Marcus Fetch – Red House Blues
Let’s face it: only the very best songwriters can write songs about cornflakes or catching the bus. And it would’ve taken some of them, like Leonard Cohen, a couple of decades and five check-ins to the local meditation centre before they could produce. Or, in the case of Dylan, the song would be written in five minutes and then forgotten for three decades before an archivist started digging into the scraps of paper and tape clippings.
No, most of the great songs are about killing people. About shooting them. It’s no wonder why the U.S. has a monopoly on the world’s best pop songs, just like they do on Olympic gold medals. They’ve plenty of time and resources to practice. All of their songs are about shooting people, getting shot, or winning the Olympic gold medal. Even the ones you don’t think so need to be about these topics in order to be approved by the Billboard Commission.
Marcus Fetch’s “Red House Blues” is a tender, indie-rock song that feels written by a student who returned home for the holidays. I’m convinced it is about guns, and just so I’m not too confused, the author mentions this in the first line. Yes, things get off to a good start. But there’s more to this Alabama story and a good deal of grief as well. Fetch may well become one of the masters of marrying truthful, gritty tales to modern indie-pop. And if the guns keep shooting, I’m sure that the songs will keep pouring.
j.paul – Clementines
What’s the sound of Summer? That’s a question that should receive an entirely different answer from person to person, but a very important question nonetheless. With most people obsessed with utilising Summer days for all they’re worth, music becomes an invaluable accompaniment. The music they choose to listen to with them tells a lot about each person.
Modern indie-rock crowds are trendy. They’re not the unclean, poverty-stricken audiences of 1980s independent rock. No, indie-rockers dress nicely, go to plenty of parties and festivals during the Summer, and like music that can be enjoyed by anyone in attendance at a party. There’s some experimentation involved, but the main point is for the music to be enjoyable.
j.paul’s “Clementines” is the kind of indie-rock previously discussed. It sounds like it should be accompanied by a fruity cocktail. It sounds like holiday music, the kind that The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas would make when stepping off his yacht. But what’s wrong with all of that? What’s wrong with people enjoying their lives, the warmth of Summer, or the crowd-pleasing aspect of pop music? This is the new indie rock.
