Ajay Mathur isn’t hiding behind any bland poeticisms in his latest release, the supple “Common Mistake;” in fact, he’s doing pretty much the exact opposite. “Common Mistake” is a pop song structured around a rather simplistic hook n’ harmony scheme, but for what it lacks in elaborate adornments it more than compensates us for in unbridled charisma. The lyrical element shares the cutting dialogue Mathur unleashes with us in plain speak, but even if his words had been gibberish in this track, the very tone of his vocal would be enough to convey just how invested he is in making…
Author: Cleopatra Patel
Fusing pop melodies with a laidback swing, Taylor Jules lights up the underground in her single “Helicopter,” and it’s getting a lot of attention this winter. The aspiring singer/songwriter’s voice is presented to us in its prime, ethereally woven into an emotionally-charged instrumental pattern of ebbing harmonies that are unforgettable and reverberating in the master mix. INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/iamtaylorjules/ Jules hasn’t reached the pinnacle of success yet, and though her journey is far from over, she touches on creative ground that even the harshest of critics will have difficulty ignoring in this tuneful and rather empowering piece on love, romance, and the place where our…
Sheer Haimov’s new music is stirring up a lot of buzz across the pop universe this year, and while her complete discography is worth checking out on your own, the new single “Rock Bottom” is a signature-caliber song you should start with. INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/sheer_haimov/ Featuring an understated rhythm and lush melodies that seep into the vocal track just enough to yield a hypnotic harmony, “Rock Bottom” has the trappings of your average pop single with one specific twist – its singer has pipes of gold. Her performance here is nothing short of spectacular, and certainly makes it obvious why she…
Clandestinely inward-thinking and yet beholden to a swing as much as any melody ever could be, the hook in “Possessed,” just like it is in the other songs in Tommy Howell’s American Storyteller, essentially defines the track’s personality almost as much as Howell’s voice does. Always by his side, the instrumental construct in American Storyteller expounds upon everything our storyteller shares with us from behind the microphone, and if you ask me, the minute details here deserve just as much of the credit when trying to decide why this record is the incredibly engaging effort that it irrefutably is. We might know him…
You don’t have to be fluent in the language of modern alternative rock to appreciate the depth of emotionality in Mark Winters’ surreal single “Heartbeat,” as its plethora of expressive melodies communicate everything that listeners need to know in this two-point-five-minute rock wonder. Like the other songs we’re hearing out of an increasingly retro indie rock underground, “Heartbeat” sees Winters experimenting with different styles and sounds, blending influences from across the history of pop in his pursuit of imparting all of the passion that exists within his heart. It’s not the most straightforward single that I’ve heard in my life,…
“The Harlot and the Gambler” is a featured track on Pale Blue Dot’s recent Live Sampler release. The four piece delivers deeply felt alternative rock with a strong lyrical bent rather than a reliance of riffing and sonic muscle. The band has a two guitar lineup regularly capable of achieving a distinctive weave without recalling other acts. Pale Blue Dot likewise pledges loyalty to intellectual and artistic ethos you don’t normally associate with such acts. They crib their name from a famous Carl Sagan quote and cite Henry David Thoreau, but it sets them apart without ever sounding pretentious. “The Harlot and…
With influences that range from Nine Inch Nails to Dolly Parton, and a touch of Lana Del Rey thrown in for good measure – genre bending Outlaw Pop artist DEVORA has released a new EP “God Is Dead” via Tiger Tone Records / [PIAS]. The EP contains four songs, with previously unreleased track “Bonesaw” leading the way. DEVORA says of the ominously enchanting track: “Bonesaw” is about a night in a motel room gone wrong, in a dark direction. It’s a voyeuristic impression of the lines between romance and impulse being heavily blurred. The song opens with seemingly illusive pretty snapshots of an all-American day dream, but progressively…
describe your musical style? Authentic rap/hip hop, my style is as unique as my voice, so I’ve heard. Who are some of your top musical influencers? Papcaan, Vybz the king of dancehall & Chipmunk What would you like your fans to take away from your lyrics? Depending on the song.. a life lesson. I create music based on my mood. Some songs are uplifting, some are dark. As we know, life is a roller coaster. Describe the music scene in your city, country, specifically for your genre of music. There isn’t one in my town. We all flock to London,…
For an album to come out and immediately draw comparisons to one of the most iconic, yet underrated, rock albums of the ‘70s, you have your work cut out for you. In Pete Price’s case, his debut album The Department of the Interior was released to praise — and comparisons to Jackson Browne’s 1976 classic The Pretender. URL: https://petepricemusic.com/ And honestly… it lives up to the hype and comparisons! There’s a duality in both records that feels unplaceable, as both projects deal with loss and heartache, worry and pain, and, ultimately, love (as is the way with most of life.)…
What has been the driving force of your career in this upcoming New Year? We have been playing with some new guys for the last few months and we are very excited about our live set and the new music we have been working on together. We started working with a booking company and are very excited to be putting together some bigger shows. Are you planning to do anything BIG next year for your career? We are hoping to tour, get on some festivals, and it would be real cool to do something in a different country. Besides that, we are going…
The Seattle music scene is feeling and sounding pretty stagnant as 2023 comes into focus, but this isn’t to say that the northwest is devoid of any real talent right now. Rock might be as good as dead in the emerald city, but with regard to the R&B movement, Ronnue is making it clear in his new release “You Got Me Open” that soulful melodies aren’t going anywhere – they’re here to stay. As soon as we get into the guts of this new track, as it appears in its standard album version, it’s undebatable that Ronnue has learned a…
Louis Siciliano’s Ancient Cosmic Truth highlights four tracks from the renowned Italian composer. He has set a new standard for modern jazz fusion and couples intriguing synthesizer textures into the form. The presence of former Weather Report percussionist Alex Acuña testifies to the foundational influence in his work, but it goes further than that. Siciliano’s work attempts to push into new areas without ever falling into the trap of obscurity. The title implies that this music is closed to the average listener – far from it. His vision is unique, but it has a common ground of musicality that all listeners can enjoy…
Artists in pop music use a lot of different weapons when chasing their audience’s affection, and for Taydem Shoesmith, vocal harmonies are the quintessential element of her professional war chest. Songs like her latest single “Are You Clapping?” require a lot of moxie from behind the microphone, but she doesn’t back down from the challenge set before her here for a second. An agent of intoxication from the jump, the harmonies of “Are You Clapping?” are perhaps the most communicative element that the track has to offer its listeners (outside of Shoesmith’s singing, that is), and whether you’ve been getting…
In her tempting new single “Hallway,” singer Drew Haley isn’t as focused on impressing the audience with poetic virtuosities as she is cutting into the silence with a deadly melodicism that has been anything but common in the last few years. The pop elements in this single become minuscule next to the potent tone of the harmonies that Haley unfurls with profound ease, and if there was any debate as to the credibility of this songwriter before we had the chance to listen to her work in this exciting new single, I think it’s going to be a thing of…
There’s something so undeniably earnest and unforgettable about a great country track. With Ricky Forest’s new single “Honey Please Come Home,” it scratches every itch regarding the genre and then some. It’s a heartfelt love track with fantastic instrumentals and a gorgeous voice at its core, but there’s a tinge of comedy in the lyrics even still, giving the track a fantastic world to play around in. There’s a definite built-up musical background evident in Ricky Forest’s past from the moment “Honey Please Come Home” starts. The musicality of the track is sensitive, with its warm guitars and twinkling piano…