Sun Drenched by Justin James
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Kind of a nice relaxed sound. Pop, beachy. It seems his whole theme is kind of beachy. The name of the CD, the photo on the cover, the first song is “California” and the website is full of photos of he and others outside in the sun. The music sure does match though.
His bio is very interesting. Canadian born, he got tired of the cold and moved to warmer climes. While surfing he was bit by a shark that took OFF his foot. They were able to reattach it, and during his recovery time learned the guitar.
His voice is soothing and suits the music perfectly. His lyrics show he’s a bit more intelligent than you might expect your average surfer boy to be. You know, Surfer Dudes are not Shakespeare, but they don’t need to be.
I like this record. Probably not something I would listen to everyday, but it’s good. If you are into this type of music you will love it.
No Return from Snockville by Billy Sharff
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Sharff has a realy funky bluesy sound, which does not seem to match what he looks like at all.
His voice is cool on the first track, but I don’t know what’s going on with track 2, it sounds like he’s trying to suppress the hiccups. I don’t care for it.
Luckily this is not evident on all the songs, his voice is actually pretty cool.
All around, I’d say he’s a very talented man. On this record alone he plays acoustic and electric guitar, tenor and alto sax, flute, clarinet, violin, ukulele, bass guitar, keyboard, percussion and oh yeah, he sings too. He also wrote and produced the whole record. Crazy, man! Not to mention he also is a photographer and filmmaker.
Yep, talented indeed.
Extra Credit by Yoni
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I don’t think I am Yoni’s demographic. He’s a young’un and says that his songs are “about that transition between the fun college experiences I had and the realization that it’s time to face the real world” I think I did that about *cough* years ago. Or maybe some would say I still have not. Either way, I can’t say that I can relate necessarily on a personal level, but the songs are good.
The melodies are catchy and his voice is nice. His bio says he is a “The Real Life School of Rock” teacher. He teaches songwriting and a garage band workshop. Too cool!
He’s had his songs licensed for TV shows (including some on MTV) so it sounds like he’s doing great. It’s fun music.