This Place by Angelo David

With “This Place,” the brand new single from buzzworthy pop singer Angelo David, the Boston-born vocalist invites us into his heart to stay and makes a strong case to support his high-ranking spot in the modern indie music hierarchy. “This Place” starts out simply enough with a fifteen second intro that is riddled with a mind-bender of a melody that unfolds into a club-style template for David to make his own. It doesn’t take long for him to sink his teeth into the words, which are reflective but suggest an optimism that is fleeting, if not almost too divine to be contained.

“This Place” lacks any of the aggression that has become commonplace in similarly designed indie pop songs, but that shouldn’t imply that it isn’t capable of delivering its signature grooves without a struggle. David takes his time building up a cinematic tone in the opening verses before totally coming undone in the chorus, which swings like a pendulum and careens into almost anything that gets in its path. The execution is spot-on and not rushed in the least; I get the idea that David knew exactly what he wanted to do with this single and made sure that every detail was up to par before giving it the okay for release.

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXcjm6KHrrBXYw18FHwSPjw

The amount of care put into the production is more than evident even when taking a small glimpse at the meaty mix of the chorus. From the get-go these levels are clearly defined, but in the song’s climax we really feel the full force of the bass as it’s meant to be heard in a live setting. Overwhelming might be putting it mildly, and though the cranked volume comes out of nowhere and has no qualms with slapping us hard with a melodicism that is emotional and empowering, the transition is much smoother than one might expect.

Angelo David bears it all to us in “This Place,” and he doesn’t project even a hint of uneasiness in any portion of the track. His lyrics are steeped in soul-searching, at some points even feeling more like a diary entry than standard pop prose, and there’s never any question as to whether or not he’s being himself with us. He’s got no problem exposing his innermost thoughts to the world around him, which in itself is an inspiring quality for any person to have, but all the more essential when starting a serious career in pop music.

Whether you’re a hardcore Top 40 consumer or not is irrelevant when discussing “This Place” and the collective releases of Angelo David to date. His music is produced with top shelf technique that doesn’t exactly fall into every young singer’s lap, and through all of the excitement that he’s been creating with singles like this one and videos like the incredibly powerful “House is Burning Down” and “Mirror,” he’s maintained an candid, easygoing attitude that speaks volumes about his creative identity and barebones character. “This Place” is absolutely a worthy acquisition if you’re in the market for authentic grooves to start off 2019 with, and honestly I’m very eager to hear what David does with this awesome sound next.

I-TUNES:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/angelo-david/1152583603

Joshua Beach

Davie Simmons feat. Andy Camp and Esa Lehti - Angel Lover Music

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

Remember the first time that you fell in love? The quickening of your pulse, your heart flutters, and the calm you can't explain? The uncertainty of it all - will it last? Will it leave? Can you even trust that it's real? You don't even know it yet but your heart has already listened to “Angel Music Lover”, apparently. 

“Angel Music Lover “ is a timeless piece of incandescent music, a blend of too many genres to even try to explain to you, the listener, because it was meant for the ears and not for my words. You will have to stop reading, start caring, definitely start feeling, and let the rhythm take you away. But while we wait for your obvious decision in this Information Age to make the leap to Act 1 of the greatest story never told, how about a little background on the musical you won't be able to stop telling your friends about? Unless, of course, you're ready to just play the song and let the sounds take you away.

Once upon a time two kids had a dream to make it big in music, we've all been there. Who among us hasn't either been in a band during high school or pretended it one day out back in the parking lot with our friends’ music blaring? David Simmons and Andy Camp didn't just think it though, they tried to live it. The dream died, lost to the moment, forgotten about, and put away. Thankfully, however, anything written and not destroyed is never truly gone and recently old friends reunited, a former collaborator guitarist named Esa Lehti hopped on board, and a goldmine of Sixties poetry finally left the station. What we all received was a screenplay likely worth its weight in gold - Finding David. A tale of love lasting forever and the anxiety felt that it won't. Just like the fear of shooting for the sky and knowing you might come back down. 

The best way to introduce a musical is to let a promo video out into the world and that's exactly what the writers have done. “Angel Music Lover” hits on the notes of the power of love - asking if a flame can really burn blue for twenty years. None ever has for me, but the hope still lives. Love however resists the temptations of ego and regret and maybe, just maybe, any love is a worthwhile enough effort to expend the energy trying to get to that place of forever. We'll leave that up to the listener. The singers aren't even sure if you love them or the music. Simply let the melody tell the story while the words set the scene. A love that never stops, only slows to a trickle, but still continues to grow. Who wouldn't spend twenty years to understand something that true and real? And what person doesn't want to be loved that deeply that someone believes they're an impossible task? Feel all, let the regrets be taken away, and prepare for a musical like you've never heard before with David Simmons’ Finding David.

