Indie Music Reviews

Reina Mora – Trouble

published on February 8, 2018

Reina Mora – Trouble

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/reinamoramusic/02-trouble

Reina Mora makes an sensational splash onto the scene with her first single, “Trouble”, from her first studio release Bird’s Eye View. The single is a power packed reminder that many young performers are capable of bringing the heat older listeners associate with the most physical of classic rock and pop while maintaining a distinctly modern look. “Trouble” is an expertly produced affair that memorably frames her voice but, likewise, never diminishes the importance of the musical arrangement or the performance of her musical collaborators. Everyone comes out of this song smelling like a rose. “Trouble” brings just that to listeners, but it’s the best sort of trouble, delicious, and primed to have a good time. Reina Mora couldn’t have dreamed of a better debut than this and it gets her career off to a resounding, transformative start.

Universal Dice - birth, love, hate, death

published on February 5, 2018

Universal Dice - birth, love, hate, death

URL: https://www.universaldice.com/

Universal Dice is one of those bands that have been plugging away on the margins of the mainstream music scene for a number of years and never getting the widespread attention they deserve. Their latest effort, a sixteen song rock opera called birth, love, hate, death, will likely make some head way with them raising their artistic profile while still throwing down a gauntlet of sorts for listeners. These are easily digestible tunes, but main songwriter Gerry Dantone isn’t happy with just entertaining audiences with some snappy collection of cuts – instead, he brings accessibility and intelligence together in a single package that manages to balance giving a good time to the audience while still asking them to involve themselves with interesting characters that Dantone’s songwriting gives powerful voice to. It’s an effort from front to back that should more than satisfy the band’s longtime fans and earn them reams of newfound respect.

Ashley J – Satisfied

published on January 24, 2018

Ashley J – Satisfied

URL: https://ashleyj.net/

Ashley J’s musical journey from her Orlando, Florida upbringing to her current status as a blossoming pop superstar has featured a number of twists. She’s donned a number of musical hats during her brief commercial career – she’s cut music in studios from Nashville to Los Angeles before finally settling into her current style. Ashley J has truly found her proper ground as a pop vocal powerhouse with songwriting talents to back it up and throws herself heart-first into this performance. It results in a performance that will likely end 2018 still rating high as one of the year’s best singles and reflects both J’s talent and unquestionable dedication that’s fueled her rapid rise through popular music ranks. “Satisfied” leaves this young lady poised on the cusp of top shelf stardom and, if the stars align in her favor as they should, she can go on from that point forward fully confident that she’s arrived at this place the way truly great recording artists do – by following their muse and heart.

Albert Cummings - Live at the ’62 Center

published on January 19, 2018

Albert Cummings - Live at the ’62 Center

URL: https://albertcummings.com/

Albert Cummings’ latest album, Live at the ’62 Center, finds this ultra talented songwriter, vocalist, and blues guitar great playing a full set for a hometown crowd in his native Williamstown, Massachusetts. The twelve song recording is full of the fire and heart defining the best blues music while also distinguished by a superior songwriting sensibility that knows how to interject its voice amidst familiar musical elements. Live at the ’62 Center features all of the aural strengths that makes for a memorable live album – an understated but helpful balance between the performance and audience, a warm production effort never sacrificing authenticity to achieve its ends, and a physical mix capturing the musicians accurately without any needless adornments or embellishments. Live at the ’62 Center is a more than worthy representation of one man’s talents and the state of a genre extending much further than the relatively limited purview of modern mainstream blues giants like Joe Bonamassa, among others.

Kristy Love Brooks - The Soul of Rock ‘n’ Roll

published on January 19, 2018

Kristy Love Brooks - The Soul of Rock ‘n’ Roll

URL: https://kristylovebrooks.com/bio/

Fifteen songs may sound excessive, but Kristy Love Brooks makes her pass through a variety of stylistic masks quite believable and never tests listener’s patience. The songs on The Soul of Rock ‘n’ Roll are supremely well crafted numbers with inspired performances all around, but centering on the unique and deep running talents of Kristy Brooks. She takes on classic soul and R&B sounds with prodigious ease, but she also proves her mettle as a vocalist using her voice with island/Caribbean flavors and even rock with convincing results. She’s experienced success and critical appreciation as more than a recording artist and songwriter; Brooks has found appreciation as an actress, writer, playwright, and educator. She wears these many hats with the same intellience and distinctiveness embodied by each of the songs on this spectacular release. The Soul of Rock ‘n’ Roll delves just as deeply into the soul of Kristy Love Brooks and it’s a mesmerizing journey.

Theo Czuk - The Black Bottom

published on January 1, 2018

Theo Czuk - The Black Bottom

URL: https://tedczuk.com/

Theo Czuk’s The Black Bottom is a twelve song turn through the multiple faces jazz music has worn over the last century and he makes it sing and play as far more than some virtuosic academic exercise. Instead, these songs live with both pathos and humor with neither quality coming across as forced. Czuk has recruited a first class cadre of musicians to help realize his ambitions for this album and they remain a consistent presence through the collection’s twelve cuts. The Black Bottom could have conceivably come off as a staid, uninspired effort if he had pursued excessively studied results but, instead, it brims over and percolates with a level of freshness that few releases in popular music over 2017 could hope to match. We’re fortunate, as listeners, to experience a musical outing like this – surely no major label way back when or now would entertain the dim commercial prospects for such a release – and many, if not all, listeners will finish even a single spin through the songs feeling like a plant that’s been watered.

Kelly McGrath - O Holy Night

published on December 23, 2017

Kelly McGrath - O Holy Night

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr6zd7NpN6o

Kelly McGrath has been around for a few years now, so there’s no shame in believing we’ve heard the full range of her memorable talents. Her latest single, a cover of the Christmas standard “O Holy Night”, challenges any assumptions we’ve made. McGrath’s professed model for this cover is Jeff Buckley’s seminal interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and you can hear that come across quite clearly in her performance. This is a nominal holiday song recast as the spiritual that it’s always been, but it’s a spiritualism rising above dogma or doctrine and, instead, speaking to universal human experience in musical form. She pursues a singular vision with this performance and, despite her commercial success, impresses an image of herself upon new and longtime listeners of her work as musical art rather than pure entertainment. “O Holy Night” is a powerful example of a vocal artist working at or near the peak of her powers and bursting into a new realm of expression.

Severine - Not Obsessed

published on December 20, 2017

Severine - Not Obsessed

VEVO: https://www.vevo.com/artist/severine

“Not Obsessed” from Severine has an unique blend of electronica and typical pop instrumentation capped off with a vocal performance that makes it all the more memorable. The influence of acts like Portishead and Muse is discernible in the songwriting, but Severine already has her own voice early in a career that’s sure to experience many peak moments. Her producer Anthony “Rocky” Gallo is a notable figure on the New York City music scene who has worked with some of the music world’s biggest names and he aids Severine in framing this song in a dramatic light. It’s equally important that Severine embodies the passions of the lyric so well without ever lapsing into self indulgence or overwrought histrionics. Instead, she has the style of performers much older and glides through the performance hitting all of its high points and tapping into the mood of the song throughout its entirety.