Combo Move – Ice On The Roads
There’ll likely never be a single collection of songs that you’ll be forced to hear more often than the ones containing famous Christmas carols or pop Xmas tunes. They start getting played in whatever city, town or village you’re living in November and won’t stop until early January.
The fact is that it’s going to stay this way this year, and everyone after that. How can they get away with pumping out the same songs over and over again? They rely on the fabled Christmas Spirit and use it against us. The marketing team is busy using collective optimism against us.
But that means two things. First of all, there’s a need for new tunes, for alternative, and bands like Combo Move are willing to do more than just show you what “Blue Christmas” might sound like as a thrash song.
Secondly, and more importantly, most people are desperately lonely most of the year, and around Christmas especially. “Ice on the Roads” is not just a great alternative Xmas song because it relies on a fantastic power-pop chorus to get in your head, but especially because it could be an anthem for all the millions of people separated from their loved ones around the holiday season. Spare a song and a good chorus for them.
Mean Bikini – Dissociate
The standard for becoming a “good” or even “important” punk-rock band has changed, frankly, and especially in recent years. While so many audience members were nostalgically crying over the charming incompetence of many late 1970s groups, or the sophomoric humour of 1990s pop-punk bands, an even larger chunk of listeners has come to expect more from their music.
Canada’s Mean Bikini is, cleverly and carefully, built for this new environment. But it’s not easy to get your foot in the door anymore. Some kind of technical proficiency, or at least convincing production, is now required. And, songs about weed and girls are still going, sometimes, but the expectation nowadays is that a punk band’s lyrics will smartly discuss more important topics.
That is why, in today’s climate, Mean Bikini has most of the elements required to thrive. Not only does the band create a kind of modernised AFI-on-a-major-label sound for “Dissociate,” but its singer dares to talk about anxiety and its crippling effects. This is heady stuff. Yes, charm is still something that bands rely on, but it’s an element that the group can build on in the future. For now, the basis is strong.
