As America continues its march towards unprecedented polarity there is no denying the rise of hate crimes in the last decade. One such target of said hate crimes is Muslim Americans. In her absorbing new documentary An Act of Worship Pakistani-American director Nausheen Dadabhoy sheds light on a handful of Muslim Americans and their efforts to stem the tides of hate. A follow up project to her 2017 short of the same name An Act of Worship is an absolute must-see. Read more…
Arguably the best thing about having a music blog is having unknown strangers send you an album that absolutely floors you. Such is the case with British singer-songwriter Scott Lloyd and his sophomore album Waterlands. At its core it’s coffeehouse folk with a solid backing band. But damn if we don’t love the heck out of it. Read more…
Well I really hate having to write these updates but here goes nothing.
It’s mid-May and my health situation is quite meh. As some of you might know last Februrary I was diagnosed with GPA, a form of vasculitis. After getting some mixed signals from my Orlando-based rheumatology team I decided to wait on treatment and perhaps pursue it a later date. Then April of this year happened! Read more…
For reasons I can never explain my cranial jukebox has been playing “Battered Apartments” by Luke Wesley non-stop this week. For those who have not heard, it is a gorgoeus song about the demise of a romance that is as affecting and poignant as anything I have ever heard. When it was first released in summer of 2010 it absolutely wrecked and floored me. “Battered Apartments” was the closing track of Wesley’s debut, which remains one of my favorite albums of the last 15 years. That of course reminded me that I reviewed his sophomore album Who Are We Kidding? for AbsolutePunk.net. That site is now defunct (reimagined as Chorus.FM) and Wesley has yet to release any folow-ups since. In an effort to right that ship, here’s the review. Read more…
How does one accurately describe American singer/songwriter Josh Ostrander who performs under the moniker Mondo Cozmo? Profane? Shapeshifting? Brash? Self-absorbed? What about effective, absorbing and utterly engaging. There’s a dichotomy at work with Mondo Cozmo that keeps one wanting more every time. Just listen, you’ll see. Read more…
It’s been nearly 20 years since the Norfolk, VA band Mae burst into the emo/alt rock scene of the early 2000s with their Tooth + Nail debutDestination Beautiful. Since that time the band has seen members depart, released five albums and have cultivated livelihoods and families beyond just Mae. Most notably vocalist/guitarist/founder Dave Elkins is a Nashville producer and songwriter and guitarist Zach Getting is a college professor and vinyl retailer. New members of the band include the likes of:
For reasons only known to my cranial jukebox I have been stuck down the earmworm hole of the music of Athenaeum. A nearly flawless 90s pop-rock outfit that lasted all of four years they soared to some pretty titanic heights. Single “What I Didn’t Know” landed on the Billboard Hot 100, soaring as high as 58. “Un-noticed,” another single from their Raidance album was used in the film Varsity Blues. The song “Flat Tire”, also from Radiance was a big hit in the Philippines. Read more…
Who the heck knows what makes music popular these days? The more one casually listens to Top 40, the more disenchanted one feels. At least that’s true for this writer.
In a perfect world Nate Bergman would be a chart-topper. Whether that ends up happening remains to be seen. But if this blog has any say in the world (and we think it has some) let this be the first of many posts championing the likes of Mr. Bergman. Read more…
Some people listen to songs to find themselves in the lyrics. Others listen to hear a narrative play out that allows them to dream and ponder. And others want to hear a songwriter’s anguish. This writer certainly leans towards the latter two and nowhere is that more apparent than on Midlake’s new song “Noble.” Read more…
