Album Reviews

Arena-filling lead vocals and mellow sound that struck you instantly..what else do you really need to ignite an alternative rock vibe? If you’re an artist like Riku, the answer is nothing – and he proves as much in his simple yet sonically intense new single “The Regret Was Left Behind.” …

It’s been feeling like everyone wants to make a throwback album this summer, but few players trying to capture old-school energy have been able to get much further than the cosmetic aspect. Making something that conceptualizes the mood of new jack swing and crossover R&B pop isn’t as simple as …

When the opening notes of Pistols At Dawn’s latest EP Nocturnal Youth burst onto the scene, listeners are immediately made aware of the treat that awaits them; the opening track and first single “Voices” deals in heavy harmonies and a great amount of instrumental strength, both in the band and …

With a harmony that could be celebrated from their home state of Alabama to the rocky shores of Maine and sunny beaches of California the same, Webster’s Wheel hit us with the most affectionate of melodic showings their new album Milk & Grass includes in the song “Love Ye One Another.” The …

In the last few years, things have been difficult. I know that’s somewhat of an understatement, but it’s forced us all to really live in the present and confront the things that we oft take for granted. We as a culture have become obsessed with the past, even a past …

Like a hacky comedian in the year of our lord 2021 would ask, the man wasn’t 2020 a difficult one? Beyond the gestures at current hell world, young adults and teens especially of color have had to endure plenty of social injustices, let alone multiple setbacks in education because of …

“R.U.O.K.” is Melanie Rogers’ powerful follow-up to her most recent single “Fever” and features many of the same individuals responsible for the latter song’s success. Jesse Field’s production, mastering, and engineering has an obvious effect on this track. The even-handed treatment of the song’s several instruments, including Rogers’ voice, is …

Emulating a hurried heartbeat that carries more emotional weight than a single strand of lyrics ever could on its own, the rhythmic pulse of “Mirror Mirror” by Morgan King reaches through the speakers and demands a reaction out of us right out of the gate. There’s a capriciousness to the …

Ominously cutting into the silence in “Whistle While You Work” or grinding out a post-blues dirge in the groove-laden “Maybe My Next Day,” Grey Fields’ Vesna presents listeners with such a fetching and addictive tracklist that temptations to play it from start to finish are often too strong to be resisted. There’s …

Greeting us with a bright, almost meditative strumming of electric guitar strings, there is instantly a feeling of familiarity in the opening bars of “Throw Me into the Pool” by Izzy Outerspace that asks for us to welcome the material into our hearts right off the bat. This feeling just …

The country genre has never been a genre desperate for content, with it historically being one of the more popular genres out there with one of the more consistently devoted fanbases, but there’s a considerable weight to the number of men in country music that overshadow the hard-working women doing …

When Dave Vargo cuts a single, you can count on a couple of elements to be present in the material; first and foremost of these being his trademark climactic chorus. Vargo starts off nice and easy per the standard for his songwriting style in his new piece “Half Bad” but …