CD and DVD reviews
New Age is a type of genre, that has been heard of but maybe only heard once or twice for its genre. When it comes to Les Fradkin whose new song turned single “Reflections Of Love” off his new album “The New Age” set for release sometime this Spring, via Bongo Boy Records, Les Fradkin’s…
With a furious fiery attitude Dave’s Neck “The Girl with the Neck Tattoo” goes for the jugular. Colossal in scope these are songs that deserve to be blasted. Physicality reigns supreme over the collection as drums have almost a tribal quality to them. Rhythms sprawl themselves out moving as fast as they possibly can. The…
Sunny and optimistic Charles Parker’s “Bring Back the Sun” is an absolute delightful. Offering the best of alternative rock the songs are full of catchy hooks and infectious rhythms. Arrangements are downright exuberant while they help support the impassioned vocals that grace the sound. Lyrics serve as the front and center of the sound for…
Daisy Jopling’s “The Awakening” offers a sense of hope throughout these finely tailored eclectic arrangements. With strong roots in chamber pop, Daisy Jopling incorporates a wide variety of stylistic choices throughout the album. Classical, rock, pop, infused with a clear love of the theatrical make their way into the mix. Attention to detail is profound…
Tripp Denom’s “Coupe Life” glides by on chill vibes. With an all-encompassing lush sound the arrangement feels perfect. Percussion hits all the right notes, kept stripped down but still fully in force. Synthesizers sprawl out into luxurious textures letting the multi-layered kaleidoscopic rush of color. By far the heart and soul of the sound comes…
The second full length album from Nick Black, Deep Blue, is a ten song collection following up his 2012 debut The Soul Diaries. It combines the same incendiary guitar work, vocal excellence, and polished songwriting distinguishing the first album while exhibiting growing maturity. Delving into a longstanding musical genres like soul and blues music isn’t…
A veteran’s touch is always distinctive. There’s a certainty and understated swagger surrounding their songwriting that never beats its chest or ballyhoos its presence. Instead, the fundamentals just come through, confidence never wavers, and the artist’s command of their particular skill set is steady. Richard Scott has been involved with music throughout his adult life…
Brian Lee Robinson sings the tried and truest of country on the Americana blues of “The Texas Side Of Nashville”. Arrangements are done just right with the perfect twang, a gentle kind of rhythm that helps to guide the songs forward. Easily the highlight of the collection are the highly articulate lyrics which show off…
Passionate and pure, Satellite Gods creates compelling finely crafted stories on the adventurous “Marker 7-58”. Lyrics rest front and center of each piece. Stories, mere snapshots of a life lived fully, are told with the utmost poignancy. Arrangements add to this power ranging from full-on rock with influences of folk, country, and even elements of…
The latest single from Jonathan Cavier’s album Premier, “Comes a Moment”, delivers another musically and lyrically satisfying platter for listeners. His compositional slant, as a songwriter, leans towards layered tracks heavy on dynamics while never sacrificing melody The lyrical sophistication he shows off on songs like this is easy to underestimate – it might be…
Burning Through, the first solo album from Dave Vargo, a longtime live and session guitarist for artists as varied as Whitney Houston and Rupert Holmes, is an eleven song collection leaning more towards the acoustic side of the ledger but incorporating enough edginess and rock and roll attitude that it never sounds one note or…
Grand Rapids, Michigan based singer/songwriter Downie Streahl has returned with her latest single, “Run Away With You”. It follows up on the success of earlier charting singles like “Now” and “Unavailable” with the same dynamic style that allows her to freely move between multiple genres without losing anything off her presentation. There’s a lot of…
Hailing from the Binghamton, New York area, Poetically Contagious formed in the early months of 2010 as a performance group who made early appearances at university shows in the area before transitioning into a recording act. The quality of the duo’s material vaulted them into the finals of New York City recording and performances contests…
