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Little Bird by Justine Vandergrift

Moataz Gwaily
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Little Bird by Justine Vandergrift

Justine Vandergrift’s latest single ‘Little Bird’ is a stunning folk cut with precious lyrics and a warm, sunshine-laden sound that transferred me wholly to a different, peaceful dimension, full of birds, butterflies, and running streams.

A singer/songwriter from Cochran, Canada, Justine Vandergrift crafts delightful folk and country music. Revolving around her rich and fairytale-like lyrics, and warm, boomy acoustic guitar, her delicate arrangements are lush and soothing, and Little Bird is no exception. Released in support of her upcoming album, titled Mountain Standard Time, Little Bird is too soft, too fluttery, and too pretty. The slide guitar wails in joy behind Justine’s colorful and familiar chord structures, her soulful, percussive strumming, and her wonderful lyrics. Her voice is commanding and deep, instantly grabs the attention, and effortlessly keeps it. The production, courtesy of Trevor McNeely and Jeff Kynoch, is endlessly crisp, and everything is absolutely where it belongs, with stereo panning and a mix that’s simple yet full of intricate details, such as the vocal harmonies in the background, disguised as smooth, buttery synth pads. 

Little Bird is a delicious teaser to Justine Vandergrift’s upcoming full-length album, and if the remainder of the album turns out of the same caliber of quality, with songs just as sweet and as soothing as this one, then consider me already in the waiting line.

Time Bomb Season by Butterfly Haus

Moataz Gwaily
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Time Bomb Season by Butterfly Haus

Butterfly Haus’s latest studio album is a healthy offering of alternative hip hop that veers a little toward rock at points, and a little towards dream pop at others, all the while maintaining a consistent moodiness and vibe that set it apart, making it easily stand out. 

Butterfly Haus is the moniker of Nigerian-American producer and songwriter Osaze Akerejah. Osaze, formerly called SAZE, is based in Brooklyn, and this last studio album of his, titled Time Bomb Season, has been released in the wake of a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, which has doubtlessly influenced the sounds and colors we hear on the album, as well as influenced a lot of the lyrics too. Approaching this album I was adamant about putting the diagnosis aside and focusing on the music within, but I was delighted to find out that the album is masterful. Most of the songs in here are chill at heart, even the more sizzling tracks sizzle in a calm and collected way. The harmonies are more often than not eerie and unsettling, and they meet their match with Osaze’s bold lyrics and dynamic flows in the hip-hop cuts, and with his memorable delivery and vocal techniques on the more pop or rock cuts.

Topless Tesla is a standout hip-hop cut with a chilling progression that lingers for a long time after it ends. The flows are top notch and the lyrics are sublime, with an unquestionable edge that’s infinitely dark. I’m Up is another landmark on the album. With distinctive 90s-inspired drum sounds, more lazy and charismatic flows from Osaze, and a progression that’s just melancholic, the song is a coherent piece of chill prose. The instrumental outro to it is also full of color. Used To The Pills is a heartbreaking acoustic ballad with personal lyrics. It’s as hard to hear as it is drop-dead gorgeous. SYNESTHESIA FREESTYLE is my personal favorite of the record. The tight, driving beats, and the artful, intricate, and endlessly rich lyrics are on fire, the melancholy seems under control, like sizzling coals in a steam engine, it is masterfully used to fuel the vibes and propel the piece forward.

Time Bomb Season is a fresh and artful collection of songs from a man at the peak of his creative limitations, proving that angst breeds unforgettable art if properly utilized. I thoroughly enjoyed Butterfly Haus’s debut release, and I’ll be awaiting more music from Osaze, as I diligently pray and wish for bountiful days for him.

Sorry, Not Sorry by Samantha Gibb

Akram Soliman
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Sorry, Not Sorry by Samantha Gibb

The latest release from Samantha Gibb is the 4-track EP entitled “Echoes (The Echo Sessions) and it is a compilation of songs she released earlier this year but with a country/acoustic glam this time. I’ll be checking out the third track Sorry Not Sorry which is, in my opinion, the key track on this EP.

The song begins with haunting melodic vocals that are very reminiscent of other indie artists like Lord Huron, Passenger, and LP but what keeps Samantha’s sound distinct is the strong grounded sound of her chest register. 

The verses are built on a nice and soft chord progression on the acoustic guitar, but the key moment is when the chorus/hook is playing and the haunting backing vocals get more epic and eargasmic.

