Mackenzie Shivers writes some very pretty music and lyrics and delivers a convincing performance. I would have only one small complaint: Mix the vocals just a little higher so that the lyrics are more audible. The vocals are only marginally under mixed, so it isn’t a big complaint. There’s plenty to like about Mackenzie Shivers and with only two EP’s currently available, plenty of time to tweak things up in the production department. Musically, Shivers melody on Names (seen/heard here) from her first EP, Living In My Head (September 2016), feels…
Read MoreFive years ago and change, Vodka posted a wonderful one-off by singer/songwriter Helen Austin, called Perfect Girl. Just recently, I took a trip back through the archives, landed on that track, and wondered what happened to Helen. Thankfully, she is still out there, making music, as part of a duo now called Big Little Lions. Enter Find Your Tribe (seen/heard here), the lead-off single to that wonderful new collection of songs titled Alive And Well (February 2018). Paul Otten, a singer/songwriter in his own right, joins Helen…
Read MoreIt was a long time ago (January 14, 2014) when Vodka first met Vera Jonas Experiment, which was right around the release of their 2013 long-player by the same name, Game. Since that time, Vera and the band have been busy, releasing an EP, two additional long-players, and a couple of singles to date. One of those singles, Last Song (seen/heard here), was released in May 2018. The band is preparing to embark on a tour to Asia in September and a European tour in November. The…
Read MoreYou thought the 60′s and 70′s psychedelic music scene was dead, right? Well, you would be wrong! Updated, yes, but not dead. In The Babe Rainbow’s Peace Blossom Boogy (seen/heard here), lies the evidence. That fact can also be heard in full on the band’s new long-player, Double Rainbow (July 2018). The band is the brainchild of percussionist/vocalist Angus Dowling and merges (currently?) with moniker-heavy bandmates, Kool Breeze and Dr. Elliot Love-Wisdom. (Look, you can’t make this stuff up.) At least that was the case. It…
Read MoreEmily Brown’s song Sometimes (seen/heard here) is a study of the play between consonance and dissonance, and how they can interact to pleasing results. On the one hand, you have Emily Brown’s sweet vocals which travel from the lower to upper registers with ease and carry the lyric delivery with moral conviction. On the other hand, you have the use of fuzzed-out guitar, which provides the dichotomy between. The guitars on Sometimes, start in as almost an afterthought, but by the time the final refrain is near the end,…
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