“Dreams” is the result of the collaboration between Amanda and talented producer/multi-instrumentalist Daniel Jakubovic…and what a result!

Amanda actually comes from a powerful musical lineage, being the daughter of legendary trumpeter Randy Becker…and with this musical DNA in her, she manages to continue and hold the musical lineage to the utmost high quality.

Both Amanda and Daniel really knew their direction…and they drew the storytelling arc of the album and musical direction quite masterfully…covering a huge spectrum of human emotions, exploring love and relationships from their brightest moments to their darkest…and everything in between.

“Dreams” has some timeless melodies within its 35 minutes of runtime, with 9 songs sharing this runtime…

…if I am to describe “Dreams” in two words, I’d say it’s absolutely emotionally anthemic…

Almost all songs on the album are emotionally charged with powerful melodies, riffs, beats and soaring vocals…I’ve never seen an album with such an anthemic nature…maybe an album would have one or two of such, but to create an album with such power to bring people together…that’s breaking new musical grounds for sure.

“Dreams” starts on a high note with its first song “Wrong Again”…it makes you think “wow, what a first song, how would they elevate the experience after that!?”, let me tell you…they do, not once or twice…but with every passing track, Amanda and Daniel ups their game with untold amounts of emotional energy…” Dreams” is an absolute musical thrill.

…saying that means that “Man Of My Dreams”, “Something Real” and “Walk Out” actually press hard on the gas pedal and explode in absolute musical fireworks in a way that is simply unheard of.

“Walk Out” has some of the most soaring vocal sections along with beautifully crafted guitar solos you’ll experience in 2023…”Walk Out” is an instant hit…which could easily go for the whole album, really.

“Let Me Go” marks a transition on the musical spectrum, from the energetic to the minimal…with a more slower tempo yet maintaining the same powerful musicality…it feels more theatrical and that switch in the album in quite an effective one…mixing up and disrupting the feelings like that has absolutely mesmerizing effects on the listeners.

…after that, “Dreams Of The Ideal” takes us back into the action seat, the splash zone with some of the most upbeat and energetic songs on the album…and that song in specific has another acoustic version of it which could go as a completely different song actually, it’s the last song on the album and one of the dearest to me.

Opting for a very unique mix of Amanda’s smoothing vocals and some punk guitar works, “Wasted Time” could be described as a melancholic punk/pop anthem…a sentence I never thought about saying before!

…that’s the power of what Amanda is doing…her art is making people make words up!

If you want to feel like you’re sitting with the artists in the same room while they perform, make sure to check out “Morning Kiss”…it’s like you’re there, with all the emotions that would entail, the power, the presence…it’s a guitar and vocals song that is simply mesmerizing.

We wish Amanda all the best in life, we literally just finished experiencing her latest album “Dreams”, yet we can’t wait for the next one.

“Dreams” is a highly recommended listening experience for basically any music fan out there.

Cheers!

With a classic rock/folk approach to “Easter Soul”, the Swedish band Vargen is putting even more life into this one…the vocals are alive and full of emotions, the guitar is also alive and full of nuances…

The song starts with vocals and folk guitars…it starts from a minimal but emotional point…it builds up bit by bit, drums kick in the proverbial door…the tight and subdued bass is there, doing its melodic magic in the background.

“Easter Soul” really has a lot of soul…it’s rock, bluesy guitar-focused approach steals the show and the attention…these guitar solos are super melodic…you just don’t want them to end…and the vocals add so much more than just a vocal melody, but the emotions that comes across through with the vocals are so powerful…then you have some awesome production sections where the vocals do different stuff…dreamy spacey vocal pads and some choirs in the back…

…everything adds up to the experience as a whole, it feels so rich and full, whether with musicality or emotions…

Vargen, after “Easter Soul”, their fourth single, are ready to start working on releasing their upcoming eponymous album…something we’ve all been wanting and waiting for…

We wish Vargen all the best in life, they deserve it, we can’t wait to experience their album when it comes out.

Cheers!

The four-track EP was entirely self-written, sung, recorded, and produced by Ricky Jamaraz. We need to keep an eye on this rising star because he will soon begin to shine. His diverse compositions, vocal range, and lyrical topics leave you feeling a spectrum of emotions, a light-hearted aura, and sore legs from dancing.

“2am Jams” capture the late sleepless minds when one’s mind repels against them and starts going all over the place. Ricky’s job here is to make you feel less lonely at this time and to shake it all out with his blended sound.

The fresh, up-to-date four tracks’ execution have a retro rock vibe that feels like you’re listening to a 90’s mixtape that Ricky stayed up all night to make just for you with his one-of-a-kind sonic artistry and close-to-the-heart sensations. By mashing some pop, punk, and psychedelia into the mix; narrating and singing with a different timbre; and having shimmery and washed-out riffs and dynamic grooves to add a funky touch, each single has its own character and feel.

