MUSIC REVIEWS

Percussive palm-muting marks the disturbingly barren opening bars of “Carpet,” the new single from Wilhelm’s debut full-length album Lace, with a menacing texture that will only grow stronger as we delve deeper into the annals of this surreal acoustic ballad. Wilhelm’s lyrics are difficult to hear at first, as they’re sung …

URL: http://www.relickings.ca/ The lyric video for Relic Kings’ “Blinded by the Sun” opens with a visually entrancing flight above the rockiest of terrain, the soft sounds of the string melodies contrasting with the images filling our screen with muted earth tones beautifully. Amidst the lyrics, we watch as thunder and …

URL: http://www.shanesmithmusic.com/ Menacing heavy rock riffs are met with forbidding harmonies of an acoustic nature in Hail Mary, the latest release from the one and only Shane Smith & the Saints. Singer Shane Smith tackles drama, dreams and demons of a personal variety in songs like “The End,” “Oklahoma City,” …

A girl is casually tying her shoes when she meets a friendly face on the stairway to the subway. Soon after, the pair are inseparable, basking in the glow of each other’s love, sharing the simple moments – like getting a new pair of sneakers – that a freshly-minted couple …

Rolling out of the darkness with a gust of distorted guitar venom, The Cutthroat Brothers’ “Psykik Chemist” opens in a haze of overdriven strings that are quickly met with a rollicking percussive beat which launches the bludgeoning bassline into the spacey atmosphere from where it was first plucked. There’s some …

Saddle of Southern Darkness, aka SOSD, is the brainchild of brothers Trent and Chase Williams, and they bring metal and country together like that of no other on the single “Killbilly” which is graphically depicted in the promo video, but the song itself is quite a twang-fest crossed with a …

Clipped, yet melodic, guitar work opens Integriti Reeves’ single “Eu Vim Da Bahia” (“I Came From Bahia”) with such finesse that I was a believer in this song seconds in. The unobtrusive shake of percussion enters the arrangement and Reeves herself comes in with the certainty of a singer who …

Good electronica uses textured beats to appeal to every one of our senses simultaneously, much in the same way that rock n’ roll provokes an instant reaction through its physical grooving and razor-sharp licks, and for listeners who are looking for a little of both in a new release, you …

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/mariela.band/ Critics can’t seem to stop talking about the experimental sounds of the burgeoning American pop underground lately – and for good reason. Beneath the surface of mainstream commerciality, indie artists like Mariela are creating a brand new strain of alternative music that is as indebted to the surrealist …

Marching out of the darkness and into the light, a slick beat finds Jasmine Bleile ready to bring the house down in the new single from her Satellītes project titled “Love & Darkness,” which is out now everywhere that independent music is sold and streamed. The bass is shadier than …