Broken is a fun pop-rock track that marries confident vocals with straight-foward guitars and splashy drums. The back and forth between the insistent vox of bree and the sizzling guitar riffs that follow immediately afterward calls back to performers like Kelly Clarkson and Bif Naked. Broken takes a strong turn at the two-minute mark to allow the guitar, bass, and drum to craft one seriously heavy instrumental interlude. Bree’s latest…
Love & Tatters look back to the synth-popo of the mid-1980s for inspiration during their new single, Love & Tatters. The alluring vocals, synth sequences, and hard-hitting choruses ensure that this track will have legs for days. The band reaches a higher plateau with a multi-part vocal harmony. Touching upon Walk The Moon and Dave Grohl’s vocal stylings, Broke Royals are able to bring fans in while crafting their own…
Raven Salve’s CoCo Brown is a sultry, slow R&B track that immediately showcases Salve’s vocals like no other. Raven is able to pull double duty during this track as she’s able to weave a cogent story alongside building up the fat beats and Childish Gambino-esque guitar lines playing in the background. The effort is timeless in its execution, drawing from the late 1990s and early oughts rhythmic style just as…
Lost Cause is a taut track that provides Buffalo band Marquee Grand with a good amount of positive vibes as the band begins their new extended play. The track builds upon the framework of The All-American Rejects and Yellowcard, marrying charismatic vocals with intense bass line and jangly guitar work. The song even touches upon The Killers and Goo Goo Dolls, easily ensuring that it could garner playlist and radio…
For a period of time in the early-to-mid ’80s, Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions were one of the hippest bands in the Los Angeles. So hip that members of such acclaimed L.A. bands as X, Los Lobos, the Gun Club, The Plimsouls and The Blasters lent their talents to their recordings and live shows. So hip that the brilliance of Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions was largely unknown apart from…
Wettworker’s Are You Okay comes forth with some serious fire. There are nods to Atmosphere and Swollen Members here, while the gothic / industrial-tinged backing beat adds a bit more teeth to the effort. These two distinct elements ensure that the song is hurtling past listeners by the minute mark. With a lead-out that calls back to the more ferocious side of Marilyn Manson, Wettworker is able to imbue rap…
The late 2010s produced a lot of interesting singer/songwriters, and among the more intriguing that I heard in 2019 was Andy Michaels, whose record Incendiary Heart raised a lot of eyebrows in his native Australia as well as overseas in the United States. A product of hybrid creativities and eclectic collaborations with singers like Tiarna Madison and Kerry Ironside, Incendiary Heart takes everything that was suggested as being possible in Michaels’ debut LP Revisited and reshapes…
The Districts today shared the Laura-Lynne Petrick-directed video for new single “Cheap Regrets,” the second from their forthcoming album You Know I’m Not Going Anywhere, which will be released on March 13th, 2020 (Fat Possum). “‘Cheap Regrets’ is some late capitalist nihilism channeled into a Districts dance party. It’s about the extremes of American culture constantly reinforcing the self,” explains singer/guitarist Rob Grote of the kinetic track. “The mirror reconfirms…
Barrow calls back to the days of Garth Brooks and mid-1990s country music (Diffie, Lawrence) with his latest single, Country’s Just Cooler. The track soars based on taut instrumentation, a heck of a lot of sizzling guitar work, and an imitable set of vocals laid down by Barrow himself. While the song looks back to the halcyon days of country music, there’s a bit of Paisley or Chesney here in…
If guitar sizzle is your style, I would definitely recommend taking a peek at the latest record from Canadian rockers This Time, Two, the next time you’re browsing new indie titles, because from the plodding fuzz of deep cuts like “Caught You in Love” and “Something About,” to the blustery palm-muted storm of “Be Somebody” and chief single “Runaway,” they absolutely embody the core of this band’s sound more than anything…
The Sidewinder’s Empathy is a composition that refreshes the trip-hop of Massive Attack and late-nineties Bjork. Neuronal Disintegrity ensures that listeners will have to strap on their headphones to hear the sheer ranges of actions that are occurring at any one section. While the effort concludes well below the four-minute mark, pagan interface ensures that there is enough ensconced within here that one will have to play the effort five…
Will’s new single Staying Alive succeeds due to a melange of approaches and styles. This means that there are hints of scratching, Del the Funky Homosapien, and more than a fair shake of mid-1990s NYC hip-hop (e.g. Nas). Scratching represents a good portion of the interstitials between the vocalists’ bars, building off of the style of a Static Selektah. Incorporating guest bars laid down by Illogic to the track further…
Cool Ass create a wry, catchy track that builds off of the rock of the late nineties and early oughts. With straight-forward, fuzzy guitars linking together surf rock with Slash-style technical riffs, Cool Ass are able to ratchet it up to 11 both on the lyrical and musical side of things. The track moves into a more prog/arena breakdown at around the three-minute mark. With a rapidly-increasing tempo bringing things…
Aqua Seca calls back to the rock of the 1980s with their new single, Don’t Care. The song links together Big Country with Eddie Money. Down and dirty guitar lines united with psychedelic and progressive-inspired sludginess. The fact that no two segments of Don’t Care sound the same is astonishing on its own right, but listeners will be agog at how well the resulting composition sounds. Aqua Seca are so…
Izzy Ice comes forth immediately on his new single Cake Up as an evolutionary step forward of DMX, Big Joe and Xhibit. Tons of swagger blend nicely with a robust backing beat to tattoo Cake Up deep into the minds and hearts of listeners. The production of this single ensures that Izzy Ice should garner playlist and rotation play in 2020. II’s wordplay during this cut does more than tell…
During Mexico, twocolors and The Dead Daisies are able to make a slinky composition that call back to the early nineties. Luxurious electronic beats mesh well with a bit of rock that draws from INXS and U2. Mexico has a bit of current and contemporary EDM styling as a drop (around the 2:30 mark) unites the two sections of the track. The last 30 seconds of Mexico are kicked into…
The last couple of years have been a great time for fans of acoustic pop music. From the United Kingdom to the United States and beyond, artists have been coming out of the woodwork with roots music of the most erudite variety, and although the new single “Moses” from Jonathan Emile might not qualify as being the most prolific acoustic song I’ve heard in the last year, it’s undeniably one…
While the titular opening to You Can’t Run Out of Love starts in a time-honored singer / songwriter style, Siobhan O’Brien immediately reaches into the stratosphere with The King’s Fool. Adopting traditional native American and country and western styles with a bit of Sheryl Crow, O’Brien has a hit on her hands. The Burger Song is a bit of 1960s rock with hints of Depeche Mode and The Pretenders. O’Brien…
Elise Lieberth begins her Invincible with “Forgive”, a powerful pop track that could easily garner airplay on CCR playlists. With considerable vocal depth, Lieberth is able to shine with each foray on her new album. Final Surrender showcases the considerable passion and devotion that she possesses. Adding more than just vocals but an additional layer of harmony on this pop/EDM cut, Elise has her fingers on the pulse of contemporary…
Soft, careful, and with tremendous charisma, Lisa Bell is able to open up her Back Seat with aplomb. Couple that with the funk groove laid down during The Road is Always Longer, and fans will start to recognize the sheer depth to Bell’s performing persona. Always Chasing Darkness represents another chapter in Bell’s biography. Slowing things down, Bell keeps fans on the edges of their seat with each line that…