Loaded with songs about secret societies and government experiments, the debut CD from Toronto's The Android Meme also borrows musical references from groups as wide-ranging as Rush and Tears for Fears. If you've read this far, you should know that...

As more bands eschew lyrics for increasingly adventurous instrumental albums, Sweden's Gösta Berlings Saga has figured out how to create compelling music without succumbing to unlikable self-indulgence. Glue Works bonds the individual influences of each of this progressive-rock...

He may have outgrown the “young blues guitarist” tag, but Kenny Wayne Shepherd remains a vital ax-slinger who bridges the gap between blues and mainstream rock. Now in his mid-30s, Shepherd sounds more comfortable than ever on his sixth studio album, How I Go, an accomplished collection of songs...

Billing themselves as “Wisconsin's Doom Disciples,” the four members of Milwaukee's Sleestak—featuring former members of Sixinch, Atomic Number 9 and Planet Delirium—trudge through the sludge on their second album, The Fall of Altrusia. This concept disc, with “chapters” instead of “tracks,” is based...

With the battle to legalize marijuana still raging, reissues of Peter Tosh's first two solo albums—cornerstones of the roots-rock-reggae movement—serve as a reminder of the former Wailer's pro-pot efforts. After all, the cover of...

The BoDeans, which released its debut album 25 years ago as a four-piece out of Waukesha, is now a duo. Guitarist/vocalist Sam Llanas and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Kurt Neumann, always the band's heart and soul, co-wrote all 13 songs on Indigo Dreams. Former members and live players Michael Ramos (keyboards), Bukka Allen (accordion)...

Fans of progressive rock that emphasizes “rock” over “prog” will find plenty to enjoy on Future Past, the debut from Hasse Fröberg & Musical Companion. Fröberg is the guitarist and sometimes-vocalist for the Swedish symphonic prog band The Flower Kings, and the similarities between his new outfit and his main...

Yeti Rain—a dark, ambient collaboration between former Racine resident William Kopecky on bass and Chicago's saxophone/wind synth master Roger Ebner—expands to a trio for the aptly titled III. Craig Walkner, another former Wisconsinite, adds exceptional dimension to Yeti Rain's disturbing wall of sound...