CD and DVD reviews
URL: https://francinehoney.com/ Glassy beats cascade from a patient drum kit, dotting the landscape that guides us into To Be Continued…, Francine Honey’s latest LP, and its introductory track “Snowflakes on My Eyelashes.” Honey is joined by Beth Nielsen Chapman here, and together they stoke a raging fire that will melodically burn and carry us into the…
C-Rod offers a hot take on the coldness of break-ups with “The Break-up Tape”. With a flawless flow the whole of the album has a carefully crafted quality. Every track offers yet another chapter in a greater story, one that explores the power of relationships. Arrangements go for a casual cool style to them, nicely…
Romy Conzen goes for a funky fresh sound with “AIAIO”. An absolute joy of a track the happiness and optimism positively shine through. By far the highlight are her highly energetic vocals that rest at the very heart of it all. Rushing through with an intense energy is the colossal riffing of Dar.Ra’s “Heart Shape…
The mastermind behind this new album is none other than the tenacious Fabp aka Fabpz The Freelancer with help from Pete Atkinson of X-Calade Promotionz. Together, this tag team has created body-slamming beats that are simply FIRE! ‘Beatz on Blaze Instrumentals’ offers listeners 14 highly original & fresh recordings that will blaze through your speakers.…
With a nimble gallop, a lightly overdriven guitar comes driving out of the silence in “Sawtell,” the first track in Scatter Swept’s inspired new collaboration Modern Remains. Its strings seem to sway like a pendulum warning us that time is running out, but their urgency is met with resistance in a bassline that is only…
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kamrynmarieofficial/ Anyone who has ever wondered how it could be possible to translate an emotion as difficult to describe as eternal love into an intrepid melody that knows no boundaries would do well to give “Baby Girl,” the latest single from Kamryn Marie, a spin this February. In this ballad, Marie examines a scene…
A chiming melody emits its charming glow from a distant piano in the opening bars of “Teddy Bear,” the new single from songwriter Tommy Botz, and soon it’s joined by the enraptured crooning of a loving feminine vocal that wraps around us tightly but stops shy of smothering us in its warmth. The rhythm is…
Na Hoa goes for a blissful dreamy world with the beautiful “Leo Kama’aina”. Done with the greatest of ease, the languid pacing feels just right. From the elegant piano weaving in and out of the mix to graceful guitar, the whole thing simply stuns. A highly energetic, wild spirit defines Mark Lindsay’s “Rush On You”.…
The musical elements that first strike one while listening to Fred Argir’s album Still Alive for the first time are all the Neil Young-ish emotional guitar solos on it. Such primitive electric guitar string-bending is an enjoyable recurrent throughout Argir’s album, and a kind of connective glue from track to track. Stylistically, Still Alive relies…
URL: https://tomproctorandthealisters.com/ Raucous drums come roaring into focus as we enter “In Hollywood,” the new single from critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Tom Proctor, whom many indie country neophytes might sooner recognize from his equally-lauded career in cinema. The party is just getting started as the percussion finds itself joined by a hot, swinging guitar part that…
BANDCAMP: https://pezzettino.bandcamp.com/album/resin Resin – by Pezzettino (the recording name for Margaret Stutt), with all respect intended is a brilliant album of compositions you just won’t find every day. Strutt is an amazing artist with so many ways to describe her voice and musicianship it’s a story all its own. This is her 11th album, so…
This will be my fifth article for the Swedish sensations known as Gibrish dating back to 2014. About four months ago, I had the chance to review two singles for Gibrish and one of the songs was titled “Bara en krona (Just one crown)”. The reason I bring this up is because this previous track…
MoeDeLL plays with a painterly precision on the blissful beauty of “Porch”. Featuring a cinematic flourish, MoeDeLL proves to have a deft ear for melody. The arrangement neatly explores the importance of texture, of tone, and of the intermingling of multiple layers of sound. Highly unique in their approach not a moment feels wasted. Letting…
