Browsing Tag

Soul Rock

Perry Lockwood prescribed comfortingly stoic ear candy in their soul-pop-rock serenade, What If Tomorrow Never Comes

Posted on 1 June 2023

While there are no good answers, what if tomorrow comes? At least the latest soul pop-rock serenade from Perry Lockwood, which titularly ponders the same inquiry into non-being is comfortingly stoic ear candy.

With the same ascending effects utilised in Crazy by Seal and Echoes of Faith No More in their Angel Dust era, noted through the smooth crooned vocal lines and grooves laid down by the guitars and bass, What If Tomorrow Never Comes is instantly accessible. But there was plenty of room for Lockwood to scribe his distinctive sonic signature in this deeply contemplative release, which will leave you grateful for the sentience you are granted today.

The official video for What If Tomorrow Never Comes is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Infatuation takes the wheel in Amenazar’s latest slice of seductive soul rock, Get It On

Posted on 29 May 2023

If Incubus emanated the riff-driven raw sex appeal of Velvet Revolver and the soul of Chris Cornell, their records would run in the same red-hot vein as Amenazar’s latest single, Get it On.

The Kansas City prodigal sons of soul rock are renowned for their high-energy live shows; perceptibly, their alchemic approach to new-era rock n roll resonates just as well on the airwaves, given the intoxicatingly impassioned magnetism of Get It On, which allows the seduction to run as an undertone in the single which lets romantic infatuation take the wheel and drive.

The working-class emissaries of reverent alt-rock records should be on the radars of every rock aficionado keen to savour the best of contemporary rock. We can’t wait to hear what innovation they unleash next.

Get It On was officially released on May 19; check it out on YouTube and Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Freaky Friday Jailhouse Gang filled groove pockets with raucous rock licks in ‘Benign Lion’

Posted on 23 May 2023

As you can probably gather from their moniker, The Freaky Friday Jailhouse Gang is far from your average RnB ensemble. Their seminal single, Benign Lion, is a riot of funk and foot-stompin flavour, driven by the fiery vocal lines of Lorena Valta.

Valta knows just how to instil raucous rock elements into the groove pockets that are deep enough to leave the Grand Canyon green with cavernous envy. Adding to the eccentricity of the Austrian outfit are the layers of blues, which pay homage to the roots before embedding them in an amalgam that could only have been alchemised by The Freaky Friday Jailhouse Gang.

The serious superlative talent is one thing, but the evident fact that the powerhouse, which has kept the cogs turning since the early 2010s, doesn’t take themselves too seriously is quite another. There’s an undeniable sense that the Gang benefit from their feel-good euphonics as much as their fans.

Benign Lion is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Cinematic with Soul Alt-Rock Originators, Underblue, Will Wrench Your Heart Strings with ‘Hold On’

Posted on 9 May 2023

‘Hold On’ is the latest slice of filmic funk born from the ingenuity and superlative talent possessed by the NYC alt-rock outfit, Underblue, who have been creating inner-city waves since 2016.

This seminal release is an undeniable testament that it is their time. The soulfully smoky siren-ESQUE vocal lines from Kimberly Torres, the devilishly jazzy basslines from Simon Luk, and the ornate flourishes from keyboardist Ilvi Calderon is almost too much alchemy to handle – almost. Entwined with the guitars that straddle the timbres of the Cramps and My Bloody Valentine and the drums that punctuate the soundscape with flair, Hold On is a progressively interstellar triumph.

With heavy, hopeful, happy, and heart-wrenching being the cornerstones of the ethos behind the upcoming LP, you’re damn right you should save space on your radar for the powerhouse, which has enough innovation between them to rival Mars Volta – not an overstatement.

Hold On will officially release on May 19th followed by the full album on June 9th. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

WD-HAN evoke rock n roll nostalgia while paying an ode to the compassionate in ‘Good Man’

Posted on 13 April 2023

It has been a while since a track evoked tears and chills in me; WD-HAN did all that and more with their latest soulfully nostalgic rock n roll single, Good Man, which was officially released on April 7.

Somewhere between Buckley and Springsteen, the sentimentally humble single starts with an acoustic intro before the track builds into an orchestrally full-bodied rock rendezvous. Yet the same emotional intensity from the prelude runs right into the outro after the colossally arresting alt-rock crescendo.

Lyrically, it is such a bitter-sweet reminder of how this world chews up and spits out the most sensitive dreamers that traipse across the jagged teeth of their landscapes but the soulful optimistically bright vocal performance gives a potent shot of persuasion that you should stick to your compassionate guns. The conceptually layered single also touches on the paradox of the best of us being full of self-doubt and those proclaiming to be good is often a major red flag.

