independent thoughts on indie rock, alternative, and indie pop music
Miko Marks turns years of loss, change, and hard-earned perspective into “Hell or High Water,” the title track from her forthcoming album. The song finds Marks leaning further into the blues while looking to memory, family, and inner strength for what comes next.
Legendary blues man Muddy Waters once said “the blues had a baby and named it rock n’ roll.” In fact, blues music embodies the roots of all American music; it is the quintessential vehicle for expressing visceral emotion, and touches on something deeply primal in every soul. When ZZ Ward was eight years old, her... Continue Reading →
If you're a regular around here (and if you aren't, you totally should be), you've noticed we've been drooling over Winstons, our new favorite New York-based blues rock duo. We literally, and I mean literally, can't get enough of their soulful sound, and we want you to be as excited about them as we are.... Continue Reading →
"Love should be enough," wails Winstons frontman Lou Nutting, in "Enough," the Brooklyn-based band's second single; the song follows single "Without You," which premiered last week. Both will be available on limited edition 7" vinyl or by download on February 17th via Grand Jury, which can be pre-ordered here. Winstons make the kind of rock n' roll that drills its... Continue Reading →
Kaleo, the four-piece powerhouse from Iceland, brings some serious heat with their debut album, A/B, out June 10th via Elektra/Atlantic Records. Listening to this album from cover to cover is like going to a decorative dessert buffet with only a toothpick…you have to keep going back for more. Actually, “smorgasbord” would be a better way... Continue Reading →
“We get labeled as a retro band, and though we draw a lot of influence from older music, I feel like the way we put things together is very different,” says Lech Wierzynski, frontman for soulful rhythm and blues-y collective The California Honeydrops. The golden-voiced Wierzynski, who also plays guitar and trumpet, was born in Poland... Continue Reading →
“When I was about 15, my parents randomly gave me a guitar for Christmas. I’d asked for one a few years before, and I’d forgotten about it, I was one of those kids whose parents would always try to get me to try new things, but I never really got into anything,” says Marty O’Reilly, founder... Continue Reading →
When he was younger, Zack Smith, multi-instrumentalist and one-half of Nashville-based Americana duo Smooth Hound Smith, got tattoos on his fingers to insure that he would never get hired to work in an office. He walked a series of vocational paths, but music was the only thing that he never stopped doing. Fate took its course, and Smith... Continue Reading →
Alabama Shakes definitely blew the idea of a sophomore slump out of the proverbial water with the release of their stellar LP Sound & Color this year. While there are so many list-worthy options on this record, I found myself turning up the volume every time groove-tastic tune “Dunes” popped up on the rotation (“Future... Continue Reading →
Brooklyn-based blues rock band The London Souls blew the roof off of The Ryman recently, and I was there to witness it with my eyes widened and my jaw touching the floor. Lead vocalist and guitar shredder Tash Neal, who was injured in a horrific hit-and-run accident in 2012 which required him to undergo brain... Continue Reading →
