The Light, Forrest Isn’t Dead’s newest single calls back to eighties-pop rock and modern emo music. Charismatic vocals link together Brendon Urie and Jakob Dylan, while the instrumentation ties together hauntingly beautiful guitars and an insistent synth beat. The production of The Light keeps each element separate, joining together the riffs, synth lines, and calming vocals for the chorus. The song is so unlike anything currently out on Spotify playlists;…
Klassy is a hard-hitting track that brings a ton of lyrical fire even as listeners are brought into a scintillating musical backdrop. Touching upon issues of racism in the music industry, the cut is able to put a spotlight on a behavior that can be traced back over 100 years. Touching upon R&B, Dr. Dre’s 1990s production and even a bit of trap, Klassy just works. Where there’s a number…
To say that April has been an exceptionally good month for indie musicians and their fans just might be too big an understatement to make. With new releases coming from across the underground spectrum, it can be difficult to keep up with the true cream of the crop – but among those I’ve personally reviewed lately, Lily Vakili Band definitely shines above the rest. Vakili’s new song, “Facial Recognition Technology,”…
On Stay, JamLive are able to bring in hints of Muse and Radiohead to something that is tremendously emotional and alluring from its onset. The care in which JamLive takes to create this soundscape is nothing less than incredible; both the vocal and instrumental sides contribute to a greater whole. The usage of white space here is nothing less than impressive; the act can move from quiet sections to something…
On My Phone is Trying to Kill Me, The Aces are able to create a song that not only has a good pop-rock groove, but also contains one of the most infectious chorus we’ve heard so far this year. Charismatic vocals in the vein of Paramore or Taylor Swift unite with lush synth lines and a bit of contemplative guitar work to make something larger than life. Truly a multimedia…
Bored has Sun & Flesh create a track that will bury its melodies deep into fans’ hearts. There’s sizzling guitar riffs, splashing drums, and a tautness to the arrangements that ensure that the band’s latest will stand up to repeat plays. Fans of the Deftones, The Eels, or Fear Factory will find something to dig into here. The band’s vocal melodies that play at the top of Bored add a…
As if the album title weren’t hint enough, the opening line to the opening track off of Teddy Thompson’s latest begins, “Here’s the thing/You don’t love me anymore.” What follows is an album’s worth of heartbreak (as advertised). Sometimes maudlin, sometimes oddly optimistic in the acceptance of the end, Thompson deftly creates an impressively infectious modern day break up record. In recent press materials, Thompson admits to growing up in…
On his new single Floatin‘, Pomona’s own Overlord Gruff is able to craft a hard-hitting track that calls back both to gangster rap as well as the dirtiest bars of performers like Freddie Gibbs and Surve. The production of Floatin‘ is another solid piece of the puzzle, going back to the mid-1990s California scene and the mid-oughts Atlanta sound. Add just a dash of Organize Minds-styled ethereal synths at the…
Box Food begins Specyal T’s new LP, A Specyal Remedy. The track is able to effortlessly straddle the line between R&B and funk, blending thick bassy lines with ever so cool jazz keys. This initial track expands upon the tradition of performers like Angie Stone and Sade while sounding fresh and current. Yorkshire Pudding is a sultry and sexy effort that succeeds due to Specyal T’s vox and a bit…
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue starts off Vargen’s collection of Bob Dylan covers. Immediately showcasing his ability to transform vital parts of Dylan’s corpus, this introduction is heartfelt, emotive, and well-polished. With such a distance between the original and Vargen’s version, fans will be locked in to see what the performer does with the rest of these compositions. I Threw It All Away keeps hitting listeners in the feels…
“Fly With You” an experimental dance -pop track from Canadian poet/mind bender Lailien feat. vocalist Ruby Perl. Out now via his sophomore album, TA-DA!, “Fly With You” surpasses any expectations the listener might have for songs with the word ‘fly’ in its title. Lailien, the offbeat recording name of Toronto’s Brad Shubat, seals the gaps between pop/electro fusion and a bevy of remarkable tones and beats. Lyrically, “Fly With You”…
Tom Tikka and the Missing Hubcaps come out of their corner swinging on the three song EP Working Class Voodoo with the title song “Working Class Voodoo”. The rock leanings of this track are pushed in just the right way; it isn’t Tikka’s style to bulldoze listeners with a guitar blitzkrieg. Nuance is the word of the day here. Tikka and his band achieve a specific stylistic approach early on in this…
Making that quintessential rookie release stick with fans is definitely no easy feat, but for Canadian hard rock band Walker’s Cay, they’re making it look pretty simple this May. Taking the world by storm via their first two singles, “Tell Me” and “Why Oh Why,” Toronto’s Walker’s Cay do more than introduce us to their sound in these songs – they lob a piece of their artistic identity in our…
Canadian singer/songwriters are having a good spring, and out of Montreal, this statement applies particularly to one Sébastien Lacombe, a veteran player whose new single and music video “Gold in Your Soul” is capturing the attention of critics around the continent at the moment. Lacombe’s conservative approach the guitar melodies blended with his deeply enigmatic poetry give “Gold in Your Soul” a very easygoing, classic pop feel with a uniquely…
Save Me is a touching pop track,. The amount of emotion that comes forth with Eden’s vocals are fantastic. She is able to draw upon the tradition of performers like early Sheryl Crow or the slower works of Avril Lavigne for inspiration, all while imprinting her own unique styling into each composition. The high-water mark for Save Me comes in the crescendo that occurs at around the 3 minute mark.…
Live It Up has Vanessa V. come forth with a funky and fun rap track that is wholly unique when compared to the rest of modern rap music. There’re a number of distinct sections here, including a more laid-back vibe and something that seems more akin to the rap style of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The booming bass of Live It Up will tattoo the song’s melodies deep…
Superman has Ryan Brahms laying down some soulful vocals. An intricate, introspective backing instrumentation links together a snap track and synths with just a hint of echo. Superman shines because of Brahms’s vocal range and ability to stop and turn on a dime. The hopeful message that is pr promoted during this single is given a further highlight when Superman hits its final 45 seconds. Ending with a touch of…
On her latest single Nwaye, Malou Beauvoir is able to blend together a more contemplative instrumentation with considerable vocal power. The guitar work on this single calls back to the mid-1990s, while there’s a multi-layered approach utilized here that keeps the replay value of Nwaye high over multiple plays. There’s a timeless feeling to Beauvoir’s vox here; stretching out over the composition effortlessly, it’s Malou’s voice that will stick with…
Jason Young wears many hats. He is bandleader of The Ruse, a project who opened for global powerhouse Muse on three separate world tours, but he has another long standing project called Heartour and its fifth release R U IN in may be his finest musical achievement yet. The Connecticut born singer, composer, and musician turned back to Heartour after placing The Ruse on hiatus and the resulting ten songs should solidify…
Ari Skye’s Look Into My Eyes has a timeless sound to it that will immediately draw in fans of any pop varietal. Ari contributes to the genre with tremendous vocal skill. The snappy synths that play at the bottom of her latest single gradually build into an engrossing sound by the chorus. The voice / instrumentation dynamic will imprint Look Into My Eyes’ melody deep into the minds and hearts…