Let me say this at the outset: The Grammys are impertinent. If you want to know what’s out there for music, stop listening to the radio and start cruising the Internet’s dark corners for the gems that never get the time of day on the Grammys, or for that matter, the radio. Music with the same pasteurized, homogenized sound, that is barely discernible from one artist to the next, that is what you will find on the radio and at the Grammys. Now granted, I’ve known this for some time. It isn’t some new revelation. I watched the Grammys last…
Read MoreOver two years ago, Lily & Madeleine made a flurry on Vodka with three posts from their 2013 EP, The Weight Of The Globe. We were excited about these two sisters back then and that excitement has not waned. Enter Hour Glass from the duo’s forth-coming long-player Keep It Together, due out February 26, 2016. This time out, the girls step up the production values a bit and yes, play with rhythms that are a little outside their original formula. What stays the same is those wonderful two-part harmonies that…
Read MoreIt was over two years ago when Vodka posted California Sway from Smooth Hound Smith’s self-titled 2013 long-player. Fast forward a few years and we still find Zack Smith and Caitlin Doyle rocking out. Zack never ceases to amaze with his one-man-band act (guitar, drums, and harmonica), all the while breaking away to sing as well. Ms. Doyle provides the “Smooth” in Smooth Hound Smith, with her velvety pipes able to polish the edges on this wonderful little rockabilly-country number, Sweet Tennessee Honey, the title track of their…
Read MoreIf there is an artist that fits the Vodka mold pretty darned well, it is Alyssandra Nighswonger-a singer-songwriter with a nod to the odd. That is blissfully obvious on the lilting and lovely Pond Of Lilies that Alyssandra released as her Tiny Desk concert contest entry. It is a song that highlights both the lovely guitar and vocals of Alyssandra and a great horn accompaniment. The bio on Ms. Nighswonger’s website indicates a long-player that was scheduled for recording and release in 2015, but alas, all you will find…
Read MoreCourtney Barnett is a brilliant indie-rocker that has appeared here many times in the past. In March 2015, she released her first full-length long-player, Sometimes I sit and think, and Sometimes I just sit, after several equally dazzling EP and single releases going back to 2012. We have highlighted all of those releases along the way. Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party is just one more example of the delightful rock that comes from the mind…
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