
Make it So – XP
Similar artists: Dinosaur Jr., Hum, Cave In
Genre: Grunge, Alternative Rock
Audiences looking for new kinds of entertainment are easily startled. People fainted when they saw Elvis and jumped out windows when Orson Welles broadcast “War of the Worlds” on the radio. But it’s really hard to get them the second time around. Shocking them is usually a one-time thing. At best, you need to wait for a whole new generation to try and use the same tricks on them.
Rock music has, for the moment, exhausted where it can go in terms of bombast. Bands have played faster, louder, and angrier than their predecessors. There’s no way upward or downward to go. The only thing that’s left is to blend the scope of rock with imaginative, competent playing. If done right, it’s enough to get the folks in the audience to have their jaws drop.
Make it So’s “XP” is just about as loud and as well performed as grungey alternative rock can get. This is clearly music meant to test the capacity of guitar amps and sound systems. But driving the assault is an expertly designed vocal tone that ought to remind listeners of the great grunge singers, some of the best vocalists in all of rock history. There’s no great scheme or trick that Make it So want to use here. The monstrous sound they have to lean on ought to be enough to get some jaws to drop.
Gemm – Fever Dream
Similar artists: Basement, Title Fight, Citizen, Balance And Composure, Fleshwater
Genre: Grunge, 90s Rock, Alternative Rock
Gemm are clear about its goal. They’re exploring their existential dread through gunge-rock compositions. And, you might be better off to get in touch with your anxiety. It does well to stare it in the face once in a while. It helps to ask difficult questions. Finally, it certainly helps to make an effort to come up with the answers as well.
Grunge music of the 1990s was, in fact, one of the last times that deep, existential questions were part of the songs that made it onto the charts. But what has really changed? That was an era of uncertainty, wars, natural disasters, and terrible pop music. Maybe we need a bit of those grunge strategies working for us again.
It’s a heavy grunge sound that Gemm are working with on their single “Fever Dream.” The song is powered by dirty, angry guitar riffs. And it is driven home by well-pitched, gritty vocals that fans of Kurt Cobain or Layne Staley will be on board with from the start. As for the existential dread, Gemm think it’s time you embrace it for what it is and, possibly, find a way to move forward with your life. Rock music is a safe place from which to start.