Balcony Talk – Colored In Grey
Genre: Grunge, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Basement, Superheaven, Knuckle puck
Naturally, we tend to believe that the decisions we make are the best possible ones. By a similar token, we tend to assume that the music we favour is the one that everyone should be immersed in at any given time. I know this to be false and welcome the fact that there is so much incredible art being made all across the world.
Having said that, I was always suspicious of people who rejected heavy rock music, especially in their youth. For the most part, regardless of background or financial standing, a person’s ascent into adulthood feels like walls beginning to crash all around them. You would think that they would require sounds to channel that inner turmoil. My friends did, at least.
If you are like us, the honesty, passion, and, well, the rage of Balcony Talk may serve you well. Coloured In Grey is a heavy alt-rock tune featuring big, emotional choruses. It talks about wanting to change for the better, facing up to your mistakes, and learning to treasure those around you. Those are all nice, wholesome feelings, but expressing them using loud, aggressive instrumentation feels like the most appropriate thing to do.
Des Rocs – Hanging by a Thread
Genre: Garage Rock, Emo, Alternative Rock
Modern alternative-rock bands wax poetically for ages about David Bowie and Iggy Pop heading to Berlin and making anti-commercial records that ended up cementing their legacies. Sure, those things are true. Yes, there’s nothing wrong with ambition.
However, it is important to remember that Bowie and Iggy were already established, or in the case of the Detroit-singer, infamous, musicians. In other words, there’s nothing wrong with, like Bowie, trying to write a hit or two that could soundtrack jeans commercials.
There has always been a big market for songs that make audiences anxious to raise their fists, bang their head, or go cruising menacingly down the main street. Des Rocs caters to these audiences. The hooks, the lyrics and the production are, however, anything but cheap. Here’s the commercial-sleek alternative to the dirty blues-garage rock scene. If you need some jeans that need selling, I would not hesitate to use Hanging by a thread to get your prospective customers through the door.
