SHARK-FIN AWARDS

From the moment we press the play button on the warm, sunlit string play of “My Sunrise,” it’s obvious that we’re in for a special treat in the new Chris St. John album uncommon on the mainstream level of country music nowadays. While St. John isn’t reinventing the wheel with Fly …

Wreckless Strangers are like the carpetbaggers of jam and blues rock bands. Opening up a wide bag of sounds of lots of gems in the full-length debut When the Sun and a Blue Star Collide, at their core, this Bay Area group is bound together by a passion for a unique …

While one of the more deliberately paced numbers in the tracklist, the title song in David Sparrow’s new LP Beggars & Choosers is certainly one of the more urgent compositions included in the album. Sparrow has a restrained adrenaline here that is almost as brooding as his lyrics are, and although his …

Juan Tigre’s Azúl Arriba, Blue Below isn’t your typical instrumental collection. It’s full-on progressive for me with strong classical influences any attentive listeners will pick up on. A description like that may prime you to believe Tigre’s eleven songs are stereotypically remote or overly cerebral fare. It isn’t the case …

Approaching us with an alluring groove that only gets stronger as we press on, Mariea E. Watkins’ “The Great I Am,” featuring Seanie Ranz, features a lustiness that I rarely hear in gospel music, but truth be told, this is true of the majority of songs in Watkins’ debut album …

Vancouver, Canada-based quartet Szabotage is a newcomer to the rock landscape, founded in April 2020, but they’ve established a signature style and sound within a little more than two years. Szabotage emerged out of two distinct creative “parts” colliding to form a greater whole. Guitarist Victor Szabo and vocalist James …

Percussion isn’t always presented from behind a drum kit in the new record On the Day That You Come To from Del Vertigo, but often from the force of the melodic elements on their own. Take for example “In Dreams” or “Theres a Glimmer in the Thicket,” both of which move a …

Tyler Mast’s In the Company of a Friend blends the right amount of pop flavor into a concoction long on performed poetry for a winning mix. It’s the latest album from the Chicago born singer/songwriter and continues in the same vein as his previous work. It isn’t retreading familiar territory, however, but …

The creative union of a singer/songwriter with a flute playing retired high school music teacher doesn’t bode bright for an exceptionally well-rounded release. Blonde & Grey confounds such superficial impressions from the outset. Neil Friend and Kathy Olsen begin their debut on a confident note with its title song “Face …

Crash Taylor’s 2022 album Retired Outlaw is another release we can thank COVID-19 for. Taylor’s written songs since he was ten and has since recorded many times but didn’t decide to release his first album until the pandemic caused him to consider it. Taylor is a writer as well and his lyrics …