Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ is, quite simply, the greatest psychedelic album ever. Don’t bother writing, ‘Sgt. Pepper’ fans.

Everybody digs Nicole Mitchell. They love her in sweet hometown Chicago and all the critics in New York love her, too. Heck, even we discerning types at SER have taken a shining to her. She’s the consensus top flautist in the jazz world, she’s got a new record out, Awakening,Read More

If I have anything to say about technology in this space, it’s usually negative. People who know me are aware of the contradiction: I’ve made my living writing software and spend a lot of time on the Internet, and yet consider myself something of a Luddite. You May Also Like:Read More

New Life arrived amidst much anticipation of something in keeping with drummer Zigaboo Modeliste’s mythically groovetastic tenure with the Meters. And, bless him, I got it. But that wasn’t all. Take the title track. “New Life” doesn’t mimic the expected grease-fire funk of his old band, so much as forcablyRead More

by Fred Phillips When Johnny Cash came to work with Rick Rubin in the 1990s, American Records had another man in black already on the roster — Glenn Danzig. You May Also Like: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, “Boomtown Blues” from The Distance (1982): One Track Mind

Guitarist-composer Chris Taylor, at once, brings in familiar fusion influences like Weather Report, Pat Metheny and the Zawinul Syndicate, even while adding these fearless flashes of next-gen electronics — samples, voices, weird keyboard programming, chants, scronks, blips, scratches. It’s jam-packed with aural pokes, the kind of album where Taylor, frontingRead More

If you’re at all familiar with jazz bassist Marc Johnson you surely know about his classic 1987 album Second Sight (by his group Bass Desires). On that record, Johnson teamed up with Peter Erskine (drums) and the phenomenal guitar duo of Bill Frisell and John Scofield You May Also Like:Read More

When ZZ Top, tearing through “Waiting for the Bus,” howls “have mercy!” in tandem, I’m right there with them. You May Also Like: ZZ Top’s “El Diablo,” “Thunderbird,” “Rough Boy” + Others: Gimme Five

From the first honking strains of Roger Lewis’ sax on “The Treme Song,” amidst a howling group of happy singers led by David Montana and Fred Johnson Jr., the intentions of Treme Traditions are clear: Party. This album is like a street parade crammed inside of a shiny disc, courtesyRead More

by Mark Saleski Hard rock records (or, records that rock hard) that I have loved all have one thing in common: they cause an almost inexplicable joy inside of me. You May Also Like: Why Todd Rundgren’s ‘Back to the Bars’ Remains So Powerful New York United – ‘New YorkRead More