Tag: interview

  • Recently I reviewed Chungking’s incredible new album, Defender. It was a rave review during which I gave the album very high praise, comparing it to some of the greats, like Goldfrapp and Ladytron.  I highly recommend that you read the review before reading the following interview with Chungking’s charismatic lead vocalist, Jessie Banks!  But, if you…

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  • interview  by Michael McCarthy It was only around twenty seconds into Night Demon’s debut full-length, Curse of the Damned, when I fell in love with it and knew it was going to be one of the very best metal albums I’d heard in a long time.  The guitars were in the vein of Metallica’s “Whiplash”…

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  • review and interview by Michael McCarthy previously published on OtakuDX Before we get to our interview with J-Pop’s future stars 4TE, I wanted to present a review of their wonderful double A-side MORE / 一歩ずつ… 4TE — pronounced Forte/for-tay — is a red hot new Japanese pop group based out of the U.S. and if…

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  • Button:Pusher is the new double album project by Kiran Shahani of Bitter:Sweet and The Supreme Beings of Leisure fame. (The two albums are called Never Look Back and Cross My Heart.) If you’re not familiar with either of those groups, chances are you’ve still heard some of Kiran’s work. For one thing, he’s done the…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy Back in July of 2013, I gave a very positive review to the debut album by Starkill, Fires of Life, which was a perfect blend of the death and symphonic metal subgenres. Nightwish as performed by Dimmu Borgir, if you will. Well, those artists continue to be among the band’s influences…

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  • I was recently introduced to the music of Veiga Sanchez, who goes by the name Salt Ashes, and after listening to just a couple of her songs I already fell head over heels in love with her sound.  Like any artist, she has influences and those influences can be heard in her music.  But, here’s the thing…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy I won’t brag about the volume of music we receive on a daily basis now, but I will say that it’s often overwhelming.  And it takes a lot to please me these days.  Being good or even great doesn’t necessarily cut it.  I have to fall totally in love with an…

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  • When we last interviewed the UK’s critically acclaimed Bat and Ball they were promoting their glorious second single, “Stops My Mouth,” which blended an easy breezy pop melody with poignant lyrics and haunting vocals courtesy of Abi Sinclair, one of the band’s two lead singers.  (The other vocalist is her brother Chris.)  The same description could…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy You know how they say there’s a first time for everything? Well, here’s a first for Love is Pop – an interview with a black metal band. Wiki’s definition of black metal: “Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted…

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  • I recently had the opportunity to hear Brother, the stunning debut EP of newcomers Mighty Oaks, who stand out from the ever-growing folk crowd by writing wonderful songs with big, catchy choruses, the sort that just sweep you away in their emotion and infectiousness.  Although, to be fair, it might not be entirely accurate to…

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  • As you probably know, I recently reviewed Youngblood Hawke’s August 6th, 2014 show at Brighton Music Hall in Boston.  My review was wholly positive and I feel the same way about their debut album, Wake Up, which is, in fact, crammed with plenty of gorgeous anthems to rouse you.  Each of its songs are stimulating…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy Recently Century Media Records sent me Otherwise’s new record, Peace At All Costs. As I listened to it, loving every minute of it, I could not figure out just what genre or sub-genre of metal they were. I remember going to bed thinking I’d just call them post nu metal in…

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  • Interview by Michael McCarthy Recently, I was introduced to the music of Monuments, a genre-defying band who are often mislabeled as various genres and subgenres, as you’re about to read below.  Their music was like a sonic equivalent of a rich, complex roast of coffee…  Sometimes I daydream about Starbucks using their Italian roast to…

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  • You may recall our interview with Turkish singer/songwriter Emine Sari from last year.  Well, she’s once again popped up on our radar, this time with a set of highly addictive remixes of her hit song “Who Are You,” the original version of which spawned a viral video.  Written by Emine and produced by Dreambox, “Who…

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  • I Heart Sharks first broke onto the scene — the blogosphere, especially — with their much-praised 2011 album Summer, which featured such sun-kissed, blissed-out pop rock gems as “Animals,” “Neuzeit” and the super infectious title track, “Summer.”  Now they’re primed to garner even more worldwide buzz with the release of their first EP, To Be…

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