MUSIC REVIEWS

Pop music’s greatest hybrid features are becoming quite common in rock music these days, if not a new standard in the genre’s alternative scene, but there are still a handful of singer/songwriters around ready to answer prayers for old guard purities this spring. One of them is none other than …

Indie rock is an identity and one that has to be portrayed with a demeanor more indicative of humility than exaggerated confidence. While I don’t know that it’s fair to say that Champ de Mars are chasing their version of this identity solely to be true to form in their …

The new wave of Americana influences in pop started not too long ago and has only gotten stronger in the last few years, and in 2024 it’s bringing forth an era in provocative alternative folk music that a lot of us simply didn’t see coming. Phoenix duo Dorsten’s cerebral folk …

Greye’s new eleven-track release VII is a peak moment for this Florida four-piece. They’ve consistently churned out top-shelf material for more than ten years and show no signs of slowing down. VII finds their particular brand of Southern Rock 2.0 in fine fettle thanks to a varied instrumental attack, skillful songwriting, irrepressible energy, and …

Jake Allen (music), Jennifer Mann (paintings). In an era where music is predominantly consumed in bite-sized streaming formats, Refractions Volume I emerges as a breath of fresh air—a symbiotic audio/visual project that challenges the very notion of how we experience music. Created by the dynamic duo of Jake Allen and Jennifer …

Her single “It Was Always You” carries on a venerable songwriting tradition with character and flair. It’s a song about the aftermath of a relationship when the aggrieved partner realizes, hey, it wasn’t me who had the problem, it wasn’t me who failed “us” – it was you. Songs like …

You can’t ever accuse Universal Dice of aiming for the lowest common denominator. I believe songwriter Gerry Dantone and his cohorts merge thought provoking themes, adult subject matter, and beguiling musical settings better than many much more well-known contemporaries and are writing and recording music aglow with timeless attributes. Their …

As indebted as the song and perhaps the artistry of the man who created it for us is to the Canadian-born country of yesteryear, there’s something rather transcendent about the vocal in “Constellation High” that makes singer/songwriter Vili V all the harder to pigeonhole in this all-new single. Although there’s …

In bd Gottfried’s startlingly on-point “Live, Fight & Die,” the burgeoning singer and songwriter reflects on experiences as a player who, for better or worse, has lived enough life to tell a story or two and has no qualms about doing as much here. Boasting some of the more endearing …

“Growing Pains” begins Maybe in a bold way. Any of these songs could have worked as the EP opener, but it’s arguable that any could set listeners on the journey this release takes on the way that “Growing Pains” does. He comes out in a big way, like the boxer swinging as …