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1fsUKPDvDQ

Joshua Beach

The music of Davie Simmons has been heard all over the world due to the radio plugging services offered by Musik Radio Promotions. Learn more - HTTPS://musikandfilm.com

Rob Alexander - “Long Road Coming Home” (single)

HEAR NOW: https://robalexander.hearnow.com/

A percussive synth harmony seeps into the air like a thick fog, and before we know it we’re surrounded by providential sounds that are larger than life yet delivered unto us subtly. A palm muted guitar is barely audible but ominously wanders the outskirts of the synth, which is slowly getting bigger as we drift towards Rob Alexander’s exuberant vocal. His latest single “Long Road Coming Home” starts off patiently, but it doesn’t take very long for it to come undone from the gravity of Alexander’s rousing musicianship. “I find a gift to give you every day, and never look back at the years in between” he serenades, each word dripping with a honey-like melodicism that is instantly recognizable as unique and exclusive to his brand of adult contemporary pop alone.

With a kick of the drums, Alexander plainly informs us that though this road of life that we’re all traveling together is tough as nails and never getting any shorter than it is today, we’re going to have to press on if we have any hope of realizing who we really are when we’re at our most exposed. Home is where the heart is, and he’s willing to take us there if it means we all get a little closer together in the end. His voice echoes off of the percussion and melodies that are swirling relentlessly in the foreground, and it’s all too easy for us to get hypnotized by the harmony that is being conjured in the beautiful chaos that we’re witnessing firsthand.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/track/4tBA3jJm4HHZrSz6eVniJ0

Everything almost comes apart as we shift into the next stanza, but Alexander makes sure to reel us in from the fire before we get burned by the flames. Every note in “Long Road Coming Home” has its place, and even when the song starts to rock in the second chorus nothing ever escapes from where it was intended to sit. Rob Alexander is a very meticulous composer, and so far I haven’t found any of his music to be shapeless or off the wall in the least. As much as people say that today’s pop music fan demands elaborate songwriting that incorporates as many savage accents and twisted overdubs as possible, there’s something really satisfying about listening to a song like this one, which relies only on its self-conscious lyrics and literate textures to make fans fall in love with its grandeur.

“Long Road Coming Home” concludes in operatic fashion, fading into the ethers in a tizzy of bluesy guitar, symphonic synths and closing lyrics sung to us in a half-whisper. Devoid of the malevolent self-centeredness of the average pop single and packed with powerful melodies, ornate verses and a playful harmony that demands a reaction out of anyone within earshot, the fourth single from Rob Alexander’s debut album of the same name is yet another graceful effort from the Florida-based singer/songwriter, who is turning out to be one of 2018’s hidden treasures. Music enthusiasts who crave the soft rocking sway of traditional piano pop with the edge of modern adult contemporary would do well to give this song a spin.

I-TUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/long-road-coming-home/1348846070

Joshua Beach

The music of Rob Alexander has been heard all over the world due to the promotional services offered by Danie Cortese Entertainment & Publicity. Learn more here - http://www.daniecorteseent.com/

Abby Zotz - Local Honey

URL: https://abbyzmusic.com/

This generous, sunlit record left me feeling like a plant that had been watered. Abby Zotz’s Local Honey is a lot of things, but among those is an ideal listening experience for those times when misfortune seems to be bearing down from every side and heartache is a daily reality. It will pick you up out of the mire. It isn’t filled with cuddly sentiments or soft-pedaled clichés and tropes, but the cumulative effect of this collection is to state, once more, that life has its difficulties, its ups and down, and it behooves us to bear them with whatever grace we can muster and turn our eyes towards moving on. The production for this album brings out every thread of color into sharp relief without every belaboring one aspect over another – balance is an obvious watchword and it pays off with a fully realized solo debut.

A strong sense of inspiration fills many of the songs and influences their energy. “Stability” is one such song and the album’s first. It kicks off Local Honey with some hard won, but enormously affectation sentiments gaining a lot from Zotz’s upper register emotion. She embodies the song’s emotional peaks with such detailed, measured simplicity that it cuts right through your defenses and draws blood. You have to know what instability is before you can write about recognizing some stabilizing force in your own life. The perhaps unexpected sound of an organ opens “Big Hope” and the song embraces a full band arrangement from the first. The spring in this song’s step gets a lot of its air time from the organ, a constant underlying presence in the song, and some electric guitar puts added teeth in the song.

