CorMae – Mindst8
I miss the days of nearly daily running into some kind of recorded music that sounded so bizarre, eerie, or ridiculous that you had to tell somebody. And, of course, I miss the reaction of the person hearing it for the first time, the way that their eyes would move as they tried to soak it all in, the way it would make no sense to them.
Those were the earlier days of the internet, back when it wasn’t all clogged up. And, of course, that echoed a spirit of alternative music that ran all the way back to The Fugs, The Shaggs or Ramones. And, I’m happy to tell you that CorMae is one of the groups using punk-rock and the internet for the right reason: trying to get you to listen in disbelief that this thing could possibly exist.
The fact that CorMae are jokesters, egg punks in love with the absurdity of the modern world, is clear. But even the world’s most beautiful clowns have to stop and deal with real issues from time to time. “Mindst8” is a well-intended, sweet punk song about being dragged down by endless anxiety and not finding a way out. It’s hard to listen to this without forcing your jaw from wanting to hit the floor!
BEACH BØNES – Reckless
There are, most likely, university courses on punk-rock in places like New York City and London that, if your parents can scrape the money for, you can attend. And while that kind of degree is bound to impress some in the music industry, you do wonder if this is the sort of thing that can be taught?
After all, yes, punk-rock, just like any music genre, functions using a bunch of roles. If you know the BPM, the groove of the drums, the chord progressions and melodies, you should be able to write a punk song. But, if you only like this and feel nothing for this type of music, won’t it just end up sounding like AI slop?
That’s why BEACH BØNES’ “Reckless” is a fantastic single. It sounds like music made by people who are both entertained by what they’re doing and deeply frustrated with the way that their lives are going. It sounds like people who can’t sit in their seats for too long, who will be jumping off the walls soon enough. It sounds like punk-rock and like the kind of thing that you want to play back again and again.
