Whether quality releases are slow because it is the first part of the year or whether they have been depressed by the pandemic (probably a little of both), it’s been a bleak search for new music this month. Rather than post something that is less than the quality that I look for here, It seemed more appropriate to take a look back and revisit a review from a few months ago. Enter Sandtimer and You Never Had Control from their wonderful digital-only release at the end of 2020,…
Read MoreDelightfully retro, Pearl Charles latest collection, Magic Mirror (January 2021), is a nod back to 70′s bubbly pop music. In a time when pop can sound, and be, so manufactured that it ends up soulless, Charles rewinds to simpler, less produced, musical times. Remember what music was like when AM radio wasn’t full of talk idiots, but pop gems? Well, you might not be old enough to remember that, but I certainly do, and Only For Tonight (seen/heard here) samples that ethos perfectly! Magic Mirror’s other tracks available as of…
Read MoreOne of the best jazz fusion groups of all time, at least in Vodka’s opinion, is Lydian Collective. Their latest single Out Of The Woods (heard here), builds on the formula that this group has mastered: joyful, accessible jazz, played with a passion fitting the devotion that the individual members dedicate to it. It’s a winning formula, driven home by the commercial and critical success that Lydian Collective has amassed since jumping into the music scene with Adventure in March 2018. That, of course, isn’t the whole…
Read MoreVodka has long been a fan of folk singer and songwriter, Emily Barker. Emily’s latest single, Machine, from A Dark Murmuration Of Words (September 4, 2020), and now available as a two-version single, is one of many triumphs from the long player. A Dark Murmuration of Words is one of the most socially conscious records of 2020, and Machine is just one example of that. What’s the point of a great folk song with a powerful message if it is so ho-hum that you don’t want to hear it again? …
Read More