MANCHESTER – Mr. Nick and The Dirty Tricks will perform at Strange Brew Tavern tonight at 9 p.m.
Composed of four respected New England bluesmen, Mr. Nick & The Dirty Tricks have been performing together since …

This week we take a look at new releases from The Minus 5, Regina Spektor, Levon Helm and The Butchers and Builders.

As anyone who has heard a zillion spins of Santana’s hit, “Smooth,” knows, singer/songwriter Rob Thomas has an undeniable way with a hook. Too bad the Matchbox Twenty frontman and producer Matt Serletic couldn’t stop themselves from overdecorating on Thomas’ second solo album, throwing everything but the kitchen sink into the big swell of songs like “Her Diamonds” and the uptempo power ballad “Someday.”

“Life Death Live and Freedom” is a riff on the title of John Mellencamp’s recently released studio CD, “Life Death Love and Freedom.” It’s a novel idea, releasing live and studio versions almost simultaneously. And it’s a good thing; these songs were meant to be performed live, they were written in the folk tradition, the troubadour tradition, in which a song traveled from one singer to the next, morphing along the way.