If you were to go back and check the choices I made at the middle of 2012 for non-jazz albums released the first six months of that year, you’d find the artists being awarded were among the biggest hitmakers You May Also Like: How Robben Ford’s ‘The Inside Story’ IntroducedRead More

Baltimore-based Wye Oak took their name from a majestic 460-year-old tree that was finally felled by a lightning in 2002. Playing off their namesake, drummer Andy Stack and guitarist/vocalist Jenn Wasner make music that is sturdy and resilient You May Also Like: Gentle Giant – ‘Civilian’ (1980; 2022 reissue) GraceRead More

It’s been a really solid year for hard rock and metal so far. At six months, I’m often adding mediocre albums that I know won’t make the final list to get to 10. This year, I actually had to make a tough call or two. You May Also Like: WhyRead More

You might think, considering the scorching volume of their shows and the way they huddle together so closely in the middle of the stage, that Neil Young and Crazy Horse are all but deaf. Bassist Billy Talbot clarifies things. You May Also Like: No related posts.

Occasionally, an album comes bursting out of your speakers, and you know — just know — that it’s going to end up here, on your half-way best of list. And on the year-ending compendium, too. Steven Wilson put out that album. You May Also Like: No related posts.

In as much as they don’t have people like John Waite, Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips in the band anymore, the Babys sound almost exactly like they once did on an aptly named new single “Not Ready to Say Goodbye.” You May Also Like: No related posts.

Over a period of ever-shifting lineups, Edgar Froese has remained the stalwart mastermind of Tangerine Dream — always pushing the envelope, always searching for that next sound. The latest ones come from deep, deep space You May Also Like: No related posts.

A remastered reissue of the 2DVD/CD Tokyo Tapes — bolstered now with a new studio recording of Steve Hackett and John Wetton doing “All Along the Watchtower” — seeks to provide insights into both Genesis and King Crimson. You May Also Like: No related posts.

For a trio whose biggest single barely scratched the Top 40, Emerson Lake and Palmer still came to be associated with several key moments. Let’s go deeper.

To not like Amon Amarth is to not like heavy metal? I wish I’d written that, because I wholeheartedly concur.