Tag: Marlene Oak

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

Get it or forget it – Aqualung, Marlene Oak, Tony Monaco, Saneit, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult

It’s been a very strange day here in Montana.  We’ve gone from rain to snow and back to rain again, as winter continues its relentless quest for domination  At least it will never overcome the power of music, and we have five very different artists for your review today.

Artist Name:   Aqualung

Album Name:   Additional Futures

Label:  AllPoints

Genre:  Indie

Track Listing:  1,  All she Wore, she Was; 2.  Complicated; 3.  Fingermouse; 4.  Use Me; 5.  Blues

Publicist:   Practise Music

Review:  Until last month, we hadn’t heard from Matt Hales aka Aqualung since we last saw him perform at the RockDrive 2010 fundraiser at The Troubadour in Los Angeles.  We got the chance to hear him again when we featured his song “Complicated” in one of our February Monday Mashups.  As we mentioned then, “Complicated” is an amazing song and a true indication of the greatness that is Aqualung and what you will find in the five songs of Additional Futures, the EP sequel to his 2015 album 10 Futures.  Every one of them is amazing, and this EP definitely deserves to be played on repeat.  So glad to have Aqualung back 🙂

Recommendation:  Definitely Get this one!

Artist Name:  Marlene Oak

Album Name:  Silver Moon

Label:  Amuse

Genre:  Folk

Track Listing:  1.  Silver Moon; 2.  How can I Move On; 3.  In the Evening; 4.  Everyone; 5.  Come Home

Publicist:  Effective Immediately PR

Review:  We introduced you to Sweden’s own Marlene Oak back in early December when we featured her single, “In the Evening.”  We also featured the live video of that single in our final Monday Mashup of 2018.  To say we love that song would be an understatement, and our affection bubbles over to the other four songs on this EP.  We really love the horns on the title track and “Come Home.”  Oak is a treasure to her native Sweden, and we would like to share in her amazing talent here in the States.  Listen to this one a few times, and we think you’ll wholeheartedly agree with our assessment.

Recommendation:  Run and Get it.

Artist Name:  Tony Monaco

Album Name:  The Definition of Insanity

Label:  Chicken Coup/Summit Records

Genre:  Jazz

Track Listing:  1.  Cars Trucks Buses; 2.  Ceora; 3.  Root Down; 4.  Never Let me Go; 5.  Quando Quando Quando; 6.  Non Ti Scordar Di Me; 7.  Awa Athar; 8.  Last Date; 9.  Truckin’; 10.  Triste; 11.  A Son for You

Publicist:  Mouthpiece Music

Review:  There is nothing like the sound of progressive jazz, especially when the sound includes the Hammond B3.  Tony Monaco has developed a reputation as a Master of the B3, and he pulls out all the stops on this album, an eclectic mix of songs written by others.  Amazingly, all of this great music comes from only a trio of musicians, albeit they are three of the best in the world, including guitarist Derek Dicenzo and drummer Tony McClung.  Monaco’s wife Asako, a gifted pianist in her own right, also contributes her talents to “Never Let me Go” while Monaco contributes his vocals.  This is truly a class act.

Recommendation:  Definitely Get this one if you love jazz.

Artist Name:  Saneit

Album Name:  Crush

Label:  Self-released

Genre:  R&B

Track Listing:  1.  Sprung; 2.  One Desire; 3.  I’m Your Baby Tonight (remix); 4.  Candy Store; 5.  I Said So; 6.  Sprung Remix

Publicist:  Shannon Brown

Review:  Saneit is one of Chicago’s most promising artist, a rising R&B star that shines brightly with her soaring vocals and her perfect understanding and mastery of this genre.  She is a voice that sounds fresh yet familiar, and you are probably thinking she definitely belongs on the radio.  We couldn’t agree more.  Enjoy these tunes and hopefully she’ll be back soon with more candy.  So glad that she has a Crush on us.

Recommendation:  Definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re into urban/R&B.

Artist Name:  My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult

Album Name:  In the House of Strange Affairs

Label:  SleazeBox Records

Genre:  Industrial/Electronic Rock

Track Listing:  1.  Gold to Grey; 2.  Forbidden Saints; 3.  Treat Street; 4.  The Chains of Fame; 5.  Strange Affairs; 6.  It’s me Holly; 7.  Studio 21; 8.  Year of the Klown; 9.  Royal Skull; 10.  Hanging Hearts; 11.  Under a Crown; 12.  Am I Dead

Publicist:  TAG Publicity

Review:  My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (TKK) sprang from Chicago’s Wax Trax! Records and helped spawn the industrial music scene, along with label mates Front 242, Ministry and KMFDM.  We had the wonderful opportunity to learn all about them at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival screening of Industrial Accident:  The Story of Wax Trax! Records.  The music of TKK has continued to evolve, and today they are more closely attuned to electronic rock, a genre heavily influenced by disco and funk which includes spoken word samples from a variety of B movies.   Their music has been praised and used in countless movies due to the amazing cinematic style.  Trust us when we tell you that this is one of the most unique bands you will ever hear.   They could easily become a guilty pleasure.  We look forward to see how far these songs reach.

Recommendation:  If you love the dramatic in your music, then TKK is the band for you.  Run out and Get this one.

 

 

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Artists Worth Checking Out Monday Mashup Women in Entertainment

Monday mashup 2018: vol. 48

Happy New Year’s Eve.  We close out the year at Indie Voice Blog with our final Monday Mashup of 2018, along with the knowledge that we had a banner year.  We started out 2018 with just over 41,000 views and are closing it knocking on the door of 91,000, an increase of almost 50,000 views.  In other words, we had more views in 2018 than in the entire life  of our blog up to that point.  Thank you one and all for your support and your faithful readership.  We have some big changes coming in 2019, so please subscribe to our blog and let’s keep sharing the indie music love.

