Single Review: “Butter Side Up Boy” – Laurie Wright

Laurie Wright is back with a track with strong vocals, guitars, drums and…. Harmonica! This song comes roaring out of the gates with attitude, and it’s a cracker. I really like Laurie’s vocals on this, it sounds like he’s having a blast recording it, but this belies the dark feeling behind the lyrics, there’s a …

Single Review: “Boys From Jungle” – Junior Bill

I’m trying to decide whether this is a punk protest song or not. It’s definitely punk, the attitude is there.  But the lyrics are definitely interesting, it’s the reality of immigrants coming to the UK, and their stories, it’s loud, it’s aggressive. But do you oboe what? It’s getting the message across.  For me the …

Single Review: “I Still Love Him” – Blossom Calderone

There are so many things that I like about this song, first of all it’s in 3/4 time. That will always be welcome around here.  Secondly, the pizzicato strings, you don’t usually hear that in music nowadays unless it’s arpeggiated a la Rodney Jerkins 90s productions, so it’s good to hear that.  Thirdly, Blossom’s voice …

Album Review: “Letters To George” – John Hollenbeck. Words: Sammy Stein

https://johnhollenbeck.bandcamp.com/album/letters-to-george   John Hollenbeck is a genre-fluid composer/percussionist, renowned in both the jazz and new-music worlds. He gained widespread recognition as the driving force behind the unclassifiable Claudia Quintet, and the ambitious John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, groups with roots in jazz, world music, and contemporary composition. He has earned six GRAMMY nominations and has worked …