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.

The Only Ocean “Daydreams”

 The Only Ocean is a Rock and Roll band based in Lompoc, California. The band consists of Wesley Hill on Vocals, Guitar; Dustin Whalen on Guitar; Alex Burdess on Bass and Shae Kakos on Drums. The band draws their musical influences from many different styles of Rock And Roll such as Alternative, Shoegaze, Indie Rock and even Psychedelic Rock. With that blend of styles in one sound, the band creates music that moves from one influence to the next. That style of music is present in the band’s newly released track called “Daydreams”. “Daydreams” is a track that definitely has a large amount of Indie Rock influence within the music. The track begins with a with a light, yet very infectious guitar riff before the song launches into a harder and much more rocking feel. That infectious guitar riff returns again and again throughout the track. As the song progresses, the track alternates a between a very rocking Alternative Rock style and the Indie feel that begins the track. The song features guitar work from both Wesley Hill and Dustin Whalen and their interaction within the song creates many different elements within the music. The rhythm section of bassist Alex Burdess and drummer Shae Kakos helps to keep the song together as each of the band members alternates between the two musical feels in the music.  The vocals from Wesley Hill contain a gentle quality to them throughout the track. The supporting vocals on the track seem to complement the lead vocals and the use of the harmony within certain parts helps to add a nice texture to the lyrics. The final minute of the track feature the band really rocking out before the song ends in the same manner that it began with the band alternating between the easier and harder styles. With the way the song alternates between the two musical approaches, “Daydreams” from The Only Ocean is entertaining and leaves the listener wanting for more.

Reviewer: Matheson Kamin
Rating: ***** (five stars)

CD Review: Beto Hale “Rebirth”

Beto Hale is a Mexican-born musician who has since move to the United States and finds himself creating music that contains many different aspects to the music. Those styles of music make Beto Hale’s music unique and different. That different approach to each song makes sure each track Beto Hale creates has its own sound and feel. And after having already created a catalog of his own music, Hale is celebrating the release of his newest release, Rebirth.

For the music on the new release, Beto Hale took his time creating and shaping the songs and making sure that they felt just right. He also brought in Tony Levin to add his touch on bass and Marc Mann helps to add guitar from one track to another.

Beto Hale’s album Rebirth begins with “Explosiones”. As Beto Hale is Mexican-born, it should come as no surprise that the lead off track for his new album is a track in Spanish. The track finds Hale exploring a very progressive sound on the track. For the music on the track, Beto Hale took his time creating and shaping the songs and making sure that they felt just right. The rock/jazz mix in the music gives the track a slightly unique feel as rock and jazz both find their own place in the track as the guitar and keyboard alternate as the lead instrument throughout the length of the track.

With the next track, Beto Hale changes the feel of the album. The track of “Falling Down” takes on a feeling that seems like a mix of The Police and The Eagles. The track features some of the best bass lines I’ve heard in a while as Tony Levin lays down the groove for the song. The alternating of styles in the track gives the listener a taste of Classic Rock while still containing a little of the jazzy feel that was found on the previous track of “Explosiones”. And while“Explosiones” features Spanish lyrics, “Falling Down” features Hale singing in English.

Rebirth from Beto Hale continues with the track “Sube Al Carrusel”. This track is yet another track that explores the different sides to Beto Hale. As the first two tracks show Hale’s rock side off, “Sube Al Carrusel” shows off his jazzy side. The Spanish vocals on the track also add a touch of jazz to the track. With the different aspects to the track, “Sube Al Carrusel” turns out to be one of the most unusual and entertaining tracks on the album.

Taking the opportunity to change the feel of the album once again, “Fire Away” is the type of track that feels like a rock song with strings. The strings and rock music create a track that feels as if it should be back in the seventies with more of the orchestral rock that was being produced back then. While there is a definite beauty to the music of the track, the one critique I have to make about the track is that this is without a doubt the track with the simplest lyrics on the album. The repetitive nature of the oversimplified lyrics is a bit of a letdown from the rest of the album where the lyrics are a lot stronger.

Beto Hale creates one of the strongest and most fascinating tracks with the song “April”. The folk-rock feel to the track works well with the emotional lyrics of the song. The music of the track with the lyrics that have a greater depth than most lyrics of today’s current songs make the song feel as if it had been written back in the late sixties by Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. The harmony in the vocals on the track brings to mind those of McGuinn and the members of The Byrds. The beauty in both the music and the lyrics of the track makes “April” easily one of the best tracks on Rebirth.

