PRETTY AWKWARD’s Get Weird is a career-defining moment for this Northwest band. The Austin Held and Nicholas Wiggins-led outfit concocted eleven imaginative compositions for this release spanning the gamut from rock, hip-hop, EDM, and pop. They often mix and match those styles synthesizing them into a cohesive whole where the sum is greater than its individual parts.
Rock
As the summer begins to wind down, there’s an undeniable sense of Americana impacting indie rock, and for those in search of a prime example of this growing trend, I’d point towards Wreckless Strangers’ new single “Fast Girls.” Both the structure of the song and the original substance itself are primed with a surreal mix,
We are getting to talk with the fun new group DANJO! Welcome. Tell us how you all became DANJO and more about each of you and your breakout into music. (Danny Kensy): Howdy y’all! We’re DANJO! We’re super stoked to be chatting with you. Thanks so much for having us! It’s pretty simple how we
Rob Alexander issues a potent, slow-churning classic rock crossover cut in his new single “The Soul or the Skin” that works just as well for occasional pop listeners as it does diehard beat-addicts in the mood for something a little more pendulous and seductive than the status quo normally calls for this August. Utilizing a
Welcome to Teyquil. We couldn’t stop tapping our feet when listening to your new hit, “Flashy.” What was your source of inspiration behind this fierce single? Awww, thanks so much for the kind words! My source of inspiration is quite simple, I love 80’s pop and new wave and I feel that era was a
Strikingly bucolic in “Dead Star Light” or surreal to the point of sounding almost entranced in “Fever Dream,” the subtle beats that we hear in the new album Minefields by The One Eighties are never conventional, but they define the very backbone of this record and its most cathartic moments without question. Employed as a channel
For the last two years, critics in both country and Americana music have been talking about an age of hybridity taking hold over the narrative for the two genres, and in new singles like the new cut from Chris Chitsey, “Last Time I Saw You,” it’s hard to argue against the legitimacy of the buzz.
Though it comes to us in a gentle strut, there’s a lot of urgency to the lyrical narrative in the title cut of Robert Jon and the Wreck’s Ride Into the Light, currently out everywhere good southern rock is sold and streamed. From the beginning, this feels like a radio-bound single from the record, and this
Over-conceptualizing has been an increasingly negative issue for American folk music in the past decade, but if one artist is rejecting it in every way, it’s Joshua Radin in his new EP though the world will tell me so, vol. 2. though the world will tell me so, vol. 2 has a lot of dimensions to it, starting
American Courage is a ten-track outing from singer/songwriter Brian Seymour and his first such collection in a decade. He highlights his social concerns over the course of the song cycle and Seymour contends with the lingering effects and aftershocks of the pandemic, but don’t mistake these songs are broadsides ripped from headlines and set to music. There’s a personal touch
Country singer/songwriter James Robert Webb has been killing it since day one. His last few singles have been well received by listeners while his general profile within the country music community seems to be getting quite popular with all the right folks. That said, adaptation is necessary to sustain any real credibility in this business,
Longtime Evergrey member Tom S. Englund and virtuoso pianist and composer Vikram Shankar, an alumnus of projects such as Lux Terminus and Redemption, make a formidable creative duo on their Silent Skies project. Entitling the tandem’s third album Dormant is almost funny. There’s nothing staid or inert about this music. Shankar’s talents on piano, keyboards, and synths envelop listeners in
Gideon King & City Blog have been taking the alternative underground by storm in 2023, and after checking out their interpretation of the song “Somewhere Only We Know (featuring Ashley Hess),” it’s easy to see what all of the hype has been about. Where other songs in this group’s discography are more conservative in structure,
Big immersive melodicism is a major ingredient in Lindley Creek’s recipe for a perfect folk album, and this is all the more obvious when listening to the prime cut “Over and Over” from the esteemed Whispers in the Wind LP. While there’s a lot to be said about the string thunder that circles us in tracks like
Combining firm guitars, a bittersweet beat and a lead vocal that melts hearts on the spot isn’t necessarily a new concept when developing a single, but when Shane Britt does it in his song “I’m Not Well,” he elevates the role that each of these components has to play. Britt wasn’t determined to pen a
Rolling out of the silence like a train ripping through open pastureland, Drew Cooper’s “Best of Me” kicks off with an electrifying intro that immediately lets us know just how freewheeling a jam we’re about to get into. The guitars gallop alongside the drums effortlessly, joining in a vicious groove that will make anyone want
The union of musical talents making up Studio D’Lux promises remarkable things and delivers. Keyboard player/pianist, singer, and songwriter Doug Kistner’s project enlist drummer Liberty DeVitto, Steely Dan guitarist Jon Herington, respected singer and songwriter Bill Champlin, and bass player Malcolm Gold in a band that has one EP under their belt and a new
Hannah Ellis uncorks an infectious hit with her latest single, “Wine Country.” From the first note, it’s evident that this track has all the makings of a radio-friendly anthem. With its catchy hooks and vibrant production, “Wine Country” is poised to make waves not only on traditional airwaves but also on popular streaming platforms and
In “LA Samba (Los Angeles Samba)” from his new EP Inner Path, Guillermo Marigliano isn’t asking the audience to hear him as it would be, but instead putting his concept front and center where we have no choice but to bask in the glow of its melodic presence. This urgent desire to take his place at
Rocky Kramer will be hosting “Money for Nothing” on this week’s episode of Rocky Kramer’s Rock & Roll Tuesdays on Twitch. Tune into Twitch on Tuesday, July 25th, at 7 PM PT for this amazing show. Rocky Kramer is a guitar virtuoso, often being compared to the greatest guitar players in the world. Rocky has