My Mom Is Here – Didn’t Sleep Tonight
Musical audiences have just the same appetite for going out and having fun as they always did. But they have far less time. There is so much vying for their attention, and every single entertainment prospect is bound to wear them out just a little bit more.
It’s hard to get ordinary people to focus, so how can you expect them to stop and give their attention to highly complex pieces of music? Besides, most of these people have seen and heard a lot. How can you expect to surprise them with any kind of sound?
The musicians still looking to work on their craft, and to bring it to the attention of large audiences must be clever. They have to give listeners what they want, and sneak in some of the things that they don’t know that they want just yet.
My Mom Is Here is made up of jazz connoisseurs. On their debut single, the musicians fight against their instinct to show off and produce the pleasant, soulful jazz-pop of “Didn’t Sleep Tonight.” Not all audiences may know jazz, but few will resist such a pleasant singing voice, and music played so smoothly. But there’s ambitiousness here, too, even if it is strategically disguised. It should allow My Mom Is Here to work the festival and club circuits pretty soon while retaining their sophistication.
hiFi – amoeba
People keep telling me how boring pop music has become. But that’s not strictly true. You can’t exactly hear “WAP” for the first time and feel somewhat entertained.
The real problem is that the people who make pop music are themselves quite boring these days. If you have the misfortune of viewing an entire interview of some of the biggest pop stars, you’ll notice that they have nothing to talk about.
This is why publicists now have to do the heavy lifting. They’re busy. They play stories of romantic liaisons and breakups in the press and safeguard the pop star’s online presence. Anything to give them a personality.
hiFi’s “amoeba” is a rare find – modern bubblegum pop music made by someone who seems interesting, genuinely disturbed, and in love with Pixies. For the most part, the only time that you hear this kind of combination is when the music is made by cynical 40-somethings pulling a prank. This sounds young, playful, and, most certainly, psychotic. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.
