Swedish singer-songwriter Kristoffer Bolander’s beautiful, anthemic single, Cities, from his sophomore long-player, What Never Was Will Always Be (March 2018) belies the stark message of a world in a new ice age lonely and devoid of most of the people. It’s a message worth heeding. Kristoffer’s music is a strange blend of power pop, anthemic crescendos, and clear lyrics, delivered in an earnest, honest and accessible way. Vodka missed out on Kristoffer’s freshman debut, I Forgive Nothing (Jan 2017) when it came out, but we intend to rectify that. This is…
Read MoreSide Hustle is a Toronto jangle pop group with some chops. They don’t have much in their catalog as yet, but what is there shows great promise. To Be Free is from the band’s Live At The Root EP (March 2018). Side Hustle has a website and Facebook page and you can find their EP as well as a couple of singles, on their bandcamp.com site. Songwriting is shared by Pete Casey and Chloë Doucet with bandmates Charlie Graham and Dylan Bridger. There’s more than a little retro flavor here…
Read MoreRemember the Hillary Reynolds Band (HRB)? Probably not. Vodka posted a video from them nearly four and a half years ago and then they kind of fell off of our radar. Well, they are still together and still making great music, but the name has changed. Peridot is the transformation of HRB. There is still a bit of folk in the flavoring of Peridot music, but the primary focus seems to be making great pop music. There’s not much explanation of why the band name has changed, but it seems by…
Read MoreBack in October of last year, the Philadelphia, PA folk-rock band, Stella Ruze, released their self-titled EP. It’s glorious! Bide The Time was the first single off of that EP and you can judge for yourself. Even though this was a self-titled EP, Stella Ruze actually released their first full-length recording in June 2016, So Here. Stella Ruze is made up of bandleader Brendan Johnson (vocals, guitar, percussion), Katie Burke (vocals, mandolin, percussion), Mason Wallack (keyboards, vocals), Alex Styer (trumpet, percussion, vocals), Vince Gleason (saxophone), and Sean McIntyre…
Read MoreKeep On Waiting is from Davey Craddock & The Spectacles 2016 long-player, City West, obviously released long before the long player came out. This fine bit of folk-rock is Vodka’s way of announcing that Davey Craddock and company have a new long-player, due out April 2018, One Punch. The influences of Davey Craddock’s music appear to be quite varied, from country folk to rockabilly to rock, but like the very best musicians and songwriters, it is the sum of those musical parts that creates his…
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