Reviews

• Reviews

 Emarosa – 131

Emarosa released their latest album, 131, earlier this month – their first with Hopeless Records. Singer Bradley Walden posted a picture on Instagram the night before, saying it was his “greatest artistic effort to date”, and as someone who hadn’t really followed the band before, I have to say that this album is pretty darn good. The sound of 131 had some help – not only from new guitarist Matt Marcellus, but also a number of guests, including Jason Vena (Acceptance), Connor Denis (Beartooth), and …

• Reviews

 I See Stars – Treehouse

It’s never been a better time to be a fan of I See Stars with their latest release, Treehouse – their fifth studio album – out now on Sumerian Records. This album has a different sound from other ISS’s previous efforts, potentially due to their recent lineup change. Now a 4-man outfit, with Devin Oliver pulling double duty on vocals – both clean and “unclean” (read: screaming), and drummer Andrew Oliver switching to synths and backing vocals. The Word Alive’s Luke Holland recorded a majority …

• Reviews

 Empty Houses – Daydream

Ali Shea, where have you been all my life?

Those eight words, while light on prose, encapsulate the entirety of my feelings about Empty Houses’ debut album, Daydream, out now via Sargent House. The Shea-led, Detroit-based, retro-pop trio never fall short on the soul or passion of their hometown throughout this 10-track effort. That’s not to say that this is simply a throwback to the Motown sound of the 50s or 60s – though the inspiration is clear – this album spends it’s fair share …

• Reviews

 The Orphan The Poet – Terrible Things

Terrible Things is the latest release from Dayton, Ohio’s The Orphan The Poet, but their latest all-too-short 5-track effort is anything but. The alt-rock quartet have delivered an impressive musical selection that echoes Mayday Parade and Anberlin while featuring vocals that vary from calm and low one minute to soaring and searching the next, all along with expertly-matched instrumentation, thanks I must think in no small part to the producing team that has previously worked with Cobra Starship (love you, Gabe) and Every Time I …

• Reviews

 Marcus Blacke – Marcus Blacke

Marcus Blacke’s new self-titled album, out now via Three Sirens Music Group, is a lot of things. The Australian’s latest 12 songs go from deep and emotional to dripping with socio-political subtext to something more traditionally categorized as Americana – but one thing it is not, is comfortable. Regardless of what Blacke is singing about in his unique vocal style – and, with equal weight, playing guitar (more on that later) – you are there to feel it. And believe me, you will.

People spend …

• Reviews

 The Other Stars – We Were Kids

Worcester, MA-based indie quartet The Other Stars have an impressive debut on their hands with the release of We Were Kids – out now via Take This To Heart Records. The album is quick-moving and well-layered, sharing sonic similarities with modern bands like The Front Bottoms as well as late ’90s/early ’00s alternative bands like Piebald and Midtown.

The opener, “You Looked Better At The Party”, opens a little too The Front Bottoms for me, but by the first chorus the song – and the …

• Reviews

 Lukas Graham – Lukas Graham

With apologies to William Shakespeare, there’s something quite musical in the state of Denmark. Hailing from Christiania – an autonomous artistic community in the center of Copenhagen – Lukas Graham Forchhammer, along with his bandmates, Mark “Lovestick” Falgren (drums), Magnús “Magnúm” Larsson (bass), and Kasper Daugaard (keyboard) are poised to continue their breakthrough on American shores with the release of Lukas Graham’s debut self-titled album, out now on Warner Brothers Records.

It would be impossible to ignore the success of the album’s opener “7 Years” …

• Reviews

 The Rocket Summer – Zoetic

When I was 22 years old I had no idea what I was doing with my life (fear not 22 year-olds, this is normal). College, work, relationships – these things circled around me perpetually, watching, waiting. Wherever I was going, whenever I was going to get there – it was going to be a surprise to all of us.

But, something else happened when I was 22. A 20-year-old kid from Texas, multi-instrumentalist Bryce Avary, performing under the name The Rocket Summer, released his breakthrough …

• Reviews

 HEARTWATCH – HEARTWATCH

You know those songs that just get stuck in your head all the time, the ones that you wake up singing to yourself before your feet even hit the floor? I love those. They’re songs that just “get me” in such a visceral way. They understand me, they know what I need, and they give it to me – one chorus or refrain at a time. The latest addition to my internal playlist is actually two songs: “Faultlines” and “Never Let You Go” by San …