Hard to believe it’s been five years since The Devil Makes Three last put out a record of all-original material (2016’s satisfying Redemption & Ruin was a creatively curated covers album that spoke to a general theme). And it takes just one or two songs into their new one, Chains Are Broken, for you realize just how much they were missed.
When Omnivore Recordings first announced their re-release of the Posies’ debut “Failure,” it was just a matter of time before they got around to the band’s two best efforts, 1990’s “Dear 23” and 1993’s “Frosting on the Beater.”
Every artist needs a swan song that essentially encompasses their entire aesthetic and compresses it into a single track that gives audiences an idea of who they really are as a performer. For Led Zeppelin it was “Stairway to Heaven.” For Madonna, “Like a Virgin.” For aspiring electronica sensation NIK:11 it may very well be her song “4Play,” which has been having one of the most accomplished years of any…
Hip-hop has officially reached an apex that can be distinguished both literally and figuratively from its first climactic creative peak in the early 1990’s. In this scenario, the most explosively popular subgenre to dominate the commercial side of pop music for the last quarter century is being divided into two subgroups; the stewards of the old school, and the innovators of tomorrow’s hip-hop who are bound by no rules, regulatory parameters or…
Kiss Me Like You Miss Me, the latest track from Closer to Zero, links together Strike Anywhere, Rise Against, and Alkaline Trio into a musically intricate effort with supersonic vocals. Hitting listeners over their heads with delightful guitar / vox dynamics, the many levels of this sample ensure that listeners will be playing the single over and over. A bit of fuzz is what unites these disparate elements, as Closer…
Along with the brewery’s slushes, we received a can of Wiley Roots (Greeley, Colorado)’s Citradonkulous. This double IPA (8.4% ABV) is one of the best brews we’ve reviewed in 2018, due to the sheer depth of flavors that it contains. This is even more impressive when one considers that Citradonkulous does not contain any fruit material. The beer pours with a opaque tangerine to goldenrod coloration and a small amount…
Although not always on the same page, every now and again country music flirts with rock n’ roll, and I’ve found that in these flirtations, it never sounds the same way twice. Sure, there have been hard pumping southern rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd or Molly Hatchet that have harnessed the sheer power and rumble of rock’s blistering guitars and thunderous basses, but there have also been more acoustically minded…
Several songs of Pablo Embon’s upcoming album “Nobody’s Land” will be featured on Reverbnation Crowd-Picked artists for the next 6 months started.
Picking the right time to release a record can be a challenging process even for the most experienced of artists. Winter albums are designed to warm us up during the coldest of months, summer albums are usually meant to get us excited about being out having fun in the sun. All of them are set up to fulfil the sonic needs of us, the consumers, but moreover they can artistically…
Abel Oliva Menendez has recorded and released music under the moniker Naurea and “stage name” Olimann since the early 2000’s and, nearly two decades on, sounds as witless and unconvincing as ever. His latest collection New Zombie Generation deserves the title Variations on a Theme as Menendez dazes listeners with twelve by the numbers cuts that often can pass as alternate takes on other songs. His understanding of what makes for collar-grabbing, hard-hitting metal/industrial…
Synthetic stripes of melody drift before our ears, and ticking of a clock reminds us that time is at hand. The pressure is on as the percussion starts to kick in on the club mix of AV Sunshine’s “Time Bomb,” and AV himself doesn’t even have to inform us that we’re going to have to act fast if we’re going to make it to our destination – dance ecstasy –…
Doom metal is usually a miss for me owing to a slew of bands devolving into a formulaic trudge through molasses of mediocrity. But ever so often, there comes a piece of music so gargantuan and animalistic that you cannot help but get excited. The fifth release To The Night Unknown by Boston doomsludgers Morne released on Armageddon Records and the first to be released on the band’s own eponymous…
Mika Means’ “Single Life” has a lush production that builds off the work of Sean Kingston, Nico & Vinz and Jason Derulo. Mika’s own vocals will bury themselves deep into the minds and hearts of listeners, while the bouncy beat provides the perfect counterpoint for these vox. The tempo ensures that listeners will make it out on the dance floor, while there is just enough in the way of differentiation…
Slothrust’s “Double Down” is a snarky bit of alternative rock that showcases a tremendous amount of instrumental skill with a bit of funkiness. The fuzzy guitar work that starts at about the 1:45 mark is a nice counterpoint for the smoothed-out beginnings of Double Down. As the guitar line continues, the bass and drums are able to add further depth to the composition. A bit of The White Stripes come…
The Aces’ “Last One” is a wonderful piece of 1980s power-pop that has just a hint of electro-funk contributed by the bass. The vocals and synths presented on this single weave in bits of Walk The Moon and Paramore. With seems as if with every subsequent single, The Aces are able to make a more engrossing and musically taut effort. Last One is light, airy, and contains enough twists and…
A lot of artists who are just starting out often wonder what it takes to create a solid Launchpad for their career, and it really boils down to several pretty basic qualities that can’t necessarily be taught. The first is having a good image for promoters to market, whether that be an image shrouded in mystery, vulnerability, happiness or depression. You’ve got to have some kind of identity. The second…
“Home” opens Brendan McMahon’s fourth release, About Joe, in slightly audacious fashion. The mass of backing vocals beginning the song with a choral arrangement is a bit of musical sleight of hand before the song shifts into a straight forward singer/acoustic guitar mold. This is brief, however; “Home” soon expands into a widescreen number with great melodic virtues and lyrical content that locks tightly into the musical mood. There’s some melodically…
Jonah’s Whale is the first track on Jon Allen’s fourth album, Blue Flame. The track links together 1970s soul with hints of funk and rock. The bouncing bass, the horns, everything works together to make a stand-out lead-off track. A cooler, chill sound predominates during the album’s next two tracks – Keep on Walking and Since You Went Away. With a subtle nod to performers like Rod Stewart and Jim Croce, Allen’s…
Andy Sydow’s titular composition on his new release Reasons For Departure is a bit Billy Joel, a bit John Denver. A rich set of vocals stand out from the instrumentation (piano / guitar). The narration will keep fans focused on to the track. As Reasons For Departure continues on, the the gradual incorporation of additional instrumental effort transforms the track into a rocking effort that by the three minute mark will…
Time Wave, the initial single from Nir Yaniv’s new album The Voice Remains, is a tremendously engaging effort that interlaces vocals and instrumentation in a complex, intricate fashion. Bass, drums, and vocal elements all are weaved together to keep listeners on the edges of their seats. The extended drum solo that occurs at the 2-minute mark gradually is lifted up through thee aforementioned vocal elements. The bridging between the song’s first…