Guided by an awareness of music in all its infinite variety and lore, Corduroy Cat has torn apart the singer/songwriter format with an improvisational flair that draws on the human need to dance, to fly and to dream. The group is a four-piece indie band doing all original music in Chicago, Illinois. Corduroy Cat recorded their debut album 10% Hopeful last March at Electrical Audio with Steve Albini at the controls. They also recently played The Hideoutin Chicago and have regular engagements at Montrose Saloon, among other places in Chicago. The band had a vinyl record coming out around the end of the year in…
Author: Heather Savage
Get yourself a big pot, fill it with a broth rich with grooves, toss in liberal, flavorful handfuls of The Beatles, XTC and Talking Heads. Add dashes of the Allman Brothers Band, World Party and Tom Petty. Let it simmer for a long, long time, until all those flavors meld into the unique, melodic, catchy and indescribable deliciousness we call Storytown. Correct the seasoning. Dig in. Storytown is the creation of Guy Story, born and bred in Mississippi and now living in New York City. Story spent more than three decades embedded in the technology industry, working for Bell Laboratories,…
AV Super Sunshine’s “The Neighborhood” is another kick ass single from the irrepressible Andy Victor and company. AV is working with a familiar cast of characters to bring this one off such as longtime collaborator Michael Bradford, but it crackles and pops with his personality like every preceding single. AV stands apart from the scores of indie musicians/songwriters working the scene today. He doesn’t imitate anyone. Instead, he crafts recognizable sonic landscapes within his songs while also stamping them with his unique and colorful personality. His musicality is beyond question as well and this new single reflects the ongoing development…
In this world, there are musicians who hunger for name recognition and fame, while others go nameless, preferring to let their concept and songs speak for themselves. The Faith Irons of Indio, California are the latter type. As a reviewer who likes and uses lots of biographical info and player credits, this presents a bit of a hurdle for me. Though I usually review a group’s album separately from their back catalogue, I couldn’t help but notice that this band has three very similar releases in their discography: For No Apparent Reason, This Continues To Happen, and Yet We Continue…
Synthia Looper is a musician and performance artist out of Flint, Michigan whose music is a blend of dark, edgy, synth-pop and dreamy electronica. With the use of looping, voice FX and her electric guitar she sings songs of vengeance, loss, love, lust, sexuality, mental anguish and equality. Conceptualized out of a deep love of sci-fi, fantasy, cosplay, feminism and social justice, Synthia Looper was born. She is a synthapien (part human, alien and synthetic android). Through song and art, she generates otherworldly sounds and lyrics to regale listeners of her inter-dimensional travels. She loops through space and time, experiencing…
Pete Price’s new solo album Department of the Interior couples inspired musicianship, melodic yet boisterous guitar, and mature songwriting. It delivers quite a wallop. Price does not impress listeners with shallow musical pyrotechnics, glib attempts to sound current, or showy displays of virtuosity. Instead, Price’s gifts take shape as potent melodies, fiery guitar work with a great sound, and intelligent lyrics replete with a smattering of genuine poetry. It is a well-deserved and thoughtful triumph for one of the indie music world’s most respected musicians and songwriters. His talents have never shone brighter, and Price comes across, after 30+ years as a…
Kaptain Kollnot is the solo project of Michigan native Jeff Kollnot. The veteran musician has been playing in bands for the last 25 years. He’s also played music on multiple recordings over the decades. Kollnot is known for playing guitar in the power thrash band Blackgate, as well as the progressive band, Flood the Desert. He’s been the opening act for such artists as Black Dahlia Murder, Overkill, Symphony X and Animals as Leaders. His latest four-song EP, Future Human, was influenced by power, thrash, death and progressive metal. The theme of the recording is research and real world experiences with the…
What has been the driving force of your career in this upcoming New Year?Honestly we’re driven by the success we had last and the continued momentum we keep experiencing as a band. It’s so exciting that we finally feel like we’re onto something bigger than all of us.Are you planning to do anything BIG next year for your career?The biggest thing we have in the works so far is recording a new record that we wanna put out early 2023. We really want to focus on being ourselves on this one and creating a vibe that’s all our own. It’s…
Give us the set up of how your latest project came to be “Yours Always”?The first half of “Yours Always” album happened almost simultaneously. I waswriting the lyrics in parallel going back and forth between them, which is waylyrically and musically they are filled with easter eggs that tie all the songstogether. As we do with any single, my producer and I approached this album aswe would a film. Each song is telling its own stand-alone story and also thealbum’s story as a collective.What is setting your music apart from what is being heard in the music industrytoday?I try to…
Known for their explosive live shows, catchy hooks, and dangerously good looks. Trace of Lime Is: Jordan Karam Trace of Lime Lead Vocals So great to have you for our interview today. Tell us about your latest release and the impact it’s had on your fans so far? Thanks a lot for having me! Our last album was released as 10 singles. We released them once a week like a television show. New cartoons on Cartoon Network would come out on Friday when I was a kid and I was always excited about it. We released the whole record like…
