Ruby Can’t Fail: Kate Bush and Octavia Butler Influence New Dream-Pop Band

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Mar 152021
 
ruby marrow

For a minute there, the band Julia Caesar was hotly tipped to be Vermont’s next nationally-known musical export. But it wasn’t to be. After one terrific EP (and a recorded-but-never-released album), the group disbanded and frontperson Katy Hellman moved to Philadelphia.

Well, now Hellman is back in Vermont, and her new band Ruby picks up where Julia Caesar left off. When touring resumes, maybe they’ll be the group to break through on the national stage. Ruby describes themselves as “apocalypse folk rock,” but from the early evidence the sound leans more dream-pop with shades of Mazzy Star and Cocteau Twins (some live stuff is folkier). Continue reading »

New Wave-y Concept Album Brings ‘A Star Is Born’ to the Vegas Strip

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Mar 122021
 
madaila good lord nancy

I’m a sucker for a concept album. From Ziggy Stardust to Tommy, they began primarily the realm of classic rock (back before it was “classic”), but exist in pretty much every genre now, from electronic music to hip-hop. Hell, my favorite record of last year was a doom-metal concept album.

One genre that could use more concept albums, though, is new wave. Prolific Vermont-based artist Madaila obliges with the new Good Lord Nancy, which also dips into more traditionally concept album-friendly genres like rock and Americana. It’s only eight tracks – pretty short for a concept album – but it packs a lot into a quick runtime. Continue reading »

The Best New Songs of February

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Mar 012021
 
best new songs february 2021
A2VT – I’m a Soul Survivor


A2VT’s new single blends the group’s trademark sounds of Afropop, R&B, and hip-hop with a surprising twist: ’80s metal. After three extremely catchy minutes of singing and rapping, an epic guitar solo bursts forth by an actual ’80s-metal vet, Andre Maquera of 8084. It reminds of that time Kirk Hammett guested on a K’naan song, in the best way possible. Continue reading »

The Best New Songs of January

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Jan 292021
 
best new songs january 2021
Adam Rabin – Winter Song

Prog-rock veteran Adam Rabin’s “Winter Song” sounds pure Jethro Tull. All that’s missing is a flute solo. Oh, wait – there it is. Continue reading »

’90s Rock Is Back with Long-Distance Romance and Five-Dollar Words

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Jan 122021
 
jesse taylor band

It’s hard to write a pop chorus with the word “emigrate,” but Jesse Taylor has managed just that on her song “Blue,” one of the highlights of her new ’90s-rock-indebted EP Ever-changing. It’s the best five-dollar word in an alt-rock song since “copacetic.”

The song “Blue” details a ocean-spanning romance headed for the rocks, and with specific details like thinking through emigration options and fretting over five-hour time differences, no surprise it comes from personal experience. Continue reading »

Quit Asking This Musician What Winters Are Like in Vermont

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Jan 072021
 
marcie hernandez

Vermont singer-songwriter Marcie Hernandez is sick of answering questions about what winters are like where she lives, and she vents about it on her new song titled, appropriately enough, “Winter.” The chorus goes, “Glassy smiles crack under pressure / Someone shoot me if they ask me / ‘Bout the fucking weather one more time.” Continue reading »

The Best Vermont Albums of 2020

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Dec 182020
 
best vermont albums

In the endless year-end debate about to rank or not-to-rank, I generally fall on the to-rank side. Putting some albums on and not others is already subjective, so why not go full bore? But I do find that things get increasingly arbitrary the further down the list you go. There is a difference in my mind between #2 and #3. But between #22 and #23? No, not really.

So this year I’m wimping out and doing a compromise: 30 albums, #11-30 unranked, and then the ranked Top Ten at the bottom. A method sure to satisfy no one! Seems appropriate for 2020. Continue reading »

The Best Vermont EPs of 2020

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Dec 162020
 
vermont eps
Babehoven – Demonstrating Visible Difference of Height

Babehoven weren’t a Vermont band for very long. Singer Maya Bon and partner/bandmate Ryan Albert moved to the tiny town of Arlington, where he’s from, to record this EP, then promptly decamped for Philadelphia. They’ve also logged time in Los Angeles and Portland. But, even if they weren’t in the state for very long, Vermont would do well to embrace the wonderful dream-pop EP they recorded while here. Continue reading »

The Best Vermont Songs of 2020

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Dec 142020
 
best vermont songs

You don’t need me to tell you that 2020 was a crummy year, for musicians especially. That certainly didn’t stop the flow of great songs though. Artists channelled collective fear and frustrations in a variety of ways. One song on this list is literally titled “2020.” Another complains about masks fogging up your glasses. Most, though, are not that literal. Some offer upbeat escapism; others complain about more personal problems than those in the news. They really only have one thing in common: I can’t wait until I can see them performed live.

Continue reading »

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