MUSIC REVIEWS

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 …

From the opening song “Shooting Star” to the final track, “Point Me East”, singer-songwriter John McDonough crafts a well-polished, interesting, grained body of work much the same way a carpenter works wood in the EP We’ll Answer The Call. Molding together the knobs and crannies of the medium, We’ll Answer The Call, has …

Don’t let a term like “radio edit” fool you when encountering Chalice Collective’s “Flame of Truth”. It doesn’t tacitly acknowledge the Collective’s latest single is a compromise, chopped indiscriminately for airplay, or lesser in some way. Chalice Collective wouldn’t dare. Sedona Swan Soulfire leads the Portland, Oregon-based group as its lead vocalist, …

Electronic composer Lewis Mander’s work under the moniker dark passenger has earned him considerable attention from aficionados of the style. His preceding single “designed for rejection” introduced a sound that is, in turn, dissonant, abrasive, and unforgiving and dark passenger’s new single “i see your mask” continues developing along similar …

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 …

It might be popular to say that rock is dead, but while it’s true that there are certain components of the genre’s past that have gone out of style, its core principles remain as in as ever. Take for example the live single “I’m Falling off of the World” by …

As its title implies, there’s a lot of emotional depth to the song “Weight of the World,” one of the star tracks from Arun O’Connor’s new LP Songs from the Reading Room, but truth be told, the stateliness of its performance is on par with what listeners can expect throughout the …

Alex Wellkers’ new release famous now is the Swiss-born singer/songwriter’s third studio collection and the latest chapter in a familiar story. This young artist first felt music’s pull as a six year old child when he began playing accordion and soon moved on from there to classical guitar, harmonica, and keyboard.   …

Michael R. Shaw’s album How is This Helping? is the latest solo effort from the respected English songwriter and solidifies his status as one of the best alt-folk/singer-songwriters’ working today. It is his first solo collaboration with James Youngjohns, fresh from playing guitar on and co-producing Matt Hill’s latest outing Return of the …