SHARK-FIN AWARDS

Xuan is Having Some Fun

A pulsating bassline ushers us into Xuan’s new album Have Some Fun shortly after we enter “Not the Man,” a groove-laden, bittersweet pop tune with a suffocating polish that makes its melody effervescent. Xuan wanders through the lyrics with supreme attentiveness; the words chase after the harmonies in the bassline while the …

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Skyfactor’s A Thousand Sounds

URL: http://www.skyfactormusic.com/ Music doesn’t have to be overdriven with indulgent distortion to rock hard, and rarely has that statement been more applicable to an album than it is in Skyfactor’s A Thousand Sounds. Acoustic guitars take on hard rock rhythms in the eleven song masterpiece, which boasts a sharply refined mix …

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Sarah Parker releases Strawberry Moon

URL: https://sarahparkermusic.com/ Sarah Parker’s album Strawberry Moon rates as a family affair of the best sort. Produced by husband and respected singer/songwriter/musician Robert Parker, Sarah Parker proves her mettle as a singer and songwriter alike with this release but goes a step further with her wholehearted embrace of traditional country sounds. The …

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Kazyak – Reflection

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kazyaking/ Describing their music as essentially folk songs with modern influences seeping into work, Kazyak is led by singer/songwriter Peter Frey and their first full length studio release Reflection solidifies their standing as one of the most promising acts in recent memory. They are based in Minnesota’s Twin Cities area and …

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The Blackmail Seduction release follow-up LP

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackmailSeduction/ This is confident, strutting music not afraid to pursue its own ends and blissfully dismissive of any modern tradition. The Blackmail Seduction’s new release The Blackmail Seduction II doesn’t treat rock music like a butterfly pinned under glass however; instead, the songs discussed here are among the most stunning re-inventions …

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Patiently Awaiting the Meteorite release LP

URL: http://patientlyawaitingthemeteorite.band/ For those of us who live for progressive music that dexterously pushes us to reexamine the structure of sound and artistry itself, Canadian rockers Patiently Awaiting the Meteorite have gifted us an album for the ages in Canyon Diablo, their spellbinding debut LP out everywhere this year. PATM invoke …

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Deep in the Water LP by Gary Douglas Band

URL: http://www.garydouglasband.com/ The single “River Road” is what got me hooked on the Gary Douglas Band, and the album from which it was spawned, Deep in the Water. Deep in the Water might as well be a greatest hits disc encapsulating every great country song that should have been released between 2008 and …

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