing Sabresonic, the Sabres of Paradise decided to give their sound a facelift. The trio of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner, and Gary Burns set aside the surprisingly straight-ahead techno sounds of their previous work and shot off into a variety of directions, adding trip-hop, speaker-rattling dub, spy themes, library music, and lopsided funk to the mix on Haunted Dancehall.
It’s a gritty, constantly surprising record that displays more of the genre-smashing appeal of Weatherall’s remix work and along the way invents noir techno. It started life as something of a concept album with liner notes by Irvine Welsh detailing the outlines of the story. Though the group replaced his work, the idea is still…
Remastered from the original tapes by Matt Colton.
Sabres of Paradise‘s debut album, Sabresonic, established the trio’s club bona fides in spades, whether that club was an all-night rave, a sweaty bar with crummy speakers, or a chill-out room. Andrew Weatherall, the most well known of the group, had already established himself as a trailblazing remixer, and this record felt like his calling card to be a dues-paying member of the techno club. He, Jagz Kooner, and Gary Burns whipped up numerous tracks that rolled well past the five-minute mark, underpinned by thumping drums, thunderous sequencers, and sleek synths. The opening “Still Fighting,” a reclaimed bit of club nirvana that was meant to be a remix of a Primal Scream track, sets the stage, and…
Few bands have gone to the heart of our country like Cold Chisel. Formed over 50 years ago in Adelaide, Cold Chisel found their audience their own way. Ultimately, the band’s early years of struggle gave way to their incredible songs, incendiary performances and legendary defiance – leading to them becoming one of the biggest and most lauded bands in Australian music history. Since then, their evocative lyrics and melodies on songs like Flame Trees, Khe Sanh, Bow River, You Got Nothing I Want, My Baby, Choirgirl, When The War Is Over, Standing on the Outside and more have become embedded in our national psyche.
In late 2024 and early 2025, Cold Chisel undertook their sold-out 50th anniversary tour, The Big Five-0, which was seen by over 250,000 people…
The Warlocks return with their 14th studio album The Manic Excessive Sounds Of. The band are led by the irrepressible Bobby Hecksher, and have become foundational within the 21st century outer-national psych community. Melding together lysergic songwriting with aspects of shoegaze, indie, and beyond, The Warlocks are now 25 years – and counting – since influential debut ‘Rise & Fall’.
‘The Manic Excessive Sounds Of’ finds The Warlocks grappling with fresh ideas. Continually evolving their sound, there’s an increased use of acoustic guitars, added to some nimble single line lead that recalls The Feelies. A counter cultural force, the band’s excesses have led to the palace of wisdom – now working in a more intentional manner, The Warlocks remain hugely impactful.
Over the past two years, Kaique Vieira, AKA DJ K, has been crafting a new sound of São Paolo. Influenced by local favela street parties, the 24-year-old producer takes the distorted bass, Afro-Brazilian rhythms and vocal melodies of baile funk – a dance genre that originated in Brazil in the 80s – and adds a darker palette of reverb-laden vocal lines, rave sirens and buzzing synths to create a style he calls bruxaria (witchcraft). Vieira’s 2023 debut Pânico no Submundo was a 15-track introduction, harnessing the sound of blown-out speaker cones. Radio Libertadora! moves into even bolder and louder territory, developing his nascent genre into a source of dancefloor chaos.
Opening with a sample of a 1969 radio speech by the revolutionary Carlos Marighella, which…
Out of all the former Beatles, Paul McCartney has had the most successful and diverse solo career, maintaining a constant presence in the British and American charts during the 1970s and ’80s and becoming a musical and cultural icon in the decades since.
McCartney’s hot streak began in 1970, when he became the first Beatle to leave the group and quickly began accumulating hit singles and best-selling albums as a solo artist. Then, he formed Wings in late 1971 with his wife Linda and Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine, and the group remained active for the next ten years, racking up a string of hit albums, singles, and tours in the meantime. Wings disbanded in 1980, but McCartney stayed near the top…
Joe Hisaishi Conducts… documents a concert given at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall on 31 July 2024. There Hisaishi performed his own ‘The End of the World’ suite in a version as well as his friend and colleague Steve Reich’s ‘The Desert Music’.
