There is a certain disarming quality about total honesty in music and ESTRADA Music Projects I love when you see through my eyes has none of the pretense in it. It is not a song meant to impress with clever wordplay or a complex arrangement–it is a man speaking to his wife, and somehow that kind of simplicity makes it […]
ROCK/Review Fiona Amaka– Cowards and Shadows
I was not ready how emotionally heavy of a song that Cowards and Shadows would be. There is something about how Fiona Amaka takes you through the specific pangs of being ghosted that made me stop everything I was doing and just listen. Being there, we have all been there, haven’t we? The waiting, the wondering, the hoping, the being […]
ROCK/Review Haus of Sound– Madness
There is something intoxicating about a song that captures exactly that feeling of being pulled back to something you know is bad for you and Haus of Sound does that with stunning accuracy in their song, Madness. The Seattle group has come up with their most compelling song to date, a mixture of nostalgic 80s synth-rock with a highly modern […]
METAL/Review Nordstahl– Das Geisterschiff
The music of Nordstahl, Das Geisterschiff, cuts through the clatter of contemporary music like a specter-haunted ship rising out of the ocean gloom of nautical mysticism. This piece of work in German does not merely narrate, but rather haunts you with its narration, and makes the ancient mythos of the ghost ship thoroughly modern and intimate. With the first notes, […]
ROCK/Review Ophelia Moon– Color Me Dead
The Ophelia Moon project of Darren O. Moon is heading into some very unsettling territory with the track Color Me Dead, and there is an eerie beauty about the whole thing that functions like watching something both beautiful and horrible happen. This is not music that is out to soothe, but art that will force you to look into the […]
ROCK/Review Wolfgang – Silvertruth
Silvertruth by Wolfgang turns out to be an enchanting adventure into the grey zones in which the truth is distorted and the reality becomes blurred. It is an intimate and expansive piece, something that seems to stick in your head long after the last note has played, a track created by this Norwegian artist. Even in the first few seconds […]
ROCK/Review Michellar– My Alma Latina
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
The Forgiveness of Blunt Blade is difficult to explain. I don’t know how to describe it exactly. It’s seven songs and it combines various elements. Rock and electronic sounds and even some orchestra. It’s not following the rules. Or perhaps it simply ignores them. The first song, “Justified,” begins with a low voice and high electronic sounds. You have an […]