Bob Fish

On Just Rain, Jessica’s Brother have created something much larger than the sum of its various parts in which everything is not exactly what it seems.

Featuring 41 artists & 130 musicians, Highway Butterfly: The Music of Neal Casal gives us a new look at music that should never have been taken quite so casually, it’s a legacy that deserves to be heard over and over again.

The Magic Lantern has created a work that will end up on many end-of-the-year lists. The songs on A Reckoning Bell stand out in their capacity to both communicate and transform expectations. Few albums today do both so well.

Mr. Alec Bowman_Clarke’s “A Place Like Home” establishes that he is an artist of extraordinary depth, exposing the inner voices, thoughts and terrors of his own human frailty.

Solely, is the second album from Natalie Jane Hill. She exposes herself on a level that many of us would choose not to. That she has the bravery to bare it all makes it a remarkably mature work.

Not a lot of music holds the determination and depth Darragh O’Dea shows on Tilly and the Postmaster. This is a disc for anyone who appreciates the power of music – to expose, to endure and in the end, to provide hope.

With Geist, Shannon Lay continues to entrance listeners, layering her voice in ways that almost lull us with their lush layers of sound. “Geist” itself is German for spirit, and it permeates this collection of songs, offering hope and assurance.

Phenomenology is the sound of a musician seeking to stretch beyond the bounds of expectation. The Mining Co. is taking journeys into the unknown, which is the best that can be said of any artist.

Ashley Shadow’s voice seems able to transform the bleak moments on Only the End. She has reached a place of acceptance, where the world is not so overbearing…a woman on a journey.

While Tony Kamel appears to have a healthy sense of respect for traditions, Back Down Home doesn’t kowtow to any particular genre, making it all the richer an experience.

While some may call Heavy Elevator a burst of fresh air, it seems more like a gale-force wind. Hawk seems to be the man of the moment and he feels up to the task of taking music into places it hasn’t often gone before.

There are rare coins indeed lurking in Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection, the kind most people dream about but never actually find. He has a gift for merging forms and styles in ways that simply transform the musical landscape.