Pop-punk straight outta Jersey. Power chords and catchy riffs backed by a driving bass and drumbeat with a singer whose voice has been lovingly described as a ‘melodic gurgle.’ Jersey Calling is Josh Kates (vocals/guitar), Sean Breslin (guitar/backup vocals), Randy Ballinger (bass), John Vouras (drums), and Victoria Maffei-Kates (backup vocals).
Saline began in 2021 as the home recording project of Joe Sioufi. The band’s first effort DEMO ’22 was recorded by Sioufi at his apartment in Brooklyn, NY. Upon garnering interest from Boston’s Candlepin Records, Saline quickly grew into a four-piece band that performed eight shows in NYC between February and May 2023. Sioufi relocated to Los Angeles in May ’23 where the band continues with a new lineup.
Reissued for its 50th anniversary, this album of instrumental tracks finds “cool jazz” drummer Chico Hamilton supported for a feast of swampy soul-rock and southern boogie by the members of Little Feat.
Jazz Dispensary: At the Movies is a spirited collection of familiar and obscure soul, funk, and R&B tracks used in urban cinema, blaxploitation films, and cult-classic movies released between 1969 to 1975.
Prog-fusion fixtures Simon Phillips and Derek Sherinian partner with Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and Ric Fierabracci to form a prog-rock dream team of virtuosic player’s players for this instrumental outing.
Andy Messing wears his heart on his sleeve with his lyrics, and Rise Again beautifully captures the number one punk necessity of authenticity.
2024 isn’t even here yet, but it looks like Pray to the Knife, which is released February 16th, is already set to be one of the year’s most exciting releases.
Members of Portland, Oregon’s Sunset the Machine started hammering out riffs together in 2018. Blending together influences from hard rock/metal to punk and even elements of trippy space rock, Sunset the Machine have worked out enough material for a full length album which was promptly recorded summer of 2022 at Sisterly Silence Studios in Portland. They have taken their high energy set of songs to the stage, hitting several venues around the Northwest and have since developed a continuously growing local fanbase.
Jens Gustavson’s music, follows a narrative tradition that winds through everything from Swedish prog, alternative rock and blues and even some musical influences from, among many others, Thåström, Ossler, PJ Harvey and Nick Cave.
Eddy Mann is a smile for the soul. He’s a combination of cultural and spiritual traditions living in an ever evolving neighborhood. He’s ever comfortable is his hometown Philly roots that speak of peace, and brotherly love. An award winning, and prolific singer-songwriter that has moved gracefully through fourteen diverse albums, his loving colors have always been honestly on display.
Charismatic singer/songwriter Scotty of The Scotty Hollywood Band has been writing and recording music throughout most of his life. This multi-instrumentalist has released numerous CDs which have been distributed internationally and received airplay on independent and college radio throughout the Northeastern United States. Select clips of Scotty’s music can be heard in film including releases from Directors Joel Schumacher and Paul Lieberstein.
The Memphis Blues Box includes twenty disks’ and over 500 songs’ worth of blues recordings from one of the United States’ most important musical cities, almost all from the first half of the twentieth century.
Trans-Atlantic alternative neo-folk collective Lusitanian Ghosts have released their third album Lusitanian Ghosts III via European Phonographic. Released in both stereo and mono versions, this album was recorded and mixed at Clouds Hill Studios in Hamburg by Sebastian Muxfeldt (Elbow, Peter Doherty, Teenage Fanclub).
Highland Cinema is the New Jersey duo of Vin Zapp (drums) and Craig Arthur (guitars, bass, vocals) who grew up together glued to their instruments down the street from each other, riffing away in their parents’ basements like it was a secret music lab.
Jazz label Artwork Records has apparently been operating way under the radar, as I hadn’t heard of them until now. That’s especially surprising given their talent roster, including these two piano men.
“In the Air” is a bright, colorful burst of funk. I was influenced by Nile Rodgers and Chic. I’m so grateful for the vocal contributions by, Témi and Rakjay, who took the song to a whole other level. Témi is a very smooth vocalist from Toronto, and RakJay is a great bilingual rapper in the UK who is also a great grime/drum and bass producer.
Xperience and Ninjaface, who comprise The Unusuals, have a long history of musical collaboration. The deep end of the Pacific Northwest underground scene is where their 20+ year long careers reside. Oldominion, Grayskul, Step Cousins (XP & Macklemore), Th3rdz and countless collaborations were formed. If you know then you know. If you don’t…well you should.