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/events/1597048430528970/

Gospel is the guiding influence behind “Peace Sweet Peace”, but there’s no denying it has a jazzy tilt on it that may play unexpected for some. The spartan, well spaced arrangement gives Zotz ample room to work her magic. She captures our attention with a smokier vocal tone than previous songs, playing to the song’s bluesy roots, and the obvious dexterity of her voice is a marvel to me. The gently undulating pastoral sweep of “Good Bones” has an underrated commercial edge – this song wouldn’t be at all out of place on either retro or modern country radio. The vocals are exquisitely arranged.

“Be Here Now” is an ode of a sort to mindfulness and rates, in my mind, as one of the album’s best lyrics. Zotz has an unerring instinct for characterization coming through these words and the inevitable pay off with many of the verses has just the right amount of symmetry and unity. The song’s bridge and instrumental breaks neatly dovetail into the song as well. There’s a bubbling rhythm bringing “Sea Change” to life and Zotz’s voice has a spectral, almost ghostly aura. The same ghostliness runs though “All Through the Night” with an added dash of stately lyricism and vocal harmonies. “You’ll Never Know” ends Local Honey with another echo of jazz influences coming through the tune and the good natured gaze she casts vocally over the song’s bittersweet lyric makes it all the more appealing. Abby Zotz’s first appearance as a solo recording artist is the peak of her musical journey so far and stands to propel her art in a whole new direction.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Local-Honey-Abby-Zotz/dp/B07G31SW56

Joshua Beach

The Blackmail Seduction - The Blackmail Seduction II

BANDCAMP: https://theblackmailseduction.bandcamp.com/album/the-blackmail-seduction-ii

The Blackmail Seduction began their musical journey in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has since relocated to the Los Angeles area, but there’s a surprising amount of heartland influences making their way into band’s songwriting. The band’s second self-titled album, The Blackmail Seduction II, has an interesting mix of sounds and textures while maintaining its focus on well constructed tracks with a sharp lyrical bent. Lead vocalist Jess McClellan’s songwriting for The Blackmail Seduction has a strong autobiographical suggestiveness, but it’s well rounded enough to encompass an universality possessing across the board appeal. It’s quite a feat to balance clearly personal songwriting with mass market punch, but The Blackmail Seduction hits its mark with style time after time on this release.

“Dead Girl” builds to a steady boil, but The Blackmail Seduction keeps a firm grip on the reins throughout the song and never overplay. Newcomers to the band’s sound and songwriting will note how, despite McClellan’s songwriting dominance over the band’s material, they never fail to play as a cohesive unit. Newcomers will also gravitate towards McClellan’s emotionally powerful voice. Despite the emotiveness of his singing, he has an edgy rock tone in his voice that helps give it the right amount of attitude. “Tell the World” takes that to the next level with a forceful rock sound quite unlike anything else on The Blackmail Seduction II. Troy Hardy and McClellan’s guitar playing comes together better on this song, arguably, than anywhere else on the release and even unveil a double guitar attack different than anything else on the release.

“She’s Leaving Home” has a much more pensive demeanor than the preceding song and brings new sounds into the band’s identity, but the most striking aspect of the song for me comes across in the stately pace set rock in the song. There’s ample melodicism as well and the backing vocals during the song are critical to the song’s success. “Visiting Hours” shows us another turn in the band’s musical personality and has a more muted air than any of the aforementioned songs including “She’s Leaving Home”. I’m especially impressed by McClellan’s singing during this song – one can easily assume this song is ripped from the pages of his autobiography, but it isn’t difficult to relate to this song. He really lays it on the line with this track and it’s an invigorating listening experience.

The Blackmail Seduction has an uphill climb in the modern musical landscape, but I remain a believer that sincerity can still carry the day for listeners. You can’t help but respond to their obvious investment in these songs and there’s never any sense of the music or sentiments feeling forced. Instead, The Blackmail Seduction II hums from the first and doesn’t have a single apparent lull. It’s a more than worthy successor to the band’s debut and sets them on a course for even greater success in the future. Jess McClellan and his cohorts are poised for great things on the back of genuine talent.

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

Joshua Beach

Del Suelo - The Musician’s Compass: A 12 Step Programme

URL: http://delsuelo.net/

Del Suelo’s inspired musicality will hook you in from the first. The Musician’s Compass: a 12 Step Programme opens with the tune “Second Encore” and Suelo, a stage name for Erik Mehlsen, introduces the story of a traveling band’s day with intelligence and accessibility. The songwriting isn’t above embracing an array of influences but, rather than attempting to ape them, Mehlsen’s playing excellence infuses them with a distinctive melodic touch and wrings further changes to familiar sounds and themes. “Pack Rats” is a single release from The Musician’s Compass: a 12 Step Programme and a fun music video accompanies it, but it’s glossy and skillfully presented window dressing for one of the leading musical performances found on this studio album. Mehlsen boasts chops galore, obviously, but any technique he draws on informs, rather than interferes, with his ability to connect with listeners.

