The Silent Wish is a new, joint album from extreme flutist Bill McBirnie and jazz magnate Bernie Senensky, but to say it’s simply another record would be the understatement of the decade. The Silent Wish is a 12 song journey into the heart and soul of Canadian jazz as played like no others can, and if you’ve got the sonic capacities to take the leap, this listening experience is one you won’t soon…
Joss Jaffe’s new release Dub Mantra Sangha Remix blends together reggae, EDM, and soulful vocals. Aloha features Sophia Mae Lin to draw deeply upon Island rhythms and Italo dance styles. Robin Livingston’s remix of Durga has an insistent quality and a similarly sunny demeanor. The complexity of the arrangement ensures that listeners will be able to play it multiple times while unearthing new styles and approaches. Timonkey’s Remix of Sri Ram (featuring…
Countrified singer/songwriter James Lee Baker has become quite the cult favorite of the Midwestern indie folk and alternative country circuits over the last couple of years, and with his new album Home Again audiences worldwide finally have the opportunity to experience his ethereal charms in all of their magnetic glory. Divided into ten equally stylish tracks produced with the upmost care and attention to detail, Home Again is a supremely affectionate look at one…
In his first extended play and fourth overall release, entitled Rusty Strings, Peruvian singer/songwriter Brown Kid struts with a swaggering confidence through a plethora of colorful material that is instantly memorable and contagiously optimistic. Rusty Strings sees Brown Kid’s signature style of easy going folk music and reggae-influenced pop advancing to a new level of conciseness and clarity that was hinted at in previous releases but comes to fruition in this latest offering,…
Cantabile’s new album ‘Naked Soul Opus 2’ has Nika’s inimitable violin imbuing each composition with life. The depth of Alchemia Story will have listeners on the edges of their seat as the theme continues. Code Geass – Colors benefits immediately from a robust instrumentation that melds together strings and a funky bass line. Cantabile’s take on the opening from No Game No Life imparts the same highs and lows of the…
TOZ Antonio Piretti’s ‘Heroes’ is a single that deftly brings together 1980s synth-pop with modern instrumentation to facilitate a truly epic sound. The full instrumentation stands up to repeat spins; listeners will need to strap on a pair of headphones to hear every nuance and interaction that Piretti has inserted within. TOZ’s vocals during Heroes pull double duty in the sense that they both convey a narrative while adding mightily…
California indie rockers Dangermaker unleash their most musically sophisticated album to date in Run, a twelve track smorgasbord of textured sonic bliss that will change the way you think about modern pop. Dangermaker have been quietly building up a cult following on the west coast over the last few years, and their latest record sees their sound evolving into a full color kaleidoscope of rich melodies that are unparalleled in 2018.…
Rock music has never been about sucking up to trends and fads – no matter how fleeting or exciting in the moment they may be. Since the very beginning rock has been about giving the earth the sonic ferociousness that we need to remind us that we’re still alive, still kicking and still apart of the vitality of the universe. Rock was meant to transcend and transport us to another…
It’s been less than six months since the wildly prolific/national treasure Willie Nelson last put out a record, so of course he’d have another one out before 2018 ended. But unlike “Last Man Standing,” an album of new originals, “My Way” finds Nelson sidelined by another covers album, this one dedicated solely to the music of Frank Sinatra (much like 2016’s Gershwin album, 2011’s Ray Charles album, 2006’s Cindy Walker…
Some artists don’t mind existing in the shadows for the bulk of their professional lives. They don’t care about advancing the evolutionary trajectory of music, they simply just want to play whatever is trending within their scene at the moment. In no way am I trying to run these artists down as invalid or somehow completely irrelevant, but when juxtaposed beside the ingenuity and creativity of a singer/songwriter like Sarah…
It probably wouldn’t have been surprising if “TPC,” Tokyo Police Club’s fourth and latest record was never made. Members of the band, originally based in Canada, have scattered to different parts of the continent since their last release with singer/bassist Dave Monks settled in New York, drummer Greg Alsop now calling LA home and guitarist Josh Hook and keyboardist Graham Wright staying put north of the border. Adding to the…
Delerium & JES “Stay” has a wonderful sort of modern pop meets 1980 synth-pop sound. Richly emotive synthesizers provide a great counterpoint for the breathy, dreamy vocals on the single. Stay has each side – instrumental and vocal – contribute mightily to the finished composition. There are narrative elements to the minor shifts and changes of the instrumentation, while the vocals are integral in providing additional depth and complexity to…
David Sereny’s “Spotlite” is a single that brings in a number of distinct approaches. This means that there is a lively disco beat, hints of flamenco and blues guitars, and a bit of the vitality of the R&B and gospel traditions. The dynamic of the horns, guitars, and drums is such that a narrative is weaved here as bright as any set of vocals could hope to lay down. Sereny’s…
On Sunn, Gidon Schocken is able to employ Afik Doari’s vocals to make for something that is musically very deep while having a pop side that ensures it considerable playlist placement. Sunn nods to a number of distinct genres – there are hints of 1990s electronica, industrial, R&B and modern pop all working together to make one of the most engrossing efforts we’ve heard this autumn. Schocken is able to make…
On “Friends And The Fakers”, LowRay is able to make alternative rock attractive again. With dreamy vocals, fuzzy guitars, and on-point arrangements, the track builds upon the sound of Del Amitri and Delirious? while having LowRay forged forth with their own unique approach.
The Fibs come out of their corner swinging with this self titled sophomore release. “Waiting for a Train”, its title alone, recalls a vast tradition in 20th century songwriting that, despite the enormous stylistic differences, that The Fibs sustain for a modern audience. The singer and chief songwriter behind the band’s creativity, Preston Newberry, writes lyrics brimming over with a lean literary quality that makes for a notable contrast with the…
Lenny Kravitz’s 1989 debut, Let Love Rule was an impressive win for rock. Aside from, Guns ‘n Roses and a few others, radio and music charts were dominated for most of the year by mediocre R&B singers, stale soft rock holdovers like Phil Collins and Billy Joel and legitimately fake music acts like Milli Vanilli. So, when Kravitz, with his rock swagger meets hippie vibe came out with the soaring…
In the history of pop music, there have been artists who built an entire identity around a single hook or style that critics and audiences fell in love with and were never able to put down. There are others though who take their creative ethos further; they push the envelope as far as they can in hopes of not only developing their core artistic profile but also advancing the evolution…
Americana, as a genre, is having a much-deserved moment in the sun. And with it are coming some incredibly original bands that normally wouldn’t be getting a listen if not for folks like The Avett Brothers and Shovels & Rope treading a path to acceptance. Among those that deserve a listen is the brilliant Nashville, by way of LA, -based duo Freddy & Francine (Curiously, there is neither a Freddy…
It’s difficult to relay just how influential Jeff Lynne and his group Electric Light Orchestra was and remains to this day, despite release their last big hit in the early 1980s.