Cultural identity in music does not only mean using traditional sounds, but it is the ability to integrate some individual history into the common phenomenon. San Francisco-based artist Michellar accomplishes just this with her debut EP My Alma Latina, a five-song adventure that pays homage to her Spanish and Filipino heritage, but at the same time makes something entirely her […]
ROCK/Review Exzenya– Scansion
There is something mesmerizing about an artist that does not conform to labels and Exzenya is no stranger to this non-conformist approach to her music with her new single, Scansion. At 55, this genre-fluid storyteller demonstrates that artistic authenticity cuts across age and produces a track that hums with technical proficiency and raw emotive power. Even the title of the […]
ROCK/Review Garry Pitcairn– People Eat People
There are songs that strike you when you hear them; there are songs that crawl into your head like slow poison. People Eat People by Garry Pitcairn is squarely in the latter camp–a vicious, simmering anthem that sounds like a message sent by the doomsday, and it is hauntingly beautiful. The product of the bleak solitude of an island in […]
ROCK/Review Tom Minor – The Loneliest Person on Earth
The latest single of Tom Minor has something heartwrenchingly familiar about it that slaps you in the chest. The Loneliest Person on Earth sums up that particular type of heartbreak we are all familiar with- when the person you love most of all becomes a mirror of your own loneliness that is turned back on you. Here the London singer-songwriter […]
ROCK/Review Ulrich Jannert – Inner COMPASS
There are times when you hear a song that is less of entertainment and more of a casual chat with a wise friend and Ulrich Jannert’s “Inner COMPASS” is one of such meaningful music experiences. This Scandinavia-based artist of German origin has created something that does not fall within the confines of a standard Soul rock song, and instead produces […]
ROCK/Review Rosetta West – God of the Dead
Other times you come across an album that alters everything you knew about a band. The God of the Dead by Rosetta West is just such a revelation–a daring artistic declaration that finds the Illinois blues-rock band at their most adventurous and emotionally bare. It is immediately evident that this is not merely another album full of songs, but a […]
ROCK/Review Shyfrin Alliance – Colours of Time
It is so poignant when the music is willing to address the greatest questions in life and the Colours of Time by Shyfrin Alliance is no exception as it does it with such elegance and refinement. With Eduard Shyfrin, whose life story as a classically trained pianist, award winning mathematician, and masterful musician is a tale of modern renaissance, this […]
FOLK ROCK/Review Wattmore – I Don’t Miss That Woman
Brisbane brotherly combo Wattmore has produced a real gem in the form of I Don’t Miss That Woman, which is a breakup song but one that does not rely on self-pity but steel capped boots and sarcasm instead. This is not the usual heartbreak ballad, this is an all-out emotional exorcism in twangy guitars and presented with the same deadpan […]
ROCK/Review Adam Wedd – Merchant Man
Adam Wedd has a rare type of honesty in his EP, Merchant Man, the sort that does not aim to be overly dramatic or pretentious, yet still, manages to hit the bulls-eye. Listening to this project is like turning the pages of a journal of a person and each song is a different chapter, a different emotional line. The Merchant […]
ROCK/Review Love Ghost – Spirit Box
There is something incredibly touching about an artist who can turn a tragedy into a sea of beauty, and with mind-blowing transparent sincerity, Love Ghost has done just that with Spirit Box. Finnegan Bell, the genius behind this emotionally charged project, has produced more than a song- he produced a séance of the heartsick, a musical conduit that provides a […]
ROCK/Review Michellar – Aunque sea por una noche ( If its only for one night )
It is emotionally evocative when an artist finds their musical roots, and the first Spanish song Michellar created, entitled “Aunque por sea una noche,” is as touching as watching somebody discovering their home. San Francisco-based artist has been able to do something that takes no language to understand, she has written an acoustic ballad that appeals directly to the soul […]
ROCK/Review Blindness & Light – Your Solitude
It is somehow paradoxical in the most beautiful way that a band that is spread across continents writes songs about loneliness and isolation and Blindness & Light is no exception, with their song Your Solitude being a perfect example. This rag-tag ensemble of post-punkers, spanning Anglesey to Yorkshire and beyond to Japan and Argentina, have created something both personal and […]
ROCK/Review VaterSon – These city streets
There is something kind of special about seeing a father-son musical collaboration and VaterSon with the track These City Streets shows that blood can indeed be thicker than water in terms of rock and roll chemistry. This Malmö-based Swedish duo have created a sound that is simply massive considering the fact that there are only two of them, and they […]
ROCK/Review Joe Hodgson – Fields Of Redemption
It is a certain kind of cathartic to see an artist returning to himself, and Joe Hodgson and his album Fields Of Redemption is precisely that: the musical homecoming of an artist that is felt way beyond the Northern Irish borders. It is not just another guitar album; it is a soul searching journey with some of the most touching […]
ROCK/Review Blunt Blade – Forgiveness
It is something truly disconcerting about hearing Blunt Blade in the dark with the album Forgiveness. The seven-track adventure of the Minnesota multi-instrumentalist does not only cross boundaries, but destroys them, leaving a sonic terrain that is at once intimate and universal, haunting. By the first few bars of “Justified,” where the singer delivers the incantatory lines in a baritone, […]
ROCK/Review The Radio Addicts – Scroll My Life Away
It is always something truly exciting when you see raw talent coming out of the blue, and The Radio Addicts can bring just that kind of excitement with their song called Scroll My Life Away. The thing is that this song is quite impressive not only because of its contagious vibe but also the fact that it was created by […]
ROCK/Review Allan Jamisen – Rock & Roll American
It is absolutely breathtaking how an artist can distill a half-century of cultural disappointment into one swaggering anthem. That is precisely what Allan Jamisen has done with his “Rock & Roll American”, a song that is nostalgic in its frenzy and desperately modern in its sentiment, a reflection on what it is to be an American rebel when the idea […]
ROCK/Review Mosh Pit – LCD
Songs just come and play in background and then there are songs that come and take you by the throat and ask you to listen to it. LCD by Mosh Pit is unquestionably in the latter camp, and offers a sonic battering that is cathartic yet confrontational in nature. With the initial sharp guitar chord it is easy to tell […]
ROCK/Review Haus of Sound – Mirage
It is a kind of pleasure to follow the development of a band in real-time and Haus of Sound may have found the breakthrough on their way with the song Mirage. This Seattle outfit has made a daring departure out of the ska-punk madness of Anxiety and the pop-punk power of Pain in My Eyes to venture into a darker […]
ROCK/Review Jeremy Ryan – SMILE & WAVE
It is cathartic in the very core of the being with the first notes of the song Smile & Wave by Jeremy Ryan. This is no run-of-the-mill rock anthem though; it is in fact a personal manifesto, a manifesto that is sheathed in a great instrumentation and presented with the raw authenticity that is becoming scarce in the current music […]
ROCK/Review Creative Vibrations – Sunday Bummer
It is so understandable to have that sinking feeling as the weekend is over and the real world knocks on the door. On their newest recording, Sunday Bummer, Creative Vibrations has perfectly captured this universal phenomenon and created a multi-dimensional masterpiece that turns the post-weekend blues into an interesting musical narrative. The first thing that will come to mind with […]