Fresh Tracks: Ethan Setiawan “Boundless” Featured Track Music Features Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - January 4, 20240 A number of years back I fell hard and deep into the world of acoustic instrumental music. It has always been there and played a more peripheral role in my musical life. I knew a handful of fiddle tunes and enjoyed a good bluegrass jam, but never fully lived in that world until a collection of contemporary roots musicians started releasing projects that grabbed me. Ethan Setiawan was one such musician. Ethan is like Renaissance master painter. The 8 strings of his mandolin as his brush and the air is the canvas he paints with an ethereal palette of moods and colors. "Boundless" may be quick in its length, but pulls you deep into its sonic landscape. Trickling tremolo drenched in
Peep This: Bella White “Just Like Leaving” (ftr. Patrick M’Gonigle & Patrick Metzger) Music Features Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - May 5, 2021May 5, 20210 Bella White continues to wow with her signature twang, beautiful and hauntingly penned songs and absolute control of her own and each song's voice and narrative. She comes back with another collaboration on "Just Like Leaving" with fiddler Patrick M'Gonigle and bassist Patrick Metzger. Filmed in St. James Community Square in Vancouver, BC by Trent Freeman, the hall behind the trio is empty as the camera slowly paces back and forth in front of the group as they sing this solemn tune. The collective noise filling the space with a warmth cast in grey and blue. It has that down trodden traditional feel, taking you back to times of famine and untilled fields, but contextually in the modern day. There is
Song Premiere: “Talking to Your Ghost,” The Reconstructed Interviews Music Features Track Reviews by Ken Templeton - June 28, 2019July 1, 20190 The Reconstructed just released its latest album, Great North Wind, and it’s full of the paradoxes and tensions that make people sit down and write songs to try to make sense of the world. “Talking to Your Ghost” is emblematic of the record, in a way. At first listen, you’re immediately taken in by a great hook; and after multiple spins, you really hear how much space the players in this band allow each other—there’s so much happening beyond the basic rhythm and melody of the song, little notes here and there to add depth and texture. There’s a wryness to the lyrics that I just love: “You tell me that you’re telling a lie, but I don’t believe you.” Songwriter
First Listen: Emily Mure “Gone For Good” (The Shins) Music Features Reviews Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - May 17, 20190 There are a lot of artists out there who suffer from the malady "cover-a-song-but-its-not-as-good-as-the-original-and-you-didn't-make-it-your-own"-itis. Emily Mure is not one of those artists. Just today Mure dropped a new single celebrating her love of covering songs (and not only doing them justice, but elevating them to new and exciting places). She tackles "Gone for Good" by The Shins this time around and called on a host of incredible artists (and engineer-extraordinaire Dan Cardinal) to capture her take on the tune. Emily has a penchant for weaving enchanting, vibrant arrangements with her voice and simple guitar patterns. The power and control she has over her voice is a feat to marvel at. Calming and putting you at ease, it sinks you down into a
Simply Put, This Shit Rocks – The Low Cards “Suffer” Featured Track Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - October 5, 20170 Know that feeling the second a song kicks in and your immediately reaction is "holy shit, this is going to take me for a ride". The latest single "Suffer", from Providence based The Low Cards is that kind of a song. Songwriter and guitarist Dan Baker came my way via the usual channels a number of years back. Playing the same dives and swapping each others records when we once shared a bill. I was immediately hooked on his plaintive and candid writing style. Songs like 'This Ain't My Home' completely shook up my ideals of what a good song should be. Prior to hearing Baker meaning drenched in metaphor and literary device and afterwards realizing that THESE were the kinds
Fresh Track: Say Darling “One Man Band” Featured Track Music Features Reviews Track Reviews Uncategorized by Brian Carroll - August 30, 20170 What do you get when two juggernauts join forces, combining talent and styles? One answer could simply be: Say Darling. Another could be a brutal force of badass bluesy goodness intertwined with jazzy licks and a swing backing that will get you moving, shaking and shatter all your reservations about getting down...you know, if you had reservations about that. Its the power of music in its finest form and its ability to overtake your body. A power that Celia Woodsmith and Chris Hersch command with robust and straightforward capability. The duo recently released their debut EP back at the end of June and this one song is speaking to us particularly deep. Just one of those tunes that gets you moving.
Fresh Track: Joan Shelley “Where I’ll Find You” Featured Track Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - May 18, 2017May 18, 20170 Joan Shelley's music came to me via another musician friend's songs. Last year our pal Sam Moss was on tour with Shelley leading up to a Newport Folk Festival performance from both of these artists. I caught Shelley and her 3 piece at The Skinny Pancake in Hanover, NH on that tour and while the majority of the crowd met her gorgeous performance with some sort of indifference, I was awestruck into ghostly stillness, barely able to move and entranced by the beautiful sparsity that the band managed to create. Despite drums and electric guitars, the space that these 3 created on stage was delicate and soft and encapsulated those willing to lose themselves in it with a warmth and
Fresh Track: The Silks “Let It Ride” Featured Track Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - September 30, 2016September 30, 20160 Some music just makes you feel good. A bluesy rock n' roll riff that straight punches you in the face and makes you beg for more. That's what Providence's The Silks bring to the table. Singer-guitarist Tyler-James Kelly has a voice like no other. There is a grit and rough and tumble nature to his vocal that matches his howling slide guitar work and infectious riffs. Sand papered and whiskey stained, the emotion that creeps through the cracks in the surface, its just some heavy stuff that makes you want to move. It's hard to believe the band is just a trio with the sheer volume of sound that they bring to the table. And I don't mean in a way that
First Listen: Liz Frame and the Kickers “Little Brown House” Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - January 26, 2016January 27, 20160 Liz Frame has a tremble to her voice. A break that splits cracks in her chest and gives you a glimpse into her heart. Breaks, that may be taken as vulnerability, but are anything but. This gal may have a deep heart and soul in her songs, but she is anything but breakable and weak. When the singer kicks into the chorus of "Little Brown House", all thoughts of that susceptibility are squashed. As I have come to expect from the Kickers, the harmonies are on point in this track and leave you with that fluttering feeling in your chest. The repeated nature of the chorus really carries you into the song and the story contained within. Characterized by a strong
Why Aren’t You Listening to This?: Joshua Black Wilkins Releases 2 New Tracks Track Reviews by Brian Carroll - January 20, 2016January 27, 20160 There is a sense of grit and sexiness in the art of Joshua Black Wilkins that extends from his music into his photography. When we were discussing friends work lately my wife immediately jumped to the term “gritty sexy” to describe his photography. Just as the stylistic approach to his portrait work provides a distinctive flavor to relate to the artist, his music shares that same not asking for forgiveness, take this as it is, my heart is ripped from my chest, on the floor and I am bleeding out all my emotion here. The two just released tracks from the Nashville based songwriter certain run within the same vein of that smoke tinged, back alley grime that I have come