I’ve become acquainted with the work of flutists Patricia Lazzara and Steve Markoff over the last year. Having heard their two previous albums as well as the first single from their pending third album, I can say they are one of the finest instrumental projects working today. Concert flutist Patricia Lazzara has received a handful of awards for her playing, among them winning the National Flute Association Convention Performers Competition as well as snagging 3 first place finishes in the Artists International Competition, among others. Markoff, over the course of public performances and the duo’s first two albums, has earned…
Author: Cleopatra Patel
The Brian Shapiro Band’s second full-length collection It’s Amazing consolidates and builds off the success of the outfit’s debut All That We See. To some listeners familiar with the first effort, it may even seem as if Shapiro’s songwriting doubles down on the first album’s iconoclastic self-expression. Despite coming together during the pandemic, the Shapiro Band’s songwriting landscape is insulated from the scourge. Shapiro isn’t a topical songwriter. Instead, It’s Amazing’s songs explore inner landscapes and boasts impressive skills at characterization. The latter quality contents itself with rendering certain “types” clear for listeners, but it’s effective, nonetheless. There’s definitely an art rock component…
We are happy to spend some time today with the talented artist Michael B. Whit. Thank you for taking time to talk with us. We have listened to “40 Acres” and love what you are doing and bringing to country music. How did you decide this as your next release? Y’all are very welcome, anytime. Honored to talk with y’all, and I’m thrilled that y’all are digging “40AD.” I was just in the studio having fun when this idea came to me to experiment with mixing a little Prince with a little Jason Aldean, and before you know it, 40 Acres Down…
Film & TV Sync Superstar Nick Phoenix work on movie trailers has soundtracked the worlds of ‘Star Trek’, ‘The Avengers,’ ‘Batman’, ‘Harry Potter,’ and more. Now, he’s returning to his first love – Rock ’N’ Roll – with the release of new album ‘Wide World’, which features members of Death Cab For Cutie and John Mayer’s band. Phoenix’s music production company with partner Thomas Bergersen, Two Steps From Hell, has been producing all manner of film trailers and sporting events since the early 2000s: music to accompany the biggest imagery imaginable. Nick explains how it got into Film Music: “When I came to…
Virtuoso bassist, bandleader, and vocalist Robert Miller and his band Project Grand Slam have long since established themselves as one of the foremost bands in the modern music scene. The band’s work crosses multiple genres. Miller and his cohorts tackle rock, covers, originals, fusion, and other styles with convincing zeal. The band’s latest single “I’m Falling Off of the World” from their album The Shakespeare Concert highlights the unit’s talents as a live act and the production captures the varied range of their musical skills. The track kicks off at a brisk but clear clip. Project Grand Slam achieves impressive distinction between…
Mama Proud is the heartwarming and soothing new album from Annette Adler. Blending the magic of Folk music with classic Americana Mama Proud is an album that will get you moving and memories stirring. Adler has always found a way to keep music in her life no matter what point she’s been at in her path. Born and raised in Los Angeles Adler used to be a professional wedding singer before working at Capitol/EMI Records. After her sons were born Adler switched gears and became a music educator. Mama Proud uses soft and sunny melodies to reflect on the lessons…
I’m sitting here listening to “Too Late Again” for the umpteenth time. Normally I wouldn’t be giving this much gravitas to a new single – after all there are only so many hours in the day and new singles hit YouTube or Spotify on a daily basis. The new single from sisters Trisha and Thara is stunningly simple – clean and unbusied compared to other pop singles. It’s clearness, though, shouldn’t be mistaken for boring. Rumbling just beneath the surface is a dynamic groove that is poised to make the teens one of music’s brightest voices. “Too Late Again” is smooth…
With “All My Love” and “Tomorrow Never Comes,” Morten Nygaard established a certain following that doesn’t happen from quality songwriting or even decent performing on their own. When he sings these two singles, he gives us an opening into his soul that is hard to replicate when you don’t have the caliber of talent he does, but in his latest single “Trespassing,” he breaks away into another layer of artistry that is somewhat darker and more brooding than I was originally anticipating. It’s an exciting and dangerous style to adopt, but one I believe a lot of people are going…
Modern blues as a genre and concept feels less tangible with every passing day; in 2022, the blurred lines of any genre delving into rock instrumentation generally get slapped with the broad descriptor of “alternative” and the powers that be at radio stations, etc., call it a day and move on. For modern bands to champion the sounds less explored in the mainstream, it takes some gusto and a whole lot of talent: thankfully, San Francisco natives Wreckless Strangers seem up to the task and have been delivering knockout tunes unimpeded by mainstream labels for over six years. Their latest…
