TNT Music – Pieces

Cranky George - Fat Lot of Good

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

Cranky George’s first full length album has been a long time coming. The scheduling conflicts of the band’s personal has curtailed its activities since their debut EP release and the addition of new members necessitated a needed rethink in the band’s musical vision. It is safe to assume, based on the merits of Fat Lot of Good, that any period of adjustment has ended. The fourteen songs on the release have a slightly awe-inspiring uniformity of quality born from the performer’s familiarity with each other, their innate talents, and a sympathetic dynamic that makes collaboration fruitful. Not a single track leaves listeners with any doubt that this band is working on the same page with each other and never at cross purposes. Such across the board, genuine chemistry is rare.  

Downie – Unavailable

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Downie/121552454596379

Downie has been singing in front of audiences since she was a very small girl. She began her formal vocal training as a young teenager performing classical , pop and jazz music. Whether in a recording studio or live, Downie is a seasoned vocalist with a wide range, able to execute all genre’s of music with emotional depth and creativity.

Downie received rave reviews in Japan where for four years she performed to sell out crowds in the clubs and hotels. She also performed with on the Dennis Bono show Live In Las Vegas with Grammy winning singer, Crystal Gayle. Her latest single is called “Unavailable.” If you like soft rock, Downie has a lot to offer on “Unavailable,” which is her latest single. If you look back on her you’ll find she’s really just keeping it going all this time. And she’s been at it a while including extensively playing to world audiences including Japan. And the world stage is really where she should be, but that doesn’t come without an artist constantly working to prove themselves. This can be a harsh reality for some or just part of the struggles and successes of the music industry that she is no new comer to. But what she remains is very fresh and exuberant. Not that I know what does or doesn’t make for good adult contemporary music on the radio, I still imagine this on several stations on the FM dial. It’s similar to what I usually hear when going through current stations who play a variety of things. So, it’s not just good for a limited audience. It crosses over well and there is just nothing bad you can say about it, even if you don’t care for the speed of it. And the lyrics read like a tell-all of sorts without telling. It leaves much to find beyond any efforts to describe in this review. In-fact it leaves more intrigue concerning Downie herself. You can feel the pain but also the medicating after effects as her voice does the talking and the instruments dance around her. It’s all very consistent in every way, and a real treat for those who like poetic writers of the romantic style. But it can also fly with folk and pop lovers too, as it has that mentioned crossover appeal. She pleads not to be naive when shopping for love, because it might be in someone else’s hands already. And she pulls off a catchy tune with remarkable lyrics and vocals to drive it straight to the heart.     And you either get all or nothing of that from most singers today. She not only reminds of some country singers but also some of those rock and pop voices of the past who broke through in the late 70s. But calling this country would be going a bit far, at least concerning this track. It has more of an Americana sound to it, with inflections of pop and easy listening music. That’s how I stack all of the elements in this one song. It’s produced with the clarity it takes to keep it clean, rather than going for a muddy sound that would not compliment the vocal structure. They’re so evenly mixed that you don’t miss anything. In closing, Downie brings a lovely voice back into the landscape on this song which I could use an album’s worth of to go along with.

Water Street - Waiting on Martin

URL: https://www.waterstreetofficial.com/ 

The five piece Water Street, based out of New Jersey, score big with their debut album Waiting for Martin. Unlike most Americana themed bands, Water Street exhibits consistent and widespread diversity throughout the ten tracks compromising their first foray into the full length album genre. They are just as home unleashing solid rockers as they are much more low-key acoustic fare. Much of the reason for this, surely, must be attributable to their instrumental prowess. Virtually every member of the band is a multi-instrumentalist of some sort and this consequently expands their musical vocabulary. Another significant factor fueling their diversity is their two vocalists. Dave Paulson and Claire McNulty both have great voices, but each has such an idiosyncratic tone and point of attack that they are capable of redefining the band’s sound on each successive tune.  

John Hickman – Remnants

URL: https://www.johnhickmanmusic.com/ 

The twelve songs on John Hickman’s first full length release are strongly influenced by progressive, particularly European based, bands of the late seventies, eighties and nineties. Remnants doesn’t expend as much useless energy exploring unsuccessful textures for the sake of making a song longer, but it embraces all of the expected melodicism and expansive synth-fueled textures defining that music genre during the aforementioned eras. Hickman, however, has many more tools at his disposal. His talent for creating melodies is absolutely irrepressible and helps give each of these songs a remarkable buoyancy. His guitar work adds exclamation points on everything, finishing off his melody lines with vivid flair, and vocals that seem a little quirky at first soon prove themselves more than capable of handling a wide variety of material.  

Astronauts of Antiquity - Future Back

URL: https://aoamusic.com/ 

Astronauts of Antiquity, a New York headquartered trio who operate much more along the lines of a “collective” than by a traditional band paradigm, follows up the success and critical acclaim achieved with their first single “Paradise” by releasing an equally exceptional second single, “Future Back”. Both songs are prominently featured on the trio’s soon to land debut EP Beyond the Maze and, based on these songs alone, that eventual release will likely rate high among the year’s best musical works in any form. Unlike many acts from this genre, Astronauts of Antiquity resolutely push back against the specter of self indulgence and, instead, serve up a diamond-hard gem with warmth and movement. Rather than some frozen electronica pop confection, “Future Back” breathes with every ounce of the life and longing reflected in its lyrics.  

Mesa Jane - This is How the Meek Riot

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

From the home of some of America’s greatest soul music, the City of Brotherly Love, Mesa Jane overturns your ideas about what Philadelphia should be known for. Melissa Olivieri’s restless, relentless creativity is at full flower on her latest EP release This is How the Meek Riot and the four songs comprising the running order cover an impressive array of approaches. Working on the electronic music genre as she does, Mesa Jane could certainly rest on cliché and produce one gloomily consistent set after another of soulless electronica, but this is a performer who can use synthesizer, sequencers, and other assorted technologies in organic and highly creative ways. Her music conclusively proves that the only limitations in music are those we impose on ourselves. Underlining that idea is the excellent lyrical content on the release and the artfulness of Jane’s vocals. Jane’s concerns as an artist are far removed from club life or the joys of youth and she sings with an intensely musical urgency that never forsakes melody or emotion. 

Stevie Pre – Greatest Hits

URL: https://steviepre.com/

We are leaving in a world that’s in a constant search for diversity in both the bureaucratic field but also the arts, slowly yet firmly that dream is coming true. However, while there’s a race and sex diversity taking place, sadly the same isn’t exactly happening on the music when it comes to the sound. Yes, we’ve had some great and unique artists taking the scene by storm like Imogen Heap, Sia (Yeah, her music might be kind of your typical poppy stuff but perhaps is her vocals or videos that makes her so different), Agnes Obel and so many on, but still even most of these acts are fading out into the “mainstream” abyss. Luckily for us, there are some great musicians and producers awaiting in the shadows to come out and reinvent the scene, one of them is Stevie Pre.