For decades now Mathew Sweet has been delivering consistent albums full of power pop-tinged rock and roll. His 1990s albums “Girlfriend,” “Altered Beast” and “100% Pure Fun” are now considered modern classics on par with The Beatles. Yeah, he is that good. For his 15th ever studio album “Catspaw” Mathew Sweet found himself completely alone. Every note on the 12 track near masterpiece was written, recorded, performed and mixed by Sweet himself. Yes, even the lead guitar parts. But this is not a lock down quarantine record where he had to do it all alone. This is an album he made solo by choice. The only thing he did not tackle on the release were the drums (Ric Menck handled that) and the mastering which was done by Bob Ludwig.

DC-Area native, Amanda Cunningham has just released her third single called “Pattern” on February 5. “Pattern” was co-written with Miranda Glory, who has had songs cut by Jesse McCartney and pitched her music to Usher as a 2020 contestant on NBC’s “Songland.” 

“Pattern” follows Amanda’s first two singles “Selfish Fool” and “Highlights of Youth”. Amanda’s first two singles are reminiscent of H.E.R. and Alicia Keys and you can clearly hear Amanda’s neo-soul influence. “Patterns” diverges slightly with a more acoustic-pop feel, but her soaring vocals remain strong and soulful. Amanda can definitely sang!

The Black Dog Prowl and Friends version of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band pays homage to the source material (which spent 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard charts in the U.S. in 1967) and the musicians (Lennon, McCartney, Starr, and Harrison) that spent the better part of four months recording what some consider to be the legitimization of pop music as an artform.

The coronavirus hit musicians hard in 2020,showing a steep decline in streamingnumbers as the revenue stream from gigs andlive concerts faced extinction as a result ofsocial distancing. For the world at large, mostbusinesses have already adapted in order toremain functional and maintain profits in2021. For the music industry, standing roomat venues may still be out of the question,concerning fans with how to stay up-to-datewith their favorite artists without seeing themlive or in-person.

If you haven’t heard of Stray Fossa yet, you’re missing out.

Stray Fossa is a band that started out in Sewanee, Tennessee. They took a bit of a break for some years, and met up in Richmond, VA and they have slowly becoming one of our favorite bands in the DMV area as of recent. They are made up of brothers Nick and Will Evans, and Zach Blount, who combine retro-synths and reverb layered guitar chords to create a sound that relaxes the listener while also leaving them wanting more.

Instead of hearing it from us, why don’t you check out the song above, and take a gander at our interview with them.

The genre-transcendent collective called Free Union just released a new song called “Somethin’.” The band is headed by vocalist Michael Coleman and drummer Rob Dunnenberger, with many other musicians featured on their first EP. If you haven’t heard them yet, you are in for an enormous treat.

Charlottesville-based Free Union describes their sound as something indescribable, a bit abstract. They want to represent not just one genre but the musical roots of each of the members, so the band happily traverses from r&b to pop, and doesn’t fit cleanly into any particular genre. Coleman hopes that “when you hear it, you won’t be able to keep from moving.”