There’s a certain wry appraisal of character reflected in how Mehlsen cops so many twists on popular song and album titles for tracks on this album. The punk nod of “Berlin Calling” promises something Clash-like and Mehlsen delivers, in his own idiosyncratic fashion, while also advancing the album’s narrative. It would likely prove an interesting experience to read the accompanying novel of the same title, likewise written by Mehlsen, while listening to the album, but there’s no question the songwriting accomplishes much. “A Lust Supreme” expands further on this feeling and sweeps listeners up into its late night metropolitan swirl. Another standout chorus is the key hook for “A Lust Supreme” and creative keyboard work flashing like quicksilver over the drumming keeps things moving at a satisfying, measured rate.

“Nightstream” is, at first, a study in sonic contrast as its opening wash of white noise, akin to a raucous crowd, transforms into the album’s most meditative, pensive moment. There is a palpable pastoral shading coloring “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”and the consistency of Mehlsen’s approach to the vocals begins to pay off huge by this juncture as it continues strengthening an unified sound few artists of any stature can claim. Mehlsen, track after track, inhabits these songs with a rare combination of melodic presence and emotional rigor – he doesn’t spare anything plumbing the depths of “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” and the post production effects applied to his voice only enrich the overall effect.

Those melodic talents continue shining through on “Caress of Steel Wheels”. It’s a smart, well-written tune with another of The Musician’s Compass’ first rate choruses. He really throws himself into this one and reaches soulful peaks that make this one of the album’s best tunes. I can’t really say enough about the drumming for this release – the production never fails surrounding each beat with clarity and snap that sets a sharp tone for the song. The habit of five star choruses continues with “Enter the Tempel” and it’s one of a handful of moments on this sophomore release when Mehlsen’s singing is so good and evocative you forget he’s so young comparatively young and such a virtuoso musician as well. It’s likely a seldom discussed facet of his skill set, but the vocal performances on The Musician’s Compass: a 12 Step Programme is nothing short of breathtaking.  The album peaks in a breathtaking way with the extended tune “Darn that Dream/Stairway to Eleven”, a song that gives us a sense of his main character’s regret without ever belaboring the despair. There’s nuance and depth in everything Del Suelo does on this release; it’s really nothing less than a modern classic.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/10y9nciKuBaNJnnmKihbuN

Joshua Beach

Wave 21

URL: http://menwithouthats.com/wave21.html

Wave 21 delivers direct, well played and melodically strong music appealing to a wider audience than purists. Their style is described as country rock, but it is limiting as a label. Wave 21’s songwriting from sisters Mary Lynn and Emmy Lou Doroschuk definitely touches on country and faint rock influences, but there’s an undeniable intelligent pop sophistication with their songs unlike much of what we hear from this style today. The sisters are the talented offspring of  Men Without Hats’ producer and guitarist Stefan Doroschuk and their talents on display are the results of working at their craft since an early age. Their father joins them in Wave 21 as a bassist and violin player while, as well, playing the role of producer for this superb sounding release. This Montreal based band, however, isn’t just a way for the Doroschuk’s to get their music out there – Wave 21 plays like a full fledged outfit and never disappoints.

There’s definitely a rock influence in the band’s music, even if we don’t hear it often, and the reverberating drums leading us into the first song “Ya Ya Ya” soon settles sonically and establishes a lean, surging groove. The refrain of the song title reflects the joy at the heart of this performance better than any of the lyrics, but those are nonetheless quite fine for what the song requires. Mary Lynn Doroschuk’s voice immediately captures your ear and, despite the obviously fine quality of her voice, she never “over sings” or attempts to dominate the track. Instead, Doroschuk shapes her voice to each of the album’s ten songs and it makes these tracks immeasurably stronger efforts. The lead guitar has a delicious twang without ever sounding over-exaggerated, but acoustic guitar lays down a consistent groove across the entirety of the song.

“Love Shouldn’t Make Me Cry” has a great sound, the instruments seeming to entwine rather than sounding like your typically structured performance, and there are some moments really standing out in the arrangement. The rhythm section contributions are the most important thing in bring this song off with Stefan Doroschuk’s bass playing bringing some intensely creative fills into the performance. You can’t help but admire how they put this one together. “The Fun Times” is another achievement on the album. The band proves they aren’t above confounding a listener’s expectations and add a song to the album notable for a number of reasons, its hard-earned wisdom simply put among them.

