Oldies – Concert: 5/30 – Air Supply @ Mohegan Sun
April 11th, 2000 “Special Brew” by Bad Manners (ska-revival)
I am guilty of including a ska revival album in my weeklies whenever I can, just for an excuse to listen to a whole album of it. Thankfully for me, “Special Brew” by Bad Manners was as full of humor, groove, and energy as I expected it to be. The album opens with the blasting of horns, a leading guitar lick, and a light bouncing keyboard in the title song, “Special Brew.” Doing vocals, Buster Bloodvessel delivers the theming of the album with lyrics like “I don’t care what you think” that will continue in “Special Brew.” Lyrically, it’s straightforward, and you can tell that someone is enjoying life, drinking beer, indulging in working-class pleasures, and doing it with pride. It was also the name of a British beer at the time, which added to the ska-revival theme of linking British culture in their music. Another key theme is addressing the political climate of London at the time of Jamaican immigration, including the emergence of the punk group, skinheads, which was rooted in the appreciation for reggae roots, but later turned into political branches that follow neo-nazi ideology. But it’s definitely not about the latter, and “Skinhead Love Affair” is kinda a cute song. Sprinkled throughout this album are wacky instrumentals like the “Can Can,” “Hokey Cokey,” “Ne-Ne Na-Na Na-na Nu-Nu,” and “Knees Up Mother Brown,” that transition the album from song to song and also add to its usability for club and dance purposes. “Weepin ‘An’ Wailing” is an upbeat song about how your life is so bad that you cry constantly, but again, it has a bouncy reggae groove that you dance to regardless of your emotions. Another one of my favorites is “Lorraine,” which tells the story of a couple that was going to spend forever together, but now it’s turned into basically a manhunt to end Lorraine, which is relatable at the very least. The next song is way sweeter, “My Girl Lollipop” reminds me of the song “Sugar Pie Honey Bun,” or any of those lovey ‘60s doo-wop songs it took inspiration from while remaining in their ska bubble. There is also a modern take on Romeo and Juliet with “Samson and Delilah,” and it drives the point that although the medieval days of blood-feuds are over, there are still relationships that are doomed with bad luck. The album ends with the most comedic songs, “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic” and “Hoots Mon! There’s “A Moose Loose About This Hoose,” which are both very illustrative and lively in their lyrics and instrumentation as you can see. The last quip to end this experience is “Show Me The Way To Go Home,” sung by a choir of drunk men. I could think of no other fitting ending for “Special Brew” as the party night comes to an end. This album would forever hold Bad Manner’s best hits, and their most fundamental experience that they contributed to ska-revival. I recommend “Special Brew,” “Skinhead Love Affair,” “Weeping An’ Wailing” and “Lorraine.”
April 12th, 1994 “Live Through This” by Hole (grunge)
Hole’s “Live Through This” is a landmark in grunge history, coming out under circumstances that would’ve crushed any band. Just a week after Kurt Cobain died, Courtney Love’s music was now looked at under a microscope and scrutinized. The album stands on its own as a deep personal statement of anger, grief, and surprising vulnerability. The opener, “Violet,” starts with low guitar and vocals, but explodes into a raw expression of intense pain. There is a battle between pull and push, wanting fame and not, wanting everything, wanting nothing, that is perfectly memorialized in this introduction. “Miss World” and “Plump” address societal pressures and the contradicting expectations of beauty, fame, the female identity, and balancing sarcasm with the painful truth of how we live. Filled to the brim with feminist rage, Love released delicate themes in a relatable way. “Asking For It” confronts a world that is so quick to victim-blame and protect the perpetrator first. “Jennifer’s Body” goes into even darker themes of kidnapping, dismemberment, and the overall epidemic of violence against women that has seemingly never stopped. On that note, “Doll Parts” is a vulnerable confession about insecurity and looking online and wanting to take bits and pieces to make a perfect person. But in a romantic relationship, it can be alienating that someone can love you for you, and you can even get imposter syndrome from that. This is one of the only songs on the album that lacks the loud, distorted guitars and instead relies on simple acoustic guitar and Love’s vocals alone to make it feel like she is speaking and looking directly at the audience when she delivers her message. More personal for Love, “I Think That I Would Die” is in relation to her custody battle with Kurt Cobain over Francis Bean Cobain, and the hole that gets left in your life when you have to accept only temporary access to your own kid. “Gutless” and “Rock Star” fittingly conclude the album with the misogyny that she has faced in the music industry and the doubt she faced throughout her life. My love for Courtney Love stems from this album in particular, because I have never resonated with feminism in a way that I have with angry feminist music. The raw and explosive vocals we hear from Love polish the political and feminist edge with timeless resonance. I recommend the whole album! Or just “Violet,” “Miss World,” “Doll Parts,” and “Asking for It.”
