Gottlieb – Moon Song
Similar artists: High Vis, MSPAINT, THE BOBBY LEES, Gustaf, FIDLAR
Genre: Punk, Surf Rock, Alternative Rock
If Gottlieb’s band members lived in an oppressive time and place such as communist China, Kim’s North Korea, or the 2000s U.S., their names would go in a file. Nowadays, AI tech will just flag it as inappropriate.
But would that be the best use of this cutting-edge technology? And did people’s names really need to go into files? Of course, they did. For one thing, creating a culture of tension and fear where your neighbor, dog, or phone could be spying on you can be marvelously helpful in suppressing voices expressing dissent.
Still, naturally, this kind of pressure will have to boil over one day. And who is to say that folks like the ones that make the angry, determined sounds of Gottlieb won’t be the ones to do it? The news cycle breaks people’s spirits on a daily basis. Sometimes it ignites them like a tinder box.
Gottlieb’s “Moon Song” is a memorable, catchy modern post-punk song, an absolute rarity from a genre that seems hellbent on adhering to a formula of “angry bloke screaming over power chords played by his mates.” Nah, nah. “Moon Song” is positively cartoonish in its depiction of violence and revenge. But could this really start a riot? The Capitol building, seemingly, has been stormed for less.
mlady – I’m So Kinky I’m a Dog
Similar artists: boygenius, Phoebe Bridgers
Genre: 90s Rock, Alternative Rock, Alt Pop
mlady’s 90s-inspired brand of alt-rock music is the rare combination between earnest observations, poetry, and kinkiness.
There’s never been a better time to be bored of sex. And there’s nothing quite like modern music, especially pop, and rock, to eliminate any urges that you might have. What once sounded excited sounds dull. What once seemed rebellious now seems like an overbearing task.
Songwriters aren’t helping much with most of their modern work centered around sex, relationships, and the amount and making it all seem about as goosebump-inducing as filing a report with the local mayor’s office. Worst of all, very few of these songs sound real, and even fewer of these things sound healthy.
mlady’s “I’m So Kinky I’m a Dog” is a grungey single in which the sickness and ugliness of carnal desires are turned into an earnest desire for freedom. There’s little escaping from our skins and our desires. In the world, according to mlady this turns even sexual fetishes into a humdrum affair. The impassive vocals are placated by walls of squealing guitars throughout, a sound that will bring to mind the Seattle grunge artists of the early 90s, and their belief that pure excitement can simply not be manufactured.
