
Plaster of Paris – Danceflaw
I’ll be perfectly frank. I started this blog because of a love for alternative music, and a general dissatisfaction with commercial music and its presentation. It wasn’t just the value of pop radio that I found annoying, but the aggressive manner in which “pop products”, be those music, movies, or politicians, are aggressively promoted.
Through my journey, I have been able to find numerous artists creating great, groundbreaking work well outside of the interest of the mainstream public. That’s a real shame. Apart from the production values that, undeniably, most pop music possesses, the great, quirky, off-the-wall ideas that make music survive past beyond being a fad, are to be found in alternative music.
There are also real stars in alternative music whose “act” is ready at any point to be mass delivered to audiences across the world. Plaster of Paris’ Danceflaw sounds and looks like that kind of work. With singing resembling Shirley Bassey, booming bass, nifty orchestration, and even some dance moves we feel should catch on, listen to this not simply as an oddity, but as a song that should deserve to be a hit.
Brodie Christ – Hell for Courage
Genre: Country, Americana, Indie Rock
It’s strange to think that the way in which rock music is usually presented and promoted these days involves some kind of nod to being a tough guy. Sounds of motorcycle engines, people shouting “Hell yeah!”, and folks seemingly preparing for a fistfight are the media’s preferred representation of rock.
While Manowar and their children have carved out a nice niche for themselves, one for which they’ve toiled thousands of hours at the gym and in the rehearsal room, this depiction is sorely untrue for most rock musicians. The majority of these simply wanted to be left alone, listening to records in their room and not having to cut their hair or shave their beards. That’s why they became musicians.
Rockers come from a long line of cowards, chickens, and scaredy-cats. It’s time that this trait got its musical anthem. The great indie-rock dynamics of Brodie Christ’s loose and light Hell for Courage perfectly soundtrack a life lived in safety, comfort, and with no regrets. It’s also a song that accurately lets listeners know that it’s advisable to ask for help when life stuns or overwhelms you. The next time somebody asks if you’d rather be a man, or eat ice cream while watching Rick & Morty, you’ll know what to tell them.