In “Scary Slope,” the latest and perhaps most focused single longtime fans have heard from east coast up and comer Slick Naim, thoughtful poetry is merged with a cosmopolitan swing, crunchy bassline, and lightly-overdriven synthetics to make a track that is as much a product of experimental dancehall as it …
Read More »Single Review: Sharon Hendrix feat. Marvin Robinson – “It Takes Two”
R&B temptress Sharon Hendrix dishes out a pure soul classic in her new cover of “It Takes Two” with Marvin Robinson, but classifying it as a mere cover track would be wholly dismissing the litany of charming textures that it presents anyone who gives it a spin with. Fresh off …
Read More »Single Review: Ron Brunk – “Now Repeating”
Hesitant but as riddled with humility as the words it helps to project are, the elegiac tempo in Ron Brunk’s “Now Repeating” speaks to a frigid emotionality becoming more and more common in our modern age. Social lives are weaponized and subsequently digitalized while secrets both open and buried deep the …
Read More »Single Review: Donae`o – “Swaggy”
Donae’o isn’t just sounding confident as he runs into the chorus of his new single, “Swaggy,” out this coming July everywhere quality indie hip-hop is sold and streamed; if anything, he’s got a mission from beginning to end here. While most rap music tends to be chorus-oriented, Donae’o takes the …
Read More »Single Review: Smilez – “Mentally I’m Somewhere Else”
Personal songcraft can tell us a lot about the artist involved. From the stylization of a mix to the colorizing of a harmony, when an artist of a certain pedigree finds their personal outlet in a lyric, you know sparks are going to fly, and that’s precisely what transpires in …
Read More »Single Review: Alicia G “Boom Boom Baby (Country Slide)”
Alicia G is very much an independent artist, and she brings a lot of uncaged energy with her into the studio in “Boom Boom Baby (Country Slide),” her all-new single and recently-minted music video. “Boom Boom Baby (Country Slide)” starts with a potency, playing at a lumbering pace, slowly blossoming …
Read More »Single Review: Pamela Hopkins – “Raised Some Hell in Me”
Pamela Hopkins’ latest release, “Raised Some Hell in Me,” has been capturing attention left and right. Where many modern country and rock musicians look to change things up, Pamela embraces her past and musical influences wholeheartedly. Nowhere is this more obvious than on the new single itself, and we’re eager …
Read More »Single Review: “Him” Joe West
Young upstart rapper Joe West drops a colorful and abrasively up-tempo new single “Him,” which has been kicking up quite the buzz-storm among his scene and beyond this month (though not without just cause). In “Him,” West establishes himself as an alternative to the commercialized mainstream hip-hop sound not only …
Read More »Single Review: Slick Naim – “In the Vault”
There’s no relationship quite like the one that a musician and his music share, and Slick Naim does his best to interpret and translate this very relationship into a vivid rap ballad in “In the Vault.” “In the Vault” is a powerful, passionate, and boldly produced song that delves into …
Read More »Single Review: Boys Club for Girls – “5 O’Clock Shadow”
Most critics will agree with me when I say that country music is reshaping its identity right now, and it’s partly due to the influx of alternative, folk-influenced, and outsider talent entering an arena that has traditionally been dominated by artists who are anything but. Among the more interesting newcomers …
Read More »Single Review: Sp8ce Owl – “Stepping Into Eternity”
2023 has been a really interesting and diverse year for pop music. From hip-hop to electronica, alternative rock, and even experimentalists in ambient and avant-garde music, there’s a lot for discriminating music buffs to be excited about at the moment, and in an ironic twist, underground upstart Sp8ce Owl is …
Read More »Single Review: MattO – “It’s All About Me”
MattO doesn’t have to belt anything out to offer us a fever pitch that encapsulates the prescience of what’s about to come careening at us just around the next corner in his new single, “It’s All About Me.” The bass slowly comes alive like a long-dormant volcano, the foundation ascends …
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