
The Serfers – Furniture
Genre: Punk, Garage Rock
It’s amazing what rock n’ roll bands can get away with showing. It’s an astounding amount of freedom. Pure underground groups are also the ones least constrained by rules and regulations.
Big-time movie directors would kill for this kind of freedom. Stage actors will need to spend years of apprenticeship before being allowed to express themselves freely in front of an audience. And, even then, the film and theatre people will need to consider the script, the other crew members involved, the venue etc.
The Serfers have created their own dark, imaginative show. It’s one based around loud, disorientating sounds and colourful lyrics. “Furniture” takes a queue right out of the most extremist forms of 60s psych-rock.
Best of all, the Serfers have nobody to which they need to answer. All they had to do is to record and send the music into the world via the internet. Or, if they’re feeling ambitious, they can just find a stage and do their magic tricks for anyone interested. That’s freedom!
Fox Apts. – Roaring Spring
Similar artists: Grant Lee Buffalo, Richard Buckner
Genre: Indie Folk
Mantras are of great importance throughout the world. That’s why they are included in so many forms of spiritual devotion. Most mantras have less to do with the words being said, but with the rhythm involved in saying them.
These strong repetitive structures aren’t meant to reveal anything to the listener on their own. They’re supposed to be a gateway. Once the listener is on a journey, the mantra can reveal a different truth to each participant.
These kinds of structures are less familiar in popular music. Fox Apts.’s Roaring Spring utilizes swirling, dramatic, repetitive vocals that have much in common with chants or mantras.
There’s something spiritual that the singers are calling toward, and it’s unclear whether what they are summoning is a benevolent or an evil force. What is certain is that there is power in the way that the vocals float above the acoustic guitar lines.