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 rory alene, Meadow Wood Lane, woodthrush, Graduation Speech, Loose Panic, Michael Brett, and The Rubber Thongs.
rory alene - "Quiet, So Far" - "Quiet, So Far" is magnificient in capturing raw feeling and emotion in 9 folk songs. With just acoustic guitar and rory alene's vocals, the personal lyrics can be heard loud and clear, but each song also contains a melody that helps to make the lyrics shine.
The liner notes point out that the album was recorded on an iphone, which just goes to show that you can make a brilliant album cheaply, without losing quality. In fact, I suspect if this album had been recorded professionally in a studio that it would not have the intimacy that it does.
Meadow Wood Lane - "Since The Rain" - James R. Blass describes his band Meadow Wood Lane's album "Since The Rain", as meant to be his goodbye after "years out of the game (local music). Ultimately making this album got him back into the game and ready to make future albums. I am thrilled to hear this, as this is my first known exposure to his music, and his roots-rock/singer-songwriter sound is engaging an entertaining.
woodthrush - "3 short songs in which i filter my feelings about being back at home via jon bois quotables" - The title pretty much says it all on woodthrush's new EP. It is 3 songs, that are short (the longest is a hair over 3 minutes), and there is a lot of feelings, and not happy ones, poured into these incredible songs.
Graduation Speech - "Burn Eternal" [single] - Graduation Speech is the solo project Aspiga's Kevin Day. Kevin says of his latest single, "Burn Eternal", "The entire song was written and recorded in a matter of hours. It feels a little more personal for me as well, because I recorded the track myself on my phone."
This is the second example in this week's New & Notable where the ability to record on one's phone and get a quality recording allowed this intimate song to be written and recorded quickly without loosing any of the emotion of the moment.
Loose Panic - "In Hindsight" - Loose Panic is Jarret Crawford's band, and he describes his music as, "indie rock, shoegaze vibes, with a bit of Americana and roots rock thrown in there."
I am glad he had that description for me, because I heard so many different things going on in the 5 songs on "In Hindsight" that I was hard pressed to categorize the music, except to say that it is amazing! Each song has an energy, emotion, melody... Stop reading and just go listen to the EP!
Michael Brett - "This Is How You Get A Broken Heart" [single] - It has been 5 years since Michael Brett's last recording, but his return single, "This Is How You Get A Broken Heart" was well worth the wait. It is his most personal song, partly inspired by his sister’s diagnosis of, and ultimate passing from, ALS, a powerful song that is is a sad lament lyrically, and a jangly rock tune musically. This may well be Michael Brett's best song to date!
The Rubber Thongs - "Ex-Junkie w/ Money" - Who loves jangly, power-pop with lovely harmonies? Me!
If you do too, then you must check out The Rubber Thongs single, "Ex-Junkie w/ Money".
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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