9 Artists. 9 Different Sounds. From Slinky Guitar-Free Pop, Breezy Prog-Pop and a Ballsy 1967 Cover to Rock/Blues Humor, an All-Star Guest List, K-Pop Demon Hunters and ’80s Synth’n’Guitar.
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Bass Envy
Hudson County
Jack Skuller is cool. Period. His “Not From Around Here” is a modern slinky pop classic, one of those songs that catches your brain and won’t let go. Performed, recorded, produced and mixed by Skuller in his hometown Jersey City, as Bass Envy, with no guitar in the mix at all, it’s catchy as all hell.
furiousBall
Burlington County
Multi-Instrumentalist, Producer, Composer, Vocalist Van Kapeghian is furiousBall. He’s had 18 releases from his Medford Lakes abode. Trey Cone did the cover art for “Clouds Without Their Shadows.” It’s a breezy, catchy clump of prog-pop from his latest album, The Secret Knock is Love, propelled by the violin of Liz Gonzalez, the synthesized manifestations of Kingo Sleemer, and the guitar of Doug Frenia.
The New Bardots
Union County
Singer Wayne Olivieri figured the time was right for a new ballsy version of 1967’s “I’m A Man,” originally sung by 17-year old Steve Winwood in The Spencer Davis Group.
Johnny Walker
Essex County
Singer-Songwriter-Producer-Entrepreneur Johnny Walker lost his sight at 14 so music became his muse. As he says, “lost my vision at 14, never lost my vision, though.” His popular songs “RSVP,” “Hold Me Down” and the introspective “Terminal” preceded this banger. Regularly performing at the “Live & Uncensored” series in Newark, he’s garnered 500,000+ Spotify streams.
Lisa Bouchelle
Mercer County
The album is Vandals, Thieves & Lovers. The A-List guests are impressive: Grammy winner Amanda Shires on violin, Larry Campbell (from Dylan’s band) on banjo and mandolin, Waddy Wachtel (from practically every rock star’s touring band) on guitar, E-Streeter Jake Clemons on sax and Doyle Grisham (from Jimmy Buffett’s band) on pedal steel (among others).
Jason Didner & The GSPs
Essex County
We always welcome a new song from Montclair singer-songwriter-humorist Jason Didner who told us his new song, “That Ain’t Luck,” is a rock/blues number, as he says, “that celebrates the possibility to build the skills that make a relationship last for the long haul. Meeting someone special and falling in love? Could be luck… But staying in love for decades through all the adversity life can throw at you? That ain’t luck… that’s skill!”
Audrey Nuna
Monmouth County
On April 29, the “Billboard Women In Music 2026” honored numerous genres, one of which, the outrageously popular K-Pop, which emanated from South Korea in 1992 and keeps getting bigger every year, reached its zenith last year with the Hollywood movie K-Pop Demon Hunters starring its animated girl-group, Huntr/X, voiced by Audrey Nuna, from Manalapan, with Ejae and Rei Ami.
Rhonette Smith
Middlesex County
She was “Bent But Not Broken” last year. Now she’s totally reactivated. Her music has always rocked like a bitch and never more so than on her new EP, Process + Plan.
The Random Hubiak Band
Monmouth County
The ’80s-inspired synth’n’guitar of “I Only Come Alive In Dreams”—complete with live drums—is an update of their original 2018 version, in a different key, with a brand new vocal.