Single Review: Deaf Rat – “Say Your Lies” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Deaf Rat: "Say Your Lies" (AFM Records) Sweden's Deaf Rat are vocalist Frankie Rich and guitarists Pat Kramer and Max Lander. "Say Your Lies" is the band's most recent single. Upon first glance at the main lyric, you might think this is simply an update..
Single Review: Wyn & the White Light – “Can the World Change” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Wyn & the White Light: "Can the World Change" Wyn & the White Light are 2023 New England Music Awards Female Performer of the Year nominee Wyn Doran, presumably, the White Light: Lucia Jean (bass/vocals) and Heidi Tierney (drums/vocals). The day after Christmas, th..
Album Review: Emma Wilson – Memphis Calling | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Emma Wilson: Memphis Calling What a voice! Emma Wilson's Memphis Calling is a powerful rhythm and blues record. While I'd primarily classify it as blues, it is a very soulful blues with some pop-friendly melodic playfulness. In any case, I can see why Emma's press mate..
Album Review: Video Age – Away from the Castle | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Video Age: Away from the Castle I found Video Age's album while diving down a Bandcamp rabbit hole. After far too many near-misses (and complete misses), I stumbled upon Video Age's Away from the Castle, and it was not merely good but interesting and new enough that I reach..
Album Review: Lara Herscovitch – Highway Philosophers | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Lara Herscovitch: Highway Philosophers Lara Herscovitch is a folk singer-songwriter with a relatively straightforward top-shelf singer-songwriter delivery and damn fine songwriting skills. As a singer, you can feel the emotion in her vocals. As a songwriter, well, her songs are detai..
Single Review: Cascando – “Jimmy Boy” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Cascando: "Jimmy Boy" Cascando is a Limerick, Ireland-based roots rock band. "Jimmy Boy" was the first single from Cascando's EP In Absence of Trees. It was recorded in September 2023, just a couple months before its release. The song opens with a catchy, tw..
Album Review: Thorslund – Thorslund | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Thorslund: Thorslund Thorslund are brothers Jeff Thorslund (vocals, guitar, bass) and Tom Thorslund (drums, backing vocals), with Charles Horin handling live bass duties. The band performs classic, timeless, guitar-driven hard rock music. You hear elements of '70s rock, but with..
Album Review: Matt Smith’s World – Into the Light | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Matt Smith's World: Into the Light Austin, Texas-based Matt Smith has released acclaimed CDs with his band Matt Smith's World going back more than a decade. The band's latest release, Into the Light, is a collection of funky rock 'n roll music that's good-nat..
Publisher’s Corner: March 16, 2024 | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Publisher’s Corner March 16, 2024 It has been a few weeks since we've shared the latest news about some of the artists we've covered at the blog through the years. So let's dive right in and update you on what's up with some of your favorite artists (we hope). News and Releases W..
Single Review: Harlem Lake – “Carry On” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Harlem Lake: "Carry On" Harlem Lake is a powerful Dutch blues/blues-rock outfit, winners of the 10th European Blues Challenge in 2022. The band features the powerhouse vocals of Janne Timmer and the musicianship of Dave Warmerdam (organ, Rhodes [keyboard], backing vocals),..
Album Review: Luke LeBlanc – Places | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Luke LeBlanc: Places Luke LeBlanc is an Americana-ish singer-songwriter whose raspy, emotionally-connected voice and unique musical style literally jump out of the speakers and demand your attention. Figuratively. I meant figuratively. But from the first song on his newest release, P..
Single Review: Kelsey Blackstone – “505” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Kelsey Blackstone: "505" Kelsey Blackstone is one of New England's rising young singers. Rather, I suppose, now she's one of Nashville's, but she was still in the Northeast when this song was recorded, so for this single, at least, it's unambiguous. A f..
Album Review: Peter Storm & the Blues Society – Second | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review: Peter Storm & the Blues Society – Second (Naked) Portuguese blues band Peter Storm & the Blues Society delivers guitar and harmonica-driven blues and blues-rock, generally raucous except when it's mellow, always sincere and engaging. The band is comprised of João Belchior ..
Single Review: The Palms – “Ready or Not” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of The Palms: "Ready or Not" The Palms are indie rock duo Johnny Zambetti and Ben Rothbard. "Ready or Not" is the second single from the band's upcoming Wonderland album. The song is a light, airy, strumming number that brings to mind carefree summer days. It&#..
