Steeped in heartache and Mexi-Cali dust, The Heart Breaks is the album Pauline Andrès was born to write. Bearing the brunt of pain on songs such as “No Tienes Corazón” and the Bakersfield-inflected “If It’s Over”, Andrès exacts lyrical revenge…
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The thing about first loves is they never leave us. Memories linger, words uttered years or decades prior still ring true. For those whose first love was music — rock and roll — they would never lack for companionship. Certainly there…
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To mark Samhain, Denton, Texas musicians Daniel Markham and Claire Morales have donned musical costumes to create Harmony in Hell, a stripped-down collection of incantations for the darker half of the year. With appearances by the likes of Nosferatu (“Never…
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Goodluck Man, the debut album from Austin, Texas singer/songwriter Carson McHone, might as well have been cut live. Packed with attitude and vigor, the minimal production on Goodluck Man lets McHone’s raw talent beam. A student of classic honky-tonk, McHone…
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The two most dreaded words one can hear in advance of a new release: “Concept Album.” Sure, it can work for metal (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest) and prog acts (Yes, Genesis et al), punk and emo bands like Green Day…
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One could call Vacilando a vanity project given its players and their resources if it weren’t for their debut LP, While They Were Dancing, being so affecting. Featuring the executive team of Portland, Oregon’s Fluff & Gravy Records, Vacilando is…
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Following a rebranding, Nashville’s Benchmarks (née Todd Farrell & the Dirty Birds) mark their debut with the six-song American Night. A mix of old and new, the youthful yearning of 2013’s All Our Heroes Live in Vans remains on opener…
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Residing somewhere between Field Report and War on Drugs is Charlie Dakota & The Spirits. Awash in synths and pedal steel, the Mississippi quartet is in no hurry on the pensive “Glow,” the last song on their just-released Songs from…
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The heir apparent to Robyn Hitchcock, English singer/songwriter Chad Mason takes the reins on “Procrastination Day,” the first single from his just-release album, May ’14 and More. Composed of songs commissioned for a theatrical performance, May ’14 and More is…
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The ’90s lo-fi ethic owed more to a DIY ethic than any stylistic aesthetic. Birthed from necessity and a sense of urgency, the genre applies to today’s limited attention span of 140 characters or less. Kentucky’s punk poet laureate J. Marinelli…
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Returning with their 12th under-the-radar release of irreverent truth, the political father/son band Refried Ice Cream has delivered Cosmic Comic Book. A jazzy cacophony of Miles Davis, Tom Waits and Southern Culture on the Skids with a Texas drawl, “Solar Plane” cuts through…
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Following the breakup of his band Gift Horse, Athens, Georgia’s Hunter Morris gathered his thoughts in the streams of Georgia while pursuing his non-musical passion: fly fishing. Alone with only the sounds of nature and the past on his mind,…
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