MUSIC REVIEWS

There aren’t many genres in the world that are as naturally abstract and surreal as ambient music is, and rarely has that felt as blissfully obvious as it does in Bitter Lake, the new record from Bloom’s Taxonomy. In this EP, the upstart British experimentalist kicks ambient melodicism up a notch …

Divinely conjoined to an adjacent instrumental wallop and the mighty melody it produces in any given scenario here, Marilyn Castillo’s vocal is the flash point of the most powerful of harmonies in Project Grand Slam’s East Side Sessions. Castillo, along with Alex Blade Silver on sax, is one of the newest …

Clawing out of the silence with nothing more than the sharp talons of a toned electric guitar, Izzie’s Caravan get the ball rolling in their new EP Zephyrs quietly, only hinting at the massive melodies awaiting in the next twenty-four minutes of play. “Holy in Your Smile,” the first song that we …

Following their ravishing release “Halfway”, Chicago alt rockers Dendrons keep the momentum moving with the atmospheric ride “Forgiver”. Forged between rusty rock and garage band punk, Dendrons eliminate any dull moments or low points and thrust out a solid rock tune. “Forgiver” is an awakening, a revelation. A five-member band, …

With pulsating melodic ribbonry to lead the way, “The Distance Between Us,” the first song in SoloS’ new self-titled EP, starts to wrap its slender hook around us with a relaxed ease. These first couple of bars are more than enough to lull listeners into a false sense of security …

A gentle vocal utters sweet French verses to us against a slowly blossoming melody from a nearby guitar, its strings easily as evocative as any single lyric ever could be – if not a bit more so, when it counts the most – as the elegant “Roses De Picardie” begins …

In the original incarnation of AV Super Sunshine’s “Smile,” which was first released back in 2016 on the Bass Face EP, an acoustic guitar provides a near-perfect foundational melody for the acclaimed AV to weave together a soft but brooding lead vocal, and though its strings play a smaller role in “Smile …

Hollywood’s Moon Fever arrive with a mandate to enter rock’s first ranks with their new single “Casanova”/ The five piece outfit are wildly successful revamping of a bracing retro rock sound they bring into the modern era. Their songwriting shows remarkable maturity and it’s thrilling to consider where they can …

It can be hard for cover bands to convey the same sense of emotionality that their source once did – most often in iconic fashion – but that’s not the case for Stingchronicity, an east coast Sting/Police cover act that have been making big waves in the underground circuit recently. …

American folk music has never been as diverse a genre as it is today, and that’s more than obvious even when engaging in a cursory listening session with Haley Johnsen’s London Sessions (Live From Abbey Road, 2020). Johnsen, a product of the Oregon underground, isn’t content to rehash the same rhythm …