All Right introduces 3D Friends as an act that deftly blends together pop-punk, emo, and electronic styles into a tremendously alluring style. The act is able to take influences as wide as The Red Hot Valentines, The Anniversary, Yellowcard, and Metro Station and provide their own unique twist. This track is produced masterfully, allowing listeners to distinguish between the disparate elements comprising the band. Just Wanna Hold You changes up…
The furious energy that hits listeners during Piqued Jacks’ Upturned Perspectives is impressive, but what is more impressive is the ability of the band members to create a compelling and controlled effort out of this initial salvo. The music here has guitars, drums, bass, and vocals unite to make a unique style of alternative rock. While the vocals are front and summer, the arrangements of each instrument receive their own…
Make It Look Like Nothing Happened is the new release from San Francisco’s Impuritan. The album begins with Show Us Your Hidden Daggers, a track that rapidly opens up to an intense piece of psychedelic / drone metal. While one can discern hints of Tool, Kyuss, and Soundgarden, I feel that the epic styling of the track is much more in the vein of Pink Floyd.
The Cosmonauts begin Take Me To Your Leader with Transgender, a funky bit of reggae-infused rock that will have listeners singing along. Tar & Feather is absolutely funky and relies much more on the instrumental side of things. When vocals do enter into the equation, they are utilized in a much more musical format.
We Need To Be Loved is Los Angeles’ Anthony Starble’s latest release, and it captures four distinct facets of this multi-element performer. The title track on We Need To Be Loved begins with a tremendously emotive piano line that yields to a similarly moving set of vocals. The sheer vocal range that is present on this first track will immediately create fans. Imagine a blend of Bruno Mars and Patrick…
Make It Loud provides a very lively opening to Restating the Question, with The GoAround taking on a pop-rock style that is vibrant and compelling. The track could easily make it onto pop, rock, and alternative rotation while Alexander and Anthony Saddic immediately swing for the fences.
Ready Never provide a tremendous wallop with Take That Pill, the first single off of their album Eleutherophobia. This cut blends equal amounts of EDM and pop, creating something that will be on heavy rotation no matter whether individuals are in Miami, Ibiza, or any other dance hot spot. The vocal quality of the track is impressive, providing a nice foil for the lively arrangements.
Give It Up is a track that utilizes complex time signatures and a mélange of styles as diverse as showtunes, eighties pop, and fifties ballads. The sheer diversity of influences that are broached on Last Day of Earth considerably increases the replay value of the title.
The band begins their Pulse and Treatment with a rock styling that touches upon late-nineties alternative and goth-rock. The grinding, intense (but ultimately radio-friendly) style of the band will tattoo itself into the minds and hearts of listeners, providing them with the momentum that they need to continue through Pulse and Treatment.
Putting aside for a minute the truly obnoxious personalities of the Gallagher brothers, it’s hard to find fault with the band’s debut, Definitely Maybe. Released in 1994, when the U.S. was still madly in love with grunge, Oasis lead a second British Invasion (well, tried, at least).
A Traveler is a tremendously emotional and touching composition that links together the singer-songwriter tradition with emotive rock and alternative styles. A smart production ensures that listeners will be able to pick out the vocals, drums, or horns and be able to wholly enjoy what is being laid down.
The 2014 edition of Namasté Healing provides listeners with a wide array of compositions from an equal diverse collection of Real Music artists. This compilation contains tracks from Liquid Mind, Kevin Kern, Kenio Fuke, Haiku, and Bernward Koch (amongst others).
Days, the latest album from Sound Liberation, showcases considerable evolution of the band’s sound. Together,, the thirteen tracks on the album represent a cohesive and cogent thought, ensuring that listeners will be at the edges of their seats from beginning to end.
Before he was a lite-FM staple in the 90’s thanks to his Dirty Dancing soundtrack jem (sarcasm implied here) “Hungry Eyes,” Eric Carmen was a founding member of the influential and sadly underrated power pop band The Raspberries. The just-released 30-song collection Essential Eric Carmen serves as a perfect reminder of just how strong a pop songwriter Carmen was.
Pretentious album title aside, with Zonian Girls and the Echoes That Surround Us All, King of Prussia have managed to make a 20-song double album sounds amazingly conscience. The concept album, brimming with psychedelic Indie rock songs, is a result of frontman Brandon Hanick’s three years spent traversing Barcelona. He picked up some band members there and combined them with some from Athens, GA and got to work on…
In The Cold has a seventies pop-rock sound that will immediately draw listeners in and keep them focused through the first section of the band’s latest release. The front-forward aspect of the vocals are reminiscent of John Denver and Jackson Browne, while the instrumentation is influenced by acts as wide as America, The Eagles, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
An Empire Has Fallen is the opening track on Empires, and it comes forth with some sludgy and dark metal. The act is able to create a narrative using only instruments, and the resulting composition is enough to keep listeners amped up through a six-minute block. The production allows each element of the band to shine, even as the resulting contributions combine into something much more expansive.
Feather and Dust is the new release from Beverly Girl, an act that looks back into the nineties to craft an inimitable style that works in 2014. On this album, the band creates 8 tracks that are fun, intricate, and will keep listeners tuning in for more.
Beat the Odds is a raw and intense collection of songs that capture Dave’s wide array of influences. This means that Take Me Away has a CSNY meets America type of groove, while Rock A Bye Baby has a late sixties / early seventies sound that is reminiscent of Alice Cooper or Brownsville Station.
White Women is an amazing retro-tinged album that is strong from beginning to end; Sexy Socialite is the perfect example of a track that will immediately fill dance floors, while Over Your Shoulder keeps things hopping despite having a much more contemplative arrangement.