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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's sometimes infuriating that truly talented artists like the Chicago-born Guitarist Supremo and singer/songwriter JD Simo get unnoticed by big record labels, even more when said artists reach the peak of their musicianship.
Rather fortunately, though, a creative, extremely talented and forward-thinking artist like Simo has managed to forge his name, fame and respect from fans worldwide even without the financial support of major labels, through years of incendiary live performances and some remarkable studio albums, especially in the last decade of the American guitarist's career.
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There is always something a bit more special happening, when talented artists get together to work on a collective project. Truth to be told, veteran multi-instrumentalist Micke Bjorklof, guitar supremo Ville "Lefty" Leppanen and bassist extraordinaire Miikka "Chef" Kivimaki from Finland have been working together for quite some time but not on a regular basis, due to their individual music projects.
When they finally are in the same room, though, playing and singing all together, no matter how long has passed since they last worked together, they are always able to recreate an artistic alchemy like very few are able to achieve, especially in the European contemporary music context.
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Music artists often prefer, once they establish themselves in a certain circuit or have managed to build a certain amount of fans/followers, to stick on what they do best and what provides them that blanket of comfort that guarantee them a lucrative return. In some respects, this is understandable enough, when you are an independent artist that cannot rely on a record label's financial support but the down side of it, it is that this philosophy kills creativity.
There are also fortunately those that rather prefer to follow instead their musical growth without disrupting their artistic integrity and keeping on exploring new musical highway, just like the Pennsylvania-born Blues/Rock and Funk guitarist and singer/songwriter Jeff Fetterman.
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
2019 has been another fabulous year of music. The health of this extraordinary art form is now, more than ever, strong and powerful under many aspects, as the caliber of the records reviewed by our website this year clearly confirms.
At Bluebird Reviews, we are honored to review, year after year, music artists of exceptional ability that help to provide, through their amazing artistic skills, the best possible platform to inspire the current generation of musicians from all around the globe and the future generations to come.
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Chicano Music has gone through a lot of transformations and highs and lows, in the last half a century, sometimes in a good way, some other time not really up to the standards that the genre's Kingpin, Lalo Guerrero, reached in the late 40's.
It is therefore refreshing that a record that sticks to the traditions and the foundations of Chicano Music, with a little contemporary twist, like Johnny & Jaalene sees the light of the day right now, in 2018.
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
One of the secrets behind the success of a great album is the ability to keep the sound fresh and vibrant throughout the record, at the same time entertaining the listeners and jiggling different musical layers that magically fits inside one another, like a perfectly shaped sonic Matrioska.
This is something that the Leicester-born and London-based troubadour Jack J Hutchinson and his band of brothers Boom Boom Brotherhood fully manage to achieve in their debut album called Set Your Heart For The Sun.
Read more: Jack J Hutchinson's Boom Boom Brotherhood - Set Your Heart For The Sun
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There is no doubt at all that 2023 has seen, yet again, the release of some outstanding records, records where there have been some remarkable statements of artistry at 360 degrees, an aspect that, rather sadly and in the contemporary music climate, doesn't often get necessarily (and rather unfairly) recognized with the deserved amount of albums sold, either online or in stores.
One of those outstanding albums, released just few weeks ago, is the brand new record of the Italian Blues/Rock band Bud Spencer Blues Explosion (often identified with the acronym BSBE) called Next Big Niente, an album that sees band members Adriano Viterbini (guitars and vocals) and Cesare Petulicchio (drums) moving into completely different sonic directions, more specifically, towards a highly interesting avant-garde, sonic pastiche that tinkers with Desert Blues, Electronica, 70's Disco, Rock, Folk and Trip-Hop, resulting in a rather entertaining melting pot where music becomes fragmented, melodic and distorted at the same times, perhaps with the purpose to consciously detach themselves from the common perception of what music may mean for many, in these days and age.
