Quick and Painless – Pretty Poison
Kings, queens, and heads of state, throughout history have had people impersonate them for a living, the so-called political decoys. Their job is to act, look and behave like that highly famous person, and, if need be, to take a bullet on their behalf.
How many of these political decoys have actually died serving their beloved leaders is hard to estimate. There is, of course, the famous story about Saddam Hussein, as well as several other dictators, having body doubles as a means to confuse the people and make them think that their leader was, in fact, everywhere, overseeing every minute aspect concerning the country.
Exaggerations aside, voice-only decoys have had their way as well. If, in the future, someone would have it in for the Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and employ a software meant to pick him out of a crowd using his sound of voice alone, then the singer for Quick and Painless is bound to be in trouble. With that being said, we think that Pretty Poison is a joyous, thunderous rocker that should act as a fix for those that haven’t been able to get over the Sheffield boys moving past the sound of their first two albums.
Hideous Sun Demon – Squitter
How exactly do you go about qualifying for the Outsider Music sections of the streaming services or stores? Is a willingness to experiment enough? Do you have to have a colourful biography that includes some strange behaviour? Does the music just need to be weird for the sake of being weird?
The one downside about outsider music getting more recognition is that like avant-garde art movements becoming the focus of museums, they tend to take away some of the bravery of the performances, or downright horrendous characteristics of the music itself.
Australia’s Hideous Sun Demon do not sound like people that would ever be allowed in a museum, let alone be made into an exhibit. Squitter is an experimental-punk number that sounds like the work of a band looking to lose a record deal. We enjoyed it a lot!