"Chansons" by VX-323 (Electronica Artist from Oregon(OR))

This is one CD review where I will not have to worry about hurting the singer's feelings. No, it's not that The VX-323 is heartless – well, strike that. The VX-323 is, in fact, heartless: he / she – it, is a robot. That's right. The VX-323 is a "voice synthesis android," programmed to provide vocals for the 9 tracks of electronica / Euro-pop that comprises the fascinating album, "Chansons." Its back story is reason enough to check out The VX-323, but beyond that is the fact that the music, encompassing classic electronica grooves & effects inspired by the likes of Kraftwerk & Depeche Mode, andcountless dance-oriented works of the '80's, so perfectly fits the theme of a robot and its role in a human-centric world. Employing different "voices" (an English-accented yuppie on "Billion Dollar Condo;" a Barry White-like narrator trading off with an Eddie Murphy-in-white-voice clone on "Hey Baby;" a disembodied PA announcer on "Commuter Flight," etc.), The VX-323 "sings" songs about work, humans and technology from the non-human perspective. Funny, clever, thought-provoking, and musically satisfying as a collection of Euro-infused synth-pop songs, The VX-323's debut CD, "Chansons," must be heard to be believed.

-Rice B. & the RadioIndy Reviewer team
Check out The VX-323's music on RadioIndy.com with link to purchase and links to popular sites

"Bondi Blue (Music from the Underwater Bondi Experience" by John Simmons (Electronic Artist from Australia)

The terms lush, orchestral, mysterious, soothing & atmospheric all come to mind when referring to John Simmons' new CD, "Bondi Blue (Music from the Underwater Bondi Experience)," a thematic, New Age-like album built on overlaid synthesizers and electronica-framed soundscapes. All 11 instrumental tracks of "Bondi Blue" are titled to reflect the deep sea experience (the music was composed specifically for the Underwater Bondi Experience in Australia), and Simmons is more than up to the task of fitting music to the images his song titles evoke. CD-opener, "Into the Surf," with its lush, melodic sweep, suggests the ambience of a windswept ocean at dawn; "Deep Rocky Reef," more jagged & imposing, hints at the dangers that lurk in unfathomable depths; "Blueness" explores limitless shallows & its intrinsic natural beauty; and "Underwater," with its orchestral strains of epic proportion, calls forth the sea's mystery and its inscrutable wonder. For fans of instrumental, chill out and New Age music, John Simmons' CD, "Bondi Blue (Music from the Underwater Bondi Experience)" is as timeless as the sea it celebrates.

-Rice B. & the RadioIndy Reviewer Team
Check out John Simmons's music on RadioIndy.com with link to purchase and links to popular sites

Win one of 5 new autographed Fender Guitars by Michael Behm

Win one of 5 new autographed Fender Guitars by Michael Behm
Help me pick the new Michael Behm single!!!
You guys are way smarter than any record company.
Email your choice to me at the below link and you can win one of 5 Fender guitars.
A winner will be picked each week starting Sept 10/09

The three songs choices are
Where I Belong
APPLE In Her Hand
Don’t Throw Our Love Away
http://www.reverbnation.com/michaelbehmmusiccom

"Ten Pennies Make a Dime" by Fred Prellberg (Rock Artist from Illinois(IL))

Playing with '60's & '70's rock forms like a kitten unraveling a ball of yarn, Fred Prellberg reveals a host of vaunted influences on his most recent CD, "Ten Pennies Make a Dime." Opening with a rock salvo copping The Pirates' classic "Shakin' All Over" guitar riff, "No Man's Land" devolves into a MC5-like rock jam, underscoring the album's core rock 'n roll ethos. Elsewhere, "Mari Tamed the Mountain Lion" and the ironic "Lie" sport decidedly melodic, post-Beatles pop-rock grooves, "Hands of God," with its careening Hammond organ backing, comes across like an adrenaline-fueled, '60's garage band hyped up on Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," and the cinematic "Tornado Alley" feels like a less-than-subtle tribute to the grandiosity of Springsteen's "Born to Run" lp. "Real Real Wild," a pure rockabilly tune with some Jordanaires-like backing and Carl Perkins-worthy accompaniment, shows the breadth of "Ten Pennies'" influences, while album closer, "The World Today" (dedicated to the late cult figure, Nikki Sudden), brings it all home with an Ian Hunter-like rocker as Prellberg & band leave the song (and album) hanging on an unresolved chord. Despite the many influences, however, Fred Prellberg's "Ten Pennies Make a Dime" CD is as cohesive as it is original, a studied exercise with literate and insightful lyrics that declares the album is more about the author's artistic vision than its many influences.

