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Locksley – Self-TitledFeature Records-out today2.5 / 5 Madison, WI is the hub of the Mid-West musical universe, as far as we’re concerned. The capital is a fantastic crossroads for traveling bands, as well as home-grown groups such as punk-rock quartet Locksley. While they have seen some success, we’re going to have to be blunt: this latest album is not the cat’s meow. It’s got pep, it’s got pop, but it doesn’t have much personality; if we were to put it on the scale of actors, we’d say this album ranks somewhere between post-Seinfeld Jason Alexander and Keanu Reeves with Christopher Walken’s voice. And if youRead More →

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The London Souls – Self-TitledSoul on 10 Records-out tomorrow3 / 5 Rock + roll + soul = The London Souls. This talented trio know what their sound is, and should be, and confidently display their chops on their debut. When you get a song like the opener, “She’s So Mad,” a heavy rocker with Zeppelin-esque riffs, you know what you’ve been missing by listening to too much obscure cerebral indie (we love you, Antlers, but sometimes straight rock is where it’s at). That’s the good news, though, and here’s the flip side to that: the Souls don’t really bring much new to the genre. UnlikeRead More →

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Sondre Lerche – “Sondre Lerche”Mona Records-out now4 / 5 Sondre Lerche’s songs are, in a word, addictive. The Norwegian has a natural talent for pop that swims about into different-Okay, metaphor on hold, we’ve just got to get this out first: “Private Caller” is the pop song of the year. Just laying it out there.Yeah, that pretty much describes how we feel about the Norwegian’s self-titled. That metaphor up there was going to describe something about his penchant for taking his listeners on a pop mini-journey, taking the opener “Ricochet” and “Go Right Ahead” as prime examples of his brilliant sense of diverse songcraft. ButRead More →

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Gillian Welch – “The Harrow and the Harvest”Acony Records-out today4 / 5 Eight long years. Almost a decade, if you’ve been keeping track since her last solo release, “Soul Journey.” The traditional folk duo of Welch and David Rawlings release a spare, bare-bones treasure trove of below-the-dixon-line croons, and if you’re a fan of banjo and whiskey in the moonlight, then it’s safe to say this album should be in your collection. There are several reasons, not the least of which are the haunted “Tennessee” and the sheer drive of “The Way It Goes”; we might site the clarity of the hard-luck images, the easeRead More →