Saint Romanov – Billy Boy
Genre: Hard Rock, Grunge, Alternative Rock
Saint Romanov sound like a band stubbornly determined not to make any new friends on Billy Boy. You know the type. Rock stars.
Some of the greatest rock stars were sonic terrorists. Their mere presence was met with interest and mistrust by those around them. The meaning of their lyrics was dissected at length. The effect that their work could have on the impressionable youth was a hot topic of discussion.
Terrorizing an audience into making them loyal followers is a game of light and shadows. What artists reveal is just as important as what they keep hidden. In an age where too much information is the norm, there’s just no room for new, dangerous, unhinged rock musicians.
Saint Romanov may have just found a small opening, and they’re doing it the old-fashioned way. Grunge-toned Billy Boy sounds more like a ransom note, than a pop song. It’s not just the grunt of the vocals that makes this terrifying, but the similarly menacing sound of the instruments.
KEG – Farmhands
Genre: Post-punk, Indie Rock
Similar artists: The Fall, FUGAZI, Sparks, Talking Heads, Devo, Orange Juice
KEG milk their inner-misanthrope for their post-punk single Farmhands.
When it came to modern pop music of all varieties, the 1980s were a veritable arms race for crafting the catchiest, most direct melodies. The best way to get noticed, in any area of work, is to do the exact opposite.
Bands that had caught the tail-end of the original punk-rock boom were happy to oblige. They produced stranged, carefully crated music meant to have their exclaim “I don’t think they’ll ever play this on the radio.” And, they were right. For the most part, radio stayed far away from The Fall, Devo, or Oingo Boingo.
KEG seem to dig deep into Mark E. Smith’s famous advice for songwriting, of spending time with the locals, letting yourself get angry, then documenting your feelings. Farmhands sounds like a big city punk kid trying and failing to embrace the hippie dream. It’s the poetry of disenchantment sung over vaguely funky grooves. I don’t think they’ll ever play this on the radio, but that’s Ok. The radio is garbage anyway.
