PICK OF THE WEEK

On the back of a rollicking rhythm, “Sickly Sweet” comes gliding out of our stereo speakers with a catharsis that will spread out across every stitch of audio in this brooding selection from the new Jay Elle EP Ease Up (Into Love). Its melodies are firm, but the method of execution …

In his debut single, titled “What Really Matters,” songwriter Dan Ashley looks back at a wild life’s most valuable lessons as learned through the lens of a journalist, and while this is only the first look that we’ve collectively had at his unique style of play, it’s a formidable summer …

In the new single “Lonely Boy,” Midnight Shine and their charismatic frontman Adrian Sutherland deliver one of the most searing performances that they’ve attached their well-respected moniker to thus far, and while the content of the composition is more than satisfying on its own, the music video for the track …

Matthew Squires issues a formidable sequel to his last album, the plaintive Tambaleo, in Visions of America, a record that not only lives up to its title but further explores a poetic side of Squires’ artistry that was only slightly touched on in its predecessor. In lyric-driven ballads like “The Sentinel,” “Lonesome,” …

Canadian songwriter Jeremy Rice is garnering a ton of buzz this September, and it’s undoubtedly because of the new music video for his single “Arriianne.” With a colorful cast of characters that include five forest green sock puppets, the video for “Arriianne” is a creatively black and white revival of …

Nick Demopoulos, working under the moniker Smomid, produces musical compositions defying tradition and pushing listener’s ideas about songcraft into challenging new areas. It is key for readers and potential listeners to recognize what awaits them before hearing this release for a first time. He writes and records music with self-designed …

With the cadence of an elevated heartbeat, Nocturnal Blonde kick off their new album Still Gushing with an evocative drumbeat and a burning vocal harmony between Rachel Adams and Richie Williams in the first of the twelve tracks that Williams wrote with his brother Dave, “Smart Heart.” “Smart Heart” shoulders a beast …

“Contravertical,” the opening track in Kazyak’s new record Odyssey, begins in a haze of distorted spoken word and synthesized clouds that churn into a solid harmony by the time we hit the forty-second mark in the track. The music drones forward with a confident ease, unraveling one note at a time, …

After four long years, Nicholas Altobelli is finally back in the spotlight with some new material in the form of Vertigo, a 35-minute studio album packed with more haunting harmonies than most records twice its length are. Altobelli introduces us to fiery riffage in “Runaway Trains,” pastoral poeticisms in “Everybody …

In his first solo album, You Know, the artist known simply as Jaco (aka Birmingham heavyweight Jake Waitzman) combines elements of punk, garage rock and contemporary pop together in an amplified hybridity that can shake the floorboards beneath your feet as often as it can impart a deeply emotional narrative. …