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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The eternal battle between good and evil in human kind has always been one of the favorite subjects for music artists. Some of those artists have been unable often to find a fine line to express in their lyrics the catharsis that this inner dualism generates in many individuals. Some others, like Shaman's Harvest, have been instead perfectly capable to build and balance, both lyrically and sonically, a musical platform where light and darkness plays an equal role through their brand new album called Red Hands Black Deeds.
The collective from Jefferson City in Missouri has come a long way to put together an elaborated and, at the same time, sophisticated rock album, especially given what singer Nathan Hunt has been through in 2014, when a throat cancer threatened Hunt's life and, consequently, the future of the band.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
When music becomes a vehicle of expression, a way to give voice to musician's instincts, that will be the place where you will find the British band Charley Brown.
On their debut album, simply entitled Charley Brown, the British quartet explores 1960 and 1970's sounds through a fascinating sonic time capsule, where the musicians pays respect to what might have been their fonts of inspiration through the years, from The Doobie Brothers to the Steely Dan, from Isaac Hayes to 70's disco.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
When in 2016 the British guitarist and singer/songwriter Dave Hanson released his debut album Almost Horizontal, the UK and European Music Press welcomed very enthusiastically the prospect of having a new creative force like Hanson bringing more artistic sinergy and ideas into Global Music.
Hanson's debut was a skillful and refined mainstream record that incorporated to its rootsy music formula different layers of sounds, from Rumba to Reggae, from 70's Glam to 90's Rock, still maintaining a very recognizable music trademark on its own.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There are many music artists in the big, wild world of music industry that are just content to release album after album in their careers following a formula which adapts best their musical skills and the expectations of their fans.
There are also (thankfully) some other artists that are not afraid to challenge themselves on each new record, willing instead to shake their trademark sound with a new and fresh approach to the genre(s) they play.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's somehow incomprehensible why somebody with the charisma and the talent of the Detroit's powerhouse Eliza Neals has not been signed yet by a major music label. Her 2015 album Breaking And Entering was welcomed as one of the top blues/rock albums of the year, deserving in full the many accolades received not just in the United States but also by the majority of the music experts and fans worldwide.
10,000 Feet Below, Neal's new album just released few months ago, is an ulterior, artistic statement of the versatility and the natural ability of the singer/songwriter on being able to switch music genres with great class in the blink of an eye, still maintaining a power of expression, both on her lyrics and her vocals, of an impressive level.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
A live album represents always a special moment in the career of any artist. It's an opportunity for them to stop and imprint on a record the past and the present in the life history of a musician and feel the way in which their artistry has grown and developed through the years.
Somebody that certainly knows how to pull off a live performance is the Louisiana Guitar Maestro Sonny Landreth, a phenomenal musician whose ability, not just as a guitarist but also as a singer and a songwriter, is so internationally renowned that all the biggest names in the history of blues and rock and roll wanted to work with him, from Eric Clapton to Kenny Loggins, from Mark Knopfler to B.B. King, just to mention few of them.
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- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Some may call it "the new sound of Urban Blues" but to define Urban Blues a body of work like Blues Is The New Cool, the new album from London-based band quintet Kat & Co. is a big understatement. Where their 2013 debut album I Kat The Blues showed hints of a different and interesting method to approach and fuse together genres like Jazz and Blues, Blues Is The New Cool is instead a much more refined and mature work, with new layers of sound applied to a music formula that, with this second album, is taking definite shapes and forms.
Kat & Co.'s second album is the body of work of a truly solid collective. Chief songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Accurso provides lyrics of a certain depth about suburban life, sometimes bitter but fundamentally real. Lead singer Kathleen Pearson has got one of the most amazing voices of the British Blues & Jazz scene and she is able to translate, thanks to her impressive vocal range, Accurso's storytelling in the most truthful and passionate possible way. Federico Parodi, on keyboards and harmonica, with a strong musical background, paints with his melodies and through his artistry the necessary backbone to allow Pearson's phenomenal voice to be unleashed even further, especially when it comes to stripped-down songs delivered just through piano and voice. Nicholas Owsianka on drums and percussion and Marco Marzola on bass and double bass are two highly experienced musicians and their musical understanding is so in tune that it sounds like they have been playing together all their lives, on this record.