Formulas are essential to getting it right in pop, as much as some critics like to take artists to task for revisiting the same scheme over and over. Ronnue is a musician who has found something that works for him, and while you might think his deciding to exploit said formula for everything it’s worth isn’t doing much to explore the depth of his musicianship as a whole, it doesn’t stop the new single “You Got Me Open” from feeling like the funky slab of R&B I didn’t know I wanted to hear this January. INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ronnue/ Where others are…
From the beginning of its history forward, heavy metal has had a very diverse umbrella of aesthetics comprising its most brooding and significant releases, and while I’m hesitant to call the new album from Darren Michael Boyd an outright tribute to the metallic gods of yore, its unique blend of surf elements, rock intensity, and the heavy tonal presence of metal has got a lot of listeners abuzz this winter. Boyd’s work has already attracted critical acclaim in the past, but with Thoughts & Scares – that’s right, leave your prayers at home, folks – he touches on creative ground even some…
Louis Siciliano isn’t interested in musical business as usual. His latest release Ancient Cosmic Truth is a four track collection pushing jazz fusion to its outer edges without ever descending into unadulterated insanity. He’s interested in establishing a new language for the form and has recruited some of the jazz world’s best musicians to make that possible. Siciliano’s multifaceted synthesizer playing works quite well with the playing of former Weather Report percussionist Alex Acuna, trumpet player Randy Brecker, drummer Claudio Romano, and tenor saxophonist Umberto Muselli. This assemblage of musicians are steeped in jazz and there’s even a progressive edge to the…
Sofía Chiarandini (fiddle), Micah Nicol (guitar), Noah Harrington (bass), Ariel Wyner (mandolin), Trevin Nelson (banjo) and Justin Moses (dobro) are The Ruta Beggars. The band initially formed in college and quickly became friends. They started to play music together and would soon be playing shows. They have performed alongside Tony Trischka, opened for Lyle Lovett and headlined the stages of the largest bluegrass festivals in New England and beyond. On top of that they are also the winners of the Thomas Point Band competition of 2019, and were commissioned alongside the Steep Canyon Rangers to perform a Bluegrass Concerto at Freshgrass.…
Hailing from New Hope, PA, Sean Hopkins is a man of many musical talents. At a young age, he learned to play guitar, only to transition to playing bass for several indie bands. Eventually, he released his first solo album, Chasing Ghosts in the Dark, which was praised by Pitch Perfect a few months back. To quote critic Jay Freeman, “I’m willing to bet that if you listened to it again and again, you’ll find something new that you didn’t hear before. That to me is the mark of a great album, and a great artist.” I would add that his…
Running to Dreamland is the latest album from Don’t Blink. The artist behind the music explains on his Bandcamp page, “While I was writing and recording this music, a whole lot has happened around us. Like any music or art, musicians and painters mirror and reflect what is all around us, I hope in some way, these songs do so, many of these songs were written during the first weeks of the war in the Ukraine, some are very personal I always try to look my truth straight in the eye.” The album begins with “Spells and Shadows” which greets…
Though not quite as catchy as they are chill-inducing around every ridge of rhythm they follow, the beats that caress the main melody in “Are You Clapping?,” the latest single from the much-talked-about Taydem Shoesmith, is pendulous yet crucial to making the song as evocative as it is. Centered between the percussion we discover a soft lead vocal from the woman of the hour, her delivery markedly more conservative in style when compared to some of the stimulating content out of her scene this year. Shoesmith masterfully tackles a seductive groove that most young songwriters would have struggled with in…
Class of 91 is a Canadian band that formed in 2019 and consists of Ian Ferguson (vocals/guitar), Brock Sarault (guitar), Fred Pantalone Jr. (bass) and Steve Clifford (drums).They mention they “write songs about challenges in the human story with a sonic design that splits the difference between guitar-infused indie rock, acoustic and punk, drawing inspiration from such artists as Bob Mould, Guided by Voices, DIIV and Sebadoh. The band just released Lost Stories which explores human conflict, mental health and duality as its prevailing themes. They open with “Look How Far We’ve Come” which is definitely in line with some…
What has been the driving force of your career in this upcoming New Year? darcy: we have a new song coming soon! i know we’re all very excited for you to hear it logan: new music is always something to look forward to! nate: new music very soon, i’m beyond excited for you guys to see what we’ve got!! zane: like darcy said, we have a new song for you guys to hear! Are you planning to do anything BIG next year for your career? darcy: we’re really pushing to play as many shows as possible (stay tuned to see…
So great to have you for our interview today. Tell us about your latest single and the impact it’s had on your fans so far? I would like to talk about Carousel Wheel, a tune off of my newest full length, Good Morning Music. This song entertains the philosophy that the world is a spinning ball of options, much like a carousel. There’s no escaping the constant turning of the wheel, and time waits for no one. Thus, the wheel only gives us a certain amount of time each day/month/year to bring forth our true expression, and as we race against time, so much…
