Jeff Bridges, Slow Magic, 1977-1978 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❌ This week we have a bit of an oddity on our hands. An album from Jeff Bridges, (yes, that Jeff Bridges) recently culled from a lone surviving cassette tape dated from 1977 or 1978. This is a fascinating artifact, because this isn’t just simply a tape of demos or anything. This sounds like a full fledged album. This leads me to so many questions: Where are the master tapes? Why does it sound so rushed yet so finished? Why didn’t this come out at the time? I can’t answer the first two, because it...

Elton John and Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️❌ I went into this album with next to zero expectations. Not that I don’t have faith in either Elton John or Brandi Carlile to make a compelling album, but I just got such Rolling Stone Hackney Diamonds, or recent Paul McCartney, vibes from this. The promotion, the album cover, the album title… It all just screamed late career overhyped slop to me. But I’m pleased to say that I was sorely mistaken. This is pretty damn great. I was much too harsh coming into this. Lesson learned, don’t judge a...

Lucy Dacus, Forever is a Feeling ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lucy Dacus is back with her first album since her, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker released the incredible Boygenius album, The Record, a couple years back. In fact, this is the first album from a Boygenius member since The Record. Did this unfairly heighten my expectations? I’ll be honest, yes. And did she meet those expectations? Oh yeah. Love is in the air on this album. And not in the ironic or sardonic way, either. This is genuine, full hearted love. It’s nice to hear. And the songwriting is exquisite all around. She...

Kyle M, The Real Me ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, and Kyle M’s The Real Me. What do these three albums have in common? They are all unflinchingly vulnerable and raw portraits of their authors. What former comedic actor Kyle Mooney has achieved here is nothing short of a revelation. This is, without question, the new high water mark that all songwriters are going to strive to achieve. When you first heard that Kyle Mooney was releasing an album you probably, much like I, thought, “Oh, this clown? This weaselly, scrawny, no chin having, probably...