CD and DVD reviews
Imagine if you took the idea of a boy band and applied it to the traditional sound of choir performance. Imagine if you took ordinary boys from South London schools, boys that just happened to like singing, and allowed them to develop a repertoire that ranged from the traditional and devotional to the pop and…
John McDonough’s latest single, “We’ll Answer the Call,” is a wonderful addition to the country music genre. The song starts out slow and calm, before building up to an upbeat and fun climax, and ending smoothly. McDonough’s impressive vocals, combined with the track’s excellent production values, make for a memorable listening experience. The song’s opening…
Dan Krochmal is an Australian-born singer/songwriter now residing in NY and is exploding on the music scene! His most recent release is titled “FOMO” and is the second single being featured off of the upcoming album, ‘Home & Holding’. As soon as I hit play, I knew I was hearing something special from Dan Krochmal…
It’s not often you find a band that’s been playing together since middle school. However, Sun Wave Mountain Cave is just such an act, together now for fifteen years now. They became Sun Wave Mountain Cave, though, only after adding Andy Brace as a guitarist/vocalist, and Familiar to Me is a tight, five song EP.…
Gil Karson and the Karson City Rebels offer an ode of praise with the poignant “Freedom Guaranteed.” The right amount of western twang gets brought into the mix, thanks to the stride of the acoustic guitar and the wry slide glide in the background. Rhythms have a stately grace, allowing the vocals to rest front…
Jasper “The Jazzmaster” Myers goes for a powerful piece of soul with the gospel-tinged experience of “CHUUCH.” Vocals serve as the focal point from which all else flows. The lo-fi aesthetic and near-broken beats add to the sense of triumph the tracks explore. Genre-wise, it is cleverly couched in jazz, with dance, pop, gospel, and…
Brian Iannucci embraces the late-night party atmosphere with the mission statement “Pour One Out.” Stylistically it runs the gamut from country rock to pop to hip-hop, neatly tying these visions into a unified force. He has a commanding presence over the course of the piece. The verses reflect upon a night spent unwinding. Much of…
Big, bombastic beats reverberate throughout the entirety of P Bailey’s “More than just friends.” Meant to be played loud, very loud, and the whole song works into a frenzy. The looping hypnotic quality of the sound feels intense. In certain moments it is like a single phrase being repeated endlessly in my mind, a mantra…
Genres are for losers! Red Matter is in it to win it! Which is what makes a whole album of their music such a hot prospect. Anyone who has shared stages with the likes of Gov’t Mule and Tedeschi Trucks Band clearly knows what they are doing, and Northbound Train is all the proof you…
With its driving rhythm and nocturnal saxophone, Jude Gwynaire’s “Night Drive Through My City Notorious” does sound like a nighttime ride. It’s an instrumental that simply shouts forward motion after sundown. One immediately wonders what is meant by the description, “City Notorious.” Notoriety suggests something distinctly pejorative. A notorious city sounds like one known for…
Kinga isn’t afraid to tackle the big beats in an aggressive yet radio-friendly style that has become his trademark over the years, and his new single “Something’s Gotta Give” might be the best demonstration of his talents yet. Though we don’t necessarily learn anything new about this artist’s depth in “Something’s Gotta Give,” what Kinga…
Accelerate, the Matt Thompson album, suggests momentum and picking up speed. The project’s song of the same name has one of the album’s poppiest arrangements. It bubbles and buzzes all the way through. Thompson has one of these vocal tones, though, that always seems to suggest that all’s not well – even when singing over…
Rob Alexander embarks on a bouncing animated series of beats on the giddy “Get Over Yourself (With Gigi Worth).” The atmosphere embraces a bombastic, gigantic sound. With a club-centric ethos, they blow the volume way out. Vocals matter, resting right in front of the entire thing. The lyrics get a powerful aspect cutting all to…
Heistheartist began life as LeeMann Bassey and chasing dreams of success as a neo-soul singer. When Bassey heard an online sermon from evangelist TD Jakes, however, the transformative effect of its message steered him in a new direction. Heistheheart embraced a different nom de plume and a direction in life that upended everything he knew.…
A classic excellence rolls through Gary Palmer’s suave “I Get Lonely.” Production excels here. Smooth jazz, R&B, pop, and a sense of play rolled into one. Vocals rest right in the center of the sound. Chords show genuine creativity, with the melodies glistening in the late-night noir spirit. Rhythms go for nimbleness thanks to their…
Swarthy distorted strings come sweeping through our speakers with an illustrious agility. Drums collide with the riffs they form and create a beat that is riddled with machismo. The bassline swings into the mix and gives a little bit of a cushion for the vocals to jettison into. This is “Fight for Your Freedom,” and…
This collaboration between Troy Lindsey and Bosaya is a most unusual and unlikely one. It all started when Lindsey visited Moscow about a decade ago and met singer Bosaya there. He was in search of a music store, and while we’re not sure if he ever found the instrument outlet he was looking for, he…
Just exactly what good vibes are, nobody can accurately define. No scientist. No sociologist. No doctor. Nevertheless, we know them right at the moment we feel them. One imagines scientists would call these serotonin, dopamine, or endorphins – chemicals that give us good feelings. Granted, your cannabis shop in town (if you live in a…
One Adam One is a vehicle for Adam Reichmann’s singing and songwriting. Where Do I Begin is an EP of five mostly sad sounding songs. Reichmann just has a way of capturing and holding your attention with his music. These songs likely best fall under the category of Americana music. There is a folksy, singer-songwriter…
This is one album that stands out to me because it offers hope, faith and truth wrapped up in one, nicely-tuned package. ‘American Son’ by Sean Walshe is a riveting release and one that is desperately needed for the current times. ‘American Son’ will move people with relevant material and pristine musicianship. Sean Walshe hopes…
