Ben Howard has consistently pushed the boundaries of folk and indie music, veering towards the experimental, but with his fifth studio album, Is It?, he propels himself into a new, intriguing realm altogether. Recorded for ten days at Le Manoir de Léon Studios in the serene beauty of Southern France, the album emerges as a lush soundscape, a journey through Howard’s artistic resilience and creative expansion, especially given the life-altering health crisis he endured while creating it.
The album opener, “Couldn’t Make It Up,” is a pleasant surprise. Produced by Bullion, it instantly plunges the listener into Howard’s [...]
Max Highstein is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter that calls the hot open spaces of New Mexico home. For his latest album, he has many releases in multiple genres; Highstein pairs his jazzy, new-age sounds with adult-contemporary rock. Also on the offering is a balance of vocal and instrumental songs to keep things eclectic. The album is called Hotcakes, and Ed Willet joins Highstein on cello and Mark Clark on drums. In addition, Judy Mitchell plays accordion, and guitarist Jeff Pevar performs on “First Day Out.” The rest of the sounds are Highstein performing on various instruments but featuring his guitar playing and lead [...]
Vocalist Melanie Marod is releasing a collaboration with Chris Wiser called Stars. Marod is comfortable in many styles; she brings her warm-toned vocals into focus with Wiser’s rock and blues tones. The EP has a strong roots-rock meets blues overtone and was recorded at Downtown Recording Studios in NYC and was mixed and mastered by GRAMMY-nominated Tyler McDiarmid (Gregory Porter, Fred Hersch). The band is Chris Wiser (vocals, guitar), Art Hirahara (keyboard, organ), Sam Bevan (bass, guitar), Brian Fishler (drums), Jim Shaneberger (slide guitar), Mitch Marcus (flute, trombone, trumpet, saxophone), Joe Hettinga (engineer, piano), and Max Lockwood [...]
With the voice of an angel, Kate Vogel is a vocalist and songwriter that puts a lot of emotion and life experiences into her lyrics. Vogel was noticed for her singing abilities at the age of sixteen. As a result, she went to Nashville, Tennessee, to record her first record. That dream soon turned into a nightmare when a sexual predator toke Vogel’s innocence from her. That led to her not singing for nine years! She has finally turned that into a positive force and is now releasing music. Her debut single, “Reasons to Stay,” deals with her encounter with suicide. Her second single titled, “The Grave,” is about the funeral of her [...]
