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 […]
ROCK/Review Carlos Ucedda – OPEN POISON
The fact that Carlos Ucedda came back is something very disturbing and it captures your attention instantly. The single, titled “Open Poison,” is like entering a dark and beautiful cathedral where shadows play with the light and every note speaks of the classical training mixed with the modern electronic experimentation. The aspect that has impressed me most is how Carlos […]
ROCK/Review Andrea Pizzo and The Purple Mice – We Are All Bots
There is a disturbing yet fascinating sense of being about the new collection of Andrea Pizzo and The Purple Mice that smacks you in the face the moment you start listening. We Are All Bots is not only posing questions about our connection with technology, it is also making you face unpleasant realities of how deep we have embedded the […]
ROCK/Review Space Angel – Abyssinia Sometime
Space Angel has a wonderfully contradictory song, Abyssinia Sometime, which is simultaneously easy to access and elusively mysterious, like finding a secret door that leads to a place you have never been, but somehow know. The Brighton four-piece has made something that is simultaneously very English and out-of-this-world. The vocal performance of Christopher Rye has that distinctly English sound described […]
Pop-Rock/Review Tom Minor – The Manic Phase
It’s something magical about music that images a person, a place, a feeling so perfectly that it seems to be a world on its own. The new EP, *The Manic Phase, by Tom Minor does just that, it is a colourful, somewhat crazed postcard straight out of the centre of Soho and is devoted to a character as memorable as […]
ROCK/Review Delta of Venus – Intertwined b/w Intertwined (acoustic)
Listening to the same song exhales through two entirely separate skins is something quite magical about it. Exactly that is achieved by Delta of Venus with their stunning double single “Intertwined b/w Intertwined (acoustic)”. There’s not just a release; there’s an experience, it’s an invitation to feel the same emotional core run through contrasting sonic worlds and it’s mesmerising. “Intertwined”, […]
ROCK/Review RISE – Dreams
Liverpool’s RISE has always shone brightly with some sort of hopeful energy, but on their latest single ‘Dreams’ they’ve held onto pure, effervescent optimism and let it loose. Forget subtlety – this track drags you up to the sky with a hook laden euphoria over a synth driven field of dreams that sounds both nostalgic and brand new. It announces […]
ROCK/Review Rosetta West – Circle of Doubt
With ‘Circle of Doubt,’ Rosetta West proves solidifies their status as underground visionaries. In sync with ancient rites, released, the single puts listeners into a headspace exhausted but resolute. A cyclical, heavy riff conjures up soul crushing fatigue on existential battles and spectral solos soar upward like desperate prayers for transcendence; all anchored by Joseph Demagore’s guitar work. Co crafted […]
ROCK/Review Coolonaut – Dark Energy
After a lauded, debut album in the form of Displaced, Australian artist Coolonaut was lauded, born in Scotland and now rural Australia based returns and with Dark Energy, he stares unflinching at a world in crisis, with a potent follow up that crackles with raw, analogue urgency. Sounding recorded only on an 8 track tape machine, this isn’t a throwback […]
ROCK/Review Rare Seed – Ethereal Enclave
Rare Seed doesn’t make an album, they create an otherworldly sonic universe. Their debut, the 41 minute odyssey Ethereal Enclave, is a masterful, though not so easily categorizable suite of post punk intensity, psychedelic dreamscapes, jazz modal shifts and hip hop rhythms coalescing into a cohesive, utterly captivating whole. The album is vast and intimate, experimental and yet deeply accessible. […]
ROCK/Review The project – death of me
No sterile studio, no overproduction. The first Project single, Death Of Me, comes down the saloon doors of modern rock like a welcome kick. Created as a constantly shifting unit of current scene grizzled veterans by guitarist, songwriter James Davis (Shameless) this first offering isn’t one song, it’s a statement of intent, full throttle. It’s loud, it’s honest and it […]