Unsigned singer/songwriter Eleni Mandell has crafted a surprisingly large body of work, an achievement notable enough in itself without discussing the merits of her latest, Artificial Fire.

Digby has largely and unfairly gone unnoticed outside the region. The band’s evocative sound recalls ’90s alt-rock with a concise, brooding precision I often long for.

Relic fast-forward that quintessential, old-time high lonesome sound into the present.

It’s not that it sounds bad; Alela Diane has that Bon-Iver-only-a-girl/Joanna-Newsom-if-she-could-really-sing quality that is certainly appealing.

Normally, upon hearing the beautiful, terror-stricken falsetto wails and moans of my favorite bird, the common loon, I revel and meditate.

Among the artists that followed the British Invasion was Van Morrison. “Gloria” became a garage rock classic, but who knew his solo career would still go strong?

Willie Breeding, whose recordings tip a cap to Hank and Willie, brings that old-timey, soaring white-boy country and blues back to the people.

The new project from Todd Albert Rittmann, D. Rider takes his work with U.S. Maple and filters it through avant noise and improvisation.

Clifton Anderson is Sonny Rollins’s nephew and longtime trombonist. While his new CD is titled Decade, representing the years since his last solo recording, the keyword is swing.

The recently reunited Odds instantly invite comparisons with Sloan but pack neither Sloan’s walloping punch nor their endearing shagginess.