Stop Requested

Little Diamonds - New Orleans Bound

URL: https://littlediamondsmusicllc.com/ 

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist. Little Diamonds has a passion for self-expression that emerges through music and he has immersed himself in the creative life. His second album New Orleans Bound is a rich and varied collection of traditional American music with a high degree of lyrical invention and a number of surprising musical turns taken along the way. Some of these songs aren’t for the faint of heart. Little Diamonds tangles with some weighty themes and concerns alongside other songs about love’s disappointments and similar standard fare. He brings audible commitment to this collection – there’s no question, when listening to it, that Diamonds is engaged throughout and with the listener in full on every note and word. It makes for a great experience – those who hear this music with favor will be drawn into its world for the duration of the album and find themselves wanting more. 

Trey Connor - While Everything Is Now

URL: https://treyconnor.com/index.html 

Trey Connor plays music like someone born to do it and nothing else. He writes songs with the same out front passion and the six songs on his debut solo release, While Everything Is Now, attests to his skill as well as his love for the art. This is clearly a recording artist and songwriter every bit as intent on illuminating life for his listeners as he is entertaining them; there isn’t a single song on this six song EP that his audience won’t find some common ground with. It’s handled exceptionally well with a top notch production job that wisely keeps Connor’s vocals and musicianship at the center of the listeners attention while surrounding him with vivid accompaniment that plays a major role in bringing these tracks to life. While Everything Is Now flies off the starting blocks with a resounding woosh and never looks back.  

Erica Sunshine Lee – Elixir

URL: https://www.ericasunshinelee.com/

Georgia native Erica Sunshine Lee has produced seven studio albums of uniformly high quality and the latest, Elixir, is a sprawling fifteen song collection that solidifies her claim to ranking among the best traditional country performers working today. The kick out the footlights rock and roll gusto she conjures from her influences spikes a number of these tracks in unexpected ways. The blues plays a big part in her songwriting, both musically and lyrically, but it’s always cut with a healthy dose of attitude to make it more rugged than it might otherwise sound. There’s plenty of unexpected sensitivity running through a number of these songs reflective of the variety of sounds Lee was exposed to during her formative years that still exert a tight hold over her imagination. This is the pinnacle of Lee’s recording achievements so far – while there is a certain amount of fat and repetition on Elixir, Lee’s ambition is apparent and Elixir hits far more often than it misses.

StonerPop

URL: https://www.stonerpopculture.com/ 

The first recording from Louisiana electro pop duo StonerPop doesn’t really owe much of its musical inspiration to marijuana. Not obviously, at least. The five songs on their debut EP are all intelligently constructed while free-flowing, melodic, and often times highly atmospheric. They maintain a direct approach to songwriting and music making that involves the listeners from the first while also providing them with a very artful vehicle for realizing their needs for self-expression. Maudie Michelle, the duo’s main singer and lyricist, has a sympathetic musical partner in Jimmie Maneuva and the results of their collaboration have a satisfying amount of variety and color. They also show amazing confidence for two young, relatively inexperienced musicians and one can only assume that the source of this is an innate chemistry they share for performing and composing together.  

Go Time! - VI

URL: https://gotimeband.com/

Go Time has kept themselves quite busy since their 2009 debut and they show no sign of relenting. Their sixth full length album, entitled VI, follows 2015’s Ratsel and features eighteen songs with focused running times driven ahead by Scott Niekelski’s guitar work. His band mates in the rhythm section, bassist Marko Marketti and drummer Steve Grzenia, have combustible interplay and keep the pulse of these songs beating loudly. They played a number of gigs in Chicago and the surrounding environs over the last seven years to promote their previous five studio albums and their ease and energy with each other is, even on a studio recording, readily apparent. Their torrid creative powers are evidenced on every song here but, naturally, some stand out much more than others.

Jesse Eplan – Dreams

URL: https://info62103.wixsite.com/jesseeplan 

New York City’s Jesse Eplan has released a new single entitled “Dreams” that sets this young singer/songwriter/producer up to make the next big leap in his career. Eplan has harbored ambitions of a life in music since first discovering his skills at the age of seven and he brings a rare combination of the songwriter and entertainer to this outing. His talents extend far past his abilities as a songwriter – Eplan is responsible for the song’s stellar production that captures a relatively narrow range of musical elements in a perfect balance that will engage listeners mentally, emotionally, and physically. His song makes a lot of its deepest impact thanks to the fact that it aims to do much more than merely entertain the listener; instead, Eplan’s vocal effectively dramatizes the lyric while still delivering a musically satisfying performance. There’s no point in this three minute track where Eplan completely announces his influences, but they are easily heard nonetheless. 

Jordan Burchel - Vowel Sounds

URL: https://listentojordan.com/ 

Jordan Burchel’s 2014 debut Mood Swing featured a largely acoustic approach with an abundance of artfully employed keyboards, synths, and interesting percussion. There are hints on those songs, however, of the approach that full blooms on his latest full length Vowel Sounds. His creative approach to incorporating keys and catchy percussion into songwriting remains strong on the new album’s ten tracks, but the introduction of a muscular guitar sound on many of the cuts stands it far apart from his previous release. Another added element from the previous release continuing to hold sway over these new songs is Burchel’s interest in invoking atmosphere to buttress his, ultimately, direct songwriting, but it’s the growing influence of guitar over his music that makes Vowel Sounds such an exciting listening experience.