The final high point for me is the song “Catch Me”. This is a country influenced gem with a decided pop sensibility, particularly in how well the Doroschuk sisters refurbish the theme with their own spin on the tradition, and it sounds like the best chorus to me on an album full of them. Wave 21 are going to gain considerable notice thanks to the quality of this album and sound well on their way to long, respected careers. The ten songs on this debut are full of lessons you cannot teach.

REVERBNATION: https://www.reverbnation.com/wave21band

Joshua Beach

AV Super Sunshine’s “Time Bomb”

AV Super Sunshine’s “Time Bomb”

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/AVSupersunshine

The two mixes of AV Super Sunshine’s “Time Bomb”, the club and radio DJ version respectively, offers a powerful example of how an ace collaborator can shape material in a compelling way. Famous DJ and producer Michael Bradford transforms the already fine track into something entirely new, a forceful and dynamically structured EDM masterpiece with accompanying regular instruments like guitar and piano humanizing, in a sense, the musical attack. It runs five plus minutes in length and it’s just this range helping to make it one of the more impressive club aimed released in recent memory. It isn’t difficult to imagine a building teeming with sweating bodies exhausting themselves to the lengthy groove Bradford establishes with this mix thanks to a monumental sound system and the inherent talent going into this release.

AV Super Sunshine is based out of the state of Wisconsin, but the music has universal vintage. AV has a number of well-received and popular releases to its credit and much of the responsible for its reception can be laid at the feet of the idiosyncratic, yet recognizable, swirl of electronic musical elements and more commonplace instruments like guitar and piano. Piano doesn’t play nearly as much of a role in the club  mix as it does the version intended for radio, but AV and Bradford nonetheless find a place for this sound in the aforementioned take on the song, albeit in radically different fashion than before.  Guitar, however, plays a key role in making this club version fly for listeners and adds aesthetic value as it varies up the music’s sound without ever moving it away from its intended target.

The presence of melody in the club mix is a nice touch, but it might be lost on an ocean of writhing bodies. Appreciated from the hearing point of one’s own living room, however, it raises the musical stakes for the song in a meaningful way – meaning it engages the imagination more than an already creative tune might have missed out on. The synthesizers and pre-programmed drums lead the way, however, from the dense flair of sound opening the song through an ear-popping array of changes scarcely allowing the listener time to keep it up. It’s a dazzling display of talent, however, and worth every second.

The radio mix is positively demure in comparison. Make no mistake, however, AV Super Sunshine achieves notable results with this version – there’s definitely a strong electronic instrument presence in this song, but there’s much more outright musicality in a traditional sense. We hear the lead vocals coming through better than the club mix ever allows and the highlighted backing vocals sync up quite nicely with the main voice. The piano mentioned earlier, as well, has a more prominent role than before and, while it is a distinctly different offering than the earlier cut, many of the same      qualities distinguishing Bradford’s club mix are fully evident in this performance. “Time Bomb”, both the club and radio version, are superb, substantive entertainment from an artist only continuing to grow in talent and stature.

REVERBNATION: https://www.reverbnation.com/AVSuperSunshine

Joshua Beach

Conceptz makes a “Splash”

Conceptz makes a “Splash”

URL: https://www.conceptzmusic.net/

With a great deal of respect dished out to the old school pioneers who paved the way for them while also fronting their own concept, style and visually stimulating persona, Conceptz lives up to their name in the single “Splash,” providing us with a whole new look into the minds of the two skilled artists behind its creation. 

Conceptz have been making noise in the American hip-hop underground for nearly a decade, and their name has become synonymous with originality and the unselfish inventiveness that is now influencing a burgeoning generation of indie rappers. “Splash” is what their most loyal fans have come to expect from them; clear, concise lyrics that don’t mince words or rely on metaphors to make a statement. But in addition to that, there’s something decidedly different about “Splash” that sets it apart from all of their professionally released discography to date. “Splash” is a crossover into electronic pop that many of their closest rivals have pursued but almost universally come up short in achieving. “Splash” takes the band, and their appeal, and brings it into full-color realization.

For a little over twenty years now, the biggest rule in this game has been as follows: don’t step on anyone’s toes, but don’t be anyone’s kicking post, either. Conceptz skirts the line with this one, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Splash,” to me, plays out and unfolds like a war cry aimed directly at the corporate figureheads the control the mainstream commercial flow of hip-hop. The underlying message is that Conceptz is here to stay, and not only will the industry cooperate with their masterplan, but they’re actually going to need to mold their structure around what Conceptz is seeking to create. It’s an intrepid threat, but it’s so desperately needed right now in hip-hop and pop music in general. 

