Let's face it, most band reunions are dispensable. This is particularly true when the former members retired completely from the music business after their glorious days...
When I heard Victor Griffin had started a new band, I was immediately electrified by the great news. Of course, it would have been interesting to see how Pentagram would have continued with him, in particular with regard to the successor of 'Last Rites'...
Among all the new groups I discovered last year, I particularly liked MUD WALK, an all-female heavy rock band with a strong preference for the blues and the music of the 1970s. Formed in 2010 on the Swedish island Gotland, MUD WALK present themselves as keepers of tradition and they are doing this with unlimited enthusiasm and a lot of heart...
These four guys from Sardinia have the delta blues in their blood, there's no doubt about that. And they have a good taste, because their self-titled debut album includes cover versions from Blind Willie Johnson and Skip James...
After the successful release of the previous album 'Zugriff' (review here), Berlin's DxBxSX is back with another full-length, which picks up seamlessly from where its predecessor left off and again wins me over with its humor, anger and rough charm. Again, DxBxSx are sounding stripped down and raw, but this rawness is a perfect compliment to these 12 songs...
Conny Ochs' second solo album is a heartbreaking, simple, beautiful, strangely comforting piece of work. He goes deep into feelings but without sticky sentimentalism and his brilliance for soft, haunting, yet catchy melodies is well represented on 'Black Happy'...
