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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
After having been called, deservedly, one of the best new live act in Britain in 2015, Broken Witt Rebels returns with an EP which is an absolute joy to listen to from start to end.
Georgia Pine contains 5 tracks fuelled not just with the power and energy that come with young age but also with the real desire of showing how much these quartet from Birmingham, UK understand about blues, rock, roots and americana.
It is rather difficult to pick a song in particular as the real highlight of the mini-album because all of them showcase a different and fascinating aspect of Broken Witt Rebels' vast musical background.
The opener Low, chosen as the first single of the EP, it's the band's firm declaration of intents of love for blues-rock, with big guitar riffs and catchy choruses. One of those tunes destined to be a live favourite for the band's fans.
Broken Witt Rebels create a solid wall of sound throughout the whole EP but it is Danny Core's voice, the lead singer and guitarist of the band, that ties all together on Georgia Pine. Core's vocals are so incredibly powerful,intense and able to adapt to any genres, from the beautiful, rootsy Suzie to the almost soul-esque Georgia Pine.
One of the real strengths of the record is the presence of great songwriting, in an album never overplayed or too self-indulgent. The lyrics present excellent structures, without using stereotypes too often abused by artists of any music genres or artistic structure. Broken Witt Rebels, instead, always sound genuine and honest in their first musical offer.
Getaway Man starts as a slow ballad, then it grows in an irresistible crescendo, with James Dudley on drums commanding the tempo with incredible presence and charisma.
Guns defines completely the sound of a band that knows and appreciate a lot music in its globality. The tune has got that infectious rock tempo that would push any true rocker to stand up and jump to the rhythm of a truly wonderful tune, worthy closer of a maybe short but fabulous musical rollercoaster.
"Born and raised where guns are made....", sings Danny Core in the closing track of the album. Judging by the quality of Georgia Pine, there is no doubt at all that Broken Witt Rebels will be among the finest rock and roll guns of the music industry in the years to come.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Georgia Pine is out now and can be ordered on the Band's Website
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's a new beginning for the Scottish electro alt-rock band Banshee. Previously known as Life On Standby, the UK quartet has decided to start a new chapter of their music career, although remaining loyal to their trademark sound.
Say My Name, their debut EP under the new artistic identity, is a little dynamite box of energetic rock tempo. The record carries sonic influences echoing the likes of bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Biffy Clyro and translated through the powerful voice of Erin Donnachie and the incessive drumming of Gianluca Demelas.
The secret of their winning formula is not, though, just the talent of Donnachie and Demelas. The band's unique sonic recipe spices up cleverly their detonating sonic attack by adding an excellent work throughout the EP by Gavin Williams on keys and Liam Walker on bass, especially on tracks like Eagles and the closing Landing Strip.
The 5-tracks Say My Name is a refreshing work of a band that has been working very hard on finding their own music formula and succeeding, overall. Banshee's offering on this EP balances well the aggressiveness that comes from a genre like rock, combining to it a good dose of melody, enough to guarantee surely, to the Scottish quartet, plenty of airplay on radios or any kind of media.
If Say My Name is the appetiser, music fans will be impatient to taste the next musical main course to come in the future.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Say My Name is out now via Banshee's Big Cartel
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Every album, for an artist, represents a new chapter in their sonic book about their life stories. In Janiva Magness's case, the new album Love Wins Again portrays a really special moment, dense of positivity and love for life in the new chapter of this very talented singer and songwriter's career.
This is, without a doubt, one of the happiest times for Janiva Magness, judging by what she mentions on the sleeve notes of the record too. On her twelwth release, the American Artist offers a splendid blend of soul and roots with tints of Americana here and there, all carried through with her incredibly powerful voice.
The opener Love Wins Again tells a lot about Magness's good feeling. The song is very catchy, one that can surely be radio friendly enough, due to the perfect combo of Magness's voice and the tune's upbeat tempo.
Janiva Magness's range of styles is pretty unique too. She moves so graciously from soulful tunes like Long As I Can See The Light or When You Hold Me to the splendid, bluesy Moth To A Flame with such simplicity, something that comes from true talent.
Your House Is Burnin' deserves a special mention on Love Wins Again. This is the track in which the American Artist put the Soul Sister mantel on, due to a magnificent combination of different elements of R&B, blues and soul and her voice, which reaches some incredible highs. She truly becomes, on this tune, a female version of the late great James Brown in every sense of the word.
The new album reaches another great, although this time more personal, peak on that very delicate, intimate song which is Just Another Lesson. Magness explores, lyrically, relationships between couples with great honesty and her voice draws beautifully the different emotions carried by the imaginary couple in question, during the track.
Love Wins Again is a genuine album, there is absolutely no doubts on that. Although it may be not Magness's Magnum Opus, this record is a great return to form and contains some really great songs. Moreover, it shows an artist in splendid shape, vocally and lyrically. It's easy to say that, on Magness's new record, it is not just the love that wins again but also the talent of one of the finest singers and performers worldwide.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Love Wins Again is out now and available on Amazon
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
An album title like Time Has Come could have never been more correct. Ben Poole's new studio album is a clear statement on the British gunslinger's ability to flex his musical muscles at 360 degrees, on his new release.
Time Has Come, masterfully produced by King King's drummer and producer Wayne Proctor, is an accurate portrait of the artistic growth of Poole's career so far. Where the 2014 Live At The Royal Albert Hall album showcased Poole's ability as a live performer on many levels, Time Has Come demonstrates instead how this artist has matured as a songwriter too, on his new studio album. The songs on the new record often outline love matters and relationships, which Poole is able to deliver with great craftmanship through some real killer guitar solos and through his voice, which becomes better with each passing album.
