Label: Love Letters Ink
Album: Just Once EP
Artist: How To Dress Well
Genre: R&B, Instrumental, Pop
Something about How To Dress Well's Just Once EP feels strangely familiar. Likely because it's characterized by the haze of a dream, the sentimentality of distant memories, the solemnness of death and the bittersweetness of remembering those who are lost. All four songs on the EP are very soft and mellow as if they were made to bypass cognition and speak straight to your soul. "Suicide Dream 1" sounds so angelic and otherworldly, it feels less like a morbid suicide and more like a blissful meeting with the eternal. Then incomes the sorrowful violin of "Suicide Dream 2" and the desperation in the lyrics "no air, no air, no air." The only new track on the EP, "Suicide Dream 3," was written by How To Dress Well's Tom Krell after he unexpectedly lost his best friend last fall. Along with writing a song solely about the incident, Tom wrote in new verses to the other songs which have been featured on previous albums to tell a complete story. The fourth and last track, "Decisions," wraps up the EP with the decision to enjoy life and be happy for the time we do have here on Earth. Just Once EP feels like one of the most trying yet peaceful emotional journeys ever to be embarked upon.
Label: Wilshire District
Album: Lift Ya Hands Hy
Artist: Hymnlayas
Genre: Hip Hop
Excuse my informality but this album is legitttt! "The military tested me before they perfected me... Able to drop verses at a thousand mile projectory," raps Jay Lee in "Gift of Gab" and the gift of gab he has! This is a MUST listen for hip hop lovers. And even if you're not particularly fond of the genre, rhymes this clever may threaten to change your opinion forever. With a name like Hymnlayas, an album titled Lift Ya Hands Hy and an opening track called "The Love," you'd swear it was a religion-influenced album. And it is--if your religion is hip-hop and your love is for witty rhymes. It's not all about the rhymes, though. The beats on this album are as funky and feel-good as they come.
Hymnlayas is comprised of Tommy Lift and DJ Hylanda who were the producers of the album. "The Love" features Reach on the verses and "Gift of Gab" as previously stated, features Jay Lee of Heet Mob. Also on the album are instrumentals of the two songs and an interlude to separate them.
Label: Me and the Machine Records
Album: Tall Tales
Artist: Adam Burrows
Genre: Folk
Tall Tales will make your heart melt like butter over a warm stack of country mornin' pancakes. Every once in a while we come across an artist who knows how to perfectly captivate the little things in life and recreate them so vividly in listeners' imaginations. This time, it's Adam Burrows. In his sweet, boyish Nashville twang Adam sings, "as usual we talked about selling off everything that we own, we could live our lives in a way that prioritized moments like those," on the album's third track "Moments Like Those." As if that isn't adorable enough, Adam has a couple tracks on the album written specifically for the ladies in his life. Such is the case in "San Diego Sally," a song about a boy missing his big sister who moved to west coast to pursue her dreams and "Me and Olivia," a tribute to the struggles of a relationship and the closeness that amounts from them. His very folksy sound makes this album appealing to country fans and indie fans alike. This is the second of Adam's albums, both of which are entirely self-written and recorded in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.
