ALBUM REVIEWS Archives - Page 2 of 4

April 21, 2025 Jason Shrum

Sweet Mylo Just Got Sweeter

Sweet Mylo was a band I bumped into as I was just starting to check out the local Nashville music scene. I went to see my friend Ian Brice of Loose Bolts play in East Nash and this is where I met the duo. Sweet Mylo is an indie-pop band formed by husband-and-wife Kevin Jones and Grace Melody Jones. I was mesmerized by the group from beginning to end. This week they will be releasing a new album (officially their first, as I would learn). The band will also be playing a live show at the Historic Stonewall to promote the project. Historic Stonewall, in the heart of Gallatin, Tennessee’s downtown district, has been standing iconically since 1831. This architectural wonderment has been a silent spectator to the evolution of the community around it for almost 200 years and serves as an event space and music venue. Almost one year ago to the day I got to ask the band about their formation, their process and the future of Sweet Mylo. Enjoy!

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April 3, 2025 Jason Shrum

Kenya Eugene Finds Her Truth With New EP

The music is more complex than just reggae. It’s more of an amalgamation of various platforms that one can clearly hear with all her projects. A quote I found on Kribbean.com from Kenya seems to summarize my interpretation. “Because of my Caribbean heritage and musical influences I gravitate towards a number of genres, which you can hear in my music. I consider myself to be more of an international artist, although I am a balladeers at heart, you can hear musical influences such as reggae, r&b, pop, and soul in my work”.

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March 9, 2025 Jason Shrum

Echo Pilot’s Record Release at The ’58

Let me start by saying that Punk Rock is Not Dead! I was so enamored by the garb of some of the people at the show on this night. Leather pants, mohawks, shredded jackets of jean and leather, platformed boots, piercings and tattoos glistened across the room. I was on the cusp of being the oldest in this space and basked in all these 20-something-year-olds who knew the music of the past and are now carrying the torch for the future. One kid literally had on a jacket with the phrase “Punk Rock Is Not Dead” sewn onto the back. While “heroin-sheik” has been replaced with High Noon Hard Seltzers (not a bad thing) the rawness of rock is still alive. This wasn’t necessarily a punk rock music show, but the sense was

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December 16, 2024 Jason Shrum

Top 5 Records of the Year

Another year has passed, and we were once again treated to so many great new albums. I just hope that 2025 presents us with as much music enrichment as these last 365 days. I am attempting to list my Top 5 records of 2024 and in doing so I have scratched out so many, then rewritten some of those deleted mentions and then re-rewritten the entire list multiple times. Each time that I have done so I have compiled an original listing once again

ALBUM REVIEWS FEATURED MUSIC NEWS

December 6, 2024 Jason Shrum

Kim Deal Sails Alone

It’s a very personal and reflective album that showcases her range of musical platforms. Tracks jump from slower orchestral driven sonatas to energetic pop songs, which might distract some listeners. However, it is ultimately her journey and we are just the onlookers. It reads as fragments, which I think is fantastic.

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November 26, 2024 Jason Shrum

Love Courtney 🖤

On March 14th, 1995, my friend Josh Kaye and I grabbed tickets to go see Hole at The Edge in Orlando, Florida. It was one of the first shows that Courtney Love and her band played after the death of her husband, Kurt Cobain, nearly one year earlier. This was the closest I could get to seeing Kurt and Nirvana and I was super excited to see the show. To see Courtney, and no, I don’t think she had anything to do with his death. I think that conspiracy makes people feel better about the untimely death of our John Lennon. Like, he didn’t leave us, he was taken away.

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November 8, 2024 Jason Shrum

Melancholy Goes Up To 11

Since 1978, when The Cure formed, they have always seemed older to me than they really were, but now they are older and the insight that they have ingested is recognizable more than ever. It took 16 years to make this album because they wanted it to be right. We know that Robert Smith craves perfection as do all the great artists and he didn’t want to just give the world “something”. He wanted to give then “everything”, and in this album he showed us his heart. He cares. He always has. However, over the last few years he has lost more than ever and it’s transparent in these eight songs.