MUSIC REVIEWS

Appropriately titled Afternoon Ambience, the new six-track album from Dan Blanchard is an escape into the mind’s cavernous corridors. Sleek and at times cascading like the sunset creeps up across Mother Earth, the hauntingly beautiful violin strings inject an honored second wind. These songs, these hymn-like instrumentals are triumphant expressions …

Set to a humble groove that only grows more intoxicating with every passing moment it occupies the air around us, Rock Hearts’ cover of “99 Year Blues,” originally recorded nearly a half-century ago by rockers Hot Tuna, is just the right cocktail to get this started right in their debut …

A pounding drum arrangement. A rousing, rebellious guitar. A man singing his truths as if he were warning a nation – the new song “More Than Meets The Eye” from Bill Abernathy is a provocative look at society. Calling out personal freedoms and actual truths, Abernathy cloaks his Americana – …

The holidays are here and the brighter the cheer the better, and Dallas String Quartet have just the right timing once again, with “Deck The Halls” being the first single from this year’s Christmas EP. The track is done the usual way the quartet perform the songs and this instrumental …

The indie culture in American music has been holding up through 2020 a lot better than the mainstream end of the spectrum has been, and to appreciate what I mean, you don’t need to look much further than the new record Affirmation Day from Jake Allen, currently out and available …

If you’re looking to galvanize your Christmas and holiday musical library, then “Christmas Festa” (Mountain Rio Records) is your jam. The EDM fueled gem is courtesy of United Kingdom’s Franchesco De Rosa, whose real name is Frank Robinson, and is an uplifting surround-sound experience. It’s like child’s play to immerse …

Singer Manny Cabo catches wildfire again in his new country-rock fused barnburner “The Last One”. And once again Cabo teams up with frequent collaborator, the touching songwriter Bonnie Warren. “The Last One”, a fierce reminder that tomorrow is never promised and don’t put off ‘till tomorrow what can be done …

Gasoline Tequila has a new single out – “Sonder” is the title, but there is so much to talk about when it comes to this band it is also worth going the entire distance to review this song and also a music outfit not quite like any other I have …

Multilingual poeticisms. Raging bastions of white noise manipulated into bittersweet melodicism. Harmonies that test the limits of their own construction. A rhythm that doesn’t seem to know where it’s going – or why it’s even chugging forth in the first place. There are contradictions, conflicts and aesthetical riddles that follow …

Wisconsin’s AV Super Sunshine is one of the brightest stars in the indie music world for many reasons. He adopts a comprehensive approach to his art. AV Super Sunshine isn’t aware of music’s power alone, but exhibits a sharp awareness of how music and visual imagery complement one another. His …