SHARK-FIN AWARDS

The new wave of Americana influences in pop started not too long ago and has only gotten stronger in the last few years, and in 2024 it’s bringing forth an era in provocative alternative folk music that a lot of us simply didn’t see coming. Phoenix duo Dorsten’s cerebral folk …

You can’t ever accuse Universal Dice of aiming for the lowest common denominator. I believe songwriter Gerry Dantone and his cohorts merge thought provoking themes, adult subject matter, and beguiling musical settings better than many much more well-known contemporaries and are writing and recording music aglow with timeless attributes. Their …

I enjoyed Chris Chitsey’s “Life Is Hard, Whiskey Is Easy” on my first pass and further plays only strengthened my esteem for the Texas singer’s new single. Chitsey has released an unadulterated modern country classic free from many of the trappings marring the bulk of today’s offerings from Nashville. There …

The new EP Dark Side from Indian-origin singer and musician Anjali Ray carries on the tradition of challenging, rewarding music sustaining her professional journey from the outset. She brings a wide breadth of musical knowledge to everything she touches without ever reducing her art to the level of an academic exercise. …

No Signal’s second album Distorted Reality serves notice that this Boulder, Colorado headquartered trio has their eyes on big game. They could have written and recorded the customary sophomore effort featuring ten to twelve solid, well-written standalone songs and walked away smiling. Riley Schmelzer and his bandmates, however, went bigger. Instead, the sixteen-song magnum …

Name Sayers’ Joyboys in the Grindhouse has broad utility. Its varied uses as a synth-pop, cumbia, psych-rock, and hip-hop collection give the eleven-track release a staying power that few other modern releases share. Devin James Fry and his three bandmates cast a hip and intelligent eye toward posterity without ever succumbing to …

Bob Dylan wrote in his Blonde on Blonde track “Absolutely Sweet Marie” that “…to live outside the law, you must be honest” and I think Marc Miner agrees with that sentiment. He populates his new album Last Heroes with assorted renegades, outcasts, criminals, and the heartbroken. It picks up where his 2020 debut Smile When …

Recording in the right setting always has an effect on the artist in charge of the project, and in virtually all cases, the aesthetics of the content they’re recording. While Taylor Jules is more known for her straightforward pop harmonies than she is for any form of soul-laden poeticisms, her …

When you get the energy flowing with as much panache and efficiency as indie syndicate Cedars does in their new single “Empire,” it’s a decent likelihood you play alternative rock the right way. The frills, the fluff, and the ridiculously fat tones that we used to get away with some …

Ambitiousness doesn’t always equate to indulgence, and Mainland Break does a pretty awesome job reminding us all of this in their new album One Way Ticket to Midnight. In this latest affair to bear their name in the byline, One Way Ticket to Midnight lives up to the experimental premise of Mainland Break’s …