For The Monks – Dancing With The Aztecs
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
It’s a trendy thing to say that people from all walks of life demand constant stimulation. That’s not true. Most folks require just a little bit of the same stimulation every few times a week for, preferably, as long as the Universe will continue to exist. And this is precisely the reason why small talk is just so lousy nowadays. Nobody has anything worth mentioning.
Musicians, on the other hand, at least the ones worth salt, are extremists by nature. They, indeed, stimulate on a near-permanent basis. And, other than learning scales or the chords to their songs, they tend to have the attention span legendarily attributed to goldfish. It’s only natural that their minds would drift toward places far removed from their path or from modern history.
For The Monks’ “Dancing With The Aztec” is a British dance-rock reimagining of the Latin Boom. Listen, we all need a bit of colour in our lives. But, surely, the British are absolutely starving for it and should, by the rule of civility, get to it first. The tune is bonkers, a veritable party in the Mexican rainforest. And, if the Brits ever decide they ought to sail their ships to faraway lands, no other song would be a better anthem.
Dreamwave – Mindcave
Similar artists: Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Hooveriii
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Travelling for fun and as a way to discover the world is getting more difficult. Places look more and more the same every day. Blame it on the empires, I guess. All the modern empires are represented in video programmes beamed across the world, and that makes people want to live in the same way as the empire inhabitants. Walk down the streets of Miami and London, or stroll through Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and you’ll see a lot of the same.
It’s good, I guess, that we’re all so alike all of a sudden. But it’s enough to wear on your mind and soul. It’s enough to steal your mojo and, finally, make you want to find a place where you feel safe and never live it. The only way to ensure the worst-case scenario does not occur is to invest in furnishing your mind and not letting it in there.
Dreamwave’s “Mindcave” recalls the mind-expanding experiments of the hippies and the pop traditionalism of 90s hitmakers. It’s deceptively sweet, a melodic ode to losing oneself in a universe of one’s own imagination. The sound brings to mind the great psychedelic groups of old. And, overall, if the hippie rockers taught us everything, it is that, yes, Dreamwave is right to be distrustful of the world.