(Single) April 13th, 1973 “Only A Fool Would Say That” by Steely Dan (yacht/pop rock)
Steely Dan’s “Only a Fool Would Say That” is a fundamental keystone to early ‘70s yacht rock with jazz-influence and subtle sarcasm. From the first chord, you can appreciate the meticulousness of Steely Dan’s instrumentals and the satisfaction of the layering. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s vocals play around the music, weaving in and out with sometimes serious demeanor, sometimes playful, but always perfectly complementing the backtrack. But this precision didn’t come easy, Steely Dan was notorious for using multiple sessions to get each part perfectly in sync, often rerecording tracks multiple times until they nailed the groove. The song’s lyrics themselves paint the dichotomy of two characters, an optimistic hippie character and a working-class person who is a realist at the minimum. The song has also gone on to be analyzed as a response to John Lennon’s “Imagine,” where you can paint the picture of a peaceful world as a successful music artist, but the working-class people aren’t in charge of that, and have larger, more immediate concerns. Especially in the lyrics “you do his 9-5, drag yourself home half-alive, and there on the screen, a man with a dream,” you can see how someone working constantly to barely survive wouldn’t concern themselves with what the rich are talking about. This is my personal favorite era of Steely Dan, where the albums are plagued with a combination of upbeat jazz and pop with an infectious groove that makes you smile and relax despite the deep lyricism.
Hip-Hop/R&B – Concert: 5/13 – Freddie Dredd @ Toads Place
Gucci Mane is back with a single titled “CRASH DUMMY.” This is Mane’s first release since his album “EPISODES” which was released in October 2025. While the track is noticeably quieter than many of his usual high-energy releases, it still hits just as hard, just in a more controlled, focused way. Instead of relying on loud production, Gucci lets his delivery take center stage. Each line feels deliberate, with a steady confidence that builds throughout the song. His flow is smooth yet commanding, proving that he doesn’t need a heavy beat to make an impact. “CRASH DUMMY” shows a more refined side of Gucci Mane, one that leans into subtlety while still maintaining the presence he’s known for. This truly shows that even when he switches things up, he can still deliver a track that sticks with you long after it ends.
In lue of “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” which will be releasing this May, Lady Gaga and Doechii teamed up to release a single titled “RUNWAY.” This single is hot, powerful and hype, which is everything I hope this movie will be. “The Devil Wears Prada” is one of my favorite movies, and as someone who wants to pursue a career in the fashion industry, this single was the perfect pick for me. Hearing a Gaga and Doechii collab is something I never expected but I absolutely love. Both of their voices have so much confidence, truly making this single powerful. This single is something I would imagine playing while models walk down the runway, and something I will be playing while walking on the treadmill. “RUNWAY” has made me even more excited for this sequel.
