Bobcat Rob & The Nightly Howl – Popcorn Lung
If you’re a songwriter, you’d be expected to write hundreds, if not thousands of songs throughout your life. Like anything else, people will tell you, them pesky critics especially, that it’s all a matter of working hard and developing your skill.
Writers use all kinds of techniques, take all sorts of things meant to freshen their inspiration, lie, steal and cheat for their songs. But, once in a while, they pick up a song that just seems to be lying there.
Popcorn Lung feels like that kind of tune. It’s so effortlessly delivered by Bobcat Rob & The Nightly Howl that you have to question how nobody else wrote it before. (Or, if they have, what they’ll be asking for in the settlement). An ode to the refusal of growing up and dreams of making it big, from the lyrics to the melodies, this one sure is good.
Hearsing – Outlaws Never Cry
It’s hard to trust the young men and women singing of sadness, loss, and despair. Not with those gorgeous voices! It’s hard to buy bad news from anyone with the kind of elastic, ecstatic, and well-coordinated vocal heroics found in all modern styles of music, from electro-pop to modern metal.
Truth has to come from a voice that is ragged and frazzled like that of a person that’s seen too many things they won’t be able to unsee. The real truth comes from a voice like that of Dylan’s, one that wouldn’t be able to pass an audition on a television talent show unless they were sleeping with the host.
We need someone desperate and clever. We need men like Avery and Jordan Taylor, the duo behind Hearsing. Outlaws Never Cry is a beautiful, aching tune about fever dreams and make-believe. The vocals and playing are delivered like men who still have the shakes. It makes for an interesting listen.
