Valaska, the performing name for the solo effort of frontman Dave Valdez, brings a show-gazer indie effort for his first full-length release. It’s instrument rich (think ukeleles, strings, flutes), which makes the effort hard to drop into a category, but it’s easy to describe: bland. “On The Surface”, the album’s opening track, is bare bones and sounds like what a pop-core band would do when asked to record an acoustic version of one of their songs. Jump over to “In Voids” and, if it weren’t for Valdez’s tone, you’d think you were listening to a track Randy Newman wrote for the next Disney film. The problem with all of it is that it’s just a little too ho-hum. It sways like you would if you were a buoy in the ocean, but if the wind never got over 10 mph. It’s not enough salt and pepper, but it’s certainly not unseasoned. It’s Grant Wood’s American Gothic incarnate. Some more spice would do the record well.
Features
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Two years since the release of Hands Like Houses' latest album, 'Anon,' the band should be on the road supporting the release. Instead, the band has leveraged their local presence, government help, and new platforms like Patreon to stay afloat in the COVID-age.
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Not Dead... Yet
After canning the entire album in 2015, Righteous Vendetta is ready to release 'Not Dead Yet' and prove they're still thriving. We recently got to sit down with Ryan Hayes, vocalist of Righteous Vendetta, to discuss the band's upcoming album, life in the Mountain West, and how the pandemic has him venturing into country music songwriting.
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The Pop-Punk Silver Lining
"I would hope from all of this madness we will come out of it and we're better equipped to understand and have compassion for each other." Releasing a new album during an historical epoch is certainly unique, and, for Neck Deep's 'All Distortions are Intentional,' the band looks to the future with a hopeful – and, yes, unique – approach.
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The Haunting Sound of Hope
"Ever Eden has been this perfect culmination of us realizing what our journey has been and how to aim that as a message for other people." After years of introspection and coming-of-age, Ever Eden has embraced their own struggles, as haunting as it may feel, to create a community that's turned out to be much larger than the band itself.
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