Bart Moore’s unique voice, rapid-fire strumming and surrealistic lyrics separate him from other folk and Americana artists. After playing for various new wave, alternative folk and grunge bands in San Francisco, California for 10-12 years, Moore got married and moved out to the Lansing, Michigan countryside. There, he recorded and released his debut, Curse of Los Lunas, in compact disc (CD) format. However, it wasn’t until this new release, entitled Graveyards Wind & War, that Moore sought to promote his new music. After generating a fair amount of buzz and garnering praise from numerous sources, including Pitch Perfect and The Austin Chronicle, Moore saw significant airplay on Dan Murphy’s Acoustic Outpost radio station.            

Thanks to Crash World duo Glen MacLeod and Graham MacDonald, there’s now So The Story Goes, a debut album from the group that adds a much-needed dimension to the country-rock, blues and jazz-infused genres. The band brings “the poetic whimsy of the ‘60s and the alluring boldness of the ‘70s with a refreshing contemporary flare” to audiences everywhere. A lot of these numbers take their time in evolving and this gives these tracks a slow burning vibe. I loved how there was absolutely no rushing in these songs as the band lets these tracks arrive and settle in on their own time. With 15-tracks and with a lot of these tracks over five-minutes this is a colossal effort, well-worth exploring for its polished and charming sounds.

Soft Crisis is an indie rock band from St. Louis, MO composed of Reshad Staitieh, John Hardecke, Garth Jenkins and Erik Seaver. The members of this band have been touring for decades with previous projects and have shared the stage with bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Bad Brains, Cave-In, At the Drive In, and Against Me to name a few. Suffice it to say the band has a good amount of experience and it shows.

“The Song of I” opens with a booming beat, a gentle-but-funky guitar riff and more fantastic effects. The manipulation of the guitar, along with the glitchy drum beat, is part of what instantly makes Z distinguishable from all of the other alternative bands out there. I love the creepy vocal work. I’d say it reminds me of Trent Reznor, but I think it’s worth giving this group credit for their originality; they don’t really sound like anyone. There are some raging electric power chords at points, and the cacophony of vocals in the choruses are so euphoric. The loud-quiet dynamic works so well on this track and I was hoping to hear more of this as the album progressed.

An electric experience which awakens the spirit of duty and submission to God’s Will, “A Time of Repentance” is a soul-shaking drop

The independent music world is spilling over with “One Man/Woman Artists,” those crafty technicians following in the footsteps of Paul McCartney, Todd Rundgren and Stevie Wonder (among countless others) in creating albums virtually by themselves. Though Oklahoma’s Mike Bodulow is such an artist himself, his style of solo music stands apart: he specifically creates “cinematic loops” that he’s able to reproduce and perform live with a loop station. “This limits some song structures, but leads the listener on a unique journey with limited transitions and changes involving one instrument at a time.” His newest release utilizing this unique musical style is called Foretold and Forgotten.

Pinning his artistic monologues at the epicenter, Morocco’s Philadelphia hit new single crystalizes his voice into a diamond sharp record.

‘Healing’ is a masterful consortium of music that is premised on the artist’s own relatable life experiences to help bring positivity into the world.