| 2020 |
| Lord Sonny the Unifier All New Information | 3.0 |
| Paul Maged Culture War | 3.5 |
| Keeping classic hard rock line alive and combining it with some serious social messages. |
| Nick Campbell Destroys Lo-fi Bass Music for Quarantine | 4.0 |
| There might be a lo-fi in the title of this EP, but the jazz-funk presented is of high quality. |
| Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz This Mortal Force | 3.5 |
| Even though they didn't end up on their previous album, these songs still resound with quality and message. |
| David Thompson The Wall | 3.0 |
| Good electro-pop that brings a social message along with it. |
| Farr Well Hard Pill to Swallow | 4.5 |
| Excellent hip hop with superbly chosen samples and serious lyric about mental health. |
| Benjamin Elias On The Way | 3.0 |
| Hip hop that does not come from one of the genre's central points, but still works. |
| Theresa Lucia Boxes | 4.0 |
| One of those debuts where you can immediately spot the strengths, in this case, Lucia's vocals and her songwriting. |
| Den of Ashes Garden of Ashes | 4.0 |
| Den of Ashes tries to combine Seventies country rocks tendencies with modern touches, and succeeds. |
| Todd Warner Moore Overnight Flight | 3.5 |
| A singer/songwriter album that grows on you the more you listen to it, showing its intricate details. |
| Dan Tuffy Letters of Gold | 4.0 |
| Excellent songwriting, a great singing voice, and a great knack for a good melody. |
| Andrew Reed As a Bird of the Air... | 3.5 |
| On his latest album, Reed tries to resurrect the Eighties sounds of Tom Petty and Echo & The Bunnymen and bring them into this century. |
| Chris Ianuzzi Olga In A Black Hole | 3.5 |
| A classical composer that crosses the border into electronics with both ambient and techno leanings. |
| 12xPretty 12xPretty | 3.0 |
| Following in the footsteps of electro-bands that combine pop with more serious lyrics. |
| Kid Lab Rat More Sad Songs | 3.5 |
| Combining hip hop with other genres is not an easy thing, but on "More Sad Songs" Kid Lab Rat does an excellent job of it. |
| Ivan Beecroft The Cynical Express | 3.5 |
| 2018 |
| The Goldwyn Experiment Avenue B | 3.0 |
| Good, solid melodic prog, that brings in a number of genres. |
| Mah-Ze-Tar Mah-Ze-Tar | 4.0 |
| What world fusion music should sound like, where neither world or electronics dominate but work in unison. |
| JP Harris Sometimes Dogs Bark At Nothing | 4.0 |
| A true find among the pile of 'standard' country music releases. |
| Populuxe Lumiere | 4.0 |
| The missing link between the Sixties melody rock and bands like XTC brought to today. |
| Venice May Illusion Is Inevitable | 3.0 |
| Quite a valiant effort from a duo that is searching their place in the crowded space of melodic rock. |
| Ruiners Typecast | 3.5 |
| An excellent post-punk outing from this Houston, Texas band. |
| Weather McNabb Cubicle Zombie | 3.5 |
| Excellent voice over a souped-up trip hop make a very inviting EP. |
| Gideon King and City Blog Upscale Madhouse | 4.5 |
| Some of the best pop/jazz since Steely Dan released their last album. |
| Galapaghost Sootie | 3.5 |
| Does a great job crossing lines between electro pop, ambient, and rock. |
| Natural Drummer End of Time | 3.0 |
| Minor misgivings about the narration should not detract from a good solid album of heavy prog. |
| American Amnesia Yet Here We Are | 3.0 |
| Teenagers that skipped teen pop and dived into more heavier waters, the right way. |
| In the Light of Led Zeppelin Pompeii Sessions | 3.0 |
| A tribute band that neither plays Zeppelin note for note nor does it distort the originals beyond recognition. |
| The Blue Collar Army Norrland | 3.5 |
| The Swedish heavy purveyors with a sound that is not easy to categorize, spanning a few things from screamo to post-rock. |
| My Autumn Amor Letters to Brie | 3.5 |
| A rare exception - singer/songwriter that is not afraid to rock out. |
| Aya Maguire The Sandcastle King | 3.0 |
| A solid debut effort by a singer/songwriter with a good voice and melodic touch. |
| Metaspion Folktronika Schmolkfonika | 3.5 |
| A smooth blend of EDM and Scandinavian folk, more for the dance floor rather than a lounge. |
| Strange Culprits Strange Culprits | 3.5 |
| A great debut by a trio that does simple things the way they should be done. |
| Mailman Yang Yin | 3.0 |
| Something like a traditional prog rock concept double album that works. |
| Beach Skulls Las Dunas | 4.0 |
| Sebastian O In Your Room | 4.5 |
| Novagolde Novagolde | 3.0 |
| A promising debut EP from a Madison, Wisconsin psych/prog quartet. |
| Jane in Space Gorerunner | 3.5 |
