rescuing musical virtue in distress.
There's a great attitude driving the heart of, not only this song but Likeness' attitude towards music in general. By understanding that music comes from within, that it is an extension of our very souls and that the sounds and styles that we work with are merely sonic building blocks, tools to get a job... Continue Reading →
Although Marriott bases his sound on some classic and timeless urban styles, Reset proves that he is also an artist very much working in the here-and-now. The beats are drawn from skittering trap sonics, tracks such as Friend Zone cocoon themselves in R&B vibes and Cityscape owes as much to a soul groove as it... Continue Reading →
If The Violet Nines wander a sonic world bordered by infectious alt-pop melodies, funky rhythms, bluesy licks and sultry soul grooves, it is to the latter sound that they lean on this latest release. It also oozes with a slightly retro sound, echoing some of the soul revivals of the '80s and '90s that found... Continue Reading →
Cupidkarma is an album that could only exist today. Not just for the fact that it sounds so utterly modern and refreshing but also because at 70 tracks long, a physical version of such an album would probably not get past the planning and costing stage. Thankfully times have changed and technology allows artists to... Continue Reading →
The back story behind the artist known as LUNA clipse is one of manic delusions, visions of the apocalypse and even false arrest. And whether the tale is wholly true or just makes for intriguing PR doesn't really matter. What matters is that track highlights issues of mental health, amongst other things, and its release... Continue Reading →
Dope Sagittarius is proof that opposites do attract, at least in the musical world, and Black Empress is a great example of the art of genre-bending, and in doing so it creates music that is hard to place but easy to love. It is both full of off-kilter jazz intricacies and rock and roll groove.... Continue Reading →
Spear-headed by three rich, standout vocalists, The DK Effect is a soul and blues outfit that explores the legacy of those genres from their earliest days to the present. They construct songs from all the elements that made such sounds and styles the sonic sensations that they become - lush harmonies, easy grooves, intricately interwoven... Continue Reading →
Genres, as I have said many times before, are tricky beasts, often tacked onto a track or an album more because of what an artist aspires to be rather than what they actually sound like. And even when the appropriate label is found it is often so vague or perhaps means so many different things... Continue Reading →
The term R&B has come to mean something new in the last few decades, the term perhaps conjuring images of girl groups, lip-synching to rootsy pop songs, more concerned with dance routines than music. But it used to mean something else. The clue is in the name. Rhythm. And. Blues. And it is that more... Continue Reading →
Move over Southside Johnny, here comes West Side Joe! And like his peer, WSJ and his Men of Soul, also trade in an upbeat and euphoric blend of Soul, R&B and Rock 'n' Roll. And why not? It's a style that never goes out of fashion, not with the true music aficionados and discerning sonic... Continue Reading →
Why limit yourself to working in just one genre when you can let the songs that you write do that for you? Why continue to push at one set of musical boundaries when you can wander freely across the sonic world? Why keep using the same musical template when the whole point of being creative... Continue Reading →
New music can only be created by taking what has gone before and doing something different with it. That might be pushing its boundaries to breaking point, creating whole new genres in the gaps between or fusing the ones that already exist in new and unusual ways. It is from this last approach that Electric... Continue Reading →
Inspired by the romantic drama of the same name and based around a sample of Kanye West's Bound 2, which is why it might sound familiar to you, this latest single from Hi Love is a gorgeous R&B affair. A totally modern sound, smooth, sensitive… sensual even… it also echoes with sonic signatures from the... Continue Reading →
2020 is what you call a real slow-burner, working its way up from a timeless, soulful torch song, it slowly wraps more sonic swathes and musical washes around it, building in stature as it goes. A beat here, a delicate guitar riff there but all the time your focus is on Jeanetta Salyer's majestic vocals.... Continue Reading →
There is something wonderfully bittersweet about Steve Ryan's latest single. Despite a title that suggests loves best aspects, the song explores its often double-edged nature, of longing and relationships and how the path through them doesn't always run smoothly. That strange attraction that brings out the best and the worst in a person, that drug-like... Continue Reading →
