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Blues Music Blog & Promotion

Enjoy a perfect morning with Mo Safren and his Motown Pop ballad ‘Bagels and Coffee’

Posted on 6 March 2021

With vocals as evocative as Tom Odell’s and a charisma which captivates you just as much as his artfully powerful sound, it’s impossible to imagine a dull future for US singer-songwriter and performer, Mo Safren.

The perfect introduction to their constraint-less sound is ‘Bagels and Coffee’; the soulfully slick piano pop ballad carries all of the accessibility of a mainstream pop track and all of the improvised unpredictability of jazz. Attempting to affix genres to this powerfully progressive single would be an act of futility, but you will be able to note Safren’s dynamic array of influences which includes everyone from Chopin to Sinatra.

Bagels and Coffee is one of those phenomenally rare singles which you feel like you could listen to a thousand times and still not have picked out the beauty in every subversive curveball.

The official music video to Bagels and Coffee is available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Walking Trees have made their psychedelically despondent alt-rock debut with ‘SOUTHSIDE aLIVE!’

Posted on 5 March 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElQG9ES4f2Q

Racking up over 10k streams and garnering major airplay with a debut release is the dream for many aspiring artists, The Walking Trees first single ‘SOUTHSIDE aLIVE! is equally as ethereal.

By channelling post-punk despondency vocally, infusing Depeche Mode-style atmosphere and exuding frenetic Black Keys-style blues through the guitars and keys, SOUTHSIDE aLIVE! drips with Marlon Brando-level cool.

The Frank Zappa-Esque. Spoken word verse was so much more than a nod to an icon, the serpentine canter of the poetry is utterly transfixing as it affirms the amount of artistic intellect behind The Walking Trees sound which carries reminiscence from everyone from Gorillaz to the Cramps.

The Walking Trees is everything a modern alt-rock act should be. From their image to their experimental intrigue, everything points in the direction of success for The Walking Trees. With their forthcoming single due for release in late February, they are well-worth having on your radar.

You can check out the official music video which premiered on January 23rd via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

 

Slip away from the monochrome present-day with Georgia and the Vintage Youth’s single ‘Colour Blind’

Posted on 5 March 2021

We can’t fast-forward 2021, but we can escape it by delving into the past, Georgia and the Vintage Youth’s latest single ‘Colour Blind’ is the perfect aural TARDIS to jump into. While you’re consoled about the state of present-day, the comfort from the anachronistically styled soul will abstract you from it.

Anyone lucky enough to hear it will be able to better understand their own lockdown-inspired feelings after hearing Colour Blind. With lyrics as strong, meta and almost serendipitously astute as ‘I don’t wanna die, I’m just tired of feeling colour-blind’, Colour Blind isn’t a track which you can listen to half-heartedly.

Unlike many retro-inspired singles, Colour Blind isn’t a tea-stained faded photograph of the past. Georgia’s vocals carry the same grace as a 50s chanteuse. Sure, there’s a nod to Winehouse in her sound, but her sound stretches right back to the roots of dreamy blues pop. It’s the kind of track I could imagine Dolly Parton having on her playlists.

Colour Blind is available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Godzukey warn us about ‘The Wrath To Come’

Posted on 4 March 2021

When, back in November, we reviewed Godzukey’s last single ‘Alibi’, we said that Portland, Oregon, might have just spawned a new baby monster. On the basis of ‘The Wrath To Come’, that monster’s now hitting the angry teenage years, slamming its bedroom door, and refusing to come out except for snacks and video games.

Written about deceitful friends and still peppered with beautifully tasteful harmonics and bluesy shredding from guitar noisenik Conrad Bylsma, ‘The Wrath To Come’ is a glorious, grungy, doomy, melodic, stomp through sludgy stoner-rock (that’s a thing) in an old-school lazy vocal and fuzzed-up guitars kind of way. There’s large elements of some absolute classics in here – Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, with a definite nod to the Foos, Nirvana, and J Mascis/Dinosaur Jr. especially around the laconic vocal delivery and effects.

‘The Wrath To Come’ is the 8th track from Godzukey’s demo mini-album ‘Lake Mammalian’, and a precursor to their debut online gig ‘Bridge City Sessions: Godzukey’, which can be viewed via YouTube and Facebook on March 2nd this year.

In the meantime, you can hear ‘The Wrath To Come’ on Spotify, and follow Godzukey on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps try to ‘Turn Back The Time’.

Posted on 4 March 2021

Tom Tikka is no stranger to the recording studio; a youthful solo deal with Olarin Musiikki in Finland, nine years and three albums with SonyBMG as the band Carmen Gray, and Josie Award nominations with the FBP Records signees The Impersonators, is a pretty solid recording career by anyone’s yardstick, but that hasn’t stopped Tom releasing three critically acclaimed EPs with new band the Missing Hubcaps.

‘Turn Back The Time’ is the first of six tracks from the ‘That’s What Winston Churchill Said’ EP, a collection of vaguely AOR-driven rock tracks with great pop sensibilities and an eye on hook-writing and catchy choruses. There’s some excellent overdriven guitar work, a nod to alt-rock and touches of storytelling songwriting a la Crowded House and INXS, alongside some nice bluesy licks interplaying with Tikka’s occasionally falsetto vocal delivery. It’s a great track, and a perfect introduction to the EP; you don’t get to make music for as long, in as many incarnations, as Tom Tikka without having something a little bit special, and that experience and originality comes across very strongly on ‘Turn Back The Time’.

