SHARK-FIN AWARDS

On the back of a textured guitar melody, we suddenly find ourselves in the trenches of a majestic groove as “Behave,” track one in the new album from Riches of the Poor titled The Long Way Down. The tone of the instrumentation suggests that catharsis isn’t far away, but at …

In their new extended play, appropriately titled 100% Cool, rockers JD & the RetroRyders don’t waste our time with a cerebral intro or any sort of pomp and prestige unbecoming of a true rock band – they jump right into the fire with “If It’s Out There It’s Mine.” Loaded with …

Mixing a little bit of country, blues, folk and pop/rock together in a single isn’t exactly a new idea, but that doesn’t make the cocktail Mad River puts together for the world in “Come As You Are” any less exciting this June. Available in both single and lyric video formats, …

Casting a dark yet wholly enticing shadow with every incredible beat it throws in our direction, “Living in My Dreams” gets Impresario’s new LP Songs from Inside started on a spectacularly smooth note to put it quite mildly. Leading us down a path beset with harmonies somehow both heavenly and menacing …

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 …

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 …

“Cause it’s hot in the city / It’s so hot in the city / You know it’s hot in the city / And I just can’t stand the heat” croons a seductive Julie Amici in the song “Hot in the City,” one of the cornerstone tracks on her new album …

At the age of 27, Sam Kempe, the multi-instrumentalist behind the moniker Pinewood, shows wisdom and experience in finding his audience. His four-song EP, All Things With Symmetry, is all things under the spell of this talented Georgian. Defining his own way, and taking the leap from band to solo artist, …

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 …