Monika Roscher Bigband – 8 Prinzessinnen
Similar artists: Björk, Frank Zappa, Mars Volta, Battles, black midi, King Crimson, Charles Mingus, St Vincent, Tool
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Math Rock
Most musicians eventually have a vision about creating genre-defying, mind-altering music. Most musicians end up playing the blues scale over four to the floor beat.
You can’t blame them. Visions of a modern, mystical sound have to be accompanied by a strict, thorough understanding of music and considerable chops. Nobody is born with the ability to play jazz or prog-rock, after all.
How about the rewards? Musicians who wish to learn to express themselves in this way might spend years of their lives. Financial benefits are not guaranteed, and neither is fame. What is on the table, however, is the prospect of being able to alter the audience’s perception of music altogether.
Monika Roscher Bigband’s 8 Prinzessinnen isn’t designed to make it easy on listeners with its unique blend of jazz, high-brow prog-rock, and theatrical vocals. What it does achieve, however, is something that can’t quantize in simple words or formulas. It floats like a magic spell. It either affects the listener deeply or it doesn’t. Unlike pop music, there’s no middle ground.
Hyattsvillain – Hear Say
Genre: Alternative Rock
For many people, heavy guitar-powered music has lost its potency. Maybe this is only natural. You can only be shocked by hearing a punk or heavy metal band so many times. Eventually, volume and speed are just not enough.
Besides this, modern production techniques have helped make hard-rocking genres easier to record, but have failed to retain the wild live feel of songs. From Poppy to Bring Me The Horizon, heavy sounds now easily blend in with the rest of pop music.
Still, audiences claim their rocking thrills. And things can only remain thrilling as long as they are surprising. Rock singles are like a punch that always seems to land out of nowhere.
Hyattsvillain’s Hear Say is manic to the point of absurdity. It sounds like a live band determined to spend all of their energy on just one song. It sounds like a band determined to break every last piece of equipment as they’re playing this. It’s cartoonishly brash, and surprising. And because of all of this, it hits its mark.
