There is a pleasantness of David Raine in his Pollack Splash that simply envelops you at first. It has this indie heart beating in its heart, but a brightness is overlaid on it making everything somehow light, and making it feel very introspective and tenderly optimistic at the same time. It is, according to Raine himself, not to face the […]
ROCK/Review Purbeck Temple – Emptiness In Paradise
Something crude and so painfully stimulating about the “Emptiness In Paradise” by Purbeck Temple that catches your ear already with the first note. This is the weight in the voice of Paul Gill; it is gravelly and soaring, pained but persistent, which makes one believe every single word the man is singing. It is not smooth studio production, it is […]
Hip-Hop/Review R.T. & The Styles – Mr. Trump
Mr. Trump that strikes you in the face. It is a hip-hop song full of confidence and energy, and it is supported by clear production that is smooth and does not lose its momentum. The very first bars make you realise that this is intended to catch your eye and keep it- and it does. The vocals are also clear […]
R&B/Review BFLICKK – Oh, That’s My Baby, My Girl
There has to be something so lovely in BFLICKK’s ” Oh, That’s My Baby, My Girl” that you feel like hugging it like an old jumper. It is pure neo-soul comfort–in the personal, honest, nonchalantly easy, everything-is-all-right ways. Right at the beginning, you are immediately drawn in to these small, colourful vignettes that are truly personal and sincere, the kind […]
Rock/Review The Bar Pilots – Box of Bows
The Bar Pilots have something brilliantly nostalgic about their Box of Bows that instantly transports you to the hazy days of the 90s with the alternative rock, but with a sharper and more modern touch. The instrumentals are moody, immediate, which is power pop with actual muscle in it, reminding you of bands like Matchbox 20 or Sponge, but dusted […]
Pop-Rock/Review David DeSantis – The Light You Know
This is the contagiousness of the energy of David DeSantis in the opening of his song The Light You Know that grabs your attention at the very beginning. You can feel that guitar riff right at the beginning–catchy and self-assured–it echoes the vocals in the verse in this witty yet natural manner, which is both intentional and natural at the […]
Folk/Review Laurenicole – Here With You
The Here With You by LaureNicole has a small serenity that is like walking to your front door after a tiresome long day. Those gentle acoustic guitars and the coy piano do not play, they embrace and envelop you, like a blanket still in the dry clean shop. And finally Lauren starts singing. It is so intimate and sincere, as […]
Pop-Rock/Review Sean MacLeod – Romeo
The manner in which Sean MacLeod writes his songs is so wonderfully intimate, and this song, Romeo, is an excellent example of it. Based on his extensive musical background, those early days with the legendary Dublin-based Cisco, and his experience with the former producer of U2, Paul Barrett, MacLeod has made a song that is reassuring and at the same […]
Metal/Review Gutlock – Warden‘s Grip
Once a metal band has gone on a creative hiatus and returns to swinging, you can generally tell both whether they have been sharpening their vision or simply biding their time. Gutlock evidently opted to the former. Warden’s Grip was written with the kind of focused aggression that only artists who truly missed making heavy music return with a strong […]
Pop/Review Micki XO – Power Outage
Micki XO has hit something that we can all relate to with Power Outage- that particular brand of being exhausted as you are, overloaded with media and loving everything that is going on in the world and somehow still expected to show up and work. The genius of this song is that it does not merely narrate that feeling but […]
Pop/Review Katie Belle – Bad Dreams
It is somehow paradoxical and beautiful that Katie Belle created a song about bad dreams, when she makes the tiresome fact of insomnia turn into an irresistible escape into the realms of electro-pop. Here, the Atlanta-based artist has created something special; a song that recognizes the restless, twisting-and-turning nights that we all had and at the same time provides three […]
Dark Pop/Review Tralalas – Burns
This is hypnotic about music that is not in a hurry and Danish dark-pop project TRALALAS knows that. The second single by Morten Alsinger, the songwriter of the upcoming debut album, is a three and a half minute meditation on how flexible emotions are, how loss and gain, friendship and love exist in a state of continuous, dynamic opposition. After […]
ROCK/Review Social Gravy – Fools
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 […]