SHARK-FIN AWARDS

Melbourne, Australia’s Galliano Sommavilla’s love for creating music has helped sustain him throughout his life and enriches an already vibrant life with the ability for communicating with a mass audience. His new release Instrumental Music from the Heart is deeply connected with his Italian cultural roots as well as his wide array …

The level of detachment between pop singers and their material is honestly at an all-time high right now, at least from where I’m sitting as a professional music critic. Although pop isn’t completely devoid of connectivity between those who record and the messages they send, when we’re able to hear …

Musician, performer, and instrument builder Nick Demopoulos’ project Smomid relies on instruments he’s designed and constructed for his interactive computer music. He’s taken the name of the project from an acronym of his main instrument “String Modeling Midi Device” and has produced three full-length albums driven by Smomid and Pyramidi …

Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Pierre De Gagne began his recording career writing and releasing music under the moniker Dragon-Off. The project’s unique blending of light classical, soft rock, progressive rock, world fusion, and modern new age lead to three successful releases. De Gagne, however, learned later that a dragonoff was …

San Diego’s Kevin Thomas Band keeps it real and keeps it smooth in the 10-track album, A New Heart. Offering a mix of California sun kissed stylings, with a boyish charm vocals, from start to finish this is a journey that grooves and moves like a summer day that you don’t …

Blues music is quite literally at the foundation of all western pop and rock music, but when it’s being presented in its purest of forms, there’s no denying its charismatic tone as it exists independently from the genres it has influenced in the past century. A lot of singer/songwriters do …

Pop music doesn’t have to be complicated and, truth be told, it’s often a lot more fetching when it’s presented simply as opposed to with a lot of frills. There are plenty of singer/songwriters who might disagree with me on this point, but if there’s one who is sympatico with …

It is rare when you can write, without reservation, that a band is unlike anything else you’ve ever heard, Puffery is common. Every solo artist, band, performer, whatever, makes the claim that they bring a unique musical experience to listeners, and few can honestly say it. It’s one thing to …

Connecticut’s Laura Sumner channels the philosophical ways of a folk artist and meshes them together with rock and roll and Americana bliss in the moving EP Red Clay Blue Sky. Inviting the listener into her world, one that is filled with memories and delightful details, Sumner’s voice keeps the listener close …

Consider JD and the RetroRyders to be proverbial keepers of the flame. This unique seven piece band based out of Huntington Beach, California is led by front man Joe DeMeo with two supporting vocalists, a drummer, guitarist, bass player, and an additional percussionist. They have four well-received releases under their …