Album Reviews

On the heels of his successful 2019 debut album, Rookie of the Year, New Jersey rapper Vae Day has continued to leave a resonant impact on the hip hop scene. Day recently emphasized that success with a slew of rising singles these past few years, as well as a guest …

Avkash Mann’s cultural sensibility is essential in giving his music its distinctive identity. Having grown up in Mumbai, India and British Columbia, Canada, his influences are closely tied to both countries. He has an artistic presence in both places just as well, receiving major distribution through Universal Music India, while …

2019 has been a spotty year for the American and Canadian undergrounds at best, but the northern-dwelling This Time emerge with a real treasure in their latest release, the ten-track LP Two. Aesthetically rooted in a classic alternative rock sound, Two is a reliable and consistent pop album that plays by the rules …

Since signing with Bungalo Records/UMGD in 2018, Antonio Stewart made his widespread career debut with his first full-length as frontman of the band WinkLoveLoss. The Georgia-born, Iowa-based rapper and singer-songwriter, who performs under the name Mojo Mayne, experienced previous success a year prior based on the performance of his initial …

Nashville trio of brothers Chad, Andy and Dennijo Sitze have released a new single and lyric video from their album, “Every Dog Has Its Day.” 2019 saw the Flat River Band’s release of their latest album, “Every Dog Has Its Day.” The title track and first single hit the radio …

Joseph Seif released two intriguing records in 2019, Piano Sonata No. 1 and Piano Sonata No. 2, both of which caught the ear of a number of people within the classical music community, and although the New Year of 2020 is now upon us, this pair of sonatas are still getting a justifiable …

The underlying groove in the title track of Benny’s TV Repair, the latest album from Irene Kelley, comes out of the darkness swinging like pendulum, but it isn’t until Kelley’s voice enters the picture that it starts to feel as intoxicating as a summer glass of whiskey. Even amidst as subtle …

As her upcoming full-length, Intuition, nears its release for February 2020, singer/songwriter Randi Fay is tiding fans over with the opportune holiday single, “Grown-Up Christmas List.” At first glance of the title, listeners might expect a typically timely Christmas song, complete with cliché jingle bell-laden trimmings. But what they’ll actually …

Chicago, Illinois-based rapper Anthony Vince is fast proving a competent presence in alternative hip hop. Debuting a few months back with the rock-influenced, romance nostalgia of “Like This,” the single managed to earn him over 22 thousand streams on Spotify alone, providing a swift but steady following. Now back for …

“First Thing on My Christmas List,” the leadoff single from The Imaginaries’ seasonally-themed Hometown Christmas, opens with a jovial, string-driven strut that will carry on for the entirety of the song’s three minutes and twenty-seven seconds of play, but waiting on the horizon we’ll soon discover a vocal from singers Maggie …

Much like the San Franciscan backdrop that greets us at the start of his music video for “What Really Matters,” Dan Ashley is approachable, warm and welcoming in this new song he released earlier on in 2019, and while his voice is but one of the working parts in what …

As enigmatic as any of the lyrics it croons to us so bitterly are, Neill Maclean’s vocal in the new single “Invite me Over” isn’t an easy component to interpret from a cosmetic point of view, but just beneath its surface-level angst there lies a certain charisma that is becoming …