King Borneo – People Eyewear
Similar artists: Ty Segall, White Fence, King Tuff, Kurt Vile
Genre: Lo-fi Rock, Indie Rock
Everyone is waiting for the new Bob Dylan or Kurt Cobain to arrive, like religious groups waiting for the return or, based on which camp you drink your soup from, the arrival of the Messiah. But almost all of these people who are spending their lives waiting are looking in the wrong place. I, at least, hope that the next Bob Dylan will not be born in Minnesota and get their start by recording Woody Guthrie’s songs. We have that one already.
The fact is that hero worship unless it is promoted by some giant corporation, doesn’t really occur until the hero can no longer enjoy it. We love martyrs more than we love people preaching peace. And we love to talk about musicians who are gone rather than celebrate the ones that are here. History is happening all around us, and most of us are just waiting for someone to tell us about it.
King Borneo’s “People Eyewear” is a modern Dylanesque composition from a flamboyant Swedish songwriter with a good deal of things to say. Like the troubadours of the 1960s, which most of us greatly treasure, your appreciation of King Borneo’s music will depend on your trust in the musician’s special powers. These include, but are not restricted to, the ability to tell great, strange stories over the backing of garage-rock instrumentals that are neither modern nor retro. Heroes are born every day.
Jake Huffman – Highs and Lows
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Alt Pop
Do housewives and their accountant husbands deserve rights? I mean, sure, we all like to think about the artistic types dressed in fancy clothes sporting trendy haircuts and wish only the best for them. Sure, we rightfully worry about refugees and all of the ones less fortunate. But what about the common folks, the ones that nobody seems to have time to worry about?
And what rights do they deserve? Yeah, we’ll make sure that they’re housed and fed. But is there anything else we should worry about? For example, are they allowed to have a good time? This ought to concern us since these people make up the vast majority of the world and are arguably the ones keeping it spin on its axis. What music will we provide to calm their nerves?
Jake Huffman has a knack for writing comfortable pop-rock music that the majority of people will understand and relate to. This is what the songwriter does on “Highs and Lows.” It’s not a record written for art-class kids, for skaters, or for people studying jazz in hopes of a career. But it could be. This is guitar-pop music for regular people who face what life regularly throws at them. Huffman knows that these folks deserve some loo as well.
