When a collaboration is getting a lot of good buzz in the indie press, there’s a reason for it, and for Said the Sky’s “Walk Me Home (featuring Illenium and Chelsea Cutler),” that reason is the fiery chemistry of the three players who made it. Where Illenium and Said the …
Read More »Single Review: AJ Smith “Nobody”
AJ Smith wants to be known for more than just his pretty voice, and if there was a single he should drop this spring season to proclaim as much, I think “Nobody” was it. “Nobody” has a very formulaic structure and a convincingly generic hook, but that’s where the conventionality …
Read More »Single Review: “West Coast” Colin Peterik
When musicians are connecting in the recording studio, there’s an unspoken magic that everyone can feel in the room. It guides the vibration of the strings, the movement of the drums, and the outright charm of the vocal, and in his video for the song “West Coast,” rock singer/songwriter Colin Peterik is bringing …
Read More »Single Review: Jimmy Mack “Walk the Line”
Jimmy Mack sounds like a man haunted by history in his new single “Walk the Line,” and although he delivers quite the searing performance behind the microphone in this song, the emotion weighing heavy on his heart is as evident as his vicious talents with a verse are. In both …
Read More »Single Review: Bosco “Brothers”
A world sitting on the brink of war needs music to soothe the anger that continues to boil over across every news network and government press conference, and Bosco is seeking to give us that music with the release of his new single and music video “Brothers” this April. Where …
Read More »Single Review: Snypa “Times2”
Hip-hop fans know that when I say there isn’t any room for casual players in the underground nowadays, I mean it. This is the most competitive game in the world now, and if you’re a rapper, you’ve got to bring something at least somewhat unique to the table if you’re …
Read More »Single Review: Sp8ce Owl “Miami 1987 (Earth 246)”
Telling a story through music without using any lyrics is more than just a talent – it’s a gift, and it’s one that should be used to convey emotions that verses can’t get across on their own (at least very well). With their critically-acclaimed music, Sp8ce Owl has been experimenting …
Read More »EP Review: Del Vertigo “On the Day That You Come To”
In rock, and really any pop genre, most of the concept pieces that I review as a critic tend to begin with a drive rather than a specific theme, and in this regard I would say that the new EP On the Day That You Come To by Del Vertigo fits the …
Read More »Downtempo Artist/Producer, Timothy and the Apocalypse, Piece Together “Fragments” for a Trippy Third LP
Sydney, Australia’s Timothy and the Apocalypse, follows up his 2021 debut, establishing stability on the downtempo/trip-hop scene with recent UMG signing. “I never write with any specific genre, only what’s happening in my life at the time. This album reflects a dark part of my life during the pandemic and …
Read More »Single Review: tyDi & JES “Just Believe”
With its broad beats and consistently smothering master mix, describing tyDi & JES’s new single “Just Believe” as a monolithic pop track is more than fair – but there’s a lot more to their collaborative performance than all that. JES leads the way with her velvet-soft vocal, but what tyDi …
Read More »Single Review: “I Sometimes Wish” Estani
Pop music doesn’t have to be hook-oriented, and anyone who would argue against that clearly didn’t imagine hearing a song like “I Sometimes Wish” this spring. Inside this five-minute ballad, we find another layer of artistry for Estani, whose critical acclaim has been consistent since the arrival of her debut. …
Read More »Single Review: Rayon Baugh “City of God”
Giving thanks to God’s name through the power of music is as old a concept as time is, but it doesn’t feel like a stagnant practice of the ancients when listening to Rayon Baugh’s potently melodic “City of God.” Baugh has a voice that could shift some serious earth if …
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