As we head into the final week of August, we still have lots of great artists to share with you. Here are another five for your consideration.
Artist Name: Foemen
Album Name: Magntisz
Label: Marmallow Pavement Records
Genre: Electronic
Track Listing: 1. All Night; 2. Freedom Rules; 3. Magnetic Form; 4. Oh Crooked Crown; 5. Surrender
Publicist: The A&R Department
Review: While not the biggest fan of electronic music, we really like this EP from Australia’s Foemen. The sound is hot and is good to listen to as well as dance. We love the songs, which are well written and radio ready as well as the perfect addition to a house mix. The effects on the vocals are also not the norm, and we like the overall production of the EP. Our favorite tracks are “Freedom Rules, “Magnetic Form, and “Oh Crooked Crown.”
Recommendation: If you are a huge electronic music fan, then you must have this one. For the rest of us, it is still worthy of your attention.
Artist Name: Raquel Bell
Album Name: Swandala
Label: STORBM
Genre: Experimental Pop
Track Listing: 1. Stones; 2. Vibration Carnation; 3. A Solo to Mars; 4. Who Gets to Name the Name; 5. Wizard Liar; 6. Growing in Your Mouth; 7. Swan
Publicist: Howling Wuelf Media
Review: The only music that we normally like less than electronic is experimental. Raquel Bell is changing our perception with her latest collection of experimental songs. Although we don’t like the first track, “Stones,” at all, there is more structure to the second track, “Vibration Carnation.” The music on this track is brilliantly constructed and Bell’s voice is ethereal and provocative. She really hits her stride on “A Solo to Mars,” and the EP gets better with each new song thereafter.
Recommendation: Forget the first song, but the rest of the EP is worthy of your attention.
Artist Name: Paulaa
Album Name: Fall In
Label: Self-released
Genre: Trip-Pop
Track Listing: 1. Fall In; 2. Commit; 3. All These Stories; 4. Done; 5. Call me When you Wanna Try; 6. Know You
Publicist: Mystic Sons
Review: Paulaa has a beautiful voice that lifts her songs to the stratosphere. The title track is a masterpiece and deserves heavy airplay on the radio. She is from London and her music is just the remedy that our current American radio needs. Not only does she deliver on the title track, but she delivers on every other track as well. She is definitely becoming one of our favorite UK performers, and we are putting her EP on repeat, especially “Call me When you Wanna Try.”
Recommendation: Definitely Get this one!
Artist Name: Michika Fukumori
Album Name: Piano Images
Label: Summit Records
Genre: Instrumental Jazz
Track Listing: 1, Colors of Blues; 2. Into the New World; The Seasons; 3. The Answer is . . . (Winter); 4. The Story I Want to Tell You (Spring); 5. The Days we were Smiling (Summer); 6. Tomorrow is Full of Promises (Fall); 7. Where or When; 8. Palco (a Little Dancer); 9. Chovendo na Roseira; 10. My Muse; 11. Oceans in the Sky (ft Steve Kuhn); 12. Luiza; 13. Ev’ry Time we say Goodbye
Publicist: Mouthpiece Music
Review: As most of our readers know, we are huge jazz lovers, and we seldom get piano jazz, although one of our favorite musicians, Dave Yaden, is a maestro on piano and can play just about every genre. Thank goodness for Michika Fukumori, a native of Japan who now calls New York City her home. She came to America to study jazz and we think she nailed it. We love how she mixes blues, ragtime and her own soulfulness into her jazz. Whether she is playig a jazz standard or her own composition, Fukumori delivers beautiful music.
Recommendation: If you love jazz, you owe it to yourself to add this one to your collection.
Artist Name: The Skiffle Players
Album Name: Piffle Sayers
Label: Spiritual Pajamas
Genre: Folk
Track Listing: 1. Glow in the Dark Scratch and Sniff; 2. Jonny Todd; 3. Stagolee; 4. Dearest; 5. A Blessing in Disguise; 6. Slippin’ and Sliding’; 7. John O’Dreams
Publicist: Spiritual Pajamas
Review: They consider themselves folk musicians, but the first track has all the makings of classic psychedelic rock. True to their word, the rest of the songs are more traditional folk. The band is composed of a group of friends that originally got together for a single concert, but liked what they had so much they decided to keep doing it. The result is a concise and cohesive sound and the skillful telling of some great folk traditions. In addition, the acoustic guitar work is exquisite, especially on “Dearest.” We can hardly wait to hear their next full length album.
Recommendation: By all means, Get this one.