by Nick DeRiso There are songs you listen to with one elbow jutting out a car window, the gas pedal cutting into the floor mat. Then there are the things that open up different vistas, albums that bring you around to quieter places — sounds that force you to stopRead More

You expected the Cars, reformed without the late bass-playing vocalist Benjamin Orr, to come out with a sad song. Not a track called “Sad Song” that sounds anything but. You May Also Like: Todd Rundgren jumpstarted the New Cars’ surprisingly fun It’s Alive The Cars’ Often-Overlooked ‘Candy-O’ Still Revs WithRead More

by Nick DeRiso The 1970s weren’t all shag carpeting and plaid pants. OK, they were. But not all of it sucked. Really. We’ve done the research. If it meant dusting off the turntable, digging out the flared pants, and fro-ing up their hair again? Well, those are the sacrifices thatRead More

by Nick DeRiso First off, this doesn’t start off with any piano, but also not the churchy wistfulness of the Cowboy Junkies’ 1987 breakthrough The Trinity Session. Instead, there is a gnarled electric guitar from Michael Timmins, a mashed-down organ and an updated worldliness in Margo Timmons’ familiar alto. They’reRead More

By Nick DeRiso It’s tempting to get too comfy, as Kimball Gallagher dots Orange with a series of spare, acoustic guitar-driven ruminations. It’s never long, however, before this New York City-based Boston native has amped up his dark themes of life and loss into a gritty outburst of power-pop. ThatRead More