Album Reviews

American singer/songwriters have had a busy year in 2020 to put it mildly. Instead of continuing to follow the creative trajectory of an increasingly introspective (and aging) hipster generation of players, this new era in the genre and its brightest artists has ushered forth a more politically-conscious style that has …

Though its charm is mainly derived from the lush quality of its string-born harmonies, it would be inaccurate to describe “Hidden” from Hidden Beams as anything less than a formidably multidimensional release. While it’s only his second official studio single released under this moniker, Carlos Argon – the mastermind behind …

John Vento has been hard at work on his new project, Brick by Brick. The album will be released as a collection of singles, one at a time, slowly building up to create an entire album. The lead single, “America (When The Saints Come Marching Home),” will be released November …

“Don’t shoot, hands up, shots rang / Tick-tock, time’s up, bang Bang” croons a chilling vocal from behind the mic in the chorus of McNally Waters’ new single “Bang Bang,” these words conjuring images of the assailed unarmed faces of what has become an international movement for justice in 2020. …

Izzie’s Caravan is back with their rowdy, energetic new song ‘Stick It To Ya’. Well, it looks like someone has upset this artist as he boldly declares on the opening lines – “Hey little Phoebe, I’ve got something to say. You’ve been mouthing, but nothing much to say”. Although Izzie’s …

Adorned with a familiar rock n’ roll sting that has become a little harder to locate in the mainstream spectrum over the last couple of years, Pennan Brae’s “Crashland” doesn’t conceal its musical ambitions from the audience for a second – whether we’re watching the video or listening to the …

With a swinging groove as her primarily weapon, Paris Bennett doesn’t announce her disdain for underwhelming, self-pitying pop music through the lyrics of her new single “Opposites Attract” – she flat-out goes to war with the mainstream model by tossing one of the most potent rhythms of her career thus …

Presenting the audience with what feels like an advanced artistic course on the physics of everything from a melody to the beat behind it through visuals that stoke a reaction from anyone who comes in contact with them, Sonarpilot doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to giving us …

Grinding out a bassline as grungy as it is reminiscent of a noise-laden American punk underground still not properly recognized for its importance nearly thirty-five years after its advent, we find the opening bars of Nocturnal Animals’ “LHW” ready to smother just about anyone who comes in contact with them …

Speedyville Nardy is a hip hop artist from Los Angeles, California. Having marked late 2019 with two full-length mixtapes (ChiRaQian and Mail Season), and the early part of this year with the Petey Blanko collaboration March Madness, the up-and-coming rapper reaches a new milestone on his latest release, BraveHeart Musik. …

There’s a serving of pain within the weighted vocal we find in Jonathan Lykes’ “I Love Being Black” that is skewed with happiness, optimism and a celebration of identity, and it’s this combination of feelings that makes the new single and music video out this fall one of the most …

The countdown is on for Shayne Cook’s new album Epiphonetics! The Australian singer-songwriter gave fans their first glimpse into the album with “Matters of the Heart,” a beautiful and heartfelt acoustic ballad. The song features Cook’s signature rasp alongside flawless acoustic guitar work and a cameo from Prague’s Symphony Orchestra. …