Music By Idiots – Gospel of Querelle
Genre: Alternative Rock
Many of the great artists of the world were smart men first and, secondly, true degenerates. The majority of them are beloved, analyzed, and followed by gentle folk who’ve gone to the kinds of schools that the aforementioned artists would’ve never gotten into. Music By Idiots, contrary to the name written on the tin, is alt-rock for burgeoning intellectuals.
Jean Genet and Rainer Werner Fassbinder would’ve liked to have started fires of revolution everywhere they went. They would’ve preferred that their writings and their movies be banned forever, only accessed by a previous few willing to risk incarceration. Outside of North Korea, however, their works are instead dissected by a small group of people wearing glasses and turtleneck sweaters.
Music By Idiots’ “Gospel of Querelle” is alt-rock theatre meant to stimulate the mind and tickle the fancy of bookworms. It’s a song constructed like a Church ceremony in the service of a God of lecherous sex. It features pretty convincing vocals, too. The only question is, what will happen once this is no longer shocking? It’ll end up in a museum or get talked about in a university somewhere most likely.
Black Surf – Oh, Poor Me
Similar artists: Pixies, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, PÆRISH, Superheaven
Genre: Alternative Rock
If heaven and hell do exist, they must share a space where the only sound ever heard is that of guitar-heavy power-pop. Neither side is too thrilled to have it, and long negotiations keep going on about who ought to inherit this inhospitable land. The music of Black Surf, like the songs of their heroes, must always get ample time in this sacred area.
This is because if the world in which we live is inhabited by people looking to extend the borders of the lands that they control, the world beyond it must surely be one that will try to get rid of the small areas it controls. Power-pop has never truly belonged to anyone. It’s the charming bastard son of musical genres that have always been at odds with each other. Of course, it can’t exactly be a thing of divine perfection.
Bacl Surf’s “Oh, Poor Me” is a gorgeous piece of sinister pop-rock. Like the group’s heroes, Pixies, the tune is meant to ring out like a nonchalant confession of murder. It’s a tune built on top of loud-soft dynamics, the sort of tune that could’ve easily soundtracked a 90s slacker comedy. Above everything, “Oh, Poor Me” sounds like the music that could easily fit the playlist of the world’s greatest sinner or of a candidate for sainthood.