Poi Dog Pondering has put down headquarters in three geographical locations — Hawaii, Austin, and Chicago — and has gone through a rather larger number of members. 7, which is in fact the collective’s seventh album, amalgamates the moves and switches: It not only features members from the band’s various eras, but also covers almost [...]

It’s not that your mind wanders when listening to the sprawling yet ultimately pointed music of Matthew Ryan. It’s more that your mind makes connections. For example, when you get to the mostly rhetorical “How’d you get so drunk and disappointed?” chorus of “Drunk & Disappointed”, you might find yourself thinking of the Replacements’ “Unsatisfied”. [...]

With the mess in Iraq not going away any time soon, and the economy in the crapper, who can blame Tod A for wanting to get the hell out of America? Actually, make that past tense; as much as this album’s Bush-bashing kickoff track — the jungle-swing gem “Borneo” — finds the singer announcing “I’m [...]

An election year both as bizarre and as crucial as this brings out the best in Was (Not Was). Regrouping after a recording hiatus of almost two decades — as bassist Don (Fagenson) Was achieved a higher profile producing Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop and so many others — the Los Angeles via [...]

The challenge, it seems, in reviewing Accelerate is to focus on the music, not merely the context surrounding the album — whether that context is its meekly received predecessor, the ennui of the band’s post-Bill Berry era, or the disc’s slight run time of 34 minutes. Without a doubt, Accelerate is a response to the [...]

Since his justifiably heralded return to full-time bluegrass a little over ten years ago, Ricky Skaggs has been slowly easing away from the revivalism that marked Bluegrass Rules! — until now. Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass zeroes in on a dozen tunes recorded by the 1946-1947 edition of Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys. [...]

Chatham County Line were never going to be the world’s best bluegrass band. Raised on classic rock ‘n’ roll and well-schooled in traditional country, they turned to bluegrass partly to grow as musicians, a goal they more than met with their first three albums. But IBMA supersessions were not their destiny; rather, their soul has [...]

This disc should come with one of those “you must be this tall to ride” amusement park signs: The fifth studio album from My Morning Jacket roars through myriad peaks, dips, and loop-de-loops in 55 minutes. Sussing out who might (or might not) be ready for its highly variegated program is a tough call. A [...]

When you think about it, the potentially unholy union of Danger Mouse (the producer/auteur/masher-upper behind the Beatles/Jay-Z two-car pileup The Grey Album, and one half of Gnarls Barkley) and Akron’s finest swamp-blues twosome the Black Keys isn’t such a bad idea. The Keys and Danger Mouse are both avid conceptualizers. The duo loves the idea [...]