King In Yellow, started by longtime friends and musical collaborators, Kyle McDonough and Nick Vining, is a musical fusion of timeless melodies and razor sharp rhythms. Drawing inspiration from the golden eras of rock and jangle pop, their music harmoniously blends raw energy and soothing gentleness. With avant-garde influences, King In Yellow crafts a unique sonic experience that transcends boundaries.
Ingolore’s new EP Paris is out now, 4 songs to believe in Love (again). From his distant Irish roots, he kept a happy guilt. Since his first steps and clumsy kisses on the dunes of the French West Coast, he has sprinkled his way with a luminous melancholy.
A mere thirty-four years late, the Veldt’s debut album finally arrives.
Monroe Moon is an experimental indie rock / pop duo, Bunny Monroe and Theo Malkin. Dark, cerebral, & poetic lyrics swim in catchy riffs and ethereal guitar. Centered around experimentation and collaboration.
La Need Machine is a fast-rising Seattle band with a fresh, genre-bending sound. La Need Machine combine the best of Indie Rock, Americana, Indie Pop and Punk-and-Roll for a sound that adds a new dimension to the “Seattle Sound.” Fans and music writers alike refer to La Need Machine songs as “ear-worms” that you want to listen to again and again.
As far as pure listening pleasure goes, Invisible Hits hits every mark Datura4’s albums do, and more.
Ithaca, NY-based indiepop artist Rose Alaimo has released A Place To Go When You Need To Hide her third full-length album. Honest, hopeful and emotive, this record follows Alaimo’s internal struggles as she finds her way through darkness to exercise her own will-power, freedom of choice and self-empowerment. It is no coincidence that this album entails an element of contrast between light and darkness.
Tanya Goltz left her small Australian hometown at 15 with a longing to explore the world. Now armed with insights after giving in to a serious case of wanderlust, suffering heartbreak, falling hard in love and experiencing the triumphs and heartaches of working as a social worker, Goltz unapologetically addresses love, loss and empowerment in her upcoming debut EP, Pieces of Me.
Bassist/songwriter Tony Marsico’s long and varied career stretches back to his membership in pioneering Chicano punk band the Plugz, eventually encompassing work with Bob Dylan, Matthew Sweet, Neil Young, and tons of others.
The Trudy are an English pop band formed in Kingston upon Thames in 1979 by former Cardiacs members Peter Tagg (drums) and Ralph Cade (vocals and keyboards) along with Derek Tagg (guitar) and Sue Smallwood (bass).
Chicago-based rock and roll artist Leon Frear has released his riveting single ‘Secret Second Moon’, the first offering from his debut album Wild Rice. A seasoned musician, this album represents a new start for him under this moniker.
Recording live in 2006, For Those Who Cross the Seas finds keyboardist and composer Alon Nechushtan assembling a titanic lineup of NYC free and experimental jazz players to perform a pair of longform pieces.
Lighting up stages with their amps-turned-to-11, valve-busting take on drive-time punk rock, Brighton’s Harker has already warmed up stages for the likes of Red City Radio, Creeper, and *Boston Manor and they are only getting started.
Putting their collective irons in the fire for the past three years, Harker is a band full of momentum. Formed by front man Mark Boniface, the project has gone on to include a formidable line-up of musicians touring relentlessly across the UK and Europe and fully embracing a louder-fuzz driven sound.
Over the recent years, the Swedish singer-songwriter and Bob Dylan interpreter, Vargen has carved a reputation for infusing his music with raw emotions. “Mindy Morning”, “The Bitch In Me”, “Toxicon” and “Easter Soul” were the singles preceding Vargen, his eponymous debut album of original work (which is out now. The album presents a diversity of genres, from the singles’ classic rock reminiscent of Dire Straits, Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones to piano ballads and art-rock in the vein of Nick Cave and David Bowie.
London-based alternative-psychedelic rock artist Sabatta presents the new album How To Get Even via Blackfriars Entertainment, arriving after the trail blazed by two memorable funkadelic groove-laden singles – ‘Get Over Yourself’, an ode to the obliviously self-important, and ‘‘Get Your Shit Together’, a wakeup call to the masses. Here, listeners can experience multiple shades of a very particular hue.
Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards are a multi-genre ensemble founded by Johnny Manchild (composition, production, vocals, keyboards), since their inception, the band (affectionately known as “Bastards”) has grown into a musical collective with collaborators in regular rotation, and Johnny at the helm. They are releasing a taste of what’s to come with a new song and video for “Oh, Songbird” out on December 8. Their new album Rapture Waltz will be out spring of 2024
Hana Maria, the daughter of a Catholic priest, was born during a hurricane; a prophetic beginning to the diary that’s exposed in her turbulent and often disturbing songwriting. The singer and multi-instrumentalist grew up in Wellington, New Zealand, moving to England at the age of twelve to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist. Disillusioned with the world of classical music, she began pushing boundaries both in art and in life – the two becoming so intertwined that it became hard to know where one began and the other ended.
