Browsing Tag

Blues Rock

Blomqvist & Mattjus borrowed a few tones from Dogs D’Amour for their acoustic rock triumph, Dangerous Curves

Posted on 10 June 2023

Any fans of bluesy rock in the same vein as Dogs D’Amour, Pretty Boy Floyd, and The Quireboys won’t want to hesitate to get the acoustic rock LP, Right on Time, from the devilishly reverent duo, Blomqvist & Mattjus, in rotation.

Track 6, Dangerous Curves, is the perfect introduction to the duo’s redefinition of the iconic rock tones that built the sonic landscape in the 70s, 80s and 90s. With vocals that could give Massive Wagons a run for their money and catchy choruses that would be best enjoyed while driving with the top down, this infectiously low-down and dirty acoustic anthem is far too irresistible for a solitary play. The celebration of sensuality veers just close enough to 80s sleaze to scintillate it with salaciousness, but the sense of bluesy soul quickly perturbed any sense of vulgarity.

Right on Time was officially released on May 23; get stuck into it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

THE PALE HORSES rolled with the punches in their soulfully heavy progressive blues single, Shallow Dive

Posted on 28 April 2023

THE PALE HORSES raucously reimagined blues with their latest feat of heavy progressive blues, Shallow Dive. The shimmering tones spilling from the Hammond organ remain definitively bluesy, as do the harmonised backing vocals, but everything else in the innovated hit came straight from the Toronto-hailing artist’s very own heavy rock n roll drawing board.

Even if you can take or leave blues and heavy progressive rock, there’s enough exhilarant substance in the release to affirm THE PALE HORSES are one of the most original acts on any scene. The jazz-inspired drums and vocal lines from Dane Hartsell transform this ode to 70s vintage tones into a riot of rock renovation, which may make traditionalists itch, but anyone who appreciates experimentalism will want to bask in the heat of this scorching sonically salacious release.

Shallow Dive is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Stephen The Storyteller pulled a wild sonic card in his punk n roll hit, Missin On.

Posted on 11 April 2023

If you fused the roguish appeal of the Cramps with proto-punk scuzz and bluesy rock n roll riffs, the amalgam would be as raucously gritty as the standout single, Missin On, from Stephen the Storyteller’s album, Supragenre.

With his whiskey-soaked vocal lines pouring into the frenetically progressive pace of the authentic by-design hit, you’ll be shakin’ like Elvis by the time the chorus kicks around. He’s the complete antithesis of artists of the modern era who create around the confines of stereotype and genre; reminiscences aside, Stephen The Storyteller pulled a wild sonic card with this release that stays true to the organic nature of expression. The Doylestown artist, poet, and producer, may keep his sound design experimentally old school, but with his music videos, he’s embraced the future and allowed AI to take the metaphorical lead.

The AI-created music video for Missin On premiered on April 1; watch it on YouTube, and check out more of his content on his official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Reverend James Elmore Jenkins keeps the devil at bay in his blues rock jam, Diapsalmata Blues

Posted on 16 March 2023

Few artists do bluesy rock n roll as reverently as Tennessee-born, South Carolina-residing artist Reverend James Elmore Jenkins, as proven by the unadulterated groove-driven swagger in his latest single, Diapsalmata Blues.

His red-hot vintage overdriven tones make The Black Keys sound like cultural appropriation while he’s blazing through the raunch-laced jam riffs that any blues rock fan will want spread across their speakers. If you can tear your attention away from the audible smoky beguile, you’ll hear the minister’s intent to push sermonic gospel through his root-wrapped hits. I may be of the impious inclination, but the uplifting soul entwined with worldly well-intentioned wisdom in Diapsalmata Blues did more than hit the wholesome spot. For your own sake, hit play.

Diapsalmata Blues will be available to stream from March 16th. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Beau James Wilding’s latest single, The Dove, spread its wings through artfully gritty folk-rock beguile

Posted on 10 March 2023

For his latest Waitsy roughneck folk-rock release, The Dove, the enigmatically captivating singer-songwriter Beau James Wilding collaborated with the violinist, David Stone, to create a gripping trip through unadulterated emotion.

With the folky strings bringing a touch of The Levellers to the single, the bluesy acoustic guitar tones and the devilishly innovative percussion, The Dove spread its wings through a fair amount of artful beguile while Wilding vocally riffed from his almost sermonic soul. The lyricality of the gritty release, which only lets the light in through the high timbres of Stone’s strings, is enough to make Nick Cave’s discography sound like Gospel.

Usually, Cali-hailing artists spill sun into their soundscapes; it is beyond refreshing to hear an artist resisting the atmosphere and perusing his affinity for dark Bukowski-ESQUE poetry.

