PICK OF THE WEEK

Nick Demopoulos, working under the moniker Smomid, produces musical compositions defying tradition and pushing listener’s ideas about songcraft into challenging new areas. It is key for readers and potential listeners to recognize what awaits them before hearing this release for a first time. He writes and records music with self-designed …

With the cadence of an elevated heartbeat, Nocturnal Blonde kick off their new album Still Gushing with an evocative drumbeat and a burning vocal harmony between Rachel Adams and Richie Williams in the first of the twelve tracks that Williams wrote with his brother Dave, “Smart Heart.” “Smart Heart” shoulders a beast …

“Contravertical,” the opening track in Kazyak’s new record Odyssey, begins in a haze of distorted spoken word and synthesized clouds that churn into a solid harmony by the time we hit the forty-second mark in the track. The music drones forward with a confident ease, unraveling one note at a time, …

After four long years, Nicholas Altobelli is finally back in the spotlight with some new material in the form of Vertigo, a 35-minute studio album packed with more haunting harmonies than most records twice its length are. Altobelli introduces us to fiery riffage in “Runaway Trains,” pastoral poeticisms in “Everybody …

In his first solo album, You Know, the artist known simply as Jaco (aka Birmingham heavyweight Jake Waitzman) combines elements of punk, garage rock and contemporary pop together in an amplified hybridity that can shake the floorboards beneath your feet as often as it can impart a deeply emotional narrative. …

Atop a piano’s sexy chime and a bassline’s weighty sway, Ronnue and Figuz deliver a party-starting powerhouse in the song “Why,” one of the twelve tracks that you’ll find in the former’s new full-length studio album, Introduction 2 Retro-Funk. Released this summer to a warm reception from both fans and critics, Introduction …

Hughie Mac has covered some of the most iconic songs in the history of pop music, and for those familiar with his latest album, the poignant Hughie Mac Sings Some Great Songs, Pt.3, his new star single “Let’s Get Away” is certainly one his very best performances so far. “Let’s Get …

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.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,” …

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 …