Welcome to another edition of Get it or Forget it. Still volunteering this week at the International Wildlife Film Festival, but taking some time this morning to review three more indie releases. Please let us know what you think about them.
Artist Name: Monster Movie
Album Name: Keep the Voices Distant
Label: Graveface Records
Genre: Dream Pop/Indie Rock
Track Listing: 1. Trapped; 2. Going Backwards; 3. In the Pines; 4. No More; 5. Keep the Voices Distant; 6. Shouldn’t Stray from the Shadows; 7. In the Ground; 8. Don’t you Want to Love us; 9. Into the Light; 10. Dead in the Water
Publicist: Noisy Ghost PR
Review: It is a rare talent to make music that can seamlessly fill in the background of life, but Monster Movie definitely has that ability. Their music provides the perfect soundtrack to daily living, as it flows around the listener, filling in the holes and cushioning the environment. This band was meant to write cinematic musical scores, and we believe that they will be most successful in that endeavor Every song on the album is beautiful and majestic, but we love the title track, their first single “Shouldn’t Stray from the Shadows,” “In the Ground,” “Don’t You Want to Love Us,” and “Into the Light.”
Recommendation: This album was just released on March 31, and we highly recommend you rush out and Get it. You’ll thank me later 🙂
Artist Name: Pale People
Album Name: Portraits
Label: Self-released
Genre: You tell me
Track Listing: 1. Mitchell; 2. Debra; 3. Jason; 4. Annabelle; 5. Carol; 6. Josephine; 7. Steven; 8. Lee; 9. David; 10. Joyce
Publicist: None
Review: We attended the CD release show on April 14 and were wholly unprepared for this band. The music is extraordinary, but the vocals remind us of a cross between Crash Test Dummies and Sam Kinison. With a heavy dose of piano rock, this three-piece band from Missoula, Montana deliver music that is unique in its approach and its style. These 10 songs deliver “portraits” of people that have influenced the lives of the Pale People, with subjects ranging from robots from space and parental disapproval to the colonization of Mars and child stars, while the music ranges from harmonic to discordant. They are impossible to forget. Lead singer and pianist Mack Gilcrest is uniquely perfect for this musical endeavor, which combines a myriad of auditory material to form the perfect reflection of the current state of affairs on planet Earth. Best cuts include “Mitchell,” “Jason,” “Annabelle,” “Steven” (a stirring attack on religious intolerance), and “David.”
Recommendation: This album should be in your music library for the simple reason that it is unlike anything you have ever heard before. Support indie music and grab this one.
Artist Name: Jennifer Vazquez
Album Name: Rediscovering Me
Label: Self-released
Genre: Singer-songwriter Pop/Country
Track Listing: 1. After All; 2. I Should Have Told You; 3. Isn’t Mine; 4. Rocked; 5. Let you Back in; 6. Worst Enemy; 7. Let’s go Wild; 8. The Radio in You; 9. Rediscovering Me; 10. New Deck of Cards; 11. Austin Sky; 12. So Perfectly; 13. I Believe; 14. Gold
Publicist: None
Review: With a voice that is reminiscent of Mary Chapin Carpenter and a musical delivery that is akin to Bonnie Raitt, Jennifer Vazquez is a special kind of indie musician. Born and raised in the Bronx, Vazquez brings that fierce independence to music that is more than a little influenced by her current hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. She is a treasure that is yet to be fully discovered by the music industry, but who has the chops to be a successful radio artist. She kicks off her latest album Rediscovering Me with the moving ballad “After All,” and then proceeds to blow her listeners away with track after track that deserve serious radio play. Her songs are wonderful individually, but they are each a part of a greater story that encompasses the entire album. This is an album that needs to be played again and again, and each time the listener will garner another snippet that they might have missed the first time around. The album is a true work of art, and easily one of the finest albums released in 2017, regardless of genre.
Recommendation: We stand strongly behind Vazquez’s latest effort, Rediscovering Me, and are proud to award it our highest recommendation – Get it like your life depends on it, because it does. The album is set to be released on May 11, and we highly recommend you preorder it from all the usual sources, as well as from her website at www.jennifervazquez.com.