SHARK-FIN AWARDS

Against the backdrop of what was a typically eccentric northern California afternoon, I had the pleasure of coming across the likes of Hēran Soun for myself as I prepared to present the acclaimed one-man musical wrecking ball with this year’s trophy for album of the year. As eerily calm and …

In an era of artists sounding like one after the other, Pennan Brae scores an unusual home run before anything else: originality. His entire style proves to be an eclectic set of contradictions, yet the marriage of said contradictions nonetheless produces a sort of unearthly coherence to the whole image. …

Buried in the adrenaline of a percussive element distant in the mix but big enough to crush anything in its path, Michael Ghould’s vocal is initially out of reach in his new single, “Girls & Boys,” but not for long. As we continue onward in this take on the Blur …

Bustling into focus gently but urgently, the first few strands of a grand harmony begin to form in “Poison Woman,” the opening cut of the debut solo album from Mauri Dark Dreams of a Middle-Aged Man. The energy here is oddly reflective before the lyrics have even entered the picture, and …

Megaphone Inside My Head – by Brian Cottrill, is a surprisingly excellent power pop and rock album with all that is good about the past, present and hopefully the future of rock and other music for that matter. This record is everything fans of Cottrill can expect and more for …

Pittsburgh’s Miss Freddye brings her own brand of spiritualism to the modern gospel and blues genres in her rendition of “Wade In The Water”. A stirring electronic piano bed and the rhythm collide in way to give the tempo a deeper impact. Miss Freddye, a commanding voice, assures the listener …

Warm and as sweet as her name would imply it could be, the Francine Honey’s vocal is always the focal point of anything she records, but in the case of her new single and music video “Can’t Press Reset,” it’s reason enough to give her latest release a close examination …

Fans of the bluegrass beat are getting a lot of treats in 2020, and if you’re looking for a documentary in the genre’s underground vein that won’t leave you unsatisfied, the James Reams biopic Like a Flowing River: A Bluegrass Passage is definitely a Prime Video addition that I would recommend you …

The indie culture in American music has been holding up through 2020 a lot better than the mainstream end of the spectrum has been, and to appreciate what I mean, you don’t need to look much further than the new record Affirmation Day from Jake Allen, currently out and available …

Sound is relative. So is emotion. Everything is individualized at the most fundamental of levels when we break down art, whether it be rock n’ roll music or sculptures made of clay, but there’s something particularly transcendent about a piece that breaks the boundaries between two mediums. What is it …