Samantha’s breath control and enunciation add a special emotional quality, unlike any other vocalists I’ve ever heard. While you may compare or relate her to other Alternative and indie singer-songwriters, I doubt that there’s one singer she’s identical to or copying. It’s rare to find an artist who’s both passionate and unique nowadays, and it seems like Samantha Gibb is one of the few artists who have both style and substance with enough emotional authenticity to stay in your memory for days after the first time you hear her voice.

Understood by Eva Westphal

Akram Soliman
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Understood by Eva Westphal

Eva Westphal is a NY-based pop singer-songwriter with a classical background and a passion for making the music industry a more inclusive and safe place for people regardless of their gender or sexuality.

Her latest single “Understood” describes how she felt out of place and alienated when straight females around her talked about their boyfriends and she, as a lesbian woman, had no friend or significant other to understand her.

The song is short (2 minutes) and the vocals and acoustic guitar begin straight away. While the vocals describe that feeling of being different, the chorus speaks of finally being “understood” and meeting the right person.

The guitars are played by a female queer guitarist, and the team behind the production of the song is entirely female, and that’s truly what inclusion and paving paths for women and minorities is all about. It’s work, in reality, not just advocacy or support.

The song has amazing and positive vibes, and Eva’s sensational breathy vocals match with the acoustic guitar amazingly. You’ll definitely feel emotional with the verses and peaceful with that wonderful chorus. I recommend this song to anyone who wants to feel empowered and strengthened.

A great day by Davide Anniballi

Moataz Gwaily
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A great day by Davide Anniballi

Davide Anniballi’s ‘A great day’ is a masterful instrumental rework of his composition of the same name that puts the delicate and rich arrangement in the front and center, allowing attention and focus to pour over the plethora of moving elements of which this piece is built.

Davide Anniballi is a composer from Pesaro, Italy. His latest release, A great day, is a wholesome and fulfilling listen, designed to provoke pleasant feelings, and through this, it manages to be an aurally majestic experience that does not get repetitive with multiple listens. A great day is cinematic and grand while retaining an airiness that makes it gentle and easy on the senses. Loaded with lush arrangement details, the strings soar, the piano sparkles, the clarinet serenades, and the cymbals heave, all being perfectly restrained and gorgeously mature. The composition itself is as engaging and as dynamic as a soundtrack for a fantasy movie or video game, it certainly succeeds in delivering a soundscape that’s soothing, nice, and an escape from the humdrum reality.

Davide Anniballi’s composition is healthy and sweet, noble and pleasant, a combination of elements so pretty it’s hard to believe something of this innocence has a place in this life… but it does, and boy are we glad that it does.

 

 

I Love you Most by Pamela Hopkins

Moataz Gwaily
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I Love you Most by Pamela Hopkins

This single from Pamela Hopkins is a love song to the most deserving receiving party of all love songs. It is also a beautiful piece of crisply recorded soulful pop rock that will find no difficulty in making you bob and sway along to its gentle rhythm.

Pamela Hopkins is a singer/songwriter that hails from Little Rock, Arkansas. Her music is sweet pop-rock with a healthy dose of country influence. I Love You Most, her latest single is a love song for her fans, and for her level of admiration and success, Pam’s fans do deserve a hearty love song indeed. I Love You Most’s most striking element is its gorgeous production. The drums are pristine and punchy, the guitars ring out heavenly, and Pamela’s voice is as striking and compelling as ever, with a delivery that’s rich and soulful with sweet and honestly loving lyrics. I Love You Most is an outstandingly direct and easy-to-love song.

The latest Pamela Hopkins single is a delightful hard rocker that’s sweet and colorful, which is no surprise for a songwriter as proficient as her.



Rewind by virgin orchestra

Youssef Harraz
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Rewind by virgin orchestra

After the release of their debut double single last May. Virgin Orchestra returns with “Rewind” the third single off their upcoming album “Fragments”.

Virgin Orchestra is an experimental post-punk band based in Reykjavík, Iceland. The band consists of Stefanía Pálsdóttir on vocals, bass, synth, and beats, Starri Holm on guitar, and Rún Árnadóttir on cello. The trio met at the Icelandic University of the Arts where they were students in the music department. Their influences range from classical composers like Dmitri Shostakovich to punk bands such as The Cure and the shoegaze/experimental rock band My Bloody Valentine. That gives them their own unique experimental sound mixing post-punk with electronics and shoegaze with a classical touch created by the cello.

