John McDonough’s songs are full of lessons learned from life, love, practicing psychotherapy, and a quarter-century of playing music in Austin, Texas. He makes his home in Chicago since 2020 and continues writing, recording, and performing with renewed vigor. The newfound vigor came ten years ago, in part, from McDonough’s decision to stop working as a practicing psychotherapist and, at long last, devote himself full-time to his art. He’s released…
“Flame Of Truth” is the new single from Chalice Collective. A beautiful, and almost spiral-like formation, Chalice Collective takes special care in making this track a spindle of light and magic. All the senses come alive, as does the old noggin’. This song gets you both thinking and grooving. Imagine being stuck inside a Light Bright (remember those!) with a whole motherboard of colors at your feet. “Flame Of Truth”…
Ananda Xenia Shakti has enjoyed a long musical career working with some of the finest performers emerging in the late 20th century. However, it sounds like she’s discovered her truest self by exploring Indian music with Love Power the Band. The five songs on the EP Love is Where You Are roar with passion, never for the sake of hearing itself roar alone, but announcing to the world what it believes and holds…
The slow jam “Summer Breeze” might not have the same punch that a lot of its tracklist predecessors do in the new album Sampati from 148, but this just might be the main reason why it works so well as the closer for this debut LP from the acclaimed hip-hop duo. “Summer Breeze” brings us full circle from where we begin in the viral single “Topeka Vibe,” and while it doesn’t hit…
Most rock musicians who embrace the art of overdrive end up using distortion as something to hide behind. That isn’t the case with Vuola, and in his new record Alouv, he uses this crucial element of tonal augmentation to make his emotions even clearer to the audience. His skills are brought to the spotlight in tracks like “Vapaa Uljas Onnen Lapsi Aaamun” and “Omana Omala Ogana Odati Ojoda,” and at the…
Acts like the Toronto Tabla Ensemble are more than rare. They are singular anomalies in an increasingly polarized world seldom capable of seeing past the end of its nose. The organization’s selfless dedication to expanding the profile of Indian culture, music, and history in such a way that it attracts interest from every social stratum. They are self-reliant and take on that mission in unpredictable ways; the ensemble’s artistic director…
There’s a certain kind of musician and/or songwriter who will play and write even if there’s no immediate hope for their music to ever find an audience. They aren’t doing this for fame or critical acclaim. Composers and musicians like Ontario’s Bonnie Milne are doing this to heed the call of an inner voice she’d likely heard all of her life and give back the gift she’s been given in…
SunniLong and Stacccs are on the move in their new music video for the single “Keep Going” this March, and even without the cinematic appeal of the chase sequence in the visualizer, this is a song that was meant to get our hearts pumping from the jump. Between the tempo of the percussion and the smoothly delivered adrenaline SunniLong is popping off with his vocal, we were always bound to…
A rollicking groove and a swanky guitar riff are waiting to whisk us away to a dreamy harmony in the new single “Firefly” from Ethan Gold, and while I half-expected to be enamored with the compositional backbone of this track, just based on my experience with this artist’s content, I didn’t think the beat would be nearly as gripping as it is here. Gold’s other single out right now, “Storm…
Rap has been collectively moving to the left of pop standards for a minute now, as more and more crossovers come into the primetime spotlight, but for Arkadian, the time is right to bring forth an old-school straightforwardness that few have been experimenting with. His new single “Life of Arkadian” has a certain retro quality to its presentation, but relative to the other content that’s been coming out on both…
