Chac Xol – Nopal
“It’s not all about money, you know?” That might be the phrase you whisper to yourself the next time you decide where to go on holiday. Your next step might just be to do a deep dive into what some of the richest places in the world actually have to offer – skyscrapers, big electricity bills and people running around from one place to another.
You should consider visiting a place, even if just virtually, for its culture. That’s a valuable commodity nowadays. Everything is blending together in a gigantic effort by corporations to plant themselves in every corner of the world. Nearly everyone talks the same and has the same habits. We should celebrate the thing that makes people unique while we still have something to celebrate.
The moment that Latin rock was fully exported to the U.S. and the rest of the world in the late 1960s, so many fans flipped out. There was a richness and warmth to the songs and the subject matter that few Anglo-American bands could compete with.
Chac Xol’s “Nopal” doesn’t just bring the great grooves of Latin rock, of the tenderness that is part of the style of singing. This is also an understated anthem about a culture that has always had so much to offer, has always been self-sustainable, and one, if I may make a prediction, will thrive. But, you and me, don’t really need to know that to enjoy what is a great, natural performance.
Who Killed James – Blues Child
The great guitar heroes have plenty to answer for. Do you think that their popularity has waned? Do you think that they no longer influence people? That might make sense were it not for the fact that there are so many guitars still being sold and so many club gigs still booked.
Yes, German rockers Who Killed James are right. Kids will still see Hendrix, Chuck Berry or Jimmy Page on the screen of their iPhones and demand to be just like them. Kids still learn music while hero worshipping the musicians of the past.
Who are the music legends competing against? No kid looks up at the news and decides they want to be just like the politicians who run the country. They don’t want to be like the scummy billionaires or the reality television stars. All of these might come later, but not in the pure world of dreams in which kids live.
Who Killed James’ “Blues Child” is a fairytale about every kid who asked for a guitar for Christmas, got one and learned to play up a storm. But this ain’t a sappy story. The German band has learned its lessons from the great songwriters as well. The song has excellent dynamics and tasty guitar leads, and the vocal grit is revved up just enough to cause a stir. It’s a strong song about dreams that get recreated as long as there is a way to watch an old hero of the six-string.