| Thoughtful and detailed industrial that doesn't strictly stick to genre rules. |
| Pale Blue Dot Anatomy | 3.5 |
| A very good take on Pearl Jam/Foo Fighters sound with a social conscience. |
| Marty Thompson Romantic Stories | 3.0 |
| Thompson, an experienced member of many jam bands, comes up with an interesting musical and lyrical concept on his second solo album |
| Justin Shapiro Campfire Party | 2.5 |
| Shapiro goes for a good feel sound, driving around music, and almost makes it. |
| Chickn Wowsers! | 3.5 |
| Wulijimuren Sun of UTC+8 | 3.5 |
| Some brilliant guitar work from a man who made his way from Mongolia to New York. |
| The Thirds Dork Matter | 3.5 |
| The Thirds pick up where the likes of Minutemen, Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr. left off. |
| Astral Cloud Ashes Dear Absentee Creator | 4.0 |
| Even if you don't care about the story of the Bitcoin creator, the bands take on Dinosaor Jr./Husker Du/Death Cab For Cutie combination should. |
| Morgan X Barrie Fall | 4.0 |
| The Canadian singer/songwriter that pulls all the right strands from Neil Young and Nick Drake. |
| King Ropes Green Wolverine | 3.5 |
| An excellent EP that covers the ground between Jeff Tweedy, Velvet Underground to Tom Waits. |
| Seabuckthorn A House With Too Much Fire | 4.0 |
| Seabuckthorn presents musical images that are focused, melodic and experimental at the same time. |
| Eric Frisch Head Up In The Clouds | 3.0 |
| Faces on TV Night Funeral | 3.5 |
| An excellent official debut by the Belgian musician/producer who has already made a name for himself in his native country. |
| Suki Rae and Company Can't Stop Now | 2.5 |
| A frustrating album that has predominantly good music, but a few duds too. |
| David Williams Tipping My Hat To Leonard | 4.0 |
| A cross between Tom Waits and Randy Newman that works on all levels. |
| Cordova Runaway Summer | 3.0 |
| Some summer rocking on the heavier side of things. |
| Eddy Yang A New City | 2.5 |
| It could have been a good EP if Eddy let somebody else sing. |
| Jasmine Karimova From the Womb | 4.0 |
| An excellent, surprising debut album from a media artist living in Amsterdam with an intriguing voice. |
| Benjamin Dean Wilson The Smartest Person in the Room | 4.0 |
| A former filmmaker turns to music and storytelling with excellent results. |
| Paul Maged The Glass River | 3.5 |
| A very accomplished outing from a singer/songwriter who obviously prefers Green Day and REM to Simon and Garfunkel. |
| Mark Peters Spirits | 3.5 |
| Some great vocals and acoustic guitar picking, but much more than just another singer/songwriter. |
| Umbrella Bed Rotate | 3.0 |
| Good American ska in the style of the Eighties ska revival lead by Specials and Selecter. |
| Jon Magnusson Always A Rebel | 3.0 |
| A nice and varied introduction to a Swedish singer/songwriter making splashes on Spotify. |
| Sam Levin I Am | 3.0 |
| Levin is yet another teenager that sounds much more accomplished than his age would indicate. |
| The Noise Figures Telepath | 3.5 |
| Excellent take on classic psychedelia from this Greek duo. |
| Magical Beasts Penninsula/When Love’s a Stranger | 4.5 |
| A quite brilliant take on Americana with shades of Jason Molina and Australian melodic bands like Sodastream. |
| Snailmate Existential Anxiety | 3.0 |
| Quirky post-punk that mixes angular synths, hip-hop and much else. |
| Ryan Summers ii | 3.5 |
| A very interesting take on ambient Krautrock and early Eno. |
| Nick Lamb Gettin’ High Off You, Simple Man | 3.0 |
| Nick Lamb manages to cover at least three or four music styles in a span of an EP but will have to decide soon which way he wants to go. |
| Arden and the Wolves Who Can You Trust | 3.0 |
| Very radio friendly sound with a Ramones cover of particular note. |
| Agency Philosophies | 3.5 |
| Yet another good combination of earlier r&b and soul sounds with the modern beats and hip-hop innovations and socially conscious lyrics. |
| Kachinga Sky Falling | 4.0 |
| Canadian Katchinga has come up with one of the best debut hip-hop albums of 2018. |
| Good Field Surface Tension | 3.5 |
| An excellent take on the Wilco/The War On Drugs Sound with shades of the Nineties. |
| The League of One Dispatch | 3.0 |
| The League of One is hard at work at making classic heavy metal cool again. |
| Tango With Lions The Light | 4.0 |
| While labeled as shoegaze, this album goes much wider in its scope |
| Jason Vitelli Head Above Tide | 4.5 |
| Excellent smart jazz/pop akin to Steely Dan and Sea and Cake. |
| Andrew Reed If All The World Were Right | 4.0 |
| Nothing wrong with good pop/rock, and this one is a very sophisticated, listenable version. |
