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Showing posts from August, 2019

Album Review: ISH from Mad Love

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Album:  ISH Artist:  Mad Love Label:  Gladitude Records Website:  https://soundcloud.com/kathleen-hollingsworth/tracks R&B/soul meets cabaret jazz on Mad Love's latest release ISH .  Led by vocalist Kathleen Hollingsworth, Mad Love hones easy-listening melodies that hitch lounge room jazz with adult pop finesse.  Mad Love venture into flights of pleasing hues, crafting calming escapes and lithesome jaunts.  Joined by bassist Dave Captien and drummer Brent Follis, the trio's music shimmers, swings, and soothes keeping the listener entangled in its warm resonance. The chattering beats elevating "Hey There, Rider" thrust a country-spun emission as the trio's contributions are augmented by the flapping gusts of guest bassist Ross Garlow and guitarist Dominic Castillo.  "Easy Rider" drifts into the funk-imbued moans of Wil Blades's organ, as Hollingsworth showcases a feisty edge in her vocal inflections, moving into the smooth soul glides of &qu

Album Review: Simply Miraculous from Kristen R. Bromley

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Album:  Simply Miraculous Artist:  Kristen R. Bromley Label:  Kristen R. Bromley Music, LLC Website:  www.kristenbromley.com Guitarist Kristen R. Bromley demonstrates a blues palette emblematic of Les Paul enhanced by lyrical sensibilities liken to Chet Atkins.  Old school Midwest country-folk meets contemporary blues guitar on Bromley's latest recording Simply Miraculous, a title that was inspired by her personal experience to overcome a debilitating injury to her arm.  A collection of original tunes and covers of hymns, the tracks display her talent as a driving force in each arrangement. Concentration is focused on the design of each number, adorned in finely syncopated beats milled by bassist Matt Larsen and drummer Jay Lawrence paired with Bromley's freestyle musings.  The trio move in harmony, performing with a sense of each other's space in the music.  The silky lines of Bromley's guitar have a lyrical-woolgathering stride webbed along "I Know My Redeem