Out of Kent, OH comes a rip-roaring supergroup with a big-band blues sound that incorporates an impressive brass section with guitars that drip with classic rock goodness. Bold vocals, killer solos, bright horns and lush, rhythmic drumming make Scarlet and the Harlots a refreshing delight in an age where rock is supposed to be dead. With powerful, Joplin-like vocals, Scarlet leads the pack on the band's impressive self-titled December release. The inspired 10-track disc mixes the jazzy innovations of Herbie Hancock with the rock-blues of Zeppelin. Although the band is clearly well-versed in...
Akron’s three-piece band, Apollo, may just be getting its foot in the door of the local music scene, but with the release of its debut EP, “Right Here,” it’s clear the gang has a clear vision and something to prove to the Rubber City and beyond. “Rainy Day” is a moody instrumental track that recalls the post-rock vibes of fellow Akronites If These Trees Could Talk with sweet jangling guitars that slip into eerie, haunting notes. Eric Holland-Jones’ drumming creates a full-bodied sound that somehow isn’t overbearing. It’s a good introduction to the band’s quiet but noisy ...
Think back to what you were doing at the ages 12 and 17. For the members of Skating Polly, they can think back to just yesterday. They can tell you they’ve played shows with Portugal. The Man, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, The Walkmen and Deerhoof. They can tell you they’ve worked with Kliph Scurlock of The Flaming Lips to produce their next record. They can tell you Sean Ono Lennon tweeted about them. “Child prodigy” is a word often overused, but while today’s teens are tweeting, texting and talking on the phone, 12-year-old Kelli Mayo and 17-year-old Peyton Bighorse are craf...
How just two musicians from Canton could create a six-song debut that sounds bigger than the sum of its parts is a little mind boggling. But We Are Public Radio have done it. In just a half-dozen tracks, singer-songwriter Andy Dolson and guitarist Patrick Boyle have created a polished album worthy of praise. The debut's quality boils down to heartfelt songwriting, contemporary melodic instrumentation and the crisp production value of Matt Goldman, a favorite amongst indie musicians. As a whole, We Are Public Radio's freshman release sounds a little like a mesh of David Gray, The Wallflowers an...
Out of Canton grew a now-locally-famous foursome, 40s, an indie rock ensemble known for popping up at nearly every Northeast Ohio venue with great frequency. Andy Bors, 40s bassist, recently put the rock on hold for a side project known as duckii. Though Bors boasts guitar, drums and piano skills in addition to his bass playing with the band, his latest project is a little different, a little trendy and perhaps a little surprising. As duckii, the musician crafts electronic dance music with beats and breakdowns that are both artful sonic collages and fun stuff to dance to. Bors taught himsel...
Grabbing their namesake from a quiet, melodic Simon & Garfunkel tune, the three Jersey lads who make up Only Living Boy are anything but soft and folksy. Taking cues from blues greats like Stevie Ray Vaughn and the Seattle slacker vibes of Soundgarden, the band births a gritty, inspired sound with roaring riffs and howls. Only Living Boy is known as a band that does a lot of touring, and with its latest double A-side single, “Spread Your Butter b/w Scrambled Eggs,” the first of three new EPS to be released by next year, these guys will only be spreading their sound even further. The...
Singer-songwriter Angela Perley’s voice has the sweet ring of country queens like Lucinda Williams and Wanda Jackson with the ache and heart of folk favorite Martha Wainwright. Her band mates, The Howlin’ Moons, comprised of Chris Connor, Billy Zenhnal and Steve Rupp, add a perfect blend of Americana and roots rock to round out the sound. The group’s latest five-song release, “Nowhere Is Now Here,” dropped Nov. 27, and it’s soft folk-country at its finest. The opening track, “Brooklyn Girls,” is full of nostalgic longing that reminds you of looking at old photographs or drin...
New Orleans is known for its rich and distinct music history, but out of the city comes The Winter Sounds, a five-piece indie band set to define new musical genres. With synth-heavy beats, roots-rock guitars and vocals that echo the English New Wave greats, The Winter Sounds offers something a little different and evolved. What bands like The Killers and The Bravery started 10 years ago is taken through an Arcade Fire filter and twisted around in intricate knots to create the music this quintet is composing. The band's latest release, “Runner,” drops Nov. 27, and it's a dozen exciting t...
Local trio SHVS brings a low, droning surf aesthetic to the punk rock formula. They're basement rockers fueled by “amphetamines, devil women and alcoholism,” but there's a wackiness amongst the dark layers of their music that calms the racing, aching mind. SHVS released an 8-track live album this month, and the opening, feedback-laced tune, “Let You Lay,” places you out of the car, your room, your job or wherever you may be listening. It puts you right in a murky-looking club full of Jameson-soaked kids sweating and grooving to the noise. The psychedelic guitars are hypnotizing, and...
