Kula Shaker – Broke As Folk
The kids all turned out alright, but the colourful clothes got shoved in the closet and the neo-hippie dreams of endless cheer and hope had to be abandoned for something a bit more practical, a little more realistic.
This isn’t just the story of all of your friends you made at University, or that one time that you went to Prague and got smashed on cheap, excellent beer. It’s also the story of Kula Shaker and of the bands that, decades ago, at the start of their careers, got their audiences to breathe deeply and meditate on a better world.
The good news is that bands like Kula Shaker, who got to sit on a platform where they could address millions, still know just how loudly they have to speak up to be heard. The melodies are just as large, and the sound of the music is meant to wrap you up in a swirl.
But, although the chorus for “Broke as Folk” is still compatible with crowd-chanting, thematically this is a great departure from their “Beatles in India” inspiration of the group’s debut record. This is psych-rock inspired by Ray Manzarek’s mournful keyboards and something that matches in tone the spirit of the times. The kids are alright, but they’re just as scared as the rest of us.
The Real Flower Pots – Birdie
On the sad day of Brian Wilson’s passing, the world’s press was inundated with mournful obituaries. Musicians and entertainment stars shared tributes. The King of the U.S.A. must’ve shared a tear. And, all of that feels like the right response.
But a few cynical questions immediately came up: Who do we, selfish music lovers, replace him with now, and why haven’t we done much to do much in this regard? Surely, we can’t just depend on The Beach Boys’ local tribute bands to do the trick. Now, The Real Flower Pots are a different matter.
It’s not as easy as it sounds. That’s partly because most of the people who could create a similarly all-engulfing celestial pop sound as Brian Wilson are people who’ve been taught their tricks in school, and who lead boring, uneventful lives that make them equally unimaginative.
The Real Flower Pots don’t just make songs that feel like the soundtrack to an eternal Summer. “Birdie” isn’t just a beautiful piece of music created by blending together the separate ideas of two distinct songwriters. The music of The Real Flower Pots also feels weird, challenging and like it might be playing a trick on you. It’s beautiful and entirely bizarre. Maybe there’s hope yet!
