Madame Whiskey – Holding Ground
For most of its existence, much of pop music was entirely regional. Sure, there were The Beatles and a few stars from the U.S. that nearly everyone in the world could associate with a song or two, but those were exceptions.
From Eastern Europe to North Africa, from Central America to Southern Chile, bands made music for their domestic audiences. Sure, most of them attempted to write in a universal language. But hoping that these songs could reach the world was just a dream.
Nowadays, we don’t just possess the technology to, theoretically, at least, beam music all across the world. Through the years, we’ve also developed languages that are universal, pop sounds that everyone knows. This is one of the tools that Madame Whiskey relies on.
The appeal of “Holding Ground” is thus two-fold. On the one hand, this is a poppy alt-rock song that is dynamic and hooky. On the other hand, even without proper knowledge of Madame Whiskey’s esoteric style of penning lyrics, these alt-rock sounds are nothing you won’t understand; they’re not a language you can’t speak. This is how pop sounds have become truly universal.
DESIGNER – Blood On Your Hands
There are wars all over the world. Yes, we’re back to doing that! And, many of them are fought, or, at least, encouraged, by some of the world’s greatest powers, by nations that you’d assume would have something better to do with their time. The fact that they go on isn’t so much a testament to the lack of power that the people of these nations enjoy.
If anything, the fact that wars are allowed to continue is a testament to the fact that regular people just want to get on with their normal lives without having to stress about problems. Unless it’s their issue, they don’t want to bother. However, DESIGNER is standing up and giving an example!
The least you can do is use your voice to say that you’re disgusted! “Blood On Your Hands” works both as an anti-war protest song (of which we need many, many more) and as a powerful, all-action rock song. DESIGNER manage to deliver an important message, yes. But the band’s blend of punk and alt-rock is also entertaining enough to keep audiences paying attention.
