Listen Up
Soledad Brothers
Listen UpJudging from the sleeve inside The Hard Walk by Detroit’s Soledad Brothers, you’d think you’d be in for something really special. The list of instruments includes such exotic specimens as fuzz piano, sitar, and vibraslap....
The Ho Chi Men
Listen UpJust when you thought nu metal was dead (and it is), along come The Ho Chi Men, trying to resurrect it.
Chatterton
Listen UpWhatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Chatterton’s first commercial release, a self-titled e.p., is testimony to that old adage right out the gate. The first track, “A Good Place to Start,” is exactly what it sa...
Johnny Cash
Listen UpJohnny Cash’s career stretched over 50 years, but he saved the best for last. In his final decade, the music he recorded with rock and rap producer Rick Rubin at the helm — the American Series — includes many of his best ...
Chris Knight
Listen UpMusic that listeners are supposed to take seriously often comes from obscure artists who write dark songs. While Chris Knight is critically praised, the general public wouldn’t know him from, say, Gary Nicholson.
David Kimbrough Jr.
Listen UpDavid Kimbrough Jr.’s mix of old-time blues soul sounds on Shell-Shocked undoubtedly reflects the influence of his father Junior Kimbrough’s hypnotic blues groove. The elder Kimbrough died in 1998 at the age of 67, spending...
Charlie Musselwhite
Listen UpDelta Hardware is hard-edged, harmonica-laced, electric blues from the bottom of Charlie Musselwhite’s roots (Mississippi Delta via Memphis and Chicago). Musselwhite, who recently settled in the Sonoma County wine country of ...
Sam Bush
Listen UpThe difference between bluegrass and newgrass is kinda like the difference between rockabilly and early rock ’n’ roll: The latter, at its best, draws inspiration from a wider, more colorful palette. Co-founder of the New Gr...
Gram Parsons
Listen UpFallen Angel, a documentary on singer-songwriter Gram Parsons, has an interesting angle: that the Southern man’s career goal was to die young and become a legend. This charismatic, troubled, self-assured, and self-indulgent r...
Man Factory, Sensitivity Boosters
Listen UpGrand Prairie quirk-pop darlings Man Factory have finally updated a few of their home recordings and dropped them onto this disc alongside some tunes from self-proclaimed “emo-rappers” Sensitivity Boosters.