The Bird and the Bee : Put up the Lights

The Bird and the Bee, which consists of duo Inara George(Bird) and Greg Kurstin(Bee), has made a career out of making smooth, jazzy pop records that are sublime, serene, and just this side of cosmically joyful. Imagine Stevie Wonder, The Cardigans, and Broadcast came together and drank one too many martinis and reimagined Frank Sinatra […]

Lightning Dust Drop Live Performance of “Joanna”; Plus The Return Of Ex Spectors

I’ve been a fan of Lightning Dust(Joshua Wells and Amber Webber) ever since I first heard Infinite Light about 10 years ago. Of course, I knew them from Black Mountain prior to that. Webber’s vocals were the secret weapon in that band(shh, don’t tell McBean and co that.) With Lightning Dust Wells and Webber left […]

Monochrome Echo : Moonkeeper

Listening to Monochrome Echo’s new album Moonkeeper I’m reminded of simpler times. Times when dystopian science fiction films didn’t have to have dread-inducing scores filled with ominous synth and hellscape ambient tones. A time when touches of light and elements of electro pop could cleanse the mental palate after someone is twisted into a pretzel […]

The Nels Cline Singers : Share The Wealth

Nels Cline has had quite the career, both before and after Wilco. A musical force to be reckoned with in the Avant Garde, jazz, punk, and experimental scene he’s played with everyone from Mike Watt, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Geraldine Fibbers, Blue Man Group, Ornette Coleman, and Rickie Lee Jones to name a few. But […]

Baldocaster/Traveler CS : Exodus/Solare Split EP

In these tumultuous times I find music is the saving grace. A place to get lost in and a place to heal those psychic wounds. Of course it’s a temporary reprieve, but in these caustic days even a temporary locale to let your guard down is welcome. I’m finding that electronic music has been my […]

Salvatore Mercatante : The Foundations Of Eternal Sin

The musical world of Salvatore Mercatante is a mysterious and darkly brooding one. Working in the world minimalist synth, ambient, and Giallo, Mercatante locks into emotions and visceral experience when he composes. His work puts me in mind of Maine, another synth maestro that goes for feel and the musical journey over aping what’s come […]

Heinrich Dressel : Shapeshifting

Heinrich Dressel is the German composer alter ego of Italian musician Valerio Lombardozzi. Lombardozzi records under many aliases, but with Dressel he’s all about old school “creature feature” film scores. On his first release with the excellent Spun Out Of Control, Lombardozzi gives us Heinrich Dressel’s Shapeshifting, a nod of the (severed)head to monster movies, […]

Martin Rude & Jakob Skøtt Duo : The Dichotomy Of Control

The collaboration between Danish musicians Martin Rude and Jakob Skøtt has proven to be most fruitful. The mixture of Rude’s open guitar tunings and double bass with Skøtt’s fluid drumming and ethereal synths and electronics gave their debut LP The Discipline of Assent an epic, galactic jazz western feel. A soundtrack to some retro-futuristic Leone film […]

Dream Division : Death Walks On Nitrate

It’s been a stellar year for Dream Division’s Tom McDowell. Not only has he released two new Dream Division albums, he started his own record label this past July called Library of the Occult. Releasing The Devil Rides Out on his own label, followed by Beyond The Mirror’s Image on Burning Witches Records, he also […]

The Jimi Hendrix Experience : Live In Maui

The show that makes up the new live set Live In Maui by The Jimi Hendrix Experience was recorded a mere two months before Jimi Hendrix’ death in September of 1970. On July 30th, 1970 Jimi and his second iteration of his Experience, which consisted of drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox, flew to […]