by S. Victor Aaron Recently, Wilco lead guitarist Nels Cline reconvened his scary good Nels Cline Singers and last spring the group released Initiate, an ambitious, 2-CD affair. So what does Cline do next? Why, he follows up today with another 2 CD release that’s pushing the boundaries even furtherRead More

by Pico It’s ritual groove music time again. The Swiss pianist and bandleader Nik Bärtsch has broken musical ground with his Ronin outfit, pioneering jazz that’s melodically sparse and rhythmically robust. Not dance music but very funky, not piano bar jazz but very soothing, Bärtsch and his crew create paradoxesRead More

With each layer of studio gimmickry that falls away, we hear more distinctly the way John Lennon was coming to terms with middle age.

photo by Todd Roeth by Mark Saleski I have proclaimed, on more than one occasion, that the world needs more sincerity. Just think of what it would do for politics: the black hole of sincerity. OK, it would destroy it! Never mind. Seriously, it has always bothered me when wordsRead More

by S. Victor Aaron OK, I relent. I was forced by the overwhelming evidence to do it. I had to create a new tag “Houston TX” because even though we’ve long had a “Texas” tag, the richness and diversity of good music originating from the Space City was more thanRead More

by Pico A couple of months ago, Robert Branch self-released an appealing little guitar fusion record that you just might to pay attention to if guitar fusion is your thing. But first, a short introduction to the man behind the album. Robert Branch grew up in Ft. Worth TX, butRead More

by Mark Saleski You’ll often find writing about music and art that separates the two things: music – art. We can all agree that music is an art form and that musicians are (or at least can be) artists. But what about the relationship between music and art? There hasRead More

The Doobie Brothers return with the same rich blend of acoustic and electric guitars, the strutting rhythm and those sumptuous backing vocals.

by Pico This past July the Axis Trio released Anthem, and it’s one of those defining records for this young and fledgling jazz threesome. The Axis Trio is comprised of pianist Amino Belyamani, bassist Sam Miniae and drummer and percussionist Qasim Naqvi. Belyamani is from Morocco, while Miniae is Iranian-AmericanRead More

by Pico Danilo Pérez is a name that’s come up often in this space whenever I’m boasting about what big names such-and-such artist has performed and/or recorded with. So, on the occasion of Pérez’s latest CD Providencia, perhaps it’s time to devote a little space to the guy who hasRead More