
Middle Sattre – Pornography
Similar artists: Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith, Perfume Genius, Iron & Wine, Nick Drake
Genre: Indie Folk
For most of the history of modern entertainment, certain topics have been taboo. For the most part, the things that ought not to be mentioned are the ones that might break the spell and get audiences to think about uncomfortable topics. This makes sense from a business sense but spells bankruptcy from an artistic viewpoint.
Middle Sattre’s music is painfully delicate and aimed at delivering uncomfortable truths. Like the great prophets did, the songwriter does this through stories through allegory. The only ones who end up using sloganeering are Soviet communists and whoever writes the songs for Idles. No, no, a bit more subtlety is needed for these kinds of tunes.
Middle Sattre’s “Pornography” is a heartbreaker of a song, and, most interestingly, it doesn’t sound like there was any exaggeration or overestimation involved in making this. It’s a story, true or otherwise, reported upon in the way that a diligent newswriter might do and with the tenderness of a tortured saint. Nothing else would do.
Guipago Dreams – Snake Mountain Blues
Similar artists: Murder By Death, Lord Huron, Johnny Cash, Justin Townes Earle, Curtis Stigers
Genre: Americana, Alt-Country
It wasn’t just the fact that the likes of Bob Dylan or Steven Earle publicly sang his praises that made Townes van Zandt appear immensely cool. It wasn’t only the quality of his songwriting that made his legend grow in the years since his untimely passing. It’s the fact that for a man willing to pour everything out into a song, he made it clear that he wasn’t too concerned about what happened to them.
It means that the songs are free. There’s nobody who has any right to complain about the way that they are treated or the way that they are performed. These are abandoned children left to fend the world off any way that they can. It also means that, because of just how good the songs are, new artists find truth in Townes’ words.
Guipago Dreams’ “Snake Mountain Blues” version takes a pretty radical left turn from the original. However, the song is strong enough to withstand these changes and to guide itself through the electro-country slippery stream in which it is thrown. It also helps that the singing is both tender and booming, something that suits the song. Guipago Dreams manages to open up Townes’ music to new audiences, and this is a testament both to the modern act and to one of country’s greatest writers.