Delivered with the utmost of passion is the spirited performance of West of Mabou’s self-titled album. With a distinctly Celtic flair the songs teem with life and vigor. Fiddles, bagpipes, and guitars come together to create such a compelling perfectly formed sound. The way the songs ebb and flow gives them a naturalistic hue. By…
Fellow American creates a bright summery sound with the optimistic pop of “From Me to Shore”. Sung with a sense of play and tenderness the vocals are by far the highlight of the collection. Quite honeyed in scope the choral arrangements at times recall the joy that marks the best of the Beach Boys. The…
Rev Peter Unger’s “Love Is What I’ll Do” is an uplifting love ballad full of joy and wonder with the world. The arrangements are simple yet effective. Shimmering acoustic guitar serves as a second singer of sorts, as it appears to nicely emphasize his strong message. Far off in the distance is the twang of…
Positively giddy with energy is the EDM remix of Natalie Jean’s “Red Room”. The remix keeps Natalie Jean’s sultry vocals intact. With every additional layer the sound grows ever more mysterious. Lyrics allude to this cryptic quality. Over the course of the song the sound grows in scope. Building up the entirety of the sound…
Brent Daniels, like many great musicians, fell in love with music at an early age. Subsequent turns in his journey led him away from music for many years, but his debut album Every Road Has a Turn burns with the same passion to perform powering his youthful desires. Respected producer Robyn Robins heard Daniels through…
The debut album from Michigan native Nick Dakota, entitled Vision, is a fun and often quite soulful collection. He’s drafted some of Nashville’s elite sidemen to contribute to the twelve songs on Vision and the wide skill set possessed by talented professionals like Steve Hinson, longtime steel guitarist for Randy Travis, and Eric Church’s bass…
Sung with true love and compassion is the spirited performance of JAnthony’s “It’s Official”. Offering a nice mixture of R&B, funk, and alt rock the song absolutely astounds. By far the highlight of the piece are the lyrics which focus on the concept of relationships. The encouragement of bringing a relationship to the next level,…
Quinn Hedges delivers an ornate arrangement of chamber pop on the cautiously optimistic “Slightly South of Stormy Clouds”. Instrumentations glistens over the course of the album with each piece playing off the last. Possessing a true knack for lyricism Quinn Hedges tells a story throughout the album. Over the course of the album Quinn Hedges…
Bob Dylan, if you have not heard of this namesake before, then as of right now, you have, because Bob Dylan wrote and recorded a single way back when, and in 1966 that said single and song titled “Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35”, was released. It reached high numbers on the charts, Number 7…
Canadian singer/song writer Kyla Lynn Vezina or “Kyla” as her stage namesake portrays her as, has gone forth to write and record all new material, in the form of a new song turned single called “Don’t Ya Worry ‘about Me”. This song released through record label Bongo Boy Records, produced by John Lovaghy, with song…
Pittsburgh born D Clak’s music speaks about life on the streets of a major American city in an idiosyncratic way that doesn’t smack of anyone else working on the scene today. The lyrics for “Trap Again”, the first single from his debut album The Dime Piece, are individualistic and make no apologies for their point…
Shallow Side’s “One” is a fiery tour de force of rock at its most anthemic. Deserving to be absolutely blasted volume works wonders for their expansive expressive sound. The rebellious rollicking nature feels perfectly suited for them as the vocals positively soar above the busy blistering arrangements. Vocals serve front and center of each piece…
The PondHawks delve into a classic psychedelic pop sound on the spirited “Blue Light”. Attention to detail is of the utmost importance as these songs positively teem with life. Possessing a great ear for melody these songs are filled with infectious hooks. Vocals serve front and center of each of the arrangements. Playfulness defines the…
Bongo Boy Rock n Roll TV Show series Season 6 episode 1 “Chosen” airing January 2017 on National TV across The USA. Music Video Television for Indie Musicians. Opening things up with a sense of the theatrical is Kristine Mirelle’s “Freakin’ Mess”. Sung with true grace and style the song has a playful quality to…
