PICK OF THE WEEK

URL: https://www.stephanierosemusic.com/ I loved Stephanie Rose’s Sprout from first listen. Rose has a lot of nuance, but she’s thankfully the sort of songwriter and singer who shows her cards from the start and doesn’t traffic in much, if any, artifice. The EP has an assuming sound on some songs, leaning heavily on …

BANDCAMP: https://toymoonmusic.bandcamp.com/ When it comes to making music that adheres to a no-rules philosophy, few bands rise to the task with the spirit and passion that experimental noise rock trio Protovulcan do, as they demonstrate in their new record Life is Twigs/Psychic Pinball. Divided into two distinct sections and consisting of …

URL: https://www.terryohms.com/ Terry Ohms’ Terryfirma boldly goes where few alternative rock albums are will to go anymore – beyond the limitations of contemporary pop and into uncharted sonic territory – in what is arguably the most robustly arranged collection of songs that 2019 has seen so far. Terryfirma isn’t your run of the mill …

Dizzy Box Nine returns to the stage with Pop Fantasy, the follow up to their 2017 debut Electric Illusion. This is a full-length LP with a ton of musical style and creativity on the offering. The group is led by Randy Ludwig, who himself is a bit of a musical …

URL: http://www.thechrisrubenband.com/ Stampeding from beyond the silence, a bold drumbeat comes galloping through our stereo before giving way to a sharp lead guitar bent on cutting into our souls one note at a time. The lead scratches against a synthesized tidal wave of anti-melodies, eventually combining their forces and saturating …

URL: http://www.merrymakersmusic.com/ Ryan Shivdasani is a bit of a musical magpie or polymath, take your pick. His band The Merrymaker’s Orchestrina canvassed a vast array of styles on their first studio release Act 3; experimentation isn’t so much of an anomaly, but pulling it off such artistic dexterity without fail definitely …

A glimmering note slips through a dark synthesized wall of sound in the opening bars of Angelo David’s “This Place” only to start expanding before our very ears, slowly at first and then suddenly without any warning. The subtle bass that skirted the forefront of this anti-melody falls backward as …

URL: https://www.officialtrevordrury.com/about/ Multitalented singer and performer Trevor Drury has proven himself to be an exquisitely adept vocalist and songwriter in his critically acclaimed original solo material, and this Christmas he takes on arguably the hardest subgenre in all of pop – holiday music. Covering the undebatable seasonal standard “Blue Christmas,” …

A whispering crackle seeps through the darkness and slowly triggers a threatening sonic explosion in the first few seconds of Lana Blac’s “Suck You In,” the latest single from her new album Nocturnal. A pulsating drum beat nudges us into the flames being ignited by Blac’s vocal, and before we have …

“Tree Of Life (Dedicated To The Victims)” is a song recorded in honor of the eleven victims of the tragedy that took place on Oct. 27, 2018 when a gunman shot and killed  members of the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. It’s also dedicated to the twelve college age …