“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. …
Read More »Single Review: Jonathan Lykes “I Love Being Black”
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 …
Read More »Single Review: Shayne Cook “Matters Of The Heart”
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. …
Read More »Single Review: Billy Ray Rock “I’m Bringing Rock Back”
There are some gigantic shoes to fill as Billy Ray Rock has sometimes been touted as America’s first African-American rock artist since Lenny Kravitz or Jimi Hendrix. But, with his head-banging new single ‘I’m Bringing Rock Back’, Billy Ray Rock confidently steps up to the plate with self-assured lyrics such …
Read More »Single Review: Elijah “Raw”
The history of slow jams wasn’t written by a single player, but instead by a collection of artists spanning genres, backgrounds and generations of pop, each of them bearing but one commonality with the others – a desire to impart vivid emotionality to the audience with rhythm, rhyme and robust …
Read More »Single Review: Antwan Jenkins “Victory”
Infectious. That’s the first word that comes to mind when listening to Antwan Jenkins’ energy-filled, enthusiastic single ‘Victory’. “With our power in His name, Victory yes we claim” – from the get-go, it’s pretty clear that this song is going to be an all-out celebratory jam about Jesus. But what’s …
Read More »Single Review: The Dead Daisies “30 Days in the Hole”
Initially so enrapturing through the unfurling of its opening chords that it’s actually a little difficult to tell The Dead Daisies are covering Humble Pie’s “30 Days in the Hole,” the all-new single from the critically-acclaimed rock n’ roll supergroup slowly unfolds from the silence like a passionate whisper. The …
Read More »Single Review: Ready, Steady, Die! “Deep”
Unfurling with an ominousness that is both distinct and devastatingly impactful on the mood of the lyrics, Ready, Steady, Die!’s “Deep” isn’t spackled with plasticity nor inauthentic bells and whistles, but its cold introduction is truly inhuman in tone. There’s something very eerie about the beat that claws its way …
Read More »Single Review: A Lister “Groove-A”
In an age where genre labels are becoming increasingly obsolete, the artist known only as A-Lister is going out of his way to pull out the stops in his new single “Groove-A” and set an even bolder standard for his contemporaries in the underground and mainstream. In the video for …
Read More »Single Review: The Impersonators “Rodeo”
The songwriting duo of Tommi Tikka and Antti Autio, better known as The Impersonators, are back with Rodeo, a rocking introduction to the next chapter of the band. Rodeo’s writing process was a collaborative effort with both Tikka, Autio, and Tikka’s wife, Elina Suominin, contributing to the lyrics and melodies. …
Read More »Single Review: The Forevers “Frederique” And “Rockets Fly”
As light as a feather and so melodic that it occasionally runs the risk of getting lost in the divine strumming in the background, the lead vocal offered up by The Forevers’ Natalia Safran is undeniably the most stunning element in the soundscape of their single “Frederique.” Much as is …
Read More »Single Review: Faizan and Amadeus “Aether”
For an instrumental to really speak to its audience, it more or less has to embody the emotions that would typically be conveyed unto us through lyricism – often times exclusively – and that’s precisely what makes “Aether” from collaborators Faizan and Amadeus such a compelling listen this September. Defined …
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