Category: Reviews

  • Singer/songwriter KT Tunstall has been a favorite of mine ever since the first time I heard “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” years ago. For many people, that was the only song of hers that they’d ever hear, since it was the only one that most radio stations — at least in the Boston area…

    Read more

  • Chrissie Hynde, otherwise known as The Pretenders, has teamed up with none other than The Black Key’s Dan Aurerbach for a new album coming soon — see press release below — and the lead single, “Holy Commotion!” is fantastic. It kicks off with some serious beats before chugging bass guitar and synth drop into the…

    Read more

  • The title track from K-Pop girl group Red Velvet’s Russian Roulette is about as catchy as K-Pop gets… which is, as we say in Massachusetts, wicked catchy! It has a lovely melody, lively beats, an infectious chorus and adorable voices — what more could you want from your K-Pop? Nothing!

    Read more

  • interview by Michael McCarthy Earlier this year I finally had the opportunity to interview Michael Sweet, lead singer and co-lead guitarist of Stryper, after wanting to interview him for 20 years since I started doing music journalism. During the interview, Michael revealed the probable title of his forthcoming solo album, One Side War. Well, that…

    Read more

  • onDeadWaves, the duo comprised of Polly Scattergood and James Chapman, have released Dusk Versions, two trippy tracks that will have you feeling like you’re gazing at the sun as it sets. First, is “California,” which is performed sans percussion, giving it a somewhat eerie vibe. You can almost hear ghosts calling from beyond way off…

    Read more

  • On their last few albums, Die Antwoord were a very gimmicky, almost comedic duo. As Ninja describes their new video for the single “Banana Brain, “A young girl sneaks out to a party with an unusual thug rap-raver boy and has the worst / best night of her life.” Suffice to say it’s a pretty…

    Read more

  • The second single from Stryper frontman Michael Sweet’s new solo album One Sided War is called “Radio” and it pokes fun at rockers who think they can just move to Nashville and become country stars. Starting and ending with banjo, it’s a pretty funny song, especially if you listen to the witty lyrics. I imagine…

    Read more

  • by Michael McCarthy If you’re a big fan of singer/songwriter fare then you might already be a fan of Nashville’s Daniella Mason, whose touching song “Sleep” was posted on Youtube approximately five years ago and has since been watched over 26,000 times. It was followed up with such emotive songs as “Shade of You” and…

    Read more

  • “Somebody help me…” Say Lou Lou’s new single is a cover of the Bee Gees classic “Stayin’ Alive” and it’s Fabulous with a capital F. Completely and utterly gorgeous. At times, it’s a faithful enough cover, but at others it’s a reinvention. If I’m being entirely honest, I must admit that I’m not much of…

    Read more

  • Lately, new release day has been so ho-hum.  The things I like tend to just creep out, sometimes on new release Friday, other times on the old new release Tuesday schedule…. Or on some arbitrary day of the week.  But today there are lots of solid releases out. The first is Butch Walker’s latest offering,…

    Read more

  • Read more

  • Today I went to order Melanie Martinez’s killer art pop album Crybaby on Amazon and it was 18 and change. Noticed that it’s also available on cassette for 24 and change. This is ridiculous. I know some people feel nostalgic about cassettes and I actually ordered a new cassette deck today, so I kind of…

    Read more

  • D∆WN, better known as Dawn Richard, veers in a mainstream R&B/pop direction with her new single “Cali Sun,” which hails from her third album, Redemption, which is said to be the “final installment in the trilogy.” I was a big fan of the two previous albums, Goldenheart and Blackheart, which were both very abstract sort…

    Read more

  • OK, so this is more of an interlude type of track than an actual song, but it’s the best thing I’ve heard all day, hence my dubbing it #songoftheday. What we have here is Earl Sweatshirt rapping about stuff and that’s always plenty to satisfy me. He’s one of the most under-rated rappers in the…

    Read more

  • Read more