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Anyone but you: Langkamer and The Dust Collectors and Elijah Blake

Langkamer and The Dust Collectors and Elijah Blake

The Dust Collectors – Murder, I Wrote

Similar artists: The Band, Crosby Still Nash and Young

Genre: Folk, Americana, Alt-Country

Pop music has been liberated. There is virtually no topic that is off-limits, as frequent readers of this blog will have noticed. Call this a signal of the decay of society at large, but it sure helps give writers a much larger palette with which to work. 

So, why are most hit songs still about sex and money? Well, maybe, it’s because most people never demanded much else from their musical entertainment. Trying to make a living in music? Best deliver what the customer wants. 

Sure, thankfully, there are some willing to take a chance and test the limits of their freedom. It’s well understood that songs that test the limits of the audience’s tolerance are less likely to make piles of cash, but they may very well find listeners resisting the trivial nature of ordinary pop music. 

The Dust Collectors’ Murder, I Wrote functions in a beautiful folk music format but counterbalances the gorgeous melodies with tales of jealousy and murder. Yes, murder ballads are an honored tradition in songwriting, but it’s the matter-of-fact delivery of this confession that comes as a considerable surprise here. 

Modern music has been liberated, and some are happy about it. 


Langkamer – Sing At Dawn

Similar artists: Twin Peaks, Pavement, Big Thief, Parquet Courts, White Denim, Teenage Fanclub, Nap Eyes

Genre: Alt-Country, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock

How many times can you xerox a piece of paper before the meaning becomes indecipherable? A few dozen times, perhaps. I would assume that these are the kinds of conversations that folks out at big record labels have among themselves all the time. 

The fact is that we’ve all heard a lot of pop music in our lives. There wasn’t much escaping it. We all know, for the most part, what we like, even if we’re not musical experts. For the most part, we’re looking for something familiar. 

But what about uniqueness? What about a singer whose voice you could pick out of a line-up and whose songs are bizarre reflections of personal experience? Surely, that’s preferable over being able to strike just the right chord needed for commercial success. 

On Sing At Dawn, Langkamer continues to prove that they have few peers and imitators and that there are few points of reference when it comes to their quirky brand of folkie rock. It’s disillusionment met with humor, and tragedy met with good cheer. It’s hard to imagine anybody doing this quite in the same way. 


Elijah Blake – The Ballad Of Jeremiah Jones

Similar artists: Colter Wall, Johnny Cash, Eddie Vedder

Genre: Americana, Alt-Country

Modern music fans are obsessed with time. More specifically, they’re obsessed with how much time it’ll take them to listen to a song. Can the chorus be delivered in the first 30 seconds? Do they really need to listen to it after the guitar solo? 

They are not the only ones. In fact, throughout the world, people need to get their kicks fast. If they do not receive what they want in record time, they turn to what has come naturally to them. They turn on their phone or computer and actively search for their kicks online. 

Still, the world needs stories and always will. Not all stories can or should be told in a restrictive 30-second framework. Only a few still fight for this. Elijah Blake is one of those. On The Ballad Of Jeremiah Jones, Blake crafts a detailed short story and sets it to music. This murder ballad wouldn’t work in any other way. Your brain may fight against tuning in to all of the details of this 8-minute piece, but the journey can’t be taken any other way. 

The Dust Collectors - Murder, I Wrote

7.5

Langkamer - Sing At Dawn

8.0

Elijah Blake - The Ballad Of Jeremiah Jones

8.5

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About author

Eduard Banulescu is a writer, blogger, and musician. As a content writer, Eduard has contributed to numerous websites and publications, including FootballCoin, Play2Earn, BeIN Crypto, Business2Community, NapoliSerieA, Extra Time Talk, Nitrogen Sports, Bavarian FootballWorks, etc. He has written a book about Nirvana, hosts a music podcasts, and writes weekly content about some of the best, new and old, alternative musicians. Eduard also runs and acts as editor-in-chief of the alternative rock music website www.alt77.com. Mr. Banulescu is also a musician, having played and recorded in various bands and as a solo artist.
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