Super OK – 616
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Members of power-pop bands are true purists. While many modern musicians look at the modern landscape and wonder what new blends of genres they can create, the power-pop groups gaze at the same picture and wonder what the hell was wrong with what we got.
What we did get starting with the late 60s were great, hyper-melodic guitar groups that seemed to write songs as if addressing the entire world. There was an effortlessness to the way in which they worked. There was also a sweetness to the sound that our current distrustful selves find it hard to embrace.
Super OK are no cynics as can be heard on 616. Their music tracks power-pop with near-religious fervor for the radio as the greatest tool for mass communication. This is music meant to make you feel happy, not guilty. That’s a strange concept these days. However, for the ones that believe beautiful melodies sung over strummed guitars can change the world, Super OK may very well be your cup of tea.
Elison Jackson – Going Clear
Genre: Indie Folk, Americana, Lo-fi Rock
Similar artists: Felice Brothers, Okkervil River, Bob Dylan, Woods
I’ve always felt fit to start a cult. What about my ambitions for the future? All I can say is that I am working on my flowing beard for the moment. Regardless of whether my intentions are good or not, what is clear is that I am not the only person to have had this idea. In fact, during the dreamy 1960s, in the U.S. in particular, cults had to claw their way to get noticed.
The inflation of cults may soon start again. It is not that people have become more gullible. At least, it’s not just that. The fact is that the optimism and positive vibes that define most of these spiritual organizations are in very short supply anywhere else. With people desperate for some hope, why not try and find some here.
Elison Jackson’s blissful folk-rock of Going Clear borrows a term famously associated with one such religious organization. The song speaks of finding true self and getting rid of illusions. These are important topics, no doubt, and ones usually approached in our societies either by poets or cult leaders. Hope is in short supply. Whatever route Elison Jackson has chosen, we hope he’s thought it through.