Enjoy your celebration tonight but be safe.  Many communities are having First Night celebrations, including one here in Missoula, Montana.  It’s going to be a cold one, with temperatures in the single digits, so bundle up and enjoy all the indie music available.

We thought it only fitting to kick off this final 2018 edition with a wonderful video by Colin Devlin that reflects our thoughts.  Here’s “On New Year’s Day.”

NEW SINGLES

Our first single today comes from 2016 LA Music Critic Award winner Alice Wallace, who drops her new album, her first on Rebelle Road Records, on January 19.  We can’t wait to review it.  Here’s a taste of what’s to come with “Santa Ana Wind,” her take on the recent California wildfires.

Next up is a Christmas single from multiple-LA Music Critic Award nominee The Fisherman & The Sea.  Check out “Christmas on a Mountain.”

They also have a new album coming out in January and we can’t wait.  Speaking of their new album, we also give you a sneak peak of the first single, “The Fairytale Waltz.”

https://open.spotify.com/album/0POmYo2PgJQ8j9I7I32cv3

Our third single is perfect for tonight, as Karmic gives us their interpretation of the classic song, “Auld Lang Syne.”

Single number four comes from the amazingly gifted guitarist, Ali Handal, and features the equally amazing vocals of Debby Holiday.  We strongly agree with her sentiments in “Love More.”

Our final single this week is the first one from the forthcoming new album by The Lighthouse.  Enjoy the pop stylings of “Catch Fire.”

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS

Our first video this week comes from the new solo project of the lead singer of a band we introduced to you earlier this month.  The band is called Cheat Codes and the lead singer is Dahl.  Here’s the video for his first single, “Think About Us.”

Next up is the video of Brian Mackey‘s latest single, “Don’t Own Much.”  It features some of the finest cinematography we have seen this year and was shot during his tour of Europe.  Enjoy this one.

Our third video has the hard edge of rockers Crashing Atlas, and is very timely.  Watch how they deal with their own obsessions in “Monster.”

Our next video slows it down with a live performance of up and coming Swedish artist Marlene Oak‘s single, “In the Evening.”  We introduced her to you three weeks ago, and we still can’t get enough of this song.

We close out 2018 with the latest video from LA Music Critic Award nominee Band of Silver.  Check out “El Magnifico.”

Take care tonight.  We’ll be back next year with more great coverage of indie music and theater, and the return of our popular series, Women in Entertainment.

 

Categories
Artists Worth Checking Out Monday Mashup Women in Entertainment

Monday mashup 2018: vol. 45

OMG – did you see the end of the Miami-New England game?  That amazing 69-yard pass/lateral that resulted in a Miami touchdown and a win over our arch-rival the Patriots?  That was one of the best games we have seen in many years, and so happy we were able to pull it off.  We are also happy for all the nominees of the LA Music Critic Awards for the second half of 2018.  Remember, fans can ONLY vote for the Fan Favorite award, so leave your vote as a comment on the announcement article by saving “I vote for (name of artist or band) for Fan Favorite.”

Now that the nominations are out of the way, we have a wonderful Monday Mashup for you today, with five new singles and videos including some holiday tunes.  We hope you enjoy them.

NEW SINGLES

Our first single this week is from LA alt-rock band Swerve.  It is a hard rocking tune called “She Cut Her Hand,” and we like it a lot.  Swerve originally began as a moniker for music created by Los Angeles native Greg Mahdesian. But what initially began as a solo project eventually became a full-fledged band. Greg solely composed all of the songs on Swerve’s self-titled debut EP and hired producer Brandon Duncan to record them. So, when it came time to recruit musicians in order to perform live, Greg naturally asked Brandon to join on bass, his old college friend, Ryan Berti, on guitar, and Mark Gardner on drums.

Next up is a holiday cover from Israeli rock goddess Ninet.  We love the simple stylings of “Sweet Chariot” and hope it puts you in the proper mood for the holidays.

For our third single, we head up to Sweden for the beautiful voice and similarly simple arrangement of Marlene Oak on her latest song, “In the Evening.”  Enjoy this masterful and soaring song.

Next is a pop gem from Dollshot called “Paradise Flat.”  This one is not your ordinary pop tune, and we relish its uniqueness, with sparkling jazz stylings. Please let us know what you think.

Our final single is another amazing holiday song, this time featuring the incredible voices of Mallory Trunnel and Lauren Harding, otherwise known as Crimson Calamity.  This may well become our favorite new holiday song.

https://soundcloud.com/crimson-calamity/first-snow/

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS

We tried to share this one a couple of weeks ago, but it was not released until December 7.  The video was shot in Portland and we think it is very well done.  Check out the amazing Hayley Lynn, who shot this video in one take, and her incredible pipes amid the beautiful backdrop on her song, “Valentine, Too Soon.”

From the beautiful to the different, we bring you the latest from Luna Neptune, who are sharing the “Next Automated Wave.”  They are another European band, and we hope they come play the States in the not too distant future.

Our third video features the truly hip sounds of Saving Forever.  We think you’ll love it, so let’s make some “Memories.”

Our fourth video is a lo-tech lyric video from Alex Bloom.  We love the simpleness of the shoot but the intensity of the lyrics on his song, “Elevator.”  What do you think?

We close out this week with a cover of one of our all-time favorite holiday songs, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”  This time around it is covered by the lovely and extremely talented Arlene Zelina, and we think it provides the perfect sentiment for the season.  See you again soon.