This week, I’ve been listening to Zero Hour quite a bit. They have an interesting sound that is much like Soundgarden. On this track “The Greatest” has a strong opening guitar part that reminds me of late 80s arena rock, like AC/DC. It builds slowly at first, then drops the shoe, ready to punch you in the eye.
The five-peice mixes classic rock and progressive in an interesting, strong blend that’s great for the gym or for short sprints (running or racing, your choice). The tracks on this album show a good range and variety, always centering on the story of the lyrics, highlighting the harmonies with solid axe play. It’s a really good production. New Mexico is a long way off, So I’m hoping that they tour the East Coast sometime. If you like your riffs a bit harder than what you hear in this track, be sure to listen to “Another Nail”.

I completely stumbled onto Alexa Ray Joel, and liked what I was hearing, before it started to dawn on me exactly *who* I was hearing. I have a feeling that this is the kind of thing she would prefer from new fans.

This is the first single from her second album, her first featured her own artwork, and sampled herwide range from folk/country to alt-pop, and into jazz. This track would sit gingerly in the pop-jazz area. Reminiscient of Corrine Bailey Rae and Billie Holiday, The writing has strong hooks and the arrangements are balanced.

As stated above, I got into the track for a while before finding out more about who she is. The tipoff to some of you would have been the Joel surname. She’s the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley.