
Forty Feet Tall – On & On & On
Genre: Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
If I wanted to learn something new, I’d get myself a library card! That was, at least, my attitude toward music and everything else during my teens. And while it might sound a bit ignorant now, I am still quick to defend it. I think that I, and the rest of those looking for the same kind of cheap rocking thrills, have our hearts in the right place.
It’s tiring waiting around to be surprised by rock n’ roll. It takes a lot of energy to find things that greatly enrich your playlists. Can’t music just be fun and familiar? Can we not make it a chore? Let someone else play the saint that is always on the lookout for the kinds of things that have never been heard before.
You’ll recognize Forty Feet Tall’s On & On & On mainly because it sounds like a really entertaining indie-rock band is expected to sound. And this all works in the band’s favor. They are not out to revolutionize three-chord indie-rock, and they are unrepentant. They merely slide seamlessly onto playlists with the best in the genres. Judging by their sound and presentation, we shouldn’t have much trouble offering them that.
Matthew Squires – The Ballad of Norm MacDonald
Genre: Indie Rock
Similar artists: Daniel Johnston, The Mountaingoats
Once the lawyers and accountants had nothing left to divide up, rock music was left for the people for whom it was originally created: the weirdos, the miscreants, and the chancers who can’t face the prospect of unemployment with any real grace. Watching the industry’s total collapse during the past few years has truly been a wonderful time for a music fan.
Norm MacDonald might find all of this quite funny. Here was the greatest stand-up comedian who once performed all of the material of everyone supposed to succeed him on stage that night. Here is a man who joked his way out of a job of a lifetime. It’s a man who once threw thousands of dollars in the ocean for fear it would tempt him to do dastardly things. Surely, he would appreciate an art world dominated by strange characters.
Matthew Squires’ The Ballad of Norm MacDonald is a bizarre folk number dedicated to a Canadian hero. It’s a song that looks at Norm as some strange figure who, perhaps, simply could not get through to the world quickly enough to save it. Craft recognizes craft, and beyond the novelty of the song, Squires is a masterful songwriter who shines when finding the ideal subjects for songs.