by Tom Johnson I am fully prepared to admit that I am wrong when I am wrong. I’m just not wrong that often, not about music. But, in this case, I’ve been wrong about John Mayer. You May Also Like: Nik Bärtsch’s Mobile – Continuum (2016) Thom Yorke – SpittingRead More

by Nick DeRiso Keith Horn is a tinkerer, someone who hammers things together to see what they can become. But, as with every workshop, having the right tools can make or break a project. Luckily Horn, a Los Angeles-based television composer since the early 2000s, has the cinematic chops toRead More

by Nick DeRiso Talk about a throwback. Here we have a guy known for these thrilling light shows at the old Fillmore East in New York, another who worked as a producer and songwriter with Aerosmith, Ringo Starr, Ozzy Osbourne and Harry Nilsson, and a dragon from Tolkien. I mean,Read More

The early Warner Bros.-focused ‘In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003’ does a great job of exploring a period I refer to as the band’s Adult Years.

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

by S. Victor Aaron It’s become a late winter tradition for three years running: covering a new release by the most successful electric blues artist of late, Joe Bonamassa. In ’09 it was The Ballad Of John Henry, then ’10 brought us Black Rock. The short story on the reviewsRead 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

Steely Dan stuck with me through the years, because this brainy, Jack Kerouac-type hipster band remained appealing even as my tastes in music evolved.