Heavy Lag – I Don’t Wanna Be Around (You)
Hell is other people, of course. That much has never changed. But, since that’s true, you can also bet that you’ll be hanging around the diabolical fires for a long chunk of your life. There’s little you can achieve in this existence without other folks.
Just what will your soul look like after years spent trying to distance yourself from the flames and find a cool place to rest? Well, the resentment will twist and turn it into a new shape. That much you can bet on. That’s where the music of Heavy Lag echoes out of.
But if there’s one thing great about creativity, it’s that it allows you to be the sheriff of your own made-up town. You can adopt strict rules about quiet hours or proximity between people. And you can then hang anyone who doesn’t listen.
Frankly, there’s something quite empowering about Heavy Lag’s “I Don’t Wanna Be Around (You)” and I’ll stick to my opinion until heads actually start to roll and cars really go up in flames. Heavy Lag are using this charming lo-fi garage-rock to punish everyone that’s ever done them harm and to forcibly make them delete their phone number. They may end the song by yelling that they want them back. But, listen, it’s just natural to feel that way.
Ouster Nash – I Am The Sun
Every single day and with every single TikTok video posted, old vinyl records get longer. Sure, no extra seconds of music are added to it. But that doesn’t matter. Five minutes yesterday won’t feel as long as five minutes that you’ll hear ten years from now. A Ramones track will, eventually, begin to sound like a symphony.
No, we can’t focus anymore. That’s reflected in our life choices as well as in the things that are supposed to provide our entertainment. For adventure-seeking, smartasses like Ouster Nash, making music using old recording equipment must feel a bit like beaming down messages to rebels still hiding out in the mountains. There might not be a lot of them anymore and some of them, occasionally, consider giving it all up for a burger and a shower. But constraints make for passionate warriors.
“I Am The Sun” is a great-sounding psych-rock record. It’s serious music made by a band that doesn’t feel, on first listen, like they take a lot of this seriously. It’s humorous music designed to perfection. It’s a three-minute single that may very well still thrill you when you play it for the n-th time in your headphones. It’s short and to the point. But, don’t worry, it’ll feel as long as a plane ride across an ocean in just a little bit.