-Rice B. and the RadioIndy.com Reviewer Team
Check out Fred Prellberg's music on RadioIndy.com with link to purchase and links to popular sites

"The Wall Street Recession Time Blues" by Dennis Angel Band (Jazz Artist from New York City, New York(NY))

Following in the grand tradition of sociopolitical topical songs, the Dennis Angel Band's new single (available as a download), "The Wall Street Recession Time Blues," is sure to strike a chord with many listeners touched – in one way or another, by the economic realities reflected in daily headlines across the country. In detailing the ongoing financial meltdown & its aftermath, trumpeter Dennis Angel's jazz ensemble have fashioned a big band-style blues tribute that's both ironic & funny, but no less direct & caustic. Crooner, DeForest Raphael's straightforward reading is classic vocal jazz &, given the subject matter, worthy of the Frazier Crane-like pomp with which he so appropriately informs his delivery. The arrangement is equally classic: the rhythm section of David Shaich (bass) & Mike Campenni (drums) sync expertly with the jazz chords of pianist Joel Mofsenson, as Angel & Gottfried Stoger (sax & flute) provide the kind of harmonic flourishes that make for great jazz. A triumph of composition & execution and timely as hell, "The Wall Street Recession Time Blues" by Dennis Angel Band is a terrific slice of vocal jazz.

-Rice B. & the RadioIndy Reviewer Team
Check out Dennis Angel Band 's music on RadioIndy.com with link to purchase and links to popular sites

"Naughty and Nice" by CRgruve (Rap/Pop Artist from Maine (ME))

CRgruve dishes up a collection of sharp R&B/Rap with a splash of Pop mixed in on their latest release, "Naughty and Nice." Not only are the songs smooth and silky as you will hear on "Lunar Dance" and "Water," but the vocals resonate with suave personality. CRgruve's witty character comes through with amusing lyrics on songs such as "Filfy (Father I'd Like to Freak)" and "Milf." With a driving beat and synth powered tones, "Trolling for Slop" hits the mark, but pay close attention to the lyrics as they are truly humorous and definitely one of a kind. Original and creative with dance floor abilities, these songs are groovin' to say the least. The musicality is excellent with a nice dynamic balance between vocals and instruments. Fans of R&B/Rap won't be disappointed when listening to CRgruve's entertaining album "Naughty and Nice."

-Diane and the RadioIndy.com Reviewer Team
Check out CRgruve's music on RadioIndy.com with link to purchase and links to popular sites

“Rock Impressions” Review Of Alessandro Bottura's Popular New “Morning Grooves” CD Out Now On Itunes

“Times are changed compared to 70s, 80s and 90s, music tries to derive benefits from the net. This modern weapon, indissolubly tied to computer, allows to been known and self-product oneself in the eyes of the whole world. Recording studios and producing companies are less and less useful, but that isn’t totally a negative side for music’s future. Thousands of musical talents all around the world, without internet, would have been remained anonymous. That’s the case of Alessandro Bottura, a local and valid multi-instrumentalist. Bottura loves to play mainly the bass and the way of playing recalls inexorably to the mind the name of Jaco Pastorius. So, we’re talking’ about a Rock Jazz with flashes of Fusion. Surely to the more attentive of you, Bottura’s name doesn’t sound new, and in fact Last.fm surely made it work.
The track “May Day Mayhem”, then, is topping the RadioIndy’s chart in America and the Reverbnation’s one here in Italy. This is why we can find “Morning Grooves” on Amazon.com, I-Tunes, CdBaby, Napster and much more websites of that kind. Internet is a stab in the back of the musical business because of wild downloading, but at the same time is an inexhaustible forge of brand new artists. “Out Of Sight” is a track that immediately displays the artist’s gifts and opens more than worthily the CD. Personally, I love very much the warm sound of the bass and this heats me inside, making me immediately endear this music. I don’t hide that I’ve been a big fan of the Canadian band Uzeb and those of you that knows them can understand what I mean for warm sound, even Bottura himself, I think. Jazz improvisation, good guitar solos and some nice drum roll, accompany the listening. And it’s not by chance that the second track has named “Mind, Passion & Instinct”, the real summary of “Morning Grooves”, valid more than a thousand words…But pay attention, we’re not listening to a self-celebratory record, although all the ingredients leads to that, there’s also heart and really melodic piano moments. There’s joy in “Quetzalcoatl”, so much that the foot starts to beat track rhythm by itself. Delightful is also the dynamism of the guitar in the final of “Deaf Kids’ Disco”, but, as I told before, the record star is “May Day Mayhem”. Dragging rhythm and explosive bass, it represents Alessandro Bottura’s present sound at his best.


All the record is very pleasant to be listened and flows away quickly in his nine tracks and fifty minutes. Surely, it isn’t all a bed of roses, let’s come to the faults (even if little), I think that sometimes there’s a need to dare more, for what concern the writing side. That’s giving a stylistic paw, too often (but that’s also a genre's fault) some deja-vus come to the mind. The second mole is a little critic, personally I’m still tied to certain canons, so that, for me, the artwork is still important, a completion of the whole work..and here things don’t go well at all. For everything else, boys, let’s give a listen to this new Italian artist, you won’t regret. Meanwhile, welcome and good luck to Alessandro Bottura”

- Massimo Salari for “Rock Impressions”