VOLK – I Fed Animals
Similar artists: The Kills, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Band of Skulls, The White Stripes
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
If there’s one thing that really sticks in the craw of the notoriously accepting art reviewers, it’s people that aren’t like them. Most of these people got their fancy jobs just after graduating from a really fancy school. Their friends, who influence their world view did the same.
This is a shame for rock music because it wasn’t concocted by professors from one of these sophisticated places of learning. It was designed by miscreants, weirdos, and screw-ups.
Worst still, the essence of rock n’ roll, whether your dearest NYC or LA magazine would like to admit, lies with some of the parts of the USA, and the rest of the world, that are routinely ignored by the media. Can’t have a rocker without the blues or folk music.
VOLK’s I Fed Animals finds the dynamic rock duo in just the same mean, a strange place where we left them when we last reviewed them. They still like their music raw and dirty, and they play it as if their entire reputation depends on it. I’d like to see someone in an expensive turtleneck sweater do this.
Heathe – Black Milk Sour Soil
Similar artists: Oranssi Pazuzu, Swans, Soldat Hans
Genre: Stoner Rock, Progressive Metal
The Portuguese navigators that made it across the oceans, and onto other continents, brought a lot of nifty souvenirs back. There was coffee, chocolate, strange pieces of fruit, and other things meant to amuse their families.
It wasn’t meant to last but turns out that all of these things were warmly received. People wanted more. No, they demanded more! So, the navigators had no choice but to invent globalization. As you read this on your smartphone while drinking a mocha latte, thank them for it.
It’s made the world… rather tiny. Have enough dough in your pockets, and you’re bound to feel the same anywhere you travel. You can get the same food and wear the same clothes. And, if you’re American, even use the only language that you know. It’s all comfortable but a bit predictable.
One group of people that are wary of anything too comfortable are the Northern Europeans. Denmark’s Heathe’s Black Milk Sour Soil borrows from elements from across the world. But the aim is not to comfort but rather confound and upset. It’s disorienting music that sounds like a pagan witch doctor being commissioned to write a piece for Greek Orthodox Church. Strange and unlikely.
