Human Beat – Punctual Punks
There’ll come a moment when, if you happen to be a classic rock fan, and a new Greta Van Fleet song will pop up on your playlist, you’ll start worrying that the streaming platform’s AI is custom designing songs for you. That time is near.
Similarly, we almost worried that our listening preferences are getting carefully scrutinized and pulled apart by a clever, predictive algorithm. That’s because “Punctual Punks” is a tremendously appropriate song for Alt77, containing many of the musical elements most often represented on the website.
Human Beat approach this song with a choppy power-chord attack, melodic bass lines, and opaque vocals. It all makes it sound like the kind of track you might discover on a 70s compilation of punk-rock unfairly omitted from the history books.
Human Beat are clever. They not merely sound/look retro as a fashion choice. They could have easily boarded a time machine that landed them in the future.
The Keepers – Deadly Penny
In terms of rock crazes, the U.S. and U.K. have a habit of either copying or battling each other. There’s usually a delay between how each will produce their own version of events, but make no mistake, if the U.S. gives the world the Ramones, the U.K. is going to counter with the Sex Pistols.
Now, it’s interesting to remember the pre-Brit-Pop where the U.K. music scene was essentially taken over by glam-rock aficionados like Suede. The NME considered them the only exciting young voices to have appeared in years.
The local music press was enamoured. As for the group, they created some truly memorable and provocative records. Yet, for once, the U.S. stayed away. Yeah, they had had their own glam-colonists in the 80s. But, unlike Pulp or the Manic Street Preachers, those groups wouldn’t know a good tune if it hit them over the head with a sack of bricks.
The Keepers are taking liberal inspiration from that era. But, while they’ve clearly invested time in studying the style and stage-craft of Brett Anderson and co, they’ve also pricked their ears widely. “Deadly Penny” features the kind of melodies and melodrama that only a British group would be able to do convincingly.
And, the nice tune is half the battle won right here. The Keepers seem to truly believe in their mission, making the experience of watching/hearing them both uncomfortable and fascinating.
