Colin Currie Group : Steve Reich: The Sextets Review
By Shannon Smith
On Dreamer+, Sassy 009 confirms what attentive listeners have been sensing for a while now: this is an artist who no longer treats production as a backdrop, but as the primary narrative force. Across twelve tracks, she builds a unified sonic language where beats, synths, vocal processing, and transitions work together as a story of evolving forms. This album develops moments with intent.
What stands out immediately is cohesion. Dreamer+ flows with a confidence that comes from knowing exactly what sonic world it inhabits. Even as guest artists enter the frame, the album never splinters [...]
by Shannon Smith
“Gut Punch” is Nick Jonas’ single that feels like a wake-up call. Right from the start, his 2026 lead single is motivational, not because it comforts you, but because it makes you stop and think. The song asks a bold question for a New Year’s release: Are you really seeing things as they are, or are you hurting yourself with mistaken feelings and assumptions? That moment of useful doubt is where the song really connects.
Lyrically, “Gut Punch” names a familiar but rarely dramatized antagonist: the inner voice that reframes neutral moments into personal failures. Jonas doesn’t dramatize heartbreak or [...]
By Steven Miller
With Triangulation, the Steve Morse Band delivers an album that prioritizes structural compositional intent and agile playing. While Steve Morse’s virtuosity is never in question, what stands out across these nine tracks is how carefully the material is built. Each selection has a groove-first foundation, interesting flow of articulated sections, and solo spaces that feel like an extension of the composition. This is an album that rewards attentive listening, particularly for musicians interested in how form, texture, and interaction shape high-level instrumental rock music.
From [...]
by Steven Miller
Sydney Irving’s Unfashioned Creatures is a songwriter’s album through and through. This collection blends Americana rock, pop-rock punch, and folk-rooted storytelling into a set of tracks that are musically purposeful and catchy. Irving’s greatest strength is her ability to shape each song from the inside out by letting singing, arrangement, and lyrical direction work together to create a clear, satisfying emotional flow. The result is a record that feels tied together by a writer who knows how to build a song that moves.
As an opening statement, “You Can’t Forget About Me” wastes no [...]
by Steven Miller
Brad Mehldau has always walked the borders between musical worlds. On Ride Into the Sun, he threads genres into a single, glowing tapestry. This 16-track cycle arrives as a summation of so many influences that have shaped Mehldau’s pianistic universe. The lyricism of jazz piano, the harmonic intensity of 20th-century classical music, the earthy pulse of 60s folk-rock, the open-hearted warmth of Americana, and his enduring fascination with counterpoint. What makes this album feel different is its sense of architecture. These stylistic excursions are movements in a unified work, each track feeding the next with [...]
Halestorm has released their album Back From The Dead, which is eleven songs produced by Nick Raskulinecz that takes the listener on a journey through navigating mental health, debauchery, survival, redemption, and rediscovery while still maintaining faith in humanity. Already the title track has earned the band their sixth #1 on Rock Radio. Halestorm has grown from a childhood dream of siblings Lzzy and Arejay Hale into one of the most celebrated rock bands of the last two decades as their music has surpassed a billion streams worldwide. Halestorm is Lzzy Hale on guitar and vocals, with drummer Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bass [...]
Battle Beast is releasing their next installment of European power metal with its sixth studio album called Circus of Doom. The female-fronted metal band is buoyant with symphonic metal driven by agile guitar playing and the grit of singer Noora Luohimo. Who has lost none of her fire over the past 9 years. The sextet has created an album that is easy to listen to while still maintaining an aggressive metal edge. The ten songs have many hooks, riffs, and rebellious driving grooves.
The album sports many symphonic metal anthems, the best being the title track, “Circus of Doom.” There is an edge to the song with its aggressive guitar riffs, [...]
Emily Weisband is back with a new EP called Not Afraid To Say Goodbye (Stripped). The Nashville singer-songwriter continues to affirm her pop prowess with four distinctive and genuine tracks highlighting her sincere lyrics, intimate instrumentation, and nuanced storytelling. Weisband has been writing for other artists like Halsey and Camilla Cabello, but now she is writing for herself and gets to tell her story. Not Afraid To Say Goodbye is the follow up to her debut EP, Identity Crisis and for her second EP, Weisband’s emotional, raw, and authentic songwriting is at its best. Not Afraid To Say Goodbye (Stripped) is [...]
The War And Treaty (Michael & Tanya Trotter) is a critically acclaimed duo with foundations of Southern soul with elements of gospel, country, rock ‘n roll, and blues. The duet is returning with a new album called Hearts Town, built on twelve tracks that reflect this Nashville-based husband/wife team’s most robust material to date. The majority of the material was recorded at Blackbird Studio and featured esteemed musicians Jason Isbell, Jerry Douglas, and Punch Brothers guitarist Chris Eldridge. Hearts Town was produced by Michael and co-produced by Tanya and the duo’s longtime music director Max [...]
