MUSIC REVIEWS

Adulthood has taught me many lessons. Not all of them are pleasant. Looking back on the younger version of me, circa my teenage years, I remember being smarter than the average sixteen year old, definitely more mature, but understand much more now. As smart as I might have been, as …

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 …

Although it would at first seem driven more by the acoustic strumming we encounter in its opening bars than palm-muted electric guitar parts, the quiet pulsations of the latter wind up lending a lot of soul to Wave 21’s “Why Does It Happen” that wouldn’t be present in the music here otherwise. …

Brooke Josephson has traveled a long way from her beginnings in Warsaw, Indiana. She parlayed her theatrical beginnings into work on several major network television programs and now has a handful of music releases to her credit. She leads off her upcoming EP release Showin’ Up with the single “Rainbow” and it’s …

The story of Little King is one that spans over two decades. Their newest album , Amuse De Q, is a testament to their staying power, or perhaps more accurately, their will to survive. Ryan Rosoff is the founder of Little King, and throughout the band’s 20 year history has …

Huntington, New York’s Gnarly Karma are the sort of all-embracing rock band the times call for. Their latest single “Rags to Riches” is the latest in a trio of singles geared to expose the five-man outfit to a larger audience than ever before. Composed by singer-guitarist Michael Renert and drummer …

There’s a lot of good music coming out of the Midwest at the moment, and in the country genre, one of the more talented duos to catch my attention this summer has been Eller Rhodes. Comprised of a father and daughter with enough musical experience to really get your attention …

A slow, creeping bassline peppered with melancholic keys gives a nod to listeners pressing the play button on “Ghost – Freestyle” this summer season, and although just an intro to the track, the first couple of moments we have with this new song from Santa Sallet are significant nonetheless. There’s …

With a groove that is arguably as ghostly as its main vocal harmony will become, “Unity” feels translucent and invasive at the same time, largely because of how haunting its componentry is. In this first song on The Ever After’s Take Two EP, we enter a thick cloud of melodic instrumentation and …

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 …