SHARK-FIN AWARDS

The Cold Stares’ new album Heavy Shoes finds this dynamic duo in fine fettle. The band’s ninth collection in eleven years features a dozen tracks steeped in the imagery and traditions that have been their calling card since their 2010 formation. Guitarist Chris Tapp and drummer Brian Mullins built the band’s reputation …

Welsh based alt rockers, BOI, have released their debut album, Coron O Chwinc. The album is sang entirely in traditional Welsh, and the song titles list like a Rosetta Stone exercise. They say, Music is the universal language though, and BOI certainly exemplify that idea with the sheer power of …

In the new single from his EP Let the Light In, Vol. 2, titled “Let the Light In,” singer/songwriter Chris Donohoe seems intent on making) it known to critics that he’s not a run of the mill, one-dimensional player in the modern pop game. He doesn’t shelter his unchecked emotions behind …

Streaking in Tongues’ latest project, Slow Dancing with Bigfoot, is a collaboration with Michigan writer and two-time U.P. (Upper Peninsula) Poet Laurate Marty Achatz. The fifteen track collection marries Achatz’s verse with the aural landscapes that have been the father/son duo’s stock in trade since their first release in 2015. The …

I am a firm fan of Melanie Rogers’ latest single “R.U.O.K”. Her previous single release “Fever” played like a fresh breath of musical air during the pandemic and announced the arrival of a major new songwriting talent. I predict Rogers will not toil for long in semi-obscurity and will, with …

In a pop music world that is infatuated with pop culture, Trevor Drury dares to be different. His new song “Alice” is a complexity of honesty, riveting beat and lush, dreamy string arrangements. That’s not even half of it – Drury’s vocals bond together movie-star good looks and sensitive artistry. “Alice”, a song that Drury dreamed …

There’s a buxomness to the strum of the guitar we hear in the opening bars of “She’s Come to Sing” that is bound to make some of us assume it’s going to be the greatest gem in the track ahead of the 0:13 mark in the song. If you keep …

Instruments and words are considered by many who appreciate incredible music to be a link between humanity and the divine, and when listening to a record like Sandy’s new LP Magic Mind, it’s easy to understand the theory. Working elements of pop and experimental songwriting into a single, psychedelic format fit …

When it comes to creating a sense of familiarity and nostalgia-based around the sounds you grew up with, it only makes sense to listen to someone from a band responsible for crafting those very sounds. Jeff Coffey, though not a founding member, grew up loving the music of Chicago and …

I won’t mince words, Vol 1. Open Sesame Vol 1” the album by Istanbul-based artist Barista (real name Bahadir Han Eryilmaz) is a musical tour de force. I think there needs to be a stronger distinction between those who love music and those who LOVE music. What I mean is …