Keep on Moving

Darklands are a Providence/Boston based group just out with Find Peace In The Next Life, their latest LP/EP (do those labels even matter these days?). It’s a charged live set recorded at Distorted Forest Audio recording studio.  Find Peace opens with a bang with “The Hill I Choose To Die On,” where the two chunky, […]

Burnt Offerings is the new release from Vudu Sister, a unique record featuring modern retellings of ancient myths in Latin and ancient Greek. With his signature gothic folk stylings, Keith J.G McCurdy eloquently spins a new take on tales as old as time. This project immediately caught my attention. Who is this hyper-educated madman? And […]

After a year off for something obscure called COVID, the Newport Folk Festival returned to Fort Adams to rage again. The festival started inauspiciously Friday, as I could see lightning flashing in the horizon driving in. There was a shelter-in-place warning in effect when I arrived, which is odd when there is no place to shelter. […]

Richard’s Rock & Roll Alphabet  Like most good and bad ideas, the genesis of the new book Richard’s Rock & Roll Alphabet happened in a bar — Patrick’s Pub to be exact. It was there that Robert Blunt asked renowned photographer Richard McCaffrey if he had photographs of musicians that spanned the entire alphabet  Blunt’s […]

I write this as I’m about to head off to a concert, hopefully the first of many this summer, and it finally feels like the pandemic cloud is lifting. This month, I take a look at two compelling takes on modern folk. Will Orchard — I Reached My Hand Out It’s been over three years […]

As social distancing restrictions ease up, concert announcements for national acts have started to trickle in, just really not here. Outside of Tiffany in June and Electric Six in July, I can’t find anything in terms of summer concerts with national acts in Rhode Island or southern New England that I’d want to attend. Some might […]

Pile — Magic Isn’t Real Pile, the celebrated indie rock band with Boston origins recently marked the pandemic-delayed 10th anniversary of their fantastic album Magic Isn’t Real, holding a livestream performance with their original lineup of Matt Becker, Matt Connery, Kris Kuss and frontman Rick Maguire. In the last decade, Pile has gained a legion […]

As a kid I hated music like Meat Loaf. I thought it was pompous and overdone, and I never liked having to hear that stupid “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” song at every wedding. It wasn’t till years later that I was reading a review of a Meat Loaf concert that it all clicked and I […]

As spring rolls around in the underground, glimmers of hope abound with vaccines, warmer weather and the gradual return of live music! On the negative is the return of mass shootings, but that is another conversation for another place between people who don’t listen to each other. One of the bright spots of the pandemic […]

Twin Foxes – Broken Bell Broken Bell is the new full-length from Providence rock band Twin Foxes. The album features Andrew Fortin on bass and Mann solidly performing almost every other instrument. It has a more minimalist feel than their 2018 full length, Sleeping on the Attic Floor, which featured straight-to-the-point aggression. Here, the band […]