Swiss neo-psych band Dear Misses teamed up with singer Belinda Villforth who also wrote the lyrics for their dreamy single Lost Mind In Beauty. It is a love song about emotional turmoil, built upon the premise that you have to go to a lot of shit to feel better, but it does not end well. "Feeling full of cockroaches in my head" is bad news. The dream is a nightmare after all.
Swiss instrumental post-rockers hubris. found some solace in the works of Tolkien, wherein elves considers mortality as a plus. The band's songwriter Jonathan Hohl was rattled by his grandfather’s passing. Their new single Is is the second taste from their new album White Shores, due for release on September 10 - the six tracks are lined up as continuation: Death. Is. Just. Another. Path (the latter in two parts).
Is all about swirling guitars and the track maintains the smae tempo pretty much all of the time, as if the unevitable must be kept at bay. Being in the now while you still can on the one end and the realisation that it won't last on the other, is captured in a widescreen soundscape that is both a celebration and a farewell.
Vancouver punk rockers The Get Arounds keep it simple: write a rock hook, add power pop-tinged vocals about halfway The Shirts and Blondie plus the attitude of The Runaways, and make the back beat utterly danceable. With a recipe like that their new album Going Out Tonight is a basically a collection of singles, whose subject matter is all about everyday hassles like driving a bit too fast, painting the town, and trying to get laid or drunk (or both).
It is a slice of vintage rock 'n' roll that is hard to resist, but also a bit repetitive. The Ramones made a career out of that, but this quintet lacks the sense of humour that was also part of the equation. Inserting a bit of weirdness could lift them to the next level.
Toronto psych-punkers Wine Lips inserted a few breaks into their If You Don’t Know, serving as stop-and-think markers for the lyrics which deal with the fact that getting older happens so much faster than one might think. Yesterday you were 16 and anything was possible, today not so much. Screaming at the heavens won't change that, but it helps just a bit.
When you're singing, you're using extra muscles, and it requires a lot of exercise and breathing. You can't do that if you're a sissy. If I have any fitness advice for people, I'd tell them to sing more. It's good therapy, too.
Willie Nelson
