Mobina Galore – Whiskey Water
Genre: Pop Punk
Rock music is usually played at the end of mainstream movies these days. It’s played once the character gets away, dies a heroic death, or just sits on the porch of their house thinking about all the things that they could have done. This is music that fits happy endings and would be happy endings.
It’s inevitable that we will think of modern rock by a stereotype that’s been created of it. Well, we’ve helped nurture and develop it. So, why not? It’s difficult not to think of modern rock as the sound of great escapes, or, at the very least, brave attempts at those.
Mobina Galore’s Whiskey Water is, unapologetically, the sound of troubles being faced head-on. The ending though is unclear. This is not yet a happy ending or a tragedy. But, the pop-punk singalong is certainly a call to take up arms against a sea of troubles, but also to see where the road may take the songwriter. Rock is a soundtrack to acting decisively and this is what Mobina Galore does here.
Johnny Nocash – Do You Wanna Die
Genre: Punk, Noise Rock
Before any of the myriads of deadly threats actually get us, we may just be done in by our very own minds. How’s a man to stand such a barrage of bad news? Just like volunteers in psychology experiments, the modern Western world is about to find out what it’s like it to have it all and no longer be able to stand it.
It’s enough to drive people nuts. And, it does, albeit you wouldn’t usually know it by checking out the charts. Whereas the most famous singer-songwriters of the 1960s risked their careers in order to demand peace and human rights, most modern rock stars are busy polishing their cars or telling you about the latest product that they’ve decided to endorse.
Bob Marley called himself a simple man with simple pleasures. Johnny Nocash is a simple man with complicated problems that most of the world shares. Do You Wanna Die is a punk-rock tune about being ready to give up. The Celtic-tinged tune is not an anthem about chasing down troubles, or about giving in. Sometimes the songs that are needed are the ones that honestly tell the world that its inhabitants have just about had it.
