Tag: Jennifer Vazquez

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Artists Worth Checking Out Monday Mashup Women in Entertainment

Monday mashup 2018: vol. 47

Merry Christmas.  Welcome to our special Christmas Eve edition of Monday Mashup.  We hope you have accomplished all of your Christmas shopping and are preparing to spend tomorrow with family and friends.  Don’t forget to vote for your Fan Favorite, with voting to close this Friday.  Currently, YYNOT remains in first place with 146 votes, but Jordan Siwek is coming on strong and currently has 102 votes, followed by Mindi Abair and Reloaded Norway, both with 43 votes.  Winners will be announced on January 4.  In the meantime, here’s some new music to get you in the mood.  We’ll be back on Wednesday with Get it or Forget it.

INDIE MUSICIANS CELEBRATE THE SEASON

There have been a lot of ingenious indie artists sharing the holidays with their friends, and we salute them for their efforts.  This year’s award for best campaign goes to Jennifer Vazquez for her “12 Days ‘Til Christmas.”  She created a group for her fans, and serenaded them every day with a different a capella Christmas song.  Way to raise your awareness, Jen!

NEW SINGLES

Our first single this week comes from the sweet pop sound of mobil avenue.  We really like their song, and look forward to seeing what they come up with as they anticipate releasing a lot of singles in 2019.  Here’s “Hearts.”

Next up is a cover of the classic song “Christmastime is Here” which we have all heard over and over again in the classic Christmas show A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Hats off to Grayshot for a splendid job.

Our third single is another holiday classic.  This time around, Matt LeGrand brings us his pop version of “White Christmas.”  Enjoy.

Next up is the latest from LA’s own Standing Before Kings.  Check out this historically accurate song, “St. Helena” and let it rock your holidays.

For our final single this week, we bring you YouTube sensation Arlene Zelina.  We shared her beautiful Christmas song two weeks ago, and now bring you her new single, “Dream of Me.”  We can’t get enough of her voice and hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS

Our first music video this week encourages everyone “Don’t be Lonely This Christmas” with the sweet Americana sound of The Herron Brothers.  We think that’s great advice.

Next is the latest from Family Jools.  We love the feel of “Don’t Know.”  Please let us know what you think.

Last week we had the privilege of reviewing the latest album from SoutherlandAyers.  Today we are proud to share the music video for their first single, “Great Flight Home.”  We think this one is perfect for this season.

Our fourth music video comes from electro-rock artist MORRISON.  Here is her song “Heart on Fire,” which we think is smoking hot.  This girl can siiiiiing!

We close out the week with the latest one-man “boy band” in the person of Dylan Dunlap.  Fresh off his opening slot for OneRepublic, check out his video for “LiarLover.”  We think this one will get your week off to a great start.

 

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Artists Worth Checking Out Awards Hollywood Fringe Festival LA Music Critic Awards Monday Mashup Women in Entertainment

Monday mashup 2017: Vol. 23

Happy Monday.  It’s time again for our Monday Mashup, our final one before embarking on two weeks of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.  We are leaving tomorrow for California, where we will be attending 40+ shows at #HFF17 before presenting our first annual Larry Cornwall Award at the Fringe Awards show on June 25.

In addition to two weeks of the Fringe, we will be having our first winners showcase for the LA Music Critic Awards on June 20.  The show will be held on the Second Stage of the Hotel Café, and will feature nine previous and future winners of LAMCA, including Wendy Sweetlove, Elyse Haren, Jon Mullane, Janey Street, Jerad Finck, Lovers and Poets, Katie Costello, The Spider Accomplice and Papermoon Gypsys.  We will also be presenting a special award to one of the performers that night.  Tickets are available in advance through the venue’s website, as well as at the door.  We encourage you to buy your tickets in advance, as we expect the evening to sell out.

NEW MUSIC

Check out this cool tune from Dylyn, “American Nightmare.”  It’s got a great beat and should keep your body dancing all night.  We think she just might be on to something.

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS

First up this week is the latest from Jared Tyler, who we recently reviewed in Get it or Forget it.  This is the title cut to his new album.  It’s definitely worth a listen.  And since it’s a lyric video, you get to learn the words as you watch.

Next for you this week is the latest from Rococode, another of our recent reviews.  We really dig this band, and think you will too.  Check out “Is it Real” and let us know your thoughts.

And now for our comedy spotlight, check out the latest video from Blue Élan artist Scout Durwood.  The song is called “All the Pretty Bottles.”  We think it will get your new week off to a great start.

Last but not least this week is the latest from Brooklyn’s own Jennifer Vazquez, now based in Nashville.  Check out this amazing lyric video for her song, “Rocked,” from her latest album, Rediscovering Me.

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Artists Worth Checking Out Get it or Forget it Reviews Women in Entertainment

Get it or forget it: Monster Movie, Pale People, Jennifer Vazquez

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.