Album Review: Anton O’Donnell – Tomber Sur PRW | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Anton O'Donnell: Tomber Sur PRW Gritty, heartfelt, immersively engaging Americana from Glasgow, Scotland. Anton O'Donnell's voice has an emotional, cracking edge that'll recall for you the old west. His music is what you might expect to hear a big, old-fashioned c..
Single Review: Speed Limit – “Shine Brighter Than the Sun” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Speed Limit: "Shine Brighter Than the Sun" (NRT-Records) This past fall, Austrian classic heavy metal veterans Speed Limit released the single "Shine Brighter Than the Sun" (with "Destiny's Calling" as its B side). It was the second single from the..
EP Review: Best Not Broken – If It Feels Right | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
The Backstory Behind This Review You know, one of the neat things I've been doing lately is proactively discovering great local music again. I get so much unsolicited material in my overflowing inbox that it's easy to fill the blog with amazing music that just shows up in my inbox. And yes..
Single Review: Anders Damås – “Scarecrow & the Acres of Corn” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Anders Damås: "Scarecrow & the Acres of Corn" Anders Damås is a Norwegian bluesman. His most recent single "Scarecrow & the Acres of Corn" is very clearly a thumping, steady blues number of the story-song variety, telling the tale of the "Scarecrow &..
Album Review: Houston Bernard – Ditch This Town | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Houston Bernard: Ditch This Town Houston Bernard has that radio-friendly country music voice, deep and strong but emotional and textured. If and when he gets widespread exposure he'll be a star. He certainly has the ability, and he puts in the hard work. Until then, though, ther..
Album Review: Firefall – Friends & Family | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Firefall: Friends & Family (Sunset Blvd. Records) A classic rock band delivers an album of classic rock covers. Yeah, it's been done before. But when it's done well, it can be a fun listening experience. As expected, Firefall delivers first-class renditions of, in this ..
Album Review: Floor Space – Maybe This Is It | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Floor Space: Maybe This Is It Every once in a while, there's a new punk-influenced record that captures my attention, something with a freshness – a je ne sais quoi – that places it a notch above other good punk-based offerings. Floor Space's Maybe This Is It is a pop-sensi..
Single Review: Evick – “To Whom It May Concern” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Evick: "To Whom It May Concern" Pete Evick was the guitarist for Some Odd Reason, a band that released the album To Whom It May Concern on Sol 3 Records in 1998. Later, as lead singer of Evick, Pete began to reimagine and rerecord some of the material he had written for&he..
Album Review: Eddie Japan – Pop Fiction | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Eddie Japan: Pop Fiction Eddie Japan is one of Boston's top local rock bands. Stylistically, they're a big stage-filling, theatrical rock act. At the same time, Eddie Japan is also simply a rock band, a very talented one with its own big style. The best comparison might be ..
Single Review: Voodoo Circle – “Sweet Devotion” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Voodoo Circle: "Sweet Devotion" (AFM Records) Voodoo Circle is Alex Beyrodt (guitars), David Readman (vocals), Mat Sinner (bass), and Markus Kullman (drums). In December, this rock band marked its 15th anniversary by releasing 15 Years of Voodoo, a "best of" coll..
EP Review: Summerlyn Powers – The Hive | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
EP Review of Summerlyn Powers: The Hive Summerlyn Powers has a pure, emotional voice that's ideally suited to the short collection of mostly folk-leaning storytelling country songs on her new EP The Hive. However, she's an artist with a much broader musical palate to draw upon, as the vari..
Single Review: Simon Scardanelli – “Without You – Live in Sanremo” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Single Review of Simon Scardanelli: "Without You – Live in Sanremo" We've reviewed Simon Scardanelli's music many times here at the Blog; most recently I reviewed his "Fish Out of Water" single in September. His newest single, "Without You – Live in Sanremo," ..
Album Review: Dokken – Heaven Comes Down | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
Album Review of Dokken: Heaven Comes Down (Silver Lining Music) Have you been missing your Dokken fix? Heaven Comes Down is the band's first release in more than a decade and – spoiler alert – it rocks! Musically, the album is akin to Tooth and Nail-era Dokken, a little rawer but just as melodi..
Single Review: Rachel Stacy – “Empty Glass” | Geoff Wilbur's Music Blog
I've been listening to country fiddling phenom Rachel Stacy since before I started this blog. An MP3 of her song "How's It Gonna Feel" has been on my phone for more than a decade. (I'd share a link, but I can't find it online anymore.) Recently, when I heard Rachel..
