Harper Starling can’t sleep another moment in “Cannot Tell a Lie;” her mind is a circus of thought, the pacing of the beat behind her is absolutely nauseating, and the harmony of the instruments is rather anxiety-fueled. There’s just no peace to behold in “Cannot Tell a Lie,” but rather …
Read More »Single Review: Cat Ridgeway “Sweet Like Candy”
Cat Ridgeway’s “Sweet Like Candy” starts off with a lazy little sway that deceptively sends the audience into a false sense of security before ripping the carpet out from under our feet and inspiring anyone with rhythm to start dancing. Though her voice is reason enough to give any of …
Read More »Album Review: God Of Love “Do Your Worst”
Post-punk’s footprint can be heard in almost every corner of the contemporary pop lexicon, and if we’re looking specifically at the indie rock coming out of the American underground in the past couple of years, this footprint is all the harder to ignore. Although they aren’t pillaging from the greats, …
Read More »Single Review: Ginny Luke “Seductive Cinderella”
As much a textural homage to industrial electropop as it is a crossover between straightforward pop and new era metal, Ginny Luke’s “Seductive Cinderella” gushes from the speakers like the world is collapsing around its creator, but the stylishness of its design isn’t nearly as apocalyptic as its tone is. …
Read More »Single Review: Uncommon Nasa “Brooklyn Soup”
Slowly unfolding from the silence like a clandestine threat we don’t acknowledge until it’s too late to do anything about it, “Brooklyn Soup” has a stealthy ominousness to its intro that is unmistakable and instantly likable. Even before Uncommon Nasa starts to rap, it’s clear that we’re listening to something …
Read More »Single Review: “Sick As Our Secrets” Makes My Blood Dance
Anybody can throw together some distorted riffs and larger-than-life drums and call it a modern metal track, but to embody the soul of heavy music, you’ve got to start with the drums and end with the lead vocal in terms of detailed execution. Makes My Blood Dance is a band …
Read More »Single Review: The Tono Jones Revelry “The Little Drummer Boy”
Rhythm is absolutely everything in the new single “The Little Drummer Boy” from The Tono Jones Revelry, and as much as the notion of such a classic Christmas song being driven by grooves rather than a harmony bothered me to begin with, listening to this track has made me reconsider …
Read More »Single Review: Ingrid Michaelson & Zooey Deschanel “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year”
There’s really nothing quite like a good Christmas tune to get the holiday season started right, and in their new duet “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year,” Ingrid Michaelson and Zooey Deschanel kindle the yuletide spirit with a panache you don’t find often enough in pop music anymore. Rather than approaching …
Read More »Single Review: Laura Davies “Do You Feel?”
The synth screams ever so subtly in Laura Davies’ enrapturing “Do You Feel?,” but next to the slinking bassline and percussive thrust in the background, I don’t think it has a chance of owning our focus in this track or its companion video. Davies’ voice is a striking addition to …
Read More »Single Review: Harper Starling “Snow Cone Christmas”
Harper Starling isn’t giving us the same old same old in her new single “Snow Cone Christmas;” if you’re coming into this Christmas song expecting to hear recycled harmonies and a hook that’s made the rounds from one holiday season to the next, you’re going to be roundly disappointed by …
Read More »POP! Goes The New Year: Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps Release New Year’s Anthem “By 2022”
The Finnish singer-songwriter and company follow up two #1 international iTunes smashes with an ode to the new year. Although this track might sound like a song that’s sung to a toxic lover, it’s actually a song sung to the year 2022…a new year…gives us hope”— Tom Tikka “I DON’T …
Read More »Single Review: Laura Sumner “American Man”
There are countless instances of artists going in a retro direction and it not working out so well, but among those who have hit it out of the park by going a more traditional route than they started with, I think Laura Sumner reigns supreme this November. Sumner’s single “American …
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