Kingsley Durant is an accomplished musician as music is in his blood literally by way of his musical upbringing. Kingsley grew up playing piano, french horn and guitar and would quickly fall in love with the instrument known as the guitar. Now considered to be a guitar virtuoso, Kingsley Durant has released his exciting, new…
Brian Charles Tischleder is a talented singer/songwriter who mixes rock ‘n’ roll, folk and Americana in stellar fashion. Tischleder has been writing, recording and performing his own material for his entire adult life. Over the last 25 years, Brian has toured extensively in the Midwest and he has also compiled a solid fan base overseas.…
Straying away from the silence with a lot of energy, we find the strands of a glistening harmony untouched by artificiality altogether in “Long Term Effect,” but as striking a sound as this is to find, it’s not isolated to this lone track in the new album Anything Could Happen from Go Time!. “Long Term Effect” is…
Heistheartist began life as LeeMann Bassey and chasing dreams of success as a neo-soul singer. When Bassey heard an online sermon from evangelist TD Jakes, however, the transformative effect of its message steered him in a new direction. Heistheheart embraced a different nom de plume and a direction in life that upended everything he knew.…
If you’re looking for a song that will lift your spirits, then look no further! “Feeling Good” by Indecent Proposal has just the right medicine to help put you in a great mood. The title of the song basically sums up the theme and that is to have you “Feeling Good” by the time the…
Not everyone agrees on what good pop music is, but I think we can all agree that the genre could sure use a lot more optimism in its general narrative right now. With things as crazy around the globe as they’ve ever been before, audiences are particularly dependent on musicians for a little shelter amid…
The name Mr MooQ stems back to his childhood where it was the name of his imaginary friend. Mr MooQ is born and what a creative imagination this professional musician has. From an artistic standpoint, Mr MooQ is on top of his game and all I have to say is “Oh My My My My”.…
With Lamento Cubano, Lourdes Pita has created a really pretty folk-ish album. I say folk-ish because this has folk at its roots, but then it goes on to embellish upon that description. It’s a good one, too. Early on, with “Baila Mi Alma,” acoustic piano colors a track that is orchestrated, with just a touch…
Straightforward but sporting enough of an edge to get just about any true rock fan excited about the ensuing melody, the illustrious but still wholeheartedly simple slew of riffing that greets us at the start of King Falcon’s new single “Cadillac” is as intoxicating as a shot of small batch bourbon, but frankly just a…
Rene Erickson releases a phenomenal instrumental track called “Never Gone”. This multi-talented guitarist and songwriter has released the lead single, “Never Gone”, off of the album titled Silent Street. Rene is also a music producer for established acts and promising new artists. Erickson’s original composition credits include indie films and network TV. Rene Erickson is…
Out of a stoic silence, a buoyant taste of bittersweet melodicism is soon to quaintly unravel before our ears, leaving a trail of effervescent harmonies in its wake. The smooth drawl of instrumentation penetrates the absence of sound, but it’s not enough to smother the hypnotic element it is cultivating from a distance. A wash…
Some music can be summed up in just one word. This is such music. That word is Groovy, but I’m guessing the discerning reader will want a bit more. So let me elaborate beyond just one word. How about “dead groovy”? More? Okay. Imagine blending pop, soul, funk, and R&B into new shapes, using timeless…
Coming out of the ultra-hot country underground, Jaye Madison isn’t fazed by the contemporary eclecticism of music in 2023 – if anything, they’re more interested in embracing it than they are changing anything about the direction history is going in right now. In their new extended play, rightly titled MIRЯOR: Framework, these sister country crooners…
Michael Jackson’s breakthrough album, the one that propelled him to solo stardom, was titled Off the Wall. Therefore, you may read Jude Gwynaire’s album title incorrectly the first time. Then again, once you make your way through these 15 tracks, you’ll know right away that – while excellent – Gwynaire is no king of pop.…
The Mezcaltones has been described as “four guys dressed as cowboys and two women dressed like Spanish Mexican that you might find in a Quentin Tarantino movie.” And we should add, the group’s music sounds like the songs you may also hear on a Tarantino movie soundtrack. Mixing alt.country vibes with a touch of a…
Comely vocal harmonies. An eroticized tempo. Melodies that ache with the sort of lust entire motion pictures are written around. In her new single “Ain’t Buyin’ It,” singer and songwriter Xolex isn’t concerned with keeping up with the biggest trends in the American underground today – she’s too busy unleashing a brutally provocative anthem of poetry and…
It’s safe to assume after hearing The Brian Shapiro Band’s new single “Better in TX” that Shapiro and his three other bandmates aren’t fans of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Shapiro writes about Texan attitudes towards pregnancy/abortion and pandemic related matters as illustrative of the state’s deep-seated nonsense. His lyrics make it clear that Shapiro sees…
The elephant in the room is how much Nick Maskill of M. Crane sounds like The Killers’ Brandon Flowers. He sings with such unrestrained passion on these eleven dramatic songs. The band, from Tucson, Arizona, even has roots close to The Killers’ original Las Vegas hometown. The group’s latest album is one fine collection titled…
“Ruin Your Life Mode” is a great single from Israeli born and based singer Sheer Haimov and expands on her recent string of musical successes. The 22 year old has blazed an unbelievable early trail working with excellent collaborators, but the burning heart of her art lies in her hands alone. She comes to her…
I have had the pleasure to hear Laura Cheadle’s music for many years now and her growth, as an artist, has been tremendous. Laura has always had such a positive aura about her and the music solidifies that fact, to this day. Laura Cheadle’s latest release is titled “Time Thief” and she proves that she…
