Single Review: Matt Zaddy “Busy”

Canadian singer-songwriter Matt Zaddy is an artist that creates his music blending together Blues, Soul, and some light Rock and Roll. With that musical blend, he also calls upon several of today’s hottest artists for inspiration. Artists like John Mayer, Neil Young, Jason Mraz, Passenger, Ed Sheeran, and plenty of others help shape the music of Zaddy. With these and other influences, Zaddy’s music is just as fresh and inviting as anything currently found on the radio. Within the last few years, Matt Zaddy has been focusing on refining his style and sound, a style he refers to as “Canadiana”. During the time he has been performing, Zaddy has released a single here or there as well as the 2015 five-track EP called Perfect Moments. Since the time of that release, Zaddy has been writing new music and will shortly be releasing his first album.  That album is entitled Be. To help promote the new album, Matt Zaddy is releasing a new single ahead of the album. That single is called “Busy”. For the single of “Busy”, the song was created by Matt Zaddy with the help of four other musicians. Along with Matt Zaddy on vocals and guitar, the rest of the band consists of: Heather Christine on vocals, Jeremy Tozer on vocals and bass, Joash Paul on drums and percussion, and Thomas Francis on keys. Together, the band takes Zaddy’s various musical influences, blends them together and creates a track that draws largely upon the Blues style of Johnny Lang while also adding some influence of someone like the afore-mentioned John Mayer. “Busy” features a strong, powerful guitar base perfect for the Blues while also containing some light Rock and Roll flavor. It’s a perfect Mayer/Lang mashup. Zaddy’s guitar on the track is, of course, the focal point of the music. However, the keys from Thomas Francis add a definite Soul influence to the song and maybe a little Jazz feel, as well. Altogether, the Soul, Blues, Jazz and Rock and Roll influences combine to create a track that feels as if it could be included on any of several radio formats such as Smooth Jazz, Hot A/C and/or Top 40.

For more information, check out Matt Zaddy’s PR firm of Whiplash PR & Management by clicking on the logo for the company.

The entire Be album from Matt Zaddy is due to be in only a matter of days. However, the single of “Busy” is currently available. You can find the “Busy” single HERE.

CD Review: Brother Chunky “Down Low”

Brother Chunky is the stage name of Utah-based singer-songwriter Michael Barclay. The moniker started because of a band that Barclay and some friends formed earlier in his youth. The band, simply titled “Chunky,” created music that blended together “Funk, Punk and Junk”. Barclay carried that musical blend on after that band was finished, with a slight variation to it. And now as a solo act, Barclay uses the name as part of his own.

As a solo artist, Brother Chunky carries on the musical tradition started with his original band.  For the group, Michael Barclay is joined by an entire group of musicians who bring to life the music of Brother Chunky.  The resulting “Funk, Punk and Junk” style created by the band can be found on the two albums of music released under the Brother Chunky moniker- 2013’s And Stuff and 2018’s Down Low. The rest of the musicians for the Down Low album are: Guitar- Chris Henderson, Drums/Bass/Percussion- Adam Holdaway, Bass- Kyle McCann, Harmonica- Brad Wheeler, and Drums- Zac Bryant with Morgan Whitney on Backing Vocals.

Down Low from Brother Chunky begins with the track “Chunky Blues”. The lead-off track blends together a good amount of the Blues with a generous amount of Rock and Roll. The result is a rather Bluesy track with plenty of backbone. While it does contain that rock and Roll influence, the track’s musical approach puts to use a musical approach that is reminiscent of classic Blues songs.

Michael Barclay and the rest of the band slow things down on the album’s title track. “Down Low” has a solid Blues approach. The music of the track brings to mind the harder Blues feel of someone like Stevie Ray Vaughan who adds plenty of energy to the classic Blues sound. “Down Low” is easily one of the hardest rockin’ tracks on the album.

The next track on the album is the one and only track on the release not written by Michael Barclay. The track “Deep Ellum Blues” is one of the tracks that were made famous by Jerry Garcia and the rest of The Grateful Dead. With this track, Brother Chunky stays rather close to the original feel of the track. But with the fact that Brother Chunky’s sound contains a lot of Funk influence to it, so too, does his version of the song. The Brother Chunky version of the song takes the feel of the track and bumps it up a notch.

On the track “Little Man,” Michael Barclay and the band create a track that takes the album in yet another direction. “Little Man” features lyrics about a man with something to prove. The Blues-Rock that fills this track brings to mind the sound and feel of ZZ Top. The driving feel of the music helps to create one of the strongest tracks on the album. The high energy feel to the music seems to go well with the lyrics about proving yourself.

