We’re keeping the week rolling with PNW new releases with The Zags’ The Cliff, released last Friday. First of all, dig that album art! I could barely stop staring at it long enough to write this review. The Zags were formed in 2013. Original members and songwriters David Ricardo (guitar-vocals) and Stanton Hall (bass-vocals) added drummer Max Curry for The Cliff, the self proclaimed “(un)pop” trio’s third album. “The Zags’ sound is melody-and-hook-focused, with an emphasis on strong vocals — both lead and harmony. They synthesize decades of pop and rock influences, garnering comparisons to Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Big Star, XTC, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Guided by Voices, and…
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New Week, New Release: Shana Cleveland’s “Night of The Worm Moon”
When I was a teenager, much to my parents’ chagrin, I painted my bedroom walls black. To contrast the blackness, I strung up Christmas lights around the room and installed a rainbow colored ceiling fan- each of it’s blades was a different color. I discovered that while the colors of the spinning blades were indistinguishable when the fan was on, by turning on a mini strobe light, each strobe flash would freeze an individual blade color, creating a really groovy effect. I spent many of my nights stoned, laying on my floor and listening to music while staring up at the stroboscopic rainbow spinning above me. Shana Cleveland’s sophomore solo…
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New Week, New Release: Kingdom Of The Holy Sun’s EP “The Man With The Little Hands”
With a new 4-track EP, Kingdom of the Holy Sun comes back with a bang. The album starts abruptly with its first song, Man with the Little Hands. It’s pretty obvious to me that the song is talking about a certain someone who happens to run our country. It immediately dives into lyrics, saying things like, “feeling like you’re a man.” This song exemplifies what dominant male energy feels like, walking into a room, commanding all attention, and immediately asserting your importance. With a playful and jiggy tune, it covers the fact that the lyrics are an obvious statement on a certain president and his similar energy-ed supporters. ♪feeling like…
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New Week, New Release: Hollow Hand’s Star Chamber
Do you like The Kinks? Do you also like baby-making music? Then you’ll love Hollow Hand. The psych folk band, hailing from Brighton, centers mostly around Max Kinghorn-Mills, who not only looks like a young Ray Davies but writes songs like him too. The outfit’s 2nd album, Star Chamber, releases this Friday October 19th on Talkshow Records and is well worth taking for a spin. Star Chamber opens with “Ancestral Lands”, which sounds a bit like an unfinished demo, but is so beautiful in its rawness that it immediately locks you in as a listener. “Blackberry Wine” is a brilliant tune, sounding like the lost Kinks/Donovan collaboration. There are so…
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POW Magazine Reviews The Routes- Dirty Needles & Pins
Living in the remote mountains of Japan may get lonely for Chris Jacks, the one man band behind The Routes, but it seems to have a benefit for us fans- after only 8 months, The Routes have released a second album- Dirty Needles & Pins, out today via Greenway Records. Despite the quick turn-around between albums, Dirty Needles & Pins is a fully formed effort. The album showcases a more definitive sound for The Routes- holding on to some of the psychedelia from their previous release In This Perfect Hell, along with all of the angst and aggression within the songs’ themes, Dirty Needles & Pins adds a harder edge…
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POW Magazine Reviews Michael & The Machines’ “Mantras & Melodramas”
Michael & The Machines have a longstanding relationship with POW Magazine. They were the first act to take the stage at the first Gathering of The Tribes festival presented by POW in 2015. 2 years later, as POW has just finished presenting Gathering of The Tribes: The Second Renaissance, Michael & The Machines have released their debut album, Mantras & Melodramas– out now on Soundport Records. Michael & The Machines is the semi-solo project of Michael Padilla, previously of The Soft Bombs and Dora Flood. Though most of Mantras & Melodramas was played and recorded by Michael alone, live shows feature a roving cast of friends/musicians, the “machines” of Michael…
