James Elkington is someone you’ve probably never heard of but yet you’ve heard plenty from. That’s because Mr. Elkington has played in several well-known bands, collaborating with such artists as Richard Thompson and James Tweedy. His finger-style guitar licks are a magical bit of musical sorcery here on Make It Up, the lead-off track from Elkington’s forthcoming debut solo LP, Wintres Woma, which is ‘the sound of winter’ in old English. [The record is due to be released on June 30, 2017, but due to forward posting, it…
Read MoreYou may remember Emily Barker from two mini-reviews in close succession to each other four years ago just before the Dear River long-player was released. Well, Emily Barker has continued to make fine pop-influenced folk music since then with an ever-increasing focus on polishing and fine-tuning her style. Enter her latest long-player, Sweet Kind Of Blue (May 2017), from which Sunrise (seen/heard here) comes and the metamorphoses continue. It’s like a beautiful butterfly that has somehow turned into an even more beautiful butterfly. The title track and opener is almost but…
Read MoreIn 2016, singer/songwriter folk-pop artist and photographer Peter James Millson, self-produced a collection of wonderful understated folk-pop tunes entitled The Red Cafe` (May 2016). Currently, Mr. Millson is working on his latest long-player, Mobile, due out sometime in the June/July time frame. Here, on the title track to The Red Cafe`, you can see why he is slowly growing a following. The story of the girl in the red cafe` is a story about a memory. We’ve all had those wistful moments when we visit a place…
Read MoreIt’s been almost 7 months ago that Vodka announced the latest Lauren Mann long-player, Dearestly (July 2016), with a video representation from one of Lauren Mann’s earlier works with the Fairly Odd Folk, Over Land and Sea, which just happens to be the title track of the 2012 long-player by the same name. There are now videos available for the 2016 long-player as well, including this one for Hibernate, an introspective look at life. If you are missing the bubbly bouncy fun of Over Land and Sea, just know…
Read MoreSometimes here at Vodka, we like to take a look back at artists that we reviewed some time ago and see how they are doing. Such is the case with Good Old War. We did a mini-review of Calling Me Names clear back in April 2013. I’ve got to say the duo has been busy perfecting their folk-pop chops and Never Gonna See Me Cry, the latest single from the duo’s new long-player Broken Into Better Shape (June 2015), is a great example of that!…
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