A Chicago-born, but Nashville-raised boy, Kyle Andrew’s music has a little pop and a little boost to lift you up when you are down.

Kyle Andrews’ newest song and probably biggest hit, “You Always Make Me Smile,” was filmed for his fans to see at one of many victories to beat the Genius World Record for biggest water balloon fight!

check out the official music video:

and the making of it:

If you cannot get “You Always Make Me Smile” out of your head and are dying to have the song like I was, Kyle is giving a remix of it away to his fans on his web page.

The band, which has been formed since April of this year, still has a small following on both Youtube and Myspace. However, they have several things going for them.

Steel Trees is a three-piece grunge/alternative rock ‘n’ roll band from South Yorkshire. They are currently booking a UK tour with other UK bands like “Japanese Voyeurs” who appear to be doing much better with attaining audiences. The band is also recording with Jason Sanderson who has worked with Chickenhawk, Rolo Tomassi,Cocean, G.U.M.

However, Steel Trees’ new video “Sick,” is probably the best thing they have going for them right now. Whoever they had film and edit this video did a fabulous job and I recommend any and all who are interested in this genre of music check out the video. It is classic and simple, but more than there myspace songs, this video really got me pumped to hear this band live. “Sick” gives me hope that Steel Trees really is better live than they are on their myspace. Maybe, they should work on mastering their recordings.

check out “Sick.” It is in fact sick.

I am interested to see how far this band will grow in this upcoming year. This is a time for them to make it or break it. They have talent, which obviously needs to be refined in areas they need to keep pushing social media to get new fans.

Steven’s act, although over dramatized, has caused him to be an American hero to the hardships of many American jobs. With all this commotion, many artists have been hurrying to capture the story of a bizarre hero, Stevie Slater (as lead-singer of local band, Imagine Dragons like to call him).

Quickly after the news of Stevie’s bold quit, Imagine Dragons wrote this song:

This song and Stevie’s story might just be the beginning of the phrase going “jet blue”. No more going postal, we’re going jet blue.

Imagine Dragons hoped to introduce more people to their music, by capturing such a fascinating and viral story. A clever idea, might I add. Other artists and companies are doing the same thing.

Noah Needleman, did the same thing with his Jet Blue blues:

Here is a mark of active artists– when they are writing about viral news that is going on today. I wish both these bands the best of luck in getting more fans. Find new artists and upcoming artists when you search for “Stevie” Slater.

“Matt Beilis‘s new album sounds polished but live at the same time, which is a tough balance to strike. He manages to be both catchy and soulful, two of the best elements of good pop music.” –Ryan Dusick of Maroon 5

Here is a cover of Bruno Mars’ new song “Just the way you are.” This rendition amazed me and caught my attention. It demonstrates how Matt Beilis‘s sound connects the popularity of pop music to the soulful-rock-sound that makes it his own.

Check Matt Beilis out at his website http://www.mattbeilis.com/ and see for yourself the talent of this new up-and-coming artist.

Here are the choruses for each of these songs:

Just the Girl:

Cause she’s bittersweet
She knocks me off of my feet
And I can’t help myself
I don’t want anyone else
She’s a mystery
She’s too much for me
But I keep comin’ back for more
She’s just the girl I’m lookin’ for

Catch Your Wave:

Hey girl,I wanna catch your wave
Hey girl,I wanna drift away with you
Hey girl,you’ve got an undertow
Hey girl,hey girl don’t wanna let you go

Flipside:

Waiting for the day when I’m complete
Without you I’m doing what I can to let you be
Making sure there’s nothing showing on the outside
Something’s dying on the inside
I’m still broken but I’m free
I’ll see you on the flipside

Check out this band and you may fall in love with the music!

Parlor Hawk “Every Bone” from The Occidental Saloon on Vimeo.

To be completely honest, the first time I heard Parlor Hawk, I was not really impressed. My brother brought home their new cd Hoarse and Roaring and I tried to listen through it multiple times but would have to stop after the first few songs, because I felt like each song had the exact same tempo and feel to it. Hence, I was inspired or impressed…but my brothers raved about the band. So, I gave them yet another chance.

And after seeing the above music video of “Every Bone,” in which I felt of the band’s fervent folk fusion, I completely changed my mind. Parlor Hawk is a remarkable band and they are going somewhere and already have.

