Matt Woods “Sawdust and Gasoline” Independent It seems like it has been ages since Matt Woods said goodbye to his longtime compatriots, The Thunderbolts. In point of fact, it has [...]

Prettygirlhatemachine “Real is a Joke” Independent Do not let anybody tell you that there is not good hip hop coming out of Des Moines. Now, as it turns out, some [...]

Dwight Yoakam “Second Hand Heart” Reprise Dwight Yoakam has sold 21 million copies of his albums. Nine albums have gone platinum, and five of them have hit No. 1 on [...]

Blues Traveler “Blow Up the Moon” Loud & Proud   Blues Traveler has always been, in essence, a talented group of guys fronted by a talented singer/mouth harp player who [...]

Death Cab For Cutie “Kintsugi” Atlantic Death Cab For Cutie is perhaps the most transparent band ever. For much of its career, the band was content to wallow in the [...]

Various Artists “Hooray For Branstad” Maximum Ames As the past couple of state elections have clearly shown, Iowa loves Terry Branstad. We might all give him a hard time for [...]

Toto “Toto XIV” Frontiers Chances are very good that if you still think of Toto at all, the album you think of is “Toto IV,” and its two No. 1 [...]

Modest Mouse “Strangers to Ourselves” Epic   A bit of a footnote, but still worth mentioning: “Strangers to Ourselves” is Modest Mouse’s first album without bassist and founding member Eric [...]

Madonna “Rebel Heart” Boy Toy   “You’re gonna love this,” Madonna claims in the first line of the song, “Bitch I’m Madonna.” But despite her seemingly confident proclamation, love never [...]

Brandi Carlile “The Firewatcher’s Daughter” ATO   Brandi Carlile hasn’t gone anywhere. After breaking through with 2007’s “The Story,” Carlile has settled into what can comfortably be described as “her [...]