For an era that has been supposedly dominated by artist-powered decisions and a collective agreement that major labels and corrupt promotors need to be downsized and cut out of the future direction of our music, this is one of the only times that I can endorse the way an artist has chosen to go about finding their independence.

Conceptz doesn’t have a big agenda in this thing, and there’s no sociopolitical ramifications hanging in the balance with their releases to create pressure on their artistic process. In many ways Highrowglyphfix & Short Fuze are living the rock n’ roll ethos in the most traditional sense imaginable. They’re living just for the music and its complete cultivation, and whatever they have to go through to get their mission accomplished, so be it. That’s what makes these guys so special, and moreover, “Splash” as significant as it really is. If anyone was confused about Conceptz place in the hierarchy of pop prior to now, this track should pretty much clear up any misconceptions. Conceptz is the top boss right now, and rather than trying to figure out how they climbed the latter so fast, I’d worry about trying to keep up with the pace they’re setting.

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

Joshua Beach

Naurea - New Zombie Generatio

Naurea - New Zombie Generation

BANDCAMP: https://naurea1.bandcamp.com/album/new-zombie-generation

Naurea has intermittently produced music since 2002, but they’ve managed sixteen years without any appreciable advance in technique or skill. The latest twelve song release from the project, New Zombie Generation, is so singularly bereft of inspiration experienced listeners will ask themselves what Abel Oliva Menendez, the project’s mastermind working under the nom de plume Olimann, hoped to accomplish with its release beyond satisfying his own ego. Many of the tracks sport musical arrangements hardly different from their counterparts and others are bald faced imitations of their betters in this style. His songwriting expends a lot of energy aping genre tropes from horror and fantasy fiction, but with no discernible effect on the songwriting quality or entertainment value. Instead, they are ramroded into a mishmash with fragmented and melodramatic pseudo-musings. It’s often offensive, as well, thanks to its total lack of any meaningful sense of humor.

“Sugar Sun” opens the album on a less than promising note and previews an approach we’ll hear for the entirety of New Zombie Generation. Menendez opts for the path of least resistance with each of the album’s songs and makes previous little attempt to meaningfully vary any of the album’s first three tunes. The following tracks “Boygirl Vampire” and “Welcome to Monsterland” essentially follow the same musical path with little variation. Naurea doesn’t build the entire collection around its guitar work, but it plays a significant role and fails at every turn thanks to its lack of imagination and poor production values. The former quality is more fully in evidence over the course of the album’s first three songs and gets New Zombie Generation off to a distinctly inauspicious start.

“Hello Mr. Bull” is another nadir as Menendez continues plundering the catalogs of greater composers for his inspiration and produces nothing of any individual note. Some performers are adept enough to build long and successful careers on the back of outright mimicry, but Menendez can’t because he never properly understood what he heard to begin with. “Mama Cadaver” has a particularly gruesome point of view Menendez does nothing to redeem with any saving grace of humor and, instead, hits listeners with much of the same musical nonsense we’ve heard with earlier tunes. “Dead I Am” leans more on Menendez’s industrial rock influences and comes off as little else than an unmitigated rip off of Nine Inch Nails and other such fare without a single transformative quality to be heard.

The jagged synthesizer propelled attack of “Fast Food is the New Religion” might signal, to some, a chance for Menendez to actually shine, but he disappoints once again with depressingly one note arrangement that could have been something more in the hands of a composer with any discernible evidence of creativity. More blatantly mimicry comes with “Nail in the Eye”, a virtual paean to Downward Spiral era Nine Inch Nails, but sadly lacking any lyrical or musical ingenuity. Few musical experiences in recent memory pretend to be more than Naurea’s New Zombie Generation, but there’s nothing here beyond the sound of an inferior talent aspiring to competence and falling far short.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/7MMyhABIa4rbVcZv8goFoj

Joshua Beach

Crack of Dawn release new Music

Crack of Dawn release new Music

I-TUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/spotlight/1311932780

Surfacing from the darkness of an extended hiatus with one of the most superb offerings of the last calendar year, Crack of Dawn’s Spotlight isn’t just captivating the critics, but it’s earning one of Canada’s most legendary and critically underrated groups a whole new legion of modern, youthful followers. The way they’re going about their comeback wasn’t devised in some marketing boardroom somewhere or engineered with a big financial interest at hand. 

Crack of Dawn is doing what they’ve always done best, and that’s deliver signature grooves that eliminate the pain and replace it with a warm glowing comfort that is only possible through the majesty of earnest, authentic soul music.