Their music is touching with its tender and yet tremendous truth. I cannot imagine a better name for their first album, which released June 15th, than Hoarse and Roaring. Their music is both soft spoken and yet piercing with its intimacy, just as the album cover suggests. When you see the band in their music video, you really do sense and feel a part of their passion for what their music is relaying.

Chase Larson perfectly described Parlor Hawk’s new album when he said:

“Listening to ‘Hoarse and Roaring‘ is like driving alone down a long, open road off into a sunset tinged landscape, leaving plenty of time to contemplate life’s hopes and struggles.”

I would just add that the flow of the album may be a little too contemplatative, causing the driver to either lose focus of the road or to drift off into dreaming.

Parlor Hawk is still a mystery to me though. I tried to learn a little bit more about their forming of the band and honestly didn’t find much. Here’s what I found:

Parlor Hawk is a local Utah band, which originally started as the band Moses until 2009 when they changed their name and their music. The band consists of Drew Capener, TJ Nokleby, Andrew Dyer, Mark Garbett, and Jay Tibbitts. The band now has two record labels with the help of Joshua James, and they are busy sharing their soul symphonies to others in Ohio, California, Las Vegas, and so on.

This talented Americana Folk-rock band appears to be really down to earth and friendly. Most of the band, if not all of them, are married and have families. I read an interview about them in which they all had a great sense of humor too. Although their music is sensitive and serious, the band is all really down to earth.

Parlor Hawk is an attractive band, both physically and musically. I’m excited to see what this band will accomplish in the next little while. I expect them to continue to get better and to bring more juicy musical fruit to us in the near future . I only suggest, that the band work a little on the format and flow of their next album, so as to show their true talent.

The National have more than mastered this art.

With last month’s release of their newest album, High Violet, the band proved that with their mature music sound and humble lyrics they deserve both the hipster’s affection and the huge national hype they have amassed.

High Violet opens with the powerful “Terrible Love” that sets the same standard for the album that “Fake Empire” did for their last album “Boxer”. The song about insomnia and self destruction has an eery buzz to it that reminds listeners how Middle-America the band truly is.

“Blood Buzz Ohio” is a deal sealer on the album for me. The gloomy sound accompanied by Matt Berninger’s haunting baritone voice forced me to listen to the 5-minute song on repeat for an hour (no joke).

Rarely would I believe that a band that will tour Europe three times this year would ever understand the financial woes of a middle-class working man. “I still owe money on the money on the money I owe,” and I buy everything they sing about hook line and sinker.

If you like the sound of The National’s newest album keep checking back to Underground Music Reviews.

Josh Ritter’s music has feeling. It has zest. It has sensitivity. It has truth. It has a clean and comforting feel attached to it. Josh Ritter has your feel good music.

Wondering which exact songs I should share with you I struggle to make my answer concise and think you need to check out two of his albums, Animal Years and The Historical Conquests. I have too many favorite songs, but I feel like both of these cd’s are complete and legit. I might even come out and just say that Animal Years, may be an almost flawless and for sure brilliant album. If you don’t believe me, listen for yourself. And The Historical Conquests (which I have not listened to as much as Animal Years because of its newness) has some extraordinary songs.

The thing about Josh Ritter is that he isn’t just an amazing lyricist and he isn’t just an amazing composition-ist…but he has this conglomeration with both in his music that is right on.

Ritter is an Idaho-born singer/songwriter and his roots may be the reason for his folk, alternative country rock (don’t worry he isn’t real country. I can’t stand country but obviously I LOVE him). Interestingly enough, both his parents were nueroscientists and before his music career, Ritter, himself was studying to become a nueroscientist. So pretty much what I am trying to say is that he is smart.

Have you ever heard of a lute?! yeah. Those things that people use to play during Shakespeare’s time; the one’s with like 15-24 strings. Well, Ritter started his music career playing one of these that his dad made! Talk about a musical start. Josh Ritter now also plays both the acoustic and electric guitar and the piano. He is the main man to his music. He writes it all, but as the movie below will tell you, he is open to suggestions from his behind the scenes band.

But please, for your and my and all of humanities sake- Don’t let that video be your only taste of Josh Ritter. Check his music out on his myspace and make sure you check out his new song: Change of Time. Have a Josh Ritter good day.