First Listen: Kristina Blanchflower “The Angry Axe” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - February 17, 20160 There is an innocence to the tone of Kristina Blanchflower’s voice. It’s refreshing. Her music is percussive, with a heavy strum and thumps and beats from a variety of percussion instruments. It moves and varies from fleeting moment to fleeting moment. I get inflections of Ani DiFranco ala ‘Out of Range’…perhaps a bit more upbeat and relaxed though…particularly in the opening track of the album. As the record rolls on, I consider faint resemblances to Brett Dennan in the character of how she phrases her words and her voice naturally breaks. Its calming in a way, but she possesses power at the same time. She has strength in her vocal and uses it selectively and intelligently, for most impact and only where
Fiddle Me This: Adrianna Ciccone’s “The Back of Winter” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - February 10, 20160 There is something about fiddle music that gets me every time. I am not sure if it elicits some deep seeded emotion that is engrained in my brain because my lineage traces back to Ireland and Scotland or if I have just watched Braveheart one too many times…but regardless, I am infatuated with the fiddle lines that trace over the backdrop of a Celtic inspired fiddle tune. I don’t pretend to be any sort of connoisseur of fiddle music and to hear my try and play my wife’s old instrument that has been sitting in the closet for a few years is something I don’t wish on anyone’s ears, but I know what I like and what sounds good and
First Listen: Riley Pinkerton “Do You Have A Car?” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - February 9, 20160 “Ghost Folk” is a term I have heard used a few times in the past but never really understood until I listened to Riley Pinkerton’s “Do You Have A Car?” EP. It is transcendent in a way. Haunting? Sure. Spooky? Yeah, if we want to use terms better served for a kid’s Halloween costume. Moving, poignant, ethereal may perhaps be a better descriptor of the tales that are contained within these 5 tunes. ‘Marina’ hovers and floats as the acoustic guitar sways across the sonic palette of the tune. Strings throb delicately in the background and Pinkerton’s voice is delicate but stalwart, beautiful but pained. The follow up, “Frankenstein” has a similar feeling, though is broken up by a waltzy type
Locals Covering Locals Volume 3 Is Released (And Free To Download) Featured Album by Brian Carroll - February 1, 2016February 1, 20160 I still find it a bit hard to believe that we even got past the first release of the Locals Covering Locals project. At the time it seemed a bit daunting, but I had some very good friends and confidants in my corner the first time around in Sam Margolis and Andrew Kramer at Riverview Studios to help drive the sessions and output a cluster of songs that was beyond my wildest expectations for the recording. We kicked into the sessions for Volume 3 in conjuction with some of the final Sessions for Volume 2. I believe Dietrich had come in the same day to track his take on David Champagne's "Among the Stars" earlier on the day that Dinty and
Album Feature Friday: Hoot&Holler “Is This Goodbye?” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - November 6, 2015February 2, 20160 Hoot&Holler takes the best of two separate fantastic artists and melds them into something that is even greater than the sum of their parts. The band's roots dig deep into the hills of Appalachian folk tunes and fiddle driven melodies. They blend two voices and instruments harmonious in a way that is...for lack of better phrasing, perfect harmony. Simple and relatable, but the musicianship of both of these artists is anything but simple. The title track is a great listen, flecked with quick guitar runs and fiddle lines carved below the beautiful blending of Alvey and Kilianski's voices. Upbeat and cheerful in a way. It has a very driving, forward moving feel to it. Alvey takes the lead, she has some
Album Feature Friday: Kaiti Jones “Growing Things” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - October 16, 2015January 21, 20160 Kaiti Jones' record "Growing Things" is a thematic collection about breathing new life into things, about growing as a person and living in an ever changing and challenging world. With some heavier underlying themes it has an uptempo and joyful kind of vibe. Head bopping, toe tapping goodness, but with purpose. Jones has one of those voices with a real pop sentimentally, it just works so well. It is super pleasant to listen to, she has a great range and feels confident and strong. Jazzy inflections and indie pop tones, it makes me smile. You may pay too much attention to it and not realize that the gal also happens to write some real great tunes to boot. Listen to the
Album Feature Friday (a day early): Hailey Magee “This Beautiful Machine” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - August 27, 2015February 2, 20160 Hailey Magee is a community creator...and also, a pretty damn fine song creator as well. Her tune "Royal Blue" was out featured track of the week last week and wouldn't you know it, she has a new record coming out this The first tune off the new project feels like it was recorded in an open room, the sounds of the walls and the natural feeling really seeping into the emotion of the song. Magee, while a bubbly person to know, excited to share and excited about music in this town, pens songs with a deep introspection and often times delve into the darker side of human emotion. But, when painted with her delicate and airy vocal, the juxtaposition of sonic
Stream This Today: Nate Taylor “The Finer Things” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - August 27, 2015January 21, 20160 I find Nate Taylor's tunes a bit akin to folk songwriters of yester-year. His fine fingerpicked guitar style and his softer, delicate voice that really needs to be listened intently to feel and appreciate in the right manner. The Finer Things is brushed with fine details. Taylor sings, plays guitar and arranged and played the strings on this record. Just showing the songwriter's abilities stretch much further than another guy with a guy. He pens introspective and thoughtful songs that you can tell mean a lot to him personally in how he sings the words contained within. Give Nate a listen today...stream it then buy it. The Finer Things by Nate Taylor
Album Feature Friday: Joshua Black Wilkins “Settling the Dust” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - August 21, 2015January 21, 20160 Joshua Black Wilkins sings with a conviction and attitude that makes no apologies and is delivered with a gruff and tainted passion that can only be attained from living through some shit. There is a deep growl in the tone of his voice, scratched and scarred with the stories that spring forth from his chest and out his mouth, stories that mean something. Stories that hit you in a place where other songs just can't. Settling the Dust is able to maintain the "outlaw" attitude but mixes it with something so much deeper. "Church on the Hill" is one of my favorite tunes, not just on this record, but just in general. There is just something so blue collar America, real and genuine
Album Feature Friday: Langhorne Slim “The Spirit Moves” Featured Album by Brian Carroll - August 14, 2015February 2, 20160 Langhorne Slim bleeds passion and sweats good vibes. It’s really as simple as that. There is an energy and a vibrance in his music that transcends songwriting or musicianship. The man lives to perform music for people and that fact oozes from each and every bit of his being. A man who can make you feel good and smile, even when the tenor of his lyrics border on the slightly downtrodden, well that’s quite a feat to behold. A feat that gets you moving and the muscles in your face turning upwards into a grin. Langhorne’s latest release “The Spirit Moves” is an accurate title for the man’s effort in this collection of songs. There certainly is a spirit to Slim’s