Songs that are able to make us feel and experience the same love, the same pain, the same yearning that an artist is describing to us transcend the physical boundaries of our earthly connections in favor of something much more ethereal and divine. In the church of music, the minister that Crack of Dawn collectively forms isn’t a strict one that wishes to stress the ire of hell that awaits us should we step out of line, but one that encourages us to engage with all of the spectacle of emotions that this life and this world have to offer us in the relatively short time that we’re a part of it. Tracks like “Ol’ Skool,” “Booby Ruby,” the title track and “Keep the Faith” don’t make us question the firm ethos that this style of music was built on, but instead reinforce the iconic allure that helped make soul the most relatable genre in pop. If you can listen to that opening smackdown of rhythm that “Keep the Faith” lays on us in its first thirty seconds, I’d seriously have to question whether or not you’re human or some sort of Apple created cyborg who can’t understand our concept of art and its relatability to the planet as a whole.

Spotlight has a very anthological feel to it, and because Crack of Dawn spent the time that they did selecting this particular group of songs to present to us in one place, we’re able to jump head first into its magnetizing, cinematic qualities without any hesitations or preconceived notions about what we’re getting into. While everyone, in every medium of art, wants the kind of passion and devotion that this group of guys has when they come together in the studio, or anywhere else for that matter, it isn’t something that you can teach in a schoolroom, or even on a stage. Some things you’ve just got to be born with, and there isn’t a single doubt in my mind that Crack of Dawn are blessed with many god given gifts that allow them transcend the barriers between us and connect with us in such an awe-inspiring way. While I’d love to hear them tackle some slightly more stripped down material, I’m not going to complain about anything that this band does moving forward. Honestly, I think we should all just be grateful to have them back, and Spotlight is the perfect disc to celebrate their return.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/3coh1QMgL5E23arZk6H7gM

Gustave Carlson

Jeremy Parsons - Things I Need To Say

Jeremy Parsons - Things I Need To Say

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/nashvilletoday/videos/%E2%80%9Cthings-i-need-to-say%E2%80%9D/1787860564800942/

Jeremy Parsons’ exponential growth as a performer is apparent on his latest release Things I Need to Say in both the durability of its individual arrangements and lyrical excellence. Many of the songs on this thirteen song collection tackle weighty themes, but there’s nothing unfamiliar and Parsons delivers songs about life and hope with both a distinctive presence and turn of phrase. The songs are beneficiaries of top notch production touches and highlight Parsons’ occasional desire to upend listener’s expectations. He’s accompanied by a first class crew of supporting musicians on Things I Need to Say who clearly share his ethos of serving the song at the expense of individual glory. The Texas born singer/songwriter has made significant strides with this outing and it likely ranks as his most satisfying artistic achievement yet.

Things I Need to Say is one of those albums, any genre, where each of the individual pieces are exceptional, but fit together in a wider mosaic of sound and meaning that shows off an artist’s full range of talents. Certain characteristic stand out from song to song. The opener “Makin’ It Up as I Go”, “Life”, “Burn This House Down”, and “Lisa’s Lost” move along for listeners with such profound inevitability that you soon understand Parsons has mastered the form and, from this point on, is refining its elements and expanding its reach. “Burn This House Down” and “Lisa’s Lost” are particular highlights, the former adeptly bringing the traditional Americana song of heartache into 2018 and the latter arguably the finest storytelling on the release, but the opener and second song “Life” make for an excellent contrast thanks to the nuanced resignation of “Makin’ It Up As I Go” and the second track’s moody elegance.

The songs “Hope” and “Purpose” incorporate more of a rock influence, particularly the latter, and a big part in making that element of the album work is the inclusion of organ playing riffing away in the mix. Its contributions are enormously important to these two songs, but the volleys traded by harmonica and electric guitar in “Purpose”, coupled with its aggressive drumming, make it one of Things I Need to Say’s most memorable works. Another nod to traditional country balladry comes with the calm and brooding saunter of “After All These Years”. There’s some reproach in these lyrics, but there’s a dollop of forgiveness to, primarily coming from one of Parsons’ more moving singing performances. The release culminates, in a way, with the title song and he flashes his musical imagination for a final shining moment thanks to the shrewd stroke of including unusual instrumentation, albeit common to the genre, with this song and the sort of staggered, yet seamless, way the song develops for listeners. It’s the resonant final punctuation mark on Jeremy Parsons’ latest message to the music world and there’s little question in my mind that Things I Need to Say is his greatest achievement yet.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/6h93tJtmWjjPyTDwZgETjC

Joshua Beach

Honest me release EP

Honest me release EP

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPoPcUDWv4s

If you’ve been following underground music lately, then you’ve probably been hearing the name Honest Men being thrown around a lot in critic circles, and for good reason. Their eponymous follow up to their self-released extended play Okay Dreamer officially drops this May, and it’s already got everyone in college radio buzzing with anticipation. Featuring six songs led by three hot singles, Honest Men looks to take this band onto the next level of stardom and into the next decade of popular music.

