22 HERTZ – Wrong
Similar artists: Nine Inch Nails, Stabbing Westward
Genre: Pop Rock, Alternative Rock. Alt Pop
Fan fiction is a relatively new phenomenon and entirely different from mere imitation. The former suggests such a deep love and understanding of source material that it forces a member of the public to write their own version and to enrich the lives of others like them. It is a labour of love, first and foremost.
The latter is cynical. It is practised by many in the music industry and other areas of modern entertainment nowadays. Frankly, this hasn’t changed across the changes, and we have no hopes that it ever will. It starts with a basic computation. Familiarity equals business.
22 Hertz are loving disciples of Nine Inch Nails’ 1990s works and reinventors of those imaginary worlds on the single “Wrong.” Trent Reznor wasn’t going back to visit those lands anyway and there are still plenty of audience members wishing to take that dark ride. Thankfully, 22 Hertz are well-versed in this art and are adding something equally chilling and well-crafted to a tower whose foundations are strong enough to accept reinterpretation.
Beach Blues – Tikibar Teardrops
Similar artists: Cosmic Mints, Tom Waits, Arctic Monkeys
Genre: Surf Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Pop music belongs to all of us. All of it. That’s just the way that the rules were written out, and everyone at fancy magazines complaining about cultural appropriation must’ve either not read the fine print or must be out on the take. From the blues to black metal, from 50s rock n’ roll to witch house, everyone is free to make whatever sound that they want, and we are also free to make whatever connections we desire.
Beach Blues are a German that make the kind of retro surf-rock ballads that may have been birthed back in North America. But, seeing as how they migrated successfully into pop culture, they are now part of our global heritage. Furthermore, not even the place where all these things started resembles itself nowadays.
It takes someone with a whole lot of imagination and a will to reinvent the past to come up with “Tikibar Teardrops.” Beach Blues sound like the ghost of Roy Orbison playing to surf kids in a warm, lonely evening and making them cry in their beers. It’s a retro view of the future, a perfect way to utilize what pop music has given us over time. And, unlike the places we collectively inhabit, it actually does belong to all of us.
