Orca Station – Alas
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Nirvana
Look, there’s a right way and a wrong way to sound like you’re a favourite band. And it has little to do with the actual sound that you’re producing. Instead, it has a lot to do with your intentions for the sounds that you’re producing.
Long before AI could instantly render songs akin to your favourite artists, there were bands and singers doing the same thing. They were earning their living by impersonating other, more famous performers.
The right way to do things, however, is to acknowledge inevitable comparisons and to take elements from other artists because they are the best. Who wouldn’t want to be abler to sing like Kurt Cobain?
Orca Station “Alas” uses Nirvana as the jump-off place for something potent and exciting. Yes, the vocals are meant to resemble those of Cobain, and the format of the song fits snugly within the 90s alt-rock format. But this just means that Orca Station has mastered this skill. Luckily for the listeners, they are moving forward.
Ingrid and the Ministers – Jack’s House
Similar artists: The Dead Weather, Ida Maria, The Black Keys, Jack White
Genre: Southern Rock / Red Dirt, Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock
Rock concerts and sports events are the only places where outbursts of emotion are not only tolerated but encouraged. You won’t even be able to yell out your joy or frustration during the Christmas holidays without getting arrested. And forget about doing it in your own house.
That’s the secret sauce that keeps rock music ploughing forward. Its ability to charm doesn’t lie in the actual playing of the instruments. Nobody cares about a particular guitar tone all that much. It lies in its ability to harness raw emotion.
Ingrid and the Ministers’ “Jack’s House” is a bluesy modern-rock number complete with shouted histrionics. Familiar bluesy riffs create the cover for the excellent vocal performance, a kind of psychobilly attack. Ingrid and the Ministers let loose on this one and it’s hard to imagine audiences will want to refrain.