“Rewind” is a 7-minute song that has a Gothic and warm vibe to it based on a deep bass synth accompanied by a reverbed drum machine filling the background while creating space for the band to experiment with their instruments. Starting with guitar screeches, the song gradually morphs into a melodic bass line and inverted picked guitar chord duet before the first verse. Where gloomy vocals come in backed by simple lead guitar. The cello takes the spotlight during the music interludes adding an emotional texture to the ambiance. As the song reaches the halfway point it switches into a more instrumental ambient approach that’s described by the band as “a dreamscape of how one wishes they can rewind back to “before” everything”.

 



Album: Mind of a Madman II by John Keenan

Muhammad Al-Wasat
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Album: Mind of a Madman II by John Keenan

Hip hop artist John Keenan’s latest rap album “Mind of a Madman II” was released on the 30th of January from Scottsdale, United States.

I feel shy writing this review. John Keenan’s mastery of the word far supersedes my own. There is not much I can say that this incredible artist has not already said better. He had this to say about his latest album: 

“Mind of a Madman is a challenge for you, not a cd about me. I’m challenging others to become the madman and do that impossible thing.”

We may be witnessing the next phenomenal rap artist. The mastery of lyricism and delivery on display throughout “Mind of a Madman II” is indescribable, and the charismatic nature of John Keenan on real topics just makes this whole album pure art.

John Keenan wrote his latest album as a sequel to a previous one he wrote and released almost thirteen years ago, “Mind of a Madman” and it came from a place of real personal struggle for Keenan, whether it be his fight with addiction, or grappling with mental health. John Keenan was on the brink of collapse just prior to writing the first album, and he came back strong and pulled through it all with four album releases since.

By the time I reached track four of the album, “Rap Cat” my jaw dropped and my mind was blown. I could not believe what I was hearing, and I took my headphones off just to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating this voice as if I could hallucinate something this creative and tongue in cheek.

The album as a whole has it all, from top-tier production, feats of amazing artists, and diversity in styles and genres, to topics personal, social, political, and even economic. John Keenan is a phenomenon that we may never see the like of again.

 



Hurts Like Hell by White Dove

Muhammad Al-Wasat
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Hurts Like Hell by White Dove

Humanitarian artist White Dove released the moving piano pop ballad  “Hurts Like Hell” on the 27th of December of last year from Toronto, Canada.

White Dove is a mysterious artist with a unique initiative for a humanitarian mission. Little is known about the anonymous personality, but we do know that White Dove is a former medic who traveled the world, exploring different cultures and speaking six different languages.

White Dove creates music not for herself, but for those who suffer throughout the world, often taking requests from those who cannot express their struggle themselves in order to be their artistic voice. The artist is not after fame or fortune, but it is her humanitarian message that lies within her music that is the driving force behind her creative efforts.

“Hurts Like Hell” is a powerful song with White Dove’s emotional singing over a moving piano performance. The overdriven guitar solo at the end of “Hurts Like Hell” is heartbreaking in context, given the topic of the song that White Dove sings about.

The song lives up to commercial standards but with no commercial goals in mind. White Dove chooses to remain anonymous in order to shine the light entirely on her message rather than herself.

 



Claim Me by Jasi Bella

Muhammad Al-Wasat
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Claim Me by Jasi Bella

Pop singer Jasi Bella released a new irresistible electronic pop song titled “Claim Me” on the 3rd of February from London, United Kingdom.

Jasi Bella is a Swedish singer-songwriter who has an amazing ability to capture moments in her songs. Each song is unique with different themes and styles, yet all of Jasi Bella’s songs throughout her discography sound like Jasi Bella.

The latest track “Claim Me” is an irresistible electronic dance-pop song, with Jasi Bella’s unique style about a romantic relationship that ended as soon as it started.

Relationships that could have been are an all too common experience for many of us, as they never happen for all kinds of different reasons, and Jasi Bella’s “Claim Me” is relatable for any one of those different reasons, as it encompasses a wide range of experience that surely you might have been through as well.

Jasi Bella has successfully managed to build her brand as an artist through her music that aims to break down stereotypical clichés on relationships and gender. Her unique approach is surely one that will make influential cultural waves in the global music scene, as so much of the global culture is timidly concerned with gender-related issues. 

Jasi Bella is a voice that confidently speaks her truth and cuts through the unchallenged noise of the old ways.

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