The beat is big and insistent in the title cut from Brooke Josephson’s new EP Showin’ Up, but while its thrust is intimidating in comparison to what I’ve been catching up with among the other players in her scene lately, it’s only lighting the fuse in this white-hot track. Josephson’s vocal is pure and melodic, but her delivery is aggressive and more attentive to the textural backdrop than it ever has been previously. The gallop of the groove is enough to leave anyone within earshot in a trance, but as the jittery rhythm of “Rainbow” replaces it a short three minutes…
Atlanta’s Jordan Asher Armstrong’s rebranding as The Great Lands steers the singer/songwriter in a Neil Young/Bob Dylan-inspired direction. Open ears, however, will hear strands and smatterings of other voices as well. The Great Lands is far from a tribute act or imitation, however, and the proof is where it should be. In the songs. 1400 Piedmont, the first of two EP releases due to become widely available over the next few months, attests to this. Armstrong’s instincts are honed to such an extent that he steers a venerable, and in some people’s opinion long ago exhausted, vehicle such as guitar rock…
Ronnue established his brand as one of the more reliable in the Northwest underground not too long ago after a string of popular hits on the indie circuit, and in his new role as producer for up and comer Lisa G. Allen, his legacy of detail-oriented craftsmanship only gets stronger. Allen is a formidable vocalist who demands a more rigid beat structure behind her to get a full-bodied harmony together in her new single “Big Momma,” but while the concept for the track is a bit stock in comparison to what you might find coming off the cloud scene at…
There are scores of singer/songwriters making headlines with provocative material at the moment, but of those who have come up on my radar this spring, few have intrigued me as much as Pete Miller does with his debut single “A Light out There.” Among the qualities that this single boasts are a black and white arrangement, soaring harmonies, and a textural expression that is often missing from some of the more intricately-crafted folk music out right now. To me, Miller seems like a successor to the singer/songwriters of the ‘60s, with a slightly edgier twist to his compositional technique. “A…
From the retro pop balladry of “Above Water” to the more buoyant melodies of “Calling My Angels,” Alex Krawczyk has a lot to share as a singer/songwriter in her new album Le Olam. Her voice is the guiding light through the darkness – represented by the absence of indulgence behind her – and there’s rarely an instance in this tracklist in which she isn’t singing to some level of optimism in the poetry. Tracks like “I Will Take You Home” offer her a chance to flex harmonic muscle brilliantly, but even in these moments, she holds steadfast in her conservative approach…
Delivered with a passion that can’t be faked into existence no matter how dedicated the player might be, Corey Stapleton’s vocal leads a charge toward climactic bliss in the new album Sea Change that is unlike any other you’re going to hear this spring. Rather than approaching this debut LP with the same formula a lot of his peers have been using, which is more reliant on instrumental virtuosities and surrealism than it is on anything straightforward in the pop model, Stapleton employs an old fashioned sense of melodicism in this record that matches up well with the style of his singing,…
The fourth single from AV Super Sunshine’s album ARTROCK (Victor House Records) is out now – “Judas” is inspired by one of Jesus’ 12 Apostles. Tragic as the story is, AV Super Sunshine challenges and wins the listener’s approval with this sobering pop track. Even those words seem to be in opposition to this chilling song. While covering suicide in song is not new – AV Super Sunshine’s ode to Judas, the man who betrayed Christ, is certainly a unique take of biblical proportions. “Judas” follows other ARTROCK singles “The Wedding Song”, “Together” and “Super Cool”. Suicide can be a hot-button issue for some. “Judas”…
I always frown or grumble a little when I read some supposedly sage article about how hip-hop and pop have likely displaced rock’s cultural currency. They say no one under the age of thirty-five cares about three chords and the truth, the style long ago succumbed to its artistic limitations, there are no rock stars left, and so on. FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LudlowCreek/ The central flaw, among many, behind this reasoning, is that it measures rock’s relevance by money alone. People predicted television and films would kill the novel dead, but it remains. It remains, in large part, because it retains appeal…
There’s been a staggering number of interesting new rock songs debuting through the pandemic, and while it hasn’t done much for the live concert circuit, this has started to feel like a new era for studio recording. Throwing their hats into the ring as a rock band this spring are FiveDFit, whose new single “Super Galactic” has all of the punch of a classic rock track with the polish of something more modern. There are a lot of puritan elements to “Super Galactic,” from the construction of the hook to the glistening tone of the guitar parts, but I don’t…