Single Review: “Billboards” – Aymee Weir.

This song for me is like a jumble of thoughts like the post-weekend blues on a Sunday – it gets referenced in the lyrics about what happened the night before. It’s an observational song too, and I like that. My favourite thing about this song is the vocal arrangement – the harmonies aren’t overbearing. The …

Music News: Jacob Collier Announces Final Instalment of Groundbreaking Album Series

Jacob Collier Announces Final Instalment Of Groundbreaking Album Series That Has Earned Three Grammy Awards & Six Grammy Nominations Including Album Of The Year Djesse Vol. 4 will be released on February 29th 2024 via Hajanga / Decca / Interscope   *The album’s first official single Little Blue (feat. Brandi Carlile) is released today* Listen …

Music News: Grammy Winning Christone “Kingfish” Ingram releases new live album.

Grammy Award-winning guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Christone “Kingfish” Ingram surprised his worldwide fans by dropping his third album, Live In London. The album was recorded on June 6, 2023, in front of a sweaty, sold-out, standing-room-only crowd at the famous UK club, The Garage. Live In London is the guitar-driven live album Kingfish’s fans around the world have been clamouring for …

Album Review: “Rags And Ragas” – Charu Suri. Words: Sammy Stein.

Composer and pianist Charu Suri has released ‘Rags and Ragas’ and she has achieved a beautiful and well-crafted merger of two cultures. A raga is a modal scale, usually performed at a specific time of day. There are hundreds of such ragas found in India and here Suri introduces us to just a few of …

Single Review: “Mindfulness” – River Nelson.

This track starts off with a jazzy gospel part that’s just two chords over some lush strings.  When Andy Kettle sent me this, he had me from the chord progression.  But this is not where I was invested.  Oh no.  No no no. The hard hitting drums?  Nope.  The lack of bassline?  Oh yeah I …

Album Review: “Greek Street Friday” – Ian Shaw. Words: Sammy Stein.

I first heard Ian Shaw in 2021 when I reviewed Hannah Horton’s album ‘Inside Out’ on which Shaw was the guest vocalist on tracks ‘Frozen Light’ and ‘Breathing Out’. Horton told me, “I mentioned I was recording a new album and he (Shaw) offered to take a listen and then wrote the lyrics for ‘Frozen …

Single Review: “24F” – Maya Lane

This song is a thing of beauty, it’s acoustic, and has Maya’s signature vocal… She sings strongly over an acoustic guitar that has percussion underneath. For me it’s the harmonies that are doing the job, especially where they are adding more and more in the chorus – there are harmonies throughout the song, but the …