Back in October of last year, the Philadelphia, PA folk-rock band, Stella Ruze, released their self-titled EP. It’s glorious! Bide The Time was the first single off of that EP and you can judge for yourself. Even though this was a self-titled EP, Stella Ruze actually released their first full-length recording in June 2016, So Here. Stella Ruze is made up of bandleader Brendan Johnson (vocals, guitar, percussion), Katie Burke (vocals, mandolin, percussion), Mason Wallack (keyboards, vocals), Alex Styer (trumpet, percussion, vocals), Vince Gleason (saxophone), and Sean McIntyre (drums)….
Read MoreKeep On Waiting is from Davey Craddock & The Spectacles 2016 long-player, City West, obviously released long before the long player came out. This fine bit of folk-rock is Vodka’s way of announcing that Davey Craddock and company have a new long-player, due out April 2018, One Punch. The influences of Davey Craddock’s music appear to be quite varied, from country folk to rockabilly to rock, but like the very best musicians and songwriters, it is the sum of those musical parts that creates his unique…
Read MoreLauren Mann’s latest long-player, Dearestly, released over a year ago now (July 2016), has been the source for some pretty great folk-pop music. The bouncy fun of New Beginning (seen/heard here) belies the understated emotional feelings of loss and the need for a personal reboot. Mann’s musical career started in 2011 and has always depended on her social network of fans to get the word out about her music. Her first collection of songs was 2011′s, Stories From Home, which were repackaging’s of her own home recordings. It was…
Read MoreMost of Vodka’s regular readers know that video reviews are often written a month or so in advance of the posting and saved in the queue with a specific publish date. That isn’t true this time around. When I heard that Flagship Romance was playing a house concert near me on a Tuesday evening, I held up writing this review that I had scheduled originally for the first week in September. Now that I’ve been to that house concert, I’m ready not only to write the review but…
Read MoreSpark & Whisper is a folk band with nods to rock, blues, bluegrass, and country thrown in for good measure. Grandma’s Song (seen/heard) here, is from the band’s 2011 self-titled long-player, but the group released Monument (September 2016) just a few months back, and it is excellent! The collection of eleven tracks on Monument is written by bandmates Velvy Appleton (vocals, guitars, and electric bass) and Anita Sandwina (vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and banjolele). Fleshing out the band’s sound are Paul Eastburn (upright bass), Scott Johnson (drums), Robert…
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