With the track “Get on Down the Road,” the band once again creates a song with a very strong groove to it. The Bluesy feel to the music, mixed with a driving feel to pace forms a track that feels just right for those long drives on the highway when speed is your friend. The track also contains some of the most powerful playing from Barclay. The song features a rather strong guitar solo near the end of the track. “Get on Down the Road” is a track off of Down Low from Brother Chunky that will get your blood pumping.

The new album from Brother Chunky comes to a close with the track “Resignation Letter”. The song features a slightly lighter approach on the Rock side of the musical blend. As the song travels at a steady pace, Michael Barclay makes it clear that he’s had enough. The song about bringing a certain type of relationship to a close seems just right to end the album with.

Down Low, the new album from Brother Chunky contains ten tracks of music that focus mainly on a musical blend that contains a large amount of Blues flavor mixed with other styles. Throughout the album, Michael Barclay and the rest of the band create music that never gets tiring.

For a taste of the music from Brother Chunky, check out the title track from the album Down Low. 

CD Review: Mark Nomad “A Real Fine Day”

Mark Nomad is the performing name of a singer/songwriter/musician who has found his voice in the Blues genre after spending time as part of rock bands. Having been recording his Blues music for several years, Nomad already has amassed a catalog of several Blues albums that feature both original compositions as well as Nomad’s versions of tracks from well-known Blues legends. Already having a sizable catalog of releases, Mark Nomad (whose real name is Mark Maulucci) has recently added to that musical library by putting out his latest release entitled A Real Fine Day.

Just like with his previous releases, Mark Nomad called upon his normal circle of musician friends to help him bring his newest release of A Real Fine Day to life. Along with Nomad on vocals and guitar, the rest of the musicians on the new album include: Sturgis Cunningham on percussion, Peter King on bass, John O’Boyle on bass and Dale Monette on drums. Just like Nomad’s other releases, these four additional musicians split their time backing Nomad up.

A Real Fine Day finds Mark Nomad following the same proven mindset he has used while creating his previous albums. During his previous albums, Nomad has included both Blues and Blues-Rock songs as part of the recording process. For A Real Fine Day, he has stuck to that mindset and the inclusion of both styles keeps this new album fresh throughout the 10-song playlist. That proven recipe should satisfy fans of both types of Blues music.

Mark Nomad’s new release begins with a track composed by Nomad himself. “New Day Dawning” is a track that brings to mind songs from the band Canned Heat as the track contains an undeniable Blues influence but also has more energy the usual Blues song. The simple lyrics are also very reminiscent of classic Blues songs. As Nomad plays the guitar part to the track, he also matches it note-for-note with the harmonica to add more depth to the music. “New Day Dawning” is a strong track that helps to keep the tradition of the Blues alive while also adding a more modern feel to them.

The feel of the music changes on the song “Squeeze Me in”. While it does contain a certain amount of Blues feeling to it, the track also has a different groove to it as it contains a nice amount of Funk influence, proving that Mark Nomad and his bandmates are capable of calling upon more than just the Blues to create their music.

For the third track on the release, the feeling of the music changes once again. On the track “My Mind Gets to Wanderin’,” it is only Nomad and his acoustic guitar  with a finger slide to help add that Blues feeling to the song. The resulting track is simple yet powerful as it truly recalls early Blues artists like Robert Johnson. The Nomad-penned “My Mind Gets to Wanderin'” feels so authentic, you’d swear it was a lot older than it is.

If “A Real Fine Day” from Mark Nomad had been released as a record, you could consider the first five songs of the release to be “Side A” and the second five to be considered as “Side B”. The two halves of the release have slightly different feelings to them as the “Side A” part contains five songs written exclusively by Nomad while the “Side B” part contains two songs by Nomad and three songs from three different Blues legends.

The second half of the new release from Mark Nomad begins with the Willie Dixon song “Mellow Down Easy”. Like the track “My Mind Gets to Wanderin’,” “Mellow Down Easy” is a track that once again contains only Nomad and his guitar and harmonica. The song contains a great deal of energy and sounds as good as if Dixon himself had been the one to perform the song. Listening to this track, you can almost hear the bluesy influence in the music that came over from England during the British Invasion era of Rock and Roll.

While all of the tracks on the newest release from Mark Nomad have some sort of Blues influence in them, not all of the tracks contain lyrics. The song “Sun Worlds, Moon Worlds…” is a track that allows Nomad to show off his skills as a guitarist as he and bassist Peter King and drummer Dale Monette create the instrumental song. Throughout the 5-minute track, the three musicians create the instrumental tracks and end up sounding like the Jimi Hendrix Experience. While Nomad’s playing definitely invokes visions of Hendrix and the way he would play, the bass and drum parts from King and Monette feel as authentic as anything that Hendrix’s ensemble would have created. In fact, you can almost hear the musical influence from “The Wind Cries Mary” in the music during the 5-minute playing time.

