Michael O'Connor Marotta, Author at Vanyaland https://vanyaland.com/author/michael-marotta/ The proven voice in music since 2013 Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:39:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://redefined.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/31135224/cropped-V-SOCIAL-2023-32x32.png Michael O'Connor Marotta, Author at Vanyaland https://vanyaland.com/author/michael-marotta/ 32 32 Year in ReView: Nick Minieri showcases a scene with ‘HOMETOWN’ 2025 https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/12/year-in-review-nick-minieri-showcases-a-scene-with-hometown-2025/ Fri, 12 Dec 2025 09:18:23 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042803 Two things hit every December that remind us that our Boston music scene is far more diverse, varied, and prolific than whatever cliques and circles we currently roll with. One is the Boston Music Awards, arriving next week; and the other is Nick Minieri’s annual HOMETOWN mix, a deep-dive playlist and artist showcase from the veteran DJ, MC, and beat maker that offers up the latest n’ greatest to emerge out of New England in the past year. As we […]

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]]> Year in ReView: Vanyaland’s favorite national songs of 2025 https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/08/year-in-review-vanyalands-favorite-national-songs-of-2025/ Mon, 08 Dec 2025 16:46:50 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042753 It’s said that music helps keep us sane in insane times, and as we noted at the year’s midway point, that theory has been put to the test in this miserable and exhausting 2025. So to wrap up a year where music either inspired action or helped soundtrack distraction, we’re rounding up our 20 most favorite tracks that have helped ease life’s firehose of chaos and provide a little bit of levity during our long and tiresome days. As is […]

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]]> V3 Weekend: Jingle Bell HAWC, ‘You Got Gold’, ‘Commando’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/05/v3-weekend-jingle-bell-hawc-you-got-gold-commando/ Fri, 05 Dec 2025 14:36:58 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042744 Editor’s Note: Welcome to V3 Weekend, Vanyaland‘s guide to help you sort out your weekend entertainment with curated selections and recommendations across our three pillars of Music, Comedy, and Film/TV. It’s what you should know about, where you need to be, and where you’ll be going, with us riding shotgun along the way. Music: Jingle Bell HAWC at Koto Salem Tonight is Krampusnacht across the land, but on this first Friday night in December, that horny little bastard with birch branches in-hand is going out […]

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]]> Charlotte Sands stirs up an alt-pop storm with ‘one eye open’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/04/charlotte-sands-stirs-up-an-alt-pop-storm-with-one-eye-open/ Thu, 04 Dec 2025 11:17:29 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042738 Charlotte Sands‘ brand of empower-pop has gotten more brash and bold with each new release. The alt-pop firestorm and Hopkinton native has sharpened her sound through a string of emphatic singles over the past several months, all leading to the release of new album Satellite in March. Now, Sands delivers “one eye open”, a searing new banger that further blurs the lines between pop and metal while providing a compass towards personal preservation — something we all need as we […]

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]]> AE MAK crafts a celestial art-pop lullaby in ‘We Came From Stars’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/03/ae-mak-crafts-a-celestial-art-pop-lullaby-in-we-came-from-stars/ Wed, 03 Dec 2025 11:29:40 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042725 There are very few safe spaces left in this world, but the warm and inviting voice of AE MAK feels like one of them. The Irish alt-pop artist last week delivered a celestial new cosmic folk single in “We Came From Stars,” a minimalist twirl of expansive intimacy where her luminous vocals act as physical expression, drawing us in as the main instrument to convey reflection and rediscovery. “I’ve taken a step back from electronic world-building for now,” the artist born Aoife McCann […]

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]]> Artemas knows that ‘you and i could never be friends’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/02/artemas-knows-that-you-and-i-could-never-be-friends/ Tue, 02 Dec 2025 12:02:07 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042716 It feels like a decade ago at this point, but it was around this time last year when we were slotting Artemas‘ unfuckwithable alt-pop bop “i like the way you kiss me” into our Year in ReView column hyping 2024’s best tracks. A lot has happened in the time since, including the release of the English songwriter’s stream-horny mixtape LOVERCORE, but we fast-forward past all that and into the uneven now with a new tune called “you and i could […]

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]]> Lonely Little Kitsch smash a collective tension with ‘Puncture Wounds’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/12/01/lonely-little-kitsch-smash-a-collective-tension-with-puncture-wounds/ Mon, 01 Dec 2025 11:33:45 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042689 It’s wild that the smash rooms aren’t booming with business these days. Everyone’s on edge, forever ready to throw hands, and one minor inconvenience thrusts otherwise chill folx into a blind rage. But a controlled and coordinated release of the tension that grips us is quite necessary to get through this cursed timeline, and Lonely Little Kitsch have released a sensational soundtrack to help address frustrations in ways that won’t get us arrested. The Canadian duo of Kristen Goetz and […]

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]]> The V List: Five of our favorite tracks from November 2025 https://vanyaland.com/2025/11/25/the-v-list-five-of-our-favorite-tracks-from-november-2025/ Tue, 25 Nov 2025 09:28:06 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042706 Editor’s Note: Anyone who says there isn’t good music coming out these days — and quite literally, every day — simply isn’t paying attention. Vanyaland’s compilation feature The V List highlights the best in new music, both homegrown and national, over the past month, pulling together the sounds that have soundtracked the website in recent weeks. It’s all the stuff we’re bumping here at Vanyaland HQ, one new bop at a time. Scarlet Nicole, ‘Poison’ Scarlet Nicole isn’t afraid of casting a musical spell to defend her sense of […]

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]]> V3 Weekend: Couch, The Bends, ‘Black Friday’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/11/21/v3-weekend-couch-the-bends-black-friday/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 10:29:10 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042698 Editor’s Note: Welcome to V3 Weekend, Vanyaland‘s guide to help you sort out your weekend entertainment with curated selections and recommendations across our three pillars of Music, Comedy, and Film/TV. It’s what you should know about, where you need to be, and where you’ll be going, with us riding shotgun along the way. Music: Couch at Roadrunner As we put it so eloquently back in the spring, Couch are getting asses off sofas this fall. And now that autumn has arrived, so has the homecoming gig […]

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]]> HIGHDRIVE scoff at societal apathy with the fevered ‘Cherry’ https://vanyaland.com/2025/11/19/highdrive-scoff-at-societal-apathy-with-the-fevered-cherry/ Wed, 19 Nov 2025 10:42:31 +0000 https://vanyaland.com/?p=10042686 When life overwhelms, sometimes we need a song that pushes back with the same kind of intensity. Enter HIGHDRIVE, a fresh English band outta Brighton that arrive armed with perhaps the most consuming and encompassing guitar tone we’ve heard in a hot minute, unravelling a fervid new tune called “Cherry” that is as comforting as it is pummeling. The root inspo for the track is the decaying world around us, and the fivesome channel the despair we feel from the […]

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