What if the person you disagree with is just as worried about the rent, the mortgage, the kids and the future as you are? Trey Bruce’s “All Americans” takes that deceptively simple question and turns it into a weary, roots-driven meditation on a country increasingly divided by fear, mistrust and resentment. Originally written 14 years
Trey Bruce’s “All Americans” Asks What Happened to Empathy Read More »
Nothing seems more striking than a song from a woman who knows the weight of what she writes about. VelumVelvet’s Woman’s Burden carries that sense of familiarity, like a shared language for feelings that are difficult to name. Maybe it’s because Donna James, the woman behind VelumVelvet, knows these feelings from somewhere. Based in Brigg,
VelumVelvet’s “Woman’s Burden” Feels a Little Too Familiar Read More »
There is a specific point in flirting where reading signals stops being fun and starts becoming an unpaid detective job. You noticed the looks. You felt the tension. There is clearly something happening. But eventually, someone has to actually say it. GlowDriver‘s “Tell Me” builds upon the concept of words of affirmation and transforms it
GlowDriver’s “Tell Me” Turns Relationship Uncertainty Into a Dancefloor Problem Read More »
Teenage pop’s idea of adolescence is one long contradiction. In five minutes flat you can be sure of yourself and totally insecure. Five minutes can have you burning with obsession over the next person, then so sure of yourself that nobody else matters. An hour ago you were going to love yourself for evermore, now
Piper Connolly’s “She’s Too Much!” Knows Exactly How Much Is Too Much Read More »
Dorian makes nostalgic music. One second you’re listening to a song and the next, you’re reclined in the backseat of your car staring out the window, questioning why you had called someone back and then questioning why they didn’t call you back. This is what Dorian knows. His sound is rooted in soul and R&B
CIRCA 99’s debut album Lost In Space is the kind of record you’d imagine being made by someone in a bedroom studio with way too much free time and not nearly enough self-control over cool sounds once they’re discovered. With over 10 tracks, the album weaves elements of psychedelic pop, electro-funk, synth-heavy production and ambient
CIRCA 99 Blends Psychedelic Pop and Electro Funk on Debut Album LOST IN SPACE Read More »
Being in your twenties is basically an extended software update that never finishes installing. You think you have a plan, then life introduces a new problem, a new person, a new bill, or simply the horrifying realization that everyone else also has no idea what they’re doing. Arii Lopez’s “undecided” understands that having absolutely no
Arii Lopez’s “Undecided” Is About the Significantly More Realistic Alternative Read More »
Romance is a deeply embarrassing activity. You spend years developing emotional defenses, learning boundaries, becoming independent and generally convincing yourself that you are a fully functioning autonomous human being and then somebody smiles at you in the right way and suddenly you’re reconsidering the entire architecture. Shelita’s “Open To You” is about that catastrophic administrative
Shelita’s “Open to You” Makes a Case for Emotional Vulnerability Being Worth the Risk Read More »
Annika Bellamy’s “That’s What I’m Thinking” isn’t much more than an audible day-dream, with the notable distinction being that Bellamy makes it sound like the best damn thing on earth. It takes a profoundly mundane experience -being unable to stop thinking of somebody- and essentially asks: “What if we just go with it?” The answer is
Let’s be honest: there’s something knowingly fun about something that admits you’re about to make a bad decision and then sets out to make that decision sound absolutely irresistible. Miss Verona’s “Bad For My Reputation” fully commits to that contradiction, morphing betrayal, temptation and otherwise unadvised romantic entanglements into a glossy, dance-driven pop record. The
Miss Verona Turns Toxic Attraction Into Dance Pop Fun With “Bad for My Reputation” Read More »