Live from Portland, Oregon, comes the wonderful folksy folk of Rebecca McDade and Needle In The Straw from her debut long-player, To Call Home (April 2018). Thanks to my daughter, who caught Rebecca’s performance in a house concert recently, and forwarded her information. An earlier video was languishing in my drafts folder. Why? Well, because the vocal / music balance of her self-produced videos just was wrong and failed to properly tell her story. In short: the mix was wrong. The Rye Room Sessions here, alleviate that…
Read MoreWhat happens when you mix pop smarts with a wall of sound beach party music and a flair for Alice In Chains minor / major key shifts? La Luz is what happens, and it’s a whole lot of fun! Mean Dream is from the band’s latest long-player, Floating Features (May 2018), a dream-themed long-player. There’s plenty of camp and pretense in La Luz’s video staging. While the music is compelling enough on its own, these young ladies know enough about having fun to not take themselves too seriously, and that’s…
Read MoreWay back in January of 2013, Vodka reviewed a sunny bit of Winter warmth from CosmoSoul called Sunny Days from the band’s 2011 long-player, Sunrise. The band, with beautiful soul and r&b vocals provided by Alana Sinkëy, is still out there and released their third long-player, Walk, in 2017. On The Road (seen/heard here) gives you a snap-shot view of that long player and the diversity of the music within. Alana’s vocals here are as wonderful as ever, but listen to the music! On The Road’s instrumentation owes as…
Read MoreBack in November (2017), Vodka posted the review for When The Sun Comes Up, from the all-woman pop-folk band, All Our Exes Live In Texas, and their long-player When We Fall (March 2017). I noted then the unfortunate name of the band but heralded the great music that these ladies make. Nothing has changed my opinion. Boundary Road is the fourth single release from that long-player and if anything, adds exclamation marks to that earlier review. What I always love is melodies with tight harmonies and…
Read MoreCrazy good melodies, great hooks, fabulous harmonies: Dropkick returns to Vodka with It’s Still Raining from their March 2018 long-player, Longwave. You may remember Vodka’s other reviews of Dropkick, but if not, here’s a look back: Slowdown – (March 2016) Style – (November 2013) Dropkick has a rock sensibility with alt-folk flavor and a pop-rock delivery. Fully capable of delving into retro 70′s style music along with modern influenced pop, they have an easy style that is pleasing and delightfully singable. What’s more, from their earliest days to today, they have…
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