The Contractions: 1980 (2024)

The Contractions: 1980 (2024)

The Contractions (I don’t know why there is no “The” on the cover, but everything I can find on them has “The”) were an all-female punk trio from San Francisco featuring Mary Kelley (guitar & vocals), Kathy Peck (bass & vocals) and Debbie Hopkins (drums &...
The Brat: Straight Outta East L​.​A. (2017)

The Brat: Straight Outta East L​.​A. (2017)

I get offered a lot of albums to review on a daily basis, with most of the emails being filed in case I need to reference them later, but without downloading the music. For some strange reason I decided to grab this set from a band which broke up in 1985, releasing...
Sam Ross: Live at the Mira Room, Vol. II (2023)

Sam Ross: Live at the Mira Room, Vol. II (2023)

In many ways this feels like the beginning of a whole new world, and I am sure this is not the last time we will come across an album like this. On one level here we have a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable jazz EP by the trio of Sam Ross (piano, Fender Rhodes)...
Red Hot Shame: You Can’t Make Me (2023)

Red Hot Shame: You Can’t Make Me (2023)

Red Hot Shame is an indie rock group from a Northern California where the mainstay is singer-songwriter Xeff Scolari who works with a fluctuating line-up of friends. This time around it included frequent collaborators Steven Pitsenbarger (vocals, percussion), Ryan...
Kariti: Dheghom (2024)

Kariti: Dheghom (2024)

Back in 2020 I reviewed the debut album by Kariti, ‘Covered Mirrors’, and she is finally back with the follow-up. Kariti (карити), which means ‘to mourn the dead’ in church Slavonic, is a Russian-born artist now based in Italy and this release sees her...