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/honest-men/sets/honest-men-ep/s-Ju1xX

Formed in Waco, Texas in early 2015 by three Baylor University students (vocalist Seth Findley, guitarist Brooks Whitehurst and drummer Zach Solomon), Honest Men evolved into a four piece when they added bassist Nate Wallace that winter and rounded out their sound before heading into a Nashville studio for their debut recording. Now with a lot of tour mileage under their belt and an overabundance of energy to expend, they’ve gone back into the studio, this time a little closer to home in Austin, and the growth in their craft is very apparent. Where Okay Dreamer saw the band lay out their template for making relevant synth pop that could still play well with big guitar riffs, Honest Men sees the band escalating their aural capabilities to an entirely different level of professionalism. If Okay Dreamer was essentially a well-mixed demo, then Honest Men is its matured successor, ready to go deep and get personal while still knowing how to have a lot of fun.

SPOTIFY: http://open.spotify.com/album/6wGPa4HRyGB9iEmZyRhfQG

The three singles from this extended play are all great standalone recordings but mesh perfectly together on the full record as well. “Mad Love,” the first single, is about as authentic as it gets in its strutting coolness that could have fit well on the GTA Vice City soundtrack in a lot of ways. In an effort to remind us that we should save our sorrows and constantly push forward to bigger and better things, “Mad Love” is as much a festive song as it is a commentary on self-analysis. The second single, “I’m Okay,” is also laced with an important message that people, especially in the last couple of years, have desperately been in need of: chill out, we’re going to be okay. These days, when it seems like everyone has to take a pill or smoke something to be able to function and get through the simplest, most mundane aspects of life, it’s refreshing to hear singer Seth Findley just cut through the noise with these biting lyrics. The third and final single off of Honest Men is “Rose,” an ode to the raw power of love that can overtake any person when they find exactly what, and who, they’ve always been looking for. I don’t think I can decide which of the three is my favorite, honestly because they’re all too catchy to choose from. Honest Men have got a way of doing everything the right way while still making compelling, wistfully unorthodox music.

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/honestmenmusic

To find out more about Honest Men and preview their upcoming live schedule, check out their official Facebook and Instagram pages, and look for their eponymous EP at the end of this May.

Joshua Beach

Ben Rice releases “The Getaway”

Ben Rice releases “The Getaway”

DEEZER: https://www.deezer.com/en/album/67746442

There is music that makes us dance uncontrollably. Music that is so heart-throbbing that we’re forced to get up and move to its rhythm. There is music that makes us cry without inhibition; it moves us from somewhere deep inside, somewhere sacred that can only be reached through pure, unfiltered emotion. And of course there is music that makes us love, feel love, open ourselves up to love for what is often the very first time. The vulnerability is scary, but somehow music always has a way of making any situation a little easier to tackle, consume and digest as part of this crazy world that we live in. Sometimes the emotion can be too raw and we get lost in the translation of an artist’s feelings. But then there are the times when an artist is so deeply connected to his or her audience that we become synchronized with their soul to the beat of their song. Ben Rice’s “The Getaway” reaches out and grabs us by the core of our being, carrying us away on its unique journey of contemplative observation of the world, the life and the people who make our existence on this planet real.

Ben Rice is a storyteller in every sense of the term. His music isn’t made with the singular goal of making us move or feel love. His music is inspired by the feeling of being alive itself, encapsulating all of the joy, sorrow and at times irreverent discontent that each day tends to bring in some way or another. In certain respects, he’s not just telling us his story, but he’s telling a bit of ours as well. “The Getaway” applies to his own point of view, but it could just as easily be applied to a lot of our own viewpoints as well. How often do we find ourselves trapped in a life that we never planned on, searching for some kind of outlet from all the noise? And in that search, how often do we end up finding that the solution to our woes, the calm to this storm, was within our reach the whole time, if only we stopped panicking long enough to see it for ourselves?

There usually isn’t a lot that we can learn about an artist from a single alone. “The Getaway” is Ben Rice’s virgin offering as a solo artist, and without delving too deep into his highly acclaimed work as both a producer and a band member, we can still deduce that not only is he talented as a performer, but as a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist as well. He has such an intense connection to his craft, such obvious love for the work that he produces, that it isn’t hard to conclude that whatever his upcoming extended play contains aside from “The Getaway” is highly likely to be amazing. If he continues to make music that is as evocative and emotionally relatable as what he has done with this single, he’s almost guaranteed to have even more success in this highly competitive business.

ANGHAMI: https://play.anghami.com/song/38400952

Joshua Beach