STARLING FORGIVE ME SUNDAY DRIVE RECORDS What would fall under a category classified as grungy dream pop? Something hard to pin down, for sure, but it seems to be something that a Los Angeles quartet that goes under the name of Starling tries to [...]
VARIOUS ARTISTS A TRIBUTE TO THE KING OF ZYDECO VALCOUR RECORDS In most cases, compilations, particularly tribute albums, tend to be a patchy affair, no matter how many big (and great) artists are featured there. When creating a tribute album, [...]
PAN AMERICAN & KRAMER INTERIOR OF AN EDIFICE UNDER THE SEA SHIMMY-DISC Both Pan American (aka Mark Nelson) and Kramer have been known not only for their extensive solo work, but also as collaborators with a wide array of other artists [...]
AVI C. ENGEL FIVE FIGMENTS INDEPENDENT Toronto’s Avi C. Engel is surely one of the more productive singer-songwriters around at the moment, with a slew of releases available on their Bandcamp site, this 5-song thingy they called Five [...]
MEGGIE LENNON DESIRE DAYS MOTHLAND Quite a few artists make lofty claims when they speak out to promote their new musical venture. And very often at that, their claims don’t exactly match what you can hear on that said effort. Luckily for [...]
S.G. GOODMAN PLANTING BY THE SIGNS SLOUGH WATER RECORDS/THIRTY TIGERS After her debut album Teeth Marks from 2022, winning ‘a few’ awards, and some serious and long-running set of concerts, Kentucky’s brilliant Americana artist [...]
THE BONES OF J.R. JONES RADIO WAVES TONE TREE MUSIC Those following Spill Magazine a bit more closely will surely be aware that behind The Bones of J.R. Jones moniker is New York-based artist Jonathon Linaberry, a man behind some subtle set of [...]
XOL MEISSNER EXCESS OF LOSS INDEPENDENT If you stick only to the face value of some information, it just might take you to a wrong track, and there is quite a bit of that here. First of all, Xol Meissner is an alias for a Swiss-born, NYC-based [...]
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD PHANTOM ISLAND P(DOOM) RECORDS So, where have the Australian mavericks gone so far in their explorations? From all things heavy to the outskirts of microtonal and spiritual jazz, while cramming as many albums [...]
YAWN WISH I COULD’VE KILLBEAT MUSIC If you think that crafting close to perfect pop music is easy, then you’ve got things all wrong. Pop has a set of formulas you have to respect, and being inventive and doing it right within those [...]
PEACEFUL FACES WITHOUT A SINGLE FIGHT GLAMOUR GOWNS Quite a few so-called singer-songwriters take a trip down a lush baroque pop lane, and that seems just the right place for multi-instrumentalist and composer Tree Palmedo and his latest album [...]
BRIANA MARELA MY INNER REST INDEPENDENT It has been a while since composers of what is considered modern classical music have adopted elements of other musical genres that are also considered as modern – whether it is rock in its [...]
LETTERS FROM TAYLOR STILL ASKING INDEPENDENT It is a bold move to have your debut EP with two prominent covers right up front. It might indicate that you don’t have much faith in your originals. Yet, that is not a worry that Calgary, Ab [...]
RAIN PARADE CRASHING DREAM (DELUXE REISSUE) LABEL 51 RECORDS Paisley Underground flourished in Los Angeles in the 80s as a response to cotton candy electro dance that was dominating the charts at the time (think Kaja Goo Goo) and punk not going [...]
AVA McCOY DRAGONFLY ACROPHASE RECORDS As a singer songwriter, how do you fit Pacific Northwest countryside (Oregon, to be precise) along with New York City as a somewhat stark contrast? Ava McCoy seems to be able to do that on her latest album [...]
CLARA JOY WHAT WE HAVE NOW SHIMMY-DISC Neither NYC singer-songwriter Clara Joy nor Kramer, the man behind Shimmy-Disc are newbies on the music scene (Kramer quite a bit longer), and it might have taken them time to cooperate, but on What We Have [...]
SEDONA GETTING INTO HEAVEN INDEPENDENT If you are a Los Angeles singer-songwriter through and through and you are coming up with your debut album, it just might come as no surprise that your music just might be a combination between 70s Laurel [...]
JESS KERBER FROM WAY DOWN HERE FELTE RECORDS If you are a singer-songwriter these days, getting your music heard and recognized just might be harder than it was when this genre (or sub-genre, if you will) was in what is considered its prime in [...]
KILYNN LUNSFORD PROMISCUOUS GENES FEEL IT RECORDS Ok, Kilynn Lunsford might seem an unusual name to some, but there are actually two who are currently making music—neither of the more usual kind. The one we’re talking about here though is [...]
FRIENDSHIP CAVEMAN WAKES UP MERGE RECORDS There’s this leftfield take on Americana music that has been going on for a while that encompasses quite a number of artists, from Will Oldham and Bill Callahan to the likes of Idaho Pernice [...]
NOW NOW DOES THE TRICK K RECORDS/PERENNIAL RECORDS What could be the key denominator for the artists who record for Olympia Washington’s stalwart recork label, K? Hard to put your finger on it, actually, but a great sense of melody. No matter [...]
ABSOLUTE TREAT SHATTERED LOVE VICTORY POOL RECORDS There’s always a question going round with music/albums/EP’s that are distinctively –should you simply disregard it simply because it is pop? Sure, it just might be that there is a [...]
I’M WITH HER WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE ROUNDER RECORDS When great vocal harmonies align, magic sparks fly through aural space, and it doesn’t matter what genre of music is involved, although, very often, those harmonies are rooted in [...]
BUILDINGS AND FOOD PROVINCIAL PARK INDEPENDENT Can you make a direct connection with nature through electronic music (ambient or otherwise)? Well, Jen K. Wilson, aka Buildings and Food, thinks that is possible and she keeps on making that [...]