The Guitar Virtuoso from South of England practises very well, at times, on Time Has Come the musical preaching of artists like Robert Cray or Jonny Lang still maintaining a personal trademark on every track.
Longing For A Woman is Poole's personal vocal masterpiece of the album. Rarely, in the past, the British artist has been able to deliver vocals of such great intensity as much as he has done on this song.
The album shows in full also Poole's great musical background. If You Want To Play With My Heart and You've Changed bring back timeless memories of the Motown soul period, through Poole's impeccable deliveries.
I Think I Love You Too Much and Time Might Never Come are two authentic blues pearls, in which Poole is able to craft soft, crepuscolar atmospheres through his phenomenal ability as a guitarist. The latter contains one of the best guitar solos that the British artist has ever recorded in his career.
The closing The Question Why has that unmistakable, catchy blues and soul combo of styles so close to the heart of Poole's artistic background, with an excellent work on bass by Steve Amadeo.
The British guitarist and songwriter clearly demonstrates, on Time Has Come, his complete versatility and talent on an album that sees him reaching a new high of his career. An excellent comeback for a rising star.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Time Has Come is out now and it is available on Manhaton Records
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Music as an antidote to start a new chapter in life. This is the philosophy adopted by the eclectic and talented guitarist/songwriter Reed Turchi on his just released solo debut album, Speaking In Shadows.
Despite his blues-influenced musical roots, which inspired in the past years three excellent albums of experimental blues/rock released with his band simply called Turchi, the North Carolina-born artist moves definitely two notches away from his musical past in Speaking in Shadows.
Turchi manages to create an eclectic kaleidoscope of sounds, traveling from the glam/ rock of the '70s, as in the tracks Juggling Knives and Ima Bore, to the alternative post-modern rock of Everybody's Waiting and Drawn And Quartered with great class and craftmanship .
Even when the lyrics become darker and highly introspective, Turchi draws very cleverly sonic frames around his songs, fitting perfectly his songwriting style at times deeply personal and crepuscular.
Through every layers and shades of each songs on this well-balanced album, Turchi never stops to surprise and challenge constantly the listener.
One example, in an album that contains many highlights, is the spiritual catharsis occurring in the song Texas Mist, a slow and dark tune that reflects beautifully the internal conflict of the artist, struggling to find himself again. Offamymind is a splendid bluesy tune, in which Turchi confesses to have a hard time to erase from his mind the end of a relationship and in which the talented guitarist offers one of the most intense guitar riffs of the album.
Undoubtedly, Speaking In Shadow represents for Reed Turchi a new sonic path, not only in terms of approaching different music genres but also for the great use of instrumentation that Turchi does on this album. Together with his old friend Adriano Viterbini on guitar, the artist is also supported by a group of musicians of great talent on this record. Art Edmaiston on sax, in particular, shines with his class on the song Floristella, in which Turchi tells the story of his great-grandfather that, back in the early twentieth century ran away from Sicily in Italy to the United States, trying to escape the miserable life of working in a mine.
When one thinks that every corner of the sonic structure of Speaking In Shadow is unveiled, Reed Turchi surprises us all one last time with the final track of the album, View From Angel's Landing. The song, entirely instrumental, is a soft, pleasant guitar duel between electric and acoustic guitars, as if to seal a mirage of hope for a new chapter in the future to come for the American artist.
Those who loved and appreciated Reed Turchi from the beginning, will fully appreciate and understand this new step in sound research that this formidable artist has done through Speaking In Shadows. Turchi's solo album is a declaration of love for music at 360 degrees played with freshness, skill and high level of knowledge and understanding of different music forms. The record is the perfect demonstration that Turchi has many arrows still to shoot in his artistic career. Speaking In Shadows constitutes the perfect and most inspired experimental platform, from which Turchi will not surely fail to pleasantly surprise us again in the future.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Speaking In Shadows is out now and can be purchased via Amazon
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- Written by: Deb Hebert
Album: Blues of Desperation
Artist: Joe Bonamassa
Label: J & R Adventures
Release Date: March 25, 2016
Artist Website
"I challenged myself and started a new book. It's all original music-- and I wouldn't do it any other way. It was a blast," writes blues-rock titan, Joe Bonamassa, of his latest musical endeavor, Blues of Desperation.
For this solo album, longtime producer, Kevin "Caveman" Shirley envisioned a more aggressive sound and pushed more out of Joe by adding a second drummer. Anton Fig, a veteran session musician on several of Bonamassa's recordings, is widely known as a rock player. Greg Morrow, the newcomer to the mix, has roots in soul. Each player's capable of carrying the full weight of these 11 tracks. Together, they create separate room for Michael Rhodes, on bass (and Bonamassa) to explore the depths of these compositions.
Read more: Blues of Desperation: A New Book for Blues Guitarist, Joe Bonamassa
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- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There is always a lot of curiosity when a new album from the Blues/Rock Titan Joe Bonamassa comes out. Curiosity that becomes also an expectation of the highest standard especially after his last studio album Different Shades Of Blue, in which the Guitar Virtuoso from New York had taken a considerable leap away from blues music.
The good news for all Bonamassa's fans and music lovers in general, is that Blues Of Desperation is a vastly more cohesive work, in comparison to Bonamassa's last studio album. The less good news, especially for those blues lovers who have loved Joe Bonamassa since the dawn of his career, is that with this record, the Guitarist Extraordinaire steps decisively towards the world of rock music.