Stephen Wrench has done it all in a long musical career that’s seen him work with a wildly diverse group of performers like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, Rick Springfield and Tommy Tutone , Missing Persons among many, many others. He’s carved out a respected reputation as one of the most naturally gifted songwriters working…
Sung with true passion, IVANNA’s “Leaving Town” is a defiant, exuberant album. Vocals soar above tapping into a sense of wonder with the world. Effortlessly tying together folk, rock, and pop into a singular whole the album is simply stunning. Best taken altogether the songs display IVANNA’s potent storytelling abilities. Over the course of the…
April Martin offers a fresh lovely take on the singer-songwriter tradition with the folk-infused loveliness of “In the Blink of a Life”. The arrangements are flawless delivered with a stately grace. Elements of Vashti Bunyan and the Decemberists float into the mix. What results is something uniquely hers. By bringing together classical, country, and rock…
The Gods Themselves, a three piece from the Pacific Northwest, have been involved in the area’s music scene since the early 2000’s, but they have found a creative spark together that’s only grown over the course of three full length albums. Their third release, Be My Animal, follows up 2015’s Pink Noise with another scintillating…
Texas-bred John Wesley Coleman, a self-identified “trash poet”, has tirelessly worked at building a reputation for himself as one of the preeminent performers/songwriters on the indie scene since the 1990’s. He’s, arguably, made his deepest impact on the scene thanks to his role with the popular garage rock band The Golden Boys, but numerous solo…
South Dakota native Andriana Lehr moves the goalposts with her second album Artifacts. Influenced by songwriters as diverse as Brandi Carlisle and Conor Oberst, the ten songs on her sophomore release represent a significant leap forward in her skills as a singer, composer, and lyricist while retaining the spark of inspiration lighting up her debut.…
Brooks Maguire’s fourth full length album, Comeback King, follows up on his first Nashville recording for A.C.T. Music, 2014’s The Road I Never Chose. The Maui-based musician, singer, and songwriter recently won Radio Airplay/Jango.com’s Grand Prize for their 2016 Holiday Song context and originally hails from the Gulf Coast area. Strains of gospel, rock, country,…
Sung with pure passion is the emotionally moving metal of A Cunning Man’s “Practical Applications of Theurgy”. Everything simply works from the gorgeous mixture of classical, metal, and folk into a satisfying whole. By far the highlight of the collection are the highly articulate, poetic lyricism that adorns each of the pieces. Arrangements are immaculate…
Sung with true gentleness is Savannah Philyaw’s tender love ballad “Love Remains”. With a delicate arrangement, the way the song unfolds gives it an earnest, intimate spirit. By opting for such a soft-spoken approach the lyrics carry great power. The unifying moment of the track is Savannah Philyaw’s articulate storytelling, one which serves as the…
2016 has been an insanely productive year for musician, songwriter, and singer Chris Murphy. He released two full length studio albums between May and August and now follows those substantial efforts up with his third full length album in nine months. It is natural to assume that Murphy’s latest release might be the weakest of…
The recent release from Brad Absher & Swamp Royale, Lucky Dog, contains a dozen songs that bring listeners back to a style of music too many bands and performers treat with academic kid gloves. One of the keys to this music is that it plays and sounds lived in – if things are too studied…
The sophomore album New Orleans Bound from Minnesota born Americana singer/songwriter Little Diamonds is a twelve song collection highlighting the young performer’s facility with a variety of traditional forms and his capacity for lyrical invention. He wears his influences without any ambiguity, but Little Diamonds possesses enough artistic wherewithal that he’s able to filter those…
Detroit born and bred singer, songwriter, and guitarist Trey Connor began performing publicly at the age of thirteen and debuted with the band Bulletproof Snow in 2012. The outfit won numerous local competitions before Connor, in 2015, was among the one hundred or so singers chosen from over forty thousand auditions for the popular network…
