Everyone's a Critic
The current foul-mouthed darlings of music press from London to New York, Nottingham’s Sleaford Mods, have unleashed their eighth album, Divide and Exit. From the same neck of the woods as Robin Hood, Sleaford Mods’ …
Lionel Richie launched the show with the latter-day “All Around the World,” but then dismissed any critics by playing a full set of hits from the ‘80s and earlier. He began with a rendition of …
Just one night after appearing at Long Beach’s Ink ’n’ Iron Festival, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson played for a smaller, but no less enthusiastic, sold-out crowd at the Casbah. For many, …
The line of musical soldiers widening the Americana trail continues to increase, whether the attack leans in a hard-hitting, bad-ass direction or concocts idyllic portraits (“Chopping wood and carrying water, everything was better”). Zoe Muth …
While watching the “absolutely fabulous” Black Flag tribute band “Black Fag” at the Soda Bar, the major flaw with the current touring version of Black Flag finally dawned on me. There is no joy in …
John Newman’s debut opens with a slow string section, a voice that sounds like the singer reading out great acts of ages past, and an electronically whirl-winded “Crystal,” from the AT&T Natural Voices® synthesized voice …
It should be within every budding musician's interests to play like Thundercat. The bass wizard Stephen Bruner could very well start a school, if he had any desire to. The six-string bassist got his start …
The third release from Mac DeMarco, a Brooklyn-via-Montreal singer/songwriter, depicts a man at a crossroads, surrounded with watershed moments and letters from home. The road previous was a laidback guitar-driven daydream, silly yet stunning, how …
Heartbreak once again plagues indie darling Lykke Li. Previously, the singer expanded her break-ups into a larger-than-life drama. For her new album, I Never Learn, she wastes no time on fancy tricks, instead keeping her …
Band of Skulls erupted at House of Blues with their edgy, high-octane blues rock that at times sounded like the love child of Cream and Black Sabbath. The UK trio rolled in, strapped up, and …
Tom Jones’s House of Blues concert was a more stripped-down affair than his typical shows. It was billed as a blues show, but people expecting Jones to wail away on Chicago blues classics like “Sweet …
On Cloud Nothings’ 2012 album Attack on Memory, producer Steve Albini scoured reverb and fuzz to expose singer Dylan Baldi's facility with bittersweet melody. With John Congleton producing, Here and Nowhere Else presents Cloud Nothings …
The debut full-length from Sisyphus, an amalgamation of three disparate indie forces (Sufjan Stevens, Serengeti, Son Lux) commissioned by the Walker Art Center, is grounded in a thesis Sufjan relayed in a prerelease interview on …
Casbah concertgoers gathered to see Brooklyn-based indie-rock poster children DIIV perform a sensory-soaked performance. Frontman Zachary Cole Smith walked onstage to tune his guitar and cheekily greeted the audience before plunging immediately into their debut …
There is something about Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn that aches with nostalgia. When the piece started at the Jacobs Music Center on Saturday night, I settled in to experience a happy …
Ever since he lo-fi'd his way onto the radio in the early ’90s, Beck has been a musical marvel, a savant, a weirdo. But times change. People change. Some people, musicians especially, don't age well. …