The Birmingham, AL based outfit Williamson Brothers deliver their brand of lo-fi, punkish, southern rock and roll on their newest offering, Aquila. The twelve-song offering recorded at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, MS has a cool combo of grit and grime along with some spit and polish.
On her excellent 2023 self-titled debut album, Blondshell (aka Sabrina Teitelbaum) expertly laid out her pain and broken relationships around throwback 1990's alt-rock sounds. For her follow-up, If You Asked For A Picture, the Los Angeles based artist keeps the tales of poor life choices and relationship failures coming, but this time tones down the backing tracks for more pop-rock friendly sound.
The newest offering from singer/songwriter S.G. Goodman, Planting Signs, looks deep into her home territory of Western Kentucky with a collection of weepy folk/American tunes. Goodman mixes story songs, sweet love offerings and tunes of sadness as she mourns the passing of time and friends.
The newest offering on Rounder Records from guitar great Samantha Fish, Paper Doll, continues Fish's style of supped up rocking blues, yet turns down her recent electro-pop tinges.
The debut release from the New Orleans, LA based Sally Baby's Silver Dollars is a self titled collection of six tunes that show off this talented new group as the tracks were deeply inspired by their home cities rich musical past.
The solo project of Chicago based Kai Slater from Lifeguard is named Sharp Pins and his newest release, Radio DDR is acollection of 14 tunes that recall the Paisley Underground and dreamy indie-pop with a DIY approach as Slater dishes out twinkling tunes and easy flowing sounds with various levels of scuffed up production.
The newest release from the New Orleans, LA based doom/experimental outfit Guts Club is a capturing of the quartet's haunting power and tone. Titled Please Come Back To The Farm, the four track record finds each song running long as the band's dense sound leads to crackling and distorted speakers.
For his album And That's When I Saw Gawd, the New Orleans based hip hop artist Ferris Blusa partnered with the Madison, WI based producer Observe Since 98to craft a full length flowing album that thematically holds together questioning televangelism, religion and more.
The blues rocking guitarist and songwriter Eric Johanson's newest release, Live in Mississippi, captures his raucous live sound as the New Orleans based artist mixes up the blues, rock and roll, soul and a touch of voodoo.
This kick in the teeth album from the Leeds UK based punk/hardcore outfit Total Con is a furious unleashing of aggression as Who Needs The Peace Corp? harkens back to the stripped down early sounds of the genres. Even before the music charges out, the album cover from Karim Newble, gives that retro punk/hardcore visual feel, matching the tunes contained within.
RtBE not only writes about music, but also creates some. Angels & Vagabonds (mostly) acoustic EP titled Anyways...turns ten years old.
It is exciting to go from critic/reviewer of music, to creator of tunes. Special thanks goes out to friends and bandmates who helped with this one. While it has been quite a few years since a release from the group, more music is actually on the way...
The partnership between Ale Hop (Peruvian electronic musician and researcher Alejandra Cárdena) and Congolese guitarist Titi Bakorta is a very interesting mix of cultures, sounds and styles as the music bounces, shakes and shimmies down a new path of Peruvian/African rhythms. Mapambazuko is a wild ride and one very much worth taking.
The Montreal based Prism Shores deliver their dreamy, warm, indie-pop on their newest full length offering, Out From Underneath. The languid riffs and easy flowing tunes drip out over these ten contemplative offerings.
The second full length release from the Indianapolis, IN based death metal outfit Fleshbore is Painted Paradise, a scorching romp through hysterically fast riffs and thuds as the group screams, thrashes and headbangs their path forward.
The only record (that RtBE knows of) released by White Denim frontman James Petralli under this alter ego and now that White Denim is basically a solo project, it is doubtful anymore Bop English albums show up! RtBE loves this album, rating it as our favorite of 2015 and it made our list of the favorites of the past decade.
The UK based Charley Records specializes in reissues and earlier this year they re-released The Paragons, On The Beach. Originally available in 1967 on Treasure Isle, the rocksteady/reggae offering is a joyful listen with rich harmonies, great sound and flowing groove.
The newest release in Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad's Jazz Is Dead series finds the duo working with a 88 year old Ghanian highlife and Afrobeat pioneer. Ebo Taylor: Jazz Is Dead 22 captures the elder statesmen Ebo Taylor still creating at a high level.
The story goes...in the lead up to our first St. Paddy's Day gig our band (Angels & Vagabonds) were working on some traditional Irish songs to play and our lead singer/keyboard player Don McNally realized they were basically all the same chords just re-arraigned.
So the Irish American from Woodside, Queens, NYC dug into his past and crafted QBS. He brought it to the group and after a few tweaks it was ready for prime time, we actually played it only about a week after it was written.
A little inside baseball into our process, now go celebrate by hoisting a pint....Happy St. Paddy's!
The New Orleans, LA based, 12 piece, gutter jazz, street band The Dirty Rotten Vipers deliver their debut album, Tip The Band with all of the energy and joy that makes them a blast to catch down on Royal St. and St. Peters in the French Quarter when they are busking.
The trio of Bill Frisell, Andrew Cyrille and Kit Downes came together to record Breaking The Shell for Red Hook Records, at the historic St. Luke's In The Fields church in New York City's Greenwich Village. This unique setting inspired the artists, as did the church's large pipe organ. The resulting experimental jazz album, hums, buzz's and bang's as the avantgarde playing from the trio reverberates off the historic walls.
