‘Numbers Maker’ sticks with the Desertion Trio original vision, but that vision is getting rougher and rowdier. Fortunately, Nick Millevoi & Co. know how to do rough ‘n’ rowdy.

What’s cool today might become passé, but ’50 Years of Funk and Soul’ reminds us that Tower of Power never will be anything less than hip.

Check out this satisfying fusion-jazz number “Truck Fump,” an advance single from Butcher Brown’s upcoming ‘Encore’ EP.

Ken Sharp’s latest album ‘Miniatures’ stands as a complete departure from the genre he is generally associated with among power-pop aficionados.

Big Monitors’ lively cover of “O’Neal’s Porch” is all about the exhilaration of freedom coupled with the majesty of tradition. That’s probably the best way to honor William Parker.

Thank you, Jim Steinman, for showing the world what feelings sound like when we let ourselves experience them at their loudest.

The WRD is Robert Walter, Eddie Roberts, Adam Deitch, and though there aren’t any words sung on ‘The Hit,’ there are bountiful hand-made grooves.

‘Third Impression’ is less a direct extension of Robert Berry’s earlier 3-related projects, and more a solo album following in their footsteps.

To quote Mark Twain, Israel Nash’s ‘Topaz’ is a “barrel of odds and ends,” spinning in a cosmic folky and sometimes soulful space.

The reflective “Smoke From the Chimney” is an advance single from the late Tony Joe White’s upcoming Dan Auerbach-produced album.