The first album of material from the band Ride in 20 years, is likely one of the band’s very best. Charm Assault (seen/heard here) is just one example of the psychedelic flavored pop-rock (sometimes referred to as shoegaze) that is present on Weather Diaries (June 2017). Founding members Andy Bell and Mark Gardener have seen Ride through a number of changes, musically, since the band’s inception back in 1988, including the band’s demise, for a time, in 1996. The return of Ride with such an earth-shatteringly wonderful collection of tunes is…
Read MoreThe problem with lyric videos is that sometimes they highlight exactly the wrong thing. Instead of getting you involved in the music, you become a proofreader and that can lead to frustration for those of us who try to use language correctly. None of us, I would surmise, are perfect at this. I know I’m not, but it is still annoying to see a glaring error. Dent May’s lyric video for Picture On A Screen from the forthcoming full-length, Across the Multiverse (due to be released August…
Read MoreBrighton, UK band The Popguns, make delightful guitar pop-rock with a nod to a retro sixties sound. So Long (seen/heard here) is from the band’s latest LP, Sugar Kisses (June 2017), and is a great example of the overall feel of the long-player, but should not be construed as some sort of a formula of what is to follow. For instance, the sugary sweet lead off track Sugar Kisses (with a near Dire Straits Sultans Of Swing guitar intro) is followed by the grungy We Don’t Go Around…
Read MoreMost of Vodka’s regular readers know that video reviews are often written a month or so in advance of the posting and saved in the queue with a specific publish date. That isn’t true this time around. When I heard that Flagship Romance was playing a house concert near me on a Tuesday evening, I held up writing this review that I had scheduled originally for the first week in September. Now that I’ve been to that house concert, I’m ready not only to write the review but…
Read MoreVodka readers may remember Sara Niemietz from our review of Taxi Outside from her wonderful EP Fountain and Vine about a year ago. Enter Sara’s first full-length LP, Travel Light (July 2017) which includes 10 pop, jazz, lounge tracks-polished musical gemstones really, featuring Sara’s powerful and beautiful vocals. There is so much to love about this music. Travel Light kicks off with what we would call a straight-up pop song, New Things. Don’t Walk Me Home follows up with a bluesy tune in the vein of Taxi Outside. Monroe is…
Read More