I really love when artists that were popular when my mom was growing up stay in the game, ‘90s hip-hop might be one of my all time favorite sub genres. Speaking of which, Snoop Dogg released an album titled “10 Til Midnight.” The album includes 14 songs, making it just over 35 songs long. This album contains Snoop’s signature sound, with a more modern twist to some of the songs. One of the songs,“Lied 2 U,” contains a modern sound, but still has the nostalgic sound, due to Snoop Dogg’s voice. After my first listen, “Slid Off” is my favorite song so far. I like how deep it is, making Snoop Dogg’s voice extremely clear. Overall, this is a no skip album that I will absolutely continue to play on repeat.
2026 is Don Toliver’s year. After his hit album “OCTANE,” which has gone viral throughout hiphop fans overall, and multiple features on other popular albums, Toliver has stayed booked and busy. This past week, Toliver released a remix version to his song “Tuition,” which was on his most recent album. Unlike the original, this remix contains a verse from Lil Baby. This song was already one of my favorites on the album, yet adding Lil Baby’s feature only made it better. I tend to have mixed feelings about remixing previously released songs, especially when the original was already good. However, both of their voices incredibly mix together, creating the perfect remix. Although these two have previously worked together, I would love to hear more from these two together.
Country/Folk – Concert: 5/20 – Woods @ Space Ballroom
The hottest name in country music right now, no question, Ella Langley released her third-studio album “Dandelion” this weekend. Langley has been teasing this album since the title track came out in late January. This album is sure to be her most-streamed thus far of her career, thanks in large part to her smashing hit single “Choosin’ Texas,” a song that still sits No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song already has over 260,000 streams on Spotify, and with time, I imagine it will sit close to a billion streams by the end of the calendar year. Other songs like “Be Her” and “Loving Life Again,” a new personal favorite of mine, were popular singles among fans as well. What makes Langley such a strong presence in the genre right now is her iron grip on both the male and female audience. Women love her because she’s confident and dominating the industry, and men love her because of her looks and generally fun-sounding music. I too am a fan of Langley, but I don’t absolutely LOVE her like some of the other “Ella Fellas do.” Some other songs on this album I really liked were “Last Call For Us,” “I Gotta Quit,” “Somethin’ Simple,” “Most Good Things Do – Acoustic” and “Speaking Terms.” The latter was a song highlighted by fans right away, as it’s an unusually deep song by Langley, who isn’t typically known for her slower, sad songs. Langley sings about her relationship with God, and how it at times can be rocky. It’s an instant hit for religious fans, and one of my favorites thanks to its slow nature. It has a different meaning than some of her other slower songs like “Girl You’re Taking Home,” and “Made It Out Of Mexico – Acoustic.” Speaking of acoustic, Langley likes to close out all of her albums with one of two acoustic songs, as it’s been featured on every single album to date, including “Hungover – Deluxe.” This is something I’m a huge fan of. It’s not like many country artists to include one or two acoustic songs on the actual album itself, as most artists will just drop an acoustic album or release a fan favorite song as an acoustic single. With Langley, you get a little bit of that authentic sound on every album, and I think it helps bring out her authenticity as well. Honestly, I’m not sure this is “album of the year” like many “Ella Fellas” and country lovers might say, but it is a very strong album from a very strong presence, and it will surely see love at future country music awards.
Full transparency, I do not know much of Vince Gill’s music, but after researching his new album “50 Years From Home: End Of The Night,” I gained a new appreciation for him. Gill’s website claims that he is releasing a series of EP’s with the “50 Years From Home” heading, dropping over the course of one or two years. This most recent one is the sixth release since November of 2025. The EP’s are meant to reflect his 50 years in the business, compiling some of his classics with what seems to be new songs.
“End Of The Night” has one feature, Lady A, and his most popular tune “Don’t Let Our Love Stop Slipping Away, among five others. I was really impressed by this EP, and it makes me interested in listening to the other five in succession, as I’m curious to see if they will tell a story. My personal favorite was probably the opening track “New Kind Of Lonely,” but I found myself favoriting nearly all the songs. His voice, especially on his most popular track, reminds me a little of Zach Top, which would make sense, as Top tries to replicate that early ‘90s sound. I’m very curious to see if Gill will take these EP’s on a tour with him, or if he will even have time to, as I believe he also sings for Eagles, showing his imprint on the music scene and how valued his voice is.
