Album Reviews

You can tell just by her voice that she’s a tenacious teenager, but there’s nothing immature about the substance of Jojo Engelbert’s lyricism in the new single and music video “Grown Up” this July. Engelbert is angst-ridden and unashamed to vent behind the microphone here, and although she steers clear …

Soundtracks can make or break a feature film, but with someone as talented as Omar Veluz at the helm of a score, my gut tells me that audiences are going to be pleased with the final product they get on screen. He might not have written every note of music …

There’s not as much guitar-driven hard rock as there should be in the mainstream these days, but if critically acclaimed actress-singer-songwriter Kari Wahlgren has her way, this isn’t going to remain the case for very long. In her cover of “Mad About You,” she teams up with the iconic Nikki …

There’s a relaxed vibe to Pennan Brae’s vocal in the single “Weed & Whisky Women – Distilled Mix” that doesn’t feel like that of a man about to kick a member of the devil’s harem to the curb. He’s cutting loose in this song, freeing himself of a burden and …

You don’t have to know Papi Shiitake’s muse to appreciate the grandiosity of her beauty in the single “Do What You Say;” if you’ve got decent speakers, it’s going to translate in the majestic melodicism this song contains. The flow of this track is almost as subtle as its guitar …

So crisp and alive with rusticity that they sound like they’ve been sourced directly off of an old Johnny Cash vinyl, the strings are our first token of scathing hellfire in the new single “Hurry Up and Die” from Dennis J. Leise, and they’re far from the last. As much …

In their all-new music video for the song “Voodoo,” dark pop outfit GelaX aren’t trying to show you another prop-filled release structured around commonplace themes you’ve already seen a hundred times before now. They’re inviting us into the dark corners of the consciousness where nightmares and fantasies are born of …

“The arches fall around me / Still, I am lifted up / When even hope rings empty / Now there is only love,” we’re told in the chorus of The Jenny Thing’s “American Canyon” amidst a flurry of bass and guitar violence in the background that is anything but intimidating. …

Soul wasn’t always missing in rock n’ roll – in fact, looking back as little as a generation ago will lead you to the fabric of emotionality in heavy music I speak of today. Without being too much of a throwback about it, Bruce Guynn seems more than a little …

Versatility is the most important attribute any modern alternative band can have going for them, and it’s not something I hear much of in the folkier subgenres of alternative music nowadays. There’s a lot of one-dimensionality in indie-folk, but if there’s a good example worth following in the style right …

\When it comes to accurately paying homage to the past while resisting the urge to be blinded by nostalgia, there’s a lot at risk. Using your art to tackle the ghosts of the past can be a tall order and can often resurface feelings you thought were long absent, but …

“Real Eyes” from Motley Flower featuring Pae Arak & Numcha is a slow groove, dimpled with honest beats and moody textures. The pop track, complete with a slick electric guitar has moments of hypnotic chorus. Motley Flower, who grew up in Southern California but now calls Bangkok home, draws deep influence …