@@@ Richard Dawson & Circle: Lily (Domino, 2021) I don’t know how All Music slotted this as progressive metal as this track is pretty tepid punk/indie in the verse with a a deep voiced singer and not much of any metal signifiers. These are all big bangers, at least 6 minutes long. The singer is the star here, if you don’t like him you’re probably not going to like this record. I’m agnostic on his performance here, he’s weird and I dig that, and he busts out with some surprising melodies at certain points but he’s also rocking some pretty art school vibes which I’m not a fanboy of. I think the songs are long so he can get all his lyrics out which is fine but I’m going to need a hotter band to hang in for these lyrics. I’m giving the first track a shot just to be thorough but it’s not progressive metal, somebody gotta get their labels straight. It’s weird UK rock which is not as glamorous.
@@@ Alex Maheiros: Alto Verao (Far Out, 2021) Looks to be another mislabelling adventure from All Music as it’s slotted as funk but is really a Latin fusion jazz sound with a bit of old school ’70s funk, but not nearly enough to push this up into the funk arena proper. Malheiros is a guitar player and that looks like a Brazilian name so that would explain the title of the record Tempos Futuros. It’s pleasantly fusion-y but fusion-y strikes me like a big feather pillow and I’m looking for some Funkadelic hard business. It’s a tad snoozypants for me but if you dig the mellow tip get up on it!
Deep In the Music 