CHARM SCHOOL FINITE JEST sonaBLAST! The call and recall of the original Velvet Underground sound continues, unabated. A problem? Definitely not, as any new band and artists that draws inspiration from such seminal artists deserves commendation, [...]
FRED ABONG FEAR PAGEANT DISC DRIVE Fred Abong has been around a while, starting up as far back as the 80s as part of the hardcore punk scene, and then playing bass for Throwing Muses and Belly. As a solo artist, working as a singer songwriter [...]
KOLB POWER OF THOUGHT RAMP LOCAL Another singer-songwriter, another artist located in Brooklyn that doesn’t really fit into the strict confines of what a singer-songwriter should sound like. His second outing, an EP titled Power of Thought [...]
KITBA KITBA RUINATION RECORD CO. Behind Kitba’s moniker and her self-titled debut album is New York’s singer-songwriter and harpist Rebecca Kitba Bryson El-Saleh. As a part of Brooklyn’s musical hub, Kitba has already cooperated with [...]
12 Rods If We Stayed Alive Husky Pants Records Yes, there is a sensible meaning in naming the new 12 Rods album If We Stayed Alive. It is the first in 21 years from these Minneapolis indies stalwarts, who always seemed to have a passion for that [...]
Penguin Cafe Rain Before Seven Erased Tapes Back in the 80s, they were Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and Simon Jeffes and his crew made a series of utterly charming albums that had the sound of a string band playing on a patio, always on the edge of [...]
Fred Abbott & The Wild Unknown Shining Under The Soot lojinx Fred Abbott might be now playing with a band named The Wild Unknown, but he certainly isn’t an unknown quantity, whether he’s wild could be discussed. After all, Abbott [...]
Danny Michel Ghost Town Independent Toronto singer-songwriter Danny Michel hasn’t been heard from in a while, at least as far as official recordings go. Actually, it has been five years to be exact, but now he’s back with his latest, [...]
JD Pinkus & Tall Tall Trees Ponder Machine Shimmy Disc Telling you that this is a collaboration between Butthole Surfer’s bassist, JD Pinkus, and Tall Tall Trees (Mike Savino) is only scratching the surface of this collaboration titled [...]
Erin K Sink To Swim Independent Singer-songwriter has become such a broad category these days, even though that with quite a few listeners the first thing that comes to mind is a single artist with an acoustic guitar or behind a piano. Does [...]
SLIP~ons Heavy Machinery Scamindy Records Punk or post-punk, if you consider the more modern form of the genre, even in its primal form in the 60s, always touched on another genre or two, even if you were the Ramones, Vancouver’s SLIP~ons [...]
Estrella Del Sol Figura De Cristal Felte Records Dream pop has become such a musical phenomenon that you can find (or stumble upon) a great release within the genre from practically any corner of the world. So it is not a great surprise that the [...]
AMANDA SHIRES AND BOBBIE NELSON LOVING YOU ATO RECORDS As a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Amanda Shires was and still is one of the stalwarts on the roots/americana music scene for all the right reasons. Her musicianship, singing, [...]
THE DREAM SYNDICATE – HOW DID WE FIND OURSELVES HERE? WILDWOOD PICTURES JUNE 23, 2023 There is a certain negative line of thinking when music documentaries are concerned, particularly when they deal with chronological history of an artist [...]
Amy Stroup Since Frank Independent What constitutes pop, or good pop for that matter, is a debate that will probably not end, at least not soon. In his great (and very voluminous) book on the story of modern pop titled Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, the [...]
Dallas Burrow Blood Brothers Soundly Music Now if any images you see of Dallas Burrow indicate you are in the roots/Americana land, they might distract non-believers from the fact that Burrow and his latest album Blood Brothers are a true [...]
Pickle Darling Laundromat Father/Daughter Records Is it something in the water or air way down under in New Zealand, or do they simply just love their left field, gently (or not so gently) quirky pop rock in all its shapes and forms? After the [...]
Far From Saints Far From Saints Ignition Records Quite a few decades ago, Fleetwood Mac proved that coming up with sophisticated pop is a specific art in itself where the artist(s) has to abide by the strict rules and formulas of a pop song [...]
Clara Engel Sanguinaria Independent Toronto singer-songwriter Clara Engel (they/them) says that they are not writing the same song over and over so much as writing one long continuous song that will end when they die. Dark? Sure, but the point [...]
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard PetroDragonic Apocalypse; Or, Dawn Of Eternal Night: An Annihilation Of Planet Earth And The Beginning Of Merciless Damnation KGLW Here we go again. And again. And again. Here comes another King Gizzard & [...]
Sivu Wild Horse Running Square Leg Records Working as a singer songwriter, being there practically all by yourself is a daunting task, and often, adding something more than just your voice, lyrics, and a single instrument can not only help, but [...]
Certain Times Desire Double Phantom Are there any new developments in synth-pop music? Well, it depends how you look at it, some might say that the genre is in a perpetuating mode, artist recycling older ideas, others might say that recycling [...]
Drew Holcomb And The Neighbors Strangers No More Magnolia Records With all the new artists/bands exploring Americana/roots music, there is always a chance that not all of them will reach the heights of those that have been working the genre for [...]
Callum Pitt In The Balance Kaleidoscope Music Very often, it is quite a challenge for artists releasing a debut album, not only to come up with right music, but also with a title that would describe that music the best. Newcastle, England [...]
