Swigga Geovanni’s new single “DMLY (Daddy Mi Love You)” opens with a smattering of chiming guitar seemingly broadcast through a transistor radio before expanding in full. There is a strong hip hop influence present from the first, but it runs parallel with a rousing reggae-like delivery in Geovanni’s voice. Despite …
Read More »TLA – New Language (EP)
I am a fan of the early 80’s European/British New Wave bands that TLA seem to be aping with their EP release New Language so this brief release has an early hold on me. Subsequent listens reveal the depth of the material this unit has put together for this EP and, as …
Read More »Manuel Aspidi’s latest single “Let out This Light”
In Manuel Aspidi’s latest single, “Let out This Light,” the acclaimed Tuscan vocalist incorporates colorful influences into what is inarguably an already iconic sound. At the onset of the song, a gentle piano melody awakens the treasure chest of tones that will form a sonic backdrop for Aspidi’s magnetizing vocal, …
Read More »EP Review: Lesibu Grand – “The Legend of Miranda”
Pulsating grooves are woven into an elegant swing in “Hush Hush,” and though they render a hard rock rhythm into something far more balladic in nature than what we hear in “Only American in the Room,” the emotion in the former song is as obvious and transcendent as it is …
Read More »Streaking in Tongues Oh My Darlin’
The harmonies float as high as the heavens can take them in “Wait Wait Wait Wait Wait for Me,” and while Streaking in Tongues stir up a similarly transcendent vibe in the Harry Nilsson-reminiscent “Inside out and on My Ass,” they’re no less a captivating gem as they are in …
Read More »Down the Lees debut official music video for “Antiseptic Heart”
It starts off in a stumble, but before long, it starts to rumble like nobody’s business. It’s got the size to smash anything that gets in its path, but under the command of Down the Lees, it’s too controlled to do any damage that the band doesn’t see fit. It, as …
Read More »Zaritza, “Slot Machine”
A melody that is as soft as silk yet stained with a melancholic angst that doesn’t seem to ever go away greets us as we sink into the first minute of the new pop opus from Zaritza, “Slot Machine,” and as the critically acclaimed singer claws her way into the …
Read More »Byre’s new Here In Dead Lights
Members of Pinback, Hella, Mock Orange and more, team up on Byre’s new Here In Dead Lights EP, due out on October 11th. With leader, Aaron Tanner (Off-Ox), and Zach Zint (Thunder Dreamer) also in the band, you don’t get this type of combo just anywhere. It doesn’t matter what …
Read More »Album Review: Dave Vargo – “Spaces in Between”
A strutting groove meets a sizzling guitar melody in “Miles Upon Your Heart,” one of the eleven songs on Dave Vargo’s new record Spaces in Between, and although the harmony that Vargo conjures up in this track is among the sharper that he’s shared with us in his career, it’s joined …
Read More »EP Review: Brother Spellbinder – “We Were Children Yesterday”
A harmonica moans a grim melody at the start of Brother Spellbinder’s “Aching Eyes,” and in the shadow of its glare we discover a treasure chest of textured string play and siren-like singing just waiting to seduce us in this selection from the band’s new EP We Were Children Yesterday. Eclectic, …
Read More »In the Next Life deliver one of the most brutal melodic rock EPs of the season
In the Next Life deliver one of the most brutal melodic rock EPs of the season in their new record 4FriendsInARoomWithAGun, a five-song affair that is best described as a sonic colon cleansing outfitted with striking vocals, intricate riffing and freewheeling lyrical diatribes. As indebted to proto-grunge ala Malfunkshun, Gruntruck and …
Read More »Album Review: uknowhatimsayin¿ by Danny Brown
The last time Detroit rapper Danny Brown released an album (2016’s Atrocity Exhibition), the rap’s funniest star chronicled his downward spiral with drug and alcohol addiction. Three years later, Brown gets a chance to show listeners his growth with uknowhatimsayin¿. The album, full of eclectic beats from executive producer Q-Tip, …
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