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Record Reviews Reviews of Record Reviews Genre Studies Band Studies Cult Classics Mushroom Festival In Hell All Time Strangest Records Clickbait Headline Of The Week From The Vaults Interviews Who Did It Better? Record Reviews Reviews of Record Reviews Genre Studies Band Studies Cult Classics Mushroom Festival In Hell All Time Strangest Records Clickbait Headline Of The Week From The Vaults Interviews Who Did It Better? Grace Vonderkuhn: A Brash Outlier In A Shrugging Indie World These days I’ve been bumping a lot of Grace Vonderkuhn. Grace comes swinging right out of the gate with a very real sense of self-confidence and a refreshingly brash attitude. I like a chick with attitude as long as she isn’t over-the-top “Hey I’ve got attitude here!” with it, and Grace is definitely on the effortlessly cool side of the attitude fen...

  The Vox Eagle Interview: On Recording In Colorado, Getting Bewitched By Breakbeats, And Being Fired From McDonalds Vox Eagle falls from the sky with fresh sounds and optimism. Andy Crosby is an Aussie hailing from Sydney. He was tutored by him mom on classical flute and piano. Clearly showing his musical abilities from an early age, he began playing his music around the city playing the bar scene at 13 by utilizing 16 year old’s ID.  This solidified his love of the music scene, and he wanted to pursue this as his life long career option. Ascertained from our lively chat, Andy clearly finds making music fun. He speaks easily and without self-consciousness. He explained he chose the name for his project because he “wanted something that was a mix between human and animal, so essentially a spirit animal. I also loved the eagle and wanted something that was a...

The opening drum beat sets the funky tone of "Citadel Blues".He starts out with the witty, observant lyrical style  "Let's not get to caught up in the truth. My heart is in the basement/ My head is on the roof" His masterful arranging skills are highlighted on "Citadel Blues". His use of horn beeps coupled with his sharp, artistic guitar playing while he sings "Beep beep goes every mouth out on the street." When you hear the beeps it feels like you are driving down a main thoroughfare in his hometown of Philly. .  he keeps singing in his solid confessional style "I feel I've been in prison and they don't have the proof.   He continues beeping and tripping along with the jangling power picking of the guitar rides below the surface. Once he lets loose on an extended guitar solo. The buzzing guitar solo creates a jamming effect.  You are at once hooked and wistfully wish the song would go on past the 4.12 marker.  "Be ...

"He was just an American Dream Hey Hey" American Dream by Nairobi born, Minneapolis based singer songwriter, JS Ondara, ripples with soulful sounds and poignant lyrics. "Lover don't make a sound Bring your rifle around" Ondara uses a rich arrangement of guitar picking paired with highlighted strings. The effect is both haunting and inviting. This is a song to listen to as the sun is falling as the end of the day is just around the bend. Clearly influenced by Bob Dylan's style of protest songs, Ondara even offers a bit of Dylan "speak" half into the song. That is what I heard strongly. Upon research I found that he moved to Minneapolis because of his deep respect for Dylan. He does Dylan well.  He feels like he fell from another era. I don't hear anything like this out there especially from a relatively unknown. He is touring with Lindsey Buckingham who obviously was aware of his talent and humility. One of the best dressed musicians...

. Anything but silent, The Silence Kit puts out music that fuses a variety of genres together yet pulls them apart so each song stands out on its own. Merging post punk, dark indie and shoegazing dream pop makes this band a stand out in a sea of mediocrity. I discovered the band on the ubiquitous Twitter.   Intrigue led to action when I read they were a post punk band based in NJ/PA. Shoegazing dream pop also slides into their music. As a lover of post punk work of Echo and the Bunnynmen, Joy Division, New Order, a bit of Nick Cave,My Bloody Valentine and the dazzling sounds of Slow Dive, I immediately looked then up and found they just dropped their 5 th LP. When I Googled The Silence Kit Fall Protection the LP pops up but so does a harness comes up in the side bar. Literally “Fall Protection” for if you are going to jump out of a plane.  Interesting analogy for these crisp, cutting but ripe songs that rely on the intrigue of the mundane aspects of relationships...