Nasty Neighbours – Tunnel of Terror
Reality leaves a lot to be imagined, as Lennon once so poignantly claimed. And, I suppose it’s up to all of us to plug in the holes. We’re the ones left to pain outside the lines and make reality a little more interesting, a little more worthy of our consideration. Fail to do that, and you’re left with a desk job and hobbies that include collecting stamps and staring into space.
The bizarre and the horrific are particularly exciting areas where the human imagination tends to naturally navigate. Critics of this will claim that an underlying obsession with terrible things is at the root of this. But I think that they’re wrong. The moment when, as a kid, you draw a tiger, a storm, or a monster, you are less inclined to be afraid of that thing.
Nasty Neighbours’ “Tunnel of Terror” is fun, over-the-top horror-rock. Musically, it is not unlike the loud, boisterous party funk-rock of the 1990s. Image-wise it brings to mind Manson & The Spooky Kids before they’d turn into enough of a concern to get protested against. Nasty Neighbours want to make a splash and they’ll use our collective nightmares, and paint over them in bright colors to do it.
Jacuzzi Fire – Daylight
Think of all the things that you might get if you become a successful rock musician? Now, that’s enough to make you want to start daydreaming. But, just think of all the things that you’ll miss out on? Things like waking up early, making boring friends, or having to update your job resume every few months. Now, that’s reason enough to want to learn to play a guitar proficiently.
Rock music is best when it is not confined to small speakers or to a tiny room. It works well when it can be played in an open space, at a large volume, and when the music being played is designed for this purpose. Rock musicians are, just as well, at their best when they are not cooped up in a small area, when they’re not forced to leave by rules, then they’re allowed to roam free.
Jacuzzi Fire’s “Daylight” is a take on modern alternative rock and something of a confession about just how good staying up late, and, most importantly, not needing to wake up early, really is. What Jacuzzi Fire tries to do is to give you a drunken tour of the city streets at night, to show you the things you might not otherwise get to see, and to implore you to stay for just one more drink. It’s a living, I guess, and it beats most other ones.
