- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It's sometimes infuriating that truly talented artists like the Chicago-born Guitarist Supremo and singer/songwriter JD Simo get unnoticed by big record labels, even more when said artists reach the peak of their musicianship.
Rather fortunately, though, a creative, extremely talented and forward-thinking artist like Simo has managed to forge his name, fame and respect from fans worldwide even without the financial support of major labels, through years of incendiary live performances and some remarkable studio albums, especially in the last decade of the American guitarist's career.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There is always something a bit more special happening, when talented artists get together to work on a collective project. Truth to be told, veteran multi-instrumentalist Micke Bjorklof, guitar supremo Ville "Lefty" Leppanen and bassist extraordinaire Miikka "Chef" Kivimaki from Finland have been working together for quite some time but not on a regular basis, due to their individual music projects.
When they finally are in the same room, though, playing and singing all together, no matter how long has passed since they last worked together, they are always able to recreate an artistic alchemy like very few are able to achieve, especially in the European contemporary music context.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Chicano Music has gone through a lot of transformations and highs and lows, in the last half a century, sometimes in a good way, some other time not really up to the standards that the genre's Kingpin, Lalo Guerrero, reached in the late 40's.
It is therefore refreshing that a record that sticks to the traditions and the foundations of Chicano Music, with a little contemporary twist, like Johnny & Jaalene sees the light of the day right now, in 2018.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Music artists often prefer, once they establish themselves in a certain circuit or have managed to build a certain amount of fans/followers, to stick on what they do best and what provides them that blanket of comfort that guarantee them a lucrative return. In some respects, this is understandable enough, when you are an independent artist that cannot rely on a record label's financial support but the down side of it, it is that this philosophy kills creativity.
There are also fortunately those that rather prefer to follow instead their musical growth without disrupting their artistic integrity and keeping on exploring new musical highway, just like the Pennsylvania-born Blues/Rock and Funk guitarist and singer/songwriter Jeff Fetterman.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
One of the secrets behind the success of a great album is the ability to keep the sound fresh and vibrant throughout the record, at the same time entertaining the listeners and jiggling different musical layers that magically fits inside one another, like a perfectly shaped sonic Matrioska.
This is something that the Leicester-born and London-based troubadour Jack J Hutchinson and his band of brothers Boom Boom Brotherhood fully manage to achieve in their debut album called Set Your Heart For The Sun.
Read more: Jack J Hutchinson's Boom Boom Brotherhood - Set Your Heart For The Sun
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
2019 has been another fabulous year of music. The health of this extraordinary art form is now, more than ever, strong and powerful under many aspects, as the caliber of the records reviewed by our website this year clearly confirms.
At Bluebird Reviews, we are honored to review, year after year, music artists of exceptional ability that help to provide, through their amazing artistic skills, the best possible platform to inspire the current generation of musicians from all around the globe and the future generations to come.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The world of music is a very difficult one to understand. In the last half century, in particular, it seems that often (and sadly) aestheticism supported by low artistic talent is preferred to artists with immense compositional, singing and musical skills, thus placing, in this way, the global concept of "music" at a somewhat immature and disrespectful level.
It may therefore seem a total nonsense that there is still someone who in the last twenty years has never heard of the Danish singer-songwriter Thorbjorn Risager and The Black Tornado, an artist who has, repeatedly, in this first part of the century, produced records of great value and staure, showing off not only talent in industrial quantities but also an eclectic and extensive musical background that is rarely easy to find, in the context of contemporary music of the century that we are currently experiencing.