The newest release from Mark Nomad comes to a close with the title track. For “A Real Fine Day,” the music of the track features a definite Southern Blues influence and the acoustic-meets-electric feel of the track gives “A Real Fine Day” a unique sound. The upbeat lyrics to this Blues track are also something that sets the song apart from the majority of the Blues songs out there. The upbeat feeling of the song brings the release to a close in a very positive way.

A Real Fine Day from Mark Nomad features Blues that is flavored with many different influences. These influences bring character to each of the songs and the influences also help set each track apart from one another. As the listener goes from one track to another, you experience different sides to Nomad’s personality and that helps make A Real Fine Day worthy of being added into your music library.

Check out the video to “Sun Worlds, Moon Worlds…” from the new release of A Real Fine Day from Mark Nomad.

 

 

 

 

CD Review: Cole Hermer and the Ravens “Quoth the Raven”

Canadian rocker Cole Hermer began his musical career early on when his mother bought him a guitar at the age of 10 years old. Since that point, the musician has taken off like a rocket and has started creating music that is just as hard-rockin’ as early rock bands such as Led Zeppelin or even The Yardbirds. And taking a listen to Hermer’s voice, one can hardly imagine that this is the voice of a teenager as it has the same strength of someone much older.

The music created by Cole Hermer and The Ravens seems a bit out of place with today’s music scene, and that’s a good thing because they are not following the same trends as most of the bands out there creating the same bland music. Cole Hermer and The Ravens have just released a new CD entitled Quoth the Raven.

The five songs that make up Quoth the Raven from Cole Hermer and The Ravens run between a modern sound of someone like The White Stripes and Classic Rock bands Led Zeppelin. That combination will attract both young music seekers and older ones as well.

Quoth the Raven from Cole Hermer and The Ravens begins with the track “California Breakdown”. The track is a great way to introduce the uninitiated to Hermer’s music as the track features a classic blues-rock sound that brings the listener back to the days of many of the bands that are now considered Classic Rock. The band comes together to create a song that seems to shed a little truth about the promises that come from one of the busiest and most popular places in the world where everyone goes to try to make it in the entertainment industry. Just listening to Hermer sing about that location may make you think twice about wanting to visit or become part of the “magic” that you find them.

The next song on the Quoth the Raven release from Cole Hermer and The Ravens, “Exploitable,” seems to follow in the same lyrical vein as “California Breakdown”. The song warns of people who only make money off of the young. A very ironic song coming from a musician as young as Cole Hermer, but at least he seems to know that he fits into the group. The track features a rock feel that is still very strong but has slightly less of an edge than the previous track. And as “California Breakdown” falls firmly into the Classic Rock vein, “Exploitable” seems to come from a much more recent time period in rock as you could easily hear the song played between bands like The Black Keys and Jet on today’s radio airwaves.

While “California Breakdown” and “Exploitable” have a lot of energy, the track of “Friends” seems to come out of nowhere as the track has a lot less energy than the previous tracks. The “anti-love song” from Cole Hermer and The Ravens stays away from the clichés of many other songs where the singer laments loudly about the loss of love; with this track, Cole Hermer focuses on the positive as he remembers the good days of the relationship. While not as powerful as the songs that came before it on the release, “Friends” still features good writing and also still features several guitar solos that have a lot of energy to them.

For the track of “Maybe,” Cole Hermer and the rest of the band stays in the same musical vein as on “Friends” as “Maybe” features an unplugged feel as the guitars featured on the track are all acoustic. The acoustic guitars used by Hermer helps to prove that, not only does he have chops when it come to the electric guitar, he also has chops when he plays the acoustic ones, as well.

For the final track on Quoth the Raven from Cole Hermer and The Ravens, the band takes a large amount of influence from Queens of the Stone Age for the song “Teenage Creed”. While it is not identical to the QOTSA song, Cole Hermer and The Ravens’ “Teenage Creed” will no doubt have you thinking about “No One Knows” from the California-based band.

Each of the songs on Quoth the Raven from Cole Hermer and The Ravens is strong and well-written and well-played. The tracks allow the listener the chance to hear the unquestionable talent from Hermer and his band. Here’s to a full-length release!

Click HERE for the video to “Teenage Creed” by Cole Hermer & The Ravens.