Some songs are time capsules. Other ones are warnings that continue to prove themselves true. The Fools by Social Gravy belongs to the latter category, initially written before a presidential election and later republished several years later due to the fact that, as the Los Angeles duo themselves says, the crooks are still around. It is an unattractive, harsh reality […]
ROCK/Review Bevin – You Don’t Decide
There is the protest songs and then there is the manifesto-in-music. The You Don’t Decide by Bevin squarely belongs to the second category, being a fearless statement of physical independence that does not demand permission or dilute its edges to make it popular with the general audience. It is all the American Gothic Rock that is unapologetic and mixes grit, […]
ROCK/Review Purbeck Templ – The Agoraphobia Files
There are those albums that are based on vanity. Others are lifelines. The Agoraphobia Files by Paul Gill under the pseudonym Purbeck Temple is unquestionably the latter, a thirteen-track testament in defense of patience that emerged out of trauma and was moulded by years of loneliness, recovery and unassailable resolution. The background is devastating: a severe assault that caused Gill […]
EDM/Review Carlos Ucedda – DOSE OF LOVE
The fact that you hear operatic singing on techno beats that are hitting hard is something truly lovely, and Carlos Ucedda makes the collision of these two elements so natural and needed. Dose of Love is a genre bending announcement by an artist who has continuously engaged with music, showcasing a vision that cannot be put in a box. Since […]
ROCK/Review Daph Veil – Bloodsucker
At some point in all the unhealthy relationships, there comes a time when the mask becomes unveiled and you are exposed to all inside the costume. Released under her Daph Veil project, Paula Laubach describes that moment in her piece, Bloodsucker, doesn’t simply describe it, but instead soundtracks the whole going through with such unpleasant precision. Beginning as a seductive, […]
ROCK/Review The House Flies – Sweet Foxhound
Music is magic, there is a certain type of restlessness and meditation that they have perfectly caught on The House Flies on Sweet Foxhound. It is not only the first single they have released since their popular Mannequin Deposit, but the shadows are darker and the lines even sharper. The song creates a somber mood at the very beginning, with […]
Hip-Hop/Review Exzenya – V.I.P.
Bottle service and exclusivity do not always accompany all VIP experiences. Other times they are accompanied by mandatory attendance and wake-up calls. The recent single of Exzenya, V.I.P., is a brilliant play on words, turning the acronym to Victims Impact Panel, the program of Mothers Against Drunk Driving that the DUI offenders have to address, and transforms it into a […]
FOLK POP/Review Fiona Amaka – Honesty (Psalm 139)
It is somehow disarming when a bluesy rock artist and an exploration of betrayal turns into a spiritual vulnerability and makes it sound this natural. The first Christian song written by Fiona Amaka, Honesty (Psalm 139), is an accomplishment in itself in terms of its authenticity and accessibility, and that it reaches both the believers and the non-believers. The song […]
Pop/Review Kelsie Kimberlin – Dream of Peace
It is something really touching how the artist does not sing of peace, but every risk in order to make the peace during the active war. Dream of Peace by Kelsie Kimberlin is not a cozy hymn that was recited in a safe place. It is shot in Kyiv when the war was at its peak and the air raid […]
Pop/Review Amara Fe – SHIFT
Twenty-four songs is a declaration. It is not just an album, but a universe, a mood board, thesis on what pop can be when an artist does not want to cut themselves down to the industry standard. SHIFT Amara Fe does not merely build on her first album Reborn, but rockets beyond it, with a collection that is both confidence, […]
ROCK/Review Transgalactica – Joyce Of The Market
Few bands would dare to incorporate Irish economic history, word play, and progressive rock into one single song–but Transgalactica is not most bands. This father-son Krakow, Polish, duo has made something truly unique with Joyce of the Market, a song, both intellectually ambitious and musically fascinating. The very title of the song is a play on words, implying that Ireland […]
Electronic/Review Luke Tangerine – Retrodelic
Some artists chase trends. Others build time machines. The Retrodelic EP by Luke Tangerine does so, with five straight tracks of nothing short of mirrorball euphoria and less nostalgia and more of rediscovery. It is the response of the golden age of disco and funk filtered through the modern production sensibilities without losing a drop of analog warmth, in Frankfurt. […]
Pop/Review DALE – Vertigo
It is very personal when an artist relies on music as a therapy and that is what Dale or Milan-based banker-turned-musician does with his first album Vertigo. The result of the highly stressful and self-aware time, this set of 80s inspired synth-pop songs is a record of one man attempting to learn about himself- and the kind of man he […]
ROCK/Review The7thGatekeeper – You Are My Sunshine
It is disturbing to bring to light the darkness behind a song everybody knows well. The7thGatekeeper does just that with You Are My Sunshine by turning a lullaby into something nostalgic into something raw, uncomfortable and brutally honest. This version, which was recorded in what the artist refers to as the chaos room, does not want to play nice. The […]
Folk/Review Exzenya – Captivity
Some songs tell stories. Others drag you into them and you are left dazed and rattled. Captivity does the latter–and is not disposed to yield kindly. The song creates the mood of deep discomfort even at the very beginning. Exzenya reinvents a folk refrain of the old with a vocal richness that paralyses you–the lower range of her voice, the […]
Dream Pop/Review Ophelia Moon – Taste Your Rose
Taste Your Rose by Ophelia Moon is not a song, it is more of an experience, and an immersion into the realm of the sensually dark and poetically charged. This new issuance of the Philadelphia based project takes possession of that illusive fleeting space between sound, emotion and story-telling to create something deeply personal and surreal at the same time. […]
Pop/Review Eylsia Nicolas – Forever Can Wait
There is a strong and very personal comeback of Eylsia Nicolas to the limelight with Forever Can Wait, a song that is as personal as it is a triumph. Having earned her fame as a professional tennis player and a record executive, Eylsia transfers the same level of discipline and determination to her music in these parts of her life […]
Hip-Hop/Review Fetti Bagz – Stevie – Radio Edit
Fetti Bagz positions himself in the limelight with a track called Stevie (Radio Edit), which incorporates the elements of homage, hustle, and high energy into one head-banging and seamless track. Being a Dallas-based artist, the spirit of the old-school soul combined with the rhythm of the modern trap, Reezie Fettachini honors the legends of such artists as Ray Charles and […]
FOLK ROCK/Review Albert Ahlf – The MAGA Song
It takes a certain sort of bravery to do political satire in the contemporary world–the bravery that combines acuity with real musicianship. Albert Ahlf strikes that balance with “The MAGA Song” which is simultaneously cabaret throwdown and folk-rock sermon. The very first chord of the piano tells you that you are in the hands of a serious time behind the […]
Pop/Review Eylsia Nicolas – A Beautiful Mess
The vibrant pop that Eylsia Nicolas has released in her song A Beautiful Mess is precisely the type of club pop that you want to dance to. It is not a mere electro-pop song that tries to squeeze itself into a mould – it possesses authentic personality and catchy energy that helped it to stand out in an already over-saturated […]
METAL/Review Brian Hunsaker– Power Over You
Even though it may seem like a lesson in itself, Brian Hunsaker’s Power Over You qualifies as a bold feat in the art of writing power ballads, and it does so by showing that an independent artist can indeed create a full-fledged cinema musical. After his famous debut Haunted, Hunsaker provides even something more spacious – a song that exists […]