Single Review: “A Place You Grew Up In” – Laveda

This track starts off all mild mannered and chilled… and the vocals wonder over the guitar riff.. but the timing of the riff should have given me the clue because everything comes powering in at around the 0:50 second mark, and it turns into a gorgeous indie pop track. Those guitars are beautifully played! The …

Blog interview: King Darius The Great

Congratulations on the release of “Self Love (Re-Up)” how does it feel?   It feels absolutely amazing.  It feels like the equivalent of being suffocated then being allowed to breathe again. The installation of R&B singer/actress Hayzell B, is nothing short of a wonderful gift from the universe, as she totally exceeded expectations with her …

Blog interview: SØUNDHOOSE

Congratulations on the release of “Craniotomy” , how does it feel?  like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders. There was an extensive amount of work, planning, revising, editing, mixing, recording, rehearsing, so many things that now it feels good to see the results of the work that went into it. It’s a …

Single Review: “This One’s For” – Joshua Radin

I became a fan of Joshua Radin when one of his tracks was featured on a particularly emotional episode of Scrubs that a lot of fans really connect with… More on that later. Anyway, Joshua is back with a new single – “This One’s For”, an acoustic number, his vocals are gorgeous on this, he …

Single Review: “Voices Of Jericho” – Survibers ft. Aniff Akinola

Survibers are back and they’ve deployed a true wordsmith in Aniff Akinola.  He’s given a fantastic backdrop of slap bass  which slips between that and a squelchy synth bass, over a chilled out hip hop beat with a synth pad playing some dark progressions. The vocals are ethereal, Katrina has switched gears here as she’s …

Review: “Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)” – John Williams

You can always recognise a John Williams soundtrack. There’s always an Easter egg from another. Or just the sheer ferocity. Or the romantic tenderness. It’s hard to pin down a favourite piece by him, but this one stands out.  Subtitled Darth Vader’s theme, this is written for the main villain in the original trilogy,  what …

Single Review: “That’ll Be The Day” – Buddy Holly

As tomorrow is 63 years since Buddy Holly, along with Richie Havens and The Big Bopper died tragically in a plane crash I thought I’d commemorate this with my favourite Buddy Holly song.  I have memories of jamming this on the piano with my friend Simon and him singing and playing on a battered acoustic …

Single Review: “Pull To Refresh” – Devin Gray. Words: Sammy Stein

Devin Gray is a drummer, composer, and bandleader currently working and living in Brooklyn, New York City. Gray is involved in many musical projects and has worked with innovative musicians including David Liebman, Tony Malaby, Gary Thomas, Ingrid Jensen, Dave Burrell, Dave Ballou, Michael Formanek, Nate Wooley, Stephan Crump, George Garzone, Chris Speed, Drew Gress, …

Single Review: “Into The Groove” – Madonna

For me Madonna was part of the big three along with Prince and Michael Jackson. The 80s was full of their music, and everyone knew their songs, if they weren’t touring they’d be releasing music and they were iconic. They set stages around the world alight.  So, it’s weird for me to be saying Madonna …