Psychedelic themes became a prominent part of Leland and the Silver Wells’ sound with the release of their third studio album back in 2018, and through their new LP Straight to Your Town, they’re expanding on these themes in a manner that might surprise a lot of their listeners and critics the same. With songs like “The Blue Sea” and “What Comes Around,” they abandon the old school psych-rock model for…
How do your prior years and experiences in the entertainment industry shape The Roughhousers releases? What brought the two of you together for this rockabilly duo? I think the lockdown brought out the weirdo in all of us! I was writing a bunch of songs after a long hiatus from my music career because I was suddenly homeschooling my 3 kids and trying to keep them entertained during “Mama’s Music…
Little Wretches are part of a larger musical movement, indie folk-rock, but they don’t imitate anyone. Their embrace of retro songwriting styles, traditional instrumentation, and imagery common to such music isn’t pastiche but, instead, transmutes their individual experiences through a recognizable and time-tested vehicle. There’s a lot you’ll hear over the course of Red Beets & Horseradish’s thirteen songs that will remind you of other bands, artists, and singers. If you…
Psyclo has released her new EP, Slaughter House. Now residing in Los Angeles, Psyclo is one of the most mysterious and intriguing artists on the scene today. Her music sounds both modern and futuristic, finding the perfect balance between accessibility and the avant-garde. Psyclo attempts to find beauty in dark spaces, playing musical hide and seek, while maintaining a vaguely protected emotional barrier. She is disturbingly authentic and her introversion…
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…
Vancouver Island’s LNDN values artistic brevity rather than the all too typical ostentatious pop architecture so many other artists erect. The introspective message behind his new single “Life Like That” is universal enough that it will strike a chord with a wide audience and the accessible arrangement is a perfect vehicle for LNDN. He’s released an accompanying video for the track. Graham Dorsay directed the video and it’s a notable…
Magic is in the air in the new music video for Fresh Da Zoe’s “Voodoo Flow,” and although the wicked imagery on screen is quite the reference to the occult on its own, the hypnotic nature of the beat in this single is a far more powerful element. Fresh Da Zoe is pulling out all the creative stops here – visuals, a punchy rhythm, even a linguistic fluidity that makes…
High-quality collaborations take us somewhere we wouldn’t expect any of the involved parties to venture on their own, and in their new single “Lit Life,” Selfish Ways and Maahez definitely jettison into concepts that I was not expecting to encounter from either act. Selfish Ways just dropped Gotham City Vibes in 2022, and among the tracks that are sporting features, “Lit Life” probably has the most experimental feel to its bones. Maahez…
Deconstructed rock is all the rage at the moment, and no matter what you call this emerging style, it feels so much more stripped-down than anything to have come out of alternative music since the late 1980s. Foundry Town Survivors play a pretty interesting blend of Americana, psychedelia, and indie rock in their new single “Hopes and Dreams,” the first song I’ve heard from the group since their inception, and…
“Sunny Days” is the wonderful new track from singer/songwriter Stacy Gabel. Just as warm as the title suggests, Gabel successfully catches sun rays and puts them to song. She spreads love and optimism and one would be hard pressed to not fall under her spell and the catchy chorus. The multiple-Lehigh Valley Style & Music Award Winner, continues to represent her home state of Pennsylvania with songs that make you…
Alabama has always had one of the most underrated music scenes in all of the American south, but if a rapper like Nina Chanel is able to have it her way, that isn’t going to remain the case for very much longer. Chanel reps the Bama underground like nobody’s business in her new single and music video “Big,” a track which underscores many of the aesthetical foundations that gave birth…