SHARK-FIN AWARDS

Anthony Crawford and Savana Lee are the Alabama duo Sugarcane Jane, and their new CD Ruffled Feathers; Songs In The Key Of Me – is a brilliant bunch of folk leaning America tunes made over an inspiring one week period. These seasoned vets are on their tenth release, so there …

In the darkness that seems to wash over us in the first ten minutes of the extended improvised jam session that is Ian C. Bouras’ “IMP (Live at Utica Brews),” there are shards of a melody that never fully join together and yet remain stoically connected through a broad conceptualism. Bouras, …

Coming to us fully-loaded with a righteous riff that set off a hurricane if given the right set of speakers to be filtered through, Lavendine’s “Rapture” doesn’t waste our time with a long, drawn out introduction to its fireworks – it gets right into the business of dispensing pure color. …

Skulking into focus with a pendulous swagger, we find the opening cut in Daniel Tortoledo’s Through out These Years, “Dark Times (Brothers and Sisters),” ready to crush us with its sonic presence just as it would the grim-shaded imagery of its music video. Tortoledo’s voice meshes with the melody of the …

Some bands don’t mind using the same formula over and over again, and while 308 Ghost Train haven’t been in the business of making rock music for very long, they’re already proving that they’re not a part of the aforementioned group of artists in their new single “Bleed Over Me.” …

Jesse Lynn Madera’s debut studio album Fortunes brings a high degree of musical and songwriting acumen together in a stylish package. The collection is brief, only seven songs, but Madera synthesizes country, jazz, and soul with such completeness that few listeners, if any, will feel cheated by its length. She builds her …

Little Hurt’s new single “Alaska” doesn’t feature a lot of grandiosity, and when it starts to play, there isn’t an enormous instrumental introduction that prepares us for the pop wonderment about to come pouring out of the stereo speakers. Off the top, the first thing we come in contact with …

Just like we yearn for home when we need comforting, or have a taste for chicken noodle soup when we don’t feel our best, gravitating towards songs that ‘just get us’ and change our moods is part of human nature. Right? We all have that tape we wore out in …

Roaring out of the ethers with an anger that will continue to swell for the next forty minutes, Culture Shock Treatment’s opening cut – its title track – doesn’t waste our time with a big, bombastic intro before getting right into the ferociousness of Round Eye’s one of a kind punk …

With a swift kick from an electric guitar riff, a deluge of drum-led chills come pouring out of our speakers as “If This Is Real” begins to play. The opening track on the new album from Dizzy Box Nine, Faster Than Anticipation, “If This Is Real” sets the tone for everything …