GXTP – Contraband
Genre: Pop Rock, Alternative Rock
Modern rock audiences, most often, demand that their heroes be the kidneys of artists that would never agree to have their music globally marketed. Fans would like to imagine that their favorite songs get made by artists who suffer for their craft and want nothing in return.
It would only make sense that listeners nowadays would think this way. It’s simply the thing to which they’ve grown accustomed. With rock music barely making a dent in the charts or in pop culture, it’s easy to start assuming that this is the way things need to be.
Of course, it’s not always been this way. Furthermore, the rock artists that managed to obtain tremendous global success only achieved this because of their ambition and a willingness to play up their reputation and to play ball with the music industry.
GXTP know better than to make themselves unapproachable. On their single Contraband they mine the sonic strength of post-grunge and the colossal potential of comedy and of star power. With a video featuring Tommy Lee of Motley Crue and a video mimicking Tropic Thunder, GXTP want to make that their modern rock has the best chance of getting heard. Some might disapprove of these tactics, but it’s only those that engage with the world as it is that get the opportunity to change it.
Anam Stone Jet – Rainbow Cemetery
Genre: Lo-fi Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Normal people don’t risk everything in their life to become artists. That’s not normal. How could putting oneself face to face with potential poverty and ridicule be considered normal?
The folks that do end up in the arts and need to make it for a living usually give themselves no other choice. It’s a selective act of self-sabotage that gets people to this place. And all that they’re asking in exchange are some applause.
The fact is that the myth of a beloved rockstar is enough to make many generations want to sell the family cow and hang their hopes on a guitar and a prayer. It’s ideal with which we’ve all grown up, and it’s one that needs to be celebrated by those out in the trenches.
Anam Stone Jet’s Rainbow Cemetery is a quickie, maniacal number about the supposed immortality that Hollywood actors and rock stars will eventually be offered. It may sound like the retro-driven band are pulling out leg, but actually, they’re dead serious. It’s the stardust-covered dream that nobody can take away.