Anne Lindsay – Soloworks

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

It’s always interesting when someone releases an album so far afield from mainstream preference. We expect bands with a penchant for sonic experimentation or oddball points of view to push boundaries and move further and further away from everyday accessibility, but Anne Lindsay’s Soloworks moves backwards. This eleven song solo debut, recorded within the sanctified confines of a Toronto church, is music from another time. Though other instruments occasionally appear, her voice and violin alone control most of the album and the combination leaves a lasting impression. Some might expect an album like this to lack the necessary firepower needed to draw in modern listeners, but Lindsay is a superb musician whose music remains forever accessible and full of energy.

March to May

https://www.marchtomay.com/

We all have heard that cheesy phrase that goes ¨follow your heart¨, right? Well, as much as by now it sounds really lame and it´s something only a few really believe in – but sometimes when people go for it, great things happen. If you don´t believe me, ask Darren and Beth of March to May, which after leaving music on standby to focus on something else, music came back into their lives eventually joining forces and creating this band.

Najee Oates: "You Hold Me Down"

CBDB drops new album

https://cbdbband.wix.com/cbdb

There is a playfulness to CBDB’s new album. Blending together various elements of rock music, funk, ska, and pop, what might have been a convoluted album is made consistent thanks to the pilfering of certain aspects of each genre. That is to say, they are sure to take the most fun aspects of their influences and throw them together into the melting pot. Whether it is the harmonious bounce of the vocals or the brief pause/start which evokes a funk breakdown at the bridge of the first song “Stuffed Avocados,” the tracks even occasionally break into a bounding keyboard breakdown. By keeping everything on the sunnier side of the sombre, the band is able to tie together even the loosest of inspirations.

Jonathan Bannon Maher

URL: https://www.jonathanmaher.com/

Multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Bannon Maher is a man who wears many different hats. One might find it hard to believe, but this prolific auteur ran an independent campaign for the senate when he was 29 years old!  In addition to that he has written two books as well as a number of articles including “How to Find Weeds in a Mortgage Pool” which was published in the New York Times.  It would seem that there isn’t anything JBM can’t accomplish whenever he sets about doing it; case in point, his latest single “The Fallout of Love.”

Patrick J. Fiore drops CD

URL: https://patrickjfiore.com/

Intro: Have you listed to the Radio lately? Is it me or is something horribly wrong with today’s music. Do you remember when music actually had really instruments in them with real people playing them? No kidding. How about good songwriting performed by artists that not only wrote the music but poured their heat and soul into performing them. Now when one listens to the radio what do you hear: a pretty face, cookie cutter songwriting, crafted via a microphone, some fancy sampling and a mix that sounds more like a commercial than a piece of music. Yes the magic is all but gone from modern-day music, and people are wondering why. Actually there are a few select artists out there that still believe in the power of music. Artists like Pennsylvania’s own Patrick J. Fiore who just released a 12 track collection of songs called “Small Wooden Room.”

Cody Lyons: The Songs of Ben Romano

ILLacrimo drops EP

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/illacrimo-1

After a long way full of different experiences, two young brains meet again, in a moor between fog and melancholy near Milano. Davide-Kristof (son of Janos Acs, an important Conductor) and Federica Sara raise a project of European sounds, shuffle with the traditional Italian melody. The solution is the perfect combination of ILLacrimo with a rock solid self-titled debut EP. This is a short Italian/English progressive rock and metal collection of songs that border on alternative and classic rock as well. Being a female-fronted band they only have so much of modern influences to limit them to running with the pack, as they blend a lot of rock styles of the past three decades without losing any roots from which those come from either. “Burning Fields” establishes that early on and you can’t help but be drawn in by her beautiful voice, which proves to sing with the best of them, new and old, really. It opens up the show and makes room for the sublime “1000 Reasons To,’ with the vocals putting in their best effort and the guitars soaring above like eagles in flight. This is brilliantly delivered with pure finesse. Even though this is surrounded by much hard rocking songs, it still somehow takes the overall cake for me. The vocals on the next track “Chains In The Cold” are my least favorite, but it doesn’t hurt the quality any, just a low point for me if there are any. No worries, it picks back up on “No Longer” in a big way and saves the whole EP with an enormously satisfying track with more colossal guitar and vocal work. The disc is really boiling at this point and comes to a close with a big ballad “Non Credi,” but it’s another well written and recorded song which is actually sung in Italian without losing any appeal whatsoever, and it tops the EP off well. It comes recommended for being chock full of exceptional songwriting. This is a band to look for, as Italy’s music scene continues to pump out a lot of great stuff, from pop and punk to alternative and metal, they produce some of the best music out there in the indie world today, and ILLacrimo is one worth seeking, they’re a superb Italian act.