The Lacking Permanence

The first wave of UK punk crested and shrank back, but the Mekons are still thrashing and foaming.

It’s easy to suspect Ray LaMontagne came from a recently unearthed time capsule documenting the folkie scene of half a century ago.

The extremely productive Messer Chups hails from St. Petersburg, Russia, and is currently going through some very heavy surf.

Sometimes you just need a pounding beat and a shout-along chorus, and this is something Naked Giants truly excel at, throwing in plenty of inventive twists and turns to keep the whole thing from collapsing into a steaming pile of riffs.

It’s been 45 years since Chrissie Hynde initially hit her stride with the Pretenders, and she hasn’t slowed down for anybody since.

Matt Sharp and The Rentals have always attracted a stellar cast of musicians to help them assemble their popsong symphonies.

The essence of R&B, with a soulful vocals that range from besotted to anguished and lush harmonic arrangements covering slow jams, hot funk and everything in between.

Billy Martin’s drumming makes me think of oxymorons like “precisely sloppy” and “intensely casual” and “red hot chill out”.

Covering the Beach Boys’ mythical album Smile from start to finish is not an original idea, but Joesph’s take on the matter is filled to the brim with inventive perspectives on a lost classic.

Soul jazz ensemble The Greyboy Allstars have been around so long they have grown into their name.