Photo Credit: Danny Clinch At the outset, a major artist doing a studio album comprised entirely of songs made popular by other artists may seem like a lazy way to stay in the public eye and/or take care of one contractually-obligated release. However, it’s probably closer to being a rite of passage, as Bob Dylan,… Read more
Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz (All Photos) A little after 7 pm, Fenne Lily – supported by her band – walks onto stage to open for label-mate Lucy Dacus in Bristol – the city in which Lily has been performing since the age of 15. Now 25, she begins with her best song yet, “Car Park”;… Read more
Photo Credit: Bryan Lasky One thing that’s impossible to deny, for better or worse, is that John Mellencamp’s voice is not what it once was. On his twenty-fourth studio album, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, the veteran rocker’s singing sound deeper, rougher, and considerably more gravelly (part of this could be just aging, but probably has more… Read more
Photo Credit: Travis Shinn The Atlas Underground Flood follows the same formula as its predecessors, seeing Morello collaborate more or less successfully with well-known artists on songs ranging from hip-hop to folk-rock. Immediately familiar invites this time consists of British punk-rockers IDLES, legendary Rush-frontman Alex Lifeson, Metallica-guitarist Kirk Hammett, and the American indie-group Manchester Orchestra. But… Read more
Photo Credit: Travis Shinn Whoever thought it was a good idea to open Tom Morello’s second solo album in the Atlas Underground Fire series with autotuned vocals – and I’m afraid that this was Morello himself – were obviously wrong. I’m not sure if “Harlem Hellfighter” is his take on 100 gecs’ hyper-pop, but a brief check… Read more
Photo Credit: Collages via Billboard Most people will tell you that the only success that translates financially is “success.” In music, certainly, it’s thought to be almost entirely mathematical: the more records an artist has sold, the more “successful” they are (of course, in recent decades the number of downloads and streams would also have… Read more
Photo Credit: Matt Salacuse When Bleachers released their 2017 album, Gone Now, the band was still relatively undiscovered. The band had a taste of widespread success with one of their first singles, “I Wanna Get Better”, and followed it up with a strong debut and sophomore album that was well-received by both fans and critics. After… Read more
Photo Credit: Danny Clinch Just last year Bruce Springsteen released Western Stars, a concept album based around Americana themes – particularly cowboys of the old west, the ultimate symbol of American folklore. This was perhaps fitting for an artist who grew up in the ‘50s, the era during which that sort of mythology was the… Read more
“Video Killed the Radio Star” is not just a song. Popular belief holds that it’s also a rock history lesson. On August 1, 1981, the single by British new wave band the Buggles became the first video ever to air on MTV, and many feel that the title perfectly sums up the network’s impact: that… Read more