
The Band Ice Cream – Chemical Fire
Similar artists: The Front Bottoms, Microwave, Jeff Rosenstock
Genre: Indie Rock, Garage Rock
Watching most of your favorite bands embrace full-blown nostalgia-backed capitalism is actually a good thing for you. It’s one of the best reminders that you are going to get about carpe diem, living the moment, and enjoying your rocking while it’s rolling. Because the truth is that for most artists, the fuel eventually runs out.
This is a well-known fact, but there are few willing to call it quits when the fuel indicator starts blinking. No, the majority of them will instead take their greatest hits to Las Vegas or to stadium stages around the world. Now, there are plenty of people willing to pay for this. However, the artists in question and the fans, when honest, will know that they are paying to reminisce about things that once were.
The Band Ice Cream’s Chemical Fire is the sound of a quarter-life crisis, but it is also, ironically, the sound of musicians is quirky and energy-filled. Yes, there’s a certain kind of despair that keeps things moving here. But, it’s not the kind that would make the singer crawl into bed for a week. Rather it’s the sort that will make him crack jokes and put a beat to it without much effort at all. They should treasure their current strength, as should their fans. Because one day they might be playing Wembley just to pay the bills.
Mister Bunny – stillest space
Genre: Indietronica, Dream Pop, Alt Pop
I am not ashamed to say that I was glued to the making of Chinese Democracy in the same way that some are watching the news about conflict on Al Jazeera. That is a fancy way of saying that I read all of the news coming out of the message boards and was top of all the fan theories.
Of course, the fact that it took Axl Rose a few decades to complete the album was enough to get plenty of people interested and project their own Howard Hughes-like fantasy on a hard-rock singer. Once the record was out, the magic was no more, and many people suddenly lost interest. Not me! I like artists that make it hard on themselves but eventually end up producing the gods.
The artist here, Mister Bunny, claims to have spent 14 years chasing the sound found on stillest space. It’s a Chinese Democracy equivalent and one that inevitably makes one conjure up images of an artist spending days and nights in a basement refining minute details about the drum sound or lyrics. Whether or not the story is true is almost beside the point. Mister Bunny is a poetic sojourn through worlds that, once in a while, blend. It’s a sophisticated piece of literate rock. And, frankly, it’s a wonder it only took 14 years!