Day: January 5, 2024

Appleton, WI solo outfit Strategic has returned with yet another proper album after several years of wandering between a collection of children’s songs and a Christmas album. While the project’s early work was closer to pop punk and alt rock, the new songs flirt with adult contemporary, jazz, folk, and even hints of classic rock. All in all, it’s quite a deviation from previous albums. These songs are years in the making, and it’s interesting to here the finished result put to tape. This is a 13-track album which runs over 50 minutes, perhaps the longest Strategic album to date.… Continued →

While the alternative rock revolution was exploding all over the 90s, another musical genre was becoming ever more expansive in the same decade–electronica. Faith-based artists were pursuing new subgenres from house to techno/rave to EBM and lots of other styles. One pioneering artist in the house genre was Rhythm Saints, comprised of husband Stephen Nixon and wife Lee-Jane Nixon. Although Stephen was British born, the couple were based in Los Angeles, whence their inspiration for this track emerges. While most of the album channeled house and progressive house sounds, this track (incidentally the only one I could find from their debut via YouTube) dabbles pleasantly in ambient as well.… Continued →