Darryl Smyers

Young hunk Ryan Cabrera's third effort, The Moon Under Water, is supposedly his entry into serious music. Check out Cabrera's brunette locks and soul patch as well as his Bono-inspired attire on the album's back jacket — this guy is a thoughtful rocker, dammit. He's been listening to Springsteen (actually...

For two decades, Walter Salas-Humera and his Silos have been one of the leading lights of Americana music. Sadly underappreciated, the New York-based Silos have released more than a dozen efforts that merge country, folk, and indie rock in increasingly fascinating ways. The band's high-water mark was Cuba from 1987,...

At 75, Ike Turner is still one mean motherfucker. Risin' With the Blues, his first release of new material in three years, is as tough and weathered as the man himself, full of searing guitar work and his ever-prevalent tough-guy persona. Mixing half a dozen quality originals (including the signature...

Of all the labels to be unfairly saddled with, the oxymoronic "Christian punk" tag has dogged this Pacific Northwest trio for more than a decade. Sure, these fine, not-so-young lads don't spew expletives like hardcore legends Black Flag, nor do they wallow in sexual depravity like punk godfather Iggy Pop,...

Signed while still in high school, Slightly Stoopid's Miles Doughty and Kyle McDonald were probably the "raddest" of all dudes "gnarly," smoking more weed than humanly possible and tossing out generic SoCal skate-punk. Nearly a decade later, the two may still love to party, but their sound has grown up...