TOKYO TEA ROOM FEEL FOREVER NICE GUY RECORDS No matter what anybody says, creating well crafted (or better) pop is an art in itself, particularly if you are able to abide by the rules and regulations, or more simply put, formulas that good, [...]
DAVID MYHR EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU OGLIO ENTERTAINMENT It has now become a sort of tradition for artists from Sweden to come up with some high-quality to excellent power pop and pop rock. Is it something in the water, or something else, [...]
TWILARK NEVER LEARNED THE TIDE INDEPENDENT Moniker is a multi-purpose thing in music, one could be to make a distinction from other artists, particularly in a very crowded genre, and singer-songwriter one is possibly at the top of that list. Yet [...]
JOYER ON THE OTHER END OF THE LINE… (CROSSED LINES REMIXES) JULIA’S WAR RECORDS Remix albums share quit a few similarities, as well as questions with tribute ones – does the remixed artist and those given tribute albums deserve it, [...]
A. LEE EDWARDS INTERPRETING HEART SOUNDS VOL. II YOU KNOW WHAT…? RECORDS When you are a true songwriter (in both heart and mind) it is something, any discerning listener can hear instantly. It says that Interpreting Heart Sounds Vol. II [...]
DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS LOVE HEAVENLY RECORDINGS Kevin Rowland and his Dexys Midnight Runners have been around for decades now, and have gone through quite a number of changes, both in musical styles covered, as well as the number of members in [...]
SOFT LOFT THROW THE DICE PIAS Quite a few listeners will shy away from any type of music that has that pop label somewhere in its description. Yet, there should be no shying away from it, particularly if such an epithet is actually suitable. [...]
ASHER WHITE LOVE AGGREGATES JOYFUL NOISE RECORDINGS It just might be that as an artistic soul that dabbles in a number of art forms, musical, visual, and other, you would pour an emotional outburst through seemingly disparate modern music [...]
PULP LIVE! ROUGH TRADE RECORDS When Pulp and Jarvis Cocker (the band’s soul and brain) appeared back in the 90s, quite a few critics, even with all the praise, didn’t expect either to last long on the music scene, tying Pulp and [...]
THE JAYHAWKS SANCTUARY PARK THIRTY TIGERS When The Jayhawks initially appeared exactly four decades ago, nobody really expected that this band, then led by Gary Louris and Marc Olson, would make such an impact on country rock with their [...]
ALEX AMOR HEAVENLY BODIES VERO MUSIC Some rock critics who take themselves seriously (probably too seriously) shy away from any music that has an even a remote connection with modern forms of pop (pure pop even more so), particularly the pop [...]
TONY HANNAH LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT INDEPENDENT Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn (sadly, both gone now) left such a big legacy in what country music is today that for years (or even decades) it will be quite hard not to compare up and coming female [...]
ALEX DUPREE TALKING TO THE DOG SCISSOR TAIL RECORDS For those who follow all things folk/country/Americana in all shapes or forms the title of the new Alex Dupree album is no mystery – it is a quote from country music legend Hank Williams who [...]
THE AFGHAN WHIGS SOFT CONTROL THE ROYAL CREAM/BMG Whatever the alternative rock term was supposed to mean when it was coined, or what it means in today’s musical terms, makes no difference as far as Greg Dulli, The Afghan Whigs, and the [...]
ROWENA WISE BAD THINGS FEEL GOOD 22TWENTY RECORDS It takes certain kind of bravery (actually, quite a bit of it) to go the singer songwriter way. Not only do you have to have an abundance of both singing and songwriting quality (add arranging [...]
GOD OF WAR MOLLY PICTURE JULIA’S WAR RECORDINGS When you run a record label, no matter how big or small it is, and you are an artist yourself, you have the possibility to spread your wings as wide as you can, no matter how good (or not) it [...]
EFFE SOLDER ARTIST HOUSE RECORDS Dream pop in all its shapes and forms (old and new) lives on, and Melbourne, Australia’s singer/songwriter effe and her latest EP Solder confirm the fact. As far as that old and new thing is concerned, effe [...]
THE FAMILY DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR BIG BLACK COW RECORDS There are so many reasons a band would name itself The Family, with one key reason being that they actually are. In this case, Delusions of Grandeur is a debut by a family, or you could say [...]
LITVAR BEING HERE MOTHER WEST RECORDS Litvar’s frontman Rex Thurstan describes the band’s new offering, Being Here, as “a bare, stripped-back folk record.” Yet, that might be stretching it a bit. Of course, Thurstan might [...]
MOPAR STARS OFFICIAL RESEARCHERS OF THE NJ DEVIL K RECORDS/PERENNIAL RECORDS You would probably need more than ten fingers to count how many times critics have proclaimed the death of power pop – you know that rock genre, where melody, harmony [...]
PLANETTE AUTOMATIC BLUE FASCINATION BAD CATT RECORDS Ok, two ways side projects can go – sideways or good ways. The former usually turns up when it is a vanity project of those involved, while the latter comes up when those involved feel the [...]
KELZ A SWEET PASSERBY BAYONET RECORDS Having something that is like a whisper of a voice can be either a blessing or a curse. It all depends on what kind of musical setting you give it, and of course, whether it is good or not so good. [...]
SODA GUMBALL SUPER HONEY TEASPOON! DEN TAPES Presenting a local music scene to a wider audience can be an arduous task if it is a scene that has already made a name for itself. Den Tapes (yes, just cassette tapes and Bandcamp) is one of those [...]
MAX SUBAR ANYTHING COULD BE MERGE RECORDS If by looking at the cover for Max Subar’s album, Anything Could Be, you get the impression that you are looking at (and possibly will listen to) a typical singer-songwriter album, you would be [...]
