Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#939 in the series) is Monks of Mellonwah, Turn the People Sydney, Australia’s Monks of Mellonwah released their debut full-length Turn The People back in March and it’s certainly worth a listen. For all fans of Nine Inch Nails’ style of industrial rock, Satriani-esque guitar weavings and lyrical meditations on an existential theme, the Monks bring a late 90s vibe with 2014 relevance. At first listen, a trip through the album feels a bit like you’re caught up in a plot from the Fast and Furious franchise – you’re speeding through a European capital in the middle of the night, cars whizzing as you enter a tunnel riddled with strobe lights en route...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day ($#935 in the Series) is Ready Never,  Eleutherophobia Oh, the modern EDM craze. It isn’t my first choice to queue up when I’m making dinner, while I’m at work, or even when I’m driving and just want background music, but it has a special place in my life. For me, it’s when I’m clubbing after midnight in Nairobi, Kenya, not sure how or when I’m going to get back to the hotel to make the flight home to Kigali tomorrow. Or when I’m supervising a school dance and the kids are bouncing up and down with the lights and the beat and the waves of heat and sweat. It’s me being 17 and finding...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#933 in the Series) is Lovesick Saints, Dia De Los Muertos Chandler, Arizona is more likely to be known as a bastion of conservative politics and suburban way of life than for a thriving punk rock and alternative music scene.  Usually one has to travel at least into Phoenix proper, or make the journey a few hours further west on I-10 to SoCal before engaging with any meaningful punk music. But listen to the music of Lovesick Saints and learn that being surrounded by such a homogenous atmosphere as Maricopa County can, perhaps counter-intuitively, produce a social consciousness and yearning that combine to forge intelligent, powerful alternative punk and rock music reserved usually...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#858 in the Series) is Telekinesis, Dormarion (Merge Records) It is May 3rd, and I’m just saying it right now. This will be the album of the summer. Hailing from Seattle, Telekinesis (Michael Benjamin Lerner’s one-man show) has just rocked my life with the new album Dormarion. Sometimes I struggle with writing the same thing about all the bands I like. They’re all good for pretty much the same reasons: folksy, rootsy, soulful, rooted, vintage, twangy, jangly, whatever. Telekinesis is different, and not necessarily my usual fare. But man is it good. They’ve got driving, bright acoustic guitar, a bit of gravel in the voice, an oh-ohoh-oh right away. Right away I know...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#854 in the Series) is Old Man Markley, Down Side Up (Fat Wreck Chords) There is an interesting thing happening in the pop music world these days. The more things change, the more they stay the same….and yet they still keep changing. Not entirely sure what that means, but this much is true: traditionally defined genres are blending, sometimes being deconstructed altogether, and new fusions are emerging. Especially in the Nashville/ACM scene, groups like Gloriana and Lady Antebellum have managed to get mass market crossover appeal while still winning several critical accolades with a not-exactly-country, not-exactly-pop, just pretty-darn-good sound. Enter Old Man Markley, with a style dubbed “newgrass.”.Energetic without being overly gritty...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#852 in the Series) is Josh Ritter, The Beast In Its Tracks I have come to expect great things from Josh Ritter over the handful of years that I’ve been a fan of his. And were it not for my pawing through a friend’s estate sale and picking up Animal Years because he swore I’d like it, I’m not sure how or when I would have found Josh Ritter. But man, now three LPs and two EPs since that career-defining release, am I ever glad I did. When I heard about the scheduled release of The Beast In Its Tracks  I went all out. I pre-ordered the 180-gram vinyl (with free CD album...