Afterglow is a recording artist from Moscow, Russia who writes sad songs with post rock/post punk-inspired instrumentals. It’s one man, a guitar, a bass, and a laptop…and some occasional guests.
LARCHES is a project of Jacob Cona, a musician raised in Athens, GA, the home of Elephant 6, R.E.M., and the B-52’s. After several productive years beginning at the start of the pandemic, Jacob emerged from a bedroom-turned-home studio with music documenting a hallucinogenic landscape of isolation, loneliness, and hope, inhabited by painted corpses, cowering gods, and friends transformed into telephones.
Rusty Reid is a Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle singer-songwriter writing melodic, guitar-oriented pop-country-rock songs, including many with modern liberal philosophical, political, spiritual content.
On Dreaming of Sleep – their fifth album – Tulipomania immerses themselves fully in electronic means of creation – the exception being a sole accent played on electric guitar. Featuring cover artwork by Michael Speed8, senior designer at *Beggars Group London, this record involves Executive Producer Howard Thompson, renowned for his contributions as a record industry executive (Elektra, Island, Almo Sounds), having discovered and/or worked with such artists as Adam and the Ants, Billy Bragg, MC5, Mötorhead, PiL, Psychedelic Furs, Robyn Hitchcock, The Sugarcubes, Suicide, among others.
Kristopher is musician and singer-songwriter Kristopher Houck based in Orlando, Florida.
With a degree in psychology and over a decade of musical theater and orchestral experience as a performer and multi-instrumentalist, Kristopher blends his skills to create songs about feeling and healing through the cathartic power of music that has been so critical to his own journey.
His upcoming debut album LIAR is a collection of original songs about the need to be emotionally honest with ourselves.
San Francisco-based artist E.G. Phillips presents his Outlaw The Dead EP, released via Ducks With Pants Records. Produced by Chris McGrew, this EP was mixed with the assistance of Billboard-charting producer Jaimeson Durr (Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Hope Sandoval).
Staples of the Twin Cities music scene since 2005, The Rockford Mules have shared the stage with Lucero, Soul Asylum, The Violent Femmes, Fu Manchu, Shooter Jennings and a number of other national acts in some of America’s most iconic venues. They’ve had music featured on Criminal Minds along with several MTV style shows. They have previously released three full length records and The Last Camaro is their first album of new music in 12 years.
Few labels are as adamant at showcasing free improvisation as ESP-Disk’, but Seven pieces/about an hour/saxophone, piano, drums does more than that: it shines a light on an under-recorded talent.
Love clings to you forever whether you’re in it or out of it. Like an apparition you can’t shake, it never leaves. Love Ghost’s music conjures a style equally informed by Seattle tradition and Souncloud-era fearlessness.
Love Ghost is for the misfits and their music mostly deals with personal battles of mental health.
In The Rain Shadow is a testament to the persistence of true positivity in our modern era, and ultimately it’s a truly inspiring musical expression.
Reaching In is not the first album to tackle these themes, but it’s definitely one of the best and it’s executed with delicacy, great care, and a startling amount of talent.
Oxford, UK indie pop-rock darlings Jody and the Jerms have released their final single of 2023. ‘Divine’ is a rich spacious serving of indie pop, enveloped in a song about hope and belief in a world in disarray – a world that seems to exhibit more cruelty than ever.
It’s not only the leader’s own sound that unites the pieces – it’s a shared vision, as clearly every person from whom Pirog asked for tracks got the memo.
Eden Har‑Gil is a New York-based drummer and composer. He has been honing his skills under the tutelage of many jazz legends such as Lenny White, Billy Drummond, Bill Charlap, Horacee Arnold and Anat Fort. Since his move to New York City in 2018, Eden has played and collaborated with international musicians like: Dave Pietro, Martin Wind, Steve LaSpina, Dezron Douglas, Caroline Davis, Lo Wood, and others.
Biscuit Shrine is the solo project for Australian musician Ryder Lush, formed late 2021, the bedroom project gradually found its ground towards the start of 2023, exploring the essence of atmosphere in creating a headspace not dissimilar from other acts in the genre, with a primary focus on energy and melody conversing through reverberating guitars and ambient soundscapes in an art rock tension. ‘That Was Then’ is first single release since 2022, and the new album _Between The Real_is now out.
