Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. It feels like OpCritical lives by this very principle, placing it at the heart of their creative compass. Their latest single, Act Up, brings that conviction to the forefront, taking aim at indifference through punk and rock sensibilities. The gritty guitars and punchy drum hits immediately
There’s No Room For Apathy In OpCritical’s “Act Up” Read More »
Sometimes, all it takes are slow keys and an unguarded vocal performance to turn a simple arrangement into something that seeps into your bones, leaving you sitting with feelings that aren’t even yours to begin with. Exzenya’s Forgiven For The Last Time carries that very kind of weight, confronting perhaps the hardest person to forgive:
On Regret and Old Wounds In Exzenya’s “Forgiven For The Last Time” Read More »
A distorted movie dialogue sample asking about an abnormal brain opens Lyrically Reclaim Your Brain by PLAN-A-EMCEE, setting off a relentless wave of classic golden-era crunch. The drums thump with an unyielding golden-age grit that immediately transports you back to the golden era of nineties rap battles. That thick bassline locks into a swing so
There’s something refreshing about a band that couldn’t care less about playing nice. No attempt to ease you in, no effort to be subtle. And it’s just exactly like Nasty Passion’s debut single, Nasty. Behind this work is a Baltimore-born band that carries the hard-rock swagger straight out of Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in the late
Nasty Passion’s “Nasty” Gives You Classic Rock With A Shameless Little Grin Read More »
One of the most remarkable things a musician can do is make a moment that belongs to them feel familiar to someone they’ve never met. A promise made to a loved one, a goodbye we weren’t ready for, or words we wish we’d said sooner can suddenly feel like our own. Paul Jarmer does exactly
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There’s something so endearing about musicians who take a good look at the world around them. Not just toward their own heartbreaks or private lives, but also at the people sharing the same trains and streets with them. Just like how DirtPhunks found a song in the lives of strangers who might otherwise go unnoticed
DirtPhunks’ “Subway Reflections” Has That Classic Rock Sound With Its Eyes Open Read More »
Sometimes, all you need is a catchy, eerie little tune to get Halloween started. You know, the kind that’s delightfully unsettling but you can’t stop yourself from listening to? You might find that exact same music in The Burton D’Agostini Procedure’s latest release, “Strange Condition”. Behind this project is a US-based duo, Jeff Burton and
We live in an age of inescapable media saturation where every smartphone ping acts as a miniature broadcast tower. On their single Electric Noise independent outfit Satellites turns that modern sensory overload into an exhilarating piece of driving synth-pop that hits with immediate kinetic urgency. The music grabs your lapels and drags you into a
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Don’t you just miss it when songs don’t try to be overly complex? Like when it allows you to just hit play, catch a feeling, and let yourself get carried away with whatever impulsive decision it’s suggesting? For some reason, Drea Dominique’s Roll gets it so well. Her path to indie R&B has taken a
Listen to Drea Dominique’s “Roll” If You Feel Like Texting That Person at 2 AM Read More »
Let’s be honest. There are a lot of songs that have been written about being a mighty man. But for some reason, only a few wear bravado quite like Brian Asha’s Mighty Man. The best part? He made it sound so damn good you’ll start moving to the beat before you can even question the
Brian Asha’s “Mighty Man” Is A Pretty Good Song If You’ve Got an Ego to Feed Read More »