The ultimate miracle of love is when the person you like also likes you back. The EP’s opener, “Let Me Know,” is a suitable way to confess your feelings to your crush and ask them about theirs. It’s a buoyant, feel-good song that urges one to get hyped up and gather enough courage to declare their love. Its light, upbeat arrangement, and Ricky’s charismatic, heated vocal line make it feel like it’s the thoughts of 2AM in the summer, where there is still a fresh energy hint left from the sunny morning.

“I Miss You” is where I felt the vibe of a customized mixtape the most. Yes, it’s more of an answering machine voice message, but the punky composition and hypnotic singing, along with the passionate narrating, are what offer this vibe. This would be the first time I heard a kind of rhymed punk poem. It has a heartbreaking tone that is colored with energetic instrumentation, which makes you feel the longing even if there’s no one in mind.

Moving to a psychedelic atmosphere with the anthemic track, “Mariokry.” This one would be highly relevant to every overthinker who stays up all night, having hundreds of thoughts and memories swirling around their heads. Catchy grooves join the thoughts in swirling, but this time, to ease the darkness of the night and get the listener up on their feet and goofily dancing with the rhythms. While the lyrics and vocals take a blue direction, the music penetrates the gloomy mood and lets it be light.

The EP closes with the poetic ballad “Romanticising Autumn,” which has a poignant vocal performance from Ricky. The acoustic melody offers the sentimental lyricism and silky vocals in a soothing manner. It’s the ideal track for the current weather and for ending the EP with a dreamy ambiance, as after dancing alone in the 2AM darkness, there will come a moment when there’s someone to share with you a soulful slow dance and feels like a comfy home.

“These are all those mind-grinding feelings you get at 2am, but in song form.” Says Ricky. So, whenever you feel disarmed while your emotions and thoughts are attacking, play this EP and jam along. It may win the battle for you, or it may peacefully soothe your loss through its dancing fashion.

“Heart Over Head” welcomes you with loads of energy and beautiful melodies on “Mrs. Mavis”. Cassie’s powerful lovely voice with its fluid melody and backing harmonies supported by the violin’s melody mixed with upbeat percussions and mandolin all created a perfect opener. As upbeat and intense “Mrs. Mavis” was, things get mellow on the title track “Heart Over Head”. It has a smooth flow and soothing violins and acoustic guitar; it peacefully progresses into something slightly upbeat adding faster percussions before they decide to slow things down taking us to the peaceful outro all topped by the dominant vocal melody. Replacing violins in the cheerful breeze of joy “Tomorrow” with more guitars, Cassie Jean and the Fireflies started pushing the record’s dynamics again setting the mood for what’s next. “Sun Don’t Rise (Just to Hear You Crow)” unleashes Rich Odato’s guitar abilities with its bluesy sound. Odato lays his enjoyable guitar licks and solos everywhere in amazing harmony with the organ as they both dominate the song while Cassie shakes things around with a new rocking vocal delivery making it one of my favs.  They brought back their folk roots in “Turn the Page” and “Ain’t Nobody Gonna Bother Me”. Both have lovely grooves with some cool upright bass and energetic violins matching the cheerful lyrics and vocals channeling a lot of positive vibes to the listener. “All My Life” comes next at the perfect spot to offer something new in the “Heart Over Head” mix. The slow sweet love ballad mixed all their good traits, nice guitars, lovely violins, groovy percussions and bass, and for sure, the sweet sound of Carrie proving their musicianship and diverse songwriting abilities. They continue flexing their diverse songwriting talents with “The Remedy” which is basically a pure blues rock tune with maybe their best guitar work on the record. The rocking vibes are everywhere from the guitar riffs and solos to the playful vocal melody, especially at that super catchy chorus, I had this one on repeat for a while!

 “Long Way Round” is another return to their folk base but with a twist with an exceptional beat and mellow relaxing slide guitar. The guitar/organ conversation returns in the cheerful tune “I’ve Got You” with strong percussion and bass presence. “What Are We Waiting For” and “Hold on Tight, We are Going for a Ride” are the record’s last folky ride before “Quick Trip to Hell” with its Alanis Morrissette meets Lynard Skynard vibes and nice guitars and drums lines. The record ends on a high note with “Grammy’s Chicken Soup”, it has a non-stopping groove that’ll keep you moving unintentionally till the end with its live vibes, enjoyable bass, and the tense, filled with chemistry conversation between guitar and vocal melodies.

