This morning I received my hot off the presses CD/DVD combo, Rubblebucket Live in Chicago.  I ripped off the plastic wrap to pop it in the player and pour over every detail of the jacket, the artwork, and the credits.  It looks like the antithesis to the no wave buzz back in the late 70’s.   The packaging is similar to a Ramones promo circa 1979.  The lettering has color but the photograph is in black and white with a nice contrast.  Photo credits go to a couple of Chicago’s finest photograp

It’s so interesting to ponder how the Grateful Dead, despite being self-described poster children for avoiding politics and activism and concentrating on music, really aren’t that. From the beginning all members of the Dead were rooted in San Francisco’s scene and are an iconic representation of so many different facets of a humanitarian persuasion.

Alex Winston’s new LP title “King Con” came to her after spending several months in an Elvis costume while promoting the track “Velvet Elvis”.  It was through this experience Winston came to the realization that an Elvis impersonator is the ultimate con.  Winston wears one disguise very well throughout this album as she sings with a quirky innocence about corrupt preachers, regrets, and as she puts it “guts and other stuff”.  Hauntingly beautiful up-tempo melodies are intertwined with grim and somber content that gives this a

Despite the title “Locked Down” Dr. John’s new album was released today on Nonesuch Records.  Produced by lifelong fan and Black Keys front man Dan Auerbach, this new album travels deep into the Cajun swamp and back out again.  Such reflects the life and times of Mac Rebnnack who has been putting his unique blend of funk and blues into the music world since the 60s under the alias Dr.

At first listen to Jim Hanft’s debut album, Weddings Or Funerals, one can tell that the singer-songwriter raised just outside Philadelphia has a passion for intimacy.

Canadian rock band Hey Rosetta!'s third studio album, Seeds continues the vibe the group started back in 2005. They certainly take a leap forward in their production, however, as the sounds found on this album are far more multi-layered than their previous material. Take the opening track, "Seeds," for instance. It begins with a complex sounding guitar mix with many intertwined levels, then breaks into an upbeat rock hook with synthesized claps.

Band of Skull's new record, quite an improvement over their previous full-length album (2009's Baby Darling Doll Face Honey), showcases a more emotional and lyrically complex side of the band. Entitled Sweet Sour, the album lives up to its name.

Erika Wennerstrom, lead vocalist and guitarist for the smashing rock band Heartless Bastards, spoke to Billboard Magazine this past November to promote the February release of the group’s new album, Arrow. She said, “I feel like this is the strongest record I’ve ever done. I’m really, really happy with it.” She made a damn good point.

Lacking both the alluring eccentricity of Arm’s Way and synth drenched electro pop driving Vapors, Islands’ A Sleep & A Forgetting is unmistakably the least compelling album overextended singer/songwriter Nicholas Thorburn has ever hatched.

Amy Ray’s newest solo release Lung of Love expresses the folk elements of Indigo Girls, while allowing Amy to stretch her rocker wings a bit more than she did on last year’s Beauty Queen Sister. She has been called the more edgy half of the duo, and her solo material has always displayed that. Ray is an adept songwriter, known to weave lyrics that stir heavy emotions about serious issues, both political and personal.