Taking The Road to Cairo... Unnoticed
Like David Ackles, some artists don't reach a wider audience, even though they should
Artist’s artist is a term that keeps on cropping up, usually signifying, in this case, a musician/songwriter who comes up with music and songs that other musicians/songwriters simply love (and cover), while the wider audience simply doesn’t notice them in numbers that they certainly deserve.
Late David Ackles only recorded four albums between 1968 and 1973, turned to acting was a professor of Drama and Music at Oregon State University, and worked with numerous companies across the country as a director, performer, and consultant.
His music, described as “recalling to mind Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin, Robbie Robertson, Tim Hardin, and Scott Walker was covered so many times, yet his albums proper, even after numerous reissues remain a thing of cult fandom and material for other musicians to study.
J. McFarlane’s Reality Guest - Precious Boy
Is trip hop alive and well? J. or Julia McFarlane and her reality guest prove that ‘the thing’ is still real, just changing shape and adopting new, in this case very listenable moves.
Norah Jones - Running
Jones just has that songwriting and vocal style you simply cannot miss or skip to something else. It is just that combination of pop and jazz, or whatever other genre she adds to it (which she often does) that just sticks to your ear(s).
The Hails - Stay
This quintet took their bedroom pop ethic to a big studio and expanded their sound in the right manner with some yacht rock touches to go along, and it turned into a success. No wonder they decided to expand and refresh their album from 2023.
Lindsay Lomis - Handle With Care
If you are still not sure what a modern pop song should sound like and make it with a wider audience, take a listen to this track, with Lomis taking all the right cues from Billie Eilish and/or Olivia Rodrigo, without turning into a copycat in any way.
CHUCK - Nothing Matters to Me
Of course, CHUCK is Charles, in this case Charles Gibson Griffin, an American filmmaker living in Oslo, Norway, who decided to try his hand at music too. On the evidence of this one, he should certainly continue.
Marcus King - F*ck My Life Up Again
Guitar virtuoso Marcus King decides to add some strong words to his sweet combination of soul, blues, and R&B, and as is usually the case with his music the results are something that should be labeled as ‘must hear.’
Asha Jeffries - Brand New Bitch
Australian singer Jeffries shows (again) that there is something so soulful in her voice and music, and, along the way, that soul as such is quite a universal musical genre.
Cadet Carter - Let It Go
Munich, Germany post-punk quartet sticks to their, well, post-punk tendencies and delivers a snappy piece of this time around, more power pop stuff, that begs the spring to hurry up.
Tish Melton - Damage
At 17 years of age, you can call singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Melton a prodigy, something Brandi Carlisle, her producer easily recognized.
levitation room - Revelations
These guys from L.A. like their rock the more old-fashioned psychedelic way, and when they give it just some modern studio updates here, who is to blame them?
James Clarke Five - Gadfly Groove
Well, there were maybe five people around when this was recorded, but James Clarke Five is just one James Hughes, who also doubled as a keyboard player for The Cherry Boys back in the eighties. Here he proves he still has it.
Eddy Lee Ryder - Sweet Delusions
Ryder has that sweeping, almost baroque pop sound characteristic of say, Lana Del Ray, that, when composed and presented well, practically works every time. And it certainly does here.
The Eighty Six Seas - Ghost in the Cityscape
This one comes from an album that deals with the mass art theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. An interesting concept in itself, that could have gone to waste if not executed well, but it seems that in the hands of one Nick Stevens who stands behind this moniker, it works.
Newmoon - Crazing
They love their shoegaze in Antwerp, but so do they around the world, as the genre that was predicted quick death lives on, and for quite a good reason when it is as good as this.
UTO - Art & Life
This electro-pop duo seems to like that art element in the title of this song as they add quite a bit of art pop to this electro ditty, reminiscent (in a right way) of early eighties electro pioneers.
Flung - Lilac
Flung is Oakland-based multi-instrumentalist Kashika Kollaikal who also operates in the electro-pop realm, with some quite unique touches added within to make it a unique musical proposition.
Alvidrez - Garden of Forgotten Things
Switching from California to Glasgow, Scotland is quite a change, and for Alvidrez, it was possibly the perfect element to add a sense of spirituality to their music that takes almost grandiose proportions here.
Houses of Heaven - Within/Without
You don’t have to be a big fan of industrial/techno stuff to enjoy what this Oakland band does here, as their songwriting is strong enough not to be overshadowed by electronics and beats.
Julien Chang - Home For The Moment
Chang is one of those singer-songwriters who simply has that touch that works and doesn’t need any excessive instrumentation or arrangements to get their message across in the right manner.
Kitty Coen - cadillac
Coen might work out of Nashville, but her sound perhaps has more to do with rock and Western out of that Country & Western term, as she sounds like a true film buff who knows what she’s doing.
Taking The Road to Cairo... Unnoticed - playlist by zivkovic-nl | Spotify