“Heart Over Head” is well crafted, well written, and produced record. It shows that Cassie Jean and the Fireflies are seasoned musicians who are able to offer diverse sounds in harmony within the same record while maintaining their unique touch and influences. It is an enjoyable ride that left me waiting for their next release. Cheers!

The trio of “Felix Tandem” are Max Sternlicht (guitar, vocals), Dan Davis (bass, vocals) and Sean Weidner (drums, vocals). Together they have a charismatic-bond, multi-talents, message to deliver, and one genuine sound. “Shoplifter” is the living prof of that. It features a high-energy performance with some symbolism in the lyric that depicts the band’s personal run-ins with masculinity, capitalism, and the law.

You can see the trio’s light and humorous spirits right through the single. Effortlessly, they hook you right from the top. “Shoplifter” boosts dynamic drumming and rip-roarin’ guitars that will make your tired soul bounce and flip more vividly than ever. The chorus is appealing, and the arrangement will keep you pumped all along. The melody is peppy and matches well with the airily vocals. The solo part is a ball of fire! The 3-time Grammy nominee, Ryan Smith, mastered the unblemished single.

“Shoplifter” is one of four songs from the upcoming debut EP “Okey Dokey” that will be out this summer. And it’s a great start to keep us waiting for what the EP holds.

If you’re ready to be mind-stolen by felixtandem’s “Shoplifter,” hit the play button below.

French singer/songwriter Romain Gutsy released his new record “When Leonard Met Dolly” on the 25th of March, 2022. After a long musical journey that started in the 90s playing with various bands and artists and traveling all over the world, Romain Gutsy decided to unleash his musical abilities to the world with a project under his name. While working on projects like an EP in duet with Russian opera soprano Svetlana Kasyan, and an LP with all songs in French, Gutsy released the musical journey which is “When Leonard Met Dolly” featuring Sarah-Julia that appears in all songs except for “If you See Her”.

Our journey starts with “As Dylan Said” which with Gutsy’s deep mesmerizing voice over acoustic guitars and subtle strings orchestrations made an elegant intro to the album. The way different instruments like electric guitars, bass, and keys were introduced elevated the mood and created a smooth flow as the song progressed. “By Being Kind” comes next to shake things around a little. It’s a feel-good tune with lots of energy produced by the engaging violins mixed with that drumbeat that made it super catchy and the way the electric guitar engages in a smooth conversation with violins took the dynamics to a whole new level. Gutsy decides to change the rules with “If I Were to Extend Myself Everywhere” and take a more psychedelic approach. Aside from being the only song on the album whose lyrics have not been written by Romain Gutsy, but by a British living poet named Martin Weightman, it has some old school psych melodies and lots of experimentations with sounds and effects especially, the buildup that led to that incredible mid-section that kept me wondering “what might be the next sound?”  

To add some groove to the mix, Gutsy introduces “I’m a Married Man”, a funky groovy tune with jazzy touches. It simply shows Gutsy’s musicianship and skill in writing various types of structures and moods plus, incorporating different instruments like the use of what I believe was an upright bass and the way he mixed it with keys and trumpets giving the song unique texture and feel. The groove goes on with “Yusuf’s Questions” with its bluesy guitar and fluid vocal melody matching the guitar arpeggios. It kept the record’s dynamics steady making it more enjoyable. “She Is Dolly” comes next with its catchy chorus, flowing melodies, and non-restricted beautiful piano. It’s an old school bluesy tune that reminded me of a lot of classics. Romain Gutsy steers the mood into a mellow zone with “Leonard’s Gypsy Wife”, I loved the electric guitar work, mature licks that perfectly match the mood with no showing off or overdoing. The percussions are remarkable and kept it groovy and chilling. Towards the end, Gutsy surprises us with his masterpiece “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” which is a lovely interesting 100% progressive piece. It starts with a cool catchy intro then moves slowly into a dreamy mood that keeps on building and progressing through a beautiful stream of melodies incorporating various instruments from a magical violins section to brass, percussions, bass, acoustic guitars, and keyboards all perfectly layered and arranged with each and every one of them taking its moment at perfect timing. Last but not least comes “If you See Her” which was released as a single. It’s a ballad from Leonard Cohen’s world mixed with some jazz, blues, and classic rock n roll in a perfect mix that’ll leave you high on how it was well written.

“When Leonard Met Dolly” is a beautiful interesting musical trip with Romain Gutsy. It shows his great songwriting abilities. He’s a master of dynamics and experimentation that will keep you interested until his last note. Totally recommend that you give this record the proper listening with no interruptions it deserves. Looking forward for more from Romain Gutsy. Cheers!

She tapped into the punk-rock essence and pulled out a big chunk of it, fused it with her musicality and gave us her latest single “Blink”.

“Blink” is a huge sounding pop-punk-rock experience…

This is Anji’s biggest release to date…and it definitely sounds the part, it sounds big.

