Author: Shannon Shumaker

Review by Shannon Shumaker The masterful songwriting and storytelling in Laura Marling’s new full-length, Short Movie is beyond compare. From strong, the eerie opening of “Warrior” to the bright, beautiful string arrangement on “Feel Your Love,” Short Movie is a journey, and one you don’t want to miss. The album opens with a deep, beautiful acoustic guitar part and haunting vocals. The guitar work is intricate, but still simple enough that it doesn’t take away from Marling’s vocals, and simply adds more to the strong storytelling on “Warrior.” Lyrically, the song serves as a great opener, hitting hard with the…

Photos & Review: Bayside Featuring: Bayside, Senses Fail, Man Overboard & Seaway Summit Music Hall, Denver, CO. 3/21/15 Photos and Review by: Shannon Shumaker Full Photo Gallery HERE Having heard quite a few good things about Bayside’s fifteen year anniversary tour already, I was definitely excited for the band’s show in Denver on a nice Saturday night. The show proved to be interesting, with a lineup of bands that all sound completely different from one another. On top of that, Man Overboard’s vocalist Nik Bruzzese unfortunately had to fly home for a family emergency, leaving the band short-staffed and (apparently) with something fun up…

Review by Shannon Shumaker It’s not very often that an EP can manage to tell a story in merely five songs, but Unifier’s Gutted EP does just that. With an overall theme of reinvention, the album feels like a journey, and in just five songs, that’s a feat that not many can accomplish. The first song on this journey is “Fall.” The overall feeling of the song is warm and mellow, which meshes amazingly with some gorgeous vocal harmonies throughout the song. The way that the vocals blend with the music is remarkable – instead of outshining the pretty, sweeping…

Photos & Review: Sleep When I Die Tour Featuring: New Found Glory, Turnstile, This Wild Life & Turnover The Black Sheep, Colorado Springs, CO. 3/16/15 Photos and Review by: Shannon Shumaker Every time I’ve seen New Found Glory, I’ve always been amazed and surprised at the bands that they choose as support on their tours, but the lineup for their “Sleep When I Die” tour absolutely takes the cake. From acoustic to hardcore to pop-punk, the lineup covered all of the bases, and the best part was that the crowd seemed to support each band on the bill, regardless of their genre. Maybe it…

Epitaph Records’ most recent signing, Too Close To Touch are hitting the road today with I Prevail and Chasing Safety in support of their upcoming debut full length, Nerve Endings, out March 24th. While the Lexington, Kentucky post-hardcore band is in their infancy as a group, that certainly doesn’t mean that they don’t know what they’re doing. One listen to the heartfelt single, “Perfect World” or the emotionally charged track, “Hell To Pay,” from Nerve Endings will prove just that. With a solid sound and artistic vision, Too Close To Touch are sure to take over the scene with this release. Pick up Nerve Endings on…

Review by Shannon Shumaker Mark my words: Too Close To Touch are going to be huge. By the time that Nerve Endings, their debut full-length album on Epitaph Records, really kicks in with the second track, “Pretty Little Thing,” it’s obvious how much talent this group has. I try to avoid comparing bands to one another, but if I had to, Nerve Endings sounds like if you took all of the best parts of Dance Gavin Dance, Sleeping With Sirens and The Word Alive and mixed them all together. This album is full of catchy guitar hooks, melodic choruses and an…

Review by Shannon Shumaker The Skints’ new album, FM is killer. The album, which is inspired by radio culture and is based around a fictional radio station, begins with radio fuzz and an upbeat introduction to The Big FM / Frequency Murderation and 103.Skints. FM then flows smoothly into the first song, “This Town,” and the feelgood mood of the song is absolutely infectious. The fast, nearly rapped vocals flow perfect with the laid back, mellow tunes, and the way that the vocal parts switch effortlessly from one person to another is perfect for the track, which is about multicultural…

Review by Shannon Shumaker Sammy Kay’s debut full-length album, Fourth Street Singers has a gritty rock-n-roll feeling to it that is hard to find in many new releases. This is an album that feels like summer; something you’d listen to on long drives, cruising down the highway with the windows down. In fact, listening to it makes me wish summer would just get here already. The second that Kay’s gravely vocals come in on the first song on the album, I’m sold. His voice manages to tell a story, and its easy to get lost in the gorgeous melody of…

Review by Shannon Shumaker It may still be a little premature to say that I’ve found my favorite album (or EP, in this case) of 2015, but so far, You, Me, and Everyone We Know’s new EP, Dogged takes the cake. Only six songs in length, this EP wastes no time in kicking off strong, loud and in your face. The energy on the entire album is amazing, the emotion is palpable, the vocals are strong and the lyrics are smart and personal, but still relatable. Right off the bat, You, Me, and Everyone We Know hooks you with catchy…

Photos & Review: Kongos Featuring: Kongos, Sir Sly & Colony House Summit Music Hall, Denver, CO. 3/6/15 Photos and Review by: Shannon Shumaker If a tour can sell out three consecutive dates in one state, there’s a chance that it’s worth checking out, and that definitely proved to be true with Kongos’ third headlining show in Colorado on March 6th. When I arrived at the band’s second show at Summit Music Hall, it wasn’t quite sold out yet, but it had promise to do so, and with the amount of excited fans already inside the venue by the time doors opened, I wasn’t…