FENIX URL: http://www.djfenix.com/ The synthesizer has been a staple in electronica since the earliest days of the genre, but Fenix & SM1LO manipulate it through a uniquely surreal lens that I really didn’t expect to hear in their new album, Where We Begin. Where We Begin is a miniature musical library centering on its title track and thirteen diversely appointed mixes, studio edits and remixes that capture different elements within…
You don’t have to be fluent in Spanish to appreciate the depth of emotionality in Integriti Reeves’ surreal single “Eu Vim Da Bahia,” as its plethora of expressive melodies communicate everything that listeners need to know in this three minute Latin jazz wonder. Like the other songs found on her debut EP Stairway to the Stars, “Eu Vim Da Bahia” sees Reeves experimenting with different styles and sounds, blending influences…
Blues guitar is an instant mood-setter in any song, and for anyone who ever needed some proof supporting this fact, Matthew John’s “Let’s Begin Again” is a superb example of what fine-tuned, forlorn fretwork can do for an otherwise simple pop ballad. John slows down the swing of his strings for “Shine for Me,” but reminds us of the value in a slender arrangement of electric melancholy in his song…
Ela has earned a promising following since relocating from San Francisco to the state capital of Texas and musical hub Austin. She calls upon an assortment of influences in her music, but the lineage for her latest single “Light It Up” is pretty clear cut. This well crafted dance/edm track has a near orchestrated flair – it doesn’t show its cards all at once but, instead, rises from the group…
URL: https://www.josepheidmusic.com/ Singer/songwriter Joseph Eid returns this summer with a buoyant pop jam in the form of his new music video and single “Listening to Madonna,” a track that sees him embracing the lighter side of melodicism with a vitality that is all too rare these days. Eid attacks the verses aggressively, but the harmonies that he churns out beside his glistening guitar are anything but assaultive in tone. “Listening…
“The disciples were aboard a boat / Jesus slept alone…” croons LaTresa whilst her band the Signal dispatches a gorgeous bluegrass groove that is rich with a rare breed of American vitality in “Sea of Galilee.” This cornerstone track of their new album The Blood and the River is light and airy in its rhythmic construction, but its words deliver a walloping weightiness that will affect anyone with an ear…
Emerging from the shadows like a thief in the night, the somber string reverberations of “Edge City” invite us into a nearly ten minute-long closing epic that brings audiences full circle to where we first began in Oliver Ray’s Out Passed Nowhere, the debut album from the acclaimed singer/songwriter due out this June everywhere that independent music is sold and streamed. In our first look at his solo work, Ray…
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/richardlynchbnd?lang=en Gently, with a pendulous groove underpinning its immaculate melody, a guitar paints us a picture of a black and white world with kaleidoscopic colors in “Back in 1953,” one of the more patient ballads to behold in Richard Lynch’s Think I’ll Carry It On. It isn’t the lone example of the strings telling us a story of their own in this most recent release from the critically-acclaimed country…
Christopher Hill & The Stardust Crush are a band out of Seattle, Washington, with a unique take on the current state of United States politics. Rather than taking the traditional dystopian approach – this four-piece rock band combines folk, disjointed rhythms and harmonies to create a sometimes wistful, but trippy collection of songs in their seven-track album, MAABA (Making America All Better Again). ᐧ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thestardustcrush/ Out of the gate…
A debut single can be the hardest track that an artist will ever record, but Dane Maxwell makes it look all too easy in his rookie release, the anti-bullying ballad “Where I’m Seen.” Maxwell steps up to the microphone with an unrehearsed confidence that could become a signature element in his sound if he learns to harness all of its multilayered potential. His words dance against the silky string section…
Like a gentle breeze rustling the branches of an old willow tree, “The Long Way Home” has a way of dispelling all of the tension that would normally sully a perfect summer afternoon, and as I recently discovered, it isn’t the only song capable of such mysticism in W.C. Beck’s third album, First Flight, a deceptively titled record that sees its composer executing one flawless ascent into the sonic heavens…
Derek Davis’ third solo release, Resonator Blues, is a departure from the soul and funk leanings of his previous solo outing Revolutionary Soul and his history of releases and shows with Davis’ longtime band Babylon A.D. The dozen songs included on this release are drenched in blues, but never the paint by numbers variety that inspires big blues fans to sigh in despair. Instead, even on the album’s cover tunes, you get a…
With a sweet little swing, “You Don’t Need a Rose” infects the air with a confident swagger that listeners won’t be able to shake when taking in its decadent strings alongside the other ten tracks that Lauren Crosby’s I Said Take Me to the Water has in store for pop fans this spring. Driven by its lighthearted lyricism and freewheeling rhythm, “You Don’t Need a Rose” is a good sampling…
One of the keys to making “self help” books, especially those of a decidedly professional nature, successful for readers is personalization. It is one thing to, essentially, consume a multi-hour lecture in text form, no matter how well composed, if there is no personal element present in the author’s presentation. It is quite another thing, however, to feel drawn into the life experiences that helped shape their philosophy and carried…
In a velvety-soft guitar melody, David Gelman paints us a vivid picture of undying romance in “My Vows to You (Wedding Song).” With the aid of a pristine piano’s melancholic yearn, he conjures just as evocative a harmony in “Presence of the Lord.” Exotic percussive swagger drives the lush lyrical center of “In the Sun,” and though it’s not quite the swarthy swing of “Feel Alright,” it’s perhaps even more…
“I’m entitled, to some little attention / I’m entitled, so don’t let me down,” Jas Frank declares at the onset of her monolithic performance in the new single “So Far Away,” which can be found on her all-new album with the Intoits, The Girl from Cherry Valley. Together with her band, Frank utilizes every second of this song to crater us with her commanding presence in the studio, which by…
URL: https://www.alexiskeegan.com/instagram Using a mild piano melody as a canvas, singer Alexis Keegan gently applies colorful verses that will paint us a brooding picture of her emotions in the all-new single “What Am I Supposed to Do,” which debuts this April 19th. Her vocal extends its warm reach through our stereo speakers without ever breaking an even stride with the glowing keys behind it, and long before the track has…
Juicy riffs come oozing through our headphones as we encounter the beastly “Angels Are Not Afraid of the Dark” in track number five of Cwiredband’s Angel Circuit Engaged, which was released late last year. In this song, Cwiredband prove to be as much about the texture of their musicality as they are inspired lyricism, and though it’s admittedly one of the only conventional tracks that we’ll find in this all-new…
PRIMARY URL: https://www.safeashouses.ca/ With a gentle melody to lead the way, Safe as Houses’ tender strings forge a wicked little hook for us to cling to at the onset of their new single “Lucky Lucky,” from the album of the same name. The drums soon join them, texturizing the groove with a jazzy sway that lends its experimentalism to the otherwise black and white structure of the verses. A silky…
SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/whitebeardmusic1 Whitebeard calls his new record a “Nashipeg” album, but to be frank, I hear little of either scene that the term is referencing in its leadoff single “Paris,” which could be described as a confusing hybrid of country, pop and roots rock at best if we were to examine it from a mainstream perspective. However, if we look at this song from an experimental angle, the critical perception…