Jugbg The Black Books

No matter how long they’ve been out of the spotlight, nobody should ever have underestimated the hitmaking machine known as the Black Eyed Peas. Putting aside 2018’s MASTERS OF THE SUN VOL. 1—a low-key project that revisited the group’s hip-hop roots without facing the commercial pressure of following up 2010’s presumed farewell The Beginning—this multilingual comeback effort revives their maximalist dance-floor appeal with some help from a fresh set of contemporary stars. With Fergie out of the picture, the majority of the vocal guests here come from Latin America, dutifully representing the reggaetón and Spanish-language pop boom of the moment. The massively successful throwback single “RITMO (Bad Boys for Life)” aligns them with global superstar J Balvin, while Dominican dembow sensation El Alfa brings his signature energy to the throbbing “NO MAÑANA”.

The best music reflects a wide-screen view of the world back at us, helping distill the universal into something far more personal. Since forming in Austin in 2004, The Black Angels have become standard-bearers for modern psych-rock that does exactly that, which is one of many reasons why the group’s new album, Wilderness of Mirrors, feels so aptly named.

The Black Crowes' debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, may borrow heavily from the bluesy hard rock grooves of the Rolling Stones and Faces (plus a bit of classic soul), but the band gets away with it due to sharp songwriting and an ear for strong riffs and chorus melodies, not to mention the gritty, muscular rhythm guitar of Rich Robinson and brother Chris' appropriate vocal swagger. Unlike their later records, the Crowes don't really stretch out and jam that much on Money Maker, but that helps distill their virtues into a handful of memorable singles ("Jealous Again," "She Talks to Angels," a cover of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle"), and most of the album tracks maintain an equally high standard. Shake Your Money Maker may not be stunningly original, but it doesn't need to be; it's the most concise demonstration of the fact that the Black Crowes are a great, classic rock & roll band.

The Black Noodle Project is a French band that has actually been around for some time, releasing their demo in 2003. There used to be more members, or maybe they just sort of come and go as the winds of life steer them. I’m not sure. Right now, there are two members: Sébastien Bourdeix on guitars, keyboards, bass, and vocals; and Tommy Rizzitelli on drums. For this record, vocalist Sab Elvenia of the band The Fundamental Wisdom of Chaos guests on three tracks. I should say that, if you haven’t already, you should check out Sab’s band—they are quite unique.

2022 release from Denmark's premier roots-rockers Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado. The septet has blazed a trail across Scandinavia, Europe, Canada, the US and Asia for the past twenty years. They've been captivating crowds with their dynamic stage presence and a sound that fuses soul, Chicago blues, boogie and rock 'n' roll with a voice where Ray Charles, Van Morrison and Billy Gibbons meet in the middle. They've brought dancing shoes to Europe's largest festival stages and low-light noir-ish blues to Jazz clubs around the globe.

Intense Akron, Ohio blues-soaked duo that began by overwhelming indie rock critics and quickly moved to arena audiences.
It's too facile to call the Black Keys counterparts of the White Stripes: they share several surface similarities - their names are color-coded, they hail from the Midwest, they're guitar-and-drum blues-rock duos - but the Black Keys are their own distinct thing, a tougher, rougher rock band with a purist streak that never surfaced in the Stripes. But that's not to say that the Black Keys are blues traditionalists: even on their 2002 debut, The Big Come Up, they covered the Beatles' psychedelic classic "She Said She Said"…