
Jesse Heinz – Back to the End
Similar artists: Jeff Rosenstock, PUP, Streetlight Manifesto
Genre: Punk, Pop Punk
Nobody believes a sad clown, and nobody can explain why a ska band would want to sing blues. You get on that makeup or put on the checkered shirts and pork pie hats, and you better have a big smile on your face, too. Simply put, people don’t pay these kinds of entertainers to remind them of how much of a drag life is.
The only thing to do is sneak some of those truths in and make them sound like they’re so bad. Clowns and ska bands can tell sad luck stories, but like old Disney movies, they have to give them a happy ending. And just like the material presented to little children, they need to bring with them a lot of energy that the audience can feed off of.
Jesse Heinz’s “Back to the End” would have been an emotional pop-punk tune were it not for Heinz’s true love for ska and an itch to incorporate it here. Instead, once the skanking guitars kick in together with the backing vocals and the trumpets, this ends up sounding like a TV-Y Saturday morning show. That’s not a bad thing. Everyone has regrets, as Heinz will tell you if you listen closely, but we all need something to get us through the day.
Indications – vulture sounds
Genre: Punk, Post-Hardcore, Pop Punk
If you’re a rock fan, or admirer of any musical genre that either primarily uses guitars or takes an art first approach to music making, then you are suspicious of pop radio hits.
It’s not that you dislike them. You’re not some kinda monster! You probably still tap your foot to the annual Summer dance craze or weep every “She’s Like The Wind” comes on the oldies radio station. You’re not a monster!
But instinctively you know that the pop artists can’t mean what they say! It would just be counterproductive. Their managers would come down and talk to them sternly. Their fans would turn their backs on them. Pop stars don’t mean what they say!
Guitar bands and artsy songwriters get to say things that they mean without risking bankruptcy. Indications’ “vulture sounds” is an honest song about anxiety powered by the kind of classic punk groove that perfectly mimics the heart-thumping barrage of fear that accompanies one of those. Not least of all, it’s memorable and deserves multiple listens.