I don’t speak french – Millennials
Similar artists: Bad Nerves, The Hives, Wine Lips
Genre: Punk, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
The musicians who aren’t interested in trends are either those who have already written their hits or those who are hopelessly lost in the world that they’ve chosen. The fact is that the majority of stone-cold classics, from any type of art form, were once upon a time merely a method to capitalize on something that was making the rounds and earning claps and cash in the process.
Don’t scoff at bands and artists looking to mine trends for a hit. And, especially, don’t do it when they’re willing to take a look back at what happened before their time. How else are they going to learn? And how else will we keep those great sounds dangerous and ready to inspire a host of future musicians? We need those hits just as much as the artists cashing the checks.
I don’t speak french’s “Millennials” isn’t so much meant for the pop charts as for the viral TikTok videos. Thankfully, for the excellently christened Swedish singer, that’s practically the same nowadays. Musically, this is trendy pop music of 2024. But props to him for bringing a bit of ol’ garage-rock a la fellow Swedes, The Hives, to the mix.
april june – baby’s out of luck again
Similar artists: girl in red, The Marías, Bathe Alone
Genre: Dream Pop
There’s something to be said about live music, I guess. And while nobody can deny that sharing the experience that musicians produce when playing their instruments in front of a paying audience can mean a mighty wonderful time, there are things it cannot do. There’s only so much that a live musician can pull off. On the other hand, music carefully recorded in a studio can be limitless.
We’ve returned to the era of studio recordings. Bands like The Beatles first prioritized this over live performances when trying to create an emotional bond with screaming fans was simply no longer an option. Yeah, it’s hard to find intimacy with, potentially, thousands of drunk fans gathered in a field, connecting over football chants.
april june’s “baby’s out of luck again” is a perfectly catchy dream soundtrack that could’ve only come out sounding this way through the diligent work of musicians in a studio. If the goal of the British artist is to make music that sounds otherworldly, then this is a success. “baby’s out of luck again” feels like the song you might hear as you are forced to live traumatic experiences from your past at 0.5x the speed at which they happened in the first place.