The Dove is due for official release on March 10th. Hear it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ariel Skye is a silver-screen sonic dream in her latest bluesy single, Bang Bang

Posted on 26 February 2023

With a prelude of Tarantino-Esque Gretsch-y guitar tones to bring in Ariel Skye’s gravelly demure timbre, the intro to her latest nostalgia-entrenched single, Bang Bang, is nothing short of beguiling.

Finding the middle ground between Angel Olsen and April March, Bang Bang is a sultry feat of bluesy mesmerism from the up-and-coming artist, who has made light work out of carving out a niche in the industry with her evocatively sharp distinction.

Ariel Skye may have only started her music writing venture in 2019, but the Blockbuster-worthy cinematic storytelling never alludes to how recently she has started to perfect her craft. Since making her debut, she has collaborated with some impressive names in the industry, including Jim Stephens and Shaun Martin. She has also toured across Philadelphia, New York and LA with her vulnerably enticing lyricality. We’re sure the best is yet to come for Skye.

Bang Bang is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The prodigal sons of rock n roll Midnight Miles kicked up dust in their latest liberating hit, Coming On

Posted on 19 January 2023
Midnight Miles

Purveyors of road trip rock n roll, Midnight Miles kicked up plenty of dust in their latest single, Coming On. With vintage tones and crooning blues rock vocals that give The Black Keys a run for their money around the socially conscious lyrics that make no bones about documenting the depths we’ve descended to, getting caught up in this reverently electrifying feat of rock n roll is compulsory.

While the driving backbeat takes control of your rhythmic pulses, the vocals affirm that you’re not alone in thinking that everyone’s gone mad. Everyone’s down with the sickness, but there are few as sonically maniacal as these Montreal-hailing prodigal sons.

The fervidly hot guitar solos that definitively earn the Midnight Miles guitarist a spot in guitar hero history is the perfect remedy. It’s impossible to feel disillusioned while getting caught up in their liberating turbulence. The next time I need a shot of riff-driven serotonin, I know where I’m turning. No review of Coming On could be rave enough.

Coming On will officially release on January 19th. Check it out via Midnight Miles’ website.

Follow the artist on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Derek Vaden – Eating My Words: Blisteringly Hot Indie Blues Rock

Posted on 31 December 2022

The sex appeal isn’t the only thing that’s visceral in the swaggering alt-rock single, Eating My Words, from Derek Vaden’s 2022 EP, The Recreational Experiment. The Chicago-based musician and songwriter salaciously straddles the line between blues rock and indie to deliver a hard and heavy rhythmic revival; if Velvet Revolver and Muse had an aural lovechild, it would undoubtedly go under the moniker, Derek Vaden.

The winding blues rock increments are overdriven to the nth degree to give the riotous release anthemic appeal, but none of the vintage blues rock tones lost their bluesy bite. If anything, teeth have been sharpened in this confrontationally volatile release, which was written, performed, and recorded by Derek Vaden’s reverently rock n roll hands in his own studio.

Check out Eating My Words on YouTube and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Square Pyramid sang the post-punk blues in their grungy hit, Run Down Dirty Soul

Posted on 26 December 2022

Taken from the eponymous debut album from Square Pyramid, the standout single, Run Down Dirty Soul, is a progressively exhilarating mash of era-spanning alternative culture. From post-punk to blues to grunge, it’s all on the table in this enlivening intrinsically originated hit that has what it takes to unite music scenes once and for all.

With atmospheric hints to Echo and the Bunnymen in the chorally cold rings of the guitars in the intro along with bluesy harmonica blasts before the track slams into a grungy revival of off-kilter alt-90s and college radio rock tones, clearly, each of the three members of Square Pyramid came to the outfit with their own influences and inclinations. And therein lies the blisteringly experimental alchemy within Run Down Dirty Soul. It is a sonic amalgamation that no other outfit has brought to the table.

There’s nothing quite like allowing multiple parts of your personality to meet each other in the space of one song, and that’s exactly what Run Down Dirty Soul achieved for me.

Check out Run Down Dirty Soul on Apple Music and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

What it means to be lost: Jamos Blood – Flesh and Back to Bone

Posted on 25 December 2022

Jamos Blood sludged up blues-rock in the standout single, Flesh and Back to Bone, from his debut EP, Blood Brothers, which delivers swampy riffs, train track rhythms and a sense of ennui that cries out to the disenfranchised by uncertain futures masses.

“Gonna walk my dog til he don’t walk no more” beautifully and sentimentally encompasses the notion that everything is fleeting in a cruel world which pulls away every anchor, eventually.

The EP was recorded with Blood’s late brother, Clayton, which puts even more context behind the titular disposition and the themes of love and loss that will wash with any Waits and Petty fans.

As someone who is no stranger to grief, it was all too easy to connect with Jamos Blood’s psyche in Flesh and Back to Bone. The sense of lost listlessness with splinters of optimism that can often feel naïve was captured with such finesse in the roots-driven rock hit it is easy to view Jamos Blood as one of the most important voices of our era.

Flesh and Back to Bone is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast