Quimi

By Heather West • Feb 11th, 2009 • Category: Album Reviews

A relatively new artist, Quimi Alaniz is often associated with her producers and mentors, Christian/Latin pop group, The Katinas. In her self-titled debut, however, Quimi (KEE-me) sets out to find her own place in the musical world. Her style is a fusion of pop, Latin, and rock, backed by crystal clear vocals. Her lyrics are [...]


Mariah Secrest

By Heather West • Dec 3rd, 2008 • Category: Album Reviews

“Googling” may be the litmus test of fame, but it is not necessarily a measure of talent. Although 25-year-old Mariah Secrest has yet to show up in but few searches for her own name (too many Ryan Seacrests and Mariah Careys) she is already forging her way into the wilderness of independent music, and the [...]


Evensong Rising

By Heather West • Sep 7th, 2008 • Category: Album Reviews

A few years ago, I came across an “If You Like” poster in a Christian bookstore. “If you like Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez, you’ll like Salvador and Jaci Velasquez. If you like Linkin Park and U2, you’ll like Falling Up and Switchfoot.” Whether or not those projections are true, they’re part of a belief [...]


Traci Root

By Heather West • Aug 10th, 2008 • Category: Album Reviews

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Traci Root’s childhood lullaby was the song “You Can Do Anything” by Carole King. Her career as a model, dancer, author, public speaker, and social worker has already earned her the label “multi-talented,” a trait that also finds its way onto her debut album Greener On This [...]


Tquan Moore

By Heather West • Aug 3rd, 2008 • Category: Album Reviews

Tquan Moore has the appropriately dusky vocals of a contemporary Christian worship leader, and his debut album All I Need is largely an effort to prove that he is in fact, more than what he appears to be. The worship leader turned recording artist has become an all too common feature of the praise and [...]


Jaci Velasquez

By Heather West • Apr 2nd, 2008 • Category: Album Reviews

Love Out Loud. The phrase that titles Jaci Velasquez’s newest album may be one of the most underwhelming clichés in the English language, but it still invokes some intriguing lines of thought. How, for instance, does one understand those words in light of an artist whose personal life, for a time, upstaged her musical artistry, [...]


Twila Paris

By Heather West • Apr 2nd, 2008 • Category: Album Reviews

Small Sacrifice is the twenty-sixth album of Twila Paris’ twenty-eight year career, and even more than her previous musical offerings, it faces the challenge of living up to past achievements while presenting something new. Though some musicians prefer to play it safe, imitating past hits and proven successes, there’s much to be said for the [...]