…the song took me back to the pure gold times of the emo-punk-rock scene of the 90s…

I feel like I’m in a swirl of nostalgia, with Blink182, Avril Lavigne and Paramore revolving around me in a dream-like world…

…but do I like it? I absolutely love it.

Anji’s emotion, energy and love are very obvious in “Blink”, whether musically, lyrically or from a vocal performance perspective, I personally feel like this is a labor of love anyway you look at it.

..so, why don’t we get into the nitty gritty side of things, dive deep into Anji Kaizen’s latest single “Blink”…and feel that experience?

“Blink” starts out with a perfect buildup, instruments coming in one after the other, each instrument going easy on us in the beginning…

Guitars riffing with little grit on them…

Drums are just putting in some kicks…

Some tambourine percussion…

…then the drums will jump and explode into an awesome fill that will transport us into the emo-punk golden age…and everything sounds huge!

This is the chorus…powerful.

I also want to add that the song’s chord progression has that emo punk rock to it, it has that one chord that just captures you and makes you wait for it to play again…

The way the song uses stops is also awesome, that happens at one point in the song and it changes the whole feeling and energy to it, makes you on your toes…love that…and, let’s not forget…would everything be complete without a guitar solo? NO! 

The guitar solo comes in at the right time, around the song’s last third…and that burst of energy acts like a jolt of electricity in an already energetic song.

Anji kept the energy levels high across the whole track…

If you are looking to boost your energy levels, you are in the right place and the right time.

Anji, we wish you all the best in the world, you deserve it and more.

Cheers!

Mixing various influences like pop and R&B with metal, Wind Walkers are representing a new evolution of metal that can carry the genre forward. Formed in 2015, Wind Walkers started slowly to gain popularity starting with their cover of Halsey’s song “Without Me” and now their discography holds around 18,000,000 plays on Spotify. Lately they joined forces with vocalist Trevor Borg who wrote the lyrics for their latest single “Dead Talk” that we’ll be reviewing today. Trevor wrote the lyrics after the death of his grandfather and he describes it as “exemplifies a range of emotions and highlights the experience of losing a loved one for the first time”. Wind Walkers was keen on making their return notable so, they dropped a music video for “Dead Talk” directed by Alex Kouvatsos at BlackWolf Imaging, the song is produced, mixed and mastered by Nick Matzkows, with additional production coming from Jon Eberhard and now, let’s see what it is all about.

“Dead Talk” is a heavy song emotional and music wise, starting from the intro with that nice melody combined with heavy riffs that keeps on getting heavier as the song goes. The riffs are notably dynamic and energetic combined with that diverse powerful vocal melody creating a perfect match. “Dead Talk” has amazing dynamics with ups and downs and parts designed to throw you off your seat and keep you hooked till then end specially, the heavy pounding riff around min 2:20 sent me headbanging all over the place. 

“Dead Talk” is a song that shows Wind Walker’s character, it shows that they are not afraid to explore different sounds, dynamics and moods and this can really take them far away. I loved the steady heaviness of the song through riffs and amazing drum work and how it’s sometime pure heaviness and sometimes melodic, the vocal delivery and melody is a perfect match as I said before giving the song diverse sounds makes it even more interesting. I believe Wind Walkers is one metal band with big chances of breaking through as it is clear that they have the ability to explore and evolve and I’ll be keeping an eye on them to witness their success. Keep it up guys and looking forward for more. Cheers!

American pop/alternative rock singer songwriter Louie Dangerous hit the world with his new single “High on You” on Feb 18th, 2022. Louie started as a drummer with the punk rock band The Years Gone By and after the band broke-up he couldn’t let go of his passion. Writing his own music while singing and playing all instruments, he released three singles so far recorded/produced by Seth Henderson at Always Be Genius recording Studio in Crown Pointe Indiana., the latest is “High on You” which Louie describes as “a song about hanging out with your best friend.”

“High on You” shows Louie’s abilities in mashing up various influences from pop to punk rock in a way that fits all tastes and shows clearly his sense of writing good hooks and simple memorable tunes.

The song has a mellow start but, don’t let it fool you as it has an energetic, crowd engaging vibe that’ll hit you just after the intro. It has a very dynamic structure which its neat production gave it the space to shine and make it’s impact on the listener, the hook at the bridge and the catchy chorus will drive the audience crazy singing along when played live and that build up at the breakdown around min 2:00 was on point.

“High on You” can easily turn Louie Dangerous into the next pop rock sensation, it is catchy, modern and can appeal to a wide range of audience. Its fun lyrics are delivered perfectly by Louie and the music and structure reflects that perfectly. Looking forward for more from Louie Dangerous, Cheers!