On the track “I Will Always Be There,” Beto Hale takes his music and adds some influence from bands like Rush. When listening to the track, you can all but hear Geddy Lee and the rest of the band of Rush as Beto creates a track that has a very heavy Progressive Rock feel to it. Once again, the music and lyrics seem to transport the listener back to a time when songwriters used to give thought to the meaning of their lyrics. On “I Will Always Be There,” Beto Hale would seem right at home in the company of those writers.

Rebirth from Beto Hale is the type of album you hope for when looking for something new and different. The album provides the listener with many wonderful minutes of different sounds and styles of music from a musician and songwriter who has proven himself as someone who can create songs that will leave you wanting more.

To hear more from Beto Hale, check him out on his SoundCloud account.

Single Review: The Blacklights “Cowboy Weekend”

The rock band The Blacklights creates rock music that is cool and just plain fun. The band has just released the song “Cowboy Weekend”. While the song title suggests a country flavor, the music from The Blacklights lies somewhere between garage rock, psychedelic rock and alternative rock. A very simple bass and drum part from bassist/keyboardist Oscar Ordiano and drummer Bryan Mudrick creates the bottom of the song to make a bed for guitarists Anthony Mudrick and Thomas Mudrick to play on top of. Singer/guitarist Anthony Mudrick sings about needing a break from the norm and talks about taking a “Cowboy Holiday”. The resulting track contains not only the band’s rock music but also some unusual elements such as Theremin and electronic noise. The most unusual part of the song is the last minute or so when the band slows the pace way down. The slow pace of the song suggests the band is running out of steam, which goes well with the lyrics of “One Summer Night, I died for real”. Altogether, the various elements of “Cowboy Weekend” by The Blacklights come together to help the band create a sound that definitely sets them apart from most of the bands out there. Having heard this song from The Blacklights, I am very interested to hear what else the band has in store. Until the band releases a new album, you can find some of the band’s previously-released music on the website for their record label Ten Dollar Recording Co. “Cowboy Weekend” will be released around Halloween of 2012. Something to look forward to.

Reviewed by Matheson Kamin

*****(Out of Five)

CD Review: Crazy Mary “Dreaming in Brilliant Color”

New York-based band Crazy Mary has been around for over a decade and has created ten albums that feature their band of rock and roll. The band currently consists of Em Z on vocals, guitarist Charles Kibel, The Wizard on the bass, Parker Reilly on keys, drummer Nick Raisz and Walter Steding on fiddle. The sound Crazy Mary takes a lot of different elements and blends them together to create different styles and feelings from song to song. With this ever-changing sound, the band considers itself as a psychedelic rock band. The band is currently promoting their tenth and latest album entitled Dreaming in Brilliant Color.

The newest release from Crazy Mary begins with the track “Come on Let’s Go”. With a slightly experimental sound of the music, the rock feel of the song may remind a lot of people of bands like Blondie. And with the inclusion of Walter Steding’s violin, the beginning track of the band’s latest release is both full of energy while also having a slightly unique feel.

“Cup of Tea” is the second track off of Crazy Mary’s latest CD. The song is a strong rock track that features the playing of keyboard player Parker Reilly that helps the band to create a unique rock sound. Of all of the songs on the release, this is probably the track that sounds the most like a straight-out rock and roll song. It is also one of the strongest songs on the entire album.

“Lonesome as a Train” is a track that takes a good amount of rock and adds just a touch of blues to the fun. The band creates a song that truly has the feel of a train rolling down the tracks. And the addition of Walter Steding’s violin really adds to that train feel as the instrument makes the listener imagine a train whistle.

Crazy Mary takes a slightly different approach with the song “Ferris Wheel”. The Americana song created by the band takes the band’s sound in a new direction as they add some country elements into the mix. The track created by Crazy Mary sounds as much like rock and roll as it does country.

The song “I’m Ready To Go” begins with the keyboards from Parker Reilly and then becomes a track that features a slight Irish feel to the music. With all of the instruments working well together, the disco feel, the Irish approach, the gang vocals from the rest of the band and Em Z’s vocals come together to create another of the strongest tracks on the release.

“Pass the Bread” finds the band slowing the pace down a little as the song begins. Before long, the band adds a little energy to the music as they take the song into the refrain. The alternating between lighter and harder keeps the music fresh throughout the length of the track.

It is on the track “Nick’s New Groove” that you really get to experience the creativity of the band. The song has the most unusual feel of any of the songs on the release. It is this creativity that really sets this song apart from the rest of the album.

With the amount of years that Crazy Mary has been a band, the time spent to get here was obviously time well spent, as the music from the band on Dreaming in Brilliant Color is well written, well played and very entertaining. Each of the songs on the release is unique and has its own style. The ever-changing feel of the release shows off the talent of each of the players in the band. And since there isn’t one song that brings the release down, it ends up being a very strong release from beginning to end.