By Deuce So, you decide to cop the Anywhere EP from Pol Sembrano. After running through the four cut-affair, it becomes perfectly obvious that the track that stands out the most—that stands up, as it were, and speaks the loudest and clearest—is by far “Number (Single Mix)”. In so many ways, it showcases the best the singer/songwriter/producer/arranger/composer has to offer.

By Deuce Words, it certainly seems, are overrated. Sure, they can be used as a form of expression. But no means do they have a monopoly on that. Not when you can pick up, say, a bass guitar, an electric guitar, a pair of cue sticks, and have the sort of conversations that people in all day Zoom meetings can

By Deuce It’s a wonder what a good hook can do for a song, a beat, and/or the instrumentalism adorning the tracks. Any skeptics need look no further than “False Start”, one of the latest releases from your man Retrosaint. There’s just something about the way he pronounces those two words or, rather, phrases them, that sounds so right each

By Deuce “Brother, you’ve been on my mind/ Oh, brother, we’ve changed over time/ So, brother, I’m keeping my eyes on you,” Cee-Lo Green, “Glockapella” Cee-Lo Green …Is The Soul Machine, 2004. You may be forgiven for thinking that Oscar Flores and Thomas Flores are two of a kind. They are, after all, brothers. Approximately four years is just about

By Deuce “For Poesy alone can tell her dreams/With the fine spell of words alone can save/Imagination from the sable charm/And dumb enchantment.” John Keats, “The Fall of Hyperion – A Dream”. Were he so inclined, there’s no reason the young man, accustomed to the dips and hollows of the Louisville streets he claims as home, couldn’t have gotten it

By Deuce “If we live all our lives under lies, it becomes difficult to see anything if it does not have anything to do with these lies. If it is, for example, true or, say, honest. The idea that things of this nature continue to exist is not ever brought forward in our minds.” Amiri Baraka, formerly known as LeRoi

By Deuce Songwriting—lyrics, instrumentalism, progression and meaning—is alive and well on Laura Taubman’s The Gospel of Getting Free, a 10-track album that first touched down over the spring. The oeuvre has a deliciously refreshing lack of programming. The drums are live, the synths are minimalist, warm, and in the background. Taubman’s guitars, and those of the other musicians on this

By Deuce You’ve got to give it up to Christopher Sluka, front man, lead vocalist, and lead guitarist for the band Sluka. He certainly knows how to get in, give a good show, and get out of tune—all before hitting the three-minute marker. Just peruse “Sunset Screamer” to get a good, full dose of his tendency to do just that.

By Deuce There seems to be a little bit of everything on Moments of Sonder, a Long Player featuring the singing, production, and instrumentation of She’s Excited! You’ve got 11 cuts, seven featured artists, and no posse cuts (or those with more than one featured artist). One of the tunes, which just so happens to feature Liuyu Ivy Che, has

By Deuce Running through Montresor’s Autopoiesis, an 8-cut LP that first made its rounds with a  spring release, is like listening to a story. Only thing is, there’s no words, or narration, or verbal communication. But, the producer and musician more than makes up for that fact with his instrumentation. This tendency of the artist is epitomized on “Farmland”, which

By Deuce With the cast of characters on display on Reaching Out, the latest and most elated album from the James McGowan Ensemble, there’s very few things the collective cannot do. Now mind you, we’re talking about a horn section that’s four players deep, spanning everything from the trombone to the trumpet, soprano, and tenor saxophones. They’re used to spectacular

By Deuce There are not a lot of Long Players out there today, or any other day, for that matter, that sound too much like Ontogensis, NTHNL’s most recent album. One might easily have inferred so from the title of this opus or from the name of the artist (who also goes by Jacob Rudin. In fact, the most accessible

By Deuce Before running through her latest album, take a good, hard look at the artwork for Indiana Rich’s most recent Long Player. Notice how it invokes both black and white photography and color? And, that it’s a close-up of the artist and some serendipitous insect? Next, check the title of this opus. That would be Gemini and, for those

By Deuce The name of the group you need to know is Driftwood Pines. The release? That would be Crimson, the Extended Player that touched down on the first of the month. The man of the hour, the day, or any moment in which you choose to throw these recordings on? None other than IJ Smith. Although Smith pairs with

By Deuce There’s something very akin to hypnosis going on on “Paperclips”, the most recently released single emanating from Paul Feder. Part of it is firmly lodged in the interminable refrain, the two word titular phrase that sounds like a single word because it’s repeated so much, sometimes for each bar, via what sounds like the snatch of a vocal

By Deuce The sense of space pervading about the track on “Tears of a Melody”, the latest single from microphone musician Ace Poetik, is palpable. It’s designed for drifting off, enveloping oneself in one’s thoughts, emotions, remembrances, close encounters, and the like. That’s predominantly what Ace does, taking his time through a string of 16s to flash back to some

By Deuce “There are three types of people in the world today. Those that don’t know what happened, those that wonder what happened, and people like us, from the streets, that make things happen.” –Bushwick Bill on “Stranded on Death Row”, Dr. Dre, The Chronic, 1992. Bill Greenberg—electric, acoustic, rhythm, and lead guitarist; singer, songwriter, and harmonica player—has been making