by Tom Johnson The great Grant Lee Buffalo may have been long gone, but the heart was always just the voice and guitar of Phillips anyway, wasn’t it? In between takes as Gilmore Girls’ resident town troubador, Phillips found a few free moments to record this stripped down tribute toRead More

At first, there’s a homespun innocence about Bobby and Suzy, this brother-and-sister duo. Recording in their music room at Charleston, S.C., you can almost see them as they once were You May Also Like: Bobby Kimball – We’re Not in Kansas Anymore (2017) Bobby Kimball, former Toto frontman: Something Else!Read More

The new Doctor Faith, Christopher Cross’ first original studio album in 12 years, occasionally finds him taking a darker — hell, I’ll just say it, crankier — view of things. You May Also Like: No related posts.

by Tom Johnson I am convinced that Wainwright is this generation’s finest melodist. I can’t think of a single young artist who so beautifully crafts vocals in such a way that it simply doesn’t matter what he’s singing about: You just want to hear the melody he’s singing. And thereRead More

Dominated by a dreamy wah-wah from guitarist Kyle Sclafani, Mia Borders’ “Try Me On” initially brings to mind all of the big-hat-wearing, too-tall-bootsy joys of 1970s funk. When her lyric, which starts out sexy and tough, gives way to Adam Matasar’s throwback turn on the Fender Rhodes, the lava-lamp lightningRead More

by Tom Johnson Aimee Mann, the former ‘Til Tuesday frontwoman, turned in yet another amazing performance, this time in the form of a concept album centered on boxing as a metaphor for relationships. Or something like that. It doesn’t really matter; what matters was that Mann’s songcraft is once againRead More

With a piano signature that mimics rain water trickling from a downspout, and an easy-going, almost confidential delivery that sounds like a softer Toad the Wet Sprocket (or a tougher Gin Blossoms?) You May Also Like: Joe Bailey, “Waiting” from ‘Ghosts’ (2021): One Track Mind Michael Salvatori – ‘Waiting ForRead More

Sherman Ewing’s Single Room Saloon arrived with a sound that is at once intuitive and raw, but somehow well-worn and familiar, too. You May Also Like: Fernando Perdomo, progressive rocker: Something Else! Interview

When Christy Murphy’s off-kilter sensibility and spare folk-rock jangle mesh, as on the YouTube hit “Single Girl’s Love Song,” her album Feeling Good Looking Good is a merry little distraction. You May Also Like: Leviathan Drummer Gary ‘Roscoe’ Murphy: Something Else! Interview LCD Soundsystem, Aug. 5, 2016: Shows I’ll NeverRead More

“The marble index of a mind for ever voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone,” wrote Wordsworth in “The Prelude.” It was from this poem that German über model-turned-singer Nico took the inspiration You May Also Like: Bill Deal and the Rhondels – Vintage Rock (1969): Forgotten Series