The Liar (seen/heard here) is from Denver-based Alright Alright, the creative moniker for Seth and China Kent, and their most recent long-player, Nearby (October 2018). Positioned firmly in the indie-folk category, the sum essence of these nine beautifully executed tracks is the stories they tell. If you can’t get that from The Liar, then take a listen to all of the tracks as a cohesive unit and you will feel the force that the stories create. The Kent’s music is power-driven, both instrumentally and lyrically, and I don’t mean that…
Read MoreIf you are ready to dream while awake, then the dreamiest of dream-pop from the band Barrie may be just what you are looking for. Lushly layered pop is the formula for the band’s debut long-player, Happy To Be Here (May 2019) and the five-piece delivers that formula with pure pop genius! As an example, check out Darjeeling from the new long-player (seen/heard here). Throughout the 10 tracks on the new long-player, Barrie, referring to band namesake Lindsay Barrie who wrote all of these tracks and provides lead vocals, plots a course through…
Read MoreProgressive rock greats, Big Big Train are poised (at the time of this writing) to release yet another opus in their craft, Grand Tour (May 2019). Alive (seen/heard here), is the type of positive rock anthem that the group hasn’t really made since Make Some Noise over 5 years ago. That said, they have made a great number of fabulous long-players, and Vodka has revisited the band several times since Make Some Noise was reviewed: Wassail (July 2015) Folklore (May 2016) Telling The Bees (April 2017) Meadowland (June 2017) I’m always impressed with…
Read MoreDavid Ian Roberts Sending Out Fires (seen/heard here) is from the more interesting side of folk singer-songwriter compositions and appears on the artist’s March 2019 long-player, Traveling Bright. The long-player has apparently been in the works for a while, with production and engineering taking place in 2017. Like a well-aged whiskey, there’s a benefit to the wait, as experienced through the 12 carefully created tracks that appear on Traveling Bright. At times, there is a feel of late sixties-style folk-rock goodness, (lead-off track A Million Winds) troubadour…
Read MoreAyla Nereo is no newcomer to the world of music, artistry, and self-healing. She’s been at it since at least 2006 when she released her self-recorded first long-player, Play Me A Time. She has recorded as a single artist, and in various collaborations, which means that there is ultimately a wealth of music available that she has either influenced or totally created. Ayla is a free spirit, less defined by a single genre’ of music than influenced by all of it. She adapts lyrical brilliance with orchestral…
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