Inspired by a visit to New York City in 2007, Hisaishi composed ‘The End of the World’ as a three-movement suite that explores the chaos resulting from the collapse of global order in the aftermath of 9/11. By 2015, Hisaishi had transformed the suite into a five-movement work. Reich’s ‘Desert Music’ was inspired by three American deserts with historical and personal significance.
For the concert, Hisaishi was joined by Future Orchestra Classics, an orchestra of young…
A prominent custodian of traditional Solomon Islands culture, Natty Dolaiasi hails from the Adegege people of Lau, on the island of Malaita.
His personal mission is to maintain the ancient chants, stories, poems and rhythms of his ancestors, while also making them relevant to a wider world.
Dolaiasi has represented the Solomon Islands internationally for many years; back in 1995 he was involved with the groundbreaking project Siva Pacifica, and he has appeared at the Pacific Arts Festival, WOMADelaide, the Melanesian Arts Festival and the 2023 Pacific Games ceremonies.
On his debut album, the title-track (which translates as ‘Journey’) chronicles the ancestral seafaring migrations of his forefathers across…
Bringing new life to jazz standards is a longtime tradition in jazz, whether it be on the bandstand or in the studio. With their latest Sunnyside recording, Standard Deviations, the iconic drummer Mike Clark and Los Angeles-based tenor saxophonist Michael Zilber venture there once again, following Mike Drop, their 2021 Sunnyside release. The result is a swinging session of jazz pearls in quartet mode, with pianist Joe Davis and bassist Alex Claffey joining in the fun.
Clark, for his part, seems to be pigeonholed into the fusion and funk categories of jazz drumming, even as he enters his mid-to-late-70s. It is an unfair characterization, though, considering his immense history in the music, and his marvelous sense of swing. This particular union…
Rosali makes songs that take their time in revealing their full power. What might appear to be restrained, introspective compositions will stretch slowly outward, snagging your attention with a sideways guitar lead or an exceptionally raw lyric you didn’t catch the first time around. Her softly glowing music is deceptively fluid, able to appear patient and refined at the edge of unraveling.
Slow Pain: Live and Solo from Drop of Sun captures an intimate performance of eight tracks from Rosali’s acclaimed 2024 Merge debut Bite Down and standalone single “Hey Heron.”
Recorded April 23, 2025, at the vaunted Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville, NC, these recordings go beyond showing the bones of Bite Down. Pared down to Rosali’s voice and guitar and performed…
Following on from the cleverly connected titles of songwriter Karl Frog’s first two albums — I Love Music and Why Music? — his third release Yes, Music, finds him firmly returning to a more affirmative approach. This collection of 11 songs, all in a similar vein to his previous work, taps into a myriad of influences, while so distinctively remaining as a whole. Frog, a Canberrian / Estonian, has worked as an office assistant, a printer technician, a teacher and a baggage handler. In his spare time, he is an amateur musician. Tinkering away at bedroom recordings and stumbling across melodic gems as he goes, Yes, Music is an eclectic album, channeling everything from new-wave, modern jangle, synth pop, and even some slight baroque influences.
Doc Pomus was a songwriter’s songwriter, crafting lyrics that have stood the test of time. You Can’t Hip A Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos is a masterclass in songwriting through the lens of Doc Pomus’ career and via previously unheard demos largely sung by his writing partner, Mort Shuman. You Can’t Hip A Square traces Doc and his songwriting partners’ careers across the beloved rock, pop and R&B hits that became 20th century standards. Songs like, “A Teenager In Love,” “Viva Las Vegas,” “Lonely Avenue,” “Save The Last Dance For Me,” “This Magic Moment,” recorded by artists like Elvis Presley, Lou Reed, The Drifters, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, The Coasters, Dionne Warwick, Dion, The Everly Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, and more!
The clearly audible connection that’s developed between guitarist José Gobbo, bassist Max Beckman, and drummer Jay Ferguson since their formation as a trio in 2022 is vividly captured on the aptly titled Confluence, the unit’s follow-up to 2024’s Current. Confluence is Gobbo’s seventh album as a leader, but it’s the first time he’s used the same personnel as on a previous recording, that detail alone testifying to the special status of the trio. Still, as critical as all three are to its sound and identity, the guitarist’s undoubtedly the one in charge: in addition to being the lead voice and primary carrier of melody, he’s credited as the composer of the album’s six pieces. The telepathy that emanates from each one didn’t just happen but accrued from the many…