| Henry Metal War In Heaven | 3.0 |
| The fifth release in less than a year continues Henry Metal's journey dominated by heavy riffs and humor. |
| 2017 |
| Oliver Cheung Remembrance | 3.5 |
| A progressive/post-rock/metal surprise from Hong Kong with some excellent guitar work. |
| Trigram Trigram | 3.5 |
| Heavy sounds, heavy thoughts that fall lightly on the ears. |
| Kate Fenner Middle Voice | 3.5 |
| An emotionally charged album form the Canadian singer. |
| Galapaghost Pulse | 3.5 |
| A mixture of musical styles combined with lyrics that make you stop and think for a while |
| Yvan Poisson Blind Experiment | 3.5 |
| An interesting sampling technique making the beats used hard to recognize. |
| zenxienz Cosmosis | 3.0 |
| Cameron Williamson or zenxienz continues on his productive trail based on writing a new song every day. |
| Ryan Hutchens Last Ten Years | 3.5 |
| It is very hard these days to come up with something good and stand out in the Americana genre, and Hutchens does. |
| Aurganic Distant Echoes and Close Encounters | 4.0 |
| The album covers a lot of musical ground - from Postal Service to Radiohead. |
| Giant Flying Turtles Waltz To The World | 4.0 |
| An ecclectic and versitile band cover the ground between Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead. |
| Mavara Consciousness | 3.0 |
| GEA Butterflies | 3.5 |
| Finnish singer GEA is on a good track to earn that often misused epithet ethereal. |
| Henry Metal Metal O'Clock | 3.0 |
| A good, solid attempt to present a variety of heavy metal genres and inject some humor in the lyrics. |
| Lukas Nelson and The Promise of The Real Lukas Nelson and The Promise of the Real | 4.5 |
| With this album, Lukas Nelson steps out completely out of his father Willie's shadow and shows why Neil Young joined forces with him on two albums. |
| Agency Resist | 4.5 |
| One of the best R&B, soul albums with the message in recent times. |
| Run DMT Revolutionaire | 3.0 |
| A well crafted, dark sounding dubstep soundtrack to an imaginary movie. |
| zenxienz Brainforest | 4.5 |
| An excellent, refreshing IDM album, showing what "intelligent dance music" should sound like. |
| Temporary Hero Indigo | 3.0 |
| Intelligently crafted modern pop done with soul and care. |
| Veseria RLTVTY | 3.0 |
| Familiar Sixties and Seventies sounds but done with aplomb. |
| Michael P. Cullen and The Soul Searchers Live at the Lazybones | 3.0 |
| Australian singer/songwriter inspired by his compatriots like Nick Cave and The Saints comes up with a good live EP. |
| Coral the Merknight vs. Searantula It Weaves a Web of Metal | 3.0 |
| A heavy metal spoof that works on quite a few levels. |
| Negativehate Solipsis | 4.0 |
| From metal to harmony vocals to progressive and back. |
| Revolushn Further!! | 3.0 |
| An inspired take on the late Sixties San Francisco sound with a dash of Midwestern guitar attack. |
| Eric Frisch Late In The Night | 4.0 |
| A great, late night piano pop influenced by the likes of The Beatles and Real Estate. |
| Ghost Color American Book of The Dead | 3.5 |
| If you're in for something leaning towards heavier sounds, be it grunge or even shoegaze, definitely worth checking out. |
| K-HAM CA Astro Traveling 2: Albatros Hill | 4.0 |
| To make a good beat sampling album you don't only have to have good beats, but also to perfectly tackle the samples you're using and K-HAM CA does that. |
| Fracktura Oculus | 3.5 |
| A good, promising combination of few old progressive styles. |
| Deb Montgomery Long Long Journey | 2.5 |
| A well played, sung and heartfelt album. Unfortunately, a bit too long to be listened to in one take. |
| Eric Anders Eleven Nine | 3.0 |
| Good, solid album, with very strong political views that are sure to polarize Eric's audiences. |
| ButchQueen and the Bad Habits Bare Grits | 3.0 |
| Well played debut EP that mostly stays in the 'pure punk' tradition. |
| Groupoem Dirt Church | 4.0 |
| A great post-punk album in the tradition of Husker Du and Minutemen. |
| Dark Model Saga | 3.0 |
| An interesting and intriguing variation on orchestral electronics. Quite suited for an anime film. |
| American High Bones in the Attic, Flowers in the Basement | 3.0 |
| Psychocide Alcohol and Bad Decisions | 3.0 |
| Cary Heuchert Blue Rain | 4.0 |
| An excellent musical overview of late psychedelic/early progressive sounds |
| Dugo Lingua Franca | 4.5 |
| An excellent electric/acoustic combination that has been in the works for 10 years. |
| Ivan Beecroft Dirty Lie | 3.5 |
| A great combination of classic rock and Eighties alternative sounds |
| Patrick Grant A Sequence of Waves (Twelve Stories and a Dream) | 3.5 |
