Here are 3 reviews from a selection of CDs that were recently submitted here.
“I could spend all night singing this song/I’m searching for reasons to tell you that you should still be mine" are lyrics from Bird Dog’s self-titled EP. They hail from Brooklyn, and their EP is a delicious mix of rock, roots and soul, the kind of music that your ears have been searching for. The music will strike a chord with your soul and the lyrics are intelligently relatable. Bird Dog’s tracks will brighten any rainy day or sustain the light of a sunny day; make no mistake, this is music you do not want to deny yourself the chance to listen to. Bird Dog’s self-titled EP is streaming and available for download here.
Electro-pop power team Jonka’s album "Slow and Steady Wins The Race" (the follow-up album, Pinks and Blues, has yet to be released) is overflowing with fresh synth beats and brilliant vocal harmonies. Jonka’s music mixes together 80s pop and hip-hop, coming up with a nostalgic yet strikingly modern content. The lyrics are stirringly heartfelt; consider these lyrics from the song "Guided By Light," "Get a little bit older, now you think for yourself/Instead of waiting your turn, it’s time to get off the shelf/ Get a little bit wiser, you’ve been kicking around/Instead of kicking your can, you’ve got your feet on the ground." Jonka’s music will make you think, it will make you want to dance, and it somehow makes you want to live a better life, all at the same time.
Medals, with their album "Dancing in Ceremony", are reinventing indie pop. The album began as a new Jaguar Club record (former Jaguar Club members Will Popadic and Yoi Fujita are now Medals) and was inspired by the two’s mutual love for 90s electronica and Blur’s later works. Dancing in Ceremony settled itself somewhere between being a dance floor record and one inspired by the techno giants of the 90s. The album, most of which was recorded in one 10-hour session with Nick Stumpf (of French Kicks), is full of acoustic strumming, bass hooks, distinctive lyrics and scattered beats. Live, Medals is composed of Popadic singing, playing guitar, triggering samples and playing harmonica; Fujita playing bass and playing some keyboards; and longtime friend Nadia Brittingham playing keyboards, singing and playing drums. As they write in their bio, "We’d like to think we are fun but serious, loud and good." Couldn’t have put it better myself. – Leah Tribbett