Lucas Jack appeared on Vodka for the first time in 2013 with the mini-review for Don’t Get Carried Away. He’s kept making music and releasing an LP every few years, with his signature style paying homage to an earlier time in music when the piano was king. With Dear Life (seen/heard here), the famous upright piano is replaced with an electronic keyboard, but the musical style is very much 70s throw-back pop. It’s delightful! Joined by bandmates Michael Gomez (drums) and…
Read MorePop singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Peter Wise makes his Vodka debut with Only Gotta Start (seen/heard here). This is the first single from a forthcoming as yet unnamed 13-track LP. Wise has a beautiful tenor voice, and he’s not afraid to let it ring out. I was torn between using this version, which includes other instruments and backing vocals, and this one with Wise, a microphone, and a keyboard. In the end, I chose the full-instrumentation version, but they…
Read MoreAt the beginning of August, Maria Wilman released her debut LP, Dark Horse, which is chuck full of interesting melodic creations, that stray from modern music’s tried and true formulas. That is an excellent thing! Mastermind (seen/heard here) is one of the singles from the new LP. Maria has a beautiful alto voice that she uses at times with a Grace Slick or Chrissie Hynde sort of slide-in bent-note instrument. In fact, Maria Wilman has more in common with…
Read MoreVodka has been to many house concerts this Summer even hosting one of them. That has made it a great Summer indeed. Sofia Talvik (with her husband, sound technician, and road engineer, Jonas Westin) was the latest artist. I think my wife said it best: “From the moment she opened her mouth and began singing, she had me.” She introduced us to new music from her as yet unreleased LP (due out August 14, 2023), Center…
Read MoreA few weeks ago, Vodka had the pleasure of hosting singer-songwriter-producer Mike Vitale for a house concert. The weather was blissfully moderate. Mike and the crowd were ready for what came next. It was a wonderful concert full of stories. Everyone enjoyed the food and the music. It ended all too soon. Mike started the show off with the only song that wasn’t an original, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, complete with extensive looping pedal work. It was a phenomenal opener, but…
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