rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Opening with the beautiful Cross My Heart, this new EP from the wonderfully monikered Ranzel X Kendrick is a fine and understated affair, as we have come to expect. You can read about that first tracks soft and seductive sounds elsewhere but what follows it is equally as tasteful and masterful. Economy is the name... Continue Reading →
You always know that you are going to get something chilled and melodic, full of grace and groove when a Ranzel X Kendrick record emerges from the review pile. But even within that understated country-folk place that he calls home, he wanders a lot of sonic miles, pushing at boundaries and finding new ways of... Continue Reading →
There is a fine line between making music that is "loose" and music that simply doesn't have it together. The latter marks someone out as being sloppy or perhaps inexperienced. The former marks out someone who understands the inherent swing of a song and knows that if you make a groove too rigid, it can... Continue Reading →
Alias Wayne is one of those chameleon-like artists shifting musical style as readily as he changes his sonic guise. But no matter in what form or fashion you encounter him, whatever titular hat he might have on, whatever vibe there is going on in his music, he always retains that core vibe which makes you... Continue Reading →
Alias Wayne may be the fun, musical alter-ego of Ranzel X Kendrick but that isn’t to say that the music made when he is in this mode isn’t seriously good too. He has always woven a smart path between the cowboy and the rocker, the country groove and the rock cool, the flicker of... Continue Reading →
If the soft and smokey, soulful rootsy blends seem familiar then you might be interested to know that you find none other than Ranzel X Kendrick front and centre on this cover. And like all covers it ain't what you do, it’s the way that you do it…that is, there is no point just faithfully... Continue Reading →
Another track from the Texas Cactus album and another slice of Kendrick’s trademark Freestyle Folk, his term for the blend of country and folk sounds that he weaves together to fashion his songs. As always things are straightforward, uncomplicated and honest, just a man and his guitar, the simplest of beats, some subtle extra tracking... Continue Reading →
The wonderfully named Ranzel X Kendrick continues his Freestyle Folk adventure with a song that dovetails cowboy campfire songs, hippie looseness and more than a few Celtic vibes into a relaxed take on the southern sound. Forget the rigidity and glitter of Nashville, this is the sound of honest music being made for all the... Continue Reading →
This first outing in a planned trilogy of albums under the arching title of the “Texas Series” is a masterfully understated slice of rootsy, country acoustica or as the artist himself refers to it Freestyle folk. The songs found within has a wonderfully DIY quality, in part due to the sparse nature of the music,... Continue Reading →
Roots music is a tricky term, two wide ranging to bolt anything down too specifically, able to accommodate genres such as country, folk, blues and all sorts of world music, but if there is one artist whose music seems to sit nicely under its journalistic umbrella it is the wonderfully named Ranzel X Kendrick. His... Continue Reading →
