Cary Morin is by far one of the most impressive guitar players you’ll ever encounter. He wonderfully marries the varied musical traditions and styles of America defined by his fingerpicking style and sultry voice that conveys grit and elation. He characterizes his style as roots-infused Native Americana with hints of bluegrass, folk, blues, and rock.
Cary just released his cover of R.L. Burnside’s blues rock song “Goin’ Down South” with his band Cary Morin and Ghost Dog. Their rendition withholds the blues rock style of Burnside, but includes a folk and roots rock sound. Their version of “Goin’ Down South” has a Bob Dylan meets The Allman Brothers kind of vibe. Their hook and accompanying melody is catchy. You find yourself instantly dancing along.
It’s no wonder Cary Morin has so many accolades. “Goin’ Down South” is exactly what you want in a cover song; it stays true to the bones of the original song while also giving it an artistic spin that’s unique to the cover artist. Cary Morin and Ghost Dog’s version is uniquely Cary Morin. The roots rock and blues is what makes their sound so special.
Almost 3 months ago, Brittaney Delsarte Chatman, a modern day millennial renaissance woman, released the music video for her R&B single “Talk To Me.” The song is about relationships and setting boundaries and expectations for them. Brittaney sings about how women especially shrink themselves or dishonor themselves within some relationships. This song is for them, a reminder that you don’t need to lose who you are to be with someone.
The video was released in March, though Brittaney had a set back. “I was a victim of a cyber security attack,” she shares. “The hack compromised my marketable IG content for my music and my brand with deleted followers, highlights, and posts. This put my video campaign to a full halt. You know what they say chile- New levels, New Devils. But, as I always say- any setback is just a setup for a comeback! I built my platform from the ground up and I can get it back to where it was and perhaps surpass where I was.”
The “Talk To Me” video starts with a monologue from Brittaney talking about how sick and tired she is of all this relationship stuff, that all men are the same at their core. She reveals a contract in the video and presents it with strength and gives a sense of empowerment for her listeners/viewers. She knows what she wants, and implies that other women know what they want, and asks for it up front. If the contract and conditions don’t work for you, then back out now.
“I wrote this song and created this video to empower my Blossom cousins to keep the faith in finding true love and stay true to their values and core beliefs and to make that known to the next person that comes into their lives,” she shares.
Chris Baluyut, the New York electro-pop and dream pop artist, grew up surrounded by a musical family. His father, uncle, and godmother are in Versus, and another of his uncles started the indie-rock/math-rock band +/- {Plus/Minus}. “They were hip,” he affirms. “My parents had me when they were young. I remember the three B’s, Björk, Beck, and Built to Spill being played all the time in my house growing up.” From elementary school through high school, family members would bring Chris to gigs all around NYC. At 14, inspired by the classic rock and indie rock playing in his house, Chris started playing guitar, and eventually played a show with Versus when he was still in high school.
Today, Chris brings us the second release in his single series, “Come Back to the World.” The production here is both lush and lean, consisting of a gently unfolding melodic guitar motif, airy vocals, sparse rhythm guitars, electro ambience, and a hypnotic beat to tie it all together. All of these intentionally intertwining themes bring us a dark, yet hopeful resonance.
“Come Back to the World” has an electro-pop sensibility to it while also pulling in elements of dream pop, lo-fi, and downtempo. It’s emotionally raw and reveals Chris’s vulnerability in his songwriting. The song drips with feelings of regret and guilt for not helping someone you love. But there’s an air of hope and thoughtfulness behind that facade, that one day, you will get another chance to be there for someone else.
Chris’s music has evolved from folk into an exploring and experimenting with atmospheric soundscapes that are grounded by rhythmic pulses. His carefully-curated aesthetic spans dream-pop, electro-pop, post-rock, and folktronica. His latest songs are more impressionistic, conjuring landscapes, and visual representations of emotions.
The nostalgic 90’s pop rock band from Washington DC, Dear Daria, is all about the fun in life and music. This “choose your own adventure” band with Maryjo Mattea on vocals, keys and guitar, Eamonn Donnelly on bass, Joshua Hunter on guitar, and Scott Manley on drums, was formed back in 2018 after the demise of Maryjo’s last project. In case you were wondering, their band name is inspired by the animated series, Daria.
“We love how cynical, snarky, and smart the character Daria was; her spirit resonates with us,” says Maryjo. “There’s a sincerity, a sweetness, and a silliness in 1980s and 1990s pop culture that we tap into as songwriters,” Eamonn Donnelly details. Josh Hunter adds: “We strive for a balance with being nostalgic, but also saying something genuine with our songs.”
