A powerful new voice in the independent music scene, Zola, forges an ode to petty young girls who flaunt what they believe to be their superiority, while all the while being exactly the opposite in Not Like Other Girls (seen/heard here). This is the first single from Now You See Me, the long-player that is due to drop later this year. Lyrically, Not Like Other Girls paints a vivid picture. Zola sings: “She was a fake bitch Wanted to be famous Don’t know what I saw in you She didn’t love herself So…
Read MoreA singer and composer based in Brooklyn, New York, Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez packs a vocal punch with Better For You (seen/heard here) which arrived on March 5, 2021. This is not just vocal jazz done well. This is a cross between modern popular music’s twists and turns, blending it all in a vocal jazz framework. The result is a fun, toe-tapping romp! Lyrically, Raina asks multiple questions of her lover. She’s perhaps just a little too eager to please, too much ‘what do you want and not enough ‘what do…
Read MoreWhat exactly is the history of the spoken word in jazz music? It actually has its earliest roots in the late 1920′s and 1930′s when scatting along with a jazz tune, became more commonplace. This started with the vocals imitating the instruments but later came to be rhythmic words spoken in beat to the music. Even later, in the late 1950′s and 1960′s, modern music borrowed elements of this ‘talking jazz’ into what was to be called ‘beat poetry’. The words were moved from containing only relational importance…
Read MoreBlessed with a tuneful, breathy soprano, and a gift for playful, deeply personal, lyrical expression, Olive Louise presents Nothing’s The Same (seen/heard here). It’s not uncommon to look back on our youth and be wistful for what seems now a simpler, brighter time, or was it? Nothing’s The Same examines, it seems, a young Olive Louise: “I remember the good old days Where I used to run outside to play Nothing’s the same Nothing’s the same Want to go back to being pre teen summers felt like eternity And my skin was so soft And…
Read MoreConcept Humanity has a universal language that we need to use as often as we can-the language of music. Music speaks to the soul, reminds us who we are to make us better people, healing wounds, providing a catharsis from fears, anger, love loss, and more. Bands have a tendency to create themselves within a formula and then, whether they like it or not, that formula can bind them to it forever. That can restrict the universal impact of their music and even the enthusiasm the band has for…
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