Tag Archives: album

08.26.25
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Leaving Without Regrets in Reeya Banerjee’s Brand New Album “This Place”

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On her brand new album This Place, Reeya Banerjee proves that home isn’t always a fixed location. Home can be a feeling, a memory or even a song. The record is equal parts intimate reflection and widescreen arena rock.

The album opens with an immediacy that pulls the listener into Banerjee’s world. Her vocals are warm, commanding and human, serving as the album’s compass and guiding us through songs of transition, loss, resilience and love that holds steady through change.

Standout tracks like “Snow” shimmers with atmosphere, while “Misery of Place” rides a darker, restless energy that nods to Banerjee’s rock instincts. “For The First Time” finds strength in its vulnerability, and the closing track “Upstate Rust” is nothing short of an anthem – its soaring choruses and full band firepower leave the listener uplifted and changed. Each track carries its own weight, but together they form a cohesive narrative about moving forwards while carrying the places and people that have shaped you.

The album fuses indie rock grit with dreamlike textures, bringing in influences that range from R.E.M. to Florence + The Machine without ever losing Banerjee’s distinctive voice. Her longtime collaborators in The Merseyside Darby breathe life into the musical arrangements, their chemistry palpable in every layered harmony and guitar lines.

What makes This Place so striking is not just its richness and emotional generosity. Banerjee doesn’t shy away from complexity. She embraces it, creating a body of work that feels both grounded and expansive. This is the kind of album that grows with each listen, offering new corners to explore and moments to hold close.

This Place is a record about movement, memory and the enduring beauty of connection. It’s like a map of the heart.

Keep up to date with Reeya Banerjee on her Website

Stream music on Spotify and Apple Music

05.29.25
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Pete Calandra’s Latest Album “Night Mist” is a Tonic for the Modern Mind

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Pete Calandra’s latest release Night Mist is an album that doesn’t shout to be heard. It simply waits, patiently to be felt.

This eleven track collection is steeped in quietude, unfolding with the elegance of falling dusk and the emotional gravity of late-night introspection.

As both a skilled pianist and prolific composer across Broadway, film and television, Calandra brings a rare blend of technical finesse and emotional restraint to this work. It’s one that feels like a much needed breather in an overstimulated world.

Listen here:

The pieces on Night Mist are deceptively simple. On the surface, they present as minimal piano compositions touched by ambient textures and occasional soft orchestrations. But underneath that lies an exquisite sense of pacing and purpose. Tracks like “Whispers of the Dawn” and “The Heart of Mount Seleya” operate like emotional landscapes: sparse yet vivid, introspective yet expansive. And it is Calandra’s restraint, the space between notes, that becomes its own kind of melody.

What makes this album resonate so strongly is its consistency in tone without ever becoming over repetitive.

Each track brings a new shade of the same emotional spectrum. “Peaceful Valley” introduces cinematic string beds that evoke a pastoral calm, while “Autumn Nights” leans into the warmth of a felted piano to conjure a deeply intimate sense of place.

The ambient title track, “Night Mist” blends light electronics with improvisational phrasing, perfectly capturing the album’s thesis — serenity in the unknown.

Though best known to some for his work behind the scenes, including more than 100 film scores and music for global events like the FIFA World Cup and Kennedy Center Honors, Pete Calandra’s voice as a solo artist has become increasingly distinct over the last decade.

Night Mist builds on the aesthetic developed in ambient-forward albums like First Light and Carpe Noctem, but it lands with much more maturity and emotional clarity.

In an era defined by speed, distraction and technology burnout, Night Mist feels like a defiant gesture — an insistence on presence, on listening slowly, on valuing space.

It’s not just a collection of music, but also a gentle journey inward.

Connect with Peter Calandra via:

Website / YouTube / Spotify / Soundcloud

01.13.23
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Veteran Hong Kong Singer Songwriter, Music Producer, and  TV Presenter Chet Lam Shares His Newest Storied Album

Storyteller Chet Lam spent his childhood in Hong Kong’s gritty, inner city housing complexes with very little resources. As a gay kid growing up in a humble environment while trying to figure out where he fit in, he found solace in the poignant and poetic outlaw and brokenhearted narratives of 1970s Americana and country artists.

