independent thoughts on alternative music
To belong is to be accepted as one is, not merely “fitting in” for being like everyone else, and humans are hardwired with the need to feel as if they belong. Vocalist Frank Kadillac of JUNO Award-winning Canadian alt-pop outfit Neon Dreams was inspired to create the band’s latest single, “Sick Of Feeling Useless,” after … Read more NEON DREAMS MADE US A PLAYLIST!
Nashville pop-rock artist-on-the-rise Kelsey Waters has been performing since age 14 but has saved her best work for her reimagined solo career, rolling her life story into a batch of dark, guitar-fueled songs inspired by electric rock n’ roll and pop noire. She makes raw, guitar-driven music, heavily rooted in the sound of ’90s female rockers- … Read more PREMIERE: “SWEET TOOTH” by KELSEY WATERS
“I’ll do it forever, do nothing but fail, a student of error who can only prevail. ’Cause learning is trying and trying is hard, when it feels like falling is gonna tear you apart. But now, I’m ready to win,” Tokyo Police Club declares in a Violent Femmes-esque track from their latest album TPC, appropriately … Read more PREVIEW: TOKYO POLICE CLUB at THE HIGH WATT on 3/20/19
“In the beginning, the land was pure”….a spoken word excerpt borrowed from The Jacksons’ 1980 tune “Can You Feel It” opened the show at the High Watt this week for Keuning, the solo project of Dave Keuning, lead guitarist and co-founder of world-famous rock band The Killers. As words turned into funky beats, Keuning took … Read more LIVE SHOW REVIEW: KEUNING
In this day of instantaneous information and anonymous criticism hurled without accountability from behind digital screens, it can be a difficult task to stand out on your own and be a voice rather than an echo. It takes courage to use our talents to make the world a better place. Nashville band Coyote Choir, … Read more PREMIERE: “SING!” by COYOTE CHOIR
Weeks ahead of time, I had eagerly awaited my Friday schedule at the 2018 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. With the day containing a mix of rising artists I had somehow missed throughout the winter concert season, as well as a few artists that I could not wait to see again, I had assembled the … Read more Eo8 ON LOCATION: BONNAROO 2018, DAY 2
“Dime Store Pistol” – C A Y N E “Jon Buscema, the brilliant producer behind ‘Dime Store Pistol’ and ‘In The Weeds’ (released 2017) and I were hoping to make a song that lights a fire in anyone who listens to it- male and female alike,” says Jessica Cayne, the pop/rock powerhouse behind C A … Read more NEW MUSIC MONDAY!
“I love the trumpet; I only played during junior high in the school band,” says singer/songwriter Matt Costa when asked if he was a fellow lifelong band nerd. “You’d go to school and carry your trumpet case around, and I really liked that. When I stopped playing the trumpet, I started skateboarding and then started … Read more AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with MATT COSTA
Sitting by the water as she drinks coffee in the brilliant California sun, Maddi Hawkes, who makes her gut-punching brand of pop rock music under the moniker Mad Hawkes, the self-proclaimed beach kid who always has a suit in her car, is contemplating a swim. Los Angeles native Hawkes will release Undone, her new … Read more AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with MAD HAWKES
“There’s just a naivety when you’re younger, you really believe you can be anything. I just allowed that idea to run unfettered. I really have only ever done music,” says Afie Jurvanen who makes music under the moniker Bahamas. “I was a horrible student. I really did not do well in school at all, I … Read more PREVIEW: BAHAMAS at CANNERY BALLROOM on 5/11/18