For a legion of AOR fans, Joe Lamont’s 1985 LP ‘Secrets You Keep’ is heralded as a classic. A solid melodic rock affair, the album featured contributions from Vinnie Colaiuta and future Giant men Dann Huff and Alan Pasqua. It’d taken vocalist Joe Lamont a few years to break through; as Joe Lament, he recorded a soft rock album with Steeplechase in 1981 (a brilliant but now hard to find gem), before jumping ship and joining melodic rock/AOR band Shelter the following year. Signed to major label Polydor, Shelter only recorded the one album, but 1983’s ‘First Stop’ is a vinyl era rock classic.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
LOUIS W. – Songs From The Truck EP
Louis Waxman is a Brooklyn based musician, sometime member of bands The Mayberries and Future Heart. His 2018 solo EP ‘Songs From The Truck’, as its title suggests, has an “of the moment” feel; a naturalistic set of sounds that would be a great soundtrack for a road trip. Mixing indie pop, electronica and funk it’s a bit of a mixed bag, but like similarly retro Norwegians Mats Wawa, there’s something in his sound that has the ability to lift the listeners’ spirits in just about…thirty seconds.
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THE GET UP KIDS – Kicker EP
Following the release of their 2011 LP ‘There Are Rules’, pop punk band The Get Up Kids found that real life got in the way of art. Instead of continuing the never-ending cycle of recording and touring, band members took time out to raise families. Seven years is a long time in music – in any scene – but especially so when it comes to punk. One day you’re singing about skateboards and girls, then you’re in an adult world and somehow – unless you’re Joe Queer – those things that occupied teen and twenty something minds just don’t seem appropriate any more. Hell, on their self-titled album and ‘Neighbourhoods’ even blink-182 attempted to look at the world through maturer eyeballs. Some people didn’t like it…but at least they showed they could move on.
MORAG TONG – Last Knell Of Om
At the beginning of 2016, London based doom/sludge quartet Morag Tong released their debut EP ‘Through Clouded Time’. It received some very enthusiastic responses online and in it’s wake, the band were able to increase their profile through extensive live work. A follow up wasn’t especially quick in coming, but just one listen to 2018’s ‘Last Knell of Om’ reveals why. The band seemingly weren’t intent on just hacking out more of the same when it came to making a full length release. The album really delivers on previous musical ideas, but also takes the longer playing time to experiment with a few more progressive and space rock tendencies than before.
Watch ‘Missouri’, the new video from Howlin Rain
What might happen if you took the rootsier qualities of The Black Crowes, a little of the gritty vocal edge of John Fogerty and a broad love of American rock? Chances are you’d end up with a band that sounded a little like Howlin Rain.
The retro rockers are set to unveil their fifth album ‘The Alligator Bride’, but first a new single… Released a week prior to the album, ‘Missouri’ will be downloadable from the usual outlets on June 2nd, but you can watch the full video clip right now, as it’s streaming in full below.