The Chicago band The Kickback sent me their third album a few weeks before it came out and I really like it, very maximalist alt-rock with lush, detailed arrangements that sort of center the basslines and the often thought-provoking lyrics. My favorite songs so far are "Hot Car" and "Pornography Search Terms That Match Your Exact Physical Description." 

In the weeks leading up this album's release, I worked on my massive ranking of every Elton John album, and it's the most words I've ever written for one of those things (the Neil Young one had more albums, though). And even though I had the job of placing Who Believes in Angels? in the context of John's catalog, I was really kind of more interested in Carlile's contributions since she's the one that's still operating at her peak and is coming off a masterpiece solo album, 2021's In These Silent Days. "Swing For The Fences" is the song that really feels like it goes on her highlight reel, "The Rose of Laura Nyro" and "The River Man" are great too. Andrew Watt has been the young hitmaker guy working with so many aging legends, and I don't always love what he does there (aside from that great Pearl Jam album last year), but I feel like he picked a good gaudy '70s Elton vibe to play up on here. 

In 2022, the British septet Black Country, New Road was days away from releasing a breakthrough album, Ants From Up There, when their primary singer and lyricist, bassist Isaac Wood, announced that he was leaving the band to deal with his mental health. Three years later, three of the other members of the band have stepped up to sing lead on the band's new album, and honestly it's pretty awesome, I like it a lot more than Ants From Up There, I particularly like keyboardist May Kershaw's voice. And I mean that as no disrespect to Wood, I hope he's doing well, but this could be a real Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd situation where the band finds new ways to thrive without their original frontman. 

I wouldn't say I know Soul Coughing but I'm friendly with some of those guys and have mutual friends with them  (and I interviewed Sebastian Steinberg a few years ago and he was just delightful). But even just as a fan, I watched in dismay as Mike Doughty kind of talked trash about the rest of the band for two decades after their breakup, and was surprised and a little wary when they reunited to play some shows last year. I didn't catch any of the reunion shows, but they were incredible every time I saw them in the '90s and they sound great on the new live album as well, Yuval Gabay is still an absolutely remarkable drummer. At one point during "Down To This," Doughty throws in some lyrics from one of the unreleased songs from the band's early Knitting Factory repertoire, "Amy Fisher," and the audience does the call-and-response with no hesitation, you can tell it's nothing but diehard fans in that crowd. 

This is probably the weakest record anyone's ever make to stake the claim that they're the greatest rapper alive. G Herbo peaked over a decade ago with his Welcome To Fazoland but he's really just a washed up credit card scammer who narrowly avoided prison time now. The worst part is that he goes crazy on Tory Lanez-style nostalgia on this record, every single track is built on a sample from a classic released between 1997 and 2007. Throwing wishy washy post-trap/drill drums on everything is especially annoying, I almost wish he just rapped over the original beats like a mixtape, but he'd still rap offbeat on them.