Rozwell, Delta, Del Rey

Rozwell Kid

Rozwell Kid – Dylan, Don’t Do It

Rozwell Kid – Rocket

Jordan Hudkins is very straightforward about his solo project, Rozwell Kid. His mission? “To create the kind of music I love listening to, release it into the wild, and hope it finds an audience who can relate to my passion for thick, noisy power-pop.” Those are Hudkins’ words, and if they’re not convincing enough for you then take a listen to his free full-length debut, The Rozwell Kid LP. It can be downloaded via his Bandcamp here. His passion for the concisely infectious form of power-pop traces back to the early ’90s, when Hudkins was not even ten years old. Age isn’t a criteria for enjoying Weezer’s Blue Album, and like Hudkins I fell in love with that album at a similar age in adolescence. The big-time hooks, sonorous guitar licks, and climactic percussive build-ups trademark of early Weezer releases are prominent on Rozwell Kid’s LP, even though his voice sounds deeper and more relaxed than Rivers Cuomo’s trademark nasal. The guitars tend to be slightly more aggressive as well, making the result a cross somewhere between Weezer, Pavement, and Teenage Fanclub. Rozwell Kid is a smörgåsbord of what made early ’90s power-pop and punk so memorable. Few artists today can emulate the sound as well, where the hooks tout a freshness and determinable flow absent from pop music today. The brilliant “Dylan, Don’t Do It” is a precise example of this. (Mike Mineo)

Bandcamp / Tumblr

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Big Black Delta

Big Black Delta – Capsize

Big Black Delta – IFUCKINGLOVEYOU

Big Black Delta – The Zebrah

This guy make some epic music. Credited as a solo project of Mellowdrone vocalist and bassist Jonathan Bates, Big Black Delta runs in the same vein as the very talented Anthony Gonzalez, a.k.a. M83. It’s fitting that they two of them collaborated on the remix to “Fall” on TRON Legacy: R3C0NF1GUR3D. Bates has an EP and a few singles, but some gems include the originals “IFUCKINGLOVEYOU”, “The Zebrah” and “Capsize”, the TRON Legacy remix and his most recent remix of M83’s “Midnight City” from the upcoming double album, Hurry Up We’re Dreaming. (Jay Mattson)

Official Site / MySpace / BUY

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Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey – Video Games

Oh boy. What a girl. Lana Del Rey could easily be thrown into the same category as Adele, Lily Allen or Amy Winehouse (let’s hope I never have to mention her again), but she’s so much more than that. Hailing from New York City, Del Rey is a reincarnation of the female crooners of decades past (think Linda Ronstadt, Nancy Sinatra, etc.) Her first single, “Video Games” is absolutely astounding, not only from a vocal perspective, but also because of her impeccable arrangements. “Video Games” is being released as a double A-side single with “Blue Jeans” in October. This is just the beginning of the phenomenon I know Lana Del Rey will be. (Jay Mattson)

Official Site / MySpace / BUY

Mike Mineo

I'm the founder/editor of Obscure Sound, which was formed in 2006. Previously, I wrote for PopMatters and Stylus Magazine.

Send your music to [email protected].

7 Comments

  1. I know, right? 😀 I only had Soundcloud stats to gauge how well-received a featured artist was the past two weeks.

    it was a simple MySQL error… all I had to do was type the query “repair table wp_comments” the entire time. it took me a week to figure this out! that sort of technical stuff certainly isn’t my expertise.

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