Michal Gutman – Architecture
Similar artists: Laurie Anderson, John Cale, Robert Wyatt, Tuxedomoon
Genre: Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Alternative Rock
There’s enough fear to go around. Especially these days. Your friendly news bulletin would like to remind you of this every chance it gets. And, while it’s true that sometimes terrible things happen to good people for a reason, that might not be the thing that you should fear the most. You should probably be pretty scared of boredom. It can do awful things to the human mind, and most certainly, it has you in its sights.
The world’s all starting to look the same. That’s one thing that I’ve learned through traveling. It’s not something that is wholly bad or entirely good. A lot of people from various countries have fought very hard for their world to resemble that which is shown on television. But it means that the world doesn’t just look the same; it sounds, tastes, and feels the same. There’s no reason to get worked up about much and too few opportunities to get emotional about things.
Michal Gutman’s “Architecture” is music made for people who desperately want to feel something with all the intensity that their hearts can muster. It could be joy, but it might as well be pain. It’s hardly important. What is vital is that it be something that doesn’t happen every day! “Architecture” is made to sound like an event that occurs as rarely as a full eclipse of the Sun, something that is destabilizing enough to warrant it be written down in your diary. It’s for your people who care about the quality of their days rather than the number of those that they can safely accrue.
The Sky Is Falling – Local Government Man
A great rhythm section is a lot like a fat wallet. You don’t know how important it is until you don’t have it. It’s easy to discard its importance until you have to rely on it. And, even though you might get by through life without it, everyone would like you better if you had one. Finally, when it comes to wealth and groove, most people can either have one or the other. Just look at the Finns. Yikes! Nightmares of Nightwish trying to lock into a groove still plague me.
The Ministry of Groove is usually administered by two people – the bass player and the drummer. Most of the time, at least one of them is drunk, and the other can’t count reliably.
What’s better than having two people locking into a tight groove? Having more people do it. In fact, why not take James Brown’s advice and have everyone play as if they were drummers? Noodly guitar players, beware!
The Sky Is Falling’s “Local Government Man” is a groove-based song. Everyone is reaching for it and riding on that thin line as if they’re about to fall from a great height if they don’t. What’s the song about? Government or something. It’s hard to say, given that the lyrics are in English, that the band is Dutch, and that the Netherlands hardly ever has problems with their government. But, hell, would you listen to that groove?
