Patrick O'Heffernan | Music Junkie Press

With “Love on Mars” Binx knocks it out of the stratosphere.

September 24, 2019

Binx has taken the next step into the solar system after the stratosphere-penetrating “Space DJ” with her newest song, “Love on Mars”. Actually, it’s a very big step – as any trip from the edge of the atmosphere to the Red Planet would be. “Love on Mars”, at its lyrical core is about falling in love – with yourself first and then with your soulmate. No surprise there for a too-busy-for-love woman who has been evolving and defining herself since she left small-town South Africa, survived the club scene in New York and is now relaxing into herself and thriving as a songwriter, performer and web personality in LA, the world’s most competitive music market. But the music of “Love on Mars” moves beyond its lyrical orbit into a very sophisticated and addictive solar system – several parsecs beyond “Space DJ” and her earlier releases “Headlights” and “Radiohead”, which were themselves addictive and enjoyable. “Love on Mars”, feels and sounds like a BIG HIT. Its hooks are subtly addictive, its choruses are designed to be [Read More]

Magnetic continues X.Ari’s brilliance with new joy and sparks.

September 19, 2019

I have been following X.Ari for over three years- back when she was Ari without the “X”, and I have watched her change and grow with every new song. A certified genius with an angelic – and sometimes demonic – voice, her music is unique, addictive, thought-provoking. Each new step she takes, each new lyric she writes, each new video she makes reveals her depth and her brilliance. She has done it again with her latest release, Magnetic – a song about love. She moved into romantic R&B territory in Magnetic, which is about the feeling you get when you fall in love – the polar attraction that happily consumes your life. The music is sophisticated, as all of X.Ari’s music is, but it also has a familiar feel to it – we know this song in our bones, although we have never heard it before. Magnetic has its own magnetic attraction, a polar pull on your ears, your muscles, and – if you know X.Ari’s struggles with her own internal polar opposites [Read More]

Angel Baby by Las Cafeteras is a familiar yet fresh gift to music lovers of any age

August 19, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan Rosie Mendez Hamlin’s “Angel Baby”, recorded in San Marcos CA by the 15-year-old Latina, debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 and hit Number 5 a month later, staying on the charts for 13 weeks. The iconic doo-wop song has subsequently been covered dozens, if not hundreds of times, by artists including John Lennon, the Delerons, Linda Ronstadt, Jennie Rivera, and System of a Down. The Chicano Alliance posted a bilingual version on Spotify and last year LA-based jazz/mariachi/fusion singer Nancy Sanchez garnered praise for releasing a bilingual version and video that updated the story to 2018, charged the characters to Latinos who return as helpful angles. So, with this history in mind, I opened up the video for a new version of “Angel Baby” recorded by one of my most favorite bands, Las Cafeteras. Could they put their stamp on such a familiar musical icon and yet be true to the music of the ‘60s? Yes, they could, it turns out, by being their mischievous selves. If you know this [Read More]

“Oidos” byNancy Sanchez and Madame Recamier: breaks your heat and moves your feet

June 25, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan (Los Angeles) “Oidos”, a collaboration between LA-based jazz singer and mariachi artist Nancy Sanchez and Mexico-based pop singer Madame Recamier is what I call a triple threat song – it fills your heart with emotion and your ears with pleasure while it makes you dance. “Tengo miedo de quererte tanto” they sing – I am afraid of loving you so much. We have all been there – an awkward romance that is just beginning, or is not quite reciprocated, or is moving too fast. It becomes the center of your focus, the single point of your emotional life. But it is hard – “Si me miras, alumbras mis pasos” – if you look at me, my steps light up. How can you give that up, no matter how afraid you are being hurt? The music answers the question: dance. Energizing our ears with the baile hupango – the dance music of Vera Cruz – Sanchez and Recamier sweep us along. Our hearts may be uncertain, but our feet know what [Read More]

Rising Appalachia’s Ley Lines blends cultures and harmonies into pure bliss

May 13, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan The word “ley lines” was coined in 1921 by the amateur English archaeologist Alfred Watkins, describing the apparent alignments among historical and geological spaces, hypothesizing that they had persisted over millennia to facilitate travel, trade and community. Later, others theorized that global ley lines exist to transmit energy and light from the sun and stars to create magical bliss in spaces for sacred healing rituals. All of which is a good introduction to the music of Rising Appalachia and their just released 7th studio album, Ley Lines. The album brings stellar energy, blissful melody and a healing message for the soul and the earth. The Atlanta-based sisters Chloe and Leah Smith have traveled the world , touring by sailboat, train, and van, to fill venues and festivals in the US, Canada and Europe, and participate in cultural exchange programs in Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, and Central and South America. Along the way they have absorbed the rhythms, melodies and the emotions of many cultures. This enables them to seamlessly blend American roots music with Celtic [Read More]

Amanda Abizaid smoothly shifts to gentle jazz Upstairs at Vitello’s.

March 26, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan (Studio City, CA) I have seen Amanda Abizaid live twice, once at the Irish-themed rock club Molly Malone’s in the Fairfax district of LA and last week at Upstairs at Vitello’s jazz club in Studio City, a celebrity enclave just over the hill from Hollywood. Same songs, same orchestration, but different feels – both very entertaining. Abizaid is a tall, honey blond, green-eyed singer/songwriter originally from Lebanon but ensconced in LA for years. She was backed at Upstairs at Vitello’s by a new band working with her for the evening that was down-to earth and rock solid. As with all of her music it included Middle Eastern instruments like the saz (long-necked mandolin), and hand and frame drums. There was also a percussion rack with a collection of hanging metal devices whose names I do not know but whose sounds work really well. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, to an American mother and a Mexican/Lebanese father, she traveled the Middle East and Europe with her family until she was ten years [Read More]

SJae’s debut EP, FIRST: listen and enjoy

March 12, 2019

Patrick O’Heffernan I am always curious – and sometimes a bit apprehensive – when a music producer decides to put out a personal record. Many producers are good musicians and songwriters, but a smaller number actually have the voice, the songwriting and music chops, and the feel for a personal album. FIRST, the debut album by long-time producer SJae (Sammy Jay) shows clearly that she has the songwriting and musical chops plus an extraordinary feel for what works and what grabs a listener. FIRST is an expansive display of her talents and a musical and emotional delight. SJae was the UK’s first female music producer – and she excelled in a very tough business for a woman…all the way to a Mercury nomination, the UK equivalent of a Grammy. After a decade in the UK, she moved to LA, America’s music capital and a very competitive environment for anyone of any gender. But despite the competition, she continued to excel to the point where she has been called “the best in the business” by [Read More]