Artist Spotlight
Howling Hawk takes flight through shadows with “The Downside”
On “The Downside,” Howling Hawk provides us with a kick in the pants, reminding us that real rock still burns red hot and strong enough to knock the dust off of our souls. This is a statement of determination and unadulterated emotion from a band that excels in both their chemistry and conviction.
“The Downside” draws you in with raw energy and lived experience. The musicianship is both casual and carefully worked out, each variation, beat, or vocal inflection locks into place like jigsaw pieces forged in flame. There’s no gloss or pretense here, just a band of musicians locked in, fueling one another’s spirit and channeling something that feels both timeless and defiantly alive.
“The Downside” examines the distance between struggle and strength. It’s about bearing your scars, marching through the storm, and refusing to give an inch, themes that will ring particularly loudly with anyone who has ever had to fight their way forward. The band, as a unit, gets that balance just right in a striking alchemy of tension and release that feels both natural and cathartic.
Howling Hawk’s commitment comes through not just in the song’s bursting energy but also in its tightness. Everything is in its place, from the screaming guitar lines to the pulse of the rhythm section. It’s the sound of a band that knows exactly what they are and where they are going, unafraid to stare into the darker corners of the human experience. “Downside” is not afraid to be dirty, which is its strength.
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Artist Spotlight
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” finds a new direction through Ghost of Panama
Rearranging a song that carries six decades of cultural weight is a creative challenge, but Ghost of Panama approaches “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with clear purpose. The rock band radically reworks Bob Dylan’s counter-culture hit, reshaping its identity while keeping its rebellious spirit. It’s a tribute to musical heritage and a statement of artistic independence all in one.
This new interpretation is very much shaped by the production, made at Ghost of Panama’s home studio in West London. The setting allows an intimate approach to reinterpreting a familiar song and lets the group engage directly with the material, taking it in a new artistic direction.
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” centers on the tension between conservation and transformation. Ghost of Panama is true to the song’s rebellious spirit without adding to its legacy, and this approach gives the release an adventurous feel, grounded in countercultural energy but driven by a desire to see what the composition can become in a different musical context.
Their version of this 60-year-old classic shows that respecting a song’s history can also mean breaking the rules and finding new ways to express its spirit. Fundamentally, “Subterranean Homesick Blues” presents Ghost of Panama as artists who want to engage with the past without being tied to it. The release’s strongest identity is a familiar heritage reimagined through a singularly forward-looking creative vision.
Artist Spotlight
“NO MORE” by Amanda Holley connects healing, awakening, and survival
“NO MORE“ carries that kind of emotional weight, and some songs feel like they come from lived experience but reach for something bigger. Amanda Holley blends R&B and soul, turning a lifetime of survival into a vision of healing, awakening, and the determination to move beyond what caused the pain.
“NO MORE“ is a healing anthem for people who have gone through bad experiences and reached a place of higher awareness, but it’s also an emotionally charged protest. The duality is introspective and outward-looking at the same time, turning personal survival into a broader declaration that some experiences, conditions, or cycles should end.
Holley had a premonition of the song six months before the world went into global shutdown. In the vocal booth, working out melodies with her collaborators, she pictured people in the streets. Those images were hard to imagine at the time, but subsequent events would make them painfully familiar.
“NO MORE“ is given a particularly contemplative underpinning by the context. The identity of R&B and soul leaves room for emotion. The song’s themes link survival, awakening, resistance, and the need for change. Amanda Holley is an artist using music to process personal endurance and a broader sense of social awakening. It’s got a complicated significance, and its release feels like a glimpse of a moment when personal intuition and public reality collided in an unexpected way.
Photo Credit: Yulia Shusharina
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