Bad Optics – Falling from High Places
Most inventions involved someone tripping over a wire or leaving the stove on for too long. The majority of the great advancements were, initially, colossal disasters. All of them involved someone having to come in to mop the floor and remove the bodies.
But, once the damage was assessed and procedures were put in place to protect work safety, what you got were bands like Bad Optics. The books have been read, and the rules have been reassembled. And, if things should blow up, once in a while, then, oh well…
The great musical inventions happened in much the same way, to the chagrin of every teacher at respected conservatories. It involved someone making guitar strings out of telephone cords, or playing jungle beats on abandoned carburettors.
But look where we’re at now? Bad Optics know all about punk, rock n’ roll, modern tech and old art. Yeah, they know how it works. They’re just not very impressed. They’ve got other things to worry about. Most of those anxieties get a spot on “Falling from High Places,” a song about modern dread which excellently balances punk and art-rock elements in the way that an AI chatbot may one day dream of doing. It’s funny, it’s terrifying, and it’s come to this.
Pyrex – Protein
Pop music’s on its last legs. Its stars have been reduced to having to generate media buzz by taking trips in space, or being filmed tripping their heads off while at festivals. If you own stock, now would be the time to sell it at a buyer’s price.
But music trends, much like the rest of entertainment and life as a whole, move cyclically. Shiny pop hits about impossible love affairs and unbelievable wealth couldn’t last forever. Maybe the world is ready, once again, for the harsh sounds of bands like Pyrex.
The world is a pretty harsh place. And if you don’t fall in line with that theory, there are enough news bulletins and social media posts to convince you. Popular entertainment seems to reflect our hopes just as much as our collective neurosis. There’s plenty of the latter to go around nowadays.
You’d best step out of the way. Plenty of bands will try to jump on the bandwagon soon. But, when that happens, don’t forget about bands like Pyrex. They were here first, were genuinely angry and, in the case of Pyrex’s “Protein”, managed to produce an excellent sound. These American punks sound like they’ve had it with the false hopes of the self-improvement industry and a world that adheres to the same society. Won’t much matter if everything goes up in flames now, will it? Those ideas needed an anthem!
