Lewca – Young & Foolish
The last time that we visited Lewca’s world, he was busy making fun, loud, silly, laddish punk rock with a modern twist. Little has changed. The man himself remains as misanthropic as ever. He’s not here to make friends, but he will have a good time at the possible expense of his safety and that of those around him.
There’s no subtlety to Young & Foolish, but, in many ways, there is something to be praise. Here is a man that has zero interest in what the wisdom of old age might offer him. More still, he’s no business romanticizing the “good old days“. In Lewca’s world, some things just suck harder than others.
With that being said, the songwriter has learned his craft well from the punk albums that have informed his taste in music. He knows how to get a groove going, how to make a tune sound rowdy, and where to inject a clever, mischievous line. We may not all be living the reckless life of Lewca, but, luckily, we’ve got written accounts of what happens on those nights out in his adopted home of France.
PEEK – Birdsong
If you’re like us at Alt77, you’ve listened to enough singles throughout your days to be able to answer, more or less, what are the ingredients required to make for a good single. And, a lot of times, the road to greatness is simply a matter of ticking a number of boxes.
This is hard enough as it is. However, in our search for the perfect three-minute single, we may tend to forget one of the most important things about music. The very best of it is surprising and seems to fit into the moment of your life where nothing else seems to speak as loudly.
That is, I think, the case with PEEK’s Birdsong. The Japanese quartet takes a forward-thinking approach to guitar music. This isn’t prog or ambient, even though it features great musical complexity and a tendency of wanting to fade into the background. No, it’s rather unique, a soundtrack to birdwatching, we presume. It’s difficult to pin down, and thus it is surprising.
