The guitar work on this instrumental is gorgeous! It has a bit of Americana in there, and it’s just jaunty, a real feel good tune, aided by the fact that it’s in A Major. I could imagine this going down a treat with a really sweet vocal group especially with the melody at around 0:42 …
This next one has a lovely drum pattern that had me tapping it out on the table as I listened. I like the touch of an afrobeat groove at around 0:49, it adds a different spice to the track. In fact, that’s what makes this song for me. It’s the drums. Winner! Again strong vocal …
“I’ll see what I can do yeah” starts off this one with a pitch bent note and a “WHOOP!” to begin it. It then launches into a big indie rock track which passes through filters – it’s all big riffs, but again this is a strong track with a belter of a chorus. The chord changes …
To an upbeat guitar driven track we go with this one, a bit rowdy! And fair warning – the “again and again and again” bit will get stuck in your head. It’s quite the catchy refrain! What I really like though is that the song references the title with its punctuation mark to make its …
Lara Eidi is one of life’s polymaths. Known for her genre-bending style and captivating presence, she describes herself as a jazz/folk/vocalist/songwriter/pianist/educator/workshop leader. She created the songwriting podcast ‘The Notes Between’ and was a founder of the educational music platform Phonica Music Coaching. As if this is not enough she is also a sought-after vocal …
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 …
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 …
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 …
‘Kairos’ is the new release from Izumi Kimura and Gerry Hemingway. Kimura is a pianist, originally from Japan, but now residing in Ireland. She has released several recordings, notably with contrabassist Barry Guy, trumpet player Artur Majewski (Vasco Trilla, Foton Quartet), and drummers Ramon Lopez and Gerry Hemingway. Much of Kimura’s work focuses on the …
This track is interesting in so many ways. It’s a powerful ballad, which starts off guitar led, and I get the feeling that the acoustic guitar plays a vital part in the pecussion of the overall arrangement. I’ll explain why shortly. Christina’s vocals are warm, it sits right at the front of the mix, she …
