Adiah Michelle - Page 11 of 14 -

Behind the Song: I Am the Walrus

The song ‘I Am the Walrus’ is packed with insane strangeness. Ian McDonald described the piece as “an obsessive musical structure built around a perpetually ascending/descending MC Escher staircase of all-natural major chords.” Though the lyrics are quite odd, the formation and sound is genius. 

Keep Reading

SINGLE REVIEW: Man As God

“Man As God” is the latest release by solo project Aiwass. Put out earlier this month, the single is by far one of his most substantial pieces. Along with themes of mythology, philosophy, and “the balance between good and evil,” Aiwass’ also touches on things like mental illness and addiction.

Keep Reading

ALBUM REVIEW: Right Side of Wrong, Wrong Side of Good

Having a hard time describing the music they create, JD and Freak (the duo behind “Thrown To The Wolves”) write: Most of our songs tell stories, and the sound changes depending on the story being told. Their new album, “Right Side of Wrong, Wrong Side of Good,” is something close to a novel as each track (story) interwinds into one significant and complex picture.

Keep Reading

ALBUM REVIEW: Innocent

I’ve been loving you for some time/ And you knew that,” sings Ben Roter (lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Quarters Of Change) on their lovely second EP. “But you ran off again with some guy.” “Innocent” is the band’s latest recording, released on the 26th of last month. The album is extremely upbeat and positive-sounding, despite the lyrics that point to things like damaged relationships, toxic traits, and being guilted into things. 

Keep Reading

ALBUM REVIEW: Prairie

“Prairie” by Neil Howell made its release on the 11th of this month. The album is a large melting pot of various subgenres of rock, blended together brilliantly. Howell has found a way to mash metal with a distinct folk sound, something that feels undone before. 

Keep Reading

SINGLE REVIEW: Kingdom

Artemis (the all-women rock group from the UK) recently released their empowering and badass single “Kingdom.” The band was “drawn together by an extending passion for rock music, equal rights for women, and an intention to leave an imprint on Rock’ N’ Roll history.” 

The group’s sheer talent bleeds through all over this single, from their foot-stomping rhythms to their guitar lines worthy of air-strumming along to. Not only is the single musically strong, but lyrically the piece is brilliant. 

In an interview with The Edge, they said, “We wanted a name that stood for something strong and powerful.” As a result, they looked to greek goddesses (considering their lead singer is half greek). That’s when they found “Artemis.” “The goodness Artemis is associated with love but also is regarded as a patron of girls, young women and a protector. Her image is also portrayed as a huntress, a strong empowered woman which we really want to incorporate into our name,” they remarked. The group’s name flawlessly displays their music and souls, from their badass skills to their want to inspire young women.  

“Kingdom” is all about keeping stable and being unstoppable while so many are trying to rip them down. I immensely enjoy the power behind the song. “Kingdom” practically screams, “you can’t bloody overthrow me.” It seems to be a pattern with the group, from their name to all of their music. I love to see girls out there in the rock industry. “OVERTHROW THE PATRIARCHY! We just wanna encourage more women to get into music and learn instruments, because it’s just the best feeling in the world,” says Fenella (drummer). 

Yianna provides amazing vocals that hold an innovative pitch. Her voice from the start has this powerfully dark tone to it. With the drummer’s sick backbeat and Frankie’s (guitarist) and Hannah’s (bassist) astounding refrain, the song is excellent. 

I can’t wait to see what comes next from them and to watch them play in person eventually. Their energy is incredible, and I’d love to see it up close. When I asked what’s next for them, Fenella responded, “Welllllllll we’ve got another single that’s gonna be released relatively soon as well as a few music videos we’re planning. We just wanna gig so much the moment that we can, we’ve got a load of gigs we need to reschedule. Definitely watch this space.”

LINKS

Website/Presskit: https://artemisband.wixsite.com/artemisepk

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7GRhY4a9YQC9C3YIzmujQw?si=JmFDhUoFSx6U1wbxXAoaeg&nd=1

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGBgFu3PeDNf_GhQMy6UAAg

ALBUM REVIEW: Fine & Dandy

Arrogant Criminals are a rock group from Paris. “The band exists since 2010 and experienced a second birth in 2017,” says Simon (guitarist and vocalist). They published their EP entitled Arrogant Criminals in 2014 with a remix of “Five Years of Dreams” the next year. Their engaging LP “Fine & Dandy” was released just last year. 

Keep Reading

Five Overlooked Women Who Helped Create Rock

In honor of Women’s History Month, I thought it would be fitting to talk about some of the overlooked women who helped create rock. “For sixty years, conventional wisdom has told us that women generally did not perform rock and roll during the 1950s.” Nearly seventy years later, the only women presented to us by the media are half-naked on their covers. Time moves on; however, many things get swept under the rug, like every pioneer before Elvis and, frankly, most women. It’s easy to think nowadays that back then, women played submissive roles as fans, studio audience members, groupies, metaphors of cars, and guitars. 

“The reality is, however, that hundreds—or maybe thousands—of women and girls performed and recorded rock and roll in its early years. And many more participated in other ways: writing songs, owning or working for record labels, working as session or touring musicians, designing stage wear, dancing, or managing talent…. [Women’s careers didn’t always resemble those of their more famous male counterparts. Some female performers were well known and performed nationally as stars, while others had more influence regionally or only in one tiny club. Some made the pop charts, but even more, had an impact through live performance. Some women exhibited the kind of wild onstage behavior that had come to be expected from figures Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard—but that wasn’t the only way to be rebellious, and others found their own methods of being revolutionary.”

