Vangelism – Never Fall In Love
D’you know those silly daydream montages that show up in teenage-comedies? The one where the main character, preferably some kind of social outcast, begins musing of a life of financial success, social climbing, and reckless behaviour. In other words, a life wholly different from the one he has right now.
And, because simply showing someone smiling to himself while gazing at the sky would make our protagonist look entirely ridiculous, the movie producers opt for music meant to soundtrack this transformation. Something preppy. Something that really gets folks moving.
Maybe, something like Vangelism’s Never Fall In Love. While their contemporaries are mostly busying themselves with music about life’s hardships, Vangelism looks like art-school kids who’ve decided to let their hair down.
Great pop music deserves its recognition, and here’s ours. A great groove, a massive chorus, and the confidence of bank robbers getting ready to fill their duffel bags. It’s a helluva single.
Cash Advance – Heat of the Night
When the dust has finally settled, we may look out on David Berman’s work with the Silver Jews as some of the most inspired and influential music of the 1990s. A poet with a wry, bitter sense of humour and a voice never destined for American Idol auditions or platinum-selling glory, Berman was able to deliver the harshest truths with a chuckle.
Many come, but few are chosen, as the saying goes. Cash Advance is a quartet driven by a similar interest in poetry, as well as disillusionment with the world and an almost apologetic, thoughtful way of delivering bad news.
Just like people that end up being life-long companions, at first glance, Cash Advance may not appear to be the ideal candidates. Heat of the Night is, however, such a carefree, inspired slice of slacker-rock, that if given the chance, it may never leave your side. “Weird time to be lonely/Weird time to be someone’s one and only“.
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