
Andrew Savage – Water the Cat
Genre: Folk
Andrew Savage is a performer that writes songs as if dutifully adding daily information into a diary that will one day be shared with the world.
Most performers put on an act. If you’ve watched documentaries or read books about famous musicians, for example, they’ll freely admit to doing this. In order to make themselves more interesting or merely to ensure that they can survive in this tough business, they build a persona.
Method acting is always exciting to the people paying for the tickets. It seems to signify that the folks on stage have really suffered for their art. But what happens when the part is over, and the performer has to remember who they were in the first place?
Telling the truth is the easiest thing to remember, and that’s what Andrew Savage goes for on the folk-rock number “Water the Cat.” A song about loneliness and household chores, about falling in love and having to feed the household pets; there’s something refreshing in Savage’s style. He won’t ever have to remember what his motivation is.
Ari Joshua – Let’s Do It Right Now
Genre: Jazz
Ari Joshua is anxious to prove just how jazz music can become pop once more, and hearing his band work to do this is a lovely time.
There was a time when pop and rock musicians would apologise for not being able to play jazz. What they meant to say by this, presumably, is that they did not believe themselves to be at a level comparable to that of the most famous jazz musicians around and that possessing that sort of skill was something worth striving for.
Many people know about the supergroup Miles Davis supposedly tried to start with Jimi Hendrix or Paul McCartney. But few think about what it would’ve sounded like. First of all, it would’ve involved some uncomfortable discussions over music theory in which neither Hendrix nor Macca would’ve been wholly comfortable. Secondly, have you heard Miles Davis covering a popular song before?
Ari Joshua looks to prove to non-believers that jazz isn’t such a scary thing after all with “Let’s Do it Right Now.” Yeah, sure, there’s plenty of musical complexity, but it’s brought in the service of memorable, even hooky parts. It’s a jazz song you could try to whistle. And, if you do manage to whistle a song, it must be pop music.