Last Resort US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Artsfest from Akron-based outfit Lemon Friends is the latest album from a group that meets to jam together once a week with "gas station snacks and various instruments to see where the night takes them." The members have worked totters in some capacity for years even though this project is rather new and that show sin the tightness of their interplay and the freeform nature of their expressive musical ideas. They are unrestrained by time or genre in what they do as they mix up Fender Rhodes, upright bass, vibraphone, guitar and saxophone over delicate drum work.

Review: G. S. Schray's new solo album, Whispered Something Good, brings with it musical growth and offers a fitting soundtrack for daydreamers and adventurers alike. The album begins in the darkness of 'Unlit Center' with elliptical jazz guitar phrases. Double bass, synthesiser, and piano converse in 'In Tears Twice A Page,' leading to the reflective 'Another Haunted Mirror.' Synth mist and trumpet cut through decisively like sunlight. As the album progresses, firmer rhythms emerge, with 'Prelude for Probably' featuring triumphant drums and horns. The album closes with 'Gone in Amber,' an instrumental art-pop piece exploring distant birdsong and faint synth flickers. Listening to Whispered Something Good is like delving into an imagination, where subliminal melodies bloom into rhisomatic musical shapes.