Not going to lie, I was only pulled into this song by the album cover, and the various birds that grace it. Thomas Dollbaum released his second single “Coyote” this weekend, and it’s very good. His voice is honestly pretty unique to me, there wasn’t anyone I can really pin that sound similar to him. Maybe a little Cameron Winter-y but more deep. The backing vocals work really well, and I was a huge fan of the crescendo at the end. His album “Birds of Paradise” is set to release on May 22, so if you like the song, make sure to be on the lookout for that, as I imagine it will be similar to the singles.
Rock/Alternative – Concert: 9/21 – Bikini Kill @ College Street Music Hall
Foo Fighters have released the fourth single from their upcoming album “Your Favorite Toy.” The new single “Of All People” is similar to the other three singles from the album so far with its high tempo and thrashing energy. Out of the four singles so far, I do think that this is probably my least favorite, but I still find it to be a lot of fun and very catchy. The song talks about the unfairness of life and how sometimes good things happen to bad people even if they don’t deserve it, with some lyrics that are straightforward about it like “You know you should be dead, But you’re alive instead.” So far, with the first four tracks I am very excited to see what the rest of this album has to offer when it comes out in just about two weeks.
American Football have released a new single “No Feeling” which is the second single from their upcoming album. This new track features vocals from Turnstile’s Brendan Yates providing harmonies with his distinctive voice and it really mixes well with the depressive rock sound of American Football. The song is very mellow and atmospheric and doesn’t have as much energy as some other American Football songs, which was kind of a surprise to me when I saw that Yates was on the song, I assumed it would have much more energy to it. Instead, the song is a melancholic reflection on emotional numbness that I find to be beautiful. The first two singles from this album have me really excited for its release next month.
Evanescence announced a new album titled “Sanctuary” and released a new single “Who Will You Follow” as part of that announcement. The song felt exactly like what you would expect from Evanescence as Amy Lee’s chilling melodic vocals contrast perfectly with the powerful drums and guitars. I think anybody that is a fan of any of the big Evanescence hits will probably enjoy this single as it just feels like it captures that sound really well. Alongside the album the band has also announced a 2026 world tour, making this a a very big year for Evanescence, and if this first single is any indication it seems like fans will have a lot to look forward to.
Pop & Indie – Concert: 7/4 – Teddy Swims @ Mohegan
Hilary Duff is taking after Taylor Swift and re-recording some of her old music. “Come Clean” was originally released in 2003, before I was born. The new version has the same name with “(mine)” added on the end. I think it’s a fun way of claiming this version without being too similar to other artists and putting “Hilary’s Version” or something. It definitely has a Disney Channel teen pop star in the 2000s vibe and I love that. I listened to the original right after and her voice doesn’t really sound different to me. It’s honestly not too different from her recent releases either. She has been on tour recently and I’m sure bringing back some of these songs will make her shows very nostalgic.
Teddy Swims released a new single “Mr. Know It All” ahead of his appearance at Coachella where he brought out multiple special guests, including Joe Jonas. The song’s cover photo on Spotify leads me to believe there may be some more new music coming? It’s a completely different vibe from the red and white color blocking from “I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy.” The song is good but the end is super repetitive and I just don’t love it. I do normally really like his music but I might leave this one to the 40 year old drunk women that surrounded me in the crowd at Soundside.
Tiffany Stringer is a pop country artist that I would love to hear more from. Her new single “Damn Good Actress” strays away from her country side. I love the old time-y announcer recording at the beginning and the soft vocals throughout. She talks about being seen as either being a “stone cold bitch” or an actress and I think that’s something a lot of famous people go through. We judge the minimal interactions we see and decide that an occasional bad day makes someone terrible or a fake smile automatically means someone is constantly acting. I like that this song can comment on aspects of being a celebrity.
