Down Like Hip Hop is rock-solid pop from Fiction 20 Down’s (2013) long-player Where’s The Levity?. Yes, there is hip-hop here, there’s also a very deep understanding for melody and music. Hip Hop is flavor, it’s rhythm, and it can be flipping awesome, which is exactly what Fiction 20 Down proves. Along with the pop sensibility and hip hop flavor, there’s just a touch of reggae and a bit of rock for good measure. This is music,…
Read MoreJust the right touches of swing and rhythm and blues makes Kassy Key and The Rain Dogs a compelling listening experience. Kassy Key has a great vocal for this style-a sassy, full on alto, dripping with bluesy greatness. The Raindogs provide excellent backup horns, bass and rhythms, sometimes popping up front for the limelight-and not in a bad way. Here on Sleight Of Hand, from the band’s latest EP (available via i-Tunes) you can hear all of those elements. The…
Read MoreFocus on Courtney Barnett If you’ve been following along on A Little More Vodka, A Little Less Milk for awhile, you know that Australian singer/songwriter/garage rocker, Courtney Barnett has been a favorite. She’s appeared on the blog twice in video, in December 2012 and about 3 months ago. In addition, she made the cut for the 40 best tracks of 2012 with History Eraser and just released (March 2013) another single, Avant Gardener, originally a studio demo instrumental, that she added lyrics to. There’s something about the garage sensibility of the music, borrowing from many pop, rock and blues sub-genres to get this…
Read MoreThere’s a band of gypsies in the room! Well at least on Everything Is Golden you certainly think there is. Originally from Ireland, The Hooks make a strange amalgamation of Celtic influenced punk flavored rock and roll. Making music since 2004, the band, founded by brothers Ronan and Keith Mulligan, moved to San Francisco after being a part of two tours with Shane MacGowan in Ireland. There are points in some of their songs, notably So Many Questions, where there is almost a Bad…
Read MoreIn 2022, Vodka decided to do the previous year as a YouTube playlist. Back in 2012 (where this post now resides), we included a lot more music per year, so adding to the list for 2012 is a lot longer than the 2022 list. In 2012, we featured the first appearances of Courtney Barnett and Meg Myers, which would later become more regular on Vodka’s blog. If you are up for a long list of music to play in the background,…
Read More