The first woman who comes to mind for me is Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Her distinctive guitar style and melodic blues mixed with traditional gospel music made her a trailblazer. So did the range and depth of her voice. Tharpe was given the title of the “Godmother of rock and roll” because she broke every possible norm. She’s likely my biggest role model, from being a queer woman in the 40s to helping define an entire genre of music. Bonnie Raitt once said, “[Sister Rosetta] blazed a trail for the rest of us women guitarists…She has long been deserving of wider recognition and a place of honor in the field of music history.”

 

Marie Knight, a dear friend of Sister Rosetta. Mrs. Knight started singing gospel music as a child in the Church of God in Christ, a place that produced most of the dominant voices in gospel music. She joined power with Sister Rosetta in 1946. “They meshed very well,” said Anthony Heilbut, “author of “The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times.” “Marie’s style was plain and understated, but she had a big, beautiful voice. The combination was magic.” Her gospel career was restored after she sang a solo variant of “Didn’t It Rain” on the album “Shout, Sister, Shout: A Tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.”

 

Sparkle Moore. Bill Haley inspired Moore to play rockabilly in her hometown. “By 1957,” writes Branstetter (author of Women in Rock and Roll’s First Wave), “she had about forty songwriting credits to her name.” Teen magazine Dig recorded that Moore had “an amazing resemblance to the late James Dean… Presley’s style and Dean’s looks.” She is still a “favorite with rockabilly fans,” notes her biography. Moore has been inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and made an album in 2010 titled Spark-a-Billy.  

 

 

There was also Lillie Bryant, who was half of the duo Billy and Lillie. Their R&B sounds and more wholesome image aligned with early rock and roll fans. She began playing live in clubs as a teenager. Producers Bob Crewe and Frank Slay turned her and singer Billy Ford into a duo who went on to star in legendary DJ Alan Freed’s stage shows, “including a six-week tour with Chuck Berry and Frankie Lymon” and an appearance on American Bandstand. The duo split in 1959, and Bryant struck out on her own, forming a few solo records. Bryant still performs in her hometown of Newburgh, New York.

 

Big Mama Thorton. Willie Mae Thornton (1926-1984) was an important black blues singer and songwriter whose career continued from the 1940s to the early 1980s. She was called “Big Mama” for both her size and her robust, powerful voice. As R&B was “stolen” and turned into “Rock ‘N’ Roll,” Big Mama’s career slowed just after Elvis Persley ripped off her song “Hound Dog.” She was introduced to church music at an early age which later turned into her love for R&B. 

 

 

 

ALBUM REVIEW: Stardumb

Nuclear Nation’s self-titled debut LP, “Nuclear Nation,” released in 2019, is filled with kick-ass backbeats and memorable guitar solos. With songs like “You’re Not the Boss of Me,” “Gas Station,” and “Entropy,” it seems nearly impossible to top. However, they have outdone themselves with LP “Stardumb.”

Keep Reading

SINGLE REVIEW: BANG BANG

The Framatics came out with their single titled “Bang Bang.” The band creates “alternative rock with a highly melodic, synthy twist.” I was surprised when I looked into their Spotify. Their single “Look in Your Eye” has a booming backbeat, and the guitarist contains loads of energy. The single is edgy with badass vocals. “I Think You’re Funny” is quite similar. However, “Bang Bang” has a larger pop feel. They all sound powerful, but “Bang Bang” holds a nice modern pop alternative feel. Keep Reading

How Whitewashing Rock Let Down the Black Voice

Sometime in the mid-50s, Etta James, a black RnB singer, released her song “Roll With Me Henry,” later renamed “The Wallflower.” Quickly the song became a hit, slowly climbing its way up Buildboard Rythm and Blues chart. The song took a vast audience, continued climbing, and later became a pop hit in the spring of 1955. Not for James, though. Georgia Gibbs’ “Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower)” was a “toned down” version of James’ song. Gibbs replaced multiple lyrics to make the song “softer.” 

Keep Reading

EP REVIEW: Blind Feline

Psychedelic rock band Blind Feline put out their EP “Cicadas” just last year. Each of the six tracks tells a story with country elements and experimental or even Rockabilly sounds. “We tell stories about being human, love, death, and irony,” the band stated.

Keep Reading

Chris Alder Calls Lamb of God “Toxic”

Ex Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler has explained his withdrawal from the band.

Alder told MetalSucks Quarantinecast that he left because he felt the group was “toxic.” He also claimed it was “frown-town all the time.” After spending a lot of time with Lamb of God, he became one of metal’s most popular drummers. Alder spent so much of his life part of the “toxic”
band. “We’ve spent 26 years in a bus, a train, a plane. There’s not much left to talk about. We’ve explored our friendships to the fullest,” he said.

Alder also compared Lamb of God to formed bandmate of Firstborne:

“Now [discovering Myrone’s music] didn’t necessarily start us off into a process of making music together. Shortly after that was kind of my departure from Lamb where it’s like, well I’m not leaving this ’cause I don’t want to play music and I’m not leaving this ’cause I don’t want to play the kind of music Lamb is playing. I’m leaving this ’cause… it’s just toxic. Everywhere. Everything. And I’ve got to be a better father, husband, person than what this is dragging me into.”

Adler also talked about “fun” as a musician’s priority; however, with Lamb of God, that need was no longer fulfilling. “I always want to have fun doing this. And we did in Lamb of God for a very long time, but it got bogged down in everything else and what we’re supposed to do and who we supposedly are. I love this idea about stretching it out.”

He also said, “There’s a lot of hate [from fans] like, ‘Oh my god, you left Lamb of God for this, what the fuck is this?’ It’s like, ‘Uhh… fun?’ Like… I’m just living my life with a smile. Because before it was like frown-town all the time. Like what the hell is going on here, we don’t know what the hell is going on, hopefully everybody beats the shit out of each other and we just get a check. So you know, it’s just time for me as an adult to kind of move on.”