Opener to “Brotherhood” – either album 16 or the fourth LP in five years, depending on how you look at it – “Raised On The Wrong Side” is immediately everything that’s wonderful about FM. Come for...

There are some artists who just feel utterly at home on a stage, and Carter Sampson is one of them. The Blue Door Club isn’t just a venue for her—it’s where she belongs, and that makes it the perfect...

detest “wacky.” Whether it’s the self-styled “character” (they’re another word beginning with C…) you meet in life, or the musicians who make deliberately impenetrable records, it usually grates on...

WRITER’S NOTE: I try and review a record or a gig every day—sometimes more. But with the sheer amount of albums that come my way, a few inevitably slip through the net. That doesn’t mean they’re not...

The title track – which lands at track three – crackles with emotion. 2025 is a shitshow. Proof that things can always get worse. Yet somehow, there’s always hope. “I can hear ya,” says Walter Trout....

“Bad Choices” is the kind of record that’ll get fans of Scandinavian rock ‘n’ roll – or “Action Rock” as people insist on calling it now – very excited indeed. That sound. Those guitars. The solos....

If you’ve got hips, move them. So says Sam Millar before launching into “Dancing On My Own”—and the pop-rock harmonies do sort of demand it. So does the whole set, to be fair. Best known, perhaps,...

I’ll be honest—let’s make no bones about it—I’ve been in an unrequited love affair with Kylie Minogue since 1987. According to Wikipedia, she left Neighbours in July 1988. That means I haven’t...

Following the classic metal punch of 2023’s “The Dark Tower,” Burning Witches come back swinging with “Inquisition” – a record that’s all fire, menace and unstoppable energy. With razor-sharp...

It takes about 25 seconds for Crowne to reveal themselves on the title track of Wonderland. By then, you know exactly what’s coming – that very particular Scandinavian brand of melodic rock. When UK...

Quite how Goo Goo Dolls always manage to reflect their times is astonishing. I’ve followed the band through all their phases, yet somehow they still sound perfectly 2025. Lead track “Ocean” could be...

Hailing from the tiny town of Sylva, deep in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, John Morgan grew up immersed in bluegrass tradition. Summers were spent on the festival circuit with his...

Butch Walker, when MV last saw him, was in Train. He released a song in the early 2010s called “Summer Of 89.” It reflects on growing up in the pre-internet age and at one point says: “nobody told me...