Whether driving home a huge melody in “Way Far Back” or tying together the harmonies in the video for “Why Does It Happen,” the guitars that guide the lyrics in Wave 21’s Brace Yourself are indispensable. Although there’s a lot more to this record than the luster of its string section, there is certainly no downplaying the importance of the fretwork in Brace Yourself, and I think this makes it a bit superior to its…
Hailing from Miami, by way of Lima is the seminal alternative act, known as Mold!. Their new single, “I Can See The Ghost,” was my first exposure to the band. As a result, I can now say that Mold! Is the type of group you instantly want to hear more of and know more about. The Peru connection is attributed to the band’s founder, Carlo Barbacci. Barbacci cites his immigration…
“Hold up the colors you wear / You welcome me home, I won’t leave you alone / You are not alone” pleads a gentle voice on the other side of a vibrant string melody in “What Would I Know,” one of my favorite songs from the captivating String Ladders by The Color Forty Nine. At once imprisoned within the lyrics and impossible to escape in the adjacent flood of strings that accent…
In the last few years, rapper Tray Tray has done a good job of setting himself apart from the competition through a slick composing style more loyal to the traditions of hip-hop than it is to the passing fads of contemporary pop. His writing has gotten stronger with each LP he’s dropped, and now almost two years after his sophomore effort Born Legend II hit record store shelves, he offers up a…
With notes of hip-hop and a touch of ambient pop blended into the instrumental framework of the music, you know that Chesca is going to give us something really sexy in her song “Orange County Juice,” but if you think that’s where the seduction ends on her new album Feel the Breeze, you’re in for quite the surprise this summer. Feel the Breeze isn’t all flash ala “Orange County Juice” and the anthemic…
It’s generally thought that R&B is better off on the simpler side than it ever is an elaborate sonic construct, but RockLee is an artist who challenges this narrative with every song he releases. His new single, “It’s a Feeling,” neither tethers itself to the aesthetical foundations of melodic hip-hop nor shamelessly steals cues from the old school in R&B; it’s a delicate, instrumentally focused showcase of rhythm and harmony.…
There’s something to be said for a song’s ability to craft full words out of a certain level of ambiguity in its settings. Maybe I’ve been playing a little too much Cyberpunk 2077, but Aisles feels right at home in the dystopian genre. The opening guitar solo has the energy of a door being busted open, either by a swat team or by the collective that Aisles seemingly feels like…
Stunning us with its clandestine intricacies but saving a lot of its melodic warmth for a climactic chorus, the instrumental foundations of Wingman’s new single “Crash Land” are straight electronica more than they are hip-hop. Listen closely enough and you’ll start to feel the influence of atmospheric minimalism on this young man’s sound where it would seem such a lofty aesthetic would have no business in the first place, but…
With the last year firmly in the rearview, I think we’ve all gotten a little wistful thinking about the past. We all know from any age those sleepless nights where you ponder the past, what you could have done differently, or the pain you carry from it. Shine Eye Landing, the latest release from Billy Jeter really taps into these sentiments with an album that almost plays out like a…
See Your Shadow was inspired to name themselves so, due to the Birthday of frontman, Michael Coleman. He was born on Groundhog Day, so it seemed like a natural nod to the enduring Punxsutawney Phil. Originally formed in Ohio, See Your Shadow migrated to Phoenix and switched genres, in the process. Originally an Electronica band, Coleman embraced his inner cowboy, and turned the band, Country, to what so far seems…
Live at the Mattress Factory from act Little Wretches is one of the most complex and complicated listens I’ve had in a long time, and for those reasons, the album is all the better for it. It’s an album I don’t know if it’ll be for everyone. It’s almost deceptive in nature as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, covering topics from love, loss, lust, and anger, but all in deeply…
Reaching out to the audience from a distant perch shrouded in melancholic harmonies and impatient rhythms the same, CLOUDLAND don’t try to hide their discontent with the mainstream rock model in their first album Where We Meet. The record’s title track creeps forth in a haunting ascent towards a dramatic drop-off straight to the introspective, riff-oriented mayhem I’ve been missing in alternative rock these last few years, but it isn’t the…
If you’re someone with a novice level of experiencing electronic music, Elektragaaz and its new EP The Synaesthetic Picture Show Now Playing, Pt 2 is a perfect jumping-on point to see what the genre truly has to offer. Less the aggressive sounds of say Skrillex and more akin to the sounds of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), it’s a style that’s made more for home listening than it is as a…
“Lucha” by AKACATS is the newest sultry and evocative single from the rising Chilean act, real name Catalina Rojas. Having been relatively quiet since the drop of her 2019 mixtape MELT (which is fantastic and highly recommended by the way), Rojas has been performing live and hard at work on this single as the lead into her upcoming studio debut Cupido. A lot of times with hip-hop acts of the…
Introspective songcraft rose in value last year, as the insularities of 2020 forced a collective look inwards for the first time in generations, and it’s in this spirit that Paul Rocha’s Apophenia feels like a truly iconic offering. In Apophenia’s ten songs, Rocha navigates narratives that feel like internal thoughts only realized when left alone with ourselves to rhapsodize and recall memories and visions once abandoned in youth. “Sister Silhouette,” “The Other Side,”…
When it comes to an album that truly challenges the most basic structuring around what an album can attempt to be, look no further than poet and Sasquatch enthusiast Marty Achatz’s collaboration with Streaking In Tongues’ in the new book-album-spoken poetry hybrid released under the name Slow Dancing With Bigfoot. Constructed of song titles as eccentric as “A Pig’s Orgasm Lasts 30 Minutes” and “Bigfoot Takes His Wife to Mount…
“To never quit, no matter how dark the tunnel is. To always let God have control of my life, and to never be too busy to appreciate the things that really matter.” Tod Lippy’s second LP Yearbook starts with plenty of ambitions, and it only makes sense due to the aptly-titled opening track, “Ambitions.” The lyrics might throw listeners off at first but upon learning that Lippy dug into his…
Bill Abernathy’s new EP release Who Are You, Who Am I? is the next chapter in Bill Abernathy’s musical journey. It is fair to say his relationship with music may be a bit bittersweet having stepped away for several years between his youth and late in the last decade, but gratitude is unspoken quality present throughout this EP’s four tracks. WEBSITE: https://www.billabernathy.com/ He pursued music with a passion during his youth but…
When you’re sixty-eight and retired, there’s no telling where the future might end up taking you. Retirement is meant for grand adventures and relaxation alike, but there’s no handbook of rules or recommendations to take under your wing — for some, they’ll rekindle an old hobby and hone in on it tenfold. Others will take up something new and use retirement as an excuse to fully branch out of their…
Numbers don’t lie, and judging from the digits Dici is rocking on streaming platforms around the internet, I think it would be safe to say that he’s catching fire like nobody else in 2021. His single “Five Rings” is a certifiable indie hit, but its glam-style melody skewed with unpolished hip-hop swagger isn’t the sole reason why. In the pop genre, there’s something we like to call the star element that you…