Ah, the covers album. Once seen as little more than a stop gap until the band could pull together enough new material for a new album, lately, thanks to folks like Corb Lund and Ben Lee’s soon-to-be released record, cover albums seem to be moving towards a much more satisfying experimental phase (Americana Lund covering AC/DC, Indie stalwart Lee covering Fugazi, for example). And while The Mavericks don’t venture too…
Somewhat somber and yet capable of encapsulating the honest optimism of the lyrics in the foreground, the piano plays with a tortured resilience at the start of “Don’t Stand a Chance,” the new single by Mattia Pironti, and its opulence will only grow more noticeable as we press on. Its keys frame a poetic window into the soul of Mattia Pironti that had only been teased in his first two…
Scizzorman crafts a track that links together Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Primus into a bass-heavy composition. With quirky (but positive) lyrics, Scizzorman is able to generate an effort that will bury its infectious melodies deep into listeners’ brains. Taut instrumentation and a lush production ensures that the resulting track could easily slot into rock and alternative music playlists. For fans of psychedelic, funk, and 1990s college rock (e.g. Porno…
On Walking On Stars, Sarah J’Vine is able to make an ethereal, haunting melody balance between pop and electronic genres. Vocals pull double duty here in that they contribute mightily to the overall arrangements while imbuing the resulting effort with a humanity heard in performers like Vanessa Williams and Mariah Carey. With instrumentation that draws upon the tradition of Massive Attack and Bjork, Walking On Stars is a cut that…
With an opening stanza that starts off with the lines “Undercover operations takes / A lotta discipline and patient waitin’ / Gotta secretly manipulate / To speed fate up,” MkX is getting real with us in his new song “right place, at the right time” and causing a stir among critics and fans for the third time in 2019. MkX is no loose cannon in “right place, at the right…
Tummyache’s Humpday opens with “Machine”, an often raucous cry from the heart looking to wrest meaning and purpose from a world often seeming to lack both. The five songs included on this EP release embrace that as theme. Songwriter Soren Bryce, through her inter and intra personal relationships, is an artistic voice chronicling how to hang onto your emotions in the general miasma of modern life. The roughhewn musical feel of “Machine”…
Kim Shattuck, singer/guitarist for the shockingly underrated band The Muffs, died unexpectedly just weeks ago, after a two-year battle with ALS that many outside of her close circle were unaware of. She left a brilliant legacy, with half a dozen near-perfect pop punk records to her name, a dedicated fanbase and a slew of heartbroken, normally jaded music journalists who were charmed by their interactions with her over the years…
Who would have thought some of the best Outlaw Country-inspired music would be coming out of the Pacific Northwest? On Right On Time, their second LP and first since 2015, The Lonesome Billies pick up right where they left off, but with a little more groove this time around. Across a dozen tracks of twangy Telecaster riffs and a baritone that even Waylon Jennings would envy, The Lonesome Billies prove…
John DeNicola might not be a household name, but he should be, because you’ve probably heard his work in one form or another, whether you realize it or not. And his new album is his debut solo record, but it’s not exactly clear to me what’s all original and what is covered concerning both his own past works and covers of other’s work on this disc. What is clear to…
If Dr. John grew up a punk rocker in the Midwest rather than in the jazz and funk clubs of voodoo-soaked New Orleans, chances are he’d sound a lot like Jake La Botz. On They’re Coming For Me, the Nashville, by way of Chicago, musician turns in a wildly eclectic, deeply satisfying gumbo of blues, funk, jazz and even snatches of rock. And despite being decades younger than the brilliant,…
On I Forgot About Me, Jonathan Karkar is able to craft a pop track that rises and falls in all the right places. Listeners will be on the edges of their seats with the blending of traditional and electronic sections. Similarly strong has to be Karkar’s vox here, which are able to exude tremendous charisma as well as bringing listeners along for a tremendous narrative ride. Reviving the pop of…
TexMex Shaman has just released a new single, Peking Bass, that is able to draw from a wide swath of distinct EDM styles to make for something memorable. The production of Peking Bass allows for this distinct collection of approaches to work separately or as disparate pieces contributing to a coherent whole. A booming bass line is weaved throughout the entirety of Peking Bass, allowing TexMex Shaman ample opportunity to…
2019 has been an exceptionally good year for independent musicians, and not very many in the bunch know this as well as AV Super Sunshine does. It wasn’t enough for AV to drop the remix LP Candyland on us over the summer; in his new single, which is also titled “Candyland,” the artist and his eponymous band prove to be the most diverse act in their scene with two mixes of a…
Jon Patrick Walker has never been one to back down from an ambitious project, and with the release of his latest album, the aptly titled Welcome to the Edge Times, he enters uncharted sonic waters with a carefree attitude that is as infectious as it is endearing. Flamboyant grooves adorn the backdrop of “Like a Rose” while stoic vocals colorize an otherwise black and white “Blues for My Baby.” Rambunctious rhythm…
Nineteen-seventy’s power pop never sounded so good. Portland-based four piece Daystar may borrow inspiration liberally from bands like Big Star, Wings and Badfinger, but their songs still manage to smack of originality. The Complete Recordings is a masterclass in building, taking the foundation of some of the best post-Beatles bands to ever commit to wax and then erecting a wildly satisfying modern take on those sounds. Comprised of veterans of…
The five-song EP release New Language from the band TLA is a meeting of the minds with long term potential. TLA has a core of Jon Sortland from The Shins, The Pleased’s Jason Clark, and paper cut artist Tahiti Pehrson and their songwriting talents come together in a tight wound guitar-driven pop confection held together by sharp musicianship and superior songwriting. The material has to the point punch that makes this a…
Adrift in the shadows, wandering through the misty dark with a surgically-precise slashing, we discover the nature-esque sounds of “Dream Symposium,” the drum-clad tour de force from the Toronto Tabla Ensemble out now everywhere that quality independent music is sold and streamed. The percussion delivers crushing blow after blow, guiding us into the night with a luxurious textural expression that cannot be replicated on stage or in-studio ever again. Every…
Gold Light’s fourth album release Zephyr and frames Joe Chang’s songwriting talents in sharper relief than any previous collection. There’s nine songs included spanning a wide variety of thematic concerns and imagery but are anchored by an assortment of character types familiar to anyone who has followed Chang’s career to date. Chang has developed his songwriting talents by leaps and bounds with each successive release. His opening track “Cannon Street” is a…
A rollicking beat is adorned with crushing riffage the size of a skyscraper as we listen in on the first couple of bars in Lesibu Grand’s “Miranda,” but as the track presses on, what starts off as a Seattle-style grinder evolves into something that can only be described as pure, unadulterated Pixies worship. In Lesibu Grand’s debut record, The Legend of Miranda, this kind of string-powered thunder is par for the…
A Beginning provides listeners with an introduction into the album’s narratives while layering the vocal content with emotive, new age-inspired keys. The effort provides a microcosm of the distinct styles and approaches that one will find as they continue to progress through Reconstructed Memories. Memory One establishes a keys / strings dynamic that is punctuated through a bit of jangliness that is reminiscent of a locomotive bell. Hints of female…