Rachel Townsend

The roots music revival is about to come alive in a big way in 2023, and Ralph Nix & the Guilt Birds are front and center in the movement with their new album Good Ingredients. Without borrowing too much from the past, the band brings a little bit of music history into focus in “Cohay,” “Mercy
0 Comments
Songwriters working by their own rules are a dying breed. Economics snuff them out through the increasingly lowest common denominator demands of a marketplace unappreciative of anything resembling an original take. Instead, the mainstream music world relies on peddling the same tired formulas that have sustained popular songwriting for almost a century. There are songwriters,
0 Comments
The drums are dashing forward as the bassline pulls everything in the master mix back, but as the different channels within “The Dark Forest” are pulled in every direction, Elektragaaz’s melodic war starts to sound rather harmonious and justifiably filled with rage. INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/elektragaaz/?hl=en In the new record The Synaesthetic Picture Show: Part 6, Elektragaaz take
0 Comments
When it comes to the human condition, there’s always a need for something more. The search for something seemingly missing, be it a literal physical thing or (more likely) an emotional hole that can’t ever quite be filled, is a part of human operation as much as eating and sleeping. URL: https://www.chrismccooey.com/ There’s an undying
0 Comments
This autumn has been one of the strangest recording seasons that I can recall following in the last decade. Most of the indie music media had come to a consensus that the rising trend of minimalism in pop was going to cease come 2022, but quite the opposite has taken place. Now more than ever
0 Comments
It’s been an interesting couple of years in indie music. Aside from the impact of global events as they unfold, the European underground has been turning out incredible talent the likes of which the American circuit has struggled to keep up with, and while he’s only started gaining traction since the release of his autumnal
0 Comments
This autumn has been one of the strangest recording seasons that I can recall following in the last decade. Most of the indie music media had come to a consensus that the rising trend of minimalism in pop was going to cease come 2022, but quite the opposite has taken place. Now more than ever
0 Comments
Despite the common narrative among some of the more questionable sources of information in the music universe, cosmetics aren’t everything in pop; contrarily, they’re the icing on the cake. If you don’t have substance backing the glitz and gloss of your finish, you can forget about attracting any sort of sustainable following in pop music,
0 Comments
David Raybuck is singing with a lot of passion weighing heavy on his heart, his words reflecting the heaviness of the string harmony he’s detaching from the back of the master mix of his dark ballad “In the Shadow of Your Wings.” Raybuck has nothing – and nowhere – to hide in this song and
0 Comments
Lavendine’s Jacy and Jana Ayers have got a lot to sing about in their brand new single “Finding My Way Home,” Underscoring the emotional depth of the piano, guitar, and sizzling harmonization of the instrumentation in the background. The sisters’ vocals are the main attraction in this latest release from the Oklahoman duo. FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Lavendineband/
0 Comments
Iva Toric’s meteoric rise through the indie music world ranks is, in the end, leading her to some form of significant mainstream success. It is coming, more importantly, on her terms and without any of the gimmick-laden presentation so often propelling potential stars. The San Francisco based Toric has a natural wont for darker subject
0 Comments
David Arn’s new album Watershed follows up its successful predecessor Traveler Tales with a new collection trading on the same substantive lyrical invention and melodic arrangement distinguishing his prior work. The Maryland based singer/songwriter has a small but impressive discography behind him including four releases in all and each successive outing shows growth as both a songwriter and human
0 Comments
A lot of interesting concept works have been finding a home with audiences in the past year given the abnormal circumstances songwriters have been experiencing compared to the norm, but among those to have landed on my desk recently, few can hold a candle to Signs & Wonders. In this latest album from the one and
0 Comments
Rhythm is at the start of every great rock performance, and we’re reminded as much inside of just the first few bars in “Billions” or “I Exist, Right?” of the new album Justice Now by Barista. Rather than trying to colorize beats with a predictably soft hook, Barista is fusing might with melodicism in all
0 Comments
The feeling of love. The power of unity. The essence of happiness. The strength of togetherness and positive vibrations. The highs of living life and the lows of dealing with its obstacles. All of these things encapsulate the music of Cincinnati, OH-based Rockstead, a five-piece, passion driven rock/reggae group. With roots leading as far back
0 Comments