New Music

The result of over a year’s work is a solid mix of tunes akin to fellow acoustic pop singers Ed Sheeran, Phil Phillips and Glen Hansard.

The 10 new tracks are a throwback collection of gritty, high energy R&B-flavored 70’s garage rock and a touch of blues. I’m All Yours finds Hope and his longtime band bassist Erik Nielsen, keyboardist Matt Kelly, and drummer Adrian Mack paying tribute to heroes T. Rex, New York Dolls and David Bowie.

Taylor’s Future Fog is tethered by symmetry of well-established sound architecture, where listening close bares nuance to his shaped periphery. Clamorous and lurid tones, looped caterwauls, and heavyset layering blast the comforting noise, while the ‘pretty’ hums mimic the autumnal swirls, giving Future Fog a masterfully balanced and lived in space joining an already rich discography.

The instantaneous effect of Garbage People is like a 100% organic grape juice box – conveniently packaged, easy to drink, and sweetened without fillers. Like the best social commentaries of our time, The Wimps understand the chord between humor and substance. And they even provide the straw.

No classic album would be complete without a traveling tune, so Michelle and the boys take sentimental trip down south on the country tinged “Highway 65,” complete with sweet high lonesome slide guitar.

The songs themselves have a classic rock feel with most of them clocking in around five and a half minutes, a lost touch with a lot of today’s ADHD riddled short pop songs. The lyrics however add a modern and open-minded flair, bridging together classic rock nuances with timely and progressive thinking.

The American dream still lives in the hearts of some true believers and burns brightest in those who have lived abroad. Singer-songwriter Thys Wallwork was born in South Africa and grew up in Hong Kong with his dad playing him American rock records, now he and his band Skinny Blue have made one of their own.

On I Need to Start a Garden, Heynderickx landscapes a well-intended collection of songs with an impeccable ear for nuance and discovery. Her intuitive prose blooms around a gorgeous partner in sound. Whether heard as spring’s buds peek or near autumn’s gasp for chlorophyll, Heynderickx has summoned it all with a cyclical lure.

Garnished around their punkish menu of basement eats, Woolen Men have been doggedly independent, avoiding whiffs of ritzy trends or hipster irony. The trio’s culinary melodies are often easy to consume, possessing a scrappy lineage with something fresh and nutritious to say.