Astronomers of the Strange – Slow Your Roll
There are all sorts of eerie, strange types of music out there. Just reach out into the internet and take your pick. Still, with that being said, most of that music designed to scare and bewilder includes people yelling at me, most of the time in a manner that makes me not understand a single word that they’re saying.
Not too many singers sound like an old, strange man whispering to you from too small of a distance for the experience to be a comfortable one. But, that’s just what Astronomers of the Strange do on the mysterious Slow Your Roll where the singing mimics the voice of would-be shaman chanting to you right after they’d administered enough hallucinogens to give an elephant a seizure.
We like our music, weird and challenging. This one is certainly strange. The vocals aren’t the only thing you should pay notice to. The cute melodies, in the beginning, the call and response vocals and, especially, the sudden change in groove keep us on the edge of your seat. We’d recommend listening to their music, but, certainly, not giving them out your phone number.
Kelly McFarling – Delicate
To some, the Smiths were Britain’s Beatles during the 1980s. Almost all of their albums received near-universal praise in the press and the group earned many fans, albeit not so much as to create a veritable Smithsmania.
As time has gone on, their work has continued to be scrutinized and appreciated. But, even more than singer Morrissey’s lyrical subject matter and imagery, it’s the delicate, melodic guitar work of Johnny Marr that has been the most influential. You can hear it everywhere in modern indie-rock.
You can certainly trace it on Kelly McFarling’s Delicate. Whether she is aware of it or not is a whole other matter. Marr’s gift was for creating guitar-pop based on extremely solid musical foundations, and folk songs turned into indie-pop bangers.
The same can be said of the addictive Delicate where McFarling finds the perfect balance between quotable, sombre phrases and hooky vocal melodies. Through it all the guitar playing moves weightlessly, adding colour to every single line it touches.