Sink Tapes are Jersey boys not influenced by Springsteen, tanning oil or any other popular association with their state. This is a quartet thriving from, perhaps, the sounds of the waves on the shore or the blur of crowds cascading along the boardwalk. With noisy, atmospheric guitars and vocals, Sink Tapes take distortion and mix it with a kind of Jersey cool that transcends the decades. The band is releasing its second full-length album, “Please Touch,” this December, but in the meantime they are teasing us with three delicate, dreamy tracks on an all-new 7” vinyl. The EP fits in wel...
After much hardwork and anticipation, Nick Wilkinson and The Featured Players released their EP, “Nothing for Now” at the end of October. Wilkinson has made a name for himself in the Rubber City with his fusion of country, rock and punk with his signature singer-songwriter style. But with a backing band consisting of Jeff Matheny, Paul Laux, Steve Yackey and Amanda Ake, Wilkinson's sound is fuller and more vibrant. The three-song EP kicks off with “One Light,” a song comprised of rambling guitars and passionate vocals. That repetitive “bum bum bum” hooks the listener, and Wilkin...
By all preconceived assumptions, Michael DeBenedictis is something of a computer nerd. Instead of sitting in front of a PC screen coding his days away, he uses his knowledge to create complex and interesting music. His sonic project, Mr. Swan's Song, allows DeBenedictis to not only exercise his vocal, guitar and bass skills, but use his computer finesse to create MIDI drums and strings. Together, Mr. Swan's Song sounds like a fleshed-out band wailing away to a neighborhood from inside a garage. But it's simply one man doing it all, and the result is a cool mix of '90s slacker rock and modern e...
Jazz and classical styles travel through a different dimension when Axon-Neuron gets ahold of them. Formed in Akron just last year, the band has changed up its lineup to create a “version 2.0” consisting of five members who create complex cabaret tunes with a rock edge. The band's latest release, “Dreamstate,” contains nine spaced-out tracks accented by jazz forms of the 19th century mixed with futuristic keyboards and swelling guitars. The production quality of “Dreamstate” is crisp and precise, and every little musical inkling can be heard crystal clear in the release. From Sa...
Hailing from upstate New York, the foursome that comprises Take One Car makes music that spans across the states like invisible aural wires that wrap around whomever it comes in contact with. The band's 2012 release, “It's Going to be a Nice Day,” is a collection of ambient rock tracks that fuse a myriad of musical elements together. The result is sonic magic, and with some tracks rounding seven minutes in length, it seems as though they could ring on forever. The album's title track kicks off the 12-song release, and with its instrumental stylings, it creates the perfect soundscape for...
Torchlight Parades emerged out of Akron in 2008 as a two-man musical side project, but as the group expanded and the songwriting progressed, a full-fledged experimental rock band was born. This year, the group released its debut album, “Catatonia,” a sometimes dark, melodic sonic voyage through life and death. The disc's opening track, “We're Here and There” is an instrumental piece that follows a soft to loud formula that ascends to crashing noise and harmonies. It is followed by “Birth Trauma,” this time introducing skilled vocals and illustrative songwriting by Darron Ball an...
Kristen Ford is a storyteller. A few parts Kimya Dawson mixed with Tracy Chapman, Ford's poetic lyrics take the listener on a ride like sonic pages of an epic biography. An Ohio native, Ford has traveled around the country making herself at home in six different states, and through her travels she has gathered suitcases full of personal stories and experiences to translate into songs. Her latest EP, “Air Pl4ne,” highlights these themes of a jet-set lifestyle with folksy musicality and sweet, sometimes somber and sincerely imperfect vocals. Ford's acoustic guitar playing is skilled, and ...
Where Are You Houston is that special kind of post-punk that blends heart-tugging melodies and distorted guitars to embody a certain component of youth we can all remember and identify with. The six-man ensemble from Canton released its latest full-length album, “Prophecies & Poetry,” Sept. 28, and the disc is full of well-composed anthems for the disaffected. The 14-track release begins with a spacey vocal introduction that goes “On & On & On...” as the title suggests. It glides nicely into “Wake The Dead,” a fittingly haunting song accented by ironically cheery key...
Instead of Sleeping, a four-piece indie rock ensemble from Pittsburgh, have established themselves as a true band to watch in the last few years. Touring with the likes of Fuel, fun. and Hawthorne Heights, their star is certainly on the map, and it is undoubtedly rising with each new release. “The Reds, The Blacks, The Grays,” the band's latest five-song release, is an atmospheric jewel with those clean pop-punk-inspired vocals and melodic, jangling guitars. The opening track, “Indian Giver,” begins with a sparse and unassuming acoustic guitar which leads in to a booming entrance fr...
Ohio native Scott Paris dishes up a the first of a four-part EP series, “COLLISIONS (Part One),” a mesh of the artist's own raw musicality and a little help from those he admires. Paris calls the disc “collisions of influence, ego, charm and inspiration,” all stemming from his own songwriting and those artists he invited to play what they feel. The EP's third track starts off as a bluesy number with raspy vocals that sound both booze-soaked and weathered. “The Astral Projector” is a little Johnny Cash mixed with some Mark Lanegan – a mix of old and new influences that shine th...
