Kitchen Toonz

Elizabeth McCullough, also known as Alpha Cat, released her first album in over a decade back in August. Thatched Roof Glass House  was worth the wait - it's engaging, inspired, and lovingly crafted. Elizabeth's vocals combined with the reverb pull you in and put you into an almost meditative trance. The guitars create a really mellow background, and combined with the leads feels very 90s. The bass is nice and pronounced, and it's all held together by consistent drumming. The end result is a really unique package full of feeling. This is one of the best albums I've heard in the past few months. If you're into alternative rock that you can really get lost in, check this out immediately. Top Three Songs Mockingbird Opening the album up is Mockingbird, a really beautiful sounding tune about hiding your true colours. I love the shoegazey vocals over the relaxed instruments. I feel like I could fall asleep to this track - I mean that in the most positive way. ...

California based singer, songwriter, and producer Raymond Revel released the single Sunrise  back in 2018, but it has been gaining a lot of momentum recently. It was featured on Spotify's Discover Weekly, and has over 25,000 plays in the past three weeks alone. It's not tough to see why - it's a simple, fun pop song with a catchy rhythm. It's pretty stripped down, featuring Raymond's vocals, a piano, bass, some percussion, and a fun xylophone sounding instrument for the majority of the song. This was written, recorded, produced, and mastered by Raymond himself and it sounds great. Everything is clear and full sounding, especially the piano. It has a very warm sounding tone. Raymond's unique voice compliments this - he sounds really youthful and cheerful, helping create the positive, carefree feeling Sunrise  puts out. The lyrics are fairly average, discussing how he can't wait to see his crush/significant other and wants the next day to come - hence th...

Paul Pedana, an Italian born independent singer/songwriter is gearing up to release his second solo album titled A Sole Existence Reflects Eternity.  It's a dynamic album mixing alt rock, acoustic ballads, and full sounding theatrical compositions to create something that really sounds and feels like a passion project. It was written after Paul went through some personal issues, and you can tell it has a lot of soul in it. There's also a beautiful cover of the Johnny Cash version of Hurt near the end of the album. Paul's voice is filled with emotion, and his deep tone sounds excellent. I think Johnny Cash would approve of this one. I think the highlight of the album for me are Paul's vocals - he is front and center and sounds great. The album is really well produced, and mixes everything really well, even when the production gets filled with strings and guitar leads. My only gripe is that I wish the drums did a little more - they're pretty simple and feel very s...

Polish black metal band Mgla dropped their newest release Age of Excuse  last month. It crushes, combining savage vocals and biting cold riffs with melodic songwriting and speed. Their drummer, Darkside, is an absolute machine. He does a lot of work on the kit to spice up the rhythm section, utilizing a lot of splash and china cymbals alongside consistent blasts and aggressive sounding kick drums. The end result is an amazing backbone for the rest of the band to play over, helping this album go from solid to fantastic. The album art is also haunting. Similar to their previous releases, it's highly detailed monochrome cover that gives you a sense of dread. I love it.  Checks this out if you're at all into black metal. In my opinion this is one of the best black metal albums to come out in 2019 - you don't want to miss this one. Top Three Songs Age of Excuse I I love the atmosphere this song puts out right from the beginning. It sounds like a skeleton j...

West of Corey recently put out their debut album Slammed a few weeks ago and it's been making waves. I had the pleasure of listening to one of their singles,  Misty Mound, and it was a refreshing blast to the past .  The Minnesota three piece bring their extensive musical experience together to craft a song that sounds like it rocketed straight out of the 70's. It has dynamic, smokey vocals layered over driving, riff based hard rock guitar and a solid rhythm section to back it up. The production is excellent - each instrument is clear and defined, sitting well in the mix. It's always refreshing being able to hear all the fun little transitions the bassist is doing without having to turn up the volume an absurd amount. I think the highlight for me on this track are the vocals. Janine Taft carries this song with a powerful, in your face performance. It's almost too easy to picture her up on stage, mic in one hand and fist clenched in the other. Check this song out if ...

Brooklyn based hip hop artist Ace A CAped CrusAder put out his latest release The Anthology  late last month. Clocking in at only 22 minutes, the album is fairly short but it has no lack of substance. It delivers emotional and sobering verses over very smooth, relaxed keyboard and synths. Ace has an easy, laid back yet sorrowful sounding cadence and flow most of the time but he is able to turn it up on songs like The Switch Up  and 100 Jesus Pieces. The Switch Up is a more dynamic song that probably showcases Ace A's rhythm the best. It's also got some pretty cool instrumentation - towards the end of the song it sounds like there is some kind of Gamelan influenced percussion going on. Maybe not what he intended, but I thought it was cool nonetheless. The songs are short, averaging around two minutes with the longest one clocking in at 2:48. I don't think this is a bad thing though - they are able to deliver their message without getting bogged down in repetitive filler....