Leon Rosen – Cafe Dogs
Genre: Funk, Psychedelic Rock, Alt-Pop
Similar artists: Vulfpeck, Elton John, Billy Joel, David Bowie
The great Steve Jones was recently asked how he feels about the music of The Sex Pistols. Jonesy, always the honest man, replied that he’s just about had enough with hearing his former band’s songs. Presumably, this has something to do with the fact that they only recorded about a dozen songs. Instead, nowadays, he finds himself exploring the sophisticated styling of Steely Dan instead.
Punks may have winced, but the older musicians nodded approvingly. See, it is perfectly alright to be distrustful of the kinds of sounds that jazz-loving musos produce. I can understand why you might not want your friends to know about your admiration for them. Still, I dare say that embracing this kind of music is a sign of maturity, of using your ears more than using your eyes.
Leon Rosen’s Cafe Dogs sounds like the beautiful and likely underappreciated music that your favorite punk-rocker records once their drain pipe jeans don’t fit them anymore. It’s music made by someone that has spent enough time on songwriting to understand how chords, grooves, and lyrics work. It’s the sound of maturity, and it’s best to embrace it rather than chase it away.
Jon Tyler Wiley – Want a Little More
Genre: Americana, Indie Rock
Similar artists: Wilco, Dawes, Tom Petty
Great songwriters have always taken inspiration from country music. How could they resist it? It’s practically the purest form of modern songwriting that there is. However, it is interesting to note that whenever they have done this, they have made sure to disguise their intention. It’s not uncommon for a band that plays country music to add words like alternative or indie to their presentation.
The likes of Townes van Zandt or Guy Clark were dubbed as being part of the outlaw country movement. Bands like the Jayhawks and Whiskeytown were alt-country back in the 1990s. And Edward Sharpe and The Lumineers pretended to be homeless as their excuse for sounding and looking the way that they did.
Add Jon Tyler Wiley’s Want a Little More to your list of indie-rock if you must, but the songwriter is clearly mining the best aspects of country music with a view of gaining as big of an audience as possible. It’s not any different than Tom Petty would have done, and Wiley is smart to know that there is still a sizeable audience looking for these kinds of thrills. For a big Southern-twang hook featuring well-measured lyrics, you can listen carefully to Mr. Wiley.
