Lazlo, founder of BlowUpRadio.com (an online radio station based around New Jersey artists), shines a light on some of the many new releases from NJ based musicians each week with this column. This week Lazlo takes a look at releases by Val Emmich, Diego Allessandro, Pillowinde, Troll Teeth, and Katye Kellye and The Interruption.

Val Emmich - "Asleep In Your Clothes" (available 2/14). Some people like to go in knowing a lot about an artist or an album before they listen. If you are reading this review, you may be one of those people. Personally, I try to listen to every album knowing as little as possible going in, not just for the surprise, but also to avoid any pre-conceived notions. This plan does not always work as intended.

I have been listening to Val Emmich's music for over 20 years, and while he is something of a musical chameleon, rarely sticking to one identical sound from album to album, most of his releases contain a mix of rockers, mid-tempo songs, and mellow songs, so imagine my surprise four songs into "Asleep In Your Clothes" when every song was on the more mellow, contemplative side, with sparse instrumentation. it truly makes this a perfect "Winter Album", and a thing of beauty I have already gone back and listened to several times this week. Which each listen I have formed a greater emotional connection to the songs and realize just how powerful and brilliant this album is.

Diego Allessandro - "Turn Out the Light" [single]. Diego Allessandro's first single of 2023 is a beautiful singer-songwriter ballad. Can't wait to hear more of what he has planned for this year.

Pillowinde - "baby yr mine" [single]. Do you want 3 minutes and 33 seconds of fun garage rock? Of course you do, and Pillowinde's new single, "baby yr mine" is here for you.

Troll Teeth - "Underground Vol. 1". Troll Teeth have always been creatively experimental within the hard rock scene, some songs lean more to hard garage rock, others towards grunge. "Underground Vol. 1" continues their hard rock wizardry with four wonderful songs. I hope we don't have to wait too long for Vol. 2, because I want more.

Katye Kellye and The Interruption - "Best Part of Me" [single]. Just in time for Valentine's Day, a rare love song from Katye Kellye and The Interruption. It also features a vintage Combi organ as the lead instrument. What's not to love about this song, it is fabulous!

That's all for this week.

Remember BlowUpRadio.com, plays these and many other New Jersey based artists on our internet radio station, so please check us out. #SupportGoodMusic - If you like any of the above artists, please purchase their music from their site. And if you would like to part of BlowUpRadio.com's New & Notable, please send downloads or contact Lazlo at Lazlo-at-BlowUpRadio-dot-com. We're also on Mastodon at https://mstdn.social/@BlowUpRadio