Ginko Bugs – Close In October
Genre: Classic Rock, 90s Rock
There are plenty of people who begin studying an instrument not as a way of writing beautiful songs that others will want to hear but as a means to understand how music works. Usually, those people are called jazz musicians. Sure, their pursuit may be powered by a rather egotistic desire to please their geeky thirst for knowledge. But it also says something about the way music works.
Music, particularly the humble art form known as “pop songwriting,” functions by very simple and elegant rules. Things either go together or they do not. Even a small child can instantly comprehend if the rules for this kind of composition have been adhered to or not. Pop music either makes sense or doesn’t, and you can pretty much tell as much from the ease with which you can hum a tune.
Ginko Bugs’ “Close In October” is a pop tune through and through, a song that, written in any age of commercial music, would fit the same purpose. This is a light love song whose melodies are hummable, 60s-inspired and as breezy as an April morning. But it’s also deceptively simple. This is the kind of pop music alchemy that works only if everything is in perfect balance.
Known Moons – A Coffin for the Cosmos
Similar artists: Minus the Bear, Queens of the Stone Age, Bloc Party
Genre: Post-Punk, Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Yes, writing rock songs and trying to make them successful is an awful lot, like agreeing to take part in speed dating for the rest of your life. The fact is that with so much information readily available and with the sheer volume of songs that fans can consume, making an immediate impression is the only way to get by.
Hitting that powerful first note is a delicate balancing act in itself. As in real life, a bit of eccentricity is required; otherwise, you will just end up appearing like everyone else, and there’ll be no reason why anyone should pay special attention to you. On the other hand, distancing yourself too far from the pack is bound to make prospective partners feel uneasy about you.
Known Moons’ “A Coffin for the Cosmos” is a tune that is specially designed to grab your attention from the very first seconds. It lives and dies by a first impression that it tries to extend for the entire running time of the song. The groove is good, the guitar riff suggests space travel, and the singer does his very best to convince you that they’ll be the one fit to show you around.
