Focus on Courtney Barnett If you’ve been following along on A Little More Vodka, A Little Less Milk for awhile, you know that Australian singer/songwriter/garage rocker, Courtney Barnett has been a favorite. She’s appeared on the blog twice in video, in December 2012 and about 3 months ago. In addition, she made the cut for the 40 best tracks of 2012 with History Eraser and just released (March 2013) another single, Avant Gardener, originally a studio demo instrumental, that she added lyrics to. There’s something about the garage sensibility of the music, borrowing from many pop, rock and blues sub-genres to get this…
Read MoreSteve Kilbey and Martin Kennedy of The Church, step out occasionally to record music as a duo. They sound eerily familiar here on I Wouldn’t Know, the first track on the May 2013 long-player, You Are Everything. It’s not as if they’ve co-opted a style other than their own, but you get just a hint of the quieter moments from Pink Floyd or David Gilmour. Perhaps it’s the focus on minor keys, or the haunting, nearly spoken-word, delivery. Whatever the reason…
Read MoreVocally bordering on the operatic, My Woshin Mashin’s single Twenty One, released January 2013, is a electro-pop masterpiece. The video is an otherworldly adventure in black and white, which is artistic in its own right. My Woshin Mashin is made up of three friends from Russia and Gernany. They have found a way to create engaging music in a genre that is often lame and simplistic. Unlike many electronically focused pop groups, they understand that it’s the music that must speak, not…
Read MoreFollowers of this blog may recognize the innovative Cheyenne Marie Mize from past posts back in October and about a year ago. Here on the title track to her up-coming (due out in June 2013) long-player, Among The Grey, you get another look and if you compare all of those tracks together, you will see that Cheyenne is not about making music in one way and then just rehashing the same styles and methods of creating music. You can find more information…
Read MoreCombining a blender full of what might seem like totally different musical styles together may appear like a formula made in hell, but not for Smooth Hound Smith (Zack Smith and Caitlin Doyle), who manage the task of combining seamless elements of folk, blues, rockabilly, country and rock together in a minimalist, accessible and wonderful way. There’s a bit of a growl in Zack’s vocal which is smoothed out here and there by the sweet blend of Caitlin’s. Here on California…
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