When Vladimir Putin demonized LGBTQ people as part of his 2012 presidential re-election campaign and subsequently imposed regressive laws forbidding the positive portrayal of homosexuality in Russia (the infamous “Law for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for… Read More
I’ve seen a lot of live-streamed shows over the past year, but none have been stranger than the Hold Steady’s early December gigs at the Brooklyn Bowl. As you’d expect, they were playing in an empty room. Well, physically empty.… Read More
Peter Case releases The Midnight Broadcast worldwide on 12 March via Bandaloop Records. The collection comprises covers, ranging from Sleepy John Estes, St. Louis Jimmy Oden, and a host of tunes from the public domain. The record opens with an… Read More
At this point, Billy Bragg is more than just a musician; he’s an institution. The past 15 years have seen him become an author, political commentator, and de facto curator/proselytizer of the Woody Guthrie legacy, in addition to his own… Read More
Claudine, marketed as an urban drama but really just a love story like any other, was released among the slew of blaxploitation films that surged during the 1970s and, as such, was distinguished from those films as an emotional and… Read More
As new strains of the deadly coronavirus circulate globally, it seems that the more positive pandemic of post-punk continually mutates, re-infecting us with new renditions of itself every few years. Post-punk emanated from punk, of course, first as a reaction… Read More
Sigur Rós’ Odin’s Raven Magic came into existence in starts and stops like a bird that couldn’t get off the ground. The record, a live orchestral composition originally imagined by Sigur Rós, first saw the light of day nearly two… Read More
There Be Monsters is the sophomore release from Portland, Oregon’s Far Lands. Dropping on 30 April, the album finds Andy McFarlane, Ivan Howard, and Matt Drenik creating a quiet, contemplative series of songs that rewards deeper, meditative listening. Though the… Read More
The Fabulous Knobs were legendary in the Triangle area of North Carolina (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) at the dawn of the 1980s. Their music was an intoxicating mix of power-pop, 1960s Southern soul, and good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. Void of any… Read More
John B. Sebastian and the Lovin’ Spoonful used to sing that “there’s 1,352 guitar pickers in Nashville”—and that was back in 1967. Surely there’s more than that now with the Music City blossoming into a commercial country hub, not to… Read More