Norwegian singer-songwriter Thom Hell was one of the first artists that Vodka reviewed, back before I was really writing reviews and just posting the videos, for the most part, of music that I liked. That video still stands out as both a beautiful track and one of the most innovative and thoughtful uses of technology in a video ever (my opinion). That video was posted back in January 2012 for the song Over You. The Love Is Gone (seen/heard here) is a single that was released in…
Read MoreBears of Legend are one of the best under-appreciated bands out there. Using a disparate blend of folk, classical, rock, and progressive, the band weaves a sound that is intricate, complex, and yet very accessible. The band’s most recent single, Any Road to Anywhere (seen/heard here) from the 2018 long-player A Million Lives, is a case in point. The single presents itself initially with a pop lead-in, there is just a hint of the progressive rock elements of the song by the time the first chorus…
Read MoreRegular Vodka readers will remember Dropkick from previous reviews here. One of the founding members of Dropkick, Andrew Taylor, recently released his second solo long-player, containing music created over the last 10 years and finally recorded and released. Somewhere To Be (September 2019), the title track of which is posted here, contains introspective Americana-tinged pop musings, for the most part, beautifully rendered, with folk stories included for good measure. The closest thing to rocking outcomes in the bridge for Growing Older Than You, a raucous fuzzed-out guitar fill…
Read MoreVodka re-discovered Hillary Reynolds and Peridot back in April of last year, with a review for Tightrope. Peridot is back with a wonderful single that will leave you awe-struck. A song about how quick life is and how much we need to embrace it, Fleeting (seen/heard here) is at once beautiful and inspiring. Hillary’s vocals ring with the sincerity of strong belief, massaging the listener into willing submission instead of hitting them with a brick. Backed here by a marvelous string quartet that this song absolutely cries out for, there…
Read MoreLast night, Vodka had the pleasure of sitting in on a local house concert here in Nebraska. The venue was a wonderful old farmhouse, the attendees and hosts were warm and friendly, and the band, well that was the duo Big Little Lions. Vodka stumbled on Big Little Lions after checking, as I sometimes do, on the status of a performer that I had reviewed a number of years ago, Helen Austin. That look back found that Helen was still performing, but as a part…
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