Heavy The Mountain – Space Vacation
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
To live outside the law, you must be honest, but also have a really unbelievable story to tell. That’s what all the old rebels had in common. All the ones that made money, and were invited back to the television studios to tell their life stories. Sure, they provided tall tales of dragons, princesses, and enough drug paraphernalia to make a Colombian drug lord consider a career as an accountant.
The thing is that rock musicians are expected to make it seem that life is lived without consequences. Like they’ve rigged the game in their favour. The roulette table always pours out the chips. Romantic interest is plentiful and comes easy to them. And, substance abuse never sticks to the likes of them.
It’s a good story and we need it. Heavy The Mountain’s Space Vacation sounds like the music made by the kids that aren’t allowed in the school anymore but hang out in its proximity just the same. You might believe them when they brag about their deeds. You shouldn’t. But, it’s fun. It’s bravado-filled psychedelic rock.
Indigo FM – Daffodil
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Unless your ambition is to rewrite Ulysses or to create an album to match the faux-sophistication of Emerson, Lake and Palmer at their bombastic best, as a musician, you are better off going with your first idea. Exotic chords and complicated melodies be damned. This is one of the crafts where the audience’s attention needs to be taken by force from the very first bars.
Having said that, it’s also Ok to know when to stop. Many bands have made a living out of creating the same set of songs over and over again. I love some of those groups as much as the next guy, but would anyone have been upset if Motorhead simply played the entirety of Ace of Spades forever? That actually sounds great.
Indigo FM’s Daffodil has the immediacy of a song that feels written from the exact moment that the guitar has been picked up by the writer. There’s no-frills, fills, or strange colours. Just a power-chord buffet inspired by, one would assume, the nearby vegetation. It turns out that the tune was a good idea, to begin with, and Indigo FM know enough to get out of the way of themselves while they assemble this.
