Melting Tree – Athena
We’re not in the business of getting nostalgic or assuming that the same towns are destined to produced new great bands for every new generation. But, we may have to stand corrected. Melting Tree are flying the flag for Athens, GA. If you know your alt-rock ABCs, you may have heard of a couple of nifty little guitar groups to have come out of this neat locality.
Like those groups, Melting Tree make guitar music that sounds loose and liberating, as if it was made by musicians that have just escaped their horrible day job, a mining accident, or have heard that one of them has won the lottery and is taking the group to Greece for holidays.
Athena is probably not about the latter but sounds great either way. The band manages to tap in the sound of great 90s rock singles. There was something that the likes of Counting Crows and Soul Asylum used to do really well back then. It got them on the radio, made people loved them, and got the singers’ to date, famous actresses. Nobody knows exactly what that something was, otherwise those bands would be repeating the formula ad-infinitum. Well, whatever it is, Melting Tree might have it. Hooray for small-town musical legacies!
Death By Unga Bunga – White Lies
You may start hating me once you read this. But, in a strange way, there’s a certain relief to knowing some people are able to do horribly irresponsible things that affect both them and the people around them and get away scot-free. It’s like watching someone purposely getting themselves into an accident and getting out of the wreckage each time with barely a scratch on their body.
Silvio Berlusconi was the clown-prince of Italy and for a while their crown-prime-minister. He exited office among a flurry of accusations and scandals, mostly related to his personal life. His Bunga, Bunga parties are the stuff of legends. He may not hold office or own AC Milan anymore. However, for the most part, the Italian people have forgiven him, he is still rich, and he seems to regret very little of what he did.
I don’t know if Death By Unga Bunga took any inspiration from the fabled television station owner turned politician, but I’d like to think they considered it. (Note: I later found out that the name actually belonged to an obscure 2000s album)
The music they make, filled with funny, silly pop-punk, could certainly soundtrack a reel of Berlusconi going on about his business and advancing through his career. Let’s call this the soundtrack to doing stupid things. Someone has to write ’em.
