If you’re like me, you appreciate it when musicians work to innovate, to come up with cool new sounds and things that we haven’t heard before. But there’s that old saying: “there is nothing new under the sun,” and that goes double for music. Even the best and most creative artists are really just synthesizing old influences in novel ways, right?

Sometimes we get movements that are heavy on the revivalist, though, and in the past few years we’ve seen a real doozy in all the various iterations of Neo-Soul. Honestly, some of the acts are ethically little more than Holiday Inn cover bands, but damn damn, damn, the best of these bands are just fantastic, even if you think you’ve heard it all before. Read more

A few weeks ago SVR featured some of the top CDs of the year to date, and I suggested that maybe I’d be back with some more of the best so far. And what do you know, here I am, just in time to help you put together your holiday weekend cookout playlist. So without further ado…

I’ve mentioned Baron Bane a time or six to all my Facebook friends, but I’m not sure I’ve shared the awesomeness of this Swedish indie outfit with the wider S&R audience. Consider them shared – this disc is simply remarkable. Go listen to the rest of it.

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A variety of things have been calling me back to the great rock of my youth today, so I thought I’d share.

First off, fellow scrogue Dr. Jim Booth reminded us this morning via Facebook that today is the birthday of Sir Paul McCartney. As I noted on my own FB page, I have often been critical of Paul’s post-Beatles work, accusing it of being frivolous. I mean, come on, “Coming Up”? Still, it would be wrong to let a few iffy songs cause me to denigrate a wonderful career, especially when that career includes stuff that’s just fuckin’ awesome. Like this.

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Each year I write my annual Best CDs series and along the way I usually have an article or two about some of the bands that turn up on that list. Today I want to acknowledge a few of the year’s best releases to date. This isn’t comprehensive, by any stretch, but if you’re looking for some new tunes to explore on a beautiful June weekend, here’s a place to start.

Up first, hot off last night’s appearance in the Big Apple, Doco does “Cocoa Beach Blues” live on 11 O’Clock Rock. The new disc is entitled Stereo Chemistry.

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Gods, this is feckin’ brilliant. In fact, it’s so good I could have sworn I heard three cellos at one point. NOTE: No children were molested during the recording of this song…

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