Hubbell Benson – Except For Him
The best thing that a musical artist can do to let you understand what they are about is to show you their record collection or, for the less financially affluent, their Spotify playlists. Judge less you be judged applies in most circumstances, but not in this one. If the artist is worth their salt, their chosen musical preferences should reflect their personality, reveal their ambition, and even hint at their flaws.
It goes without saying that most artists will feel inspired to recreate some of the sounds they collected. Some of them will fearlessly cross a line that borders plagiarism but don’t worry about that. It’s true that talent borrows while genius steals. And someone with the potential to be a genius won’t help but keep moving, develop and, eventually, outgrow their influences.
Don’t sweat the fact that Hubbel Benson sounds like Elvis Costello on the track “Except for Him.” To be fair, Benson has the ability to, at will, sound like a bunch of the best performers in pop music. Instead, rejoice at the fact that this is an extremely accurate recreation of Costello’s first records, complete with excellent singing and warm, natural-sounding production. Also, rejoice at the fact that this ain’t some devoid-of-character AI collage. Lastly, you should know that by the time you read this, Benson might have moved on to other things.
The Flying Beets – The Stupid Way You Breathe
I suppose we shouldn’t worry about all of the pressure that pop and rock stars are under nowadays to behave. Like wearing a nice, tucked-in shirt to a desk job, respectful behaviour is demanded of 21st-century entertainers. They need to be role models. They have to talk about serious issues when this is demanded of them. And, if they’re really good boys and girls, they’ll get to shake the king’s hand.
It’s worked out for a bunch of them. Why Chris Martin never have brunch alone with a litany of politicians, high-ranking priests and other pop stars all waiting for their distant appointment? And, folks like Bono have long since married the worlds of politics and pop music together. You and I might not like it. Still, you and I aren’t guesting American officials at our Summer home in the Swiss mountains.
The Flying Beets have a bone to pick with someone, and they don’t care if the whole world knows it. In fact, that’s just dandy. With a title as direct as “The Stupid Way You Breathe,” they’re not looking to get competitive about how many Christmas cards they receive this year. The Flying Beets just want to make power-pop in a way that is rather devoid of power and moody rather than cheerful. They still know a good melody when they hear it, and they’re not afraid of using it for their own material. Just don’t ask them to mingle and to make friends.