They just released their debut pop rock album, Can I Be Frank? The album has strong 90’s pop rock sounds like Paramore, The Donnas, and No Doubt. Their playfulness is evident as well. “Delaware” was inspired by Wayne’s World and “John Hughes” is an ode to the great director and was inspired by the many movies of John Hughes. They explore their punk-rock and punk-pop side too. “Dopamachine” is their punk-pop song about the dependence we have on technology. It has a Panic! at the Disco meets Weezer vibe to it. The song “Wish Her Luck” is a punk-rock song about overcoming your fears with a Green Day and Counting Crows energy.
“Best Life” and “The Real World” offer the most pop-like and modern pop rock feeling, with “The Real World” showing their range with instrumentation. The acoustic guitar is the lead for this single about change. “Will Not Back” down is an anthem of power-pop genius. Upon listening, you feel the dopamine rushing through your body.
Listen here:
Dear Daria are the perfect purveyors of tuneful heart-on-sleeve alt-rock. With an assured artistic identity, a debut album filled with sharp hooks, and the pandemic lifting, nothing can stop Dear Daria now. “I can’t believe we’ve never played out as Dear Daria. I can’t wait to get out there,” Josh enthuses. “We’ve persevered through so many obstacles and challenges, and we can now breathe a sigh of relief and build some momentum.” Maryjo says.
Nature Loves Courage is the rising electro-pop and dubstep trio who just released their debut single “Shapeshiftr.” This is a quirky rock electronic tune. It intermingles some synth and dubstep influences with a harder rock edge.
“Shapeshiftr” has an airy and ethereal sense about it though the beat keeps it grounded. It’s a metaphor for a change or a shift within us when it comes to pleasurable and survival situations. The melody is catchy and easily gets stuck in your head.
“The song is about a being that can shape shift into different animals but it’s also allegorical for sex and how we can morph into different beings during that activity, depending on the inspiration,” shares McKenna, the lead vocalist and keyboardist for the band. “The line ‘nothing digital can replace this’ is a commentary on how some people are consuming too much online porn.”
McKenna Rowe is driven by sound and all it’s complexities. She’s intrigued by the many ways you can manipulate it to create pleasurable sensations within us, giving our bodies a surge of serotonin. When it comes to writing her music, genre isn’t in her mind. She fascinated by everything from trip-hop and dubstep to catchy melodies, rock, and orchestrations.
Dan Hartman and Charles Ingram began making music together at age 15 united by a bold desire to explore the outer limits of alternately tuned guitars. The pair had an immediate intuitive connection, and hunkered down in a storage shed to home in on its avant-garde aesthetic. They emerged as Phantom Zell, a weird indie-punk band that specialized in curious guitar tunings and abstract and abrasive musicality. “We played punk shows, but we were the only band in the scene that broke the punk rules by not playing that typically fast and aggressive sound,” says Charles. By age 17, Dan and Charles’s songs were earning placements on compilations alongside diversely popular acts such as Of Montreal, Fugazi, Jawbreaker, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Converge.
Eventually, the band drifted apart, the scene changed, and Dan and Charles began to also go their separate ways. Though not actively creating together, the guys set out on parallel artistic paths finding inspiration in the synergy with films and soundtracks. And there were other uncanny connections. Over the years, they were bonded by unique correlating circumstances, including near death experiences such as near fatal car accidents, dying in a house fire, being struck by lightning, and escaping armed robberies.
“I had a 10-year relationship end, and, out of the blue, after a few years of not being in touch, Charles called me and said his marriage had ended at the same time,” Dan recalls. “At the time, I had completely stopped playing and creating music.”
The eerily similar life circumstances, the guys’ parallel creative paths, and the telepathic musicality they once shared made a powerful case to continue the musical dialogue. Inevitably, Dan envisioned a cohesive project and sent Charles that fateful text to start the impliers.
They just released their 3rd single, “Lightning,” which features their iconic experimental music with atonal sensibilities and playful nature. Their vocals provide a Beach Boys harmonic quality to it while their music provides a David Bowie meets Pink Floyd sound.
“Lightning” is chaotic in nature, with an ever changing tempo and a melody that’s just out of grasp. The music shares a story of the chaotic mind. They share yet another story with this song as they both were diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. The song is a beautiful reflection of that experience through their atonal music and gripping lyrics. “While ‘Lightning’ constantly shape-shifts in mood and genre, it has its roots in a part of a song Charles made in 2005,” shares Dan. “While writing the concept for our upcoming record ‘cocoon,’ the lyric from that old riff came to mind and surprisingly; the entire idea for the rest of the song came as if it was always there. In about an hour, the bones of the song were written and recorded (the verses recorded that day are in the final version). By sending recordings back and forth, we traded disarming forks in the creative road, sending the song down a meandering but distinct path and arriving at the final version in the following weeks.”
Modern Mystery 
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