The sheer vocal ability of Ane Monsrud on her latest track Mysterious Connections will immediately draw listeners in. The track is able to straddle the line between pop and the singer-songwriter tradition but represents a considerable change from the status quo. This is due not only to Ane’s vocals, but the rich instrumentation that is present.
Fleur de bossa is a tremendously intricate composition that touches upon modern jazz and Latin music to make a lively effort. The guitar work (Jim Cohen) and accordion (Jacques Pellarin) are highlights to the track, telling more with plucking of strings than artists can hope to tell with an entire lyric book.
Dreamy Clouds Of Glass is a tremendously emotive track that is able to tell a story even despite the instrumental focus of the opening minutes. There is a twinkling sound created that will bring listeners on a journey, with Curioustin changing the overall focus to provide listeners with considerable variation. The harsher, more instrumental-themed side of this track provides further tools for Curioustin as well as increasing the overall momentum…
The recent inexplicable emo revival has reminded us that there was a lot wrong with music in the early-aughts. But for every band like Simple Plan and New Found Glory, aimed at heartbroken teens clutching lyric journals filled with 7th grade poetry, there were far better bands that knew how to write solid, complex songs of angst and confusion that never really got the accolades they truly deserved – bands…
Fresh is a track that looks to refresh the electronic music of the late nineties and early 2000s into something that an entirely new audience can appreciate. There are hints of Underworld, Plastikman, and Massive Attack rubbing elbows with jungle, house, and current (dubstep / trap) genres. Vocal elements work to imbue the composition with a human element as well as further increase the palette that is available to CLOVR.
Vegard Skrede has a high-energy opening to Dans, baby! that will immediately draw listeners in to the composition. The track will elicit comparisons to Hot Hot Heat and Franz Ferdinand, as Skrede’s vocals build off of the works of Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco to establish something that could easily make it onto pop and rock rotation. The production of Dans, baby! is stellar, allowing the disparate…
San Diego’s The Liquorsmiths has crafted a six-song mini-album that provides listeners with a wide array of styles and approaches. The release opens up with Coy With Me, an effort that links together the folk-rock of the sixties, the singer-songwriter tradition of the nineties (Bright Eyes, The Wallflowers), and a current and contemporary sound that will appease fans of X Ambassadors and Imagine Dragons. What The Liquorsmiths do on this…
9 to 3 is the latest album by Switzerland’s Ajay Mathur, and Sitting By Your Cradle starts thing off with soulful singing and a light and air instrumentation which takes equal portions folk and desert rock. Nothing Really Matters is an emotionally and instrumentally intense effort that will resound loudly with listeners long after the track has ceased. Ajay’s vocals during this track pull double duty in that they establish a…
CBGB’s may be dead and gone – the storied club now a John Varvatos high-end fashion boutique – but thanks to the Masters Live series MVD Audio puts out, the grit, noise and spirit of the tiny rock club inspired, continues into another decade. The latest from this series, on vinyl for the first time, comes from the LA metal band Terror and New York Hardcore group H2O.
Sarantos has released his latest single, I Sing, in early June. This electronic-infused track ties together the early days of the New Romantic movement (Yaz, Depeche Mode) and inserts a little bit of the pop-punk of Atom and His Package and Blink 182 into the mix. What results with this track is a hooky, fun track that will tattoo its melodies deep into the mind and hearts of anyone that…
Galliano Sommavilla has created a song a day for 365 days, creating a number of albums from the constituent compositions. We have received the 13th volume, which begins with day 352. The track is a smooth bit of new world music that links together traditional (piano) and electronic elements. The effort succeeds as it provides listeners with a cogent narrative crafted through the interaction of the various instruments. The ultimate…
“First Wave” is a richly emotive composition that is able to provide listeners with a compelling narrative without possessing any traditional form of vocal accompaniment. The bold strokes that are taken on the onset of Waves of Life ensure that listeners are on the edges of their seats from the onset. The six-minute run time of this initial composition provides Ashaneen with ample space to express the different twists and…
The first sample from this Australian act’s new EP “Options”, Deadbeat is an effort that showcases a wide array of twists and turns in a sub-five minute package.
Sticks and Stones comes with a heavy, trippy take on rock music that links together sixties and seventies rock into something sludgy and brilliant. Writing Everything Away is more contemplative and introspective, sending listeners on a journey with deftly-arranged guitar work that bridges America to Zappa, while Seven takes a raucous blend of Thin Lizzy and seventies Detroit music and whips them into an emotional fury.
While the band and label are still opting to describe Bunnygrunt as “Cuddlecore,” I think Power Pop does just fine here as a descriptor. The latest from the St. Louis band, Vol. 4, their sixth album, is brimming with infectiously addictive songs that span anywhere from one-to- seven minutes, but the band really excels when focusing on three-minute sing-alongs like “The Book That I Wrote” and “Frankie is a Killer,”…
The crisp playing style of John Laurence during Prelude No. 3 in C Major indicates a maturity to the playing style that will draw listeners to the composition in droves.
Apademik The Disciple has created a track in Skinny model that deftly blends club-friendly dance with a high amount of energy to create something that will rocket up the charts when the track is released on July 14th. The inclusion of Juicy J to the track provides additional depth to this already fulfilling production. There are hints of Duke Dumont, Matt Zo, 3Lau and Zedd that are presented here, with…
Lachi’s latest single, Boss, blends equal amounts R&B, pop, rap, and dance into a crossover track that will keep the energy high in the club.
Medicated Mitch is a Detroit-area rapper that has been able to thrive in a time where news stories are de rigueur about the predatory behaviors of Detroit administrators at a point where the city’s infrastructure is crumbling. While there are a number of groups and individuals attempting to stave off this decline, Medicated Mitch contributes to the cultural renaissance with his own inimitable form of rap music. Creating the persona…
It’s been 23 years and 10 records since The Real McKenzies first start out, so there are no surprises here; at this point you know what you’re getting with these Scotch/Canadian punk rockers. It’s been three years since their last record and with another lineup change, but the band still sounds just as solid as they did with their 1995 debut.