Jake Haws – End Of My Rope
Similar artists: Spoon
Genre: Indie Rock
What if I told you that the best artists spend years and years learning their craft just so that they can tell their troubles in the prettiest of manners? To most people, this would seem crazy. Using that kind of discipline effort solely as a means to communicate your issues to the world? Wow!
But what if I told you that the technique itself is not enough? The troubles themselves have to be amplified and imbued with the kind of hurt befitting a Greek tragedy.
Great artists prepare themselves for martyrdom. But great musical artists are cooler because they also get to scram into a mic and swing around a guitar. Jake Hawks takes matters into his own hands on “End of my Rope,” delivering a one-man orchestra indie-rock symphony.
The vocals and the emotion he expresses with them are the real focal point. Clearly, Hawks has both suffered and invested plenty into his playing, and the results are hard to deny.
Gli Insetti Nell’Ambra – Pugni
Similar artists: Television, The Fall, Pere Ubu, NEU!, Talking Heads
Genre: Post-Punk, Alternative Rock
Rock stars weren’t supposed to sound or look like the rest of us. They were supposed to be just David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, a mysterious being from out of space.
That was a nice idea to have until the managers, the producers, and the radio programming directors started stepping in. Cut to 2023 and little of the music that we are bombarded with has been made with the direct influence of the artist whose name is on the tin.
Let’s go back to basics! Let’s get back to people that sound like they dream up their art in the bedroom and who turn their kitchens into recording studios! Gli Insetti Nell’Ambra’s “Pugni” sounds like the music made by someone with an incredible record collection and who will not be dissuaded by silly music industry conventions from making his own records.
More importantly, “Pugni” showcases an artist with plenty of ideas and more reference points than can be mentioned. It all sounds like a would-be classic delivered to you in its initial form. It’s like David in the process of being excavated out of its marble exterior.
