Lazlo, founder of BlowUpRadio.com (an online radio station based around New Jersey artists), shines a light on some of the many new releases from NJ based musicians each week with this column. This week Lazlo takes a look at new releases by Richard Peter Morris, The Bitter Chills, Diego Allessandro, noremi, Yellow Air Conditioned Feelings, Miracleworker, Tunnels, and Shotgun Bill. Plus a look back at "Spartan and Free" by SONOFDOV.
Richard Peter Morris - "Bamboozled!". "Bamboozled!" are new demos from Richard Peter Morris (Kül d'Sack and Corn Scupa) songs written between 1991 and 2024. Sometimes demos sound unpolished, but the rawness of bluegrass/folk songs make these songs sound perfectly complete to me.
The Bitter Chills - "Young Time Rock N' Roll". The Bitter Chills brand of Indie Folk Rock has fascinated me for years. On "Young Time Rock N' Roll" they showcase some lovely folk rock, but also have some nice forays into Swing Jazz and Rockabilly.
Diego Allessandro - "Still Standing". "Still Standing" is a free album that Diego Allessandro surprised the world with on April 5th. As he put it, "This one is for the resistance!" The 9 new songs, a remix of a song from 2022 and 3 bonus tracks, make for a very compelling rock album.
Sign up to his e-mail list on his website, https://www.diegoa.net, to get a download of this album.
noremi - "i am very young and i am learning how to live". I could describe noremi's amazing debut album, "i am very young and i am learning how to live", but I think noremi does a better job in the first paragraph of the liner notes of the album:
""i am very young and i am learning how to live" was my senior thesis project in music to graduate from college last spring. I consider it a culmination of both the musical and personal journey of my college experience, exploring themes of imposter syndrome, mental health, fear of falling behind and growing older, the glorification of youth, relationships with loved ones and temporality, filial piety, homesickness, nostalgia, and dreams (and the anxieties attached to their pursuit)."
Yellow Air Conditioned Feelings - "Dream From Your Left Nose". Original members of The Semibeings Tom McDonald, Patrick Baker, Dave Von Bargen, and Joe Baker, are making music together again as Yellow Air Conditioned Feelings. Their debut, "Dream From Your Left Nose", is 23 minutes of indie-psychedelic-rock with the catchiest of hooks.
Miracleworker - "Set Your Aim". Miracleworker's bio says, "Melodic, punk adjacent rock and roll. Peter Hart's shaky acoustic demos are supercharged by New Jersey punk vets Chris Ross, Dan Cav and Travis Omilian."
"Set Your Aim", and the B-Side, "Eyes, remind me a lot of indie-alt-rock from the 90's that I loved then, and still love now. And their lyrics (which they were kind enough to post on their Bandcamp page), creates imagery with their poetry.
Tunnels - "DEMO". "DEMO" may be demos of Tunnels' songs, but this shoegazey emo-alt-rock band has put together some fine sounding recordings of some excellent songs.
Shotgun Bill - "Songbook Vol.1". "Songbook Vol.1" is sort of "best of" Shotgun Bill, as decided by Bill himself. 15 songs from 6 albums, the collection is a nice snapshot of his Americana-Country-Rock.
SONOFDOV - "Spartan and Free". Has it really been almost 11 years since Dennis King's SONOFDOV (formerly Son Of Dov) released his second EP, "Spartan and Free"? The EP is beautiful, moody, and haunting alt-folk. Described by Dennis as being, "A sparse look into letting go of fear, addiction and the slow rise to freedom." The standout track to me is, "Breathing Fire".
SONOFDOV can currently be seen performing with Melissa Anthony as Tiny Cities.
That's all for this week.
Remember BlowUpRadio.com, plays these and many other New Jersey based artists on our internet radio station, so please check us out. #SupportGoodMusic - If you like any of the above artists, please purchase their music from their site. And if you would like to be part of BlowUpRadio.com's New & Notable, please send downloads or contact Lazlo at Lazlo-at-BlowUpRadio-dot-com. We're also on Mastodon (and bridged on BlueSky)
The Makin Waves Song of the Week is "In the Congo," a live version of which will be released May 23 on "The Shroud of Touring: Live in 1985" on CD only on JEM Records.
(MAPLEWOOD, NJ) -- Guitarist, composer, and musical director Stephane Wrembel is proud to present the Django á Gogo Music Festival, scheduled from May 7-10, 2025 celebrating of the unparalleled music legacy of jazz guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt. The festival comprises four electrifying concerts—three at The Woodland in Maplewood, NJ. and one at Symphony Space in NYC—as well as 5-day "guitar camp."
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