New Reviews for December 8, 2023

Before and After
Reprise
An intimate in-studio acoustic live set that finds Neil Young looking back on his beginnings and middle age.
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Rebel DiamondsEditor's choice
EMI Records / Island
Triumphant best-of set that showcases 20 years of hits from the Las Vegas showmen.
- Neil Z. Yeung
RAT WARSEditor's choice
Loma Vista
The trio traces the vicious circle of trauma and abuse with a furious and wounded blend of industrial, metal, and pop.
- Heather Phares
Sardines
Mello Music Group
Rap
The West Coast rapper and Detroit producer follow their 2017 collaboration with another set of smooth beats and hard rhymes.
- Paul Simpson
AccompanyEditor's choice
Karma Chief
Recorded live in the studio with a band, the Cotton Jones leader embraces an especially dreamy, seductive impressionism on his fifth solo outing.
- Marcy Donelson
Phonox Nights
Facility 4
Steady, mostly midtempo electro-techno and dub-disco explorations from Nina Walsh and the late Andrew Weatherall.
- Paul Simpson
Fabric Presents Sama’ Abdulhadi
Fabric
A propulsive, journey-like mix from the acclaimed Palestinian techno DJ.
- Paul Simpson
Sound PiecesEditor's choice
Moosicus Records
A triple-disc comp assembles the group's 1973 studio albums with a wide-open Radio Bremen broadcast from 1972.
- Thom Jurek
Blood of the Ram
AllMusic Staff Pick - December 11, 2023
October 19, 2004
Scorch-porch? Beergrass? Hick-hop? All three tags have attempted, and ultimately failed, to successfully relate to the masses the eclectic bits of meat and bone that make up the Gourds.The band describes their sepia-tone, gravy-drenched fools-gold nuggets as ""music for the unwashed and well-read,"" and that sentiment couldn't be more apt in illustrating the dizzying redneck poetry that runs rampant on their sixth full-length release.
- James Monger
Favorite Rock Albums
Year In Review