Belle VEX’s “Mirror” is an compelling track that builds upon the tradition of performers like Ryan Cabrera and the New Radicals all while infusing the effort with a current and contemporary sound. This ensures that Mirror can easily slot onto pop radio and playlist rotation just as much as it will speak to fans of earlier singer-songwriter styles. The sheer amount of charisma that Bella VEX incorporates into the body…
Sp8ce Owl’s “70s Somewhere” links together the funk of Parliament Funkadelic with the Zapp Band and Jean-Michel Jarre to make a tremendously catchy track. The sparing utilization of vocals during 70s Somewhere ensures that listeners take note whenever they are present. With chops necessary to bring listeners onto the dance floor, Sp8ce Owl’s name will be the talk of the town whenever their latest single makes it onto DJ’s playlist.…
LA Laura Paris’s “Kissing Boys” is an homage to 1990s dance music. Deliberate and insistent synth lines make the track bump while LA Laura Paris’ vocals lie out leisurely on the top of the track. The range that she hits during this single is considerable, continuing to keep listeners firmly planted on the edges of their seats as the single continues on. Moving to a more instrumental-heavy section at the…
Makes My Blood Dance’s “Together Apart” refreshes the goth-metal of the early 200s with nods to CKY and Cradle of Filth. There’s a slinkiness to their latest track Together Apart that will appease fans of Korn and Static-X. The song never lets up with furious guitar work, splashy drums and haunting vocals. We’ve been fortunate enough to review Makes My Blood Dance in the past and each time, the band…
Azucar, the latest track from The Roughhousers, has a hint of 1960s rock tied in with early Dolly Parton. A thoughtful guitar interlude splits the track nicely, allowing Grey’s vocals to tattoo themselves deeply into listeners’ minds and hearts. There’s an attention paid to the track’s vocals and instrumentation that will appease even the most wizened of music fans, all while the song’s subject material can eagerly be picked up…
The Roughhousers’s “Princess Mike” is a wonderful callback to the 1960s, with a powerful narrative and an overall sound inspired by Nancy Sinatra and Melanie. The arrangement here is deliberate with each note contributing to the story that Grey [Delisle] tells here. A bit of surf-inspired guitar (contributed by Eddie Clendening) here, a bicycle bell there, and a whole heck of bluegrass/C&W arrangement placed in the song’s final 30 seconds…
Colin Peterik’s “Michiana” is a track that easily shines among the 1970s easy listening standards. The beautiful vocals play on top on a backing instrumentation that is taut as all get out. With a bit of funk and soul incorporated into the song’s body, Peterik has ensured that his song will stand up to repeat plays well into the year. The dynamism of the arrangements is impressive; the guitars, drums,…
Urban Cowboy has all of the trapping of the mid-1990s country charts while modernizing the message to incorporate a nod to the current world. The instrumentation present during Valles’ latest single is as Nashville as one can get while having the honest and earnest sound that bubbled up in more rural areas. The velvet fiddle and walking bass line that weave their way through Urban Cowboy is truly a sight…
NRG is one track that is able to touch upon 40 years of dance music in the cleanest and crispest way we’ve ever heard. Whether it be through nods to the Miami Sound Machine or mid-1980s MJ, the Latin-inspired sound of the 1990s or the assertive, booming EDM of the modern period, De Royce has made this effort sparkle. As the temperatures continue to increase the further we get into…
Greg Hoy & The Boys’s “Jet Black, Get Back” has a funky, slinky sound to it that links together surf, 1960s pop rock, and even a bit of the harder-edged fare of The Kinks and Pink Floyd. There’s a vitality to Hoy et al‘s latest that ensures that current fans will be able to find something to sink their teeth into. Of particular import during this single has to be…
Shiadanni’s “Penny Pills” has a haunting, immersive arrangement to it that will tattoo itself deep into the minds of listeners. The vocal presence of Shiadanni here provides further depth to Penny Pills, establishing the composition as a blending of Bjork, Massive Attack, and mid-1990s Madonna. The bit of glitch / trip-hop arrangements links up well to a more classical style of music, making for something that simultaneously hits on 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…
WATCH THE OFFICIAL VIDEO HERE Multi-Platinum, GRAMMY®, BRIT, Golden Globe and Oscar winning artist/songwriter Sam Smith returns with “Love Me More,” their first new original song since 2020. The candid, introspective track finds Sam examining their relationship with themself while embarking on a journey of self-discovery and happiness. Once again, their inimitable vocals shine on the uplifting new track, which Sam created with long-time collaborators Jimmy Napes and Stargate. Released today by Capitol Records, “Love…
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…