Tag Archives: Album Review

Paris-based alternative psych-rockers La Femme have never been ones to follow the typical rules of songwriting. Their music pulls influence from indie rock to jazz, electronic music and folk. Their albums are never linear and usually fail to follow a distinct storyline. Yet despite their unorthodox approach to making an album, …

When the strings are as expressive as they are in songs like “Lonesomeville,” “Blue Collar Blues,” “Messin’ with Sasquatch” and the title cut in Alan Bibey & Grasstowne’s Hitchhiking to California, trying to stay away from the melodies they create can be next to impossible. For a bluegrass aficionado like myself, Hitchhiking …

Vocal harmonies born of the dirt from which the stories they convey were first sourced. A rhythm that synchronizes with your heart even at a distance. The sense of community and cultural continuity that persists from one century to the next. Poetic binds that tie in both melody and linguistics …

Experimentation is the cornerstone of every incredible debut across every genre in the pop lexicon, and in the case of the self-titled rookie EP from DICI, this is especially true. Rather than simply applying his stylish brand of rapping to a familiar framework or the mainstream model he’s been influenced …

Jeremy Parsons Torn Between Nostalgia And The Future In “Things To Come” Album Jeremy Parsons is a man driven by passion and guided by his love for a craft that has enabled him to connect to the hearts and to speak to the minds of many, sharing his life’s truths …

Cutting through the tension created by Rob Alexander’s well-woven lyrical structure in “Nothing to Be Afraid of Now,” we discover the sizzle of an electric guitar lead as powerful and searing as they come. There’s already something seriously contagious about the beat in the background, but topped with this bit …

Jeremy Studdard is that rare country – roots artist that blends all the echoes of yesteryear, the real country of the past and makes it completely feel new. From the geared up “Where You At” to the moving “Your Heart or Mine” and to the ballad “At The End of …

Rock is more than a genre of music – it’s an identity, and not one that has to be portrayed with the stereotypical cartoonish demeanor of its greatest legends. While I don’t know that it’s fair to say that Oberon Rose are chasing their own version of this identity solely …

Spiral Vortex comes from a school of musical thinking that is all about two major concepts: subverting expectation and always maintaining an element of surprise. If the cover art of the group’s new album Prisma stands as any indication, the group is about ushering a post-modern version of classic, Hispanic-tinged …

Brooding isn’t a word that I would normally whip out to describe a synth part in any album, but in the case of Paul Jacks’ “Into the Silence” and the other nine songs found on Black Jackal, no other will do. In Black Jackal, Paul Jacks is seeking to change how people …

Newcomers Danny Artuso and Victor Nesrallah are already making waves. Their musical collaboration has a ring of something distinctively modern and progressive in an otherwise old-school, red state sort of medium. There’s a noteworthy exoticism that underscores each song on the album, be it certain lyrical, musical, or other creative …

From the haunting “La Pérdida” to the brash title track and the stealth-like “El Fruto”, the 15 tracks from Rubio on the thrilling Mango Negro ignite futuristic tones over embellished classical string movements. Rubio’s, sophomore outing is a nonstop emotional bucket that pulls from a wealth of sonic bliss and …