BANDCAMP: https://gotimeband.bandcamp.com/ Conveying raw emotions through visceral riffage and ripping vocals is what Go Time! do best, and they continue to affirm themselves as one of the last true blue rock bands to do so in their brand new album Midway. With nineteen different songs that each stand on their own as star-quality rock tracks, Midway is bursting…
CD BABY: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/laban3 Steamy beats come slipping through a wall of bass punctuated by an evasive electric guitar in the first few bars of “Quién da Más,” the brand new single from Labán. Ever so slowly, they build enough strength to balance out the wallop of the low-end quake of the bassline, which recoils at…
After battling through health issues, WT keeps on trucking with axe in hand. This is an assembly of classic blues songs other than the same standard popular ones that everyone seems to want to play over and over again. They all tell a story, blues style. Walter handles the guitar and vocals along with Michael…
Moss Da Beast is coming out swingin’ on the hot, new single, “Professional”, with a little help from his friend Sizzle on the mic. Just like a hip-hop Boss, Moss Da Beast is puffin’ his chest out and sounding like a Rap Samurai slicin’ & dicin’ the competition. Moss is not playin’ around and keeping…
Olga Solar’s “Tulips” is a delightfully honest love song, of sorts. The song’s best bit is its wordless chorus of, “Da-da-dum.” Sola sings the song’s verses in a sort of talk-sing, slightly sardonic tone. She’s one smart cookie, it’s obvious right out of the gate. Although Solar’s voice has a slightly jazzy, quivery quality, some…
URL: www.caseyahern.com In these most trying of times, it’s nice to have a single or even a collection of songs that inspire feeling good about life again, even when it’s as shaky and unstable as we could’ve ever feared it to be. I recently found my own soundtrack of this nature in the brand new…
I’m hooked right out of the gates when I hit play on “Let’s Get Funky” by DEVI. This singer/songwriter/musician has created such a fun-spirited atmosphere with this new single. “Let’s Get Funky” was written and produced by DEVI and is featured on the album ‘Amazing’ and have to say I am a fan! DEVI has…
Echo-y piano introduces “Second Time” as a moody musical encounter. When Ferera Swan steps in, tears are falling down her cheeks. Swan, the emotive vocalist, is here asking the hard question: “How can you love someone you don’t even know?” It’s a sad, rather than angry, confrontational song. Swan’s has been let down not once,…
A synthesizer comes swinging down from the heavens with an untouchable confidence, carving out a stylish path on which pop singer Moli will lyrically strut in Hazey Eyes’ all new single “Hungover You,” which is out this January everywhere that indie music is available. The synths are ominous and powerful, but they’re contained by a…
Pristine chords materialize in slow-motion, conjuring a decadent piano melody in their wake. Their existence isn’t synthesized, yet it isn’t quite real – at least not until Ferera Swan starts to sing. In the first few bars of her debut single “Second Time,” listeners sift through a plethora of sonic tones layered on top of…
Empty Mirror explores the shadows on the dark loveliness of “The Mere”. Full of life, at times the sound recalls a unique gothic take on indie rock. Soulful the way that Empty Mirror’s considered arrangements draw from bands as diverse as the Decemberists and even a hint of Pavement helps to give the entire thing…
“I Don’t Feel It” is a single from the album Fred Argir’s album, Still Alive. Argir is a real do-it-yourselfer, as he plays every instrument on this loudly rocking single. The song jumps right out of the gate with rollicking, stoner electric guitar. Once Argir’s voice kicks in, it arrives with a weary, frustrated tone.…
Churning out the darkness comes a bright melody driven by the vocal of singer Iossa in the opening salvo of his collaboration with Wlady & T.N.Y., the brand new track “Beatrice,” and before long a gilded piano slithers through the silence like a serpent and beckons us towards a jungle of riveting tones. An implied…
You wouldn’t think this is a cover of the legendary Tom Petty/Stevie Nicks duet from the opening alone and when the full band comes in and a piercing lead guitar flourish overwhelms the senses. It soon settles into some recognizable riffing, recast in metal guitar, and Aven’s vocal contributions lead the way. She has a…
