Sergio Gaetani – The Runner
Similar artists: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Decemberists, Charley Crockett
Genre: Americana, Alt Country, Psychedelic Rock
Every kind of story is only one or two steps away from a tragedy. These sorts of things need to be avoided in real life, sure. But they look awfully good on camera or when told in a recorded song. Sergio Gaetani’s “The Runner” is the musical accompaniment for an imagined Wester movie showdown, complete with bad guys twirling their long mustaches.
You see, the thing about rock n’ roll in any of its guises is that it’s only valuable as long as it can provide excitement. Bands simply banking on a sense of familiarity by playing their old hits won’t be along for long. Violence, sex, and the sense of the unknown have always been ripe for the picking when it comes to rock bands. Even alluding to them can have a powerful impact.
Sergio Gaetani’s “The Runner” sounds like a preacher singing over a country-rock song about people getting gunned down or narrowly walking away back in the old frontier. The poetic, baritone-lead vocal delivery is reminiscent of Nick Cave’s style, but the Aussie never dreamed so hard about one day becoming a cowboy. Gaetani does, on the other hand, and fills out this musical world accordingly.
Harry Katz and the Pistachios – My Friend
Similar artists: Tom Waits, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Jeff Rosenstock, World / Inferno Friendship Society
Genre: Lo-fi Rock, Indie Rock, Garage Rock
Every love story deserves a eulogy that contains a few laughs. But who’s to deliver it? For the most part, the people who have been part of the story have also been wounded by it. The last thing that they want to do is be reminded of the good times and deal with the bad times again. Harry Katz and the Pistachios make the leap with a song worthy of closing out a sweet romantic comedy.
Romantic comedies, of course, are a format that will always work in movies. This is because the same things rarely work in real life. Nobody is ever that charming, people aren’t that optimistic, and things don’t work out even when they don’t. But what this genre does do is offer relief and make us believe that people can really get along with each other.
Hearing Harry Katz and the Pistachios’ musical Valentine, “My Friend,” it’s hard not to believe that, indeed, everything will be alright in the end. Here, Katz poses as the mature former lover who has come to terms with their ol’ mistakes, knows what he’d do better, and knows that the best thing is simply to walk away. The retro musical backing, a kind of Lou Reed with an actual groove, is charming, too. We just can’t wait to hear this rolling down the credits of a remake of “When Harry Met Sally.”