Crossover country-soul gets a much-needed revitalization in the all-new effort from Ralph Nix & the Guilt Birds, Good Ingredients. Recorded with a sense of confidence that immediately had my attention upon sitting down with the music, Good Ingredients features a bittersweet catharsis that blankets southern harmonies and balladic blues elegies and lends supple surrealism to tracks like “The Wish,” “Cohay,” “Stella” and “Marie.” Textures within the string melodies paint us a picture of the American landscape as seen through the eyes of a singer/songwriter and his band very much on in search of adventure here, while sporadic stampedes of powerful beats keep us…
Will Leet is a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter who has just released his debut album titled Come Back Roses, a crowdfunded project created with his songwriting partner Chris Burns. Leet (who also plays lead guitar with the international touring act Sammy Rae & The Friends) calls this album “an eclectic mix of rock, folk, country and baroque pop” that shows the influence of Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Death Cab for Cutie and the Beatles. “The record doesn’t adhere to one genre. Each song commits fully to whatever it is in that moment. The common thread is in the story telling. At its core, these…
France native multi-instrumentalist Lionel Pezzano, who’s band Bhopal’s Flowers found its way in 2018 with the album Lovesongs & Psychedelic Tones, was well received by psychedelic music fans and the music press. Bhopal’s Flowers has released a few more records in between – Diamond Queen on 45 rpm (Hypnotic Bridge Records – USA), Alstroemeria: A Journey On Earth & Beyond (Sugarbush Records – UK), and reviewed here, Joy Of The 4th, (Sound Effect Records – Greece). The band says about their music – “Hindu deities dancing in the sky of the American desert, psychedelic cosmic pop hanging by a thread to the star of the shepherd, the music…
A hearty beat is at the center of every move in the new single “Posted” from Sorry It’s Over, and where a lot of other alternative rock outfits would have balanced the percussive weight in this piece with a heady melodic element, this crew does something different – and is winning critical acclaim because of their decision. Though I’m as inclined towards a minimalist rock tune as the next critic is, there’s something rather special about the fluidity of this rather excessive rock anthem, which despite being the first song I’ve heard from this band makes me quite curious to…
As far as country music goes, there’s a very narrow area of sound I find myself looking for when it comes to enjoying the genre. Classic country icons such as Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, and their contemporaries come to mind as easy anytime listens, but country music from current years can be hit or miss as far as memorable artists and tracks go. When it comes to contemporary country, I often want something that harkens back to the sounds of older acts — Orville Peck, for instance. Lucky for me, Ricky Forest seems to have his intentions in similar trajectories as mine, and his output lines up…
OPHÅNIM is an electronic music duo currently based in Texas comprised of Elyza Hyde and NËXP. They mention “We are heavily influenced by both the modern electronic and dance scene, as well as the music we grew up listening to and playing early on in our careers, citing The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Madonna as influences early on. OPHÅNIM at its heart, is an epic space opera. The music, videos and characters we embody tell a story on a celestial scale, while exploring themes of existence, dark and light, and mental health.” That was definitely the feeling I was getting while…
Mark Ripp is an Americana singer/songwriter who started out over 40 years ago playing the coffee houses of Toronto, followed by ten years fronting the Canadian roots rock band The Bel-Vistas. Ripp then spent a couple decades raising his family, pursuing a solo career and sometimes acting as producer for other artists. His newest addition to a very large catalog is titled All Things Considered Vol 1, though it has nothing to do with the venerable NPR show we have here in the states. Ripp says that starting out, the music he made was called “roots rock,” “folk rock,” and “blues rock”…
Originally an acoustic piece set, Pony in the Pancake (PIP) has since become a surf/psychedelic band well worth your time. They are releasing their latest single “We’ll go walking” which is off their latest album In Dreams. Right when I hit play, the dreamy sounds of the track surround me for an immersive listening experience. According to the band, they play True Wave and that’s definitely their sound in a nutshell. As synths and atmospheric guitars settle in, it is the combined vocal harmonies from the band that definitely arrests. Filled with ambient vibes and a very mellow undertaking, I was…
Bart Moore is a unique folk-rock singer/songwriter, and I think that should tell you a lot in itself. It’s hard to stand out in such a saturated genre, but Graveyards Wind & War captivated me within the first few seconds of “The Third Day. ”Moore’s husky, country-infused vocals ring contently over an uplifting acoustic guitar progression. It’s a warm introduction to the album. Even stripped back to vocals and acoustic guitar, the melody sparks joy, but Moore truly flexes his musical chops as the track progresses. There are stunning violin passages and fast-paced, twanging strumming on a lead electric guitar. Moore certainly…
Tom Faia & Kate Miller are a duo from Monterey, California who released Stay Away From the Flame. They mention “This is a recording that captures so many of life’s ups and downs, wrapped up beautifully in ten memorable well produced songs. Fans of Gordon Lightfoot, Cat Stevens and the soft side of The Eagles will enjoy this collection.” The music to my ears is organic and captures the sound of talented musicians coming together. There’s a mix of Americana, folk and other like-minded genres on this album. Up first is the title track “Stay Away From the Flame” which has a…