At the school of romantic heartland rock, John Taglieri probably graduated at the top of his class.

Ben Ratliff’s EP “Misplaced Desire” is a double-barrelled blues shotgun, powered equally by Ratliff’s icy baritone vocals and his and Jeff Winter’s chunky guitar riffs, with support from a solid rhythm section and production that strikes a good balance between clean and moody. Ratliff’s raw, rootsy sound comes out of …

Elisa Peimer has stuck by her muse and finally produced a CD that sounds as good as her talent deserves. Knowing what kind of music she wants to master – shimmering, straight-ahead pop-rock, heavy on the pop – and devoting all her energy to it has paid off. “Take the …

It’s refreshing, perhaps paradoxically, to hear a full set of music as resolutely out of fashion as slide guitar specialist George Gelish’s new home-produced CD “Don’t Quit Your Day Job.” Combining many of the elements that formed what’s now called classic rock with a knack for catchy riffs and choruses, …

The title track of SHAKING THE DISEASE, a three-song “CD single” from the Dublin-based, Welsh-Breton singer Katell Keineg, is one of the most delightfully energetic numbers she’s ever done. Where many artists mellow with age, on the evidence of “Shaking the Disease” it’s clearthat Keineg’s songwriting is as strong and …

Hun-Huur-Tu, the throat singers of Tuva, have been darlings of the World Music scene (and Public Radio) for some years now. I had my first chance to see them live and up close last Friday at Satalla, a new, modest-sized NYC venue specializing in World Music. Seeing and hearing music …