Single Review: Mark Ambuter “Love is Everywhere (Extended Single)”

Mark Ambuter is a singer-songwriter from the city of Crestline, California. Ambuter had been a part of bands earlier in his life. And during that time, he was creating music that was drawing from the likes of Led Zeppelin, Badfinger, George Harrison, along with many others. Eventually, certain reasons made it difficult for Ambuter to continue and he left the music industry for a while. Now, however, he has returned to rekindle his love for making music. The result was the result of the 2016 album entitled A Scratch of Grace. Along with that album came other singles. One such single is the track “Love is Everywhere”. Like many of the folk and folk-rock songs that were released back in the sixties and early seventies, “Love is Everywhere” was created by Mark Ambuter as his statement against the current political climate in the United States. And because this new track falls into that type of situation, it should come as no surprise that Ambuter has created a new song that draws from the climate and artistic expressions that were around back in the sixties and early seventies. Meaning, of course, that “Love is Everywhere” by Mark Ambuter not only contains a great deal of Rock and Roll influence, but the song is heavily laden with certain psychedelic influences, as well. But since this track was produced by English producer Stuart Epps who had worked with several British artists like Elton John, George Harrison, Led Zeppelin, The Firm and others. The heavy psychedelic influence on “Love is Everywhere” begins right from the beginning as the track starts with the sound of the sitar and percussion which helps to transport the listener back in time to the sixties. The beginning seconds of the track feel like a Hare Krishna song before the track takes on a more modern feel to the music. The rest of the track takes on a pop-rock feel that reminds the listener of modern English rock and roll tracks from the like of Coldplay or even like the American band Imagine Dragons. To go along with the music, the lyrical content of the track is delivered as one entire group of singers helps to back up Ambuter as he sings of the love that’s in the air as people fight the current political climate that is creating the unfriendly feeling in the country. While there is an undeniable retro feel to the track, there is also enough of a modern feel to the track that you could imagine the track getting a lot of plays on Adult Contemporary radio formats if given the chance.  

“Love is Everywhere” by Mark Ambuter is already a rather long track at over four minutes in length. But Ambuter decided to extend the track by creating the “Extended Single” version of the song. By giving the track the extra fifty seconds or so, the song ends up with more of a jamband feel to the song. You can hear the track by click on the link below.

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.