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…
You may remember self-proclaimed reformed lawyer Lucas Jack from clear back in 2013 and the video/review for Don’t Get Carried Away. Well, Lucas is back and adding more muscle to his great piano-rock with his new long-player, Make It Beautiful (August 2016), from which A Little More comes. It’s great stuff and rocks a little harder than the original LP. Before we continue, though, let’s talk just a bit about that earlier review. On December 12th, 2013, when the original review was posted, the long-player that we were reviewing was…
If you like feel good piano pop, you’ll love Lucas Jack and Don’t Get Carried Away from his March 2013 long-player Sun City. It jams as hard as any piano track can jam and Lucas Jack has a wonderful voice. This is music to do work to, to dance to, to drive to, to do just about anything-except sleep. Sun City doesn’t rock that hard all the way through. In fact, it’s a testament to diverse styles, varying rhythms, the plaintive…
It was December 2012 when Vodka first discovered Courtney Barnett. At the time, Barnett didn’t have a label (she created her own that same year, Milk Records), but she did have her first EP, I’ve Got A Friend called Emily Ferris, which contained History Eraser, a song I still love. This scrappy left-handed guitarist, with a flair for inspired lyrics, started the same year as this incantation of Vodka’s blog. When I started, I’d scour the dark corners of the Internet searching for new and different artists, hoping that in the process, I’d garner my own following to the blog….
The pop-rock hook of Giving Her More from Chapell (a.k.a. Alan Chapell) is undeniable, but the hook is just part of the charm. Giving Her More, from Chapell’s stellar March 2016 long-player, The Redhead’s Allegations, is a study in the positive; A positive story and a positive and uplifting feel. And why not? Alan Chapell has a lot to be thankful for. He was blessed with an abundance of talent, a penchant for attracting the right friends (Talking Heads keyboardist and guitarist Jerry Harrison led production duties for The Redhead’s…