Check out ‘Turn Back The Time’ on Spotify, or from Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps website.

Review by Alex Holmes

Benny Elom lays down ethereal soul in their indie jazz fusion single ‘I Do’

Posted on 2 March 2021

Essex, UK-residing Afroitalian R&B singer-songwriter, Benny Elom, has released their ethereally soulful single ‘I Do’ which unravels as an all too indulgent blend of RnB, jazz and soul.

The mellifluous single explores romantic uncertainty without lacing any bitterness or melancholy in the soundscape, instead, through their humility, the artist reminds us how pure love can be. With his affably honeyed lyricism, his mesmerising vocal timbre and the sense of modernity which he brings through jazz fusion, Benny Elom’s sound is a recipe for success.

You can check out Benny Elom’s latest single which officially released on February 5th via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

 

The Home Stretch made a seafaringly sweet debut with their album ‘Ocean Boy’

Posted on 1 March 2021

Discernibly, it isn’t just the artwork for The Home Stretch’s album ‘Ocean Boy’ which Neutral Milk Hotel inspired, the same lo-fi psych folk sound resounds right through the debut album from the Birmingham-based newcomers.

The seafaringly sweet album starts with the title-track which allows you to wade into The Home Stretch’s cathartically panoramic signature sound which will undoubtedly be a hit with any fans of Deerhunter.

There’s nothing ambient about the intricate art rock guitar progressions which pop with bluesy pronunciation, but you’ll feel serenity wash over you as you let this mellifluously stunning soundscape arrest your rhythmic pulses and offer indulgent aurally-derived escapism.

Ocean Boy is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Martin Reynolds swaps the drum stool for the acoustic guitar on folk-pop solo debut ‘Strange Days Indeed’

Posted on 1 March 2021

Upfront with an acoustic guitar and a bunch of original tracks might not be Martin Reynolds’ usual place, but on the basis of ‘Strange Days Indeed’ it really, really ought to be far, far more often. Usually found thumping tubs behind Birmingham grunge-blues-rockers You Dirty Blue, Reynolds took the opportunity of lockdown to borrow a 24 track mixer and record an album’s worth of vaguely folky, jangly loosely sixties- and seventies-inspired numbers, the first of which to hit the public’s earlobes and consciousness being ‘Strange Days Indeed’. Think Del Amitri, Hothouse Flowers, Ray LaMontagne, Jack Johnson, or Ben Harper.

‘Strange Days Indeed’ is friendly, immediate and open, honest and confessional, speaking of a personal take on life and the emotions of the last twelve months, bittersweet but optimistic and upbeat, Reynolds’ voice lilting and melodic, the song itself poppy, catchy, and uplifting – a riot of strummed campfire guitar, tambourine, and backing vocals, but Reynolds’ musicianship shines through the whole time in the picked acoustic solo and the overall arrangement.

‘Where There’s Hope’ – the ten track album – is out shortly; check out ‘Strange Days Indeed’ on Spotify, and follow Martin Reynolds on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

From B to B want to take us out for some ‘Hungry Love’

Posted on 28 February 2021

Social networks in the era of Covid-lockdown have taken on a whole new meaning, especially around relationships and those fledgeling romances which kicked off before the world closed down. The lyrical refrain of ‘I want to go out’ within From B to B’s new single ‘Hungry Love’ must have been uttered by most of us at some point over the last twelve months, and if you can’t empathise with that sentiment than, frankly, we’re beyond hunger here.

Good, bouncy, American-style pop, bubblegum and beatsy, with a touch of “Marshmallow” and a little of the “junk food” taste and a side-order of hip hop, ‘Hungry Love’ is perfect, summery driving dance-pop for lazy weekends, pizza-and-coke-floats on the couch, and Netflix-and-Chill of an evening. It’s instant, it’s catchy, it hooks you in with sugar and fills you up with sunshine. What better antidote to the January Blues?

Check out ‘Hungry Love’ on Spotify now.

Review by Alex Holmes

Scott Cruz gives us ‘The Reason’ to be cheerful

Posted on 28 February 2021
Scott Cruz

You’d think that perhaps receiving five (five. Count ‘em!) prestigious Telly Awards for TV compositions including the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and a bunch of independent films, alongside performing at that epicentre of cool the House of Blues and charting on Billboard’s Top 40 Indicator Chart with previous single ‘Rescue’ would be enough for US-based singer/songwriter/composer/producer Scott Cruz, but you’d be wrong. Very wrong. We’re not talking ‘resting on laurels’ here, we’re looking at an artist at the top of his game, and new single ‘The Reason’ absolutely demonstrates that.

Dance-oriented, electronic, swathed in synth-strings and upbeat as hell, ‘The Reason’ is a radio-friendly club-pop banger; it’s earnest, it’s open, and it’s all topped off by Cruz’s soulful voice – think Shawn Mendes, a touch of Calum Scott, some Calvin Harris, and a dash of Harry Styles. It’s pure, proper, uplifting dance pop, and it’s very, very likely to raise that bed of laurels Cruz has to rest on just a bit higher very, very soon.

Check out ‘The Reason’ on Apple Music; go to Scott Cruz’ website.

Review by Alex Holmes