CD Review: New Hot Indie Music Albums From Calico and The Jason Spooner Band

From west coast of California comes the hottest new three-piece country band Calico with their debut album "Rancho California." The band was featured on the ABC hit TV show "Nashville" and on NBC's "Night Shift." The new ten-song release begins with the outlaw country sound of "High Road" as their voices perfectly mesh into one vocal force. They take you on a mystical journey with the storied lyrics of "Dead Reckoning," before settling into the country shuffle of "San Andres Shake." They pull back on the reigns for the slow gallop of "Fools Gold," which has you focus on their wonderful harmonies and then turn on the pure country charm of "Runaway Cowgirl." Calico gives a dark glimpse to their music with a cover of the folk classic "Wayfaring Stranger," before closing with the country jaunt of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Going Nowhere."

Calico have ten shows lined up on their calendar, beginning with an album release show on September 5th in Los Angeles, CA. To find out more about their new album "Rancho California," please visit calicotheband.com.

Then, hitting the northern shores of Portland, ME comes the latest release from The Jason Spooner Band entitled "chemical." The album was recorded at one of New England's newest, most advanced recording studios, Heartstudios in Camden, ME. According to lead songwriter Jason Spooner "as soon as we walked into Heartstudios, we knew we'd found the room to make a live performance-based record." The new fourteen song release begins with the up-tempo funk of "Top Hat" as the song pushes past the six minute mark in order for the band to jam for a little while. They slow down the rhythm for the island flavored groove of "After All," before reaching the album's lead-single "Fireflies," which carries a sweet country sway that gives the music a pulse to get up and move to. You feel the passion in Jason Spooner's songwriting within the heartfelt acoustics of "Shrouded," before the band picks up the tempo with the reggae groove of "Blind Side." The album finishes up with the experimental, jammy instrumental "T'ump" and the gentle acoustics of "Spell," which displays a purity to Jason's vocals.

The Jason Spooner Band have only a few live dates on their calendar, including this Friday in Washington, CT. To find out more about the new album "chemical," please visit jasonspooner.com.