With Andy Bs on the guitar and taking care of vocals, Ty Dennis on the drums, Brad Cummings on bass, Brian Swislow on the keyboards and on the Hammond organ, Don Hammerstedt wielding his trumpet, and Russ Thallheimer taking care of the saxophone, Cold Blue Water’s self-titled release is a collection of five songs that… Read More Music Review: Cold Blue Water – ‘Cold Blue Water’ EP
A modernised blast from the past, this self-titled and self-produced nine-track EP from Los Angeles pop band The Great Escape is a fusion of indie rock and pop greatly influenced by big names of the past (such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin) and of the present (such as Adèle and Amy Winehouse). This engaging… Read More Music Review: The Great Escape – ‘The Great Escape’
The right music can be a ladder to the soul. By “right” music, one often thinks of songs composed for the explicit purpose of meditation and contemplation, like Federico Parra’s Descending. The artist spent 12 years studying and practicing Buddhist contemplative traditions of meditation, and has now poured his vision into this eclectic solo album,… Read More Music Review: Federico Parra – ‘Descending’
Released earlier this month, the album Big Apple Blues is the result of a collaboration between scholar, professor, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa and soul and blues music man Tomás Doncker, and backed up by a number of talented musicians: David Barnes on harmonica and sometimes adding his vocals, Nick Rolfe on keyboards and… Read More Music Review: Tomás Doncker Band – ‘Big Apple Blues’
The nine-track, full-length release entitled True Believer features Sydney’s Michael Cullen, a moody, poetic singer/songwriter who weaves an interesting listening experience built around the singer’s baritone voice. Released at the start of this month, this alternative rock album features Cullen on both vocals and instruments. In a world of digitally produced music, he makes his… Read More Music Review: Michael Cullen – ‘True Believer’
With four songs totaling a little over 15 minutes, post-punk trio Manilow released its EP Cease and Desist earlier this month. Hailing from the United Kingdom, Dean Moston (lead vocals, guitar), Paul Chamberlain (bass, keys, backing vocals), and Gary Cardno (drums, percussion, backing vocals) have put together songs that explore themes of relationships, escape, psychosis,… Read More Music Review: Manilow – ‘Cease and Desist’ EP
The solo project of a Germany-based singer and multi-instrumentalist, Boris Rogowski, The Big Sleep is a dreamy sounding neo-folk, pop, and indie rock fusion marked by mid-song stylistic shifts. Rogowski is the main contributor here (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, woodwinds, percussions, drums), supported by Moishe Lichtfuss on saxophone, Benedikt Filleboeck on trumpet, and Isabelle Holder… Read More Music Review: The Society Islands – ‘The Big Sleep’
The Voices of Terror is a name that inspires fear, dread, and, well, terror. It’s not an emotion that I look for in music, but because they claim to be an alternative rock and hip-hop music duo, I decided to give their debut album, Rock-Rap Dynasty, a try. Mike Walker and Zero, both from New… Read More Music Review: The Voices of Terror – ‘Rock-Rap Dynasty’
The late 1990s/early 2000s’ iteration of pop punk comes to mind when listening to Everlost’s EP The Hardest Thing to Say. Released in mid-September, this collection of five radio friendly songs featured the same range and emotions one associates with bands such as Yellowcard, Jimmy Eat World, and Fall Out Boy. Jared Kay’s voice, while… Read More Music Review: Everlost – ‘The Hardest Thing to Say’ EP
From the first notes of the opening track of Joe Con’s new EP, I Choose You, you get a feel of who he is and the environment that shaped him: a relaxed, fun guy who has spent hours on Venice Beach’s California coast. Most of the songs on this six-track EP are fun to listen… Read More Music Review: Joe Con – ‘I Choose You’ EP