Chet also saw in USA roots music similarities with Chinese pop, as both brimmed with strong melodies, sensitive stories, and careful attention to lyrical detail. Now, after becoming a highly-respected artist in the Asian market, Chet hopes to bring a heartfelt fusion of East-West pop sensibilities to the Western Hemisphere.

“From a young age, I knew I was different, and it felt like music was a way out. Songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Emmylou Harris were my escape and my education,” the globally-based artist says. “I noticed their theme of thriving in the face of hardships to also be very present in Chinese pop music.”

The globally renowned Asian pop and folk singer/songwriter recently released his newest folk pop album Back to the Stars Again, inspired by the world renowned and deeply loved classic book The Little Prince. The book turned 76 years old in 2022 and has been published in 250 languages. To this day, it remains poignant as it tells the story of a young prince who comes to multiple planets throughout the universe including earth and it touches on themes of love, loss, loneliness and friendship.

“I was always fascinated by the simplicity and the depth of this French classic,” says Chet. “I wrote these songs from the perspective of each character. The Little Prince is a romantic, of course, The Fox is simply a drama queen, The Rose is spoiled, The Ghosts are actually everyday people, The Snake is innocent… all characters coming together will be a life lived to the fullest.”

His unique and signature sense of storytelling draws from Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, but it’s also quite similar to James Taylor or Simon and Garfunkel, the latter can also be heard in his voice. He blends folk tradition with pop ideas of synthetic sounds and tones to create a sense of aethereal space and airy melodies. He beautifully tells the story from different perspectives which provides a fresh take on the classic.

Connect with Chet Lam

Website / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Spotify / Soundcloud

06.16.11
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Digitalism Release First Track Off ‘I Love You, Dude’


For those that have been waiting since 2007 for a new album from Germany’s Digitalism, wait no more…well maybe a little longer. The Deutchlanders are set to release their first album in four years on June 21st, titled I Love You, Dude. On the new record, the Hamburg duo further merge their blend of rock & electronic dance music. To listen and download the single, “2 Hearts” go here.

I Love You, Dude Tracklisting

Stratosphere
2 Hearts
Circles
Blitz
Forrest Gump
Reeperbahn
Antibiotics
Just Gazin’
Miami Showdown
Encore

05.06.11
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Album Review: Javelin – ‘Canyon Candy’

While Canyon Candy is a far cry from the hip-hop electro Javelin has bestowed upon us previously, it’s not something to miss. Inspired by the rolling tumble weeds and red clay encrusted jeans of the Wild West this brief album brings back snippets of that the Frontier used to be.  Word is that this is the future soundtrack of an upcoming epic of the same name, directed by Mike Anderson.  Previous fans of Javelin may be turned off by this album, it’s not electronically inclined and if anything, sounds vintage.  However, Javelin’s master-sampling and melody-making skills were not missed.  The album maintained a melodic sway the whole time, with twangy steel guitars and wavering vocals in replacement of synthesizers and funk samples.  With most of the songs finishing between one and a half to two and a half minutes, one of this album’s qualities is certainly brevity.  As soon as one song begins it suddenly seems to end, sometimes a bit too quickly.  The use of samples in tracks such as “Strawberry Roan” and “Trembler” creates an authentic western sound, and adds to the overall reminiscent feel of the album.  At the same time, tracks like “Colorado Trail,” and even “Strawberry Roan,” incorporate a little more of the beat that Javelin is known for.  Javelin incorporated some western instruments too, I’m pretty sure I detected a steel guitar, and did I hear a jaw harp in “Love Gulch?”  Standouts on this short album are “Estavez,” “Colorado Trail,” and “Streets of Laredo.”  If you’re a Javelin fan who is open to an album unlike any of its predecessors, pick this album up.  You’ll be amazed by their versatility and willingness to experiment. Available April 16th, 2011.

01.21.11
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Esben and the Witch to Release Debut Album

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“Not to say they’re in any way a throwback, but the intense fury these three modest humans work up reminds me of ’80s/’90s bands who were desperate to match savvy rock songwriting with scary, theatrical emotion and intensity without turning it into noise punk or cabaret shtick. They walk a line, evoking folklore and fairy tales and witchery, swelling to a climax that’s hypnotic but never quite reveals itself.” — SPIN

Dark noise pop Esben and the Witch are set to release their debut album, Violet Cries. Their intense sound has been raved about ever since they released their 3 EP. You can check out their “Warpath” mp3 here, and their new music video for “Marching Song” below.