Using the act of making music, in some ways, as a redemptive process, Dorian has poured all of his traumas, feelings and anxieties into the making of this album. And what may have begun as a form of escapism, has emerged from the other end of the process as a gorgeously rich R&B infused soul-pop... Continue Reading →
Often seen as the "bad boy of Indie-Soul," Bey Bright is a Grammy-nominated, New York-based music executive, record producer, songwriter, artist and entrepreneur. As the CEO of indie soul label Bright Vision Entertainment, he seeks to motivate, inspire & entertain through a blend of deftly crafted soul music and messages of love. His latest release,... Continue Reading →
This debut release from Purple Tone Flower is full of soothing music and fun licks, soulful grooves and moments of pop perfection. It is the product of Chilean musician and producer Mauricio Flores Sánchez, who has been making music since he was in his teens. Only now did it feel like the perfect time to... Continue Reading →
Retro Band does pretty much what the name might imply. They revisit, re-imagine and re-work songs from the past so that they get another day in the sun. Although they have covered many eras of the 20th century, this volume gathers together songs from the '30s to the '60s and gives them a new lease... Continue Reading →
As soon as the first few tracks of this soulful and sassy album had floated out of the speakers and into my senses, I knew that there was something familiar about the sound. To find out that the vocalist is none other than The Magic Numbers' Angela Gannon and that various members of Danny and... Continue Reading →
Mixtape. Album. Compilation. Call it what you will but what we can agree on is the fact that Straight From The Soul is the perfect showcase of Speedy2x's sonic style. That style is a blend of old school rap and modern, urban soul, street corner grit and slick uptown club culture but more than that... Continue Reading →
What The BRKN understand more than most bands is how to mix the "less" with the "more" to get the best of both worlds. They know that if you are going to deliver an understated ballad, then you need to still pep it up with a bit of sonic excitement. And that is where we... Continue Reading →
See the name Felton Pilate on a record and you are assured of one thing. Groove. Effortless groove at that and Waiting Just To Dance is full of it. It's a great tune, one which joins the dots between soul and disco, funk and pop, drives along on great bass lines and infectious beats, soulful... Continue Reading →
Mixing the Afro-pop vibes of their Nigerian upbringing with the more western sonic groove of The Bronx, the place that they now call home, Moonside is a chilled slice of dance music with a taste of the exotic. The song also draws on their experiences of life in both places, particularly their harrowing enforced stay... Continue Reading →
Anyone checking out the new release from Estani expecting to hear the incendiary pop-rock clash which made Battlescars such a force to be reckoned with is in for a bit of a shock. And the nature of that shock says more about the listener than the artist. Anyone moaning that she has turned into a... Continue Reading →
We know that LT & B OH MY don't play by the rules. Or if they do, they play by their own, specific set and they are keeping those a secret from the rest of the music community. We know this from cool releases such as Quantum Entanglement and Gorilla Warfare, even the title of... Continue Reading →
With a base of both Los Angeles and Bogotá, how much do you think South American sounds and West Coast vibes inform your music, or have we truly gone beyond geography being an influence on music in the modern age? Juan: Hello, how are you doing? I believe we have gone beyond. For me, as a composer, I... Continue Reading →
You should never judge a book by its cover. And you should never judge n album by just the opening song. For whilst the first track 6.59 is an understated slice of chilled, jazz-infused piano, the sort that evokes images of smokey cocktail bars from the 50's full of sharp-suited men and elegant ladies, the... Continue Reading →
I can’t vouch for the planets but one listen to The Death of Us and it becomes clear that so many genres, styles and sounds garnered for across various eras and cultural are certainly being aligned here. Any band which calls both Los Angeles and Bogota home, obviously starts with an interesting sonic DNA, but... Continue Reading →
You might not know the name but you’ve heard the voice. Even if you don’t realise it. As a Weather Girl, she helped give us “It’s Raining Men,” working with C&C Music Factory she was responsible for “Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” and with Black Box’s album Dreamland, she added four number ones and three top... Continue Reading →