Sam Levin delves into a beautiful tenderness with the powerful folk electronics of “Bookmark”. Highly ornate, the polished delivery recalls the carefully considered gestures of Four Tet’s earliest works. Keeping things bright and airy, the lightness of the track draws a bit from Bossa Nova, jazz, and the gentleness of thoughtful pop. By far the…
Shadowfields’ “Awake” begins with a gypsy-like fiddle part, played over an echoing drum fill, before Heather Humphrey’s angelic vocals kick in. Humphry sings the song’s first verse, while Tom McKeown – the second half of the Shadowfields duo – sings the second verse. What results from this combination is a narration of a nightmarish vision.…
Men stand half naked in a field, their pale white torsos superimposed within the frame of a camera lens. A robotic voiceover wants to know but one question; Do you want to go to the prom with me? Suddenly, we cut away to a luxurious scene – a Guru, being fed by said men and a handful…
BANDCAMP: https://boxofmoxie.bandcamp.com/ Box of Moxie’s sixth studio effort Submission Admission, written by chief songwriter and vocalist Stephen Jacques and produced by the incomparable multi-instrumentalist Alan Weatherhead, welcomes listeners into a surreal collection of emotive folk-rock that is as evocative as it is stylish. Opening with the plaintive star single “Irish Sea Lovers,” Jacques wastes no time…
URL: https://www.stephanierosemusic.com/ Critics and country fans alike can’t seem to stop talking about Stephanie Rose’s new record Sprout and it’s January single “Luxury,” which are both taking the world by storm this winter. Proving that country music is truly borderless in 2019, this plain-speaking Canadian is dishing out nothing but heartfelt anthems in her new EP, which…
Julia King sings with a swinging, soulful passion on the incredible “Lover’s Lament”. Proving to be a deft storyteller, the blues color the entirety of the piece. The arrangement has a classic quality to it which proves to be nearly timeless. Done with the greatest level of care, Julia King ensures that not a moment…
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/patrickdovalmusic/ The material on Patrick Doval’s newest full length release Broken, spanning eleven songs, deals with weighty themes and concerns, but Doval never sounds broken. Instead, the collection is surprisingly exultant despite its rather complicated mosaic of moods and that redemptive feeling is present from the first song onward. “Rose” whips Broken up to a…
Nothing junky at all about this new song from Indian-American singer/songwriter, Shreya Preeti, but quite the opposite. “Junkyard” is a breakout single off of the recent EP titled ‘Encore’. This artist that’s based out of Minneapolis and Chicago has a sound all of her own that is both refreshing & infectious to say the least.…
“Photo” is the title track to the Chrissie Romano Band’s album, and it’s all about how sensory stimuli can sometimes drive us (seemingly) crazy. During the song’s second verse, Romano sings, “I was just walking down the street and I smelled your perfume.” She’s so overwhelmed, the lyric states, she spins around, gets dizzy and…
I know I’ve said this before in the past but it’s damn true that ‘If it’s Love’ doesn’t even remotely sound like a debut album for Kelly Hafner. This new release for the singer/songwriter from Austin, Texas comes across as a finely-tuned production from a seasoned professional in the studio. I am in Love with…
Roses & Cigarettes craft a rollicking good old rock n’roll spirit with the joyous “Echoes and Silence”. Effortlessly blending country, folk, and the singer-songwriter tradition into a cohesive whole, the album knows how to have fun. Volume deserves to be blasted for the arrangement pack quite a punch, with the guitars warm and inviting, the…
Every day, people go to California for various reasons. One might go for the thrill that the great state has to offer including various attractions like Disney World, Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills, or even because of the huge hub of actresses and actors…Quite possibly while there, a quick stroll to see the Hollywood Walk of…
The title track to the Chrissie Romano Band album Photo speaks to how a picture can quickly bring back a flood of memories. Romano’s band is a small one, a trio in fact, and the music they create together is tight, folk-ish pop. Romano sings these nine songs with a pure, expressive voice. She also…
