https://cbdbband.wix.com/cbdb

There is a playfulness to CBDB’s new album. Blending together various elements of rock music, funk, ska, and pop, what might have been a convoluted album is made consistent thanks to the pilfering of certain aspects of each genre. That is to say, they are sure to take the most fun aspects of their influences and throw them together into the melting pot. Whether it is the harmonious bounce of the vocals or the brief pause/start which evokes a funk breakdown at the bridge of the first song “Stuffed Avocados,” the tracks even occasionally break into a bounding keyboard breakdown. By keeping everything on the sunnier side of the sombre, the band is able to tie together even the loosest of inspirations.

URL: https://www.jonathanmaher.com/

Multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Bannon Maher is a man who wears many different hats. One might find it hard to believe, but this prolific auteur ran an independent campaign for the senate when he was 29 years old!  In addition to that he has written two books as well as a number of articles including “How to Find Weeds in a Mortgage Pool” which was published in the New York Times.  It would seem that there isn’t anything JBM can’t accomplish whenever he sets about doing it; case in point, his latest single “The Fallout of Love.”

Album: Small Wooden Room

Genera: Pop, Rock, Singer/Songwriter

URL: https://patrickjfiore.com/

Intro: Have you listed to the Radio lately? Is it me or is something horribly wrong with today’s music. Do you remember when music actually had really instruments in them with real people playing them? No kidding. How about good songwriting performed by artists that not only wrote the music but poured their heat and soul into performing them. Now when one listens to the radio what do you hear: a pretty face, cookie cutter songwriting, crafted via a microphone, some fancy sampling and a mix that sounds more like a commercial than a piece of music. Yes the magic is all but gone from modern-day music, and people are wondering why. Actually there are a few select artists out there that still believe in the power of music. Artists like Pennsylvania’s own Patrick J. Fiore who just released a 12 track collection of songs called “Small Wooden Room.”

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/illacrimo-1

After a long way full of different experiences, two young brains meet again, in a moor between fog and melancholy near Milano. Davide-Kristof (son of Janos Acs, an important Conductor) and Federica Sara raise a project of European sounds, shuffle with the traditional Italian melody. The solution is the perfect combination of ILLacrimo with a rock solid self-titled debut EP. This is a short Italian/English progressive rock and metal collection of songs that border on alternative and classic rock as well. Being a female-fronted band they only have so much of modern influences to limit them to running with the pack, as they blend a lot of rock styles of the past three decades without losing any roots from which those come from either. “Burning Fields” establishes that early on and you can’t help but be drawn in by her beautiful voice, which proves to sing with the best of them, new and old, really. It opens up the show and makes room for the sublime “1000 Reasons To,’ with the vocals putting in their best effort and the guitars soaring above like eagles in flight. This is brilliantly delivered with pure finesse. Even though this is surrounded by much hard rocking songs, it still somehow takes the overall cake for me. The vocals on the next track “Chains In The Cold” are my least favorite, but it doesn’t hurt the quality any, just a low point for me if there are any. No worries, it picks back up on “No Longer” in a big way and saves the whole EP with an enormously satisfying track with more colossal guitar and vocal work. The disc is really boiling at this point and comes to a close with a big ballad “Non Credi,” but it’s another well written and recorded song which is actually sung in Italian without losing any appeal whatsoever, and it tops the EP off well. It comes recommended for being chock full of exceptional songwriting. This is a band to look for, as Italy’s music scene continues to pump out a lot of great stuff, from pop and punk to alternative and metal, they produce some of the best music out there in the indie world today, and ILLacrimo is one worth seeking, they’re a superb Italian act.

Primary URL: https://www.moorsandmccumber.com/

Moors & McCumber are from Colorado, and I hadn’t even heard of them, but on their fourth CD “Pandemonium” their sound hits with a familiarity that makes you wonder where they’ve been if you’ve never had the opportunity to hear this duo with a very complex musical background, incorporating strings galore behind their perfectly blended voices, including mandolin and Irish bouzouki, and it’s all well done on their country laced collection of Americana tunes.

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCweAMWdJgRS1X5QaQvspfNg

Rock and roll is dead. That´s what many music enthusiasts and academics are everyday coming to a conclusion. The fact that genres like Country or Folk are gaining some success really come as a surprise for me and is something I can´t really explain how it all started. On the other hand, of course, by the last century we already knew electronica will finds it place and define this whole new millennium as TV shows and Movies where all promoting this music made of loops and ¨futuristic beats¨.

URL: https://www.voxmirage.com/

This is a Seattle based alternative rock group with synth-pop and modern electronica mixed with jazz and dance beats. Mike Streng leads this duo on their first album, recorded in Paris by Ken Stringfellow and mastered at Abby Road Studios. It features thirteen well written and delivered tracks, which all shine with originality, within their influences, which range from R.E.M to Depeche Mode and others which rock in their own way. The mood is established in the intro cut, which breaks into “All I Want Is You,” with a lot of guitar and synthesizer. This is mostly pop driven but with a hard edge to its advantage, even though the vocals are pretty light with only the chorus to take it up a level. And that more or less stays the same on “I Can’t Take It Anymore Than This” with a better vocal attack going for it this time, but mostly turning out the same type of song. “Hold On” isn’t quite as strong as the previous two, but it does get better with “Never Go Away” being a strong contender for overall best quality to be found on the CD. This is where bands like The Killers can be detected but with a more orthodox way in its pop sensibility. Next they go a little more alternative on “She’s Going Away” and it’s a smooth result as well. I like this as much as anything to be heard from in every way, it’s one of the best indeed. Then it’s “Want Me Too” and “Just A Fool” and they both work together very well, as do the rest. They get really slinky on track 9, “Just For Tonight” adding piano and horn arranged throughout. It’s a classy point that helps make it all come together. The vocals shine as well as any other place on the disc here. They even throw in a cover of the Lindsey Buckingham classic “Go Insane” with a great version of it. This is no way disgraces the original, doing it justice all the way if you ask me, and it helps render the whole thing a winning set with me, adding that finishing touch. The other high points can be found with “On I Go With You” which does have its moments, especially the 80s influence, and also the final track “I Know What Scares You,” both of which please very well. I also notice how all of the guitars, vocals and keyboards turn in equally dazzling performances. There is no dominance from either, they actually even out too well to complain. They go everywhere from Radiohead to Brit-pop and back on this grand effort of a debut. You will rock back and forth to the guitars and swing to the keys and percussion of this band, and be left wanting nothing but more. It’s refreshing the way they do this. I’m impressed, we need more popping up like this, and as long as they do music stands a better chance going forth. These tracks are well written and played all over the place, blending styles without leaning too heavily one way or the other, which they display an amazing knack for. The blending of electronica and horns is done with style and finesse, keeping it together all the more. Voxmirage have that something missing in today’s landscape for sure, which they seem to fill all holes with.