4ft Fingers – Better Days
Whatever happened to all the people who gave up? No, not the ones who just needed a break, or had to get away for a while in order to re-evaluate their lives. No, not the ones who bravely reinvented themselves by taking stock of the mistakes of the past.
Whatever happened to the ones who just couldn’t bother anymore, or just couldn’t find the strength to carry on? When it comes to independent rock music, as with most other areas of life, when talking about people who quit, those who still remember them sigh and say, “Oh, well!” That’s it!
Then there are the people who just refuse to give up, who will not quit, who make it so that there’s nothing other than they can do. Those are people like the ones in veteran punk-rock band 4ft Fingers. What about them? Well, generally, people remember a million stories about them, smile when they remember them, and envy their bravery.
In many ways, 4ft Fingers’s “Better Days” is about the success of just refusing to get beaten and to quit. There are no adult scholarships handed over to punk-rockers who keep chasing their dreams. But there’s something even better? They get respect, and the energy that the punk musicians put in is delivered back to them. You don’t get to access that if you quit, and that’s why 4ft Fingers have returned.
PIFFA – Agota
Apart from Kurt Cobain and Bob Dylan, no other rock stars should be allowed to be their whole selves. A little bit of themselves will do just nicely. Add too much and the gentle balance is gone and, suddenly, we’re overflooded with just too many details.
Nah, the very best rockstars are just like sitcom characters. You can tell someone about what they represent in just one uncomplicated sentence. You know what kind of stories they’re going to get involved in each week. And, predictably, you know whether they’re good or bad guys.
Sadly, most young rockstars aren’t interesting enough so that the world can zoom in on just one trait of theirs. They can’t become caricatures when they’re already cliches. Uruguay’s PIFFA, on the other had, has got what it takes.
PIFFA’s “Agota,” is loud, overblown, sinisterly fun punk-rock. You’ll notice hints of industrial in it, as well as other sonic tactics meant to attract attention to it. However, it’s that one lyric that ties all the songs together, the Spanish line that translates to: “your face exhausts me!” In a world where everyone is playing nice and trying to make friends, it’s fun to see and hear artists who are comically cantankerous.
