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 releases by The Successful Failures, Ziggy Grover, Mike Herz, Dinosaur Eyelids, Painters, The Aerosol Halos, Freezeheads, No Good With Secrets, and Joseph Alton Miller.
The Successful Failures - "Wrong Together". With their tenth album, "Wrong Together", The Successful Failures continue to march to the beat of their own drum... or more aptly, continues to mine their signature sound, which is not one sound at all. What they do so expertly is have songs that are power pop beside alt-country/folk, indie rock, and singer-songwriter/roots, in a way that sounds cohesive as an album. It is not an easy feat, but it is one they have mastered as far back as 2006 when their debut album came out.
If you want to know more about the album... well, go listen to it... but then you should read Sean Manuel's interview with the band on BlowUpRadio.com.
Ziggy Grover - "Heal Tow". Ziggy Grover is an amazingly talented singer-songwriter, who has the skills to traverse all sorts of different genres. Case in point is his latest release, "Heal Tow", a trio of laid back jazz instrumentals that are great to chill out with.
Mike Herz - "Painting Over Paintings". Mike Herz continues to be a premier singer-songwriter on his latest offering, "Painting Over Paintings". Some songs veer more Indie-Folk, others Americana, some very witty and amusing, others sentimental and emotional. All of it imbued with the magic that has made Mike Herz's music special for over a decade.
Dinosaur Eyelids - "The Last Beard: Dinosaur Eyelids Live at the Court Tavern". What makes a venue special? often enough I've found it is less the venue itself and more the acts that play there.
Would The Stone Pony be world famous if not for Bruce playing there and, especially in the early days, showing up randomly to sit in with bands?
The Court Tavern may not be as world famous, but bands like The Smithereens and Bouncing Souls, among countless others, played there regularly in their early days.
I spent a lot of time at The Court Tavern, seeing a lot of amazing local bands, among them, Dinosaur Eyelids. Their latest release, "The Last Beard: Dinosaur Eyelids Live at the Court Tavern", is a 2016 concert from the, sadly, now demolished venue. This is a high quality live recording from this venerable alt-grunge-hard rock band, that showcases why I've seen them live so many times. Rock on!
Painters - "Divination". Dark Surf/Post Punk, Painters, returns with a 3 song offering that may or may not be a perfect soundtrack to an evening of fortune telling (divination), but is great Goth rock.
The Aerosol Halos - "The Aerosol Halos". Short and to the point, The Aerosol Halos self-titled album is 17 songs in 31 minutes, full of peppy lo-fi power-pop, with some mellower songs sprinkled in the latter half of the album.
Freezeheads - "96 Rats". Even shorter & to the point, Freezeheads EP, "96 Rats", is 3 songs in under 4 minutes. These Hub City punk rockers need to release more tunes soon, because this appetizer makes me want more.
No Good With Secrets - "Whatever You Want b/w Hands". Short and to the point seems to be a recurring theme this week, with the 2 new songs from No Good With Secrets clocking in at 3 minutes and 36 seconds. The A side ("Whatever You Want") is power pop rock, the B side ("Hands") is a acoustic, folk-pop song... or as the band explains in their liner notes more succinctly, "One for dancing and one for moping."
Joseph Alton Miller - "Louise, Can You See Anna?" Joseph Alton's new single, "Louise, Can You See Anna?", is a Folk/Americana song that captures a live sounding intimacy, like he and his bandmates are sitting across me from playing it. it makes the song all the more moving.
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 part of BlowUpRadio.com's New & Notable, please send downloads or contact Lazlo at Lazlo-at-BlowUpRadio-dot-com. We're also on Mastodon at https://mstdn.social/@BlowUpRadio
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