
Lords of Dust – Mr. Stranger
Genre: Stoner Rock
Similar artists: Kyuss, Black Sabbath, Fu Manchu, Queens of the Stone Age, Red Fang, Mastodon, Electric Wizard
Surfers never lose their excitement for riding a tall wave, and neither do rockers lose theirs for getting lost in a towering guitar riff. There are plenty of things that one can try and improve about their life. Some things, however, start out perfectly and remain that way.
This is a particularly nice thing to consider in an era where technology has made any variation of any sound available to anyone with a computer and a synth. You can make a dance hit by banging on your table or hitting the keys on your laptop.
But there’s just something about the devastating power of the humble guitar riff that technology hasn’t managed to improve or spoil. Black Sabbath’s sound may have felt primitive back in 1969. It still does, and most music listeners love it that way.
Lords of Dust’s Mr. Stranger exists in a world of dread and paranoia that can only be described by menacing, sludgy, down-tuned riffs. This is not music made by people who can use accounting as a backup plan. It’s a hazy, disorientating kind of affair. It’s also a real thrill that can’t be improved or edited.
Babel Map – DIVE
Genre: Shoegaze
Living outside the law may, indeed, require honesty. And this may well be one of the reasons why modern musicians are about as trustworthy as your ordinary presidential candidates. Try as much as you like, it’s hard to find much authenticity in what they do.
Gone are the days of self-sacrifice with only the promise of some good work in exchange. Gone are the days of people happily wasting away most days of their lives in the search for something that could potentially change others as well as themselves.
Still, far away from the gaze of mainstream attention, madmen, dreamers, and would-be magicians are carrying on with little concern. If music can weave its powerful spell at any time, then there’s no reason for these people to focus on illusions.
Babel Map’s Dive is a kind of meditation music that looks to gather the energy of an invisible audience and feed it back to them. It’s dream music built on the strength of lush arrangements, glowing vocal melodies, and the sense that this is made somewhere outside of regular time.