MUSIC REVIEWS

Though they’re not the typical flash point of warmth in a pop song, the synths that find their way into the mix of “Habibi,” the new single from acclaimed pop singer Ilyah, are undeniably one of the most sizzling components in the whole of the track. Whether encountered in the …

Carefully unfolding to an easygoing pace that emphasizes the understated tension in the lyrics, “Since Love Came Around” feels like a genuine statement piece in Steve Thomas & The Time Machine’s new album All Of These Years. All Of These Years sees Thomas and his band pulling out the big guns to deliver …

In Rest My Weary I’s, the new album from Alabaman folk duo Webster’s Wheel, folkies and fans of simplistic melodicism everywhere are almost certain to find solace amidst our stormy modern times this spring. 2020 has admittedly been a bit of a hit or miss year among independent artists, especially in …

Americana typically experiences waves of respect from independent artists around the world, and more often than not, from some pretty surprising places in the pop music lexicon indeed. Take Phil Norby for instance; Norby is everything than an alternative pop/rock singer and songwriter should be in 2020. He has the …

Tom Tikka and the Missing Hubcaps’ EP Working Class Voodoo is an unexpected development in the career trajectory of Finnish singer/songwriter/musician Tom Tikka. The three song collection provides listeners with an unique take on the singular songwriting talent that helped make the now defunct Carmen Gray and his other project The Impersonators …

Swinging as hard as some kind of heavenly pendulum, Whitebeard wastes no time in hypnotizing us with a lush rhythm as his new single “Dream of Me” begins to fill the air around us. There’s a sense of ease that comes pouring out of the speakers in the moments that …

“Brain” opens Heartour’s fifth album R U In and, based on its vigorous nature, it comes off as a statement of purpose for the project’s new release. Heartour’s musical identity leans heavily on a varied electronic sound; some may decry the limits of electronic music, but Jason Young’s songwriting shows that such …

Swaggering and saturated in a colorful melodicism not common in rock music anymore, the strings that greet us at the onset of Walker’s Cay’s “Tell Me” immediately clue us in on the journey we’re about to take with this up and coming Toronto rock group. Though initially acoustic in tone, …

Ricky Comeaux’s eleven song solo effort If I Ruled the World is the talented singer’s first release on his own and he’s chosen songs to cover that highlight his talents. The impressive cross-section of compositions included on this release range from Leonard Cohen to songs popularized by Al Jolson and Tony Bennett …

A number of singers, songwriters, and performers are already responding through their art to the pandemic touching each aspect of American life. The flutist duo of Steve Markoff and Patricia Lazzara might seem like unlikely contributors to that musical dialogue but their latest single “If I Could Reach Your Heart”, …