Indie Music Reviews

Uncle Frank – Fountains

published on December 6, 2016

Uncle Frank – Fountains

The United Kingdom has produced some of the finest soul, funk, and electronic dance music of the last quarter century and Leicester based Uncle Frank continues that tradition with talent and ambition to burn. The five man band isn’t merely content to work through a series of well worn musical poses in order to get across with the audience. Instead, they hit all of the sweet spots that listeners of the aforementioned styles crave from artists while still using the bass and drums to crack open a hole in your chest and figuratively touch your heart. Their second album Love Lion is due to come out in early 2017 and the first single from the release, “Fountains”, is an excellent introduction to the obvious quality awaiting the band’s fans. Moreover, it will definitely win over a whole new contingent of listeners for this highly creative and immensely soulful English band.

Kaylee Keller - Christmas in Your Arms

published on December 5, 2016

Kaylee Keller - Christmas in Your Arms

Official URL: https://kayleekeller.com/

Vocalist Kaylee Keller is a cut above similar performers in the country genre. She has an abundance of talent for succeeding with country’s predominant template now, pop influenced efforts with a slight Americana twist or sound, but she also has a wide command over the classic country genre. Her vocals are full of stylish sophistication and soulful gravitas, but there’s a youthful glow she manifests on even the most lyrically intense passages. Her performance of the classic country Christmas hit “Christmas in Your Arms” is made all the more memorable by her work with another rising talent on the scene, vocalist and songwriter Rusty Rierson. These two excellent vocalists realize the full potential of this songwriting clinic. All the necessary elements are here. There’s great storytelling in the lyric content, a well-constructed musical arrangement, insistent tempo, and an enchanting vocal melody full of comfortable familiarity and produced with an balanced and inviting sound.

Un5gettable - It’s Time for the Holidays

published on December 5, 2016

Un5gettable - It’s Time for the Holidays

URL: https://www.un5gettable.com/#home-1

Un5gettable likes to play down the humor of the band’s concept, but it remains worth a chuckle despite their self-deprecation. Joe Cameron, Kyle Cothern, Zach Harris, Brendan Hawkins, and Ryan Richards have earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the country’s best vocal groups with a real penchant for humor, but their latest release “It’s Time for the Holidays” isn’t as overtly humorous as the remainder of their recordings. It does have a light-hearted glow appropriate for the subject matter. The songwriting is unquestionably sincere – there’s never a single moment in the song that sounds like a band half-heartedly hitting their marks or invoking the season. The song runs a little over two minutes, ends quite cleverly, and is a very satisfying musical and vocal outing without any, even minor, excesses.

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Christine Saadé - Get Together (Ft. Twisted Dee)

published on November 29, 2016

Christine Saadé - Get Together (Ft. Twisted Dee)

URL: https://christinesaade.ca/

Christine Saadé has a diverse background that imbues her musical work with unexpected flavor. Much of the surprise comes from its unusual juxtaposition with modern musical genres like dance pop; it spins the formulas powering these forms in a distinctive and highly individual direction. She’s produced an impressive body of musical work in a short amount of time that cuts across multiple genres without a single misstep and her songwriting efforts, no matter what style she assumes, are aimed solidly in a positive direction in the hopes that have an uplifting effect on listeners. Her latest release “Get Together” continues in that vein. It’s a buoyant exhortation for union between people instead of division and framed with clear, precise production that throbs with energy and warmth. She works with popular DJ and producer Twisted Dee on this track and her influence further strengthens an already impressive outing.

Magic Music - Self-Titled

published on November 29, 2016

Magic Music - Self-Titled

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/magicmusiccolorado

Americana doesn’t get much better than this. The debut album from Colorado based Magic Music represents the result of forty plus year wait. This band of talented genre devotees is far from some purist tribute to folk, bluegrass, country, and blues. Instead, the six piece have such a command over the fundamentals of those styles that they are able to use them as vehicles for self-expression and transform their formulas into signature touches. They’ve recruited a star-studded coterie of collaborators to further strengthen the performances. Bill Payne of Little Feat fame joins the band as well while Scarlet Rivera, Bob Dylan’s violinist from his mid 70’s studio release Desire and Rolling Thunder Revue tour, influences the release with the distinctive gypsy color of playing. There’s an abundance of music on this release but none of it is difficult to contend with and, frankly, the band seems incapable of making a wrong decision through. They avoid self-indulgence and keep the songs short and concise.

Ricardo Alves – Hope

published on November 28, 2016

Ricardo Alves – Hope

URL: https://apassagetothestars.com/

The fourteen song ambient collection from Ricardo Alves, Hope, is a highly artful musical statement in a genre that is often derided or pre-judged as self-indulgent. The bulk of the songs on Hope are filled with intense emotions and moods that veer from bleak, icy hopelessness to quiet yearning and all points in between. The primary instrument driving these songs is, naturally, synthesizer, but the electronica conjures up a variety of other sounds that are surprisingly natural sounding despite their origin. Electric piano, brass sounds, and an assortment of percussion tones are well utilized in Alves’ attempt to weave mood and musical coherence together in one package. The ambient variations that Alves summons over the course of this collection has a great arrangement of colors and tempos that aren’t presented in an outright aggressive manner, but rise to claustrophobic levels at certain points.

RedBelt - Beautiful Surround

published on November 26, 2016

RedBelt - Beautiful Surround

Primary URL: https://redbeltmusic.com/

The first release from Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s RedBelt is a reminder that rock music may be moribund in terms of commercial visibility, unfortunately overtaken by pop and hip hop as the music of choice for many young music fans and concert goers, but that its artistic life remains as vital as ever. The immediacy provided by the four piece band setup has been recognized since the nineteen forties and fifties when classic country and blues artists first banded together in such configurations. Much of RedBelt’s power on their debut album Beautiful Surround comes from the combustible chemistry that they manifest between its four members. They, perhaps, overreach some by including thirteen songs on Beautiful Surround, but listeners should probably regard that as evidence of the level of inspiration they felt during the writing and recording process for this debut.

Jemima James - When You Get Old

published on November 25, 2016

Jemima James - When You Get Old

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

Team Love Records, co-owned by songwriter Conor Oberst and Nate Krenkel, has built its reputation on fielding some of the most creative songwriters and bands working today that are, more than likely, overlooked by the mainstream music buying public and giving them a supportive forum for releasing and promoting their work. In the case of Jemima James, Team Love has done a marvelous job of rehabilitation. The release of When You Get Old, paired with James’ 1979 never-released debut At Longview Farm, exposes fans of Americana music to one of the great unheralded talents of her generation. When You Get Old is a recent recording and amply demonstrates that James’ talents didn’t fade at all in the interim since those halcyon late seventies’ days but, instead, have only broadened and deepened since then. They are distinctly different releases, but put together as they are, they unintentionally provide a bit of autobiography in musical form and reveal much about James’ compelling journey from the folk rock world of the late 1970’s up to today.