K. Campbell – Smoke
Similar artists: Teenage Fanclub, Yo La Tengo
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Alternative Rock
Can you hum a tune? Are you sure that the tune you’re humming isn’t stolen from anyone famous? If you can come up with enough hummable tunes and avoid the lawsuit, you could be on your way to becoming a pop star.
Of course, that might just be easier said than done, something that most would-be rockstars find out upon writing their very first tunes. The laws that govern those things are easy to make out, but difficult to apply successfully.
As pop music has evolved, so has the musicians’ desire to become better at their craft. We have better singers, more technically capable guitarists, and drummers that are capable of playing any style of music. What about the basics, though?
K. Campbell’s Smoke takes things back to ground zero, to the beautiful, magical melodies that make some songs remain in the lives of people for years and years. It’s a great place to start, but a destination available only to a select few who have managed to understand the alchemy involved in creating these kinds of pop songs.
Hamilton Belk – Whole Again
Similar artists: Ray Price, Wednesday, Glen Campbell, Cut Worms, Elliot Smith, The Beatles
Genre: Folk rock, Americana, Alt Country
It’s difficult to appreciate music without some kind of context. The same can be said about any type of art. Yes, you could be daring and make up your opinion about a piece of art based solely on your first experience with it, but most of us don’t.
Instead, we rely on reviews, stories, and, most of all, on similar things which we’ve experienced in the past. It’s hard to find a modern person unwilling to critique a pop song or a movie. Everyone has seen and heard plenty of those.
Many times they’ve experienced both these totems of pop art together. Modern music automatically seems to suggest scenes from movies. By the same token, many movies rely on pop music soundtracks to build a connection with audiences.
It’s hard to Hamilton Belk’s Beatlesque melodies and country-influenced arranged on Whole Again and not imagine it as the soundtrack to some bloody Western film. I, at least, couldn’t. This is a song meant to sound old and to await some kind of judgment. It’s folk music with an imaginary soundtrack just waiting for it.
Thanks so much for listening and sharing!