Big Building – Just Can’t Take It
Rock music, if it will survive, won’t do it on the power of nostalgia. And, it certainly won’t be offered any pity by all of the bedroom producers who have figured out how to create a club or even stadium-filling sound on their laptop using just a controller and DAW. Pop music hitmakers are forgotten faster than murdered dictators. Things move on.
Nah, if rock music has any hope of reemerging among the top genres in the world, it needs new fans. And, if it hopes to get new fans, it doesn’t just need to find clever ways of speaking directly to them. It needs a sound that nobody can argue with. It needs to be the kind of sound that can be played on the radio, at highschool parties and even at funerals. It needs to compete.
If you like rock music, you may want to applaud the effort of a band like Big Building. “Just Can’t Take It” sounds like it was made in some recording studio/laboratory under the supervision of a team headed by Rivers Cuomo. It’s meant to provide the maximum amount of impact with the least amount of effort with every type of audience. You just can’t argue with these results. And if you’re hoping for your own band to be heard by the masses, you may want to listen.
Mall Gag – Tension
If you could only use one word to describe the most popular with bands, the most often created type of rock music, it would be “tension.” Like David Byrne ordering sushi in Japan, or Wire asked to play the opening ceremony of the Olympics, what musicians are reacting to more than ever is discomfort. Why? Probably because it feels more natural.
Rock music used to be all about singers sitting comfortably on stage with their shorts unbuttoned and telling how much people love them. Rock music used to be about guitarists who, cool as cucumbers, used to rip through solos that sounded assembled by some futuristic robot. That’s simply not the attitude most musicians have.
Nah, most musicians are just as nervy as you are. Playing in front of people makes them jumpy. Nashville group put the finger down on the spot and make you look at it. “Tension” is a song that takes cool indie rock and gives it a nervous breakdown. The Tom Verlaine-like vocal delivery is quite something and I bet you’ll remember the chorus long after the song’s ended. Pays to be tense sometimes!
