Conscious Pilot – Horatio Burns
The world’s getting smaller every day. And, the microcosm of modern music can’t help but follow suit. You’re all laughing now that you can access nearly every single song ever made by simply punching in a name into your phone, but you may not be grinning for long. The time of “everything for everyone” and “convenience for a nickel” is going.
Of course, there are still people obsessed with creating wonderful things and with sharing them. But these creative geniuses are becoming less willing to compromise their vision and less generous with their work. I predict a time when most rock music will only be heard by a chosen few and at a heavy price. When this happens, Conscious Pilot will be among the first groups to set up their listening cult.
The band’s playfully angry post-punk single “Horatio Burns,” fittingly, is about creative passion pushed into mania. It’s catchy, strange, who knows, it might even signal the start of a new era. And, why should everyone hear this anyway? Conscious Pilot is a compelling enough band to create its own group of devotees, people who will listen to songs like “Horatio Burns” in secret and be the envy of everyone else.
Porcus vs Equus – Caca Beach
It gets harder to make an audience laugh. It’s not just that there’s an overflow of comedians. Much of the lack of laughs has to be the result of either the audience having heard every line or just not being in much of a mood for comedy.
And, it’s certainly harder than ever to gross people out. Potty humour rarely worked anyway. But now that even the evening news is so gross and slimy, it’s difficult to get a kick out of transgressive observations.
Still, marry this brand of comedy with enough rage toward the world in which we’re forced to live, and the results, most likely, are hilarious. Porcus vs Equus is one of the few bands that’s made me smile recently, and I think it might have the same effect on you.
Forget the music complexity or the sheer ambitiousness of the band for a moment and just focus on the glorious title. The song’s called “Caca Beach”, and has there been any other label that better defines the era? This is expressive, well-played music dedicated to times that are, at best, unimpressive, and at worst, horrific and comedic.
