Sun Era – Honeybee
Genre: Lo-fi Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Alex G, Chad VanGaalen, Algernon Cadwallader, Interpol, Duster
I always worry about a band’s potential when I hear that one of the musicians has started taking lessons. I mean, sure, the singer and drummer might be made better for taking lessons. Ain’t nothing more distracted than a drummer who can’t keep time or a vocalist being yelling nonsense out of key. But, I really worry when the people playing the strings begin wishing that they knew more about the intricacies of music or about their instrument.
No, I am not campaigning for ignorance. Sure, in theory, any additional information that you have about a subject should make you better. But, this doesn’t really apply in practice in rock n’ roll. You see, rock musicians quickly get bored. Once they know what buttons to push, what chords can be played in what scale, and all the rest, it’s almost inevitable that their music will begin feeling like a chore.
Let the music be surprising, let musicians be excited amateurs! Sun Era’s Honeybee sounds like music that wasn’t at all planned before the musicians began piecing together. It feels like music that is surprising not just to our ears but to the antennas of the people that were making this. It sounds beautifully childish and unexpected. Keep rockstars are petulant children, and I’m sure we’re bound to enjoy great music for years to come.
Max Benjamin – Way Out
Genre: Lo-fi Rock, Garage Rock, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Muse, Sleep Token, Black Keys, Jack White, Royal Blood, Queens of the Stoneage
Do you feel anxious when riding a tall, fast rollercoaster? Well, you’d better! I don’t what it would say about you if being thrown down a hill at 100 km/h made you feel nothing. I would suggest that you’ve reached a place of such intense boredom that nothing excites you anymore, or perhaps you are tremendously depressed. Either way, riding a rollercoaster is a great health check.
Now, if a rollercoaster makes you feel anxious, even scared for your safety for a moment, then… it’s doing its job. And, it’s making you feel exactly the way that it was designed to do. Rollercoaster, much like rock n’ roll, is meant to make you feel like you are in danger for a moment while not actually putting you in harm’s way at all. It’s a difficult trick to pull off, and that is why the public is ready to spend big on these kinds of thrills each time.
Max Benjamin’s Way Out is a song that is designed to give the illusion of danger. It’s a garage-rock number that is created to resemble a car that is just about to slide off the road. The driver, however, is in control here and knows exactly what needs to be done to elicit these reactions. Max Benjamin is finding inspiration from the garage-pop bands of recent years, and aiming is aiming straight at the charts with this.
