Monroe Moon – WAR
Genre: Indie Pop, Dream Pop
In the late 1960s, it felt like musical artists were being disrespectful if they didn’t say something against the war. It wasn’t just the Vietnam conflict that they were protesting against, but the idea of war. After all, their ages made it so that the memory of WWII wasn’t entirely forgotten. The promise of the end of that conflict was simple. War was so destructive that nothing like this could ever be allowed to happen again.
In 2022 there are few anti-war singers. There are many reasons for this. One can only speculate. Perhaps too many wars seem like an alien concept. Perhaps it’s because wars usually happen in places where influencers don’t tend to live.
When war broke out in 2022 few talked about peace. Most talked about inflicting damage on one side or another. Lists of casualties, captured soldiers, of donated ammunition, were what dominated the news.
We need anti-war songs like the one produced by Monroe Moon, especially now when it looks like they could become silently forbidden. To speak against the war is becoming more difficult. It’s the same in any country that you live in, and don’t anyone fool you if it’s otherwise. John Lennon wouldn’t take it. Monroe Moon aren’t buying it. You shouldn’t either. Stop all wars!
Alvis Maeve – Dyin’ On
Genre: Post-Punk, Grunge, Garage Rock
Since times immemorial people have blamed their behavior on rock n’ roll. How could you not? You just had to look at the behemoths of the rock lifestyle. Each picture showed them halfway into a coma, with a cigarette dangling from their lips, on their way to the emergency to get a cardiac pacemaker installed.
But, listen up, this is what we wanted. Secretly we knew that bands who got to tour the world at the ripe old age of 70 years old weren’t doing it on a diet of vodka and cocaine. Rock was, in part, about avoiding responsibilities, leading an interesting life, about not getting stuck in a rot. However many bodies were required to entertain this fantasy, we were willing to accept being sacrificed.
Alvis Maeve’s Dyin’ On sounds like an old punk poet embracing the hedonistic days of their youth. It’s a song that sounds like the last this sort of singer might ever write. It’s a brilliant celebration of the inevitable demise of the reckless, wide-eyed rocker. It’s gutter poetry in the age of clean living. You wouldn’t want Alvis Maeve stopping over for drinks if you had to work in the morning.