Stream Good Man on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Indie Soul Rock Raconteurs, Did I Hear Dare?, Peddled Sugared Sincerity in He Said/She Said

Posted on 8 March 2023

After a stint of silence following their 2021 debut LP, Runnin’ Late, the indie soul rock raconteurs, Did I Hear Dare?, are back on euphonic form in their latest single, He Said/She Said.

With the same mellow yet ardent vibe of Deep Blue Something in the intro, Interpol-ESQUE angular guitars thrown in for good measure and sugared with sincerity soaring vocals in the piano-laced hit; if you don’t feel emotion start to stir while the enthralling instrumental ensemble is progressing into an arrangement that will give you nostalgia for Chris Cornell’s cinematic panache, you might want to check your soul’s vital signs.

It isn’t every day that I will stumble on an ensemble capable of tightrope walking the line between endearing and elevated. Evidently, the outfit that took fledgling form before nationally scattering across the states is a razor-sharp cut above the rest. They even seem like the sort that would tend to your addicted wounds afterwards, given the resolving compassion going out to the broken-hearted in He Said/She Said.

Stream He Said/She Said via all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Desert folk duo, Medicine Hat, made soul the centre of their gravity in their latest single, She Comes and She Goes

Posted on 7 March 2023

The latest single, She Comes and She Goes, from the breakthrough duo, Medicine Hat, is an instantaneously resolving amalgam of indie, blues, deserty folk, and psych-pop, which will efficaciously pull you into the soul-centred gravity of the harmony-laced release.

While the folky strings exhibit just how much the nostalgically-inclined independent duo respects the roots of the genres they tease through their melodies, the Stevie Nicks-reminiscent lyrics paint a romantically immersive picture of a free spirit that you can’t help falling in love with by proxy.

The riff-driven middle eight gives you the perfect opportunity to appreciate the virtuosic flare of Medicine Hat, along with their ability to reinvent a familiar palette to make it definitively their own.

She Comes and She Goes was officially released on March 3rd; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LUCID LIP unveiled their end of the beginning smoky alt-rock odyssey ‘Room to Grow’

Posted on 1 January 2023

We couldn’t get enough of LUCID LIP’s soulfully seminal single, Who Would Notice? Hearing they are back on era and genre-amalgamating form in their single, Room to Grow, was a rare reason for exhilaration in the age they lament in this timely, smoky, synth-driven hit.

Horror films have made us accustomed to the odd ghosts dotted around a creepy building. The NYC outfit explored the infinitely more tangible phenomenon of nothing being left in our sightline but phantasms of everything and everyone that has given up the ghost in “the end of the beginning”.

It is as isolated and lonely as Bowie’s Space Oddity. But the feeling of estranged detachment needn’t be miles from the earth’s surface when life on earth has almost turned into a paranormal investigation as we look back on everything that these torrid times have torn away from us.

Still pertaining to some of the beauty of the world that we seem hell-bent to obliterate as the bombs drop, the forests burn, and tensions run high, the humanistically pure single becomes infinitely more evocative.

For anyone who finds it hard to express their deep, dark sadness for the collective state of the world. Or anyone with no one left to confide these complex feelings in, Room to Grow is an essential hit that is sure to inspire a few cathartic tears. I know I shed a few.

Room to Grow will officially release on January 1st. You won’t want to miss it. Stream it on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music.

Follow LUCID LIP on Instagram and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cash Machine delivered 70s prog-rock perfection with their soul entwined single, Digital Zeus

Posted on 17 October 2022

After dropping their raunchy funk-sliced prog rock debut single, Promises, the Upstate SC outfit Cash Machine subverted our expectations entirely with the sophomore follow-up, Digital Zeus.

The seamlessly progressive single starts as a smoky, lounge-y feat of late-night bluesy soul before progressing into a riff-led prog rock epic that would leave any Genesis fans kneeling at Cash Machine’s unholy alter.

The screeching guitar riffs to the almost thrashy percussion builds an immersive 70s prog-tinted crescendo before the timbre temporarily winds back down to a Jeff Buckley-style serenade. Naturally, we can’t wait to hear what follows this solid feat of ingenuity and technical ability.

Digital Zeus officially released on September 28th; check it out on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The New Black Diamonds poured intellectual soul into their classic rock track, In Between

Posted on 14 September 2022

The New Black Diamonds poured intellectual soul into rock with their introspectively deep latest single, In Between. With 80s rock licks, the Sweden-hailing five-piece fronted by Klara Frisk pays ode to the likes of Deep Purple, Joan Jett, and Black Stone Cherry, but their overdriven sonic signature doesn’t get lost in nostalgia.

The modernist take on lyricism certainly doesn’t scratch at the surface of superficiality; it takes you on a journey of emboldening self-actualization; crank it up loud and take note.